Snowtime

This past Sunday, we got our first big snow of the season...8 inches or so. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to get outside and play around a little in the white stuff. Even though Sylvie has weathered many snow storms in her two years, this is really the first one she has really been cognizant of.
It didn't turn out to be quite as exciting for her as we hoped it would be. She wasn't too jazzed about getting in her snowsuit, first off, and then once outside, Sylvie didn't really know what to make of it all. But hopefully she'll be building snowmen, going sledding and making snow angels in no time. Well, maybe not this year, but sometime in the future.

Sylvie's 2nd Birthday Party

While Sylvie's actual birthday isn't for another week, we thought it would be a good idea to have a party with friends before the holiday craziness really kicks into high gear.
The theme was cupcake decorating...nothing too elaborate. We had something like 20 adults and seven or so toddlers. The kids seemed to have fun running around as general chaos ensued, though it wasn't totally our of control. Our downstairs neighbors probably thought differently; they weren't too please with all the noise, but oh well!

Here are some pictures and videos from the day.

In the morning, Sylvie not only helped me mix the cupcake batter, but she also practiced her butter stacking skills. She has become quite the little helper in the kitchen.
General pictures from the party.




The girl of the hour.

Decorating the cupcake...

..and eating it.

Joc and Naomi, enjoying some cupcakes.

Abby, digging right in.

Who loves chocolate? Quentin does.

Present opening time.

A blurry picture of Sylvie with her party hat on.

A little "Ring Around the Rosie" (Sylvie's favorite) to pick up where we left off at Thanksgiving.

Finally, fun on the chaise lounge.

Holiday Stuff

Here are overdue pictures of Thanksgiving at Mike and Lisa's house. The kids had a blast running around together--it was really sweet.

Lisa, Vince, Bibi and Sylvie before dinner.

Hallway fun.

Amine, enjoying a tryptophan-induced nap post-dinner.

"Thanksgiving" No. 2 at Kung Fu school
Sylvie was on the move, working the crowd

Counting

Over the past few weeks, Sylvie has been working on her counting. It begin mostly as oscillating back and forth- "one, two, one, two...". The next step was including "six", which she used to fill in the gaps between 2 and 6. Then she was only replacing five with six.

Here's Sylvie now counting from 1 to 10. She does throw us for a curveball at 7 this time, but she's basically got it.

In case you didn't know, "Daddy's awesome"...

Museum of Science & Play-Doh

A couple weekends ago we headed down the road to the Museum of Science, this time moving beyond the children's discovery center and exploring the museum as a whole.

Ooh. Dinosaurs.

Some of the MOS wildlife: a tortoise hanging out on top of a turtle

Examining an aquatic turtle more closely.

Checking out the baby chicks

And now for some Play-Doh fun at home:

New uses for Play-Doh: jewelry!

Serious grooves with the Play-Doh necklace

...and a Play-Doh moustache

Ride that pony

Here's Sylvie taking a ride, rodeo-style...

Arts & Crafts

So, I don't know if it's cheating by putting pictures on of Sylvie that someone else took, but Kaniz always has great photos of Sylvie and the other kids from her house. This series mainly highlights her crafty endeavors.

Making a number picture

Painting a mask before Halloween

...and a baby pumpkin

Stamps galore!

Intense concentration

Playing with the boys and her baby, Luna.

On an unrelated note, I am officially in my third trimester. We talk about Baby Henri a lot with Sylvie, and she likes to pat my tummy, say hello, and give her brother kisses. She totally adores "Baby Cassius" at her daycare, whom she talks about all the time (here he is).Hopefully she'll be as jazzed about...no, even MORE jazzed about her new baby brother as she is about him. Hard to believe there's only 2-2 1/2 months left to go!

And finally, some pictures Sylvie and I took together this morning with the ever-addictive "PhotoBooth" application on our laptop:

Halloween '09

This year, like last year for Halloween, we went to Dudley Street in North Cambridge for some "trick-or-treating" (not really, but at least to see what the theme on the street was this year and hang out a little bit.) Joc, Amine, Bibi and Iman met us on the "Lost Vegas" strip. Here are some pictures.

