Dylan has many favorite books, but on this particular day (as it can be most days) it was all about the dragons. He loves his book called "Hide and Seek Dragons." I attempted to distract him by pulling out the play doh, but he just continued to want to read his book for the umpteenth time. So, I made dragons out of play doh. Which he loved. He kept saying "Hey Mister Dragon!" and "that's a green dragon, that's a pink dragon".
So, yet again, Dylan is not napping today. I'm hoping it's just a phase he is going through. This makes the fourth time in a week and a half that he hasn't napped. I'm lucky that he will sit in his room and have "quiet time" for an hour or so on days he doesn't nap. Little turkey. Let me rephrase that. Little sleep-deprived turkey. Because he doesn't recoop the naptime sleep he misses. We get him to bed an hour earlier than usual, but he doesn't tend to sleep any later. Which results in meltdowns the next day (like we experience yesterday after him not napping the two previous days). *sigh*
One of the cutest things he does these days is put a very emphatic "oh" in front of some of his sentences. Like "oh! look at this" when I wear a necklace or he finds something appropriately cool. He also says "oh! that's a good smooch" after giving a kiss. Or, "oh thats a good hug". Such a cutie boy.
Spring is upon us here and we have been enjoying every moment that it's not raining. Dylan loves to go to the water creek (Is it wrong that I'm a little sad that it's no longer the "wa wa ceek" that it used to be?). He especially loves that I'll bring his boots along and let him actually walk into the creek and splash a little. This, of course, means that I have to go into the creek too. The first time we did this (when we took these photos) it was a colder day, which meant cold, cold water to my feet (I was wearing my holy crocs). Yesterday it was a lot warmer so it wasn't so bad.
Give a boy a stick and some mud and he's a happy boy. Oh, and then let him slosh into the water. Then he's really happy. Until it's time to go home that is.
Dylan and I traverse the water creek.
We also did a lot of kite flying in the early days of spring. Our first attempt was using a stunt kite, and it did okay, but tended towards nose dives more than staying in the air. So, we bought some cheap kites from Wal-Mart and had much better success. We may do that again this afternoon. And since a picture tells a thousand words, here is what happened before we got into the water creek.
As you can see, on this trip to the outdoors Dylan insisted on bringing his dragon book. And he just sat in the wagon "reading" it while Denny and I flew kites. This next little progression of photos shows you what happened next.
"Mommy read it!"
And finally he notices that there's a big Tigger and Pooh kite in the sky. Funny boy.
So, yeah, it's been quite awhile since I've written a post for ye olde blog. Over a month actually. I haven't been that delayed in awhile. Oh well, I'll try and see what I can remember from the past month and move forward. The first big piece of news came in early March when Denny came home from his two month deployment. I'll have to give him a guest spot on the blog so he can share some of his adventures and photos with you all.
We've loved having Daddy home. The first couple of days, Dylan didn't want to let either one of us out of his site. He kept saying and pointing "this mommy, this daddy, this Dylan". We've had lots of fun as a family. We like to go for walks, fly kites, splash in puddles (or through the water creek). Springtime is making us very, very happy.
On our first afternoon together, Dylan had fun "planting trees" with Daddy.
Dylan plants a tree on Denny's head.
We started swim class at the beginning of April. I unfortunately have also fallen behind in uploading my videos. I have a really cute video of our first swim class that I'll try and get on Flickr soon. We'll just have to make do with a picture.
Dylan loves kicking in the water.
The first class he was ready to get in the water, but once we did he said "go home" for the first few minutes until he settled in and had fun. The second class, he cried because he didn't want to go in, but once we did he was just fine. And ever since then, we tell him we are going swimming and he gets very excited and is ready to go. He does really well in the water and is very good at kicking and moving his arms in the water. He's getting close to blowing bubbles....maybe in the next week or two he'll be able to.
Our other really big news is our new kitty cat Sunshine. We've had her for almost two weeks now. She is a very sweet kitty, and Dylan looooves her very much.
Sunshine, in full on kitty stretch.
We found her at Petsmart, and she was a Humane Society adoption. Dylan and I went to scout out the kitty situation the week before and I saw her and she was so sweet. So, we took Denny back and decided she needed to come home. My friend Tina watched Dylan for me on Monday morning so I could go and pick her up. I brought her home first and got her food and litter all set up, and then went to get Dylan. He came in the door and spotted her. I had to strip off his boots and pants because he'd been splashing in puddles on the way home form the garage. And he could barely contain himself long enough for me to get the wet clothes off. He crawled around behind her and kept saying "that's a kitty cat!" For the first couple of days he'd also ask to pet her by saying "want touch her" and waiting for us to say it was okay before he did. He's been very good about being gentle with his petting.
