Playing Catch

Sydney's favorite ball is her red ball with little spikes all over it that I got at LinensNThings. It's actually a massage ball. She asks to play catch with it often. Here is a video of her and Andrew throwing the ball back and forth in the living room. I thought it was pretty fun to watch them.

 

Sydney's Day!

This morning we took Sydney to the Stay and Play in Old Saybrook. We don't go too often just because it is a little out of the way, but now that' we're moving we thought we should go one more time. Sydney had a blast! She's not a fan on the slide (she'll climb all the way to the top, sit down on the slide then change her mind) but she loved the soft climbing equipment like the little trampoline. It was pretty busy as there was a birthday party going on as well. We stayed about 40 minutes then stopped in Niantic on the way home for lunch at Illiano's, a great Italian pizzeria. After we got home, the Qin's called inviting friends over the the Poquonock playground for a playdate. We've driven past it many times but had never actually visited the park. My favorite thing is that it has the nice, soft padded flooring instead of wood chips. They playground is pretty neat with lots of slides and obstacles I'd never seen before. Sydney's favorite was a slide that had dozens of rolling bars that you sat on and rolled down. The lighter you are, the slower the roll which worked out just fine for her. We met up with the Qin's, the Vanderweele's and the Steele's and stayed about an hour. Here is a picture of Sydney and Evelyn sitting on a "couch" on a moving platform. They loved sitting while the grownups made the platform see-saw back and forth. 

Afterwards we went out for dinner at the ninety-nine restaurant. We all had such a great time. It's sad that soon we will all be going our separate ways with the Navy, except for the Qin's. They will just have to come visit us in Boston!

By the time it was Sydney's bedtime she was pretty beat. It was quite a day for her! She really deserved it too with Andrew and I being busy with the move. We were overdue for a Sydney Day!

Peanut Butter

At Sydney's nursery school the teachers sing the "Peanut Butter Song". I started singing it with her at home and it's quickly become one of her favorite songs. We sing it everywhere--at the doctor's office, at the grocery store, etc. I took a short video of her singing it. You can't understand the first half because she gets camera shy but you can make out the second half.

The lyrics are:

"A peanut sat on a railroad track.

It's heart was all a flutter.

Around the bend came Number 10.

Toot-Toot! Peanut Butter, Squish!"

Sea World!

We started the morning with breakfast at the hotel restaurant. We ate outside near a fish pond that Sydney watched intently searching for signs of fish. We all enjoyed our meals and I realized this was the first day I didn't feel morning sickness after eating. I was going to have a great vacation! Afterwards we arrived at the park. It was not crowded and the park let everyone in about 20 minutes early. We had the best 

time from start to finish! All of the animals and fish were so active and busy. The polar bear exhibit had polar bears wrestling, diving and swimming all through the water. I didn't know they were such agile swimmers or that they could stay under for so long. Andrew took Sydney through a "polar bear cave" that she thought was great until she heard a loud bear growling over the speaker. She wasn't sure it was such a good idea to walk through the cave, but she got over it.

When we were back outside deciding where to go next we saw about ten

flamingoes standing around on a grassy area without any fence separating them from a crowd of people. We went over to see them and I was just in awe. They didn't wander off and they

 let people get right up to them. When Andrew sat down on the curb a flamingo came over and starting pecking at his hair! It was so funny. Then the sea world staff rounded the birds up and walked them like a class of students through the park back to their "flamingo cove". It was

 so fun to see.

Lunch was the highlight of the day. We got to have it with Shamu! We sat at a table next to Shamu's pool and watched him swim and do tricks. It was such a treat. The food was excellent and served buffet style. The first trick Shamu did was to come up right at our table and pose for a few seconds. Sydney's eyes became wide and she exclaimed "I see a whale!" After our lunch we saw the Shamu show "Believe". By then Sydney was pretty tired and fell asleep in my arms right at the show began and missed the whole thing. Oh well. She did get to see the dolphin show earlier in the day and really enjoy that. I was worried the Orcas would get us wet (we were the last row up in the "soak zone") but we escaped the splash. Lots of other people didn't though! It was amazing to see how far the whales could splash!

We ended the day at the Sesame Place Bay of Play. It's a mini Sesame Place in the park. While Sydney was playing at the matted playground I spotted Elmo and Zoe out posing for pictures. I scooped up Sydney as fast as I could (she was not happy to leave) put on her shoes and took her over for a picture. She got a little shy but she went over with Elmo and Zoe and posed for a picture. She is getting out of the Elmo stage a bit but I had to get this photo...I me

an how often do you get to meet Elmo!

We also saw a 3-D Sesame Street movie. I tried to get Sydney to keep her glasses on but she wasn't interested in wearing them. This show had special effects and at different points in the movie water would spray from the ceiling or from the back of the chairs to go along with the movie (rain, etc). Sydney didn't mind it the first time but the second and third time she was not happy and started to cry. I don't think anyone liked getting wet.

