Sydney loves to read books before bedtime and nap time. I usually pick out a few and let her choose which one she wants to read. Sometimes she really has a hard time deciding and looks at each book and pauses at each one, but those days are rare lately. Her favorite book right now is The Book of Mormon Stories. We are on our second time through it in less than 2 weeks and she is just starting to let me read other books to her. I still let her pick every time, but she doesn't labor over the decision at all! She takes on look at the other book and either grabs and and drops it to the floor or pushes it away from her. She then grabs the one she really wants to read (The Book of Mormon Stories), gets into position in the chair and helps me open it. And if I am reading too slow she helps me turn the pages. If I try to read a different book to her she helps turn the pages as fast as she can or just forces it closed. At least she likes a good one! I checked out The New Testament Stories from our ward library to see if she would like that one as well. That's our funny girl!!

Sydney moved my step stool, which is one of her favorite places to sit, from the kitchen to the side of the couch and climbed right up. I don't know why she does things sometimes!

While Brent was out home teaching this afternoon, Sydney and I watched/listened to a recording of Music & The Spoken Word. I had watched it while Sydney was napping and thought she might enjoy it because is had children singing. And sure enough she loved it! With her sippy cup and animal crackers she climbed right into her chair and soaked it all in. Once it got to the part where the children sang she was done, but it was nice while it lasted!

Hats

Sydney loves to put things on her head. Most days she sticks to her actual hat, an old ice cream bucket, or her dad's bike helmet, but today it was her lunch bowl. Fortunately she dumped the food out first!

Our Little Climber!!

Sydney has been getting better at climbing lately. She has been climbing onto the couch for a few weeks and she likes to climb out of our neighborhood pool the hard way, up the side, instead of walking up the sloped part. This past Wednesday she made her most daring move of all! In a matter of minutes she figured out how to open the drawers under the TV, empty the middle row of CDs and use the drawer as a step! The next day she decided it would be fun to use an old ice cream bucket as a step to reach and see higher in the kitchen. She puts it upside down next to the cupboards and pulls herself on top of the bucket, then she decided to use boxes and open the doors to the cupboards and peer over the top of the door. Cute, but scary at the same time!

Sorry for the blurry picture but I just couldn't leave it out.

As soon as she saw that I had the camera she started to climb down. It makes taking pictures very hard when she is fascinated with the camera!

Here is a cute video of her getting down- she is so smart!

We had some delicious corn-on-the-cob a few weeks ago and Sydney dug right in! She loved it and quickly figured out how to eat it just like Mommy! She was so cute that we quickly grabbed the camera and Brent took a picture, that's when Sydney said "cheese" for the first time!! We didn't even prompt her to do it, she just said it when she saw the camera! Of course we then said it over and over again and she would repeat it each time. The picture of her squinting is in the middle of her "cheese."

Cheese!

Enjoying graham crackers and frosting for the first time with Dad!! She had to eat it just like he would, take a graham cracker and scrap it along the frosting!

Sydney tried dipping graham crackers in milk and she loved it!!

We had hamburgers one night and I held mine out to Sydney so she could try a bite and she decided that she had to hold it by herself and claimed it as her own. Brent had to put it back together a few times because the meat would slip out but she thoroughly enjoyed it- especially the ketchup- it is one of her favorite things now- she even tried dipping green beans in it (green beans are her favorite veggie).

Her big cheesy grin!! She likes to smile for the camera!

Sydney's Favorite thing is the phone, as long as no one is talking back on it. She loves to carry it around and push buttons and talk with it up to her ear just like Mommy & Daddy! As soon as we actually call someone on it though she goes as quiet as a mouse and doesn't say much.

July 6, 2007

Mom & Sydney in July

Happy Birthday!!

I made Sydney this butterfly cake for her birthday- I didn't realize until posting the pictures that I put the number 1 on her cake backwards. Oops.

Sydney didn't care to blow the candle out, she wanted to touch it instead.

Sydney loved the frosting and the ice cream the best- mostly the ice cream!! She wasn't really interested in the cake itself.

Sydney with her birthday hat on! She didn't like it one bit and barely let it on long enough for a picture.

Sydney discovered the pots & pans!

Sydney wanted to eat the potato soup Brent & I were eating for dinner, so she helped herself to a spoon! (She loved the soup!)

Sydney loves to help us empty the dishwasher!

Sydney's first time swimming!! At first she was a little scared- but she warmed up to the water pretty fast- she loves it now!

I just wanted to share my weeding experience with everyone. Yesterday while Sydney was taking her morning nap I worked on weeding our front yard. In an hour and a half, I almost finished weeding in front of our fence (it is in the picture below- I did the dead looking part). Our lawn is starting to get green, but most of the green you see is from the weeds. By the time Sydney woke up (I brought her outside so I could put the bag of weeds away) I had finished a section that started about 5.5 feet wide and ended about 7 feet wide and 33 feet long. (I had to make the area wider as I went to pave the way for my garbage bag!) Just out of curiosity I weighed the bag- 15 lbs!!! I probably looked kinda funny too- it was a warm morning and I was outside in long pants and a long sleeve shirt, with a hat on and bright orange gardening gloves- with wet knees because it had rained the night before! I hope you have a nice mental image of that!

Sydney loved being outside!!

I brought Sydney outside with me while I did some weeding and she didn't stay on the blanket for very long- she pulled grass up by the handfuls, but she liked the leaves the best.
She will only keep her hat on if we are in the sun and I have a hat on also, otherwise she pulls it right off!

Sydney has been making fishy lips for a long time and we finally got a picture of it!! It is the funniest thing to see! Sometimes she will only do it once, and other days she does it over and over again.

Sydney playing peek-a-boo!

She likes to pull everything off of the top of the table. She has just started to pull herself up with things, she only gets as high as her knees right now!

I keep some of Sydney's toys in this end-table. She hasn't figured out how to open it yet, I have to get it started for her and then she will push the door out of the way and commence with the emptying! And she loves to play peek-a-boo around it! She finally rolled 3 times in a row a few days ago! She has just realized that by rolling around and turning herself a little she can reach more things. (pictures taken 2/7/07)

She really wants to get the book off the table.

She has started moving- she isn't crawling yet. She leans forward on her hands has started to reach for things, but one leg gets in the way. But she is figuring it out! And as soon as she gets what she was reaching for she rolls right onto her back to play with it!

She has started jabbering, especially at night. Now if she is mad, she talks (yells) and cries instead of just crying. She is really a funny kid. (pictures taken 2/7 and 2/21)

Sydney's new bed with the blanket Grandma made for her.

And don't worry- the side goes up, and I only put it down for the picture, plus she can't get to a sitting position by herself yet, almost, but not yet. (pictures taken 2/5)

SYDNEY

Sydney still loves water bottles- empty or full.

And she loves to eat- today was a particularly messy one.