Sylvia, Reese & Co.

Sylvia’s birthday was originally scheduled to take place out on the Lakefill at Northwestern where we would help the kids make and fly little kites. The 24 hours leading up to the party were gray and rainy, however. Saturday morning was gray, too, with some threatening clouds, and though the weather report looked favorable we were afraid that even if rain didn’t hamper the party, the lack of seating and the wet grass might. So about two hours before the party we called everyone and moved the festivities to our place.

Our condo ended up being a much better setting. We didn’t have to move food and supplies. The kids didn’t seem to care and had plenty of fun playing with Sylvia’s toys. The parents got to sit. The crawlers got to crawl on the dry floor. No kites were flown (or made) but everyone seemed to have a great time anyway.

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Sylvia turned 3 today! She celebrated with cards and phone calls this morning. Then two parties were held in her honor at school – both of which Mom and G attended. Finally, this evening she opened a stack of presents that made it seem like Christmas morning. Gifts from Mom, Dad, G, Sampaw, Cindy, Luke, and all of Sylvia’s cousins (and aunts and uncles) included new outfits, games, puzzles, art supplies, and a real camera.

The big bash is on Saturday. We’re having a kite party and are hoping the predictions of rain are wrong.

Happy Birthday, Sylvia!

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Sylvia is well integrated into school now. She waltzes in and  hangs up her backpack and tells Chris and I that it is time for us to go bye-bye. This is quite the transition from last week when we left her crying with her teacher. I held it together long enough to get out the door where Chris had to console me. Along with her integration, she has picked up her first school born cold – sniffles and cough. Nothing horrible – she’s still her chipper, over-energetic, chatty self. Today, her big adventure at school happened during nap. Since Sylvia was nine months, if she ever gets into a coughing spell, she throws up. We have carpet and sheet stains for life. We’ve all grown accustom to this gag reflex and she never seems uncomfortable when it happens. We just clean it up, have some water, and move on. She had one of her spells during nap today. She told her teachers and anyone in her class that would listen, “I threw up on my cot. Isn’t that silly.” I picked her up from school “just in case,” but secretly relished this opportunity to get the afternoon together.  It’s been really strange having so much time apart from each other.  I don’t know what we’ll do when she goes to Northwestern. Anyway,  at home, we had a snack, played with play-doh, and then she ran around in our front yard with the twins (Niamh and Aoife) for two hours. We’ll check her temperature in the morning and if there is no fever, she’ll be back at school again.  She has been fever free all day so we think her little cot incident was just her gag reflex.

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Yesterday Sylvia and I were walking down the street when we saw a yellow balloon flying through the air. It floated about level with the second story of an apartment building, and the shade of yellow happened to match Sylvia’s shirt. Sylvia of course asked If she could have the balloon but I told her it was too high for me to grab. We watched it for a minute as it slowly floated above us and then began to sink. It crept lower and lower until it was just a few feet from us and I could easily grab it.

Sylvia now has a new balloon. I told her that it’s not everyday that a color-coordinated balloon floats down to you while you’re walking down the street, but sometimes you do encounter a little bit of magic.

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While our August weather felt a little like fall, our September weather has felt like June – sunny and upper 70’s. This morning we visited the Chicago Botanic Garden, one of favorite spots recently. Nothing too exciting or new about the visit, but we of course have photos.

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Of course, I seem to always forget the camera.  Tonight, Sylvia and I went to a Barnyard Dance at Wagner Farm (http://www.wagnerfarm.org/)  while Chris went to a premier of the film he and Mike worked on a year and a half ago, “The New Math” (http://www.cinevegas.com/shorts/ – contains adult language).

Sylvia and I learned to do-si-do together.  She told me to sit down at one point so I watched her dance while I sat on my bale of hay.  She made a little friend Stephanie and they danced together for over an hour.  We had icecream and danced some more until Sylvia told me she was so sweaty from dancing.

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This past weekend – Labor Day weekend – we traveled to Washington D.C. where we celebrated with my cousin Darrel as he wed Kate on the shores of the Potomac. The wedding was in Alexandria but we stayed in a townhouse in Washington on Capitol Hill. Sylvia got to see monuments, go to the zoo, hang out with her cousin Edward, and see more monuments. She had a blast.

The wedding was lots of fun. It began with a 5K run (or stroll in our case) before the ceremony in a park overlooking the river. The reception included a roasted pig and amazing cupcakes.

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I know Sylvia is my daughter because I gave birth to her, but her love for twirly, frilly tutus, her absolute insistence to wear a dress all the time, and her discovery of my lipstick (like Olivia wears in one of Sylvia’s very favorite books entitled “Olivia”) indicates that she is obviously accessing some feminine qualities from deep within her.  She was really excited about the lipstick.  I told her if she liked lipstick, then she would love getting her nails done.  Sylvia has never sat so still.  I painted her fingernails and she sat daintily waiting for them to dry.  Here she is showing off her lipstick and nail polish.  Now, if I could only get her to let me put some bows in her hair.

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