We stayed until the park closed at 5:00 then went out for mexican for dinner. A balloon man came over and I had flashbacks to the scary balloon man on stilts at the Margaritaville restaurant at the Mohegan Sun. Sydney was very freaked out by the strange looking man. This time she did ok, but she didn't want to wear the hat. The man made a poodle sitting on a hat, or "a dog gone hat" as he called it. Haha, I know. 

When we got back to the hotel I gave Sydney a bath and we all

 went straight to bed. Sydney again shared my pillow and we all got a peaceful night of sleep.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

Today we left for the west coast to visit Andrew's parents for a long weekend. They live in Arizona, but instead of flying to their place, we met up in San Diego to take Sydney to Sea World. Our flight left this afternoon with a stop in Michigan. We landed in San Diego at 9:30 pm, or 12:30 am EST. Sydney flew without a car seat for the first time and I have to say she did a super job. I was really proud of her. Andrew and I brought lots of snacks, toys, DVD's, her favorite blanket and pillow to keep her comfortable. The toughest part was when she fell asleep around 10 pm and would wake up off and on upset she couldn't roll to her stomach. I put her on my lap and she slept until we landed. Her sleeping on my lap turned out to be the best thing because when we finally got to our hotel room all she wanted to do was share my pillow and she said "hug me mama". When we got to the airport Grandma and Grandpa were there with big smiles to meet us. There were videos of Sea World playing on screens around the airport and Sydney would get excited saying "Sea World!" We are all really excited for the big day ahead! 

Sydney on the Zipline

That's right, not Andrew or I, but Sydney went ziplining today. Our friends the Qins have a zipline that Q constructed for their two year old son Andrew. Q honestly reminds of the dad in the movie "The Goonies". His son "Data" always had inventions on him that he and his Dad worked on. Anyway, Q used a teflon cord that ran from the stairs outside their house to a small tree. He put a stopper several feet away from the tree so the kids would stop well before it but the stop was so abrupt the first time little Andrew tried it that I went and stood at the end to catch them. For the seat Q used a doorway jumper seat. I have to say I had my reservations at first about the safety of the zipline. Laura had taken videos of their Andrew (as opposed to "my Andrew") zipping down the line that I saw a couple days before and it looked safe and fun, but it was different standing there and seeing it yourself thinking "I'm going to send my kid on that?" It took about 40 minutes for Q, with Andrew's help, to get the kinks out. When the line was tight and secure, the kids took turns ziplining with Q holding them at the start, Andrew keeping the cord high so they wouldn't touch the ground (because the cord would sink a bit with their weight), me catching them at the end and Laura taking videos. After a few trips the cord started to get too much slack to stay high enough off the ground so we stopped, but Sydney was not ready to call it a day. She loved it. She and Andrew are both fearless. I don't think I was that brave as a kid. Here are a couple of videos of Sydney on the zipline.

Sydney's Favorite Things

I have a lot of old Parents magazines that I've held on to because of articles I wanted to keep. I finally decided to tear out the articles and toss out the magazines to save on space. As I was tearing articles I also cut out pictures of things Sydney likes (tv characters, favorite foods, toys, animals, etc.). Today she picked out pictures she liked and glued them on paper to make a collage. At first she glued the pictures down but as she got tired I added the glue while she picked the pictures and where to place them. Her collages turned out really nice. I thought I would share so you could see what she's into lately.

Getting Through the Dark Ages

My friend Crystal and her husband Robert had a "Getting Through the Dark Ages" party and invited friends over to celebrate. When I first saw the email I thought Dark Ages? but it was a party to celebrate the "dark ages" of winter and the theme was a Hawaiian Luau! It was actually Robert who threw the party, emailing out the invitiations, getting decorations and cooking all of the food.

Crystal and the girls dressed up in their hawaiian dresses. I had dressed Sydney in a summer dress with straps but I just couldn't imagine her staying warm so I put her in pants and a summer t-shirt. As soon as we arrived at the party I realized Sydney would have been perfectly fine in her dress because the heat was cranked up. It felt so good to be out of the cold! Robert made delicious appetizers--mango coconut bread, kim chee dip--yep an actual kim chee dip that everyone devoured with blue corn chips. For dinner Robert served Lau Lau with pork and chicken, mini spam burgers in sweet Hawaiian bread (another hit), kalua pork and jasmine rice. Crystal was in charge of baking and made the cutest cupcakes with different hawaiian themed toppings. It would take too long to explain so I took pictures. Yep, the teddy grahams are wearing icing for bathing suits! Everyone had such a blast. I was definitely a great way to get through the dark ages of winter! Thanks Crystal and Robert!

