As far as Sydney, our move to California has been the best thing ever for her. She has grown so much in these past 5 months physically, socially, and intellectually. It is sad to me that she is no longer a baby.. but she is still OUR baby:) She potty-trained as soon as we got here and caught on very quickly, which surprised me since she was in a new environment. She talks full sentences and conversation, and she is so funny! She plays so good, is really affectionate, and has SO many great friends now that she gets to spend a lot of time with! She can count to 20, count backwards from 10, identify all shapes and colors, say all her ABC's only messing up 2 or 3 of them, sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Loves Me entirely, and is now dressing herself- panties, pants, and shoes, just not shirts yet:) We have been COMPLETELY paci-free for 2 weeks now, and although she was a breeze with quitting the bottle cold turkey, and potty-training, THIS was definitely a challenge, as most of you know how she loved her paci. It was literally hell for 7-8 nights, but I knew there would be an end, and there was. She still asks about it at random moments, but is not upset when I tell her we don't have those anymore.
She misses her daddy and talks of him often. She talks about how he is at work but she will see him "reewy soon." Sometimes she will think of him and whine that she wants to see her daddy, and that she loves him. She has gotten to talk to Nick on the phone a lot, see him on VideoChat, and see him in the United Through Reading DVD he sent to her of him talking to her and reading her books.
As far as behavior, she is going through phases, let's be honest. She was doing excellent, sharing easily, and never hitting or touching even when she was hit by another child. The past week, she has been bossy with younger ones, and sharing only when threatened. The good news is, I stay home with her and am able to discipline her and work with her on these things. The unfortunate news is, I can see she is looked at or reacted at with judgey eyes by children and adults alike around her. She is simply acting out, not all the time, mainly when she hasn't napped, for whatever reason. Gratefully, she is my number one priority. Being home raising her is my main objective right now, and I am always disciplining her with my very best efforts, with the attitude of her heart as my main concern. So, this WILL pass. She is a sweet, well-behaved, wonderful, hilarious, beautiful, unique child of God!
As far as Nick, in a nutshell, he is BUSY! He is learning a brand new job, completing objectives of their mission everyday, and on top of that, has to find time in his "free time" to learn and complete qualifications to ensure he passes boards and gets his SWO pin. It is overwhelming, but he is doing great, learning a lot, getting a lot of his quals knocked out, and becoming closer with his crew. When they go underway, out to sea, to complete different tasks, he is commonly working 6 hours on, 6 hours off, continuously! It is extremely hot there, and there isn't much to do. He of course misses home like crazy and is disappointed he will miss Sydney's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, his birthday, and Easter, but he also knows why he is doing it. He is the most selfless, honorable person I've ever met, and he makes me so proud, so unbelievably thankful, and he makes me who I am. The way he loves and takes care of me and Sydney just blows me away.
As far as me, I'm doing really great, especially considering this is the very first deployment! Being where we are and surrounded by the wonderful people we are makes all the difference. Although I stay at home now, some days I feel busier now than when I was working full-time! I just try to stay busy, probably too busy at times, but I do know (maybe almost too late, though) when I need to stop and say, let's just focus on myself and Sydney, and nothing else today.
I am looking forward to going home for the holidays this Friday! I will certainly miss my friends here and will miss out on a few things going on here, but I'm ready to be at "Momma's house":) and have a little break from responsibilities here. This will certainly be a bittersweet holiday season, missing my husband and my sweet Granddaddy, so.. home for the holidays sounds good. :)
