New favorite: HIDE!

Number 2 Belly Pics for weeks 30 and 31

30 week belly:

31 week belly:

31 week belly, when seated:

Um, oatmeal... BATH!

This morning, we had oatmeal for breakfast. On most days, Sydney eats almost an entire serving of oatmeal - with brown sugar and raisins added. Today, was NOT one of those days. For some reason, he was MUCH more interested in playing with his oatmeal.

It started out that he dropped a little onto the table and then, used his hand to smear it around.

Once his hands were dirty, he started to rub his forearm. It must have been an unique sensation for him because he seemed to be VERY INTERESTED in it. Mike reminded me that oatmeal is good for the skin, that's why they make oatmeal baths.

From there, he decided to use his spoon to apply more oatmeal to his (already quite slippery) arm.

Ah, yes - and of course - what better way to finish things off than with a little (err, I mean... A LOT) of oatmeal in your hair?!? AGAIN, Mike reminds me that oatmeal is good for the skin.

I kind of wanted to puke when I took a good look at his hair. It was SO GROSS, but he didn't seem to mind. Needless to say, I left the table and went upstairs to start running some bath water. Sydney seemed rather concerned when we set him into the tub with his jammies and diaper still on, but (let's face it) he was an ABSOLUTE MESS! By the time I was done undressing him, I, too was covered in oatmeal from his slimy hands and, of course, a generous hug from my 21-month old son.

Earlier in the week, he did a similar thing with his lunch - attempting to balance pieces of food on the top of his head. He went on to smear peanut butter in his hair and earned himself a bath. Perhaps, he is doing these acts on purpose now - since he is excited that we bought BUBBLE BATH?!? Or, perhaps it is "just a phase that comes with the age"?

WHAT A MESS!

Nursery for TWO (photos)

Last weekend, we installed new carpeting in the nursery and the master bedroom. (It was DELIGHTFUL to step onto new carpet when I woke on Sunday morning.)

Here, you can see the difference between the ratty old hallway carpet and the plush, new nursery carpet as Mike starts to assemble the second crib for the nursery. (We'll eventually have the hallway done, too and the threshold between the two will be better.) It makes an AMAZING DIFFERENCE!

Here is a view from the hallway/door... 2 cribs make the room appear MUCH SMALLER and slightly off-balance. Thankfully, for us, we have TWO CRIBS! (When one of the slats FELL OUT of Sydney's original crib, the company sent us an entire new crib. We assembled our new crib and Mike was later able to Gorilla Glue the fallen slat into place on the old crib. Lucky for us... they convert from a crib, to a toddler bed and then, to a full-sized bed with head & footboard.)

Wonderful weekend for a winter wedding

It was a wonderful weekend for a winter wedding! We picked up our rental car on Thursday, loaded our stuff and headed (due east) to Wisconsin. Unfortunately, an upgrade with cruise control was not available so, Mike had to "watch himself". It took us slightly longer to get there than usual, but nothing remarkable. Thankfully, the weather cooperated for our travels!

Grandma & Grandpa Olson were VERY EXCITED to see us, as well as the growing "baby bump" that is reportedly MUCH BIGGER than it was at Christmastime. (Perhaps, wearing horizontal stripes wasn't helping my cause, but YES... baby bump IS bigger, as is the hole-selection on my belt.)

FRIDAY

Friday, we ran some errands in the morning and then, met Grandpa Olson at Culver's for lunch. We took Sydney home - in hopes of him taking a nap before the 3pm wedding - but the little stinker had other plans. He sat in his crib, talking to his babies... Tigger, Elmo and Uncle Mike's old nostalgic Dapper Dan doll. Grandma Olson & I watched him through the crack of the door while Mike slept on the bed (oblivious to the fact that Sydney was NOT SLEEPING). Sydney would pick the doll/stuffed animal(s) up, one by one, and look them squarely in the eye, talk jibberish to them, give them a hug (or pat them, as if burping) and then lay them down. I reminded Sydney on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS that he needed to nap so that we could go dancing. I told him that his babies were going to have to go sleep somewhere else because they are tired, too. After a few warnings, the babies were taken to Grandma's bed. But I could STILL hear Sydney talking. Peering through the crack of the door, he was crawling around the crib and pointing at all of the ducks on his blanket, announcing "Duck, Duck, Duck...."

