Christmas Day Videos

Santa - the first of several clips from Christmas Day. I'd hoped to get it all up, but got sucked into the Jets' losing effort this afternoon (which killed my Pats for the playoffs - 11 wins, no postseason!? Sylvie is scandalized.)

Quick clip

Thought this brief clip was cute.  Sylvie loves to see herself in the camera viewfinder.  Runny nose is from a just-finished snit...

New Toys

Some shots of Sylvie enjoying her Christmas booty.  More in the December gallery.

The Difference a Year Makes

This is how much Sylvie has grown between her first two Christmases - as measured on the well-known "Frosty scale."  

Day after Christmas party

One of Sylvie's many colds finally caught Melissa (Dad gets all of them).  So yesterday Mom stayed at home and rested while Dad and Sylvie attended the Green's day-after-Christmas party.  Sylvie renewed old acquaintances and made new friends, and consumed a LOT of meatballs.   She had a great time playing with all of her pal Zachary's new toys... and she rediscovered her love of Bumbo chairs.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We're having a nice, quiet Christmas at home this year.  Given all the travel troubles we suppose that's a good thing in a way, but we miss all of our family.  Here are some photos from our day.  Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S.  Of course, I already have a Christmas 2008 Album...

Sylvie's Sense of Snow

Big storm this weekend - it basically hasn't stopped snowing from Friday afternoon to right now (Sunday night).  It's been cold, too.  This morning after Syl showed some interest in the snow out the window, I took her out briefly.  

She seemed kind of taken aback - and didn't like the cold feel of it at all.  I'm sure she'll grow into it - just like Mac 'n' Cheese...

This weather was perfect for a 47-7 trouncing by the Patriots of the Arizona Cardnials, which Sylvie's Dad was privileged to see from the 50 yard line, courtesy of Syl's Uncle Brendan.  Great time, despite the weather (partly because of it).

A Complicated Relationship

Sylvie's relationship with Elmo is complicated.  Love... fascination... fear... loathing...

All captured in this brief video clip!

Christmas Tree

Smaller than we're used to, but Melissa convinced me that Sylvie would be so into the tree that a big one would represent too great a risk this year.   Anyhow, Sylvie seems to like it - and so far she's left it pretty much alone most of the time...

Mom and Dad are off to a Christmas party tonight thrown by one of Dad's old colleagues at Goodwin Procter.  Sylvie will be very excited to see her sitter, Patty, who is one of her favorite teachers from day care!

It's the Cheesiest

This clip has special significance to me, as Sylvie tries my all-time favorite food for the first time.  I'm happy to report that since this was recorded, she's developed a taste for it.

Christmas gift idea?

Astute observers will notice something in these photos.  Syl loves bracelets.  Any toy that will serve the purpose goes around her wrist (she does it herself, no prompting).

Playing with Frosty

We got our first real snow storm of the year over night.  If it warms up a little (wind chill near zero now) Dad will take Syl out in the snow.  In the meantime, she's playing with a warmer kind of snowman...

Vrooms

Now that she's grown enough to really propel herself, I think it's safe to say that Syl's Radio Flyer bike is her favorite toy.  She's really gotten the hang of moving about - steering, not so much.  Yet.

Video of the Bird incident

Keep in mind that ultimately all ended well for the little fellow, who again lives in the wreath on the outside of our front door. We didn't get the final resolution on video though...

Secret bath video

Don't tell Melissa I did this...

A couple of notes:

1) The Band-Aid you see on Sylvie's leg is from her latest booster shot, which she got Friday.

2) She's waving at the camera because for part of it I had the viewfinder monitor facing out so she could see it.

3) Sylvie is back to LOVING her baths.

Into Everything

Mobility

Sylvie is definitely walking "for real" now.  And climbing stairs...

Nothing will EVER be the same again.

By popular demand...

Another installment of the "Baby/Dog Blues," from this morning.  This is how Sylvie's mom was awakened...  If you watch closely you'll see that Syl's harmonica technique is improving - though Pax is doing his best to steal the show.

My favorite recent shot

Some Clips from Thanksgiving

A few video clips from Thanksgiving (I'm catching up... slowly!)

Working on their harmonies

As you can see, Sylvie and Pax have been working on their harmonica/howling duet.  Sylvie has improved her playing, no doubt... but Pax has REALLY found his voice - or maybe his "inner wolf."

The Great (Naked!) Escape

Came home this evening to discover that our daughter is what they call a "naturalist."  Apparently she pulled the "pee during diaper change" trick on her mom, causing Melissa to put her down on the floor, un-diapered, while she cleaned up the mess.  That got Syl REALLY keyed up, and she proceeded to charge all around the upstairs, laughing and squealing, naked as the day she was born.  This was when I walked in.  She fought off those diapers for a good fifteen minutes, until we started to fear a repeat of the incident that had kicked off the merriment.  I realize these are the kinds of photos she won't thank me for taking later...

The Bird

Odd that I have now diverged twice from the general rule of posting only about Sylvie-related developments, and in both instances the diversion was prompted by the actions of an unusually aggressive bird... The first time, of course, was my run in with those three attack turkeys. This time the winged antagonist was quite a lot smaller.

Yesterday evening I received a call at work from Melissa, reporting that a bird had somehow gained access to our home and was currently sitting on a bar stool, eying her suspiciously. She asked me to come home and deal with it, and I told her that I'd leave as soon as I could. Since in the best-case scenario I would not be there for an hour and a half, during which time the bird would presumably be free to use our whole house as a toilet, I suggested that she open the family room windows and try to shoo it out one of them.