I think the funniest Sunshine/Dylan adventure came a couple of days after she came home with us. Dylan had decided he was not napping that way ("no do it! wanna play"), so it was after his "quiet time" in his room. I'd let him out and he spotted sunshine and started following her around. I let them be and would check on them every few minutes. The first time I checked, They were in Dylan's closet and Sunshine was under the dresser. Dylan was trying to get to her. So, I pulled him out and she followed. And I left them alone again. I came back to check and this time they were in my bedroom. Sunshine was in the wardrobe, and Dylan was leaned over trying to get in with her. So silly. I left them alone one last time, and this time when I came back in the bedroom I couldn't find them until I looked a second time. This time, Dylan was sitting in our closet on top of Denny's shoes and the shoe rack. He looked so zonked (poor tired no nap guy). Sunshine was in the back of the closet. I so wish I'd had my camera upstairs because this little scene was priceless. Sunshine has been so good with Dylan, she hasn't once tried to claw or bite him. She's very tolerant and loves people.
Dylan's first look at Sunshine.
Dylan, after unsuccessfully trying to get under the bed with Sunshine, instead walked his feet up the side of our bed. Ta da!
Dylan inspects Sunshine's eating methods.
Dylan and Sunshine reading in the playroom.
I think I will end this post here. I'll continue with more tales of kite flying and creek splashing soon (and I mean it this time).
Dylan and I have added a new part to "the A says Ahhhh" song. I asked him what came next and after a few letters he started doing saying "after F comes G" and so on. Now it's a must...and typically the letter that's next is extra loud. Funny boy.
At Gymtikes last week, Dylan did a somersault all by himself. He actually pushed me away and said "Dylan do it". And he did. I was very excited and managed to get a video of it before class ended. The next day, he tried one at home and was successful without the padded ramp thingy. Yay for Dylan!
One of Dylan's favorite things to do is to "plant trees" outside. There's this episode of Tigger and Pooh where Pooh and Darby plant a chocolate chip in hopes of growing a cookie tree. Dylan has started reenacting this scene in our back yard, which, unfortunately is mostly concrete. As you can see in the video, he "covers with dirt" and then says something to the effect of "trees need water grow". Then, he tries to stick his shovel in the ground (on the show they put a little stake with a photo of the cookie on it to show what kind of tree they are growing). Then he says "lay down, wait grow."
Yep, I'm a total slacker. I'll admit it. Well, not a complete and total slacker, I have been doing some work in my spare time. Okay, enough excuses. Here's our trip to Nashville way back in the last weekend of January. Before I launch into the big long story, I have to say how nice it was of Heather and Michael to let us come invade their home for a few days. It was wonderful to leave the snow and cold behind and visit good friends. I love being with friends where there is no pressure for them to entertain them or for me to entertain them. We can just be together and enjoy each other's company. Which is a fantastic thing. Thanks again.
We headed down to Nashville on Friday morning. The plan was to stop in Cincinatti at the Newport Aquarium for some run around time, have lunch with a college friend Kristen, and then get the bulk of the driving done while Dylan napped in the car. After lugging the rest of our stuff to the car through the 7 inches of snow on the ground, and letting Dylan make trails through the snow for a little bit, we got on the road. Unfortunately for us, the google map to the aquarium was not the best in the world and we got turned around a couple of times and didn't actually make it to Newport on the Levy until 10:45. And the aquarium cost quite a bit more than I was willing to spend for the 45 minutes we'd probably have until Dylan was ready for lunch. Lucky for us there was a Barnes and Noble next door with a train table. The ultimate in free entertainment for a toddler. Yippee.
After some play time and discovering a new book we had to bring home (The Pout-Pout Fish that we read several times a day now) we met up with Kristen and her husband for lunch. It was great to see Kristen again...I don't think we've seen each other since she graduated. Too bad for us that Dylan was tired, hungry (and not into pizza at all) and a wee bit cranky. He did not want to sit in his high chair any longer than he had too. Oh well, luckily Kristen lives close enough by that we'll get to see her again sometime.
We got back in the car and headed south. Dylan happily ate a pb&j before konking out for his nap and I enjoyed driving through snow and ice covered Kentucky. If I hadn't been on the interstate, I would have pulled over to take some photos. Instead, I blindly held my camera up to the window and snapped as I drove. I couldn't get over how beautiful the ice covered trees were as they sparkled in the sunshine. And how their sparkles contrasted with some of the more ominous skies in the distance. It was so lovely. And so cold...on my...I think it was 18º and snowing when I pulled off to get gas somewhere in Kentucky.