After an hour and 15 minutes of screwing around, he was JUST starting to settle down! Needless to say, it hardly seemed fair to wake him from such a short nap so, we decided that Mike would stay home from the church-part of the wedding so that Sydney could nap.

It was a BEAUTIFUL WEDDING... Rachel made a beautiful bride, Aunt Sue & Kristen both looked super cute and all of their hard work had paid off - because everything looked PERFECT! (They did ALMOST EVERYTHING themselves and it looked fabulous!)

Here is the happy couple - during the ceremony.

(My baby bump is DEFINITELY larger than Rachel's baby bump... and we're only a week apart!)

After the ceremony, we gathered some stuff from the church and delivered it to the reception for them. It looked BEAUTIFUL inside the new Veteran's Terrace. Then, Grandma & Grandpa dropped me off to get Mike and Sydney ready to go. While they went for cocktails at a nearby restaurant with Uncle Jim, Aunt Barb & Auntie Karin, we went to the reception hall and reserved ourselves a table. As the room filled up, we were pretty glad that we had done that - and even more glad that we had a diaper bag full of books to set out at various place settings as place-holders.

While holding Sydney, he all-of-a-sudden gasps and points clear across the room. He had spotted Aunt Sue from across the crowded room. "Do you want to go see Aunt Sue?" I asked. (He nodded.) I set him down and he ran between all of the tables, making a B-line straight to her. (She was equally excited to see him; they are BUDDIES! Sydney LOVES Aunt Sue!!!)

Sydney was VERY PATIENT, sitting at our table, signing that he wanted to eat. I talked to the servers, asking them what the order of the tables was - discovering that we had quite a while to wait. They gave us permission to sneak into line after the head table and parent's table went through. Mike did sneak over to steal a pickle for Sydney to snack on while we waited for the food lines to start moving. 

Also, Aunt Sue & Kristen both kindly dropped food off at our table for Sydney; unfortunately, all he would eat there was a little roast beef, some cheese & crackers & PICKLES!

He was fascinated watching it snow outside the large windows. Some smokers decided to take a short-cut in/out a nearby door. Sydney thought it was a perfect opportunity to EAT THE SNOW that they tracked in off of their shoes! Ah, the mind of a 19-month-old...

(Sydney with beautiful cousin - maid of honor - Kristen.)

Eventually, we could tell that Sydney was getting tired. (We already knew that he hasn't been feeling himself lately... he had lost a little of his spunk and had red cheeks for half of the week, most likely from teething.) He wasn't his typical smiling self...

We diapered him and dressed him in his jammies. Then, made our rounds to say GOODBYE. He was pretty snuggly and tired - ready to go home and go to bed.

(Sydney LOVES to Skype with Aunt Sue & Rachel; He gets SUPER EXCITED to see them! Now that Rachel is married and taking her laptop with her... we'll have to see how often we can SAY HELLO on the computer. Maybe she will visit her parents and bring her laptop with her from time to time...)

SATURDAY

Saturday, we were surprised when Sydney took Mike by the hand - from the basement, up the stairs, through a room full of people in the kitchen, up another flight of stairs and indicated that he wanted to go to bed. His NAPTIME was overdue, but we were pretty proud that HE was the one that indicated that he was tired and wanting to sleep.

Sydney suffered from "monkey butt" on Saturday. His butt was BRIGHT RED and obviously VERY SORE! (This happened a few days after his cheeks turned red last time too. However, it also happened after he ate a lot of pickles - both times, as well. He DID eat pickles at our Culver's lunch and had 2 pickle spears at the wedding. Mental note: monitor pickle intake, as much as he loves them!)

Late in the afternoon, we diapered him and lubed him up thick with Butt Paste. He wiggled in pain, crying and yelling "OW! OW! OW!" the whole time, which is heart-breaking. Tears rolled down his cheeks, collecting in his ears; that NEVER HAPPENS! We made our voyage home again (because Mike had to work for his boss' Sunday shift). 

It was a short trip that went fast. And was SUPER NICE to see my family!

Hats, Baking and tricks up his sleeve

On December 11th, Sydney woke from his nap and discovered lots and lots of SNOW! (He thought it was pretty funny that our car was completely covered.)

On the way upstairs, Sydney grabbed Mike's hat. We left it on the stairs and I told him that he could wear it when he woke up from his nap. (This kid doesn't forget a thing... he grabbed that silly hat right away and plopped it on his head.)

