These are a few of her favorite things...

Here's a quick snapshot of Sylvie hanging out after waking up from her nap this afternoon. She's reading her Clifford book, snacking on grapes, and sharing both with her Sesame Street dolls. Life is good!

Play Gym

Just yesterday I found out about an indoor play center for toddlers and young kids in our area, so Sylvie and I checked it out today. It was great! It only cost $5 per child for unlimited play time (my entrance was free) and at any time there were about 10-15 kids running around and bouncing off the walls. I know Sylvie looks pretty alone in these pictures, but that really wasn't the case! Here she is climbing up one side of the structure, making her way to the big tunnel slide:

The play structure made me really nervous at first, because once Sylvie climbed in to one of the tunnels she was completely out of my reach. I knew that the whole thing was toddler friendly and I knew she couldn't actually hurt herself or fall off or anything like that, but it was still nerve wracking to watch her exploring. I noticed all of the other mothers just sitting around chatting and looking so at ease, and I thought to myself that maybe we weren't ready for this, Sylvie was too young, clearly we were out of our element! With that Sylvie started climbing up the cargo net, which was a little too steep and long for my comfort level, and she became noticeably nervous and scared. She kept trying to grab onto the mesh walls around her, and got progressively more upset as she realized she was stuck. I was just about to send a little boy in after her when I realized that I could actually get up close to her, we would just separated by the mesh wall. So I calmly explained to her that she had to grab the cargo rope with her hands and climb up like a monkey. Amazingly, she looked at me, listened to that one line explanation, and instantly took off, literally climbing up the net like a little monkey! She climbed to the top, disappeared for a minute or two (which of course had me partially hyperventilating) and then re-appeared, laughing and squealing as she bounded down the big curvy tunnel slide. By the end of the hour she had the entire climbing structure down pat, and I was one of the nonchalant moms sitting around gabbing about the weather.

Oh, so the ball pit was by far her favorite part.


Mmmm.....germs.

Tuesday Night is Guest Blogger Night : Sharing

Sylvie was gracious enough to invite her Sesame Street pals Bert and Grover over for a waffle breakfast this morning. I don't know if Kacey or Syl propped them up on the chair, but it's super cute.

Looks like Sylvie is really into the Eggo experience. However, she did not seem all that eager to share her Eggos. Her two guests pretty much just got to watch her eat them.

In Sylvie's defense, it is common knowledge that Eggos are the most reluctantly shared breakfast pastries. People go to great lengths to prevent losing their Eggos to sneaky friends and family and to acquire Eggos through ingenious and surreptitious methods.

Bert seems resigned to the fact that Sylvie will not be sharing her breakfast this morning. Grover still thinks he's got a shot. Poor Grover.

All done. Time to get dressed after eating the most important meal of the day.

Drama

Sylvie got mad at me tonight because I pointed out that she was jumping a little too close to the edge of the bed, and I suggested that she either sit down or get off the bed entirely. She really wasn't happy about this, and thought that if she just covered her eyes I'd go away.

Unfortunately for her I was persistent, and she quickly realized I meant business.

So she brought out the big guns, collapsing on the bed in loud angry wails.

And after all that work, all that drama, all she could produce was one plump little teardrop.

A closer view:

Pathetic. And yet so cute.

Lounging

Sylvie took her usual 2 hour nap this afternoon, woke up, played in her room for a few minutes, walked to her door and banged on it until we came and let her out of her room, snuggled with us for a few minutes and then................went back to bed. Where she lounged for a good 30 minutes or so.

She hung out under the covers reading to herself for about 10 minutes, then called out to me asking for her crayons. She spent another 20 minutes coloring in bed.


John and I kept poking our head into her room, I think we were just in disbelief that she was spending so much awake time in her bed. She did get her energy back soon enough, and spent the next few hours until bedtime running around and generally wreaking havoc. All while singing, of course!

Partay!

Ben and Chloe came over today to celebrate Sylvie's 2nd birthday. There's a whole story I could post about how the shindig was supposed to be last weekend but we had to cancel at the last minute because our landlord decided to replace our perfectly good (but apparently very old) hot water heaters the day we planned to have the party, only to have the plumber call out sick that day, so the party could have gone on but didn't; and then the hot water heaters were actually replaced this past Thursday night but like something out of a bad sitcom stopped working last night while I tried to clean the kitchen in preparation for today's party, and then miraculously got fixed today (by the lovely and healthy plumber) about 1 hour before the party, leaving John and I scrambling around to get showered and ready before our guests arrived. But maybe I'll tell that story another time.

