Happy 2nd Birthday Sienna!

We had an animal themed birthday party for Sienna. She loved everything from opening presents, to the balloons, and the animal crackers. When it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out her cake, she was a little concerned. I think her favorite part of the day was getting to ride her new tricycle.

Happy Halloween!

This year Sienna was going to be a pumpkin for Halloween. I bought her costume earlier in the month instead of waiting until the last minute like last year.
Good thing, she hated it, but loved the pumpkin bag. I tried every day for a week to get her into the costume before returning it to the store.
At the store I showed her all the different things she could be, but it was still "No no no!"

I remembered the butterfly wings that her grandmother got her ( she liked those ok ) and the tiara she grabbed from the toy chest during her first visit to the dentist ( she liked it). I found a purple fairy dress to tie everything together, and finally tricked her into wearing it.

New quotes for this month:

"Two big pumpky"

"Happy see you"

Petaluma Pumkin Patch

Sienna is almost 2 years old. One more month to go!

These are from last weekends trip to the Pumkin Patch.

ABCD

It's literally the ABCD song (not to be confused with the ABCs).

22 months

Tons of new vocabulary (dark, park, pool, MINE, names of classmates and teachers, numbers one and two.)
Sienna is a bit aggressive now, she definitely enjoys using the word mine. We need to work on the hitting and pushing. We have to keep an eye on her with our cat, but she is getting better especially now that I showed her how to feed Zacky treats.

Sienna is very independent and has to do everything herself these days, I hope these toddler tantrums are not a sign of what to expect when she turns 2.

Tonight's 22month picture came past her usual bedtime and she was very cranky. I couldn't pry away the Binky... She was very curious now about how the camera worked especially the video recording, so I showed her. I think she got the concept of how it works because she had a fit again when I tried to resume the picture taking.

Here is the best from the group. Sienna and her monkeys. Once there was one, now she has two.
Her uncle gave her the first one for Christmas, but then she saw a bunch of them on display the last time we went shopping and had to grab them all . Thomas thought how nice it would be to have a backup favorite toy.

Parks and Pools

Sienna was invited to her friend from school's 2nd birthday party last weekend. It was the first time she played in a splash pool . Today we went to a Labor day party where Sienna got a chance to splash in a big pool. All she talks about now is pool pool pool. At least it's something different than obsessing about the park.
I caught her once having a dream about the park. She fell asleep in the carseat, and woke up all startled when I tried getting her out. Her awakening first words were, "park!

Also, Sienna said her first full sentence about 2 weeks ago.
Holding a bennie baby cat that looks like our cat Zacky, she said, " My baby cat".


Here are pics from Alexandre's birthday party.

21 month update!

Earlier this month Sienna, my mom and I went to a kids park in San Francisco for a photoshoot. It was a great day! My co-worker's wife is a photographer http://www.petitepixels.com , and it was a great opportunity for us to capture Sienna at this age where she is running around now and can enjoy the play park. Her favorite park acitivity is the slide.

Favorite activites this month: buckling (high chair, stroller, car seat) good thing she can't unbuckle yet!, trying to do everything herself (dressing, putting on shoes, moving her furniture), and climbing.

Pho Challenge

Friday night, we took Sienna to the city for dinner with old friends from college. We went to a Vietnamese resturant, Pho Garden, which is known for their 3x extra large noodle soup challenge. I believe if you can finished the bowl within 1 hour you get your meal for free, and picture taken with the "I did it!" trophy bowl.
At every large table there were a few brave willing to try the challenge. The waitress informs everyone of the new challenger and we all cheer. I think 3 guys managed to finish during the time we were there.
At our table, only our friend Joko was willing to try. In the end, Sienna took over his bowl of soup. She loves to eat!

20 Month Update

Sienna is toddler talking more each day.

More and More words

Sienna is repeating everyone. For the first time, she started combing words too. The new words in the past few days include:

turtle, Hi Dadda, black, baby, Nena (Sienna), me, meat, juice, bib

I think she's gone through another growth spurt. It's sad to pack away old shoes and clothes, athough it was fun having to run out with her on the weekend to buy some summer outfits. :)

I was playing back the video caputures for Sienna. We watch the most recent to all the way back when she was 3months old. She kept pointing at herself, smiling, and saying, "Nena, Nena, Nena!" until we got to the 3 month videos.

