Brady set this up on his own this morning b/c he said he needed "a place to work." haha! Cozy little home office, isn't it?
It looks like he used the plasma car for carpool this morning. (It was actually already in the office.) He built his cubicle wall from toys that were laying around in order to keep Sylvie out. He always uses a box as his pretend desk and this time he put the laptop that he got for his birthday on it. He always uses the Frosty book for his chair...not any other book, it's always the Frosty book- it must be Ergonomic or something. ha! The kid cracks me up.
This was how I found the boys playing Playdoh this morning. Apparently the baseball player and the fireman are busy being creative.
This reminds me that Brady often assigns us roles when we are playing...no matter what we are playing...and he's pretty strict about not breaking character. For example, with Mimi yesterday he insisted that he was Bob the Builder and she was Wendy. He would not address her as anything other than Wendy and would not answer unless you called him Bob. He corrected me often. "Brady, are you hungry for lunch?" "No, I'm Bob and Bob's not hungry right now." Lately he's been referring to Sylvie as "the little alien." I think maybe from Toy Story, but I'm not sure. Nonetheless, it is funny to hear him talking to her, "No, little alien! That's not a toy for you." "Little alien, do you want milk?" "Little alien, don't climb the stairs by yourself!"
I was going to try to do a favorite things "theme" for Sylvie's 1st birthday like we did for Brady. But really, Sylvie's favorite things are...us, her family. She's so sweet and as long as she's with us, she's pretty much Happy. But if I had to think beyond that, I'd say her other favorite things are blankets...she loves to snuggle in them and also to poof them over her head like a parachute. She also loves bouncing and jumping. That's why we got her a parachute and a trampoline for her birthday. Okay, the trampoline is a bit of a reach. I actually got it for both kids (trying to save our couch from the 35 lb toddler weight that tests its springs daily) and it does say ages 3+. But we gave it to Sylvie so that she'll at least get a turn (we tell Brady that it's Her present that she lets Brady borrow).
Happy Birthday Sylvie! You are 1 year old today, but will always be our baby girl, Littlest Luhring. You continue to be this wonderful light in our family. Like I sing to you every night, You Are Our Sunshine!
Walking is old news for the little miss by now. :) She's steady and actually pretty fast. One of my favorite things about Sylvie is that she comes when she's called. It's awesome. Whenever we call her, she emerges from wherever she is with a smile and walks right towards us.
Speaking of responding, Sylvie has excellent receptive language and listens very well...I hope that continues! :) Her expressive language still consists of CVCV (consonant vowel) sounds like mama, baba, dada, duhduh. She babbles often. She's starting to repeat us a little bit, but really it's just whatever sound she feels like saying at that time. For example, often times everything is mamamama and I will point to myself and say, "Right! Mama! Say Mama!" and she does. But if she's in a dadadada or a babababa moment, and I point to myself and say, "Say Mama!" She replies, "dada" or "buhbuh." She does get the correct number of syllables :) and even when the sound is not correct, it's still very cute to hear her sweet voice chatting away. Sylvie's very good at pointing at what she wants and vocalizing a CVCV sound. She gives us feedback and either shakes her head "no" if it's we don't get it right or gives a big smile and reaches for the object if we have gotten it right. However, this strategy only works when the thing she wants is in view. Tears of frustration happen sometimes too. :( In addition to the babbling and crying, mini giggles, laughs, and "baby singing" are her other vocalizations. She has a good time with her little life. It's adorable!
There is one more upper dental friend pushing through, making that 4 teeth by her first birthday. She's now drinking whole milk to help strengthen those teeth and bones. She doesn't drink much from a sippy cup. She uses one and will sip from it (in fact, she thinks it's hilarious to drink from Brady's). But when I really want her to drink her milk, I put it in a bottle...or just leave one of Brady's sippy cups with her milk in it in view- ha!
The Guptas gave Sylvie this fun Laugh & Learn purse when she was still in utero last year. We finally gave it to her today, on her first birthday. :) It was too cute to see Sylvie with the girl version and Brady with his boy version (Laugh & Learn toolkit that Amanda gave him for his first birthday two years ago!).
I usually cannot stand messes and try to clean up while they are happening. Today I just let it happen and Brady went to town using the table and the lid from his Toy Story container as a mortar and pestle to grind up his Cheerios.
I love how Sylvie's surveying the situation and then showing her approval with her laughter. :) Admiring his work
We met up with Brady's buddies and our friends for a basketball game tonight at the high school where the Blairs (Wyatt and Wesley's parents) are teachers. I didn't get any good pictures, but it was really fun! Brady really enjoyed watching the "big boys" play.
Sylvie has a bunch of cute winter outwear. Today was the first time she wore one of her brother's (and our neighbor's) hand-me-downs...the adorable bear coat! So cute! When I went to take her picture, big bro wanted to be included as well.
He thought her teddy bear ears were fun too!
A few other cute ones from earlier this morning. We've discovered that if we put a clip far back enough in Sylvie's hair, it will stay there...for 3.5 minutes at best! ha!
