An outing to the city

We took some time to go into Baltimore this past weekend. We wanted to go to the aquarium, but, of course, so did hundreds of other people. It was way too crowded for me and we left about a half hour into our tour. Sydney really enjoyed what she was able to see. We then took a stroll along the pier and finished our day with dinner at PF Changs. Times like these are precious. Sydney is growing and developing so much, before we know it she may not want to do this stuff with us. I hope she always wants to spend time with us, but I know that won't always be the case. Here are a few photos of our day.

Saying "hello" to the fish.

Relaxing at the boardwalk.

Fun with chopsticks!

In other developments, I was offered a position as an assistant director at one of the child development centers on Ft. Meade last week, which means Sydney will be starting day care soon. The great thing about it is that she will be able to go to the center with me for her care. I couldn't be happier about that! I don't have a start date yet, but we are starting Sydney there on Monday just to get her acclimated before she starts full days without Mommy. We had a tour today and Sydney seemed to like the room, but that was with me there. I am sure she will get used to it quickly once she is on her own. It kills me that I will not be with her throughout the day, though. But how lucky for me that she will be just down the hall from my office. How many people have that opportunity?

Growth Spurts

Sydney is growing and changing so much every day.  I saw a video today of her walking next to me and I couldn't believe how tall she is getting.  She is over 31" now.  Walking is now her new favorite thing and she just wants to do it all the time. She still falls, but she gets right back up and keeps going.  We try to let her walk whenever we can and her skills are getting better every day.  

We have been using sign language with her since we brought her home and she has recently had a spurt of learning new signs.  It's wonderful that she can communicate with us.  She can sign milk, eat, more, down, mommy, please, thank you, cat, cookie and surprisingly, flower.  Of course "cookie" is her favorite.  She is also able to nod yes and no and point to what she wants.  We are working on bubbles, color, banana, dog, bath, outside and play.  I highly recommend using sign language with infants and toddlers.  A great website to learn signs is www.signwithme.com.  I think that potty training will be not too far off, as she has learned to tell us that she has a poo poo.  But she just hit 16 months so we have few more months to see if she is ready to really start working on it.  

GOING FOR A WALK

We recently bought Sydney some crayons and paper so she can start practicing scribbling.  Unfortunately, I wasn't being watchful and I didn't realize she had done this...

I guess she just wanted to spruce up Sebastian's carrier.  It's much more colorful in person :).  

The joys of toddlerhood...Continued

Oh, joy! Sydney's last two teeth are coming in. Hopefully we will have a reprieve from the teething for a few months before the two year molars come in, but seeing as how quickly the others came in, we may see them sooner than later.

The weather has been really nice so I set up Sydney's wading pool this week. She had a blast! I can't believe how much she is growing and changing. Our baby is becoming a big girl.

Trippin'

Sydney and I were able to go back to Washington and Oregon to see my family last week. It was a whirlwind trip, as we went to Central Washington, down to Oregon and back up to Western Washington. It was great to spend time with my sisters and mom and Sydney had a great time playing with her cousins. She also got to meet her Great Grandma and Great Uncle (my grandmother and uncle). She did great on the plane trips. When we first walked into our seats in first class, I got some looks like "oh great, a baby!" But she is such a good flyer, I knew she wouldn't bother anyone, and she didn't.

After we returned home, Erich surprised us with a day trip to Monticello, the former home of Thomas Jefferson. It was a beautiful, warm spring day and we had a great time. It was really beautiful there, with views of Charlottesville on one side and the mountains on the other. I love going to see historic homes and sites. It is interesting how each one has it's own feel. While it was beautiful at Monticello, I couldn't help feel a sense of sadness there. Mt. Vernon (George Washington's estate) felt completely different to me. It had a more relaxed, happy feeling. At any rate, it was a great day and we really enjoyed spending it together.

Walking down the trail from Monticello.

Getting a ride from Daddy on the front lawn at Monticello.

Sydney and Mommy.

Walking at Monticello.

On Easter Morning, the Easter Bunny brought Sydney some new books...a big hit of course!

6 months together...

I can't believe we brought Sydney home almost 6 months ago. The time has gone too fast! Sydney turned 15 months old today and she started walking on her own a few days ago! Although she has been able to walk for a while now by holding our hands (and sometimes taken a few steps on her own), she is really going for it now. She is crossing that mental threshold that says "I can really do this". She wants to practice her walking a lot, but still crawls when she really needs to get somewhere fast. Her talking is becoming more clear and she is definitely able to communicate much more effectively now.

It was a bittersweet moment when we experienced her really walking on her own. While we are happy she is doing so well, we are a little sad that she is growing up so fast, especially since we missed the first 9 months of her life. I can understand that feeling of wanting your baby to stay little forever. Whenever I see that grin, hear her laugh, or witness a new milestone, I am so happy that she is ours I can't even express it. I often silently thank her birth mother for the wonderful gift she gave us and how happy it has made us. I hope she is happy and doing well.

Sydney had her final swim lesson this week and passed her level with flying colors, of course! :) We are going to hold off on any more swim lessons for a while. We may try tumbling this summer once she turns 18 mos. I think she would really enjoy that since she loves dancing, jumping and moving around.

Sydney will be getting a hair cut in a couple of weeks. Her hair is getting long and straggly in parts. This will be a first for me, although she had a haircut in Taiwan. I can't wait to see the results :) I am thinking bangs maybe.

I love this photo. She is looking so pretty and grown up.

Baby Steps

I now know why they use the term "baby steps" when referring to taking things slowly and carefully. Sydney took her first unassisted steps on Saturday (about 4), but she is still not wanting to take more than one or two on her own, and they don't happen that often. Well, at least we know she is progressing and can do it :). Her standing is really good. She can stand for quite a while and even bounces up and down now without falling down. We have our 15 month check up in a few weeks and I am so happy I can tell the doctor of Sydney's growth and developments since her 12 month checkup. She is just awesome!