Refusing ice cream

We've been feeding her Advil for a fever, and now she doesn't trust us.

Chillin in the Chicago airport

Mark the calendar

Today was the day we lost control of the iPhone.

Laundry day

Marian, Sylvia likes to carry around dresses on hangers, like Bernadette, and she loves to empty clothes hampers, like Kateri. They'll all be great friends.

The most important pics of the party

Ball!

You've heard of a cup holder, right?

Pebbles at the park

A slide makes a good place to play with rocks. Luckily, we had the park to ourselves.

One more set from Paul's party

The grill, assembled the night before. Yes, we measured the door before we put it together. The produce, from Matt's garden and our farm in Mexico (just kidding about that last part, for now). And a shot of the old and new grills, side by side. They acquitted themselves well.

Charlie, this one is for you

Milestone.

Aunt Marian is just the best

Hand in hand in hand

Birthday helpers

The girls gave Sylvia her first birthday gifts ever, and then helped by opening them while Sylvia marveled over a piece of Tupperware she's played with many times before. She did finally show interest in the two wonderful books.

Chocolate frosting

Sylvia managed to grab not one but two plastic forks (from me) with frosting on them. She was pretty much in heaven.

Best 40th birthday ever

A yard full of friends, kids having fun, and two brothers using two grills to feed the crowd. Happy birthday, Paul!

Cuteness contest

Notes

Sylvia started saying "Mama" yesterday. Swoon.

Power of the pen

First the checkbook, now a magazine renewal form. The girl knows what she wants!

"Um, the dog did it?"

Our friend Traci let Sylvia do her favorite thing today: pull stuff out of a box.

Two firsts

Tonight, Sylvia had what I think was her first temper tantrum. She didn't want to go to sleep -- she wanted to play some more, so she screamed and cried and tried to escape my arms. I questioned my parenting. (Of course.)

But a few minutes later, as I was holding her and walking the room singing a lullaby to a much calmer Sylvia, she reached under my chin and tickled me, with a super cute grin on her face.

Wow. I felt better.

Roller derby

Cleaning day

Sylvia helps by carrying this clothes hanger everywhere.

Babies and bars

Grandparents, don't worry. They were perfectly safe, AND we were hovering over them.

Whatcha doing, Sylvia?

"Nuffing."

Just another day at the beach..

Kansas City style.

Happy birthday, Dad!

We got all fancied up, and we left Sylvia with a babysitter. Paul got to eat six delicious (he says) oysters at dinner, and when we got home, we discovered that Sylvia had made sure to nap for an hour so she could stay up late with us and play. All in all, I think Paul had a good 40th!

Dizzy fun

Sylvia is really going to like roller coasters.

Field of beans

Kateri the Builder

Construction

Tickling

Cousins and cupcakes

Better stop swearing

Today in the car, I was making up some verses to "Wheels on the Bus." (Does anyone know the real words?) When I sang, "The mommies on the bus say clap your hands," I looked in my rear view and saw Sylvia start clapping! Oh dear: She understands English.

Rainy day

Every baby needs a calm, relaxed bedtime routine

Maybe this is why Sylvia's not sleeping?

Library crawl

Halls of power

You can guess what happened after the camera stopped rolling. Tears were shed.

Train table love affair begins

At the bookstore.