My Sydney List

Sydney is growing up so fast, right before our very eyes. Suddenly one day she was talking in sentences and using the potty. It feels like the transformation happened overnight, but I know that's not the case. It feels like just yesterday I was having panic attacks about my lack of sleep and constantly worrying that she was eating enough, had enough stimulation and oh, you know...breathing!! I wanted to take a second and make a Sydney list. My list for where she is RIGHT NOW. Because, by the time I blink, she'll be doing something else!!

1. She loves calling me "Honey" versus "Mommy". No idea where this came from. I didn't even realize that Chris calls me Honey. He MUST though because she picked it up from him. I pick her up from school "HI HONEY!!". It's so cute yet so peculiar at the same time. Also a good reminder to be careful what her little sponge-like ears hear!

2. She hates having covers on her when she sleeps. As the super paranoid mom that I am, I'm constantly trying to go in and cover her up and she kicks them off of her while simultaneously yelling at me to stop it. I feel like she MUST be cold because she asks for the fan to be on "Mom fan!". With her little shorts and no socks on, it gives me anxiety just thinking about it.

3. She LOVES to dance and sing. She dances to everything. I found her the other day using her flip stick as a microphone. She immediately got all embarrassed and hid it behind her back. She can memorize dance moves and songs on her favorite shows (Hi-5 and High School Musical).

4. She loves pickles. "Padoooole" Lots of them. Could eat three in a row if I let her. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She even eats them the same way I do! Bite off the seeds first, then the next layer. Skin last. We sit, watch movies and eat pickles. Maybe it has something to do with all the pickles I ate while I was pregnant with her. Hmmmm...

5. She says "Please" and "Thank you" to everything! Although she can make me absolutely crazy at times, she really, truly, listens well. If we're out at the store and she sees a candy bar (Why on EARTH do they put candy bars so low and in the check-out lane where they KNOW kids will grab them. Must've been thought of by someone with no children!) she'll pick it up and say "Mommy, treat?" and give me that super uber cute face. Then she adds in "Good girl?" I tell her no treat and to put it back....AND SHE DOES. No questions asked. I know this stage won't last, so I'm bragging about it for now!

6. She loves to hug and kiss. Most affectionate little thing...it's almost hard to believe she came out of me! Every day she leaves for school, gives me a smooch, says "I love too" and runs out the door. Chris takes her to school, loves on her and they say "Happy Day" and he leaves. It's not quite that smooth when I drop her off. I usually have to run out of the room with her chasing after me screaming and then bangs her hands on the glass screaming "MOMMY NOOOOO". Yeah, it's heart breaking!! Good thing they have webcams. I sign online and can see her laughing and joking. When I go to pick her up, she doesn't want to leave. So I know it's all about making me feel guilty (and it works).

7. She loves her nuk. Period. The thing is currently about a quarter of an inch long and with a slice up the center. SHE STILL WANTS IT! She doesn't really use it to go to sleep or anything. Ok that was a lie, she chews on it, starts to pass out and then spits it out. I feel like an evil mom throwing it away. My plan is to cut it down again this weekend. *sigh* don't hate me Sydney.

8. She's amazing at peeing on the potty. Truly! For some reason the poop is a bit tougher to achieve. She seems to tell us AFTER she's already gone. "Mommy pee pee". I then smell it and say "Sydney that's a poopy in your pants!!" "Yes" ugh. Nothing is more fun to clean than poop in a pull up. Especially when you don't know it's there and pull her pants down quickly for her to use the toilet. *cringe*

9. She helps. With everything! We clean the carpet, she uses her vacuum. We unload the dishwasher, she puts her sippy cups together. I empty groceries from the car, she wants to carry a bag. I pick up items in the store, she chucks them over her shoulder into the cart (scared the hell out of Chris the first time. I saw him quickly take the bananas out of the cart and replace them with a bunch that didn't have the old heave ho done to it). I fold towels, she jumps on the pile. I water plants, she waters plants. It's great! I'm going to enjoy this stage. All too quickly I'll be begging for help and hear "NO!"

10. She can swim!! Well not on her own, but she kicks her legs like crazy and actually swims with her arms too! It's crazy! We put her on the edge of the pool and she can use her arms to monkey walk along the ledge. Then all by herself she (while saying it outloud) lifts herself up to her elbows "ewbow", then to her belly "belly" and gets her knees underneath her "kneeee" and then jumps to a standing position clapping for herself!

Sydney, we love you. Soooooo much! Now stop growing up so fast. xoxo

Prescott Weekend

We headed up to Prescott this weekend for a quiet weekend away from the heat. It's one of my most favorite places on earth. It's hard to be there and be stressed. The whistling sound the wind makes through the pine trees is heaven. Add in the thousands of birds and you have perfection. One of the many things I love about Prescott is that there seems to always be something happening in the town center. We went shopping downtown one day and I forgot my camera! They had magicians, bands, face painting, etc. So much fun!

On Saturday morning we headed over to Heritage Park Zoo. I would categorize it as a bit of a rustic zoo. Small, cute and quiet. While walking through the zoo, I saw this small little house. It looked so cute, scratch that, scary! It had these black strips of plastic hanging over the door with a big sign "Tarantula House". I asked Chris if he wanted to go in with me and he quickly responded with "Not a chance in hell". I walked through the creepy doorway and it was dark. REALLY dark. Lots of small little aquariums built into the wall with spiders all over the place. I felt the rush of the panic attack coming on and I quickly turned around to run like a little girl. Apparently my feet were much faster than my brain because I attempted to take a wall out with my arm as I bolted. A few cuts and a bruised ego later (due to Chris standing on the outside of the house laughing and giving me the whole "I told you so" line) we were on our way to what Sydney said "Wha's next?". Needless to say, I don't recommend the Tarantula House. sigh.