Bibi as Tigger. So cute.

Sylvie the monkey (having her hood on didn't last long).

Iman as Eyore. This is the only semi-clear
shot I got of her outside...she was a girl on the move.

One of the houses for the "Lost Vegas" theme.

Outside of Elvis' house. Notice Iman enjoying the shiny tassles in
the background. Ooooh. Cool.

Sylvie, Mommy and the King.

Sylvie, playing toss the brain in the bucket.

On the way home, we stopped by Jen and Franz's house, where some boogieing ensued.

Jen and Iman.

Finally, videos. I tried to keep them short in order to capture certain moments. I think I could have let them run longer. They all kind of seemed to miss the "meat" of the moments I was trying to get. Oh well. At least they shows some aspects of the evening.

The kids at a duck pond game moments before Iman took
off running. That seemed to be another theme of the night.
Give the girl a street without cars, and she can't help it.

I took a few videos of the kids dancing. This first one doesn't show much of the dancing, but I'm putting it on here to show you a brief view of a couple of the houses.

Dancing to "Thriller" in the background.

And finally, more dancing at Jen and Franz's house sans costume.

Mimi, cousins and stairs

Here are four videos. The first two were taken when Mimi and Papere were in town last weekend. Video #1 is the only shot I got of Sylvie with one of her grandparents the whole time they were here! Bad Mommy.
Both of Beau's parents flew up to celebrate Beau's uncle turning 70. (Of course, I forgot to bring the camera to the party.) I am kicking, kicking, kicking myself for not taking any pictures--especially of Sylvie with her Papere. The last time he and Sylvie were together was back in April when we went down to NC to visit. I swear to do better when everyone is together again around Christmas!

Here is Mimi, supervising and encouraging the budding artistes.



I think we need to take this show on the road.




This last one was taken today at Barefoot Books in Cambridge, While we were there browsing the great book selection, Sylvie discovered a new skill. Until this time, she has always needed some assistance getting up and down stairs. After going up and down over and over, she decided she was ready to do it on her own.

First, up.



Then down and up again.




We'll be back there on Saturday morning for a Halloween costume party. Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures.

Chicago

Over Columbus Day weekend, we went to Chicago for a trip we had originally scheduled to go on in July. Even though we had to squeeze in all our visits in a shorter period of time, it was great to see everyone and for Sylvie to get some QT in with her cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncle, and great-grandmother.

Our first stop included a stay at Granny's house, where Sylvie enjoyed searching the house for cats, dancing with Daddy and modeling the new tutu Granny got her.

Little ballerina girl

Gotta dance.

The next night, we saw (my sister) Aunt Jenny, Uncle John, Patrick, Lily, as well as Pop (my dad), Gigi, (my stepmother Gerry) and Aunt Carolyn. The kids loved playing together.

A little sampling of the craziness.

I'm kicking myself, though. I got no pictures of Jenny, John, my dad, stepmother, or sister Carolyn the whole time we were there. Duh.

The next day, we visited my grandmother for lunch.

Eating lunch like a big girl.

Sharing a moment.

A girl can only refrain from being silly for so long.

The second attempt was better.

All happy now.

On Saturday night, we went to a party for my dad's cousin Lucy, who was in town promoting her book, "Waking Up in Eden." (Check it out at: http://www.lucindafleeson.com) Again, I'm kicking myself for not having my camera. Regardless, it was a lot of fun and great to visit with family and friends I haven't seen in years, and Sylvie enjoyed charming all of them.

On our last full day before coming back, we stopped by my grandmother's house with the whole crew, hoping to take a dip in the 94 degree pool there. Unfortunately it was closed for the holiday weekend, but while there, Patrick enjoyed using Beau as a human jungle gym.

Here's Sylvie, entertaining herself with the mirror in our hotel room after her bath. Too funny.