blatant random silliness

EnterTrainment Junction

Dylan checks out the Isle of Sodor exhibit.  He especially loved the flying Harold the Helicopter.  He also enjoyed pushing the button to make the trains start running.

On Saturday, we headed towards Cincinnati to EnterTrainment Junction.  EnterTrainment Junction is a train lovers dream, and Dylan was no exception.  The bulk of the place is models of trains and environments from the beginning of trains to modern times.  Which was interesting, but I had to carry Dylan through the exhibits (they were adult height).  He did enjoy pushing buttons to make sounds for the exhibits.  

We made our way back to the kids area to discover lots of Thomas.  Dylan went from the train table to the Isle of Sodor display and enjoyed pushing buttons to make trains go.  He also had fun shoveling coal on the big climbing train.  

Dylan rings the bell on the train.

Retrieving a piece of coal that fell out of the train.

Dylan's working on the railroad.

Dylan loved the blue tunnel from one train car to the caboose.

Dylan coming out of the caboose.  

He started getting tired and hungry, so we went to the snack bar to eat.  After a minor meltdown, and lunch, he wanted to go back into the gift shop where he had spotted yet another train table to play with.  He was a tired little guy and fell asleep on the way home.

My tired little engineer discovered yet another train table in the gift shop and didn't want to leave it.

dylan's new train bag

Dylan holding his new train bag.

Yesterday, I finished a bag I've been working on to hold all of Dylan's trains. I used Shinkansen fabric from my Japanese fabric stash. He liked it when I first showed it to him and had fun putting the trains in and out of the pockets.

But, at bedtime last night, he was not so happy about putting the trains into the new bag. He wanted them in the old bag. The old bag is what inspired the new bag. You see, all the trains bang together in the old bag, and the paint chips (bath time makes that worse) and they look worse for wear. So, I thought making a bag with a pocket for each train would be just the ticket. Only time will tell whether the new bag will win Dylan's favor. Here's hoping.

Dylan takes a train out of his bag.

play play play

Dylan, his trains, Elmo and Cookie Monster all play play-doh.

In my last post, I talked about how Dylan has his trains do everything. Well, the other day they played play doh with him. And, he had to have Elmo and Cookie Monster play as well. He started imitating Cookie Monster, but when I pulled the camera out, he stopped. Which was too bad....he was so cute with his low "mmmmmmmmm".


Dylan playing with the parachute at Gymbabies (well, actually it's Gymtikes now, but he still calls it Gymbabies).

At Gymbabies this week, they pulled out the parachute. Dylan loves playing with the parachute and had fun dancing and shaking the 'chute. He's been doing well in the class, listening and following along for the most part. He has his "run off and do what he wants to do" moments, but doesn't put up as much of a fight as he used to.


Dylan playing with finger puppets at storytime.

We've been to two storytimes this week. Yesterday we happened across storytime at the mall at the picture place. We made finger puppets and they had a snack. Dylan especially loved the fish, Bubbles they had on display. He kept asking to "hold that" and "take out water". Hehe.


Dylan and his paper plate snake. At the Base Library's storytime, they read a book about a snake at the zoo that eats all the kids on the field trip except one that saves all the other kids. So, the craft was making paper plate snakes. Which was fun for Dylan for just a few minutes until he steppd on one end and it ripped in half. He was a little on the crazy side today, so maybe we'll make a snake another day that will stay around a little long.



And, today all the snow melted away to leave lots of puddles. Which Dylan has rediscovered he loves. Which led to me discovering that his snowboots aren't waterproof. Which means I need to find him some rain boots pronto!

finding ways to fill our days

This past week, we've had several really really cold days and the snow from last week was still on the ground until today.  Today was a "warm" day...it made it up to 45º (funny how it's all relative isn't it?) .  We had a couple of days of not leaving the house all day long....which makes for long days.  Those are the days where I know Dylan is going to put up a fight if we leave (he tells me very emphatically..."stay home" and "no car ride) and I just don't have the energy for it all.  So we stay home.  And we paint, play with play doh, make muffins, watch Tigger and Pooh, and whatever else we can find to occupy ourselves.  


Our little Michelangelo crayons the ceiling of the box.


Dylan, having a lot of fun "wrestling" with the cardboard box.

For a few days we had a big cardboard box hanging around. I showed Dylan that he could color inside of it and outside of it and he thought that was a lot of fun. Then he thought it would be even more fun to try and climb on the box and I showed him how to get inside the box, which he wasn't to keen on, until I climbed in the box and then he wanted in with me. Both of us in the box meant the end of the box as one side ripped loose. But, that was okay with him, he dove on the box and "wrestled' with the box and generally had a good time crushing it. Now it sits forlornly off to the side and hasn't been played with since. I suppose it's time for the recycle bin.