Visiting Family

For President's Day Weekend we went down to Maryland to visit my family. We stayed with my Mom and whenever we do, Andrew and I usually try to make one of the nights a date night. This past Saturday happened to be Valentine's Day which worked out perfectly. We went to the Macaroni Grill, one of my favorite restaurants. We used to go out on dates to the Macaroni Grill and since becoming a navy wife I haven't lived near any. I was glad I made reservations because the wait was pretty long being Valentine's Day. It was nice to be able to talk uninterrupted and our meals were excellent. I had rigatoni in a marsala sauce, so delicious, and Andrew had Tuscan Alfredo. We came home afterwards to put Sydney to bed--parenthood never ends :)--because Sydney had been having trouble falling asleep on her own being in a new place. We had planned to see a movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" after dinner with my sister Bianca and her boyfriend Hariz but we put it off until Sydney's nap the next day. If you've read the series the movie is nothing at all like the books. Movies never are anyway.
The next day, Sunday, we spent with my Dad and his wife. My Dad is Indian and when the family gets together--my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins--I get to eat some of my favorite Indian dishes. This time my family served coconut rice, dal (a dish made with cooked lentils or split peas with onions and cumin. It's kind of like a gravy that you mix with the rice), a spiced yogurt salad (also to go with the rice), chicken curry and chapati bread. I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures of everything. This little weekend getaway was just what we needed after being cooped up in our house from the cold, wet weather. Next time we go down will be in April when we leave Connecticut. Andrew reports to Boston in May so we'll take some time to visit family and friends again.

International Spy Museum

Washington DC has an Internation Spy Museum that Andrew and I have wanted to go for some time. Andrew decided we should go weekend since we were in the area and I thought it was a super idea. We took Sydney and my Mom, sister and her boyfriend came with us. We took the metro to the Galleria Place/Chinatown stop and saw the museum was right next to the station. Once inside we were prompted to get in an elevator and go up a floor. The elevator took us to a room with large postcards of different identities. We were each supposed to pick one identity and memorize his/her name, age, occupation, where they were born, where they were going, reason for visit and length of stay. The identity we picked would be our own and we would be quizzed later on. I was already hooked! The museum showed the progression of spy technology, how it was used, how spies operated and what happened when they were caught. It was like a completely new history lesson...one I'd never learned of in school. There were displays of spy gagets, computer simulation games where you looked at a man/woman and had to spot them disguised in a crowd, even an air ducts to crawl through. Andrew found the duct first saying "you've got to try this!" So we all went up the stairs and Sydney lead the way crawling about 10 feet to the other side where Andrew was waiting. It was like being Jack Bauer in 24! At one point there were computers with touch screens that asked several questions about our "identity". I answered all of the questions correctly, but then I was given more information to memorize and at the very end of the exhibits I took the second test and the suspicion level went up with each question I answered...uh-oh. When I got my results the computer said I was detained by the foreign ministry. Oh well, at least I know I wasn't meant to be a spy, hehe. We all had a great time. I almost felt like I didn't have enough time to take it all in there was so much information. Famous spies, celebrity spies (chef Julia Child was a former spy) and even military intelligence. I would recommend visiting this museum if you are in DC and you've seen all of the must see attractions...the monument, air and space museum, etc. Afterwards we had lunch in Chinatown. Sydney enjoyed vegetable Lo Mein and the rest of us picked our usual favorites. We just had the best day! Here is a picture of Sydney at the gift shop with her "spy hat."

Sick Sick Sick!

What a week! Monday started off well...everyone was healthy...or so I thought. Sydney and I had a little cough over the weekend that seemed like nothing. But by Tuesday we were miserable with fevers and aches. Sydney's temperature hung around 102 from Tuesday until Friday. I took her to the doctor on Thursday and he said it was a bad cold. She had gotten the flu mist a couple months back so I wasn't worried she had caught the flu. Yet even with alternating motrin and tylenol her fever kept coming back day after day. We watched quite a lot of TV (Finding Nemo countless times, Elmo DVD's, playhouse disney, etc). I didn't have the energy to do anything. I didn't take anything to be on the safe side even though there are some meds you can take while you're pregnant. But my fever wasn't as high, 100.4, and rest seemed to be doing the best thing for me. Andrew didn't get sick thank goodness. He made several grocery trips for medicine, jello, popsicles and such. Sydney's fever finally broke on Saturday and you could see the difference right away. She was alert and full of energy again. Her appetite is slowly coming back, with tonight being the first meal she wanted to eat (fish sticks, mac and cheese and watermelon) her favorites. It was tough taking care of a sick child while being sick at the same time, but it's just as tough explaining that we can't watch tv and eat popsicles all day long and "no, I can't carry you up and down the stairs anymore." Ahhh. But I am really glad we're feeling better :)

Great News!

