Category: Updates about Sylvia

What a stunning May day!  I am a bit sheepish to admit that we (Andrew, Terry, and I) are spending some of it indoors watching … you guessed it…Godzilla.  Mothra vs. Godzilla actually. Meanwhile Sylvie is crying in her crib instead of napping.  She’s had some troubles with her naps again, poor girl.

This morning Sylvie had her 15-month doctor’s appointment.  In addition to a couple vaccinations (chicken pox this time), I got an update on her vitals.  So here they are…drumroll please!

• Height: 31″ (64%)
• Weight: 20 lbs 7.5 oz (14%)
• Head circumference: 46.8cm (74%) Continue reading “Sylvie’s 15-month check-up”

What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.

~ Cool Hand Luke

Sylvie’s emotions run pretty fast and thick.  As she flips around in my arms in yet another sudden fit of anger, I often have the above line run through my head.

I’m really hoping that this year we can work on communication a lot.  Granted, most of the time I know what she wants.  She’s great at pointing, she nods and shakes her head.  She says, “Maaa MA!” in different tones to indicate preference.  She also starting to try out different sounds sometimes.  Like, “Baabaa” meant stream or water the other day.  She was entranced by Sligo Creek and shouted “Baaabaa” whenever she saw it.  She also may have said “CraCa” for cracker last week.  And there’ve been a couple words that slip my mind that she’s tried out in the last couple days.

Continue reading “Failure to communicate”

In a burst of independence, Sylvia has nearly weaned herself from nursing over the last couple weeks. I’m mostly thrilled, but my heart is a little sad to think that our days of our sweet nursing moments are at an end.

Up until mid-April, she was nursing before both naps, before bed, and at 4:30am. So that was four times a day. Aside from the middle-of-the-night nursing, the other ones were brief…only a minute or two.

About two weeks ago, we decided to wean Sylvie from her nighttime feeding. Bryan was able to go to her at night and get her back to sleep without too much fuss (when she saw me, she really just wanted to nurse!). A surprising side-effect of her nighttime weaning was that she lost interest in daytime nursings as well.

I’m going to Northfield on Friday and Saturday for an Alumni Council meeting at Carleton. I’d been planning on bringing Sylvia with me and finding a college student to watch her. But last weekend, Bryan and I decided that she’d probably be done nursing by the weekend, so she’s staying at home with Bryan and Andrew! Her last nursing was yesterday morning. She never asked today. Tomorrow would be her last chance, and then I’ll be gone until Sunday morning… wow.

She’s growing up so much. I’m really proud of her. Only thing is that she’s such an active, on-the-go baby, that my heart aches a little to think that our quiet moments of her snuggled in my arms, looking quietly up into my eyes is at an end. My sweet baby girl. Time is washing over her, and she is toddling…now almost running toward her future.

I’ll just have to pick her up while she’s sleeping have the chance to hold her still body and stoke her soft skin.

March 23: This last weekend, Sylvia has really gotten interested in her walking skills.  We spent a lot of time in the yard, and she would stand up in the middle of the yard and try to take a couple steps on her own.  She’d crash fast, but it’s one of the first times that she has tried walking on her own (and not between me and Bryan).
She’s taken a total of about three steps on her own, but she’s gotten the idea that if she could do it more that it could in fact be a mode of transportation…and she’s intrigued!  The video below was taken on Saturday morning.

I got rhythm, I got music, I got my girl
Who could ask for anything more?
I’ve got daisies in green pastures
I’ve got my girl
Who could ask for anything more?

Oh, I’ve got rhythm
I’ve got music
I’ve got daisies in green pastures
I’ve got starlight
I’ve got sweet dreams
I’ve got my girl
Who could ask for anything more?
Who could ask for anything more?

I wasn’t too keen on the prospect of giving Sylvia a bath this evening.  She had a pretty good day, but by 7pm, I was pretty wiped, and I felt like pressing a little “off” switch on the back of her neck as opposed to going through our 40 minute pre-bedtime routine.

So I decided to get in the tub with her tonight.  You should have seen the look of amazement on her face.  “Mom is in the tub!!”  She was grinning from ear to ear, and she kept kissing me…mostly by leaning toward me and making her kissing noise, “mmmMMMMak.”

Sylvia was laughing and rollicking about, and then I convinced her to float on her back on my lap, and she liked that a lot (yet another sign that she is not, indeed, her brother).  We pulled her water whistles into the tub and were taking turns blowing them, and she thought that was great fun.  Then she asked me to move a bit so she could get to the back wall and pound on it.  She loves to drum on the back wall of the tub.  It makes a great sound.  As she was doing that, I was thinking about how much she loves to make music…how delighted she gets when she can pound a drum or shake a rattle or toot a whistle.  I hope that making music (or just noise) will help this young firebrand channel some of her amazing energy.  It certainly makes her happy.

So as she was pounding away with her open fist on the back wall of the tub, I sang to her, “I’ve got rhythm, I’ve got music.  I’ve got my girl who could ask for anything more?”

After a bit, she turned her beautiful face up to me and did her sign for “all done.”  It feels so good to be connected to this child.  I do love her so!

