Oh, my sweet little bird. She still melts my heart a dozen times a day. She can be such a snuggler, and such a little tease. She loves to play games with us and make faces, and she is just getting into wanting to have books read to her. Of course, as soon as she crawls up in your lap and you open the first page, she slams the cover back down and slides back down to the floor. I heard a quote (TV? Movie? Someone help me out.) once where someone says “Your mood swings are giving me whiplash!” That’s how I feel with Sydney! One minute she’ll be all sweet and coy and giggly, and the next she’ll be shrieking her “SOMETHING IS NOT GOING THE WAY I WANT!” shriek and through my bleeding ears I’m left helpless to figure out how to remedy the situation. Really, her 6-7 words of sign-language and dissatisfied grunts are not getting us very far. I can tell we’re both frustrated. The week after we got back from vacation was especially exhausting. This is what I saw for MUCH of every day:
And I was missing seeing this:
Of course, I know a lot of it is because she was not feeling well and tired. For all of our language barriers, she’s pretty clear sometimes what she wants–or at least what she needs! Fingers in mouth = getting sleepy.
Fingers in mouth, pinky minky in hand, laying head on the floor = getting really sleepy.
Fingers in mouth, pinky in hand, entire body relaxed on the hard floor = “Mom, just forget the nap schedule you’re striving for and put me in my crib for crying out loud!”
Fortunately, Sydney is feeling significantly better in the past few days. We’ve had a lot more smiles and fun interactions. And there are a few things that almost always cheer her up. A bath is one of them. (although if she has to share with Carson, The Shriek is often heard if he gets too close or they want the same toy.) I’ll leave you with some pictures of happy bathtime and you can see how her hair is really starting to grow–she’s getting quite the little side-wings. I do love my little Birdie!
(Playing peek-a-boo with the shower curtain.)