It's official! Andrew was accepted into MIT! Andrew mailed in his application in November and it's been a long wait to hear if he got in. Last week Andrew got an email from his detailer saying he had seen the preview list with Andrew's name on it. Andrew called me right away. Yesterday we received MIT's letter in the mail. I'm so glad we know now. Waiting was so difficult. I wanted to know so we could start planning our move. We are going to leave here in April and take time to visit family before moving up to Boston. Andrew has to report in May and starts classes in June. He's accumulated so much leave that he needs to use now before grad school. We're really excited! Congratulations Andrew!
We called our families today to share the news and to tell them we are going to have another baby. We had different ideas about how to give the news but we figured telling everyone on the phone was the easiest way and we'd get to hear everyone's reaction. I've bought some books to read to Sydney about being a big sister and waiting for the baby to arrive. I'll start reading those to her when I start to show and Sydney starts to notice my belly. How exciting. It all seems to be falling into place right now. I've had to remind myself be patient these last few months and remember that it's out of my hands, it's really in God's hands.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Why is it that no matter how much snow and cold weather we get during winter, on Groundhog's day it's always sunny?! Now we get six more weeks of winter to go along with the already freezing winter. I know, it's just a story, but I find it a little ironic nonetheless. Anyway if spring is anything like it was last year we won't be getting above 50 degrees until May. Brrr.
Sydney had her first solo day of nursery school. I was so proud of her! When I dropped her off this morning I asked her teachers not to call me. We're past the point of me needing to stay anymore and I just had to say no more. The kids were headed straight to the playground and Sydney cried when I left, and I knew she'd cry when they came back into the classroom, but the teachers need to be reassuring her, not me. Plus she likes the other kids and they seem to really like her. Sydney and another girl have identical winter hats and the girl told her mom today she wanted to wear her "Sydney hat". How sweet is that! When I picked her up her teacher said she did better. Go Sydney! She just needed a little time to figure it out. When she saw me at the classroom door to pick her up she looked surprised, saying "Hi Mama! Hi Mama!" That's a really great feeling :)

Chinese New Year

My friend Crystal invited friends over to celebrate the Chinese New Year. She is Chinese and she made a wonderful dinner of authentic Chinese dishes and desserts. It was more than she prepared at Thanksgiving and it was all delicious!!! Her dishes included dumplings, pork lo mein, vegetables, sticky rice, steamed rice cupcakes, Chinese egg custard tarts, and a traditional Chinese New Year's cake. That's about half of the dishes but I can't remember the rest! Everyone helped themselves buffet style going for seconds and thirds. Sydney helped herself to colored steamed rice cupcakes before and after her meal so needless to say she was not very hungry when it was time to eat...but how could she resist those pink, blue and green cupcakes when they were just in her reach? They were a hit with the other children too. Crystal set up a small, low asian table for the kids to eat at and the adults sat around the dinning table. Her daughters were beautifully dressed in matching outfits. Everyone enjoyed tonights' menu and had a great time chatting the evening away!

A Big Bed for A Big Girl

Today is the big day! Sydney moved from her crib to a toddler bed. We decided to wait until now to move her into a bed because she was sleeping so well in her crib (she wasn't trying to climb out) that there was no rush. But now that we will be moving in May we thought it would be good to get her used to a bed before getting used to a new room. We've been talking to her about her new bed for a little while and when it arrived in it's large box this week she knew it was "Sydney's new bed". I bought lavender sheets to match what was already in her room. Unfortunately these toddler sheets are so small that I can't tuck them under the mattress even without Sydney in the bed. I will have to find twin sheets instead. We looked around for a toddler pillow but found that Andrew's "pillow blanket" that his uncle made for him several years ago is small enough and thin enough for Sydney to comfortably lay her head on, and it fits in the small lavender pillow case. Sydney watched as Andrew took apart her crib and said "bye bye" to it. Then I took her downstairs so Andrew could put her new bed together. As soon as she saw it she immediately climbed on it and started scrambling all over it, getting off and on, laying down, getting up, over and over again. I put on her bedding and she commented that it was purple and looked over the design of the quilt. Usually Andrew and I trade nights putting her to bed but tonight we did it together so we could both see how she did getting into her bed for the first time. Andrew read her books then she sat with me and I explained that she had to lay down in her bed and she had to wait for mommy and daddy to come to get up (we'll see how long that lasts but at least we have a start). When I closed her door and started heading downstairs I heard her exclaim "Sydney did it...I did it!!!" Andrew and I looked at each other thinking uh-oh. I went back in her room and she was still laying in her bed. She said "Sydney did the books" which I'm thinking meant she put the books Andrew read to her back on the shelf. She couldn't see them as well from her crib and she was probably enjoying the new view. She did fall out once about 20 minutes after putting her down but that was to be expected. She flops all over her crib when she's falling asleep and the toddler sheets are too short to hold her in. We heard her say something and then a big boom and lots of crying. We raced up to her room and saw she was ok, just shaken. Luckily she wasn't afraid of laying back down asking us to get the comforter that had fallen on the floor. When she bumped into the rail a second time I stayed with her and laid on the floor next to her bed until she fell asleep. It'll just take some time for her to get used to her new bed. I'm really happy she likes it. As I was lying next to her bed she asked me "Mommy like Sydney bed?" I said "yes Mommy likes Sydney's bed".