One of Dylan's favorite things to do these days is to pull out his letter building blocks and book.  The book is called "How to Build An A".  The book comes with foam pieces that will form all the letters in the alphabet.  It's really a great concept, the book has watercolor illustrations and little diagrams to show you how the pieces should fit together for a particular letter.  Dylan especially loves making letters that easily morph into other letters (like O and Q or E and F).  

Here's D, E and F in action.


And I and J.


K and L


O, P, Q and R

We've also done some random crafty type things like stringing pasta onto lanyard and pipe cleaners to make "jewelry". Hehe. Dylan's pipe cleaner and penne bracelet will be all the rage in toddler wear this year.


Note Dylan's bracelet on his arm. In this photo he was putting the pipe cleaner in between his fingers to see what it felt like.

Oh, and did I mention the trains? The trains spend more time doing everything BUT being played with on the train track. I mean, they do get some train track time, but Dylan makes sure they eat with him, drink with him, watch Tigger and Pooh with him, take baths with him and are in his room on his shelf at bedtime. They also have to be put in their bag to go for car rides. And did I mention they get to paint and play play doh too? There's a little ritual that goes along with moving the trains. When Dylan is hungry, he brings me the trains one by one and tells me they want to eat ("Rusty wanna eat") and makes sure I put the train on the table before bringing me another one. I hear "mommy hold [train name here]" a LOT. Yep, this is the way the trains move anywhere. Unless Mommy gets impatient and grabs all of them to move them.


Dylan and his trains eat crackers AND peanut butter. Did I post the "peanut butter AND crackers" video to the blog? I don't think I did, in which case you should click on the January videos in the right column to find it, cause it's cute.

And I will leave you with one more video. Dylan's singing of "Rosanna" has gotten better over the past few weeks. Here's a sample:

Singing and Dancing

Monday afternoon, we headed to the mall to meet Mary-Clare and Mary at the play area. Mary-Clare started making up a song and singing and dancing, and Dylan joined in. By the time I got my camera, they were winding down, but this is what I was able to catch before they stopped altogether.

Yesterday we went to our friends Julie and Elise's house to play. It was our first time at their house and Dylan did very well (he thinks Julie is WAY funny). They have two cats, but only one that was social, and Dylan thought she was the coolest cat ever. He followed her around and one he was warmed up, he was petting her as well. I, unfortunately, forgot my camera, so I didn't get any photos of Dylan and the kitty cat (named Puddy). But he's mentioned her several times since then.

Today, the snow started again. It snowed all day long. We stayed in our pajamas until after dinner when we bundled up to go outside and see the snow a bit. I'd bought a infant/toddler sled at Meier yesterday and wanted to try it out. Turns out, it's a little too small for Dylan. *pout* They don't seem to make any in betweens...there's the infant/toddler sled, and then the big kids sled. Oh well, it came in handy for pulling the bag of trains along with us on our walk around.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the single digits, so we may be stuck inside again. Here's hoping the roads are not iced over so we can head out somewhere together (tonight, Dylan was asking for a car ride).

my little snowbunny

Dylan next to the "snowball" tree.

Yesterday morning there was snow on the ground. We were going to try and go the "Y" to meet Mary and Mary-Clare, but Dylan was a bit cranky from waking up too early and was not easy to get out of the house. Once we did get out of the house and he saw the snow, I knew we weren't going anywhere. And we had a great time in the snow.

I built a little snowman and Dylan thought the snowman needed a "black hat". But before I could do anything about that he'd already dismantled the snowman and was stepping on it. And then asking me to "make 'nother snowman".

I then decided to stop making snowmen and start making snowballs. I showed him how I could throw it at the tree and they would stick. He thought that was way cool. He'd tell me "make snowball again" and then he'd inspect the snowball, and count 1-2-3 and I'd throw it. And we'd repeat many times (as evidenced by the snowball tree above).

In between the snowballs, he started singing the Letter Factory song (the A says Ahhhhh) and hearing the echo his voice made.

After about a half an hour, I decided we needed to go in and warm up. I had tried putting mittens on him, but he just took them back off and his little hands were getting red (along with his nose and cheeks). I told him we'd go inside and have some hot chocolate, and then come back out again. Well, he's two and wants what he wants. He played with the snow in his wagon out back before I had to drag him inside, where he proceeded to throw a royal fit. He stood at the door yelling "Want Snow" very loudly. So, I turned on "Max & Ruby", the Snow Day episode (his favorite) and he calmed down while I made the hot chocolate. He enjoyed saying "hot chocolate" and sipped a little out of his cup, but not a lot.

He decided he needed to put snow on his head (he did this with sand in the summer too). Look at those little red cheeks and red nose.

