Scary Moments, Close Calls

I pride myself (and Brian) on keeping Sydney safe and virtually accident-free. She hasn't had any horrible injuries or boo-boos yet to get the heart going. We used to joke, after we had her home from China for a little while, that, hey, she's still alive! We're awesome!

Yesterday, while walking in the crosswalk to Fred Meyer from our car, Sydney yanked her little hand free from mine and ran back behind to retrieve - a penny. Meanwhile a large van was moving towards the crosswalk. I had to run back and grab her. She has never done that before, ever. Heart racing slightly.

And then, later on that afternoon, during quiet time/nap time, she came out of her room whimpering a bit. A worried cry. I asked what's wrong, what happened. She replied, "I put something in my ear and I can't get it out. It's stuck." Yikes! Heart pounding again, I sprung into action. "What did you put in your ear?!!" Turned out to be a tiny, sequin-sized jewel off the edge of one of her dress-up costume skirts. I got her into the bathroom, grabbed a flashlight and looked. I really couldn't see much - the hole in her ear is so tiny - but I got the tweezers, stuck 'em down in there and pulled out the object. It already had earwax stuck to it!

Needless to say, we had a talk about good choices and bad choices. I am realizing, once again, that we really don't have any control over this little creature. Scary ride, this parenting!

Making Friends, or Not

For those of you that know Sydney, you can attest to the fact that she is a friendly little girl. She will walk up to total strangers, both adults and children, and greet them. Luckily, so far she has done this with us close by and in safe surroundings.

We visit our neighborhood playground every now and then, which serves probably hundreds of kids in the area. So you rarely see the same kids there each time. About a month ago, Sydney tried playing with an older girl (6 or 7) and her little brother (4 or 5). I watched from a small distance as she pursued them on the play structure and they ignored her. I listened carefully as they plotted to keep her away from them or beat her to the area they were going. And I gathered her over to me and tried to explain that not all kids are nice, and if they're not, you shouldn't want to play with them. What I really wanted to do was chew out those other kids for being mean.

Yesterday we found ourselves again at the playground. Sydney immediately saw an open swing next to a little girl that was her age. She was there with her dad and two older brothers. Sydney, of course, wanted to swing next to the girl, which she did. Until the dad stopped pushing so that he could play catch with his sons. The little girl got off to play on her own, and Sydney, of course, wanted to follow. The girl didn't say a word, but avoided Sydney like the plague. I again tried to explain that not everyone wants to play with her and to stop chasing the other girl. Sydney came over to me and said, "I just wanted to make friends." So heartbreaking. We got home and I told her that she should keep trying, and one of these days she'll find another kid who'll be glad to be her friend.

Sydney's First Purchase

Aahh, the power of money. After Sydney turned four, we decided that we'd start paying her an allowance. She has to keep her room relatively neat and tidy, make her bed, replace the small trash bag liners around the house, and clear her dishes. For these tasks, we give her one dollar a week. She does a great job with the trash bags (she'd been doing it for about a year now, for free!). She hasn't slept under her covers since mid-February, to keep her bed made. She hasn't broken any dishes yet. Her room is, well, always a challenge.

Anyway, she keeps her money in her small, purple, velour "Princess & the Frog" purse. I was hoping she would start understanding that it is actual, real money that you can buy things with (or save up to finance her college education). She tends to take out the coins and bills, play with it and leave it around the house. Today I decided to take her to our favorite store, Target, to see if there was something she wanted to buy with her own money. I tried to explain that she didn't HAVE to buy anything; that if she found something but didn't have enough she could start saving for that specific thing; if she wanted something that cost what she had in her purse she'd use it all up; or if she found something that didn't cost much, she would have money left after buying it.

She found something right away in the dollar section of the store. And we perused the toy section and the DVDs and books. When it was time to go, she kept saying she wanted to buy something else but she didn't know what. Again I explained that she didn't HAVE to buy something just because she had money. But she insisted on this:

A butterfly net!