Elmo Live!

We invited our friends the Qin's and the Steele's to see "When Elmo Grows Up" with us. The show was at the Ryan Center in Kingston RI. We started out with breakfast with Laura and Q at the Groton Townhouse. Then we made our way over to the show. It started at 10:30am and ended after 12:00. It was a really cute show with lots of songs. The best part was that every sesame street character was in it. Sydney's favorite is Zoe and she had a big part so we saw her quite a bit. During intermission we bought Sydney binoculars from the souvenir stand. She didn't need them to see the stage but it was a little cheaper than the other items and she enjoyed playing with it. Afterwards we all went out for pizza. The pizza was actually really really good. From there everyone parted ways and we went up to Boston. We will be hearing in a few weeks if Andrew was accepted to the graduate program at MIT so we drove around Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford to get an idea of what the housing is like. It's nothing at all like our GMH housing (I still call it GMH even though it's name has changed). Anyway, we drove past MIT (it was way too cold and windy to walk around) and we made a stop at the Children's Museum. We had about a half hour left before they closed at 5:00 but at least Sydney had a chance to move around and stretch her legs. We made our usual stop for dinner at the Chateau in Waltham for their famous toasted ravioli. Sydney enjoyed it along with clam chowder soup, a side of butternut squash (the veg. of the day) and bread. I hope Sydney's tummy can handle eating three meals out in one day. We got home at 9:30. Sydney was asleep in the car. The great thing now is that she can wake up when we park, I'll change her clothes, and she'll go right back to sleep in her crib. What a busy day!

Back to school

It was back to school for Sydney today after the holiday and even though the teachers asked me to spend the second half of class with her, she started to relax and have fun. They played outside about 45 minutes while I was at the library (I'm glad I bundled Sydney up in her snowsuit!) and when they came in she started to cry. The crying is ok it's just that it's a very loud cry and her teachers shared that the kids will cover their ears. So I came over and played with her, trying to keep her distracted from getting upset. We played with a train set, crayons and playdoh. She wanted to paint at the easel but didn't want her teacher to put on her smock. I wasn't going to put it on for her so she missed out. But at least she was playing and not walking around in tears. After free play the kids sat down for circle. Sydney started to fuss for me to sit next to her so I explained "Mommy is going to sit in the chair and Sydney is going to sit on the floor." She accepted it and sang with the class and listened to a story about snow. Their activity was to make a snowman face by using a glue stick to glue a black hat cut from construction paper onto a white paper plate. Then they used black and orange crayons to draw the snowman's eyes, nose and mouth. I stood back about five feet or so as she made her snowman. Next was snack time and she cried that I wouldn't follow her into the bathroom, but she was coming right back. She enjoyed an english muffin pizza and milk (quite a snack!) and afterwards the kids looked at books until the last circle time. They put their coats on (Sydney let Mrs. Cometa help her) and they sat on the carpet. In the meantime I wiped a child's nose and quietly ducked out to wash my hands. As I was coming back I noticed she was quiet so I stayed outside the classroom. The other parents had arrived so I waited with them. Sydney's name was called to leave the classroom. She started to cry but saw I was right there and was ok. So all in all it was a good day. We can only get better from here!

Another Freezing Day...Brrr!