The zoo could really be done in about 10 minutes, but they added a playground for the kiddos...BRILLIANT. Although we had to bribe Sydney to get her to leave. Overly-tired child + playground = not good. I highly recommend bribing. My parents did it with my brother and I, and we turned out...well we're somewhat normal. Up until this point Sydney understands that she doesn't always get a treat for good behavior, but sometimes we surprise her. She has her very terrible moments, but I'm slightly impressed with her discipline. Since you couldn't see, I just patted myself on the back.

Sydney pointing to the deer in the field

Aaaaaah Chris turned into a HUGE spider. His way of taunting me after the Tarantula House

Sydney watching the Coyote

On Saturday night we made a fire and made some s'mores. Sydney had the time of her life and insisted on being the one and only marshmallow roaster. She made a nervous face every time she cooked them and then quickly got excited when it came time to blow out the fiery blob. Is there really anything more satisfying than a s'more? They've been one of my favorites for a while. My in laws even did a year of gifts based around them for me. S'more ornaments, indoor s'more fondue set. All brilliant. At least I've learned to control myself with them. I make one and eat it very slowly while everyone else has three. The brain thinks (not really, but I'm still working on convincing myself of this) that we're eating the same amount since we're both still eating. We just won't talk about the chocolates I stole out of the cupboard a few hours later. (sorry mom, I'll get you more).

The nervous roaster

Sydney finally getting the hang of the roasting marshmallow thing

The assembly of the s'mores

First Class service in Prescott. Sydney had her own butler who had snacks and drinks at her beck and call. He was also fun to rest her sunglasses on.

Lifeguard On Duty

What started out as Sydney life guarding while Chris swam in the pool, quickly turned into Sydney jumping in the pool. She fights the urge almost every day to jump in the pool. I need to correct that, I tell her "No" every day when she asks to jump in the pool. Today, she asked and I said yes. The problem isn't that she's swimming, it's trying to get her out before she turns blue.

Lifeguard is ON DUTY

"Mommy, where Daddy go?" ............"AIR HE EEEES"

Here's where it all goes south. She gives me that "Mommy??" look. Then she can't take it anymore. She contemplates her plan....stands up.....and JUMPS!!!

It's all worth it. All for these smiles.

Weaning the Nuk

That's right, I'm finally doing it. I kept finding excuses since Sydney loves it so much and really only uses it during nap time, bed time or if she's not feeling well. I started to get really paranoid about her teeth and decided it's time. I'm not really known for planning things in the future, I'm one of those people that gets an idea and has to do it RIGHT NOW.

So I did some research and found an Book (article) written by Eric Trager called Bye-Bye-Binky! http://www.bye-bye-binky.com/2880/2880dl.htm He talks about weaning his own children and how he couldn't stand to put them in any pain, so just throwing out all the pacifiers and how making a child go cold turkey was just mean. I completely agree, I don't think I could ever do that to her. His method is to help your child associate the pacifier with "icky". First step is to prick several holes into the pacifier so that they go flat when your child sucks on them. You never keep the pacifier from them. Your child may think it's broken and ask for a new one. I skipped this stage because I've been wanting to ditch them for a while and I think they were all flat when she sucked anyways due to my over washing of them (whoops). We skipped to the second step where you slice off the rubber tip of the pacifier. Sydney first put it in her mouth and said "Yum!". Odd, I know. Then a few minutes later she was running around looking for another one. They were all cut though. They say that your child will keep sucking on it....and she did. The next step is to cut a vertical slit in the pacifier, which is not pleasing to their tongue. Typically at this stage the child is not pleased with how it feels and actually chooses to throw them away when they see that they are all that way. If your child still continues to suck, you continue cutting off more pieces until it's a small rubber stub. Sounds brilliant to me.....we shall see if she's done with them by the end of the week. Wish us luck!!!

Latest Craigs List Score

After our Havasu trip, I was determined to find a picnic table for Sydney outside. I decided to do a quick search on Craigslist and found a table that matched her play house AND had an umbrella. All for under $50.

Sydney in her playhouse

Drinking our morning "milk" before we do some yard work

Just had to add this because I think it's adorable. Sydney snatched this from my mom and dad's house the other day and can't part with it. "My Buddy" apparently N's are hard to say in the word "bunny". Love

Owning a House = Money Pit

There's always something. Whether it's just paint and remodeling or little things needing attention. Something is always tugging at your pocketbook. Our latest dilemma.....a leaning saguaro in our front yard. Not just a small one, but a rather LARGE one! The average weight of a saguaro this size is around 5 - 6 tons. So.....if this baby fell onto our house. *SPLAT* They estimate that the age of this one is around 125 years. They usually live to be between 150 - 175, so I'm not quite ready to give up the fight on this one just yet. Now for the estimates to fix our leaning tower of saguaro.

Arizona Sunsets

Our backyard has the most unbelievable sunsets. Prepare to be annoyed with all my sunset pictures this summer. They are hard to resist!

Savannah, Sydney finally saw your picture this morning.....this was her immediate response...

Elmo Live

Last weekend we went to Elmo Live. Somehow Chris Jedi Mind Tricked my mom into taking his ticket. So sneaky!! I was unsure how Sydney would feel about the show, but figured we'd try it anyways. I've never seen Sydney SO excited before. It's funny because she has only really seen Sesame Street a handful of times! She didn't part with the Elmo doll that Lala bought her for the next few days! If you haven't taken your kids to see this show, I highly recommend it!

Sydney and Lala waiting for the show to begin

Sesame Street cuttin' a rug

Holding Sydney up to see over the gigantic people who sat in front of us. I finally convinced my mom to move seats at the intermission. She felt like a bad person sitting in seats we didn't purchase. Where's the rebel in her?

Coolest toy EVER!!!