Someone's in the kitchen with Dana...

Usually it's AJ who wants to help with the baking. But since only a spatula – no mixer – was required to stir the brownies, Pavlov's dog didn't respond to the prep work in progress.


That meant Mommy got to train in a new junior helper. Sydney wasn't too interested in helping stir, but she sure enjoyed sitting by Mommy and "helping" hold the bowl.

Of course the best part came at the end. The innocent little rookie baker didn't realize that she'd get a spoon to lick off once we were done. Bonus! She also didn't realize there'd be brownies to eat a little bit later. Double bonus!

Mommy, meanwhile, quickly learned to add a second spoon to the mixing process. AJ may not have heard us stirring the batter, but his superhero hearing sure picked up the sound of Sydney's excited squeals as she licked the spatula.

Two down, ??? to go

Take a good look. It's the last time you'll see AJ in this pair of glasses.


We had just gotten them adjusted Saturday afternoon and then SNAP! Sydney got a hold of them.

So here's the quick tally: Pair #1 lasted seven weeks until Daddy broke the frames while trying to straighten them. Pair #2 made it eleven weeks until Sydney tried yanking them off of AJ. In other words, our rough and tumble preschooler may plaster the lenses with gooey fingerprints, but he has yet to break them. He leaves that part of the destruction process to his family members.

I can't wait to see how much it will cost to replace them. Our original package called for one free replacement of the frames and one free replacement of the lenses. Maybe we can trade the lens replacement for another set of frames?

The breakfast of champions

AJ asked for "banana pancakes" for breakfast. That sounded good to me, but Sydney, I soon learned, wanted something else. While I was busy grabbing Bisquick and eggs, she got busy picking out her own breakfast.

With a cereal bar in one hand, and a cup of mandarin oranges in the other, Sydney let out a primal, victory shriek "Eeee-yah!" She then happily headed for her high chair, fully expecting me to follow.

She was quite perturbed that I made her recreate the scene to take photos for this blog. I have to confess, knowing that she was in the kitchen with me, I hadn't been watching her all that closely. But the "eeee-yah!" certainly got my attention. It made me laugh enough to run and grab the camera.

Seasoned travelers

I can't help but look at AJ in this picture and think about how differently children travel today compared to 30-some years ago.

Buckled into his car seat, AJ's balancing a portable DVD player on his lap, while sipping Mommy's leftover drink from Arby's. Now, I can't really compare apples to apples, because I can't really remember anything from when I was three-and-a-half. But I do recall plenty of long, cross-country road trips as a child with my family when I was just a few years older. No car seats. No electronic toys. No air conditioning (or maybe it just felt like that riding in the back seat of a suburban).

I'm not complaining though. I consider those family trips to be priceless - just as I've come to value the quiet that comes with an occupied preschooler in the back seat.

Meanwhile, what was Sydney doing during this trip? She'll never remember.

Sydney's secret spoon skills

Sydney loves to have a spoon in her hand when she's eating. She doesn't necessarily use the spoon to feed herself. She just likes hanging on to it.

Except when ice cream is involved. Then it's a different story – she can't wait to dig in! At Dairy Queen last week for Grandpa Bill's birthday, Sydney demonstrated just how skilled she's become at feeding herself with a spoon.

Multi-sport athlete

As our favorite boys of summer unsuccessfully battled for the American League Central championship tonight, my favorite little boy showed his loyalty to multiple Minnesota teams all at once.

I took the kids outside this evening, in hopes of giving Jeff some quiet time to watch the game. AJ decided he wanted to play baseball... while wearing a Minnesota Vikings jacket over a Minnesota Wild sweatshirt.

He actually did pretty well, hitting more than one line drive that forced me to duck or leap out of the way. When it was time to go inside, AJ victoriously announced to Jeff, "I'm going to be a Twins baseball player and I'm going to be on TV!"

Tag team trouble

Sydney slept through the night last night. This should be cause for great celebration, not to mention more rested looks for Mommy and Daddy. But alas, that's not the case. Why? Because on the one night Sydney managed to sleep for nine consecutive hours, her brother could not. And so sometime in the wee hours of the morning, a 45-pound child made his way into our bed.

Just one night of uninterupted sleep. Is that really too much to ask?

These pictures, by the way, are from a recent trip to the Aquarium - my first venture there with both kids, since Sydney learned to walk.

Despite the look on her face in this photo, Sydney really enjoyed the water table. She liked it so much, in fact, that she decided to STEP IN IT. Having been through this stage with AJ, I know to pack extra shirts, so they can change into dry clothing when they're done. However, I didn't think I'd need to bring extra shoes.

AJ, meanwhile, was finally brave enough to reach into the touch tank and pet a sting ray. What fun!