On the way home, she asked me to open the window. She held on tight to the handle and let the wind blow through the net, squealing with utter delight. I guess some things you just HAVE to have.

Seven Months Later...Happy Easter 2010!

Zanna and Sydney, Fu Sisters for life!

And here we are again! I decided to try blogging again. Be warned, however, I will most likely NOT post many photos here. It is just a bit too time-consuming for me and I am also too lazy. Plus, I post my photos on Facebook, so if you want to see Sydney, check them out there.

So much has happened the past seven months, so I'm not even going to attempt to cover it all. Here are some highlights:

October - Sydney was a fairy (from Tinkerbell) named Silvermist for Halloween. She got to go to the Bi-Zi Farms pumpkin patch twice!

November - We all headed down to southern CA for Thanksgiving, Disneyland, and closure for Grandma Joe's ashes.

December - Sydney sat on Santa's lap for the first time! She was brave. We spent Christmas here in Vancouver.

January - Celebrated our third Gotcha Day Anniversary (Family Day) with Sydney's Fu sisters.

February - Sydney turned four! She had a big birthday dinner at Red Robin with about 13 friends and family. She also got to have cake at her Kidspace preschool.

March - Sydney's annual checkup results: 30 pounds, 38 inches! Growing girl, but still our little petite peanut.

Sydney continues to amaze us with what she learns and remembers. She has used words such as "appropriately" and "disappointed", um, appropriately and in context! We think there's something to Grandpa Joe's opinion that she has some sort of photographic memory - a few days ago she had watched a bit of the 80's movie "Clash of the Titans" which, we know, was probably inappropriate for her (and thus, might make the critics disappointed in us.) At any rate, she reported, in great detail, a play-by-play account of what she remembered, to Grandpa Jim. As Brian and I sat listening, all three of us adults were blown away by her description. Hopefully she won't relay the story to her preschool teachers; talk about "chopping off Medusa's head and seeing the blood pour out" or "that mean guy stabbing the bag with the head in it and the blood dripping out and turning into scorpions" may raise some red flags and get us some phone calls.

This past week was Brian's "Spring Break", which felt more like Winter Slushy Break. Nonetheless, we did have a couple of good weather days. One day I actually got outside to do some bulb planting. Sydney "helped" me out while Brian stayed inside to paint a wall. She got a bit cold, so she told me she was going in. As I was finishing up and cleaning up, I thought I heard crying - so I went into the garage and discovered that Sydney had gotten into my car and locked herself in (accidentally) and was crying scared. After Brian and I showed her how to unlock the locks and open the door, she calmed down and told us she would never do that again...

Happy Easter, everyone! (Whoever is still out there!)

Testing, Testing, Hello? Is This Thing On?

Greetings and salutations, blogcheckers! I know it's been a few months. I'm testing out a new way of posting pictures. Here's a little slideshow of various activities from September. They include Sydney's creativity with her animals (putting them in slipper "cars" or feeding the cats by mashing their heads into the pans), riding rides at Sausagefest (including her first ferris wheel ride), starting preschool at Kidspace, and spending time with Grandpa Joe on his last visit.

Bowling for Sydney

It is a well-known fact that Sydney belongs to a family with generations of bowlers. (If you didn't know, well, now you do.) Sydney's great-uncle Ray Gagliardi, whom she never met, is in the Clark County Bowlers Hall of Fame. He bowled perfect games of 300 on several occasions. Her great-aunt Marlys is a steady, consistent, still-avid league bowler. Several of Marlys's sons carry averages over 200. Sydney's Grandpa Jim still bowls in leagues and just recently participated in the National tournament in Las Vegas. And let's not forget to mention Sydney's own dad, who just finished his finest year yet, carrying an average of 219! 

So anyway, let the tradition continue! Grandpa Jim took Sydney to Hazel Dell Lanes for her first bowling experience. She had a 6-pound ball and size 10 shoes (her toddler size 8 doesn't exist in the world of bowling shoes.) With bumpers up, she managed to bowl one complete game. She actually made it to the 9th frame before saying "I'm done". But she did finish the 10th, for a whopping score of 46!

