Wild Nights: Part 2

See the post below if interested in the bedtime routine at our house.

Sydney, also known as "Sticky Fingers," swiped a tube of Aveda foot cream from my room and smuggled it into her room. As I climbed the stairs one evening that lovely Aveda smell started to suffocate me. Never thought I would be sick of it, but Sydney had emptied almost the entire bottle of foot cream. She had a thick, white coat on her legs and her hair, well, just check out the photos below. She also shared and coated Webster (her frog). The clean-up was just as bad as the night she coated herself in Vaseline.

There is a reason why her nickname is Sid Vicious.

Wild nights

The kid experts recommend that we have a bedtime routine. We do. We change Sydney, read to her (Amy), sing ABCs (Brian), then tuck her in and rub her back. Phase 2 of the routine is Sydney empties the contents of dresser, pulls all books out of the book case and tries to empty any jars, tubes or bottles of any substance. We keep a constant vigil to make sure stuff is not left in Syd's room.

She often pulls together different ensembles. These are her shorts.

A couple nights ago she put a winter hat on and different socks on each hand. She told Brian and I that she was going to space.

Back bLogged: Beautify America. Wear a hat!

Sydney's idea of spring cleaning this past April was to put on a fashion show.

Back bLogged: Waiting

Brian sent this photo to me in December. He called it "Mommy" because Sydney is waiting for me at the front door.

It won't be long and we'll be the ones waiting at the front door for her.

Sydney just asked recently why I go to work. I explained what I do, but I'm pretty sure she thinks I just stare at the cool construction projects on campus, play with the fun toys at the Speech lab, run on the trails and eat at the cereal bar all day. My guess is she thinks Brian goes to Mackey just to climb on the arena's steps, then walk around the football stadium's concourse.

There are a few days when Syd suggests I don't need to go to work. I remind her that I need to go help people. One day, Brian explained to her that I go to work to make sure we have extra money to pay for her "My Friends Pooh and Tigger" TV show. Sydney thought about it, then said, "What about food?" Smart kid.

Back bLogged: Hi Kitty

This photo is from March. It looks like Sydney is finishing her masterpiece but really she was starting to dissemble. She did hand me the pieces when I put it together.

Sydney's vocabulary and pronunciation are solid, but she does have some quirks. Just until recently, she called "Hello Kitty" ... "Hi Kitty." :)

Road Runners

Sydney has participated in two 5Ks this spring. Her and Brian 'walked' a Purdue 5k in April. She had a blast, and continues to bring up her first race every time we past where the event started and finished.

These photos are from her second race. We 'ran' the JCM5k in May. Long story, but sometimes you just have to work with what you've got ... hence why were running with our baby stroller and not my cool, all-terrain jogging stroller.

It was quite chilly and very windy during the race.

The expression on Sydney's face is a good indicator that she is having a blast.

And yes, Sydney did beat me :) (Actually, the race announcer said we were first to finish in the 'stroller category' but I'm not sure if that's official.)

Now that the weather is warmer and I am not taking classes any more, I'm able to really get back to running. I ran a 10K two weekends ago, and this is my first week of formal training for a mini-marathon that I'm running in August. So far so good. I'm just looking forward to being outdoors ... and running something called the Hog Jog as part of my training.

Four months later

My blog slacking means I've been remiss about celebrating my new nephew.

Bennett will be four months old this week. What an amazing and sweet little boy. Of course, he has the most wonderful parents. (More info here: http://thepeellefamily.blogspot.com/)

Here are some photos from their first West Lafayette visit.

Sydney chats with the professional Mommy about the best way to care for an infant.

This image is pretty obvious. Sydney is making Jackie smell Baby Nora to see if she needs a diaper change. (Sydney's twin baby dolls, Nick and Nora, are named for Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man movies)

Sydney follows Jackie's lead on proper swaddling technique.

Yes, we are all smitten with the little guy.

According to Sydney, anything baby-related means it's Bennett-related. Sydney does well with Bennett, but it does make her anxious when I hold him.