Category: Updates about Sylvia

Andrew has a friend over to play this afternoon.  From the moment she walked in the door, Sylvia has been mesmerized by Olivia.  She stands still, hardly breathing, just watching this amazing four-year-old galavant around our house.  Then my little Sylv ran into her bedroom and came back without her dress on.  She was holding a purple shirt.  A purple shirt just like Olivia.

Sylvia’s jeans are in the wash, and she was beside herself, pointing wildly at Olivia’s jeans and sobbing.  I tried to talk her into dark purple or dark blue pants, but she couldn’t stand the idea of not correctly modeling after her new idol.  Fortunately, with a nudge from me, Olivia turned to Sylvia and told her (in her sweet lisp) that Sylvia looked great and that they both had on purple shirts, which was really cool.  Sylvie didn’t smile or acknowledge the comment, but I could just see her little posture change as she absorbed the world.  Then my little girl turned and headed happily into her room…content with the rightness of the universe.

***

Sylvia is now napping and Olivia and Andrew are playing in his bedroom.  There’s lots of laughter and some angry words and then more laughter.  They’re currently discussing where the babies are pooping (everywhere!).  Earlier there was some raised voices and announcements that there would be no marriage until after they were grown up.

Cute kids:)  Seeing Sylvia so aware of other kids makes me aware of some of the differences between my two kids.  Andrew just generally doesn’t seem to model his clothing or behavior after other kids.  Like as a general rule, Andrew’s doing his own thing and so what others are doing is only interesting to him as it relates to his current activities.  Sylvia absolutely loves to emulate other’s behavior.  She is currently really intense about noting/wanting other kid’s clothes and shoes and toys.  She loves to copy her brother.  Or me.  Or Bryan.  And apparently, she also now likes to dress like super cool preschoolers.  It’s really interesting to see the stages that kids go through as they change and grow.

Love,

Althea

Bryan came home from work on February 11 with a pretty balloon to the delight of his two-year-old.  After supper, we put another set of cupcakes on our balloon tray and once again serenaded Sylvia with the birthday song.

She really understands the ceremony of singing and blowing out candles this year.  And she’s so excited that it is her turn!

After supper, we retired to the living room, where the kids ate their toes.

Bryan was disgusted. Andrew did a super job of being a big brother to the birthday girl.  It can be hard to have your sibling getting all the attention for the day, but he handled it quite well.

LuAnn got Sylvia this fantastic red corduroy cape.  It’s lined in a vibrant black and white flannel and has a great button at the neck.  She’s going to be so cute wearing it!

Then LuAnn really outdid herself and made Sylvia a beautiful dress.  With a matching one for her dolly.  And a matching purse.  Sylvia immediately wanted to try them all on and checked out all the details.

Here’s my favorite picture of my birthday girl.

Here, Sylvia is also sporting her new bath robe and her new red shoes!

My little water flower.

An outfit change…trying on jeans, a lamb shirt, and putting her shoes on herself.

She says, “Birthdays are great!”

Happy birthday, sweet Sylvia!

My little sunshine girl is now a two-year-old!  She and Andrew are currently racing around the house wearing only undies, and Sylvia’s round little baby cheeks are peeking out under her pink horsie panties.  The kids got temporary tattoos for Valentine’s, and their arms and legs look spotted as they are both sporting around 15 pieces of body art on their arms and legs.

Sylvia’s birthday on Thursday, February 11 was a lovely day.  Bryan’s mom had flown into town on Wednesday, and her being here helped it feel like a party.

To celebrate her birthday, we made pink cupcakes from The Pioneer Woman’s new cookbook with an amazing cream cheese frosting.  The recipe made almost two cups of extra frosting…and it may or may not have been almost entirely covertly eaten by me.  We frosted the cupcakes in a variety of bright colors and put them on a blue-painted cake board with some pretty ribbon.  Voila!  Sylvia had a bunch of balloons for her birthday cake.

Here’s Granny with her two happy grandkids.

Yay!  Sylvia’s two!

What follows are some pictures of a mid-afternoon cupcake party we had with Celia, Eli, and Jessica.  Sylvia loved having us sing happy birthday to her.

Clapping her hands in appreciation for our song.

Blowing out her candles.

Finally!  It’s time to eat!

Mmm.  that frosting is sooo good!

That’s my girl.

Mr. Eli enjoyed his cupcakes as well.

Bright-eyed Celia.

Guess what color cupcake she was eating…

Lovely Jessica seems to have avoided covering her face in frosting, unlike the smaller party attendees.

Check out the amazing placemat and napkin that Jessica appliqued for Sylvia.  My girl loves it.  “Two!” she says.  “Cupcake.  Two!”

Pretty pink tulips from Flagstads for my pretty two-year-old.  Both of them are blooming happiness.

More photos of Sylvia’s birthday evening are on their way!  Looking back, it was a delightful day.  Thanks LuAnn and Jessica, Eli, and Celia for helping us celebrate.