Use those muscles, Sydney!

Nice placement of the ball on the lane.

Good follow-through...

Nothing to say here except "Cute squat"!

Check out the air between Sydney's feet and the floor!

Grandpa Jim gives Sydney some pointers.

What would a trip to the bowling alley be without arcade games too?

May Days

I'm a happy, loud child who belongs in the Zoo!

Well, it's June, and May has come and gone. Guess I was a bit preoccupied with my dad visiting, Mother's Day, travel to the Bay area for my mom's sister's memorial, softball on Sundays and just generally trying to keep 3.33-year-old Sydney out of trouble. She continues to take preschool gymnastics every Saturday morning after energizing with Dad's pancakes. We have also been going to the Vancouver Farmer's Market afterward. Sydney especially enjoys the kettle corn and the dogs that abound at the Market. She still misses Ellie (as we all do) and talks about her often. 

When my dad came to visit, Sydney must have said "Grandpa Joe" 100 times a day. Luckily it seemed to always put a smile on his face. "Grandpa Joe" this and "Grandpa Joe" that. "What did you say, Grandpa Joe?" 

Sydney and Grandpa Joe with the Zoo Bears.

Sitting still for a brief moment...with Grandpa Joe.

 

Flashback two years ago...Sydney was 14 months here. 

And here she is at 3.25 years old.

I  need a Hero! I'm holding out for a hero...(Footloose, anyone?)

Having lunch at Burgerville ...with Grandpa Joe.

Chilling... with Grandpa Joe.

Having Dim Sum with Steve and Abby Lee, formerly of Payson!

Sydney liked their dog, Go-goh. (Gentle, Sydney! Gentle!)

At home in Vancouver, planting our garden.

Planting pumpkin seeds from my Burgerville Kids Meal.

Here Sydney chants the password for sheep from "Babe". 

Sydney on the trampoline at gymnastics.

Easter 2009

Sydney and friends say "Happy Easter"!

I realize it has been almost a month since Easter. Oops. Guess I've got some catching up to do. Sydney enjoyed dyeing eggs for the first time, hunting for them in the house again, and dressing up in her Easter dress. We made sugar cookies which she "decorated" with sprinkles. She especially liked the Hoppy Bunny that Grammy and Grandpa gave her. Not to mention all the candy. I think she had more than she did at Halloween. And now her reach is higher than ever, so we have to put things farther away on the kitchen counter. She is quite clever when she needs to be - I told her one day "No more chocolate!" and she stood there for a moment, thinking, and then exclaimed, "I got it. I can have this other candy (jelly beans or some non-chocolate thing). I figured it out!" It starts early, I suppose, the outsmarting of the parents.

Carefully dyeing her first egg all by herself.

Hoppy Bunny and sweet-tooth Sydney.

Which one do you think she will eat?

Milestones

This was one of our first days home from China in 2007!

I realize that this is our 100th entry. Only took a couple of years. So much has happened since we first began to blog about Sydney. I apologize for not posting as often as I should. My only excuse is laziness. And a three-year-old...

These last few weeks have been heartwrenching. We had to put down our beloved sweet dog, Ellie, after a sudden illness hit her from out of nowhere. Sydney seems to understand and asks us often if we miss Ellie.  She can tell that we do. The last real walk I took Ellie on, Sydney actually walked her for almost a mile. I regret not bringing my camera, because the image of Sydney jogging while holding Ellie's leash and Ellie trotting alongside Sydney is a precious one that I'll hopefully never forget.

Here's Sydney sharing her blanket with Ellie. She covered one of Ellie's front legs...

Look carefully and you can see that her leg is covered.

Our house is a bit quieter and emptier, and we have holes in our hearts and the pits of our stomachs that won't go away just yet. 

