Sylvia Noel is Three

I really like name meanings. Sylvia means "from the forest" and in some cultures she is the "goddess of nature." I didn't know anything about her when she was born, but I knew she picked her name and in three short years she has fulfilled its meaning. If a nature goddess is always barefoot, half-naked, and running outside with tangled curls, then Sylvia is indeed a nature goddess. Her personality is still blooming and I am always learning more about who she is. She is more introverted than Scarlett. She isn't at all shy and will play with anyone, but she really needs alone time and is easily lost in her own little world. She is the first to ask to go home when we go out and she just finished a painful phase of fighting bedtime (more-so than the usual bedtime-delaying-antics). She was practically having a panic attack at bedtime and I finally realized it was because we had moved the nightlight from right next to her bed where she would thumb through books or play with little figurines under its light. She needs that time to decompress and sooth herself to sleep. She is a quintessential night owl and does her best imagining late at night. Sylvia is also less sensitive than I was as a kid. She doesn't take anything personally. If I get mad at her, she doesn't even care. She fixes her behavior or whatever she did wrong, and then she moves on. (Scarlett and I on the other hand are always mending feelings and analyzing our communication. Kids really do come the way they come).  

Speech develops drastically between ages two and three. Reading her early-year quotes with the things she says now is so amusing. Here are some things she has said or done during her second year. These quotes are in order from earliest to most recent so some of these things she doesn't say or do anymore, but it was a big part of our lives at the time.

Everywhere she went, she used to run with her hands stretched behind her back yelling, "Zooooom!"

When she still had her pacifier, she would see it lying around and would say, "Paci! I save you!"

She would constantly and randomly get right in my face, cup my cheeks, and whisper, "I wuv oo."

Whenever I hadn't seen or heard from her in awhile and it was too quiet for comfort, I would yell, "Hey, Sylvia?"
And she would instantly reply, "Nussing (nothing) moooooom!"

Me: What do you want for breakfast, Sylv?
Sylvia: Bread. Chocolate bread.
Me: Umm. I don't know what that is. We don't have chocolate bread.
Sylvia: Oh. Chocolate beans?

Whenever she demanded something of me and I would tell her to ask me nicely, she would whisper, "Oh...nice-wee."

Whenever the baby would cry for us after a nap, Sylvia would run to her yelling, "I save you, baby!" And then when she got to her she would say, " I dotchoo babe"(I got you babe).

After every meal she would hide her hands behind her back and giggle "Surpriiiiiiiise" only to pull them out and show me her dirty little fingers. What a treat.

Everyday I hear a crashing sound from the other room, followed immediately by
"Saw-ee Moooom!"

She moves the S in all S words to the end of the word. For example snack is nacks, stop is tops, Scarlett is Cai-yet (Rs and Ls are famously hard as well), scoop is coops, all of the S words. It's adorable. Almost as adorable as her saying "Thank yoop."

A woman who pulled up to our house to tell Scarlett to send Sylvia inside because she had completely stripped naked in the front yard. 

Me: Do you want a frozen burrito?
Sylvia: (With pure joy on her face) A Elsa burrito?
Me: Hahaha, sorry honey it's just a normal burrito.
Sylvia: Oh. A Anna burrito?

The first night Sylvia slept outside of her crib,  Scarlett came in at 3 am saying, "Moooom, Sylvia's show is too loud." I went in their room and she was watching YouTube on the iPad. I moved her mattress back into her crib realizing she wasn't ready for this freedom and got everyone back to sleep. The next morning I asked Jordan if he heard her wake up last night and he said, "Yeah, at like midnight? I woke up to her gently scratching my back."

For awhile, she mixed up "good morning" and "happy birthday." Every morning she would cup the baby's face in her hands and whisper, "Ha ba-day, baby."

She talks like an Italian. She puts an "a" between almost every word. For example, "That's-a mine-a toy!" Or as Jordan likes to say, "It's a me! A Sylvia!"

After noticing a fart for the first time she exclaimed, "Oh! Mine-a butt noisy!" I taught her what it was called and a few days later when it happened again, she couldn't quite remember the word and said, "Hey! I biffed."

Every night before I leave the room she grabs my face and says "I kiss yous cheeks. I kiss yous eyes. I kiss yous chin. I kiss yous nose. I kiss yous fo-head."

She is very agreeable. When we ask her to do or not to do something she just says, "Oh! Yah. Okay."

Due to her nature-goddess personality, she has no fear of climbing on anything and everyhing.

When she wants something, she closes one eye and squints with the other and points straight at it, as if trying to summon it.

Once while trying to get out the door she exclaimed, "I can't find my freaking shoes!"

What's hers nafe? = What is his/her name?

I so a-sited! = so excited

Soopid = Super (That's soopid yummy!)

Fireworks truck = firetruck

Opial = oatmeal, apple, and hospital. Gets tricky sometimes.

While I was snuggling and spooning her she said, "Mine-a butt loves yours butt."

She thinks favorite-color is one word for favorite. For example, "Daniel Tiger is my favorite-color" or "Cheese is my favorite-color."

Whenever she hears a new or long or difficult word, she solemnly looks down and says, "I can't say that word."

Sylvia: Can I have a grilled cheese?
Me: Sure! I'll go make you a grilled cheese sandwich.  
Sylvia: No!! I want a grillled cheese!  
Me: I know honey. I'm gonna make you a grilled cheese sandwich.  
Sylvia: Nooo!!! Just a grilled cheese!  
Me: (Looking at Jordan) Can you tell me what is happening right now?  
Jordan: (Shrugs) 
Me: I am making you a grilled cheese sandwich. 
 Sylvia: No! No sandwich. Just a grilled cheese!  
Me: Ooooh. There it is. You didn't know that it's actually called a sandwich.  
Sylvia: You makin' me so fwustwated.

She asks me daily if she is big and strong, yet (pronouncing it "stronge").
Yes baby girl. You are getting too big and stronge. 

*All beautiful and professional looking pictures are by Cody Paige Photography