18 months

Sydney turned 18 months last Tuesday, which meant that we went to the doctor today for her 18 month checkup and vaccinations. This morning I tried to prepare her since she is more aware of strangers and people touching her now than when she was younger. She's developed a pretty strong sense of personal space lately. This morning, we talked about her Elmo video where Elmo goes to see the doctor and how the doctor had to make sure Elmo was health and happy. I told her the doctor would listen to her heart and look at her eyes and ears. She seemed excited about the whole thing and was talking to herself about doctors and Elmo all morning. However, when we actually got in the room she started to freak out a little bit. She liked the doctor to talk to her and he even played with her a little, but as soon as he wanted to touch her she lost it. Sydney doesn't like people she doesn't know to get to close to her, especially touch her. She just starts saying, "No, no no no no," louder and louder until they listen or she pushes them away. Anyway I'm pretty sure he couldn't really hear her heart or lungs. We got through it though. She remains a steady just below average as far as size. She's in the 40th percentile for height and weight. She weighed in at 24 lbs, and abt 31 1/2 in tall. She didn't like the nurse to measure her so that may be off by a little bit. Her head circumference was proportional to the 40th percentile too although I didn't get the number. She tolerated the shots as I expected. She cried when she got them and then calmed down when she saw her Hello Kitty bandaids :). Hopefully we won't have any reactions because we've had some fever and real fussiness in the past. On the way home though, we talked about how she went to the doctor, was brave, and how the doctor helped her to be healthy. She was happy again so overall I'm pretty pleased :). We'll see if she remembers when we go back in a few months...

Monument

On the weekend of the 11th we got to go to Monument, CO and visit my sister Audrey and her family. Sydney and I flew commercial while Andy flew himself. I didnt quite feel up to 7 hours in a small plane with Sydney climbing all over. Anyway, we got there on Friday. On Saturday, we hung out and then got ready to go the BYU vs Air Force game. I was nervous to leave because Sydney was in the middle of her nap so Audrey and I decided to tell the sitter to wait until Sydney woke up so they could be introduced. However, by the time Sydney woke up and we got to the base it was the beginning of the 4th quarter and they had closed the road to get ready for exit traffic. They wouldn't let us in! However it was nice to spend some time just Audrey and I and we met up with Andy, Bryant, and his parents after the game for dinner... and from what I hear we didn't miss much on the BYU end of things :/. The best part however was knowing that Sydney will do just fine with a sitter she doesn't know. She was happy and having fun when we got back! YES! That made it worth it. Other activities included hiking up to a bluff behind Audrey's house where we got some awesome family pictures, playing at the park, making smores and fruit empanadas, introducing Sydney to a trampoline with a tent around it so she could run free (and she was obsessed with it believe me), going to the indoor playground, and hanging out after all the kids went to bed. We had a lot of fun and I'm really glad Sydney got to know more of her cousins since my family is spread across the country. The trip back was quite an adventure with Sydney all by myself in the Denver airport. I hate to hate on Denver... its a really fun pretty city but seriously their airport layout seems a bit much. Since I was by myself with Sydney, our bags, her carseat, and her... she had to walk. So I get dropped off and have to wait in line to add her to my ticket since she's still in my lap.... then we have to go down a level (Elevator for sure because I can't really hold Sydney) to where security is. They have one security for all three terminals so the line was huge and Sydney actually was a trooper going back and forth through the queue since I had her on a child leash... but then we have to go on another elevator to get to the train to go to our actual terminal. After which we have to go another elevator to the actual gate level and have to walk like a 1/4 mile to the end of the terminal to our gate. That is a LOT of walking for little Sydney's legs. By the time we got to our gate she was done and I was literally in tears. After our flight in Boise I had to basically pull her down the terminal kicking and screaming to wait for a car. I am NOT excited to do that alone again. Still we had fun... haha I hope you enjoy the pics.

Giving Nemesis a Ride

Sydney's new obsession is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Her daddy has taught her how to sing and dance to the "Hot Dog" song. She has several stuffed Mickey's and Minnie's and will only color in her Mickey coloring book. In light of her obsession, we have decided to dress her as Minnie for Halloween. I'm really excited because she loves to dress up and if I can get her to keep the ears on I think she'll have a lot of fun. She's also learned how to repeat every other letter of Mickey Mouse when we start to spell it like the old school Mickey song. Andy's pretty picky about what shows he wants her to watch so we've finally found one that is not soo annoying in our opinion. We also got her a play kitchen from a garage sale which she loves. I can't tell you enough how much I love that she can pretend. It makes playing with her so much fun. I didn't think I'd be into it, but I love helping her rock her babies, push them in the stroller, put clips in their hair, make food in the play kitchen, and dress up like cats, butterflies, princesses and all that stuff. And as a side note, lest you think she's way girly now. She's still obsessed with airplanes, loves blocks, and wrestling. We are having so much fun!