None of the snow from the last two snowfalls has begun to melt because of the freezing temps. I was hoping to take Sydney out to play yesterday when it was snowing but it was only in the single digits! Luckily she wasn't asking to go out and play in the snow. I didn't even go out to bring any inside. Even Hazel rushes to come back in after going out to do her business. Except that as soon as she's in she wants to go back out. I feel bad for her in the winters. She goes from getting 1-2 30 minute walks a day to hardly any walks at all for months. I can see the difference when friends come over. She's crazy, poor thing! The park is out of the question because it's one big mud pool from the ice and snow. But at least we're getting snow. I'd hate to suffer this cold weather without any flakes to make up for it. I'm just glad I'm not commuting the hour I used to commute when I was teaching in MD but living in VA. Especially when the VA schools were closed but the MD schools weren't. That was fun. Now I get to stay home and enjoy the snow with Sydney!
Since starting nursery school our playdates have moved to Fridays. I am very happy about this because it was really hard to give up the playdates which were on the same days as Sydney's school. Now our schedule is Monday - school, Tuesday - free, Wednesday - school, Thursday - Music Together, Friday - playdate. We met at Mary's house this morning. Sydney was happy to see everyone, naming everyone she'd see as we were getting ready to leave the house. It's so funny to watch how the kids interact. They are much more aware of each other then they were a few months ago.
My neighborhood, like many others, becomes a ghost town in the winter. It's especially weird in military housing where you bond with neighbors going through similar experiences as you. In the summer everyone is outside chatting and the kids are riding bikes and playing with sprinklers. In the wintertime it's the playdates and potlucks that give us the chance to bond and catch up on what is happening in our lives. So Sydney's playdates are as much fun for me as they are for her!

Sydney's second day of school

Last week Sydney started attending the Ledyard center nursery school. She goes on Mondays and Wednesdays but we had a snow day on Wednesday. I wasn't happy that we'd have to start all over after having a pretty good start on Monday. We walked into the building and to the classroom door. So far so good. I took off her coat and she went straight inside the classroom. Ms. Cometa reminded Sydney she had to come back out of the room to wash her hands first and that's when she broke down. She came out of the room and wanted to go to the exit door instead. Ms. Cometa had to come pick her up and take her to the bathroom as I left. About an hour later I got a call from the center saying Sydney was having some trouble and was crying off and on. They asked if I could come stay with her or I could take her home if I wanted to. When I got there the class was in a different play room. I saw Sydney and she was crying, holding her family photo and walking around with her bookbag on. It broke my heart. She saw me and came right over. She then pointed out a large, purple plush horse that a classmate had brought in to share. She told me "horsie". I asked her what color it was to help keep her calm. She said purple and started bawling again. When it was time to leave the room and go back to the classroom Sydney just fell apart trying hard not to go back in the classroom. I thought that was enough for one day, we'll pick back up on Wednesday. There was only about 10 minutes left before the end of class so she didn't miss too much.
In the afternoon when I talked to her about school she shared that she read "The Kissing Hand", had a cookie for snack, and danced to the hokey pokey. I know she is enjoying school. She just has to get used to enjoying it without me. At least for two hours, twice a week!

Gloop

Gloop is kind of like playdoh but it's a lot more gooey. I used to make it when I was teaching and the kids loved to mold it, squish it or just hold it and watch it slowly stretch out of their hands all the way to the floor. I made a batch for Sydney to see how she would like it. She likes playdoh so I thought she would enjoy this too. I didn't have a recipe on hand and I couldn't remember the measurements so I looked online. The first recipe I tried did not turn out very well. It was so sticky no matter how much I mixed it in my hands. Yuck. Today I found a recipe that had five star ratings (a good sign) and it looked similar to the one I remember. It worked out perfectly, just like I remembered it :) I made it green with food coloring since that is Sydney's favorite color and gave her a plastic knife to cut it up with. Cookie cutters work well too but gloop is not really a solid and becomes a flat pancake if you don't touch it. So weird to watch. Andrew, Sydney and I sat for a half hour at the table molding it, watching its gooeyness...it was so much fun. I have it in an air tight container so we'll be playing with it for several weeks. Next time I'll use red coloring. I'll post the recipe if you'd like to make it. If pieces get stuck to your child's clothes gently pull them off or soak clothing in water and rub off. Enjoy! Gloop:

What you'll need

8 ounces white craft glue
1 cup water

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons Borax (in the laundry aisle of the supermarket). You can also ask me for some if you don't want to buy a whole box.

Directions:

1. Pour the glue into a large bowl. Add 1 cup water and stir until the glue and water blend.

2. Add a few drops of paint (I added food coloring) and stir until mixed well. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, or measuring cup, stir together the warm water and borax powder until the powder dissolves.

4. Slowly pour the borax and water into the glue mixture, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Even after gloop forms.

5. Knead the gloop with your hands until smooth and stretchy.

6. When done playing, store in an air tight container.

Family Sledding Day

My friend's the Qins invited us and our friends the Steeles to go sledding at their house. They have a large yard with a nice long hill great for sledding. Laura and Q bought up a sled for Andrew at BabiesRUs that has a back and straps to hold him in. Q, being an engineer, devised a plan for the kids to safely enjoy the sled. He put used a pulley system where two pulleys were attached to a cord going from the house to the fence. Then he used a second string that ran through the pulleys with one end attached to the sled and the other end attached to a toy stacking ring. What would happen was the Dads would take kids on the sled down to the bottom of the hill. Then they would walk back up to the top of the hill, hold the toy ring and run down the hill as kids would be pulled up the hill. They loved it so much! Sydney would squeal and say "wahoo!". It was so funny. I think she must have done it about 10 times. I pulled her once, it was not as fast as Andrew but she was still grinning. The Steeles brought extra sleds and yummy lasagna that my friend Mary made but Whitnee won at the Military Spouses club auction. It's a small world in the military. After sledding for about 30-40 minutes I took Sydney inside for some hot cocoa. When everyone else came in we had lasagna. It was sooo good. What a great way to spend a snow day with friends!

