Friday
On Friday night we went to Steak & Shake for dinner, which launched a very odd evening. Dinner began with typical Sydney antics (not wanting to sit in her chair, hopping from seat to seat, etc). Once the food came Sydney sat nicely in her high chair and attempted to eat some mini-corn dogs. Oddly though she only wanted to eat the breading. We “peeled” a few of the corn dogs for her and continued eating ourselves. At some point, Sydney shifted and her whole tray and the plate of food on it crashed to the floor. Sydney immediately started crying and a random waitress rushed over to us, assured Sydney that she would get her some more, and helped us clean up. Our waitress seemed to be lagging being by a couple minutes. In the end, Sydney got more food (although she didn’t eat it), we finished eating, and we left. It was shortly before the second plate of mini-corn dogs arrived that we realized that the tray was very difficult to latch onto the high chair.
As we were leaving Steak & Shake, Sydney inexplicably freaked out and started throwing a tantrum. She kept saying “Dad” “Potty” and struggling to get down.
Eventually she figured out that she wanted ME to go to the potty. She was sure I had to go, and I had to go NOW. I asked her if mom could put her in the car while I went back to go potty, and she calmly said “yeah”. I went back into the restaurant for a couple minutes and waited. Then I rejoined Meghan and Sydney in the car and everything was just fine. We have no idea where Sydney got the idea that I needed to use the potty.Saturday
Saturday was interesting.
The day started as normal with breakfast but quickly deteriorated. Sydney didn’t want to give up her pacifier and was throwing a fit. We only let her have it at bedtime and naptime but somehow she always manages to get it more than that. After some several fits I finally took it away and told her she couldn’t have it until bedtime. That brought on a nuclear meltdown marked by 40 consecutive minutes of top of the lungs screaming. Eventually she gave up and didn’t get her pacifier back until bedtime.
Saturday night we were to have dinner with Meghan’s family in Naperville to celebrate Mee Mee and Papa’s 60th wedding anniversary. Meghan learned of some festival near there so we went early and took Sydney. We knew there was going to be a petting zoo and hoped they also had a moon jump. The festival was pretty neat and very crowded. There was a little train that drove around which we didn’t get a chance to ride. There were also several moon jump like inflatable play areas. One had a tunnel. One had a big slide. One was more of an obstacle course. One was a mini-moon jump for the little kids. We went with that one and Sydney took two or three turns in it before she was done. She grinned from ear to ear jumping up and down. The petting zoo went better than last year but not what I would call well. Meghan convinced Sydney to pet a goat. Sydney alternated between petting it and whimpering/cowering away from it any time it moved. It was very clear that she was outside her comfort zone. I don’t think she touched any of the other animals.
As a side note, we were really hoping Sydney would like the petting zoo and that she would realize that animals can be nice. At present, she’s still afraid of dogs and is apparently even afraid of squirrels.
Later we headed to the Olive Garden and met the rest of the family. Sydney clung to me at first and later to Meghan. Although we had a reservation, we didn’t get seated until at least 30 minutes after our time and they packed us around a long line of tables. It was loud and really busy. We also probably sat for 30 minutes before they took our orders. Needless to say, the delays and volume level didn’t do much for Sydney’s behavior. She pretty much didn’t want to be there at all. As a result, she and Meghan spent a substantial amount of time outside. Later I tagged in and went outside with Sydney while Meghan ate. In the end, Meghan came back out and I ran in to wolf down some of my food. Although the food was good, that dinner drained much of our patience.
From the Olive Garden, we headed to Pam and Dave’s house. Sydney was fine there and played happily with Kendall. It was well after 9:00 when Sydney finally fell asleep and this little girl was beat.
Sunday
I’m drawing a blank on Sunday…
Sunday night we decided that we wanted to go out to dinner, but Sydney wasn’t interested and screamed for the entire drive out to Buffalo Wild Wings. Once there we got her out of the car, stood her on the curb in the parking lot, and let her settle down. Sometime while standing there she noticed that there was a Jewel across the street and begged/whined to go there. Eventually we compromised that if she would go to the restaurant, we would go to Jewel afterwards.
Inside Buffalo Wild Wings, Sydney was beastly. She didn’t want to sit in her chair. She spread wet naps all over the floor. Eventually she made Meghan take her to the bathroom. As it turned out she was wet but ascertaining that was difficult do the rest of her behavior. We actually discussed getting the food to go but stuck it out.
