Category: Updates about Sylvia

Our little Sylv’s 3rd birthday was a hit.  After we put the kids to bed, Bryan and I sat down and looked at the pictures from the day Sylvia was born.  You can see her tiny baby pictures here on Flickr.  Hard to believe that she was ever that small, but it’s clearly the same little person!

It sounded like Sylvia had a great day at Donna’s.  She said that all her friends sang to her, and she even got some gifts.  Fairies!

Here’s some pictures of our evening.  More are available in the gallery.

Here’s some pics of today’s cake making.

Mmm cake batter.  The recipe is here.  I’ve hit upon a new standard for cakes.  This is going to be my go-to cake recipe from now on.

Frosting in-progress.  I decided to use the Smitten Kitchen’s Swiss Buttercream.  It was fun to make and deeeelish!

The final result.  A girl’s purple cake as requested.

Sylvia requested spaghetti and tofu with peas on the side for her birthday supper.  And she got to eat off the “I’m special today” red plate.  Afterward, we retired to the living room for some present opening.  Here’s she’s admiring some little bunnies.

Opening a fairy wing/long glove/wand set that Bryan and I found recently.

Andrew got a gift too.  Granny and Grandad got him this cash register for Christmas, but it was back-ordered and only arrived yesterday.  It worked out perfectly because he was kinda bummed when he saw the stack of presents that Sylv was going to get to open.  “I wish I got a present too!” he moaned.  Then he smiled really big when I told him that there was indeed one for him.  He spent the evening adding numbers on the cash register’s calculator.

Sylv got a fairy dress in the mail today from her great-Grandma Jo.

Here she’s casting a flying spell on me.

I love this picture.  And I love this girl.

Granny made a new mattress along with a blanket and pillow for the crib.  Sylv put it straight to work.

Lola Mae doll tries out the new bedding.

And Ellie gets the pillow and blanket.

With the presents all opened, we headed into the kitchen for some cake.

Yum, yum!  This time instead of eating all the frosting and leaving the cake, she ate all the cake and left the frosting.  One never knows.

I’m excited to have a three-year-old in our home again.  Can’t wait to see what the year will hold for our little girl.  Love her soooo much!

Hidey ho there, neighbors!

My little girl woke up this morning, a freshly minted Three.  Remarkable!

She’s spending the day at Donna’s (daycare) where they had a cake and balloons.  When we arrived (a little late today as there was some extra morning activities around here), all the kids were hiding and jumped out to yell, “Surprise!”  Ahh, birthdays are fun.

Andrew has been so sweet and loving toward her.  I personally recall some March 19ths in years past when I was, oh, shall we say a little jealous, of all the attention that Michael Jacob Babler was receiving.  Not so for Mr. Andrew.  That makes it extra-nice.

I’m home sans kids today, working on a photo class I’ll be leading, wedding contracts for this summer, and a beautiful photo order.  With a kitty by my side, I’m having a great day too.

Then I remembered that I needed to make a cake.  Sylvia suggested a yellow cake with purple frosting.  I made my mom’s buttermilk cake for the SuperBowl party last weekend (“Go Pack!”), so I wanted to try something new.  For those of you who don’t know me, I have issues repeating the same recipe.

Deb Perelman from The Smitten Kitchen is one of my favorite food writer/photographers, and she specializes in cakes.  So when I saw that she had a “Best Birthday Cake” recipe, I had to try it.  Funny thing, it’s almost identical to my mom’s buttermilk cake.  We’ll see how it turns out.

I enjoyed whipping it up solo.  Not having kids around:

a) made the job faster

b) made the job feel more luxurous

and

c) meant that I got to lick the beater, spoon, and bowl all myself.

No lunch necessary today.

I’m looking forward to frosting it!

Here’s a little video I made of Sylv trying on her new birthday shoes.  A few weeks ago she told me she wanted purple shoes for her birthday.  I was curious what she was thinking, so we shopped on Zappos together.  It was a bonding experience.  I sent the link of her favorite pair to Granny, and she went ahead and got them for her.  Good thing too as about the first thing out of Sylvia’s mouth this morning was, “Where are my birthday shoes?”

Enjoy!

