Bedtime for Dad

The other evening, Sylvie put me to bed. I was laying on my bed, and she read to me, tucked me in, and brought me a new "christmas tree clock" (a small desktop Christmas tree--it was a clock now because it went next to the clock on my nightstand). Then she went and got her little stool so she could reach the light switch, turned off the light and said "Night-night, Daddy" before she closed the door.

Then she went downstairs and whispered to Alissa "Shh! Daddy's sleeping. Need more water." Alissa thought she meant she needed water for herself, but in fact she got the sippy cup she usually has at bed time, filled it up, and brought it back up to me.

Hanging o' the...things

Sylvie likes to hang ornaments on the tree. In fact, and ornament can be anything: a sock, an old baby toy, a piece of cotton. The other day, Alissa found an oven mitt hanging on one of the lower branches.

New pics

Sorry I haven't posted in a long while. I don't know who I'm apologizing too, since I doubt anyone will come here.

We took Sylvie to a photo studio. Some cute results:



She's getting big, eh?

Rube Goldbergs a hit

Alissa, Sylvia and I have been fascinated by this Japanese rube goldberg machine video. Sylvie's been requsting it a lot this morning and has watched it several times. It's quite clever.

Sanibel

We've returned from a week on Sanibel Island, FL. We (Alissa, Sylvie, Mary, Randy, and myself) rented a condo on the southwest side of the island. It was a wonderful time of sunshine, warm weather, beaches, shells, restaurants, and good company.

Sylvie had a grand time. She loved the beaches and swimming pools.


Here (above) she is on a beach on Caya Costa, an uninhabited island north of Sanibel and Captiva where there are lots of good shells to be found. And here (right) are Mary, Sylvie, and I on the same beach with the island's brushy interior--where we saw some wild pigs--in the background.

Sledding

This weekend was fun. I made the mistake of shopping at West Towne Mall yesterday. It must have taken me 30 minutes just to get out of the parking lot.

This morning Sylvie and I went to ShopKo to buy a sled, and then we went to the hill at B.B. Clarke Beach to use it. It was Sylvia's first time sledding. Since it was just her and me, and I was busy racing at beakneck speeds down the icy slopes, we have no pictures. But it pretty much went like this: I got on the sled; Sylvie jumped on in front of me; when she said she was ready I shoved off; she screamed 'weeeee!' in her own glass-shattering way as we raced down toward the icy shore of Lake Monona. I would generally stop us from flying over the rocks onto the ice by digging my heels into the snow, sending it flying, powdery, into Sylvie's wet and rosy face. Then we'd collapse on our backs and silently roll off the sled (the only way to do it, really), and walk up, hand in hand, the hill to do it again. Your typical sledding experience with a 2 year old, I suppose.

No one else was there. It was freaking cold too (hence the powdery snow). My jeans were frozen solid. But it was good fun.

Doing dishes

Alissa gave S. her own sponge and a little tupperware dish for her to wash while I was (as usual) doing the dishes. Then A. went to watch TV and eat Hagen-Daas.

Fun is sometimes fleeting

This was taken just before she fell over backwards.

The artist and her creation

She made this wall and tower and placed the little people and other toys on each block, all facing the baby in the middle. It almost looks like a nativity. I can only surmise that the beads and watch in the forground were brought as gifts for the babe.

The Daddy little person is on the top of the tower, naturally.

A visit with Santa

First visit with Santa 2 weekends ago a Hilldale. She had Santa all to herself and warmed up to him pretty quickly. When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she answered, "hwayce!" and pointed at her wrist. "Hwayce" is her word for bracelet. :)