One year and a half!!

I can't believe we have an 18-month-old. It's amazing to watch her grow, learn and change. Some days I wake her up and I think I still have a little baby, and other days I think I have such a big girl!

At 18 months, sweet Sydney Drew:

• would live outside. We hear "side, side, side" as she runs to the back door every single day...many times.
• thinks sitting on the potty is funny, but we haven't seen any action there yet.
• moves to a new classroom in a new building next week! This next level does so many fun things; I know she'll love it once the adjustment period is over.
• is shy with strangers or people she hasn't seen in awhile, but normally warms up after a little while.
• is sooooo silly. Her sense of humor gets more and more mature all the time. It's amazing how she finds things funny that I think are above her level.
• is still a wonderful eater and sleeper. We try to always remember how lucky we are for that.
• loves to mix up mama and daddy. We assume this is on purpose, but calling Randall "mama" too many more times may give him a complex.
• is a puzzle pro.
•  learns new words all the time, and the ones we hear most often are "bow," "snack," "bubble," "[out]side,"no," and "book."
• is obsessed with her hair bows. She wears one to school and then a different one at night after her bath. We do put it away before bed, which is an improvement :)
• is quite the expert with her animal noises. Current favorites are the horse, rooster and monkey.
• has favorites at school. If your name isn't Emery or Max, she isn't really interested in playing with you. And if you like puzzles, you get extra points.

We have Sydney's 18-month check-up next week, so we are excited to get her updated height/weight stats. We also start swimming lessons Tuesday evening. Happy 18 Months, sweet girl!!

 

Father's Day Fun - Daddy's Turn to Blog

I usually leave the blogging to Danielle, but she and Sydney made sure I had such a nice Father's Day today, that I wanted to write about what a great day it was.
This is my second year being honored as a father and it was so much fun! Danielle brought Sydney in to me after she woke up, and it was so much fun being woken up by a smiling Sydney this morning, with lots of hugs and kisses.

 Shortly after that, Danielle brought in a couple of gifts and cards that she and Sydney had picked out for me.

My cards were so sweet and I absolutely loved my gifts! The first was a new bottle of cologne. It is called Black by Kenneth Cole and it smells great.

The next gift, I was so excited about! I recall a couple of school years in the mid 80's when some of the coolest shoes on the market were suede Puma's. They came in many colors, but as I shared with Danielle many times, the coolest ones came in navy blue. I never did have a pair...but now I do!

 

 

After gifts, Danielle told me that she had made a reservation for us to have brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Copeland's of New Orleans. The meal was amazing, and as predicted, we completely overdid it, but it was so good and Danielle and I had the most fun with Sydney, who was an angel at the restaurant.

I wanted to post this picture because it shows Sydney's cute curls.

After such a big and delicious meal, all I wanted to do was come home and relax and spend the rest of the day with my girls. Sydney took a (short) nap when we got home. Later in the day we spoke with several members of our families and it was nice to share our day with them. The last part of the afternoon was spent in front of the TV watching the final round of the U.S. Open. I want to thank my wonderful wife for helping Sydney to give me such a great and fun Father's Day! There is nothing more special to me than the time spent with my beautiful family and I am so grateful for them. Here's hoping all Dads enjoyed their day as much as I enjoyed mine!

Little Fishy

One of the great things about our golf/pool membership is that we have access to a whole suite of courses and pools around Northwest Arkansas. Today, we went to a pool close to our house, and we finally got a few quick pictures. Going to the pool with an active toddler is much busier than last year! This pool has an inclined shallow end, so Sydney loved walking in until the water was up to her neck.

 

Her other favorite activity was being thrown back and forth between Mom and Dad. The next time we go to our regular pool, I'll have to get video of her going down the slide with Randall catching her. I think her favorite part was watching me slide down after her :-) We start swimming lessons in July - can't wait for that. I'm so glad she likes the water!