As I was putting him down for his nap, I told him that I needed his help in the kitchen to make cookies after his nap. He was pretty excited for that! I guess he had "a thing" for hats that day... as he wore the strainer on his head.

He wasn't quite sure WHAT we were going to do with all of these "things." After he helped me measure out all of the ingredients, we used the big mixer. Then, we rolled out our dough. (He kept reaching over and tearing off pieces of raw dough to eat.) He thought it was pretty fun, but didn't understand WHERE the cookies come into play. Then, as we started cutting out our cookies, he got REALLY, REALLY MAD that we couldn't eat them RIGHT NOW!!! He didn't want to wait for them to bake.

So, we had to take a break and color while they were in the oven. (I am LOVING how he is starting to purse his lips when he colors; he says "Oooooh!" as he tries the different colors on the paper. It is SO CUTE!)

I think that the cookies were WELL WORTH THE WAIT!

He likes them!!!

Someone has TRICKS up his sleeve!!!

Photoshoot faces (series of pics)

While visiting Grandma & Grandpa's house, we took the opportunity to have them snap a few family portraits of us – in hopes that we would gets something that was "Christmas Card worthy".

While Mommy and Daddy both KNOW how to smile for pictures, as well as where to look, Sydney struggled with it.

Alas, a noisy pickup truck drove down the street and Sydney FINALLY smiled (a REAL SMILE) because of that truck. He wasn't looking at the camera, but we'll take it! FINALLY a smile/face we can use!

(I'm not sure WHY he scrunches up his face like that... what a silly little boy!)

Happy 17-month Birthday Little One

Sydney turned 17 months old on October 28th.

Weight: 23 pounds

This Energizer Bunny had been STUCK around 20 pounds since he started walking on February 12th, 2010. FINALLY, with the help of some whole milk and his favorite (Mint Chip) ice cream, we managed to put some weight on him!

Height: around 33" tall (according to the charts in the kids department at Target)

Diapers: Size 3 during the day. (Extra Protection Night Diapers are size 4.)

SKILLS:

Feeds self.

Blows kisses and catches blown kisses, throwing them onto his chin/face.

Up and down stairs.

Scoops cat food into the cat's bowls all by himself.

Climbs!

Pretends to make food and has you taste-test it.

Demonstrates when reading picture books that HAT goes on your head, SOCKS or SHOES go on your feet, a BIB goes on your neck to keep your shirt clean, we sit at the TABLE to eat, etc.

Claps his hands, attempts to snap his fingers.

Tries to put socks on by himself, but can't quite get it by himself yet.

Puts his feet into our (big) shoes and walks around the house.

Helps put laundry into the washer & dryer; LOVES to shut the doors.

These are a few of his FAVORITE THINGS: 

Sydney LOVES butterfly kisses.

Sydney LOVES Sesame Street.

Sydney LOVES pretending to cook or helping mommy/daddy cook for real.

Sydney LOVES to pet Eddy. (They often sit together in the recliner.)

Sydney likes to sit on the training seat on the toilet before bath time.

Sydney LOVES to hold the leash for the neighbor's (tiny) dog and cruise down the street.( We're not sure WHO is walking whom.)

Sydney LOVES to dance, scribble on paper and make music.

SASSY PANTS: 

When told NOT to do something, entices him to do it all-the-more. For example, he pushes the envelope by holding forbidden objects near or in his mouth and shakes his head NO to demonstrate that we should NOT do something, but continues to taunt you. He seems to like to see how many WARNINGS he will get before we take something away. (Drawing off of the paper, eating crayons or markers, etc.) He, sassily, does the same thing with his sippy cups - tipping them upside down to spill out the contents - waiting to see how long he can do it for before we take it away. He KNOWS where the "naughty corner" is for time-outs and sometimes, when he is being sassy, he will willingly go sit in the naughty corner - with a HIGE GRIN on his face - and will shake his head NO, NO, NO.

TEETH: 14 (possibly more)

4 molars, 4 front top, 4 front bottom and 2 upper eye teeth poking through

(He doesn't let us look around it there too much, but has been a little on the cranky side lately so, part of me thinks that his lower eye teeth MAY be coming. Hard to say... might just be cranky because he is protesting naps, too! He got a bad butt rash for his molars and when the 2 upper eye teeth poked through.)

