Open Ended Questions
Yesterday, Sydney answered her first open-ended question. Meghan asked (as she often does), “What did you do at school today?” and Sydney responded, “Play Sand”. Sure enough, on Sydney’s activity sheet for the day, it said she played with sand. Previously Sydney only answered yes/no questions and very recently “OR” questions.
The Moon Jump
“Moon Jump” – Last week on Wednesday, Early Days had a moon jump (inflatable castle-like structure that kids jump in). When I picked Sydney up, one of the teachers mentioned that Sydney loved the moon jump. This was a big change over the last time they had it when Sydney was terrified of it and ended up helping the cook while the other kids played.
When we walked out to the car, Sydney looked over to where the moon jump apparently had been and said “Moon Jump”. “All Gone!” <gesturing all gone> “It’s all gone.” “Moon Jump All Gone!” <additional gesturing> Sydney was clearly distressed by the fact that the Moon Jump was gone. As we stood there a guy secured a trailer to his truck (presumably with the moon jump inside it) and drove away. Sydney pointed and kept talking about the Moon Jump.
Thursday morning when we got to school, Sydney remembered the Moon Jump and started asking about it again. I actually poked my head in the office to find out when the Moon Jump was coming back. Discussion of the Moon Jump continued through Friday.
Web Cams
Prior to Meghan’s trip to India last week we bought a couple of web cams and signed up for Skype. While testing them, Sydney and Meghan sat in the dining room and I went into the computer room. Sydney thought it was very neat that she could see me on the computer and hear me talking through it. “Two Dads” she proclaimed holding up one finger on each hand. While talking with Meghan later in the week (while Meghan was in India), she also proclaimed “Two Moms”.
Raisins
Sydney now eats raisins. Previously she would chew them up and then spit them out. Now she actually swallows them. She also likes playing with Raisins. …as a quick sidebar, Sydney loves to put things in containers, take them out, put them back in, etc. She does it with hair ties, rubber bands, change, and anything else she can get her hands on. ANYWAY, the other day I wasn’t watching Sydney very closely and she was playing quietly in the living room. When I returned to the living room from the kitchen I saw that she was taking handfuls of raisins out of the container (quart sized) and putting them on the floor. I suppressed the urge to lecture her about playing with food and suggested putting the raisins away and playing with something else.
Pooping
What’s a good story without poop. Lately Sydney has been struggling to poop. We have a lot of crying, a lot of straining, and no poop. On Saturday it got so bad that she was pleading for us to change her diaper even though it was clean. We went through quite a few diapers but Syd didn’t really poop until evening and even thing it was minimal.
We are now eating baby prunes daily and cutting back on milk. Sydney won’t drink prune juice but seems to love the puréed prunes. At present we’re going through two of the baby serving containers a day. …and she pooped today.
Why?
Oh yes. We’re asking that now. Over this past weekend, Sydney started asking “Why?”. Much of the time she isn’t actually waiting for an answer and isn’t even always asking in the right context. For instance if we ask, “Why did you walk across the room with a towel on your head?” she’ll might respond with a long “Why?”. She also uses it in the correct context.
Globe
Sydney has an inflatable globe that she got at Seth Freedman’s birthday party. When Meghan went to India, I explained where Sydney lives on the globe and where Meghan went. Tonight (a week later) Sydney picked up the globe and look for India. She then said “Mom” “Plane”. After that she pointed to the blue part and said “Wah Wah” (water). Then she pointed to one of the clocks shown on the globe to indicate time zones, and I opted not to explain that one.
Vacuuming
The other night, Meghan commented that we needed to vacuum. Sydney then proceeded to take everything off the rug, turn on her toy vacuum cleaner, and push it across the room. Later Meghan fired up the big vacuum cleaner and handed it over to Sydney to push. It was very cute.
Helena
Sydney’s friend Helena from school has moved away. In an odd coincidence, we ran into Helena and (presumably her grand-mother) at the park on Sunday morning. Apparently her family was finishing their final packing and Helena wasn’t very happy. The two girls started out by swinging and then attempted to use the teeter-totter. Neither of them weighs that much though and their feet didn’t touch the ground so you still have to push it up and down for them. From there, they did some sliding followed by some walking on the wall that goes around the side of the park.
Eventually Helena had to go home and simply left. She and Sydney didn’t really attempt to say goodbye and won’t be seeing each other again. They just parted ways. That really bothered me at first. I was forced to wonder if they would miss each other. Realizing that I have no childhood memories from that age I decided that proper goodbyes probably weren’t necessary.
Water Park
Over the course of the summer we’ve taken Sydney to the water park as often as we could. Last weekend was the last weekend it was open so we won’t be able to do it again until spring. That’s a long time off.
Sydney loves to splash around in the fountains at the water park. They shoot water straight up about as high as she is tall, and she likes to stand over them.
Early in our water park experience we got her to go down the toddler water slide (just a we slide with a fountain at the top). She only did it once and continued skidding on the rubber flooring well beyond the slide itself. The attendant on duty there told me afterwards that he little ones don’t stop very well. In subsequent trips, Sydney climbed the stairs but was always too afraid to actually go down the slide again. On our last trip this last weekend, something changed. She went right up and went down the slide 3 times in a row. After that, she was done.
Sydney’s other favorite activity is washing her feet/legs in the foot sprayer near the area where kids can play in the sand. (Sydney wants nothing to do with the sand, just the sprayer.)
Aside from that, Sydney managed to get used to the water over the summer and was willing to go in perhaps waist deep. She also eventually let us take her on the inner tubes on the lazy river which she calls boats.
All in all, I’d say we got our moneys worth this summer. Sydney won’t be old enough for formal swimming lessons next summer, but I’m hoping to teach her. She may well be interested in another year. (This year we got her to lay on her tummy in the shallow water and kick her feet.)
Growing
We're pretty sure Sydney has grown because she can now get onto the couch and kitchen chairs easier. Just a few weeks ago I was helping her on and off the kitchen chairs.
Football
We watched someone football with Sydney the other night and showed her how to signal a touchdown. She got a real kick out of that. Yesterday we were talking about football, and she actually went and found our Nerf football and brought it to us.
Bossiness
Sydney is getting downright bossy. She frequently tells us to "move" wanting to sit where we're sitting on the couch or simply wanting us to sit in a different chair. Sometimes she'll tell us to take a drink out of whatever we're drinking.
Chatterbox
The last couple days, Sydney has been non-stop chatter. She she stops actually saying words, she sings something random or just makes noises. She may be insane.