Adventures in Parenting!

Bedtime has continued to go along very well, Sylvie only wakes up during the night about once every few weeks or so. After a little cuddle, she is usually off to dreamland. However, going to sleep has presented a couple of challenges that keep her parents on their toes.

Challenge #1: Sylvie has mastered the zipper and snaps on her pajamas. She has also figured out how to undo them and slip them off at night. So we have gone in to check on her before going to bed ourselves to find her sleeping on the bed in some state of undress.

Solution: Mama and Daddy decide to double layer Sylvie and put a sweater over top of her pajamas.

Result: Success! Sometimes she still manages to unsnap or unzip, but she hasn't figured out that she has to remove her sweater first in order to free her arms. Ha ha - take that parenting challenge #1. ;)

Challenge #2: Sylvie loves Velcro (have we mentioned before how she likes taking things apart ie. snaps, unzipping?). Anyhoo, can anyone guess where she is getting practice with Velcro? Yes, experienced parents with toddlers - her diaper. So now that Sylvie's efforts are getting undressed at night have been thwarted, she now unsnaps her pajamas at the waist and pulls off her diaper. Sigh... Luckily we have only had a couple of wet blankets to change in the middle of the night.

Solution: Mama and Daddy are up for the challenge, and devise the ultimate solution - packing tape. Yep, after talking with other parents of two year olds, we are putting a strip of clear packing tape over the Velcro tags of her diaper at night.

The verdict: So far a success! We will have to see what else she has to present us with in the next month, but we are ready!


Once again on the same topic of undoing,unsnapping, unvelcroing, unbuttoning, unzipping (can you see the pattern yet??)...

One day after Sylvie got up from her nap, I was getting supper prepared and Sylvie comes shuffling into the kitchen giggling. I couldn't help but giggle with her. I think the pictures speak for themselves:

Hehehhe Mama...Look at me!


What do you mean pick up my clothes and get dressed?


Whatever Mama! I'm two and that's the way I roll!

Eight Excellent Months

Eight months...eight months...We can't believe it has only been eight months together as a family. At times it feels like it was just yesterday meeting this amazing little baby girl, and other times like we have always been together. Sylvie is now 22 months old and weighs 25 pounds. She is growing like a weed, we need to measure her height, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Our attachment between Sylvie and us has continued to grow and deepen. Sylvie has been big into copying our actions and imitating us. If we are brushing her hair, she wants to hold the brush and comb our hair too. She will go off and pull a kleenex from the box, walk over and hold it to our nose to blow. When we are hugging, she now pats us on the back and gives us squeezes. The caring actions have become much more reciprocal as our time together has grown. Sylvie loves giving us leg hugs while we are cooking dinner in the kitchen, and asks to hold both of our hands are we are walking in the grocery store or mall. The latest cutest development happened during this last week. When we have been picking up Sylvie and giving her kisses, she smiles and kicks her legs in the air. It reminds us of when babies are picked up, and are so excited they kick their legs in the air too.

This past month has been busy with the wrap up of the holiday season and all the visiting and celebrating that accompanies that time of year. Here are some of the things that have been happening over the last little while:

Daddy and Sylvie have started some classes on Saturday morning through our local Rec center named appropriately enough "Daddy & Me". The program is for Dads and their kids and is held at a local school gym. Each week Daddy and Sylvie head off to go play with all the equipment and games that are organized. Daddy says Sylvie is doing really well with a hockey stick and wiffle ball, apparently she is really good at keeping her stick on the floor. These pictures were taken this past Saturday...

All right... here I go!


Yes! I got it!


She shoots...


She scores!


Hey - look at me! I got up here all by myself!


Daddy, put down the camera and help me down!


Some other big changes that have occurred include Sylvie slowly starting daycare and potty training. As mentioned before, Sylvie has been going to daycare two days a week while Daddy is at work and Mama is working on her Master's degree. Sylvie is enjoying going to daycare, and particularly loves the pet hamster "Rino". We love that we feel comfortable leaving her in the care of a long time friend.

With potty training, Sylvie is doing very well. In China, children are potty trained very early compared to North American standards. With the cost of disposable diapers, or electricity to launder cloth diapers most children begin potty training very young. When we returned home from China, we received a potty seat as a gift from a friend. We decided to try and see what would happen, and lo and behold it was a simple as that. Success the first time and each time after. We just recently went out and bought these new undergarments for Sylvie to try out wearing around the house.

Blueberry Mess!

So my parents decided I need to eat some more fibre, and introduced oatmeal. Oatmeal's OK, but then they added some frozen blueberries to the bowl. I LOVE blueberries! However, things began to get a little messy.

Hmmmm...what's this?


Who needs a spoon? I'll just pick the blueberries out of the oatmeal! Silly parents...


What do you mean I have to eat the oatmeal too?


Why are you looking at me like that? What...do I have something on my face?

Pockets Fashion show starring "Sylvie"!

Guess who discovered pockets?!

Daddy decided to have Sylvie walk the runway to show off her newly found pockets! Here are a couple of pictures snapped of her catwalk.

Give me "fierce" a la Tyra Banks!

Serious girl...

Pretty girl...

Silly girl...

First day at day care!

Guess what happened this week...


This is Sylvie's new Kai-Lan back pack and lunch box. That's right, our little girl is slowly starting day care this week. We feel very lucky that a friend we have known for many years has her own licensed day care in her home. While I'm not going back to work until the end of May, we wanted to have a slow start to day care and gradually increase her time over the next few months. I also have to write my thesis, and would like to have the first draft completed before returning to work, so I will use this time hanging out at the library typing away. For some unknown reason I'm finding it a little hard to use my "free" time to write at home - I don't know how I will survive without having an afternoon nap when I go back to work. I think I might have to schedule a snooze in for myself and my class!

We had an orientation on Monday where we both hung out and played together with all the toys and other children. Sylvie loves the toy kitchen and all the new toys. Then on Tuesday Sylvie went for a shortened day. I dropped her off and stayed for a bit, but she went off right away to play with the toy kitchen again. I told her good bye and said I would be back after nap time, and she just waved and said "bye-bye".

Apparently Sylvie did very well. Mama on the other hand was at a bit of a loss all day. I'm so used to having my little side kick beside me (or underfoot) I didn't quite know what to do. I met Cory at noon and we went to a downtown restaurant for lunch together. Out of all the restaurants and pub selections we somehow chose Kelly O'Bryan's - a family restaurant. Sigh... I know we didn't make the most wisest use of our alone time when I saw crayons at the front door waiting to be handed out. Next time we will be visiting an establishment we might not otherwise have the chance to with Sylvie.

After lunch I went back to the library for another bit of time and then went to pick Sylvie up. She was happy to see me and wanted to be picked up right away even though she was eating her snack... yey - I'm more popular than cheese! I knew it would happen one day ;)

So Sylvie is now tucked into bed and I'm pondering...worrying...contemplating...our day apart. See, as an adoptive mother I have a few more concerns than the average mom. Sylvie was "great" today. I wish I could just go with it and be good, but instead... I worry.

She didn't cry when I left today (or when I leave her with Daddy either). Does this mean she isn't securely attached to me? Is she just too used to having people come and go to meet her needs? Or, is she securely attached to me and she knows Mama WILL come back, like the other times when I leave her with Daddy? Needless to day, when we got home there was lots of cuddling, hugging and playing together in the bath.

So those are my thoughts after this new "first" for Sylvie and I. I think I will finish my glass of wine, have bubble bath and try to go to sleep leaving my worries for another day.