WORDS:

Mama

Dada

Eddy (our cat)

Tiss  (fish OR kiss, depending upon the context of the conversation)

HI or Hi-ya (most commonly said while riding in the cart at the grocery store to anyone within earshot)

Hot  (spoken in a whisper with a flattened hand demonstrating)

Yeah (his version of YES)

Ack (YUCK)

Ahhh! (Says whenever he hears a soda/beer can POP open. Says it when he wants a drink. Says it after he's taken a tasty drink.)

Keys  (spoken in whisper)

Teeth (spoken in whisper)

Cheese (spoken in whisper)

Ah-Pa-Pa (Grandpa - spoken in a whisper.)

Eee-ow (Cat's meow)

Woof (Dog's bark)

Mmmmmm! (Cow's moo)

Moon

Ah-baaah! (is BOO or A-BOO. He LOVES to play hide & seek.)

Ssssss  (salt)

SIGNS:

Milk, Eat/Food, Drink, More, Please, Thank You, All Done, Sleep, Poop and Ball

Sydney used to speak more words (a few months ago) but has since given a lot of them up. He signs all of these words, but shows no interest in speaking any of the words except for POOP, which he has tried to say a few times.

We are THRILLED that Sydney now drinks cow's milk! It was a rough transition when we quickly stopped breastfeeding on August 27th. We struggled to get him to drink ANY white substance. Eventually, he started to drink SKIM milk. Then, all of a sudden, Mike tried whole milk and Sydney never seemed to notice the switch.

Bedtime Routine: 

Diaper and jammies. 

Brush teeth (when we remember).

Read books in the recliner in his bedroom. (His latest favorite is "Guess How Much I Love You" but I substitute "Baby Bunny" for "Little Nutbrown Hare" and "Daddy Bunny" for "Big Nutbrown Hare" to keep his attention. He LOVES when we act out "I love you THIS MUCH" and stretch out his arms to the side or above his head.)

Turn out the lights and snuggle in the chair for a few minutes while Mommy sings "Twinkle Twinkle" and Sound of Music's "Do Re Mi".

Hug and kiss and then put him into his bed.

FINALLY we are starting to get a few nights where he does NOT cry, but goes into his bed without ANY protest. (We like those nights MUCH BETTER than crying and protesting bedtime.)

Happy Halloween (w/ pics)

Hard to imagine... one year ago today...

Sydney was just mastering the art of sticking out his tongue.

Sydney was trying solid foods (baby rice cereal) for the first time. 

Now, he feeds himself with a fork and spoon rather effortlessly. (Yogurt is kind of tricky because it slides easily off of the spoon.) 

In fact, he must do most things BY HIMSELF because he is a BIG BOY!

Halloween 2009, Sydney was dressed in his reindeer fleece outfit.

Halloween 2010, Sydney was dressed in a Tigger costume.

The entire hour BEFORE trick-or-treating, Grandpa Lowell and Sydney spent outside in the brisk, fall weather. They took a stroller ride and played at the park where Sydney showed Grandpa (ah-Pa-Pa) that he can go down the slide ALL BY HIMSELF!

Sydney's cheeks and fingers got SO COLD, but he decided that he no longer wanted to wear his mittens. He was rather B-O-U-N-C-Y and rather hard to take pictures of because he wouldn't hold still. (And that was BEFORE he had tried candy!) I guess it was only fitting that he was bouncy.... afterall, he WAS Tigger. (Thanks for the costume and bedtime DVD, Grandma & Grandpa Olson!)

He had slept for ONE HOUR all day long... while it seems that he is attempting to make a switch from two naps daily - down to just one. (I suspected that the ONE NAP would have been longer, but Sydney was told that Grandpa would be there when he woke up from his nap.) When he woke up, he SCREAMED! He was SO UPSET! As we came downstairs, he pointed at Grandpa's picture and started WAILING. I asked him "Are you upset that Grandpa isn't here when you woke up?" to which he nodded YES! Not even a juice box would remedy the situation!

Thankfully, within a few minutes, we saw Grandpa's car pull into the driveway and the sobbing stopped. Although, when I asked Grandpa to pull his car farther into the driveway, Sydney started to WAIL that Grandpa was getting back into his car... we had real tears and everything! Thankfully, Grandpa came inside to play and things were ALL BETTER except for being over-tired.

He must hold a VERY SPECIAL place in Frank & Bev's heart (across the street) because they gave him a very special treat bag: a few pieces of candy, a Little People Fire Engine truck and an Elmo Bedtime Book! (They gave us two small bags of candy corn to pass off to neighbor girls Claire & Lise when we went back outside since they were not "officially" handing out candy at their house. Sydney OBVIOUSLY ranks pretty high at his buddy Frank's house.) 