Then, we suited back up and headed back outside. This time, Dylan loaded up all his trains in his bag and drug them outside with him. Funny boy headed to the garage and asked for a car ride while holding his two favorite trains of the day...Rusty and Edward. By this time it was 10:30 and there was no going anywhere for a little boy who was going to need lunch and a nap early. So, we went for a walk around and ended up at the "wawa keek."

Dylan dragging his bag full of trains through the snow.

Dylan enjoyed making bootprints in the snow.

I knew when he said "want to sit" that he was done.

He plopped down and starting singing a little song.

And after I shot the video, I picked him up and carried him all the way home. Poor tired boy was ready for his lunch and his nap. And unfortunately the snow was almost all gone by the end of naptime. I've learned that snow on the ground can be shortlived and we should enjoy it while it's there.

hopscotch

Yesterday morning, we spent just playing inside.  Dylan was in a particularly good mood, and we painted, and played play doh, and painted some more.  Then he said "want play hopscotch."  You see, at Gymquest, where we go for Dylan's tumbling classes, they have a hopscotch rug and use it during class.  Why he pulled that out of thin air yesterday is beyond me, but he did.  Luckily, I had some posterboard.

So, I got out the crayons and started drawing a hopscotch course.  I added the numbers, and Dylan came over to help.  He added his own decorations (circles and stripes) and talked all about the numbers and colors.  And then, it was time for jumping (and some more coloring in between the jumping).  Dylan doesn't really jump yet, so his version of jumping is extra cute to me.

And I've learned that he loves coloring on the floor....who needs a table?  I'm happy the crayons are washable...he does okay with staying on the paper, but tends to run off the edges here and there.

We also had a particularly good game of playing with the beach ball.  He's really funny, he wants to play "catch" but doesn't stay far enough away from me for me to roll the ball to him.  He would throw the ball to me, and then come behind it to crawl over the ball to get me.  Then, all sorts of tickling would ensue.  And repeat.  He's such a funny little guy. 

spacemen and ice cream

Yesterday, we headed out for a trip to the local Children's Museum with our friends Mary, Steve and Mary-Clare.  We drove all the way downtown, only to find out they don't open until 11 on Saturdays. Grumph.  I really don't understand why places for kids insist on opening so late!  

Mary suggested we head to the Air Force Museum and then go for lunch.   So we drove back towards home and the big airplanes (Dylan loves the big airplanes). Dylan and Mary-Clare had a good time running around the museum. One of the halls has a lot of interactive exhibits with buttons...and Dylan really loves to push buttons. They also had the spacesuit that Dylan got to poke his head in above. After going all the way to the last hanger to "fly" the airplane, my little guy was sooo tired and hungry and I had to carry him all the way back to the lobby (well, almost all the way, he did walk a little bit too thank goodness).

Dylan and Mary-Clare in the cockpit.

After the museum, we went to the local Chinese buffet for lunch. While Mary-Clare scarfed down her noodles, Dylan only wanted fruit...I gave him other things to try and he just played with them. When Mary got MC and herself an ice cream cone, I decided to see if Dylan would eat one. I've tried in the past to give him ice cream (when we've visited Young's Dairy and made our own this summer) and he's never wanted it. But that all changed yesterday. Mary showed him how to eat it, and he started out slowly. He'd put it up to his mouth and get just a little bit on his lip and lick it off. He was most excited that there was "chocolate in dere" (I got him the chocolate/vanilla swirl). He gradually got the hang of it and was an old pro by the time he was finished and handed me his soggy, half eaten cone.

He had a nice, long nap when we got home and we had a fun afternoon of playing at home.

my little pirate

Cutest pirate ever!  (Photo taken while he was watching the pooh-rates episode of Tigger and Pooh).

Just had to post this extra-adorable photo of Dylan.  Such a cutie-boy.  We've been over to his new friend Mary-Clare's house a couple of times this week and she came over today.  She's a sweet little girl and always wants to hug on Dylan.  He's not so sure about that. Hehe, he's already getting chased by the girls.  But who can blame them with that sweet little face. *grin*

Mary-Clare goes in for a hug.

Dylan has also been a doctor this week. He took his stuffed animal's temperature with his ear thermometer.

He's also been into playing with his play doh. He loves to smash it and squish it, as you can see here:

a big boy bed

Christmas Day, Dylan's air mattress popped.  We'd been talking about moving him to a regular bed and this decided it for us.  Especially after blowing up the big king-size air mattress that takes up the whole room.    So, I headed to Ikea for this twin bed frame and mattress.  It's been working out really well so far.  He's really good and getting off the bed (too good), but not as good at getting up in the bed.  And he really likes it.  

Next up, getting some paint on those walls.  Not sure how I'm going to work that, but I'm sure I'll get by with a little help from my friends. *grin*