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We haven't been good about posting lately so I wanted to mention some odds and ends....

Baby Squirrel
The other night we were up at Mrs. P's having dinner in their beer garden and we noticed a baby squirrel in the parking lot. Separating it from us was a fence. Sydney walked up to the fence, interested in the squirrel and stood watching. The squirrel hopped along, walked to the end of the fence that stops at a hedge, and then rounded the corner into the beer garden. Seeing that the squirrel was no longer separated from her by anything other than air, Sydney immediately came over to me afraid of it. The most amusing part of the story is that the squirrel could have easily hopped through the fence sideways without hitting the bars. It certainly gave Sydney a feeling of security though.

Fire Truck
Meghan took Sydney to the open house a the Mount Prospect first station. Apparently Sydney was a real beast and didn't want to do anything. BUT we got a few cute pictures.



Pumpins
"Pumpins" - are what Sydney calls pumpkins.

Aunt Emily and Cousin Kendall brought Sydney a little pumpkin when they came to watch her a few weeks ago. Later that weekend, Sydney told Meghan that she wanted to eat the pumpkin and to put it in the microwave. Meghan explained that the pumpkin was for decoration, not eating. At this point, Sydney was sitting in her high chair, eating applesauce, playing with her pumpkin. Meghan briefly left the room and returned to see Sydney carefully spreading applesauce all over the pumpkin. Where she got this idea, we may never know.

Meghan also recently took Sydney to the local garden center's fall festival thing where they have a petting zoo and a bunch of pumpkins. She told Sydney she could pick any pumpkin she wanted and Sydney chose a little one (similar to the one Aunt Emily brought her). Here's some pics of Sydney looking for a good pumpkin.



Petting Zoo
Earlier this summer we went to a fest of some sort in Naperville that had a petting zoo. We had hoped Sydney would like the animals however she didn't. She mustered the courage to pet a goat and was fine until it moved. She really doesn't like any animals.



New Carpet
We finally got carpet in our basement and no one was happier than Sydney. She ran around very happily on it as soon as it was installed. Then she did a lot of plopping down and falling. It must have been fun to have a soft area to play on after the hard wood floor.

Morning Meltdowns
Normally for breakfast, I get Sydney up, take her into the kitchen, and then offer her toast, a bagel, a pancake, a waffle, etc. Nearly ever day she whines and gets upset when I put the item in the toaster or microwave. We've literally had meltdowns because I put a frozen pancake in the microwave (on multiple consecutive days). Perplexed and perhaps somewhat amused by my strife, Meghan suggested that I just give her a granola bar in the morning. After all, she eats breakfast again at school so this doesn't have to be much more than a snack. One morning last week, I asked Sydney if she wanted a "bar" and she quickly agreed. Two or three bites in, the chewy granola bar broke in half, and Sydney asked me to put it back together. I explained that I couldn't, and that it was ok just to eat the pieces. A nuclear meltdown then ensued. Eventually she asked to be put back in her bed and came back out to finish the bar several minutes later. The following day, the same thing happened (even with me explaining in advance that if the bar broke we couldn't put it back together and she could just eat it). The day after that, Meghan gave Sydney a granola bar at some point in the day and Sydney asked for it in a bowl. Meghan put it in the bowl and eventually broke it in half for Sydney before she would take a bit. I really don't understand my daughter.

Chicken Nuggets
At some point relatively recently, Sydney started eating chicken nuggets. Prior to this we couldn't get any type of meet in her at all at home. It was a great step forward. Oddly though, the first two times we had them she wanted me to cut them up so she could eat them with a fork. Weird... but I'm willing to cut anything semi-healthy to healthy up if she'll eat it.

So the other day I got Sydney some chicken nuggets from Wendy's and got myself some of their spicy chicken nuggets. They are actually pretty spicy. At some point, Sydney wanted one of mine and took a bite. Then she took another. Shortly there after, her little tongue heated up. She looked at Meghan, stuck her tongue out, waved at it, and said "want go away!" Meghan advised her to take a drink and on that day she learned what spicy meant.

Throwing
Sydney loves throwing rocks in the driveway. She'll throw a rock, go pick it up, and throw it again. In order to protect the finish on the cars, keep the rocks on the driveway, and keep the weight of what she was hurling down; I asked Meghan to get her some tennis balls to throw outside. This weekend I showed her how to throw them up against the garage so that they bounce back. We also attempted to play catch although the ball usually hits Sydney before she even starts to react to a throw.


There are many things left that I could post, but it's time for bed.

One thing I have been working on with Sydney is getting her to understand that sometimes, when she makes a decision, it's final and she can't change her mind. For example, this morning, she wanted me to cut her toast in half, so I did. She immediately changed her mind and asked me to put it back together. Too late. That caused a meltdown.

We learned this lesson at the fall festival, too. They had a moon jump there. Sydney has a love-hate relationship with the moon jump. The first time they had it at school, she was terrified of it. Then after that she LOVED it and has talked about it non-stop. At the fall festival, she was SO EXCITED to see the moon jump, but when we walked up to it, she clung to me and told me that she wanted to go home. So we went and looked at the petting zoo. We road the little kiddie train (which she loved). We looked at pumpkins. Then we went back to the moon jump. This time, two kids from daycare were there. We stood next to the moon jump and watched them bouncing around for awhile. "Don't you want to go jump with your friends," I asked. "No. Go home," she said. So we headed to the car. As soon as we got there, she started crying and saying that she wanted to go on the moon jump. We had a serious talk about it, and she promised that this time, she would actually get in it. So we walked all the way back to the moon jump, and again she told me that she wanted to go home. So we got in the car and went home, with her whining and crying the whole way about wanting to go on the moon jump. Too late!