Sydney LOVES Daddy.

Sydney still isn't talking much, but when she does, it is generally about Daddy.

The other morning when I went to get her out of her crib in the morning, she looked at me and said "Dada?" while putting her arms/hands into the universal 'I don't know' sign (arms bent, palms up.... I'll try to get a picture).  I explained to her that Daddy had gone to work and that he'd be back that evening.  She looked at me and said 'Dada, bye-bye'.  To which I said 'yes, Dada went bye-bye' and then we could go about our day. 

At least once a day, she will go get a picture of Dan off of the hall table and walk around saying 'Dada' while pointing at the picture.

And whenever my phone rings or buzzes to announce an email/text message/whatever - she will look at me and say 'Dada?' and then put her hand to her ear as if she's holding the phone and talking to her daddy.

She even went into the closet one day and got out Dan's (favorite) Red Sox hat.  She put it on her head and  walked around the room saying 'Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada.'

When I ask her to say "Mama", I get one of 2 responses: She either says Dada or looks at me and shakes her head no.

Safe to say that we definitely love Daddy.



(Although, I certainly am ready for some 'Mama's' to come out of her little mouth...)

Guilty

It's been a little while since the dogs have gotten any blog-love. (Although, as I think about the story I am about to share, this probably doesn't qualify as 'blog-love' towards Bella, so I suppose that streak continues...)

This is Bella.

A little background before we begin:   Bella has always been the more 'challenging' of our dogs.  She took forever to get house-broken, she is needy and just generally more high maintenance.

She is also the one who can often be found circling my feet while I cook dinner in case something drops or laying underneath the high chair so that she can convince Sydney to throw her a little something.  She acts like we never feed her.

Monday night I was going to cook chicken for dinner. Just as I finished getting all of my prep done, Dan got home from work and Sydney decided that she needed a nap, so I pushed my cutting board with my (raw) chicken back on the counter. (You know, so it wasn't near the edge of the counter and tempting to our four-legged friends, 'cause I'm thoughtful like that). We went and put Sydney down for a nap and Dan changed clothes, then we headed back downstairs to cook dinner. 

I got back into the kitchen and got my oil heating in the pan, my broccoli steaming, etc.  And then I turned around to grab my chicken.  I turned around and grabbed where I knew I had left my cutting board.  But I missed.... My cutting board was right on the edge of the counter. Right on the edge. "Hmm" I thought to myself, "that's funny, I wouldn't have left that there."  I pushed it a little further back and it hit me that the cutting board was empty.  Not a speck of chicken anywhere.  I called to Dan: "where's my chicken?"  He laughed and I was like "no, seriously, I must be going crazy, where did I put my chicken?  I KNOW I left it right here.  OH NO.  You don't think the dogs ate it, do you?" 

A quick glance at Bella confirmed that she was the culpit.  She was cowering in the corner and not looking at me.  "What is this????" I asked Bella while pointing at my (licked clean) cutting board; she turned and ran upstairs to hide out for the rest of the night.  Definitely the guilty party.

Bed Head

Sydney has been a bit slow to grow hair.  It's actually coming in fairly strong now, but there for a while, we were certainly a baldie :)

Dan and I keep looking at each other and saying - 'wow, look how much hair she has now.'  So I knew it had been growing, but I didn't realize quite how much until I went to get Sydney up from her nap the other afternoon.

I guess the great thing about bed head is that it proves that you have hair!

  

Summer Fun

Despite how HOT it has been in Atlanta the past few weeks, we've been managing to have some fun around here...

We've pulled out the kiddie pool a few times and Sydney loves it.

We've gone to the park a few times too, but we're having to limit our trips to early morning so that mommy doesn't melt in the heat. :)
The swings are our favorite.

 

We spent the evening with Carolyn at their pool the other night. Sydney took to it like a fish to water. Can't say I'm surprised.  (photo stolen borrowed from Susan's blog :) )

Uh Oh

Costco is selling enormous, life-sized stuffed bears.  Which we almost became the proud new owners of after Sydney spotted one in the store. She kept wanting to hug the bear.  

We caused a bit of a scene when we had to leave the bear behind.



Life's A Beach

We went to Savannah to visit Uncle Matt and Aunt Natalie for Memorial Day. We ventured out to Tybee Island for a little bit to let Sydney enjoy the beach for a little while. She had a blast.

 We tried eating the sand.

Why sit when you can stand?

After playing in the sand for a while, Sydney stood up, told us bye-bye and took off towards the ocean. 

We built sandcastles and let Sydney knock them down.

I think she was asleep before we were out of the parking lot.