As we left, Sydney remembered our promise to go to Jewel and reminded us. Meanwhile, it was sprinkling and extremely windy. Sydney neither likes rain nor wind so we had a constant whine of “Jewel” along with facial expressions and gesturing about the rain and wind.
Despite the trauma of the weather, she still wanted to go to Jewel so we went. We weren’t sure why we were there or what we were shopping for since Meghan had just done the grocery shopping earlier that morning. Our first thought was that we should pick some kind of pastry up for breakfast tomorrow morning. At the bakery, Meghan and I discussed options and Sydney zeroed in on a frosted raspberry pastry. “Cake!” she said. We ended up getting the one we wanted AND the cream cheese version of the one Sydney wanted (Sydney isn’t really into berries). Near the same area, I saw cantaloupe and asked Sydney if she wanted one of those. She of course said yes. From there we walked the length of the store wondering if we should buy something else. I recalled that we’re about out of Kettle One vodka so we went to look for that. Meanwhile, Sydney ran through the liquor aisle yelling with excitement. Later she crouched down and appeared to be deciding on a choice of several premium liquors. By this point we really wanted to leave so we convinced Sydney that it was time to go pay. While making our way to the check out counter, Sydney found the diapers and suggested that we buy some. We explained that we had plenty at home. Eventually we got Sydney into the cart and the cart into the check out aisle. I’m not sure what was going on there, but the person in front of us was not moving quickly despite a very small number of items. That gave Sydney time to make a lot of noise and talk us into getting out of the stroller. As we waited, she played with the chain that is used to block off the aisle. Later she found a roll of empty paper towels in the adjoining check out aisle and unrolled a few of them. Meghan and I took turns chasing her during this period. …and wouldn’t you know that our checker was under 21 and couldn’t scan the liquor. GRRR. After what seemed like an eternity, we got to leave Jewel and go home.
…I don’t remember what happened after we got home.
Monday
Monday afternoon we went to the park. We did a lot of swinging and sliding. Sydney walked the wall around the park several times and ran around having a great time.
There were other kids there too including a little boy perhaps a year or two older than Sydney. He seemed to be showing off and enjoyed demonstrating that he could do the things we were coaxing Sydney to do without acting terrible interested in any of us. At one point when Sydney was walking the wall, she beckoned to him with her hand and said “Coming?” He followed for a brief minute and then ignored us. A couple minutes later she climbed up on one of the pedestals on the wall, scooted to the side, and again gestured to him and said “Coming?”. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the pedestal with Sydney. He shook his head and then ran off. The neat thing about the experience is Sydney recognizing and talking to other children. Previously she simply played near them.
Also at the park was another family with a little boy roughly Sydney’s age who had a really annoying and overprotective mother. At one point Sydney and this kid were swinging (Sydney really high, the little boy very low). The little boy kept saying higher and the mom kept saying “oh you’re already going so high”. Meanwhile she kept yelling at her other kids to walk and not do things that kids do at the park.
While at the park we also tried a new thing. Sydney had watched some kids hanging from a bar and kept pointing. I asked her if she wanted to hang from the bar and she said “yeah!” Not knowing what to expect, I lifted her up, and she reached up and grabbed the bar. As I eased her weight down, she quickly let go. Then we tried it again, and she actually managed to hold on and support ALL of her own weight.
I couldn’t believe it. Later Monday night, we grilled out. I played with Sydney outside during part of the time while Meghan was making dinner. Shortly after we went outside, Meghan came out and told me the kitchen smelled like gas and one of the stove burners was on but not lit. I knelt down and asked Sydney if she had played with the knobs on the stove and she said “yeah” and nodded. At that point I attempted to explain that she needed to ask us before playing with the stove and that it’s dangerous. I don’t know if she understood or not. I was really shocked though that she knew what I was talking about and admitted to turning on the burner.
?Day?
On one of the days, I took Sydney to the park on my own while Meghan went running. We stayed at the park for a really long time, and I got this bright idea that I'd climb a tree. Sydney eagerly watched as I jumped, grabbed a branch, swung a leg up, realized that I'm 35, overweight, and out of shape, and dropped back to the ground skinning both of my forearms. After the attempt, I rejoined Sydney on the park bench, and she noticed the white paint on my knees. Upon noticing that she walked over to the stroller, pulled out the little diaper bag, brought it to me, and got out the wipes. She then told me to wipe up my knees.
Later we found that while running, Meghan tripped and attempted to break the sidewalk with her elbow. The sidewalk won, and Meghan ended up sporting the worst battle wound for the day.