[flickr video=5436269111]

Sylvia was so beautifully excited and full of happy anticipation about her first ballet class.  We got her geared-up with her leotard and slippers last week, and since then she’s been counting down the days.  We’re taking her class at the NE YMCA.  Here’s some cute pictures of her and Celia (and Ceila’s cousin Nida) as they were getting ready.

Think Sylv is excited?

Just look at Celia’s beautiful lashes and lips.  <sigh>

Getting her skirt pinned in the back.

Nida (Celia’s cousin) is a bit too young for ballet, but she very much was interested in the action.

Sylv tiptoes her way into the studio.

Celia skips in past her instructor.

The kids were on their own with the instructor in the studio, so I peeked in a narrow window to catch some images of our girls as they experienced their first class.

<aaak> They’re holding hands!

This may be my favorite picture ever.  The sweetness is almost too much to bear.

Little girls practicing their stretches.

Little girls practicing first pliés (which, I have just now learned how to spell).

Oh!  First position!

And then class was done.  The girls skipped out and excitedly received stickers.

Second favorite photo of the day.  Toddler legs, swirly skirts, and ballet slippers…too much!

I think Celia had fun!

Post-lesson, the girls spent a while singing and dancing together to spend some of their excess dancing happiness.

🙂

Ring around the Rosie…

So cute!

Weee hoooo!  These girls are pretty happy!

Sounds like the parents get to come in to watch during the final class (on February 21st).  I think I’ll have to take some video that day!

Hope this gave you a smile!

My little girl starts her first ballet class today.  She’ll be taking 1/2 hour classes at the YMCA on Mondays through February.  Last week, she and I went shopping for her dance gear together.  It really is fun to have a little partner to run errands with.  She is such a fun little person, and my days are colorful and interesting because she is a part of them:)

She picked out the leotard instantly.  “The one with the black bow!”  Then when we went to Payless for the shoes, she tried them on and traipsed and sashayed all around the store.  Here’s a few pictures of my very excited ballerina girl.

These toes.  I just can’t get enough of this tip-toeing beslippered toes.

Can you tell she’s excited?  She is.

She was ready to get in the car and go to class right now.  The idea of “next week” doesn’t really register as much for her two-year-old self.

She was demonstrating various spins and jumps for me.

Agh!  Again with the the toes!

This girl makes my heart go pitter pat.  With her lopsided haircut and her new ballerina headband.  Just look at the way her sweet hands are curls together.  Excitement.  Self-consciousness.  Anticipation.  Tender, hopeful heart.

When I asked for a smile (something I don’t tend to do!), here’s what I got.  oh, she’s so grown up, it kinda stabs my heart a little.  But I couldn’t be happier with who she is and who she’s becoming.  It’s an exciting adventure, raising children and witnessing their maturation.  What beautiful little people they are.

I hope her first foray into the land of ballet classes is all that my little one wishes it to be.  Cheers to you, little ballerina girl!

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year is a wooden tree trunk doll house Sylvia got.  There’s been a lot of fairy play.  Andrew’s Schleich animals come to visit too.  The velociraptor insists that he’s come to be friendly.

This bridge and little wooden river are just too much!

Sylvia really enjoys it.

And these fairy dolls.  So cute!

Thanks for looking!

Quick little story:

This morning, Sylvia was sitting at the breakfast table alone while I went to get dressed.  From my bedroom, I hear her clear little voice reciting,

“Baby was TWO YEARS OLD and never wanted to come in for dinner and never wanted to take a bath.  When grandma visited, said bad words!

But at night time Mama would crawl across the floor and look up over side of his bed.  Pick up that great big boy and slowly rocked back and forth back and forth back and forth.

Sang, ‘Love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.'”

I think my heart stopped a little while I listened.  We haven’t read that book (I’ll Love You Forever) in weeks.  And I had no idea that she knew any of the words, much less a whole (somewhat mixed up) segment of the book.  Amazing!  I so wanted to covertly video her, but it was fleeting, and I knew if she saw me she’d stop.

My girl is two months shy of three, and I’m starting to see a lot more of a preschooler in my toddler!

For those of you not familiar with the story Sylvia was reading, here’s a link to the text. <sob>