Sun

Sydney enjoyed the ride down here and is definitely enjoying the pool at our vacation house. The beach is another story and if one grain of sand gets on her foot she screams in horror. It's going to take some time for her to figure out we can't lay blankets across the entire beach. (She also likes to apply her own suntain lotion which is a nightmare)

One Smart Cookie

I've looked but can't for the life of me find the babycenter.com update that starts "Month 20 : This month your daughter will outsmart you....". We sat by the bathtub waiting for the water to fill up; Sydney waiting impatiently in a diaper holding her cloth ducky. I was trying to calmly explain that ducky is for sleeping with and taking it into the bath would not be good for ducky's "skin". Her dead stare spoke volumes. I explained further that if it was wet we'd have to leave it here and she'd have no ducky at all. She clutched it even harder. So I firmly stated "Duckies do not go in the bath". Sydney calmly stood up and walked over to the bath, looked around and pointed down to a floating Ernie holding his rubber ducky and looked up at me. I tried not to laugh but it was brilliant ... I had no comeback ... I'd been outsmarted by my 1 1/2 year old.

Postscript : Ducky did not go in the bath and I listened to crying for 10 minutes. My logic that daddy's socks don't fit her also doesn't seem to apply as you can see. Pictures are getting harder as she anticipates a flash at night and closes her eyes :)

Long Day

Sometimes after a long day working at daycare, Sydney likes to come home and settle in, take off her pants and put her feet up. This is the "don't bother me, I'm decompressing...and can you get me another stiff drink of milk" face.

Hugs All Around

Up to this point the encounters have been cordial at best. A knowing glance, a nod or the occasional brush as Sydney walked past. Putting them next to each other elicited only cries of horror. Finally, at a no name restaurant on a random Sunday evening, the cousins decided it was time to get to know each other and got down to being friends. So started the hug fest and Sydney could barely be torn away from Lauren. Lauren loved every minute of it as well (as you can tell from her face) and the two agreed to meet more often and knock out some good play dates.

An Everyday Workout

Sometimes people ask me how old my daughter is or how much she weighs (she's a little small for 20 months). The surprise usually comes when I respond that she's 20 months and weighs 40 pounds. Oh...by herself she's only about 22 but the chances of me ever carrying her around alone are slim to none. First, there's two baby dolls that must go wherever we go. Then there's a ducky. Then there are multiple tiny bears. Pacifiers. A book perhaps. The babies bottles, blankets and sometimes clothing for all of them....and this wrapped up in one big daddy hug where going down the stairs now becomes a treacherous activity. Help us all if I drop a bear or something because the "uh oh" song starts and I won't hear the end of it until everything is picked and safely back in our arms. So while she may weigh 22 pounds, to me she's the 40 pound gorilla in the room.

Christmas #1

Here was a shot during Christmas #1 in SC as we (Aunt Carrie, Aunt Abby, mom and Sydney) put out cookies for Santa. As you can see, Sydney did not feel that Santa would miss a few cookies. In the morning we tried to point out the cookies were gone and Santa had left a note, but the Abby Caddaby doll sticking out of her stocking stole all the attention she had to give.

New Year's Resolution

Sydney is determined to get rid of some of this holiday cheer in her belly. We think she looks just fine but I guess the draw of free weights and an exercise bike are just too much for her. The fact that she can neither pick up the weights nor reach the pedals of the bike don't seem to stop her.

Driving

A picture that just about sums up our holiday driving extravaganza between a few places in Virginia and South Carolina. We put quite a few miles on the car but more importantly got to spend a wonderful Christmas season with tons of family. Sydney was a trooper in the back seat with the help of a DVD player and lots of singing from the front seat.

Elmo's World

We finally got Sydney out to her first concert this past weekend. There was music and singing and dancing...and a thousand two year olds running around. The experience of a live Elmo's World was almost as eye opening for us as it was for Sydney. She loved the characters and cried every time Elmo went backstage for a set change. We'd have to assure her over and over again that he was coming back. Somehow she lasted ninety minutes and clapped until her little hands could clap no more.

Trees

There's nothing better than cutting down a tree in 27 degree weather with a 15 mile per hour headwind to get you in the holiday spirit. Sydney held up better than expected, but her little toes were cold for about the next four hours.

Elmo

Sydney has a boyfriend and his name is Elmo. She's just a hit when she wears this to daycare and has started adding accents like bead necklaces and a purse (not shown b/c I was too slow to capture it). Like a dog chasing its tail, she usually can't stop pulling at her shirt to get a better look at her red furry crush.

Trick or Treat!

