Happy Birthday, Sydney!

Her one year check-up clocked her in at 18.8 pounds. Briton weighed 19 pounds at 12 months old – so I guess she takes after him in that department. She’s eating really well now: oatmeal/ten grain, Costco samples, pizza, crayons, Karren’s filet mignon (she's got 12 teeth - 4 of them are molars), green beans, broccoli, pretzels. She really digs Yo-baby yogurt and Godiva chocolates. She still pretty much refuses a bottle but is taking a lot more fluids by sippy cup and straw. "Fluids" does not include milk. She doesn't seem to like it all that much - which is too bad, since we are down to twice a day nursing. In about a week we’ll cut out the night-time nursing session. Keep your fingers crossed.

She does this “ooooh” sound that is delightful. Sometimes when I neglect her, after awhile I’ll wonder how she’s entertaining herself. When I spy on her, sometimes I’ll find her in the book corner, absorbed in turning page after page and “oooh-ing” at each picture.

She crawls fast. Super fast. It seems like every other kid at church who is younger than she is, is already walking. But Syd prefers the crawl mode for now. Or the carry mode. I carry her a lot. She is cuddly. My heart melts when she relaxes her head against my shoulder. She loves music and being danced. She shakes and clicks together any shakeable and clickable object. Her verbal skills, besides fussing, include babababa-ing, mamamama-ing, and a sound that I swear means, “What’s that?” It’s a sweet “Whattsat?”

Sydney has beautiful eyes. She does this thing when you’re holding her, where she grabs your chin with her fist and turns your face so that you are staring straight at her. Then she grins and laughs. If you turn your head away again, she will immediately grab your chin and turn your head back to face her. Repeat. She also pat-pats your arm or shoulder when you hold her; her face absolutely lights up when she’s excited; she enjoys pushing the shopping cart around; she sucks her two left main fingers; she locks her legs together, at the ankles, with incredible force.

She is very playful. She’s been interested in putting toys into buckets. She is not interested in stacking blocks. She gets by with a one-hour nap at noon. But she also goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. Practically every night. Without a fuss. That is waaaaay cool. She sleeps until 6 a.m., because she is in the habit of having her early-morning nursing session. But then she’ll sleep again for another hour. We love you so much! You bring light to our lives.

(Written on February 17th)