Corn on the Cob

It's hard to believe how big Sydney is. We looked at some of her old baby photos the other day and had to laugh at how chubby she was. She's completely thinned out now that she's all over the place. I call her my little monkey. She's a very cautious child, but she has no fear when it comes to climbing things. She tries to put her feet into the sink of her kitchen set so she can stand in it, she climbs up slides, and I found her on top of our glass coffee table the other day on all fours.

I can't leave anything out. If I leave the pantry door open she is immediately in it ripping things down. I left the garbage out from under the sink the other day. I heard a little evil giggle and it was way too quiet. I found her digging through the garbage AND she had something in her mouth. I scooped out what looked like carrot. I had just cut some and she found the ends, so it wasn't that bad, but honestly... she sees the refrigerator open for one second and b-lines it to climb inside and pull things out. I'm sure all of you parents are laughing and remembering those days! Here are some of my recent photos:

I love the little curls of hair on the back of her head

Sitting in the sun coming through the window

She loves corn on the cob and it doesn't even have to be cooked! I tried it raw for the first time the other day - it's really sweet! You should try it.

12 month visit to the doctor

On August 5th Sydney went to the pediatrician for her 12-month check-up. She weighed 23 lbs, the same as her 9 month visit, which shocked the doctor. I explained that it's a good thing... she was pretty chunky and is now moving and burning calories. She was 31.2" long, which means she's grown almost 3" taller. So, she's dropped to the 85th percentile for weight and is just above the 95th percentile for height.

She got 3 shots - varivax, hepititus A, and MMR. She didn't cry, again, for her first two shots (still a toughy!), but the MMR shot stings, so she cried after that one. Then the nurse came in to prick her finger for a lead test, which came back fine, but made her cry even harder. She couldn't stand the band-aid on her finger and managed to bite it off shortly after it was put on.

About 3 days after her shots she had a fever of 102.2, which lasted a couple of days, and then she had a minor rash on her back, belly and a little on her neck. She also lost her appetite and just wasn't herself. The doctor said that she could have some reactions from the shots for up to 2 weeks. She seems to be better now.

We went to Saratoga for our annual family visit with friends the weekend of August 8-9. We stayed with our friends Joe, Jess and Jack. We had a good time with them at the track and Sydney and Jack got to play together. Sydney was good considering she was sick with a fever and not eating well. Sydney also had her first non-family babysitter when we all went out to dinner. Sydney and Jack were already sleeping, so Joe's cousin, the babysitter, had it pretty easy :)

In this picture you can see the Dora the Explorer band-aid on her arm after the shots :(

Grandma & Grandpa got Sydney a chair for her birthday and she loves sitting and lounging in it.

Sydney loves all of her new birthday toys. Here she's sitting next to her new kitchen set and playing with her tea party set.

She wants to brush her teeth by herself, which is really more like chewing and biting the brush. I try to brush her teeth quickly before she grabs the brush, but she gets mad when you don't let her do it herself.

Playing in her pool in our backyard

She drinks pool water, bath water... pretty much anything that resembles a cup, like this sandpail, becomes her drinking glass.

Floating in Panther Lake at camp

Playing in the sandy shore at camp

Playing squirt guns with Aunt Kristin & Dad

Flying high with Dad

Sydney's 1st Birthday!

Sometimes it's hard to believe it's been a year since Sydney was born and other times, when I look through the thousands of pictures I've taken of her or the days when she's not her best, I think yup, we've been at this for a whole year. I wouldn't trade one day of it though. She's the best thing that has happened to Geoff and me.

We had a birthday party for Sydney up at camp and the weather couldn't have been any better. We managed to squeeze a beautiful day in between two rainy ones. Sydney's a lucky girl to have so many 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins her age. She'll be able to grow up with them and have life-long friends. Here are some pictures from her party:

Lily (2nd cousin) and Sydney

Eating lunch

Lily and Sydney swimming and wading in her baby pool

Grady (2nd cousin) and Sydney

Her enormous birthday cake and believe it or not, there wasn't much left-over. It was a banana split cake. White cake with banana and raspberry filling and whipped cream frosting...mmmm.

Lighting her candles

Excited before digging in!

Mmmm... sugar.