PS.  After I had wrapped her up in her towel and was carrying her out of the bathroom, she spotted a bottle of bubbles that I had sitting on the counter.  A couple days ago I had given Andrew and Sylvie a bubble bath and blew bubbles at them too.  Sylvia saw the bubble container, gestured emphatically at it, and threw her body around to indicate (under no uncertain terms) that I was to reverse course.  We walked back to the tub, and she pointed at the tub, grunting and lunging toward it.  “No, Sylvia, we’re done with the tub,” I said.  “Remember that you said, ‘All done.’?”  It took me a few moments to put together that she wanted to do another tub with bubbles, but when I did understand I couldn’t help but feel amazed at how much this little 13-month-old knows and understands.  She sure is fun!

Feb. 24: Sylvia had her 12 month check-up yesterday.  She’s growing well, this young girl.  On the way to the doctor’s Andrew and I brainstormed what kinds of things the doctor would do to Sylvia.  We also contemplated what would happen if I was part-way through reading Andrew a story when the nurse had questions to ask me.  Turns out that this was a good thing to have discussed ahead of time as I think it helped avert a very fussy boy.
As usual (thank goodness) this was a very boring visit.  I don’t think I’ve had a question for the doctor since Sylvia was born.  That’s not to say that I don’t obsessively look parenting topics up online, but since the day she was born (wait, since the day of my first prenatal appointment) I’ve felt a little like a lousy parent because I haven’t had any questions to ask.  It’s not that I feel like I know everything (far from it!!).  Other than having her ear infections, there hasn’t been anything amiss with my little miss, and her pediatrician had about zero helpful input on her lack-of-napping situation.
So he asks questions and I give blithe answers and we both nod and smile.  And I find myself kind of wishing that doctors made house calls so I hadn’t had to bundle the kids up and expose them to doctor’s-office-germs.  However, I am glad that we have modern medicine:)

Anyway, the take-home vitals from our visit were that she now weighs 19 lbs, 11.5 oz, and she is 29.5″ tall.  That puts her in the 24th and 59th percentiles respectively.  She’s long and lean, this girl!

Feb. 21: It’s hard for me to believe that my little girl is one year old.  I had a lot of fun going through her photos and putting together slide show of her first year.  Time just flies (At least when it’s not the middle of the night and the baby is crying.  Then it certainly doesn’t fly.).
It’s amazing to watch Sylvia learn things each day.  She can point to her toes now.  And my purple-painted toes.  And Daddy’s toes.  The girl is infatuated with toes!  And she can do the sign for hat (patting her head).  And the sign for “milk” and for “all done”  and sort-of for “more” and for “flower” and for “eat.”  And she makes it very clear that she wants to be picked up. Her whole body requests it.
In the last couple weeks, she’s mastered the fine art of pointing.  She points at everything.  All the time.  And she can direct me all around the house (she likes that game!).  She often points with two fingers as that seems to convey the energy of her request a bit more fully.

While we were in Texas, Sylvia learned how to nod.  Whenever she heard a question, she would nod, and it was so funny to watch.  Her head moved like a bobble-head doll.  Instead of nodding with her forehead like adults do, she nods with her chin, leading to some rather exaggerated, smile-inducing movements.

She’s just started standing unassisted for a few moments here and there.  And she can walk around very fast when she’s holding on to fingers.  No unassisted steps, yet.  I’m glad she waited until she was one.  Now I’m ready.  She got some cute shoes for her birthday, and once she’s walking, they are going to be so sweet on her feet!  When we go places like Olbrich where the ground is damp and dirty, I find myself starting to think that walking would be a good idea.  I’m just glad she has stayed a crawling baby as long as she has.  Crawling is so cute!

Sylvia got a couple drums for her birthday, and boy does she like to beat on them.  She really likes to toot on horns and shake shakers and bang on drums.  I think we’re going to sign her up for a Music Together class next month.

I’ve posted some sweet photos of my little 12-month-old in her birthday party gallery.

Oh, in other news, Sylvia has taken to enjoying a couple more books.  She really likes the Karen Katz lift-the-flap books, especially Nose, Ears, and Toes.  Yay!

Yesterday, we discovered that Sylvia can repeat several sounds on command.  When asked, she’ll say, “Mmmaa mmaaa” “Dada” and “baa baa.”  And she’s also (sometimes) following some simple requests.  Like, “Sylvia, can you pick up that toy and give it to Mama?”

These kids, they grow so fast.  It’s a pleasure and an honor to watch.

Feb. 16:  It’s 11pm, and I should be in bed.  I told Bryan that I would get off the computer around 10:30.  But he’s asleep, so he’ll never know!!!!
I’ve been editing and uploading photos from our Texas trip.  It’s all part of my plan to pretend that I’m still there.
You’ve now got around 100 photos in my Texas trip album to peruse.  There’s a sub-album of pictures from Sylvia’s first birthday party and another sub-album of pictures of the creation of this wonderful panda cake.
I think this cake is just the cutest thing.  LuAnn made it for Melanie for her first birthday.  She’s held on to the cake pan for the last 27 years, and it made a come-back for Sylvia’s first birthday on Saturday.  I asked LuAnn to make it, because while I love to have hand-made things for my family, I really prefer someone else to make them:)  That’s a secret, so don’t spread it around.
I’m so glad to have a mother-in-law who makes such wonderful things for my kids.  Sylivia has two new pairs of overalls that are just adorable.
Oh, be sure to check out the last two pictures in the panda cake album.  When Andrew saw the cake in the morning, he pulled himself up on the counter and got his tongue as close to it as he could without touching it.  What a card!

Feb. 11: Here’s a slideshow of some of my favorite pictures of my dear little girl as she moved through her first year here on earth.