Potluck

I hosted a potluck/playdate at my home today with friends in my neighborhood. My friend Jessica usually hosts these get-togethers but she is now in FL with her family while her husband is out to sea. In the meantime I thought it would be nice to host at potluck at my place so we could all continue to see each other. I made my favorite butternut squash soup, foccacia bread pizza, a mac and cheese casserole and a salad. My friend Crystal made delicious cheesecake brownies (I was ordered by Andrew to save some for him) Allison brought an apple cake and Jean brought a quiche. Altogether there were six kids including Sydney and they had a blast playing with Sydney's toys. At first when everyone arrived Sydney stayed back in the TV room and wanted me to stay with her. I told her we had to be with our guests and that she could stay back but mom was going to talk to everyone. Then as the kids started to play she felt more comfortable and started to play too. She and Gabrielle played with wooden puzzles while the boys enjoyed played with Sydney's kitchen.
The potlucks are have been from 12-2 which Sydney has a hard time staying up for because she is usually asleep by 1:00. We're normally the first ones to leave when she begins to get tired. Today she started crying when she was eating her lunch (which was later than usual) and she spilled some soup on her dress. She doesn't wear dresses often and was very excited to wear the knitted dress that her grandma got her for Christmas. When I got her dressed this morning she ran around her room for several minutes excited that she was in a dress. So when she got it dirty, poor thing, she stared at it crying. I cleaned her up but she couldn't calm down. Andrew had come home by then since he was done with teaching so he put her down for nap. Well she was tired but not ready for a nap because everyone was at the party without her. I heard her cry from her room so I brought her back down. She was happy and went straight to playing with the kids. Everyone had a good time!

Music Together

This morning I took Sydney to her first Music Together class. I had been debating back and forth for weeks if I should put her in a Music Together class or continue the Toddler Dance Class she was in this past fall with Groton Rec. The Music together class is a lot more expensive and a further drive but I love that Miss Ana plays the guitar. Sydney is into playing anything that makes a sound right now (toy piano, guitar, drums) that I thought it would be great for her to see Ana play the guitar each week. And if you've read Christy's Birthday Party you saw how much Sydney loves Miss Ana too. Now I love the Toddler Dance class as well and would recommend it to anyone. Sydney loved it too which is what made the choice so hard. This morning she was singing Ms. Joy's "Roly Poly" song and ending it with "good job boys and girls" which is what Ms. Joy says.

Today's class was full of returning parents so the class was pretty active. The kids remembered Miss Ana well and were quick to try and sit in her lap as she played the guitar. It was super cute. Maybe later on Sydney will too. Miss Ana put egg shakers, scarves and small instruments in the middle of the floor for the kids to get to. I loved that there was enough for the parents too. It made it more fun. We also sang and danced around. Sydney was having so much fun that she leaned in when we were dancing and gave me a kiss. When we were putting on our shoes at the end of class she said "Thank you Mama". 

Sydney starts nursery school

Today was Sydney's first day at the Ledyard Nursery School. Her teachers had told parents of a new student joining their class and as we entered the school we were welcomed by the parents. Her teachers, Ms. Cometa and Ms. Fountaine were waiting for everyone at the classroom door to say the children would be going to the playground first. Sydney was ready to head into the classroom to the housekeeping center she played at when we met her teachers a couple weeks ago. But Ms. Fountaine gently said to Sydney they would be going outside. So she looked around, found the outside door and started to head toward it. A very good sign and a sigh of relief for me. I was happy that she was happy. I gave her the routine "hug, kiss, high-five" goodbye and left the school. I stayed in the next building at the library in case I got a call but after a half hour of quiet I went home to take care of a few things. When I got back a few parents were waiting outside the classroom door. The routine is that the parents wait and Ms. Fountaine dismisses the kids one by one. The kids were singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and I could hear Sydney's voice. Ms. Cometa said the kids made snow shakers with Kix cereal and listened to "Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?" She said that Sydney started to ask for me toward the end but no more than that. When Ms. Fountaine dismissed the first child Sydney tried to go with her and started to cry because she wanted to go too. She waited with Ms. Cometa at the door and I came to greet her. She was pretty upset by then so I took her to the bathroom to wipe her eyes and then we went to her cubby where I gave her her snow shaker. She smiled and calmed down enough to give her teachers high-fives. So we started and ended on a good note! A very good first day! On the way home in the car I asked Sydney a couple questions about school and she stared at me looking a little stressed so I quickly changed the topic to home, Hazel and lunchtime. Wednesday will be tougher because she knows what it's all about now, but she will get used to it and I know she will enjoy it.
Andrew and I had been thinking back and forth about when and where Sydney would start school. We had planned on putting her in preschool at age three. Up until now she had two playdates a week which was enough for her age. But my friend Laura told me about her son attending the nursery and that it had a ratio of two teachers to six toddlers. The class meets two days a week from 9:15-11:15. I thought this would be a good way to help Sydney transition to preschool where there would be two teachers and 20 kids. Laura's son is in the T-TH class which unfortunately was full so I enrolled her in the M-W class. That falls on the same day as our playdates but we will start meeting up on Fridays. We don't want to break up our great toddler trio!