Somewhere in between Louisville and Bowling Green, the snow disappeared. It was covering the grass and then it wasn't. Interesting how that happens. Dylan was such a good little traveler. He only slept for an hour and a half in the car and woke up just south of Louisville. He snacked for a bit. And his only fit was because I wouldn't read the fishies book to him while I was driving. I managed to distract him with other things until we made a pit stop for running around and going to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the first rest area we stopped at had no water which meant no bathrooms. So, we stopped again a little farther down the road.
We made the final push to Nashville and arrived at Heather and Michael's house before they got home from work. We let ourselves in and Dylan took the lay of the land and found all of Sophie and Olivia's toys to play with. And when they arrived home, he took just a minute to warm up. He especially liked Michael. He really misses Denny and seems to like being around daddy-type figures a lot.
The first night, we had to make a few adjustments for bedtime. He woke up an hour after being asleep and I had to go lie down with him. And the rest of the time he did just fine with sleeping all night.
The weather in Nashville was lovely. On Saturday it reached 50 and maybe a little more than that. Which was like heaven compared to Ohio's below 20 and covered in snow. We even got to play outside. But first, we met another college friend of mine who lives in the Nashville area, Suzanne. And she lives not too far from Heather, which neither one of them realized before. We ate at a little southern restaurant, and yet again Dylan was a wee bit cranky. He and Sophie were both much happier when we let them run around a bit outside.
After naps, we loaded Dylan and Sophie in the wagon and walked to the neighborhood park. Olivia ran along ahead of us and we all enjoyed just being outside.
Heather pushes Olivia on the swing.
Michael and Sophie check out the slide.
Olivia balances on the edge.
The part of this photo that you can't see is the little rock climbing wall up to a platform. Dylan wanted to climb up, but he would only use his feet, so I'd have to hold him almost horizontally while he "climbed" to the top. Funny boy.
Heather started a trend of everyone going down the slide face first. Well, except for me and Dylan. I sat at the bottom taking lots of photos instead.
Dylan goes for the tackle at the bottom of the slide.
After walking back to Heather and Michael's house, the kids didn't want to go back inside. So, we played in the courtyard for a bit. We got out the sidewalk chalk and Olivia road her bicycle. Dylan was fascinated by her and followed her around for a bit. He especially liked her helmet and wanted to wear it. Instead, we got out Sophie's helmet and perched it on his head. It was just a little small for him.
Dylan in Sophie's helmet.
Saturday evening we went to "Mexico" for dinner (that's what Olivia calls the local Mexican restaurant). Heather had a yummy margherita (I did have a tiny sip...can't wait til I can have a whole one of those again). It was good food all around and the kids ate well which meant we could eat in relative peace *grin*. Afterwards we went to TCBY for ice cream, which only Olivia ate. I thought Dylan would eat an ice cream cone, but, alas, I ended up eating it.
Sunday we went to children's church with Heather and Michael. Which lasted all of a couple of minutes for Dylan and I. We ended up going to the nursery and playing with Sophie. That afternoon we went drove to a local park that reminds me a lot of the big playground on the Air Force base here. Unfortunately it was extremely crowded and started getting cold, so we didn't stay for a long time. We did have fun in the courtyard again before going in for dinner.
The next day was Monday, and Heather and Michael got ready to go to work and take the girls to school. We had a bit of fun before they left.
While they were at work, we went to a place just around the corner called The Monkey's Treehouse–a play place for kids. We had a lot of fun climbing, playing with the train table, trying on hats, finding play food, seeing big dinosaurs among other things. And that afternoon we went and did a little shopping before going to the bookstore to play with their train table. A two train table day is tops in Dylan's world.
Dylan climbing up the rope to the "tree house".
Olivia, Heather, Sophie and Michael at before bedtime.
The next morning was time to say goodbye. We packed up our stuff and hit the road. On the way back, we took a detour to Hopkinsville, KY, where my mom spent part of her childhood. My grandpa was a golf pro at the golf course there back in the 50s, and I thought it would be neat to visit the golf course. As we were driving into Hopkinsville, it start snowing and I realized that maybe the golf course wasn't open in the middle of winter. But, luckily they were open and we took a bathroom break and checked out the new clubhouse. We walked to the edge of the golf course, but it was too cold to do much else besides get back in the car. We stopped at a Kroger for gas and groceries and then went to our next stop in Hopkisnville–the Trail of Tears Memorial Park. Again, it was too cold to stay out too long, but we took a little walk around and checked out the Little River. We drove through downtown Hopkinsville to go to a burger place that's been around since the 30s. Ferrell's Hamburgers. It was not a place to go eat with a family as there only seating is a lunch counter. But, man, that was a really good inexpensive burger (wish I'd gotten a double). I imagine downtown Hopkinsville hasn't changed that much since the time my mom lived there.
