Sienna, Scared of Santa

 

Santa came to Kids Count and all the children were very excited to sit in his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas...except for SiSi.  Cam showed me all the adorable pictures of the employee's children smiling at Santa, telling him their wishes, or at the very least, sitting uninterested in his lap, like Eloise!   Our little scaredy cat wouldn't go near him, even after he gave her a puppy and a candy cane.  How cute is that!?

 

 

Happy Halloween!

SiSi's Halloween almost got stifled by a nasty case of strep throat!  Luckily, Daddy and Sienna got on meds in time to enjoy the festive day.  Funny enough, Sienna's Halloween costume wasn't that different from her daily wear, since she is thoroughly obsessed with "pretty" skirts and dresses and has a definite opinion about what she wants to wear (and we are very glad that we are getting more wear out of Finley's old dance costume!).

Happy 2nd Birthday, SiSi!

Sienna celebrated her 2nd birthday on Grandma Brenda's actual birthday, which turned out to be an absolutely perfect day to revel in the sun.  We grilled burgers and ate sinful potatoes (thanks Grandma Brenda), salad and relishes (thanks Grandma Belva) and Mommy's favorite grape salad (thanks Grandma Julie).  Sienna loved each and every present she received and has been playing with them ever since (so has her big sister!).  She got a wand from Steve and Sondra (who couldn't be at the party but stopped by earlier to visit), a Sesame Street school bus from Auntie Megan, Uncle Phil, Sadie and Eliose, cogs and screws, a growth chart, and a super cool puzzle from Grandma Julie and Uncle Jimmy, super cute clothes and a baby doll from Grandma Belva and Grandpa Tim, a baby doll high chair from Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Kevin, an art smock from Auntie Annie and a little piggy book from Uncle Luke (Dunka Duke, as SiSi calls him).  After opening presents, we ate bee cupcakes and Sienna ate the candy bees off the cake.  Finley chose the theme since Sienna loves to sing, "Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee."  We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in the perfect late summer/early fall day. 

 

Now that she's 2, Sienna is really showing her personality.  We all love how she sings songs to herself while she plays - everything from "EIEIO" to "God Bless America!" (Great Grandma Joyce is smiling down from heaven on her for that one.). She's very loving to her babies and to her "Ninny" when Finley gets sad - although she also has a fierce temper and pulls Ninny's hair at the drop of a hat.  She goes on and on and tells long stories, although many of the words are indecipherable, but she definitely has the inflections down.  She loves Barney and watches his DVDs to fall asleep at night.  She LOVES the pool and has very little fear in the water.  She also loves to do gymnastics and she tries to copy every move Finley makes.  She does still hate loud noises like tractors and vacuums ("I scared.  I scared of tractors," she says).  She's just as sweet as can be and so huggable, even when she is standing on her chair and climbing on the table with a twinkle in her eye!  We love you, Sienna!

Apple!

The other night, the family was sitting at the dinner table, eating.  Sienna was in her high chair in between Daddy and Mommy and Finley was across from her.  We had been eating for 5 minutes or so when Sienna started reaching and saying, "Apple!  Apple!"  I kept thinking she was reaching for the salt and pepper shakers and that she thought they were apples - although I certainly knew she was smarter than that, especially since she can now count to eleven!  All of a sudden, a lightbulb went off in Daddy's head and he said, "I know what she's doing."  He grabbed her hand and she reached for mine, and we all realized that she wanted to sing the Johnny Appleseed song.  We had to sing it several times, of course, after that cuteness!  Oh, the Lord IS good to me :)

Ears Are Good!

No pics for this post, but SiSi had her ear-tubes-follow-up a couple of days ago and everything looks good.  She passed her hearing test with flying colors and improved a ton from her before test.  She clearly can hear because she asks Momma to sing any number of her favorite songs - ABCD's, Itsy Bitsy 'Pider, Rock-a-bye-baby, Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee - and matches pitch perfectly.  Naturally ;)

Pigtails for SiSi!

Sienna has had only a teeny weeny trim since she was born and Mommy thought it was much easier to let her "bangs" grow out while she is a little stinker rather than wait until she is older like we did with Finley.  After spending a girls' weekend with the cousins/aunts/grandmas in Sioux Falls (where she clearly had a blast in the pool), it was clear that she was very over her top-of-the-head ponytails.  When we returned home, Mommy caved and gave her a bigger trim of the bangs, which left her smiling from ear to ear.  This morning, we were able to put her hair in her very first pigtails ever and she left them in all day so she must have loved them as much as we lover her.

Summer Sienna

These pictures are from a photo session with my good friend, Kelley Conley Reiter, and they truly capture my little stinker, SiSi.  This summer, she has grown and changed so much.  She continually surprises us with new words, phrases, and skills.  She is a very good talker - last week she told me, "I'm scared of the tractor," after our neighbor was mowing his lawn.  She is a total copycat of her big sister.  She studies Finley's every move and repeats everything she says and does.  Sometimes, this worries me...  She is nearly fearless (minus the tractor and riding on Grandpa Kevin's boat) and I'm sure she's going to be a gymnast.  She loves to walk, one foot in front of the other, on the curb that surrounds our park, and she leaps and jumps right on the curb.  When she falls down, she laughs and gets right back up.  Finley has been learning how to do backwalkovers (spotted by me) and of course, this means Sienna is, as well.  She's actually really good!  Sienna also has been sleeping in her big-girl bed for a couple of weeks now.  Some days, it's easier than others, but most of the time, she goes down pretty easy and she always stays in her bed all night long.  One of the funniest things SiSi does (in retrospect) is that she throws full-on fits, much like her father!  One day, I went into her room after she was sleeping, and she had destroyed her room.  She had thrown every single book from her bookshelf around the room, knocked over her lamp and the ipod player, tore every kleenex from the box, and spread her toys across the floor.  When she gets really mad, she screams a high-pitch scream, makes super tight fists, and grits her teeth while she shakes.  If anyone is near, watch out, because your hair will get pulled and you will get scratched.  Luckily, her sweet little personality comes out very quickly once she gets her anger out.  We love her so!