My baby turnrs two-years old on the 11th.  Sweet baby Sylvia!  I somehow can’t believe it.  While many of her friends are already two, I find myself saying on a daily basis, “She’s just One!”  When she’s having problems, she’s just one.  When she is being heartbreakingly sweet to Andrew, she’s just one.  When she wakes up two or four or eight times in the night, she’s just one.  When she gets dressed all by herself and has well-formed ideas about her clothes, her food, her books, she’s just one.

When Sylvia first turned one, she was just stepping (crawling) out of tiny babyhood.  Now she’s a full toddler and even setting her sights toward the world of preschoolers.

I went through all the clothes in her room yesterday, removing the last of the 12-month (too short in the arms and legs) items, and weeding out some of the 18-month clothes since many of them have become high-water pants and 3/4 length sleeves in the last couple months.  I was thinking back on what life was like a year ago.  When she was not-quite-one, she was pulling up and cruising on furniture.  She was crawling after her brother.

A year ago, we had just recently improved her dreadful napping situation so she would nap for more than 20 minutes at a time.  And she was still nursing.  What times I spent nursing my sweet baby girl.

It was just about one year ago that Sylvia was still nursing every couple hours at night.  In February 2009, I went to Texas with the kids to stay with Bryan’s family, and I used the opportunity to wean her of some of her night feedings.  She and I shared a room on the opposite side of the house from Bryan’s parents and Andrew. When Sylvia woke to nurse, I would comfort her but not nurse her.  And she wailed for 45 minutes.  This happened three times, and each time, she wailed for 45 minutes.  After the clock hit 4:30am, I nursed her.  She was very unhappy for two other nights, but after that, she slept straight from bedtime until 4:30.  What a wonderful relief that was!  Continuous sleep is a wonderful thing.  And these days, although she still tends to wake up 2-3 times, Bryan’s usually the one who hears and re-settles her.

These days, Sylvia’s favorite activities are dressing up in costume, or perhaps more often, running around in the buff with her big brother.  She loves music…making music, dancing to music, listening to music.  She loves dolls, and it’s so sweet to watch her tend to them – feeding them, covering them with blankets, patting them.  She loves to make me soup in her kitchen and warns me several times that it’s hot and I must blow on it.  She likes to color and play with play dough.  And she spends hours at the sink or in the tub playing with running water.  It seems to soothe her soul.

Sylvia is into high fashion.  Or at least her version of high fashion.  She picks outfits with lots of colors and dots and strips, she likes her hair done up in more than one barrette.  She loves shoes, and since she was old enough to stand, I would come into her room in the morning, and instead of greeting me, she would gesture dramatically to her shoes…she wanted them on her feet!

Dear Sylvia, I am so honored and thankful that you came into my life.  Thank you for bringing such vibrancy into our family.  Thank you for being such a tender, fun person.  Thank you for saying, “Daddy” when we go around the table at dinnertime to share a gratitude.  Thank you for morning snuggles and bedtime stories, for jumping into new situations with such enthusiasm and vigor.  For holding onto things and not letting go.  For exclaiming each morning when we open the curtains, “Snow!”  For becoming such an amazing playmate for Andrew.  For being my little girl and for loving me.

I’ve loved being your mama these last two years, and I look forward with joy in my heart to seeing what comes next.

Love and hugs,

Mama

When Sylvia was a couple months old, there was a day that I really don’t want to forget. One of those Crazy Days. Actually, there are two crazy days I don’t want to forget, but I already wrote up one of them here.

Sometimes Sylvia gets really unhappy.  It just happens.  One day when she was a couple months old, she was really unhappy, and I couldn’t find anything to do to help her find a place of calm.  Finally I took her outside.  It was still quite cold, so I wrapped her up in a blanket, and we sat on the front steps.  The sky and trees and air all seemed to help.  Her crying lessened.

Meanwhile, Andrew was really wanting my attention.  He was watching a movie, and he wanted me to watch it with him.  It didn’t matter to him if Sylvia cried through it.  It was most important that my eyes be fixed to the television.  So when I took Sylvia outside, he was worried.  He paused the DVD (something he had recently learned how to do), and he sat on the chair by the front window.

After gesturing to me that I needed to watch the TV, he would set the show playing again.  But he was watching me and not the show.  As soon as my attention wandered to my crying baby, he’d pause it, gesture wildly, and then re-start when I looked up at the television.

So I was sitting out on the porch (with no coat) on a cold day trying to watch a movie through the window while soothing my sad baby.  I remember thinking at the time that it all felt rather surreal.  Lots of demands!

Ahh, those first weeks and months of having a new little person in our lives.  How long ago it feels!  How amazing and wonderful it was.  I smile thinking of all the families in the future who will start and grow their families.  Such a lovely thing it is.  Even when it’s crazy.