So today was a blast! The kids were so cute together and just had so much fun. There was very little drama, numerous honest attempts at sharing, and the only tears emerged when it was time for everyone to go home, the kids just wanted to keep playing! We had a slightly hairy moment when Ben developed hives all over his back and arms. We ruled out any food allergies, since nothing he ate today was new or anything risky (like peanuts, etc). It was a little nerve-wracking, but after a call to their doctor and a dose of benadryl, he seemed back to his peppy little self. If nothing else, hopefully Sue and Alex will get a decent night of sleep thanks to the benadryl. :)

So on to the pictures....Chloe almost instantly found the guitars (Santa brought her a guitar for Christmas and I hear it's one of her favorite toys at home). She spent quite a bit of time rockin' out with this baby. She also enjoyed playing Sylvie's electronic drum kit and all of our musical instruments. I'm most impressed with Chloe's tambourine skills though, she's got serious moves!

A little bit later the kids enjoyed some snacks:

I LOVE Ben's expression here. xoxoxo

We had pizza for dinner and then the real fun - decorating cupcakes! Here all three moms help the kids figure out what to do:

By the end of the evening the kids started getting tired and Chloe asked me if she could get "cozy". So we propped her up in our bed:

And of course the other two were not far behind:

And my favorite picture from today, goodbye hugs:

P.S. John Mondi, we thought you might find this useful.

Tent!

I'm not sure what was going through my head tonight, except that I had a gift card left over from the holidays, a small play date planned for tomorrow with Sylvie's best friends (Ben and Chloe), and before I knew it I was in my tiny 1 bed apartment with a pitched tent in the living room. I'm sure the kids will have fun with it tomorrow. At least I know she likes it:

She rolls to the left...

and to the right...

and here's a peek inside at the happy little monkey:

And by the end of the night the tent had found its place as her new tv watching spot. My kid is too predictable!

I think the dog's a little confused.

Maddie sat back and seemed to wonder who replaced the timid, sweet little toddler with a loud, obnoxious and insane little beast. My brother Kris asked me if I gave Sylvie a Red Bull energy drink tonight. I'm not sure what was going on, but tonight Sylvie was a MANIAC.

My sous chef

Here's Sylvie's little kitchen, which was her big gift from Santa this year. I love it so much, and especially love watching Sylvie bang her little pots and pans around. We copied an idea we thought was brilliant from the North Carolina children's museum, using real (but empty) packages of food to stock her fridge. Add in the awesome and totally realistic looking fruits and veggies from Aunt Amanda, and she's got quite a complete set:

Which she loves to tear apart and throw all over the floor:

But her favorite kitchen activity is making soup. Apple soup, pepper soup, even bread soup. Tonight's special was strawberry soup:

And here the chef tastes her food:

(like I said, the fruits and veggies are VERY realistic looking!)
In fact, just yesterday we had to throw out the grapes because while I wasn't looking she plucked each one off the bunch and tried to eat them.

Tuesday Night is Guest Blogger Night : Joy

A single, solitary moment of pure, unadulterated joy at The Little Gym tonight.

The Happy Birthday Post!

January 21st is a big one for birthdays!

First, my beautiful and oldest friend Sue (we've been BFFs since we were 9!) turns 32 today. We grew up together and have been as close as sisters for more than 2/3rds of our lives. We used to sit in our bedrooms dreaming about and planning our lives together, from living together in college (and we did!) to being side by side at our weddings (which we were!) to having children at the same time and watching them grow up together. Okay so we missed that mark by 4 months, but I'd say we've hit our childhood goals pretty admirably.




Happy Birthday Susie!! We love you!

But wait! We're not done yet. January 21st is also the birthday of Sylvie's oldest friend (they've been hanging since they were 1.5 months old!) Chloe. Chloe turns 2 today, and man it's hard to believe. Here they were the first day we all met, when Sylvie was 6 weeks old and Chloe was just 5 weeks.

Several months later, on a beautiful summer day:

Their first halloween:

And a year ago today, on Chloe's first birthday:

Chloe's mom Gina has become a really close friend, we live eerily parallel lives and just helped each other out so much during those early months of parenthood, when your head is in a constant state of panic and exhaustion and you just don't know if you're coming or going. Watching Chloe grow up these past 2 years has been so amazing, we feel so lucky to have you guys in our lives! Happy birthday sweetie pie!!!!!!

Aunt Trishie

Trish and Jon spent the day with us today, and Sylvie was thrilled. She really adores Trish, and I realized today that I've never seen her show off in front of another adult or child like she does when Trish is around. She brings out every single one of her toys, every stuffed animal, every book, and only wants to share them with Trish. She jumps in her lap and hugs her, without being prompted. She just loves her. And I think the feeling is mutual! Not only does Trish love Sylvie, she loves to spoil her. A lot. Here Trish and Jon watch Sylvie tear through her birthday and Christmas presents:

And a quiet moment later on, Sylvie climbs into Trish's lap with book in hand.

Sylvie is a lucky lucky girl.