Roughly five minutes later, another call: the bird was "going crazy" and my girls were locked in our bedroom, hiding. "How big is this bird?" I asked. "Small," Melissa allowed, "but crazy." I asked her to elaborate, and she said it was flying back and forth in the kitchen, alternately banging into the fireplace window and the sliding door. "It's banging into the slider?" I asked. "Then just open it and let it out!" Melissa stated that she could not do so, for fear of entering the kitchen and provoking the wrath of the crazy bird. At one point in the madness, Melissa said, she and Sylvie had cowered under the lip of the kitchen island, while the bird flapped wildly back-and-forth over their heads. Melissa later admitted that only she had been cowering - Sylvie thought the whole thing was quite funny.

I jumped in the car and lucked out on traffic, making it home in less than an hour. When I arrived, I found an unexpectedly calm scene - Melissa feeding Sylvie in the kitchen. "The bird went out the slider?" I asked? "No, it's locked in the laundry room," Melissa said casually. She also said the window in there was wide open, and she hadn't heard the bird for some time.

I opened the door to the laundry room cautiously, for fear of letting the bird escape. "Bird? You gone? He's gone," I said.

"No! He's on the laundry basket!" Melissa cried. I looked up to the top shelf and there, staring down at me hungrily, was a massive, ferocious looking raptor.

Just kidding. It was one of these.

The aptly-named House Finch is about three inches long and, really, quite cute. They are also either really smart or really stupid, ashe was perched not a foot from a wide open window. Unless he liked the warmth and wanted to stay, which I suppose is possible, his refusal to escape was puzzling.

I closed the door, got a broom, and reentered the room. One poke at the little fella and I understood Melissa's previous characterization. That was one crazy House Finch. After about 10 minutes of wild flying and broom-swinging, he took shelter behind the dryer, where I couldn't get at him without risking breaking his wings with the broom. So we closed him up again and had dinner, hoping that the whole "mad broom-swinging human" thing would convince him to take the open window option.

No such luck. After dinner, same story. Open window, belligerent bird. About 15 minutes more of the insane flying/swinging/pooping routine, and I finally caught him in a laundry basket, brought him outside, and let him go - whereupon he wheeled and flew back at me, alighting on the side of our house and cheeping.

Beyond that, I do not know what happened to the bird. He may be hovering about the house, waiting for another chance to get in for all I know.

I have some rough video that I'll post this weekend.

Oh, and I should mention that Melissa wasn't the only one who was afraid of our little House Finch. Through all the bedlam that ordinarily would have delighted him, Pax stayed resolutely in another room, looking entirely freaked out.

Rounding out November

... with a couple of cute shots with Aunt Naomi.  Syl is kind of sad today to once again have an empty house!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Steve!

This year the calendar gave Mom a break, and it was Grandpa Steve's turn to share his birthday with Thanksgiving.  Sylvie, of course, was more than happy to help him open his presents... though she was less than impressed with his new pants.

She was much more pleased with the new child-sized rocking chair Grandma and Grandpa brought her from Ohio!

More photos in the tail end of the November Gallery.

Thanksgiving

Sylvie enjoyed her second Thanksgiving tremendously, lacking clear memory of her first and having been given this time an opportunity to taste what all the fuss is about. She also loved having her Grandma, Grandpa and Aunts and Uncle around.

Although she liked the fare in general, she was skeptical of the honor of being presented with a large (burnt!) turkey leg, and generously opted to toss it to Pax.

The duet

OK, this one is fun.  Sylvie and Pax in a harmonica/howling (or moaning?) duet, capped off with Sylvie's new trademarked "touchdown" pose of triumph.

Sylvie on her hog

Sylvie REALLY likes the "Bike" that Uncle Ben and Aunt Lia got her for her birthday, especially now that she's figured out how to use it (and her little legs have grown the necessary fraction of an inch they needed to get her going).

A few more fun shots from the weekend

Progress on the eating front...

In which we see Sylvie learn to use a spoon, eat her first pancake, and find an affinity for sharing...

More photos from Mom's birthday

Many more new ones in the November Gallery, by the way...

Happy Birthday Mom!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!  We'll have photos from our little family celebration, and probably some video, late tonight or tomorrow.  Sylvie has already expressed an interest in the presents piled on the hearth...

A year ago this month

So Sylvie's mom got me a new video camera for my birthday (HD with flash memory - so no tapes. VERY cool). As I cleaned up the old camera's stuff it struck me that for all my dedicated documentation of Sylvie's first year, I'd neglected to produce a video of the MOST important day - the day she was born (he very first "birthday"). Warning: this one is kind of looooong.... but we (Syl's mom and I) really like it.

Sylvie's "Birthday":

Stats

Almost forgot - Sylvie had her one-year check-up last week, and all is well.  She's "long and lean," according to more than one medical professional...

Here are her "stats":

Weight: 19 pounds, 11.5 ounces (25th percentile)

Height: 29.5 inches (70th percentile)

Head: 17.5 inches (35th percentile)

Good luck Uncle Pat!

Over the last few days Syl has had the great good fortune of spending some quality time with her Godfather, Uncle Pat, as the local family wished him good luck in Basic Training.   First, Uncle Pat, Uncle Ben and Aunt Lia came out to the house for lunch on Sunday.

Then yesterday evening, the family made a road trip into Pat's favorite Boston 'hood, China Town, for a farewell dinner at the Gourmet Dumpling House.

Syl had no idea, of course, that one of the curious fellows behind her was soon to grace our table in a decidedly less animated state...  She did, however, very much enjoy her first-ever fortune cookie.

Uncle Pat shipped out today for Basic Training in Georgia.  Sylvie joins her family in thanking her Uncle Pat for his service, and in wishing him good luck and safe journeys.  She'll miss him!