We made it around to a few houses this year to show off our little pumpkin and had fun with our traditional setup out on the driveway. Sydney loved her Elmo candy bucket and even gave Elmo a kiss on the nose, an act so cute that a picture just can't do it justice.

Halloween Prep

With such a beautiful day out we tried to stay outside and make sure the pumpkins were all arranged nicely. Syndey enjoyed going down the slide with her new friend at the park.

Candy!

We finally broke down and let Sydney have her first taste of some good old refined sugar. Maggie shopped around and found the lollipops that are flat and have the rounded stick that avoid a horrible poking injury :) . Her hands were all sticky and there are still remnants in the kitchen somewhere, but it was fun to watch.

Relax

You know, sometimes at the end of a long day, you just want to curl up with a good book and sit in a box.

Octoberfest

Some cooler temps and the smell of hot cider in the air called us recently to the pumpkin farm where unlike last year, Sydney is old enough to actually play with a pumpkin. It was a fantastic day of slides and goats and pumpkins bigger than Sydney. We brought home apples and little freebie pumpkins which are setup on the front porch for her to admire. A day or so later I had a fun first. I'm sure we've unknowingly taught her things before from observation, but at dinner time she pointed to one of the apples we'd picked up from the farm. I washed it up and took off the stem, a choking hazard of course, and handed her the apple. She sat down and looked at it and didn't know what to do. Do I eat it? Does this outer part need to come off? Is it just a strange looking ball? So I sat down next to her and took the apple and as best I could turned so she could see me and took a slow bite out of the apple. Her eyes grew wide and her hands shot up for the apple, a knowing smile on her face about what she needed to do. She looked up at me and dug into the apple and I just had this big smile on my face. It wasn't algebra or how to drive a car, but I taught my daughter how to eat an apple, and that just made my October.

Sleeping Beauty

Although there are many cute moments, this one ranks up there. We were out for a walk down the sidewalk and Sydney was dutifully pushing the stroller that she can barely reach. Apparently her energy was finally expended and rest was needed, so she looked up at me and stopped the stroller, pushed me away, walked around to the front and grabbed her ducky(little blanket). After plopping a paci in her mouth she laid down on the stroller, closed her eyes and actually afforded me enough time to get a picture from a couple angles. When the recuperation was complete she sat ducky up in the stroller, gave it her paci, walked back around and we continued on up the street. Just too adorable.

The Ridiculous

We're walking around a toy store and I see this....a fully decked out pink Cadillac Escalade with more features than my real car. We'll be keeping Sydney away from that part of the store now.

Playoffs

With October here so quickly, Sydney was outside preparing for the baseball playoffs this week. She been enjoying the cooler weather, is getting better at tossing a ball, has her baseball cap and is ready to go! I just haven't had the heart to tell her that most of the games start after her bedtime.

I'll never...

One of my favorite James Bond movies suggested that you "never say never again" and I have proved that twice in the last week. My first was entering a movie theater at 9'oclock in the morning, something that just doesn't feel right to begin with, and then when confronted with Elmo and about 30 moms it felt even less so. It would appear I am one of the few and proud dads that can make an Elmo run on a random Wednesday morning. Then a week later I find myself playing the "where's your belly button, now where's my belly button" game in seat 20C of a regional jet streaking home on a Monday morning surrounded by 90 business professionals all headed to the capital for a busy work week. It turns out, both for Sydney and I, this is a whole new world of experiences.

Carry Me

To be honest, we probably pick her up too much when she should be walking around, but if this face is looking up at you, what choice do you really have? :)

Precocious?

I don't know if it's possible for a 16 month old to be sassy, but this picture was taken moments after I specifically indicated that, "We don't try to eat the floor and we don't lick the handle on your play baby stroller." Mmmmm...stroller handle.

Bring a Friend!

After her first visit, Sydney couldn't wait to bring a friend to the farm park, so Natalie accompanied her. For some reason, the theme song to Laverne and Shirley comes to mind when I look at this picture. Shortly after, a cow almost digested most of Natalie's shirt and it's unlikely she'll be back for some time without counseling. (Photo Credit to Maggie)

Animals

We recently took Sydney to a farm park where she was enthralled with the pigs, horses, goats and cows. She howled when a goat stuck it's tongue out and we're still not sure if she was afraid or was laughing hysterically.

Scholarship

It's never to early to start looking so Maggie and I took in Harvard Square while visiting Boston this weekend (without Sydney and during which we slept as much as possible!). We wanted to bring back pictures so she knows what Harvard looks like and we've started spelling out the word scholarship with her bath letters because we sure as hell can't afford it. I'm not even sure what it costs but as they say, "If you have to ask...." :)