Sienna got very mad and jealous ( in the videos she was holding one of her stuff bears). I realized at that point, she didn't recognize herself anymore. I couldn't convince her it was still Sienna. She didn't like seeing a baby playing with her things.

Her are pictures from the 22nd of June and earlier this month.

Happy 19 months, Sienna!

Sienna enjoys the backyard

Her many expressions

lots of new words!

This is a mid-month update. Sorry, no pictures this time. I just had to write down all the new things Sienna's been saying this week, before I forget.

Grandma

Purple!

Dee ( I don't know what that actually means but she says it a lot)

Bye-bye and hi (she understood the meaning for months now, but she's finally saying the words!)

It rained this morning and a couple of snails were on the walkway as we walked to the car. Sienna carefully walked around each snail she passed, waved, and said "bye-bye". It was super cute.

She'll be chatting away soon!

Happy Memorial Day

We are all still sick, but Sienna was well enough to explore the backyard today.

18 month Sienna

Sienna spots bugs in the trees

Sienna and a mouthful of new teeth

18 month update

I don't have pictures from yesterday (Sienna turned 18 months!) We were both home very sick, and slept most of the day away. Sienna has been sick all week long on top of having more molars coming in. She's been miserable, but today there were a few moments of happy playful Sienna. I'll take pictures as soon as her nose and eyes stop running :(

Updates-

New favorite words: Noooo, pippo (hippo), and nana (banana)

Loves: Stickers! I bought Sienna a small notebook designated for scribbling and stickers. Its a very serious activity for her.

Cinco de Mayo

I can't believe it's already the 5th of May! Here are some photos from April, including Sienna's first Easter Egg Hunt in our backyard, and a picture of her during Petaluma's annual Butter & Egg Festival.

Sienna's big 17th month milestone is opening and closing all the rooms in the house!

Learning Shapes

I'm finally posting a video! Here is the lastest one from today.

Uh Oh!

This entry covers 15 and 16 month year old Sienna. I've been putting in 50+ hour weeks at work, and hardly had time to do anything else. The crunch will be over soon, but it's sad that I haven't been able to spend much time with the family. :(

Sienna is fearless! She climbs, twirls in circles, learning to jump, and tries to carry things around the house that are way to heavy for her. I think she gets it from the older boys in her class.

She can identify all the animals in her books and a long list of objects now. She knows certain rules we have like getting our jackets, hats, and shoes on before going outside. Sienna knows her shapes (star, circle, square, and triangle) and her new favorite activities at home are drawing with her crayons, and playing with Duplo blocks.

Sienna is a great helper around the house, and she loves to bake muffins. I let her stir, and line the muffin tin. As far as new words: Uh-oh, nana (banana), and all the different animals sounds.

We have more teeth and hair now too! Two molars, one on top and bottom, and another one coming in any day now. Notice the bonk on her head? She got it in Febuary and it's still pretty visible. I wish we could strap a helmet to her head.

Here are pictures from last month and today. ( Remember to click on the image for a larger view!)

16 month Sienna

Sienna is serious when she draws

Sienna loves her monkey from her Uncle Albert (15months)

14 months yesterday!

Sienna is a toddler. She's doing toddler things like shaking her head for "No" and "Yes".
If you ask her "Do you want to eat?" or "Do you want to go outside?" she'll nod her head "yes" and run off to the kitchen, or find her jacket. It's so fun now that we can communicate more and more each day.

Earlier this month, she started walking backwards for about a full weekend. I don't know why she felt the need, but it was a very dangerous weekend. I think the excitment has worn off a bit since I haven't caught her trying it lately.

Here's pictures from last night. All she wanted to do is pull all her books from the shelf and read them. She'll put them back too if you ask her :)



Also, Happy 4th Birthday to my godson Ryan!

Christmas Photos

It's the new year and I'm already behind! Before I post Sienna's 14 month photos, here's some more from 2008.

At 13th months (around the holidays), Sienna started becoming mommy's little helper. She loves bringing me things like my shoes or her jacket when she wants to go outside. If I ask her for a diaper she goes to where they are in her room and brings one to me unless she doesn't want me to change her.
She knows when it's bathtime that she needs to get a towel and wash cloth from her room, and all her bath time toys. It's really cute seeing her get all excited and knowing what she needs to do while I fill the bath tub.

Here is a few from christmas day and earlier this month when we visited Melinda, Sienna's godmother.

The many expressions of Sienna

I love books

thank you Lola!

I want to brush my teeth



13months