I think she's had enough. She often gets this bitter/sour face when she can't bear to take another bite. Of course, most of what she ate was frosting.

Sharing some frosting with Tyra

Family pic

Riding her new train the next morning

Figuring out how Elmo Live works...

Talking and more talking

Sydney's vocabulary is expanding. She can say mama, dada, bye-bye, tata (Tyra), dat dat (pat, pat - petting the dog), bat bat (backpack), and a few others that are escaping me. She's still shaking her head yes and no also. Her bedtime is creeping to closer to 8:00pm and she wakes up anywhere between 6:30am and 8:00am. I can see 8 teeth now and a few more white spots where more teeth are coming. She's still putting everything in her mouth... and I mean everything! On the up side of that, she eats just about anything I put in front of her. She's pretty much eating food that we eat now. I switched to whole milk last week and she didn't mind at all. She sucked down her bottle and took a 2 hour nap.

Sydney climbs. She's figured out that if she's in the grocery cart, hangs onto the bar in front of her and lifts her leg, she can stand... IN the cart. I turned around in line to find her like this. Pretty scary. The straps on the cart cover don't hold her in either. She now tries to climb out of her stroller too. There was a toy drum in her pack n play she used as a step stool to get out and figured out that if she stands on cans from the pantry she can reach the second shelf to rip things down. Four more days and she'll be 1... how can that be?

Riding her rocking horse... or lamb

Pushing her baby stroller. She uses her stroller as a cart. Notice she has loaded in it a few blocks, her toy remote and, if you look closely, she has also borrowed a spoon that she is pushing around (she nabbed it when I was emptying the dishwasher). I just think it is so funny that she pushes around her favorite things. She's a little person that saw what others do at the grocery store and wants to do it too... or she's on her way to being a bag lady :)

He loves me, he loves me not... she loves plucking off the petals on flowers.

Playing with Sean and Madison in her baby pool.

Cozy & warm with Mom after a swim

Hi!

Driving the boat with Grandma Kent

4th of July Family Pic

Standing Alone!

Sydney started standing alone over the weekend for longer periods of time. She does it best when she's focused on something, like her favorite show - Dora the Explorer. She dances and claps whenever the theme song comes on. I caught her on video tonight. If I kneel in front of her with my hands out hoping she'll take a step, she drops to the floor and crawls to me. We're getting closer to walking anyway!

Summer Fun!

Just about every weekend we've been staying up at camp. For those of you that don't know, camp is on Panther Lake, about 10 miles north of Oneida Lake. It's just under an hour from our house. Weather hasn't been great this summer, but we have gotten a few nice days. On those good days Sydney likes to wade in her baby pool. She plays with her toys in there and dips her face right in the water. Sometimes it's followed by a gasp of air, as if she's surprised by what happens when she dips her face in.

Sydney's getting closer to walking, but still gets nervous about standing without holding onto something or someone. Instead of falling to land on her butt she's starting to lean forward to catch herself with her hands, which I think is another step closer to standing alone.

I'll have a 4th of July update soon.

Sydney making her goofy smile face

In her 'big girl' Adirondack chair at camp. Oh, and she's playing Grandma's Tetris. She's thrown it so many times that the annoying Tetris song is barely audible.

Loving watermelon

Mmmmm....

Trip to the Big Apple

Sorry, I've been on summer hours and have a lot of catching up to do. We went to NYC in the beginning of June to go to the Belmont Stakes horse race and a Yankee game. Below are some pictures from our trip.

Sydney is still cracking us up and doing something new everyday. This morning she climbed a flight of stairs on her own (with supervision), but is still being very cautious about walking. If I stand her up and let go of her, she immediately buckles her knees once she realizes no one is hanging on to her. If she's not paying attention I have been able to get her to stand on her own for about 7 seconds. Then she realizes she's solo, looks at me with wide eyes, like, "Mom! What the heck?!" and buckles or reaches out for me.

My first Yankee game!

Already making faces when Mom wants a nice picture

The new stadium is beautiful

Yea!!! Go Team!

That was really tiring...

My first horse race - The Belmont Stakes

Posing with Mom and Dad

Hanging with Uncle James and Aunt Kristin

Watching the horse race with Uncle Mike, Grandma and Grandpa Kent