Andrew's Birthday

Not my Andrew :) but my friend Laura's son Andrew. He turned two last Tuesday and they had a party for him today. Their house was filled with kids, parents and great food. My friend Whitnee made a choo choo train cake for Andrew's birthday cake. It looked amazing. It was chocolate cake with a layer of icing in the middle. Whitnee said it took her three hours to make. My Elmo cake for Sydney's birthday took me about that long and I just had to decorate a red furry face. We sang Happy Birthday and Andrew blew out his big "2" candle. He said "again" so Q relit the candle. After Andrew's second turn each child got a chance to blow out the candle. I was carrying Sydney so she could see the cake and when it was her turn I stood her on the table and she blew the candle out. I was impressed since a couple months ago for her birthday parties (she had three to get all of the family) I helped her blow out the candle each time. When we left tonight, Sydney, Andrew and Will gave each other hugs and high fives. They're a great little group!

A Girls' Day out in New York City

My friend Mary had yet to see the Rockefeller Tree since moving to CT and now that the Navy is about to move her family again she knew this could be her last chance to see the tree. So she emailed me if I would like to go along. Of course! I have been to New York City several times but had never seen the tree so it would be a first for me as well. We had a false start before Christmas when we had the big snowfall, but today the weather was sunny and beautiful. We took the train from Mystic to Penn Station and first visited the Empire State building. The wait was ridiculously long (2 1/2 hours) but worth it because I've always wanted to go up to the top but never had the time to wait in line. The view was spectacular, 25 miles visibility. The wind wasn't too bad until we rounded the last corner. I didn't even take any pictures at the end for fear I'd lose my camera. Next we walked to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. The streets were crowded but no where near what it would have been before Christmas. The tree was beautiful. I took a short video so Andrew could see the tree. He hasn't seen it either and was a little bummed about not going, but understood this was my first outing with a friend since Sydney was born.
While I was away for the day Andrew took Sydney to the Children's Museum. When I got home he told me they played at the museum for an hour and a half and he had to practically drag her out, hehe. She didn't ask for me until bedtime and I called her then to say goodnight. I didn't feel weird to be away from her because she was with Andrew. Anyone else and I probably would have called every couple hours. I was exhuasted when I got back home, but it was an awesome girls day!

Sydney's "Smiley Face"

This afternoon I brought Sydney's easel out so she could draw with dry erase markers. Before she started drawing she said "I make a smiley face". Well that's exactly what she did and I was surprised by how much her picture looked like a smiley face! As soon as she made the smile on the face I moved her away from the easel so I could take a picture. When she went back to her picture she added marks to the eyes. I asked her "can you draw ears on your smiley face" and she made scribbles on the left and right side of the face. I took a video and you can see her drawing hair on top of the face. Then I point out the ears and she scribbles again on the ears.
Yesterday we were coming home from the mall and Sydney was doodling on her magna doodle when she said "I make Baby Beluga". I turned around and looked at her picture and sure enough she made a circle with a triangle on the side like a fish. Andrew and I draw with her all the time but it's still amazing that she remembers our drawings and can recreate it herself. Pretty neat Sydney!

A New Year's Breakfast

For Christmas my sister Bianca and her boyfriend Hariz got me a zoo animal pancake pan. With today being New Year's Day I thought breakfast should be extra special so we had zoo animal pancakes. I made these pancakes the same way I made the puff pancakes a couple weeks ago. I just poured the batter until it filled each circle then used two forks to flip them back into place. I'm glad they were so easy to make. As excited as I was about making them I was worried I wouldn't be able to flip them properly or the animal faces wouldn't show through. But they came out really nicely. Sydney of course thought they were pretty cool. She is really into monkeys right now (she was wearing her pink monkey pj's and slippers at breakfast) and ate two monkey pancakes and one alligator pancake. My favorite was the lion pancake because it reminded me of the Lion King.