A walk in the park

This afternoon, we walked to Clarke College so that we could take some pictures of Sydney in the leaves.

We set him on this little curb - just off of a pathway - and tried to take his picture, but he kept POPPING UP and running over so that he could SEE the pictures that I just took in the view finder window. So, we'd encourage him to go sit back down and we'd try again. (Got a few bloopers this way, as you can imagine.)

Here, I told Sydney to "SMILE!" (I guess he thought I meant to say "Close your eyes, Silly Boy!") He REALLY thinks he is smiling. (Perhaps, that is how you smile with your eyes?)

I tried to get Sydney to lay down in the leaves so that we could take an areal-shot, but he didn't "get it". I even tried to show him how, but instead he laid on me and then, we both had wet butts.

All of our attempts made him look like a turtle that was stuck on his back. He didn't like laying in them at all. Perhaps, if they weren't wet...

Running in the leaves.... HOW FUN IS THIS?!?!

Hey, look at me... I am WAY OVER HERE!

Mommy tossed handfuls of (wet) leaves into the air. Sydney thought THAT was pretty darned cool!

Look, I can do it, too!

Helping Daddy push the stroller home. (Sydney holds onto the basket on the back and has NO IDEA where he is going... just walks forward while Mike steers.)

Sydney was riding on Mommy's shoulders home for a little while, but her head was starting to hurt because SOMEONE was playing with (and pulling) Mommy's hair. We switched off so that he could ride on Daddy's shoulders instead... and Daddy's freshly shaven head is too short to pull.

We had a fun weekend with Daddy off of work.

Road rash from running shoes

These (Champion) shoes...

are made for walking... and climbing... and running...

in the life of a VERY ACTIVE 15-month old boy named Sydney.

Unfortunately, sometimes, when wearing these shoes, Sydney falls down.

This morning, we were outside and mommy pointed out that there was a basset hound/beagle standing at the corner near our house. Sydney took off running. Unfortunately, his feet got ahead of himself and he ended up tripping. As if in slow-motion, by ironically SUPER FAST, I watched his feet running through the air Charlie-Brown-style as he flipped over onto his face. I think I held my breath, hoping that his right arm would be OK since it is still "healing" from his Greenstick Fracture from last month, but his face seemed to be the only injury incurred.

Immediately, I picked him up. He was crying, which is not like him. (I think it scared him more than anything.) "You banged your head." I announced as he rubbed his forehead with his hand. He had some blood on his nose and I saw that his face was all scraped up. I took him inside so we could look at it in the mirror.

"Look, there is some blood on your nose." I pointed out.

Sydney took that as a cue to QUICK, wipe your face on mom's yellow shirt. I grabbed a Kleenex and we dabbed at the remaining blood. Then, he pointed at his eye. "Should we wipe there, too?" I asked. He nodded his head YES so that we dabbed gently there, too.

Sydney decided that some fresh blueberries would make him feel better. (Must be the healing power of those anti-oxidants that he was craving, right?) 

We took a self-portrait to document his fresh battle wounds before heading off to the dining room. (He just wanted to play with the camera.) 

As he sat in his highchair, I noticed that his face was starting to look tiger-striped and appeared to be looking worse than our self-portrait, just minutes earlier. His puffy lower eyelid/cheek was starting to ooze a little bit, too.

I called Aunt Sue for her medical advice on cleaning it: Warm, soapy water and some anti-biotic ointment, for sure, she suggested. Peroxide if he was cooperative. Needless to say, we skipped the peroxide because washing his face is more than enough battle. 

Uncle John called on the phone and we chatted for a few minutes while Sydney ran around the living room, smelling like poop. After I was off the phone, I diapered him and was then, able to put SOME ointment on him, but he wouldn't let me get much by his eye. (His forehead, nose and cheek were all OK to touch.) He, proudly, watched in the mirror as we smeared it on him. 

Shortly thereafter, we headed upstairs for a nap. I noticed that he had started rubbing his face and eyes, which is his tell-tale sign that he is tired. (Itchy nose, most of the time.) Then, he smeared his oily fingers on a page of his book. Hard to imagine how much ointment will be left after his nap, as he tends to flip his face from side-to-side when falling asleep.

Good thing that Daddy reminds Mommy often: BOYS GET BUMPS!