Dylan and I at the Hopkinsville Golf Course.
Dylan watching the water of the Little River at the Trail of Tears Commemorative Park.
Ferrell's Hamburgers.
My tired little tropper on the stool at Ferrell's lunch counter.
We headed north again and it snowed almost the whole way to Louisville. Dylan napped well and we made good time until we got south of Cincinnati. Where we hit rush hour traffic. Which probably wouldn't have been too terribly bad if it weren't for the heavy snow. Traffic basically crawled from south of Cincy, all the way through the city. It took us 2 hours to get to our next pit stop–Ikea. Luckily, Dylan was a good little traveller, content to munch on strawberries and watch the cars. He started getting antsy into the second hour....as I had been antsy the whole time we weren't really moving. We finally made it to Ikea close to 7pm. And let me tell you, the best time to go to Ikea is during a snowstorm. There were maybe 10 cars in the parking lot and we practially had the place to ourselves. I had dinner (Dylan was too full from his car snacking) and then Dylan got to play in their little play area. We ran through the marketplace with Dylan chasing me and picked up a couple of things. We spent about an hour in Ikea, and when we left, the interstate was still deadlocked. So, I found an alternate route that was moving slow, but at least moving and as we got further and further north the road cleared completely and we were finally able to go above 30mph. Dylan fell asleep around 9:30. And then we hit a snag...an accident up ahead had stopped traffice. After waiting fora few minutes, I turned around and tried to find another way to go. I ended up crossing over the interestate and could see it was moving normally again, so I found my way to it and was able to zoom the rest of the way home. Thank goodness. We pulled in the garage at 10:45 pm and I had to lug my sleeping child through the now crunchy snow into the house and head back for some of the essential luggage. We had a wonderful trip except for the last part and were very happy to be home.
It's been a long time since my last post. I got behind in blogging since my trip to Nashville (I'll post on that next). I've been writing down all the cute things Dylan has been doing, and of course taking lots of photos. As for me, instead of blogging, I've been doing some work, watching tv, knitting, reading and facebook. :)
Here are some of the fun things my little guy has been doing:
Dylan likes to feed his trains.
We had lots and lots of snow a few weeks back. We had fun making "marshmallows" and building a snow pirate lump. *grin*
Making marshmallows.
I tried so valiantly to make a snow man. But the snow just wasn't the right kind of snow for snowman building. So, we ended up with a snow lump.
When we got back from Nashville, the snow was still on the ground and crunchy crunchy. It finally melted off the next weekend and we pulled out Dylan's new rainboots for the puddle jumping that was sure to happen.
Dylan splashes through a nice stream of water.
Dylan and Jax play with sticks. Jax tried to give Dylan that huge stick.
Dylan likes to line up his letters on the refrigerator. Sometimes in one long line. And usually he likes to sort them by colors.
And here are some other random bits and pieces:
• When Dylan talks to his trains now, he says "hi gordon, having good, having fun". I think he's trying to say "are you having a good time? Are you having fun?" I evidently ask him this enough that he's picked up on it. However, I can't get him to ask "how are you?"
• I've been trying to teach him how to answer the question: "What's your name?" He does good answering "dylan". So now, he'll just randomly look at me and say "What's your name?" and he expects me to say Mommy and then ask him his. Today, Tina told me that it's good for them to know your real name. So I tried to tell him my name is Jennifer and also Mommy and he corrected me and said "Whats your name?" "this mommy". Funny boy.
• He is also in the habit of laughing at random things and saying "this is funny." For instance, I've been showing him a happy face and a sad face. He requests them now, he'll say "happy face" and "sad face". When I do both he says "this is funny" with a big grin on his face.
• He's started saying "bless you" after he sneezes.
• There's an episode of Tigger and Pooh where Roo has a hole in his kite and it can't fly. Dylan has started pointing at anything with a hole and saying "juice can't fly, there's a hole in it" or he'll poke a hole in his hot dog and say "hot dog can't fly, there's a hole in it". Play doh can't fly either. He says it about anything with a hole. Tried to get it on video, but it didn't work.
• His favorite book right now is one I bought on the way to Nashville called "pout pout fish". The other morning he made a great fish face.