After Ellie died, we had to get out of the house. We spent a day in downtown Portland. Then we had to get out of town. So we took a long weekend and headed north to Seattle, Tacoma and Bellingham.  Here are some images of our little adventures. 

The Portlandia statue.

Fountain across from the Portlandia.

Most people in the Portland-Vancouver area know where this is.

Getting tired of walking around Portland, Sydney just stopped and sat.

We were here at Pioneer Square the day after we put Ellie down, and right after taking the picture with the Umbrella Man, we spotted a man with a dog that was the spitting image of our Ellie except for the tail. Very surreal. 

Tourists at Pike Place Market - watch out for flying fish!

Sydney wanted to sit on whatever she could...

Whether it was a pig or an elephant did not matter.

Sydney's favorite Star Wars character, Yoda. 

Headed to Ivar's for clam chowder and fish & chips!

Riding the Seattle monorail, affectionately called the "Mommarail" by Sydney.

On top of the Space Needle.

Top Pot Donuts, a local favorite in Seattle.

The Experience Music Project guitar tower.

We headed up to Bellingham after Seattle, to check out Brian's old stomping grounds while attending Western Wash. University. Included on the tour were all the places he used to live, such as the apartment that Ken Griffey, Jr. used to live in as well. (Same unit, different time.) Unfortunately, the only picture we ended up taking is below: Sydney was fascinated by some students dressed as pirates promoting some school activity in the campus fountain. 

Our final stop was the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, home to Dale Chihuly.

These figures are in a huge display on an overpass bridge from the museum to the town hall.

More glass figures on the overpass. The Tacoma Dome is in the background.

Here's a little conversation we had at the top of the Space Needle. I was trying to get her to say "Space Needle" and of course she didn't want to. She was focused on a carousel nearby that she wanted to ride.

March Madness

Puppet Mania. Those poor ones on her feet!

Silly Sydney.

Wow, it's been over a month since I last posted anything here. My apologies to those of you who keep checking for updates and being disappointed. Let's just say that having a three-year-old who is moving away from naps is taking up more of my time... yeah, that's it. Some days she skips the nap entirely, other days she'll take a 2-3 hour one. She's currently asleep and therefore I'm able to sit and blog.

Honestly, Sydney has been settling into routines of getting up with Dad, watching a little TV, eating breakfast (sometimes) and playing until it's time to go to Grammy and Grandpa's (Tues. through Thurs.). On Mondays and Fridays she and I eat breakfast together, watch a little TV, and go shopping (Costco, Target, Fred Meyer are the usuals). Just today we were at Costco where she loves the samples ("I need sampos, Mom") of food and snacks. Sometimes we share a hot dog and drink too - it's the best meal deal around. Seriously, where else can you get that for only $1.62? 

Sydney is growing! Okay, that's a doll stroller below, but she is eating like a tapeworm and getting taller!

We try our best to get Ellie out for a walk, and Sydney sometimes walks/jogs the entire two miles! Hopefully we're instilling a love for exercise and being healthy. Which reminds me, we just started her in a toddler tumbling class (age range 18mo.-3 1/2 years) at a local gymnastics gym. After two weeks, we have already been told that she needs to be moved up to the next level. Apparently she is strong enough to do things that the 3 1/2 to 5-year-olds can do. The key is following directions...which is probably one of her biggest challenges. We'll see! And hopefully in the near future we'll have some pictures, because Brian and I believe that there's nothing cuter than watching her romp around, tumble, flip, or swing on a trapeze bar into a large foam pit.

Pump it up, Sydney!

Sydney goofing around with Erin Boyle.

Sydney and Meghan having fun with the tunnel.

Sydney "reading" to Dad. She is also really into jigsaw puzzles, completing 24-piecers "All by myself."

The other morning I caught her sitting on this box of dog treats, looking out the window.

And finally, here's Sydney singing "That's How You Know" from the Disney movie "Enchanted." Sorry that I cut her off, but it would have gone on forever...