Bon Voyage, ladies!

Today Sylvie, Mom and Aunt Amy left for Ohio for Aunt Naomi's wedding.  I'm going to join them this Thursday evening.  The house seems so empty!

They left around 1, and by 6pm were safely ensconced in their hotel in Syracuse, where they are staying the night.  Seemed best not to try and force the issue with Sylvie by subjecting her to 11 hours in the car, straight.  She did just fine with 5, I'm told.

Here are a few photos of the last few days, which featured a visit from cousin Aya and her posse - and, for me, the first time my niece has let me hold her without getting upset!

Off to bed now, thinking about how much I miss my girls.

Crazy Monkey Girl

The slide/mini jungle gym we have in our living room might just be the best thing we ever got Sylvie.  She's found new and different ways to enjoy it at every stage of her development.  No more is it merely, or even primarily, a slide.  Now she uses the slide mostly as a way to get up to the platform - and she's learning all sorts of new ways to climb on the jungle gym part of the thing.  The kid is almost freakishly strong and coordinated for her age.  Pretty soon she's going to start trying this stuff on the real jungle gym at the playground... yikes.  

Visiting Cousin Aya

Here's a quick clip of Sylvie's visit last weekend to cousin Aya's house.  Note Sylvie's big-girl eating, and Aya's beautiful singing voice!

Kay Taylor in the house!

Kay Taylor Winthrop, who was born just a couple of weeks behind Sylvie, has been visiting for the past couple days on her way with her mom and dad up to their house in Maine.  Sylvie has been showing Kay Taylor all of her toys.  They have dined together, played on the slide, tried their hands on the piano, and frolicked in the ball pit.    They even tried a mommy swap - but that didn't last more than a couple of seconds.

Sadly, the rains have persisted, but the gals seem content to play inside.  There have been only a couple of small physical altercations, mostly involving Sylvie asserting herself first, drawing an understandable rebuke from her new pal.  Most of the time, though, they are getting along famously.  Many more photos - and some video - to follow.

Back to the playground

Between her illnesses and the rain, it's been a while since Sylvie visited her favorite playground.  We went for a quick evening visit today, to round out the holiday weekend.  

Turns out Sylvie is something of a brute!  There was a little boy there - Marco - who is almost exactly her age.  After exchanging pleasantries (almost identical "Hiiiiiiii!" greetings exchanged), Sylvie noticed Marco making for the big kid jungle gym.  She followed. When he turned to greet her again, she planted a firm shove right in the center of his chest and said, "No."  Poor Marco started to cry.  After a lot of apologies by us to Marco's parents (she's the youngest at her daycare, she plays with a lot of boys, etc.) we thought all was well.  Then Marco tried to get *on* the (very large and spacious) jungle gym.  "No!" shouted Sylvie, extending her hand toward him again, palm out firmly.  "MINE!"  

We of course removed her from the jungle gym and explained to her about sharing. Not sure she got it.  But it looks like we have some assertiveness issues to work out!

Other than all that we had a great time at the playground - and I got my favorite recent shot (the last one of these I'm posting here).

Her mother's daughter

See the resemblance?

Contrast?

Here are a couple of video clips taken last week.  The first was Sylvie on Monday, the worst day for her strep throat.  She had a 102 degree fever, stomach issues and a sore throat.  Despite all of that, she found the ambition and energy to bury her mother repeatedly.

You might think she doesn't look all that sick.  Of course I don't tape her when she's pitching a fit, and there were a lot of those for a few days. Anyhow, this next one is Sylvie fully recovered.  See a difference?

Sunshine - at long last!!

After what seems like months of rain, the sun finally came out in Holliston this weekend.  Sylvie took full advantage, playing (and dancing) in the driveway, walking not one but TWO big, black dogs (Baxter O'Leary is staying with us this weekend) and even trying out Dad's hammock.

We also went over to Ben and Lia's last night for a cookout with cousin Aya - who is growing like a weed! - and with visiting Uncle Zach and Aunt Emily.

Sylvie showed off for her cousin by eating in a real big-girl chair, with only a pillow to boost her up.

All in all, a great Independence Day weekend.  Video to come.  Check out the new July Gallery!

All better!

And back to "school" today! Antibiotics are a wonderful thing...

I'll try to get Sylvie to have a "conversation" with the camera this weekend. She is really talking now - repeating almost everything she hears and even stringing together rudimentary sentences and telling us what she wants in "English." Example: last night she told me which book to read before bed. "Baybee buk." When I pulled out the wrong book, the pushed it away. "Noooo. Baybee buk." She wanted the book called "where are baby's hands?"

Baxter O'Leary is staying with us this weekend. Sylvie never gets tired of seeing Baxter and Pax in a room together. One dog, it seems, is mildly annoying. Two are hilarious.

Under the weather again - health update

A few people have emailed asking for an update on little Syl's health - thanks for the concern!

After a miserable Sunday, post-party (fever, lethargy, the runs, lots of couch time with Barney and Big Bird) Melissa brought Sylvie to the doc's Monday morning. Turned out that in addition to a slight stomach bug, the poor kid had strep throat! That's the flip-side of her fantastic disposition; it's really hard to tell when she's truly uncomfortable, because she remains so generally agreeable.

Anyhow, the doc put her on an antibiotic and prescribed the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Apples, Toast) for her belly, and suggested that we advise "anyone Sylvie has had contact with over the past few days" of her strep. Sigh. Ordinarily that would mean a call to day care. In this case, it meant an email to over 100 people!

We've since come to find out that a couple of Sylvie's classmates came down with strep last week, so at least it didn't originate at our house. We have not yet heard of any new cases amongst our party guests. Hopefully the fact that most of the interaction happened outside will minimize the spread. Of course, the fact that Sylvie was a serial sippy-cup stealer all day on Saturday probably did not help matters.

Anyhow, yesterday she was feeling *much* better - both the fever and the stomach issues had abated. Melissa reports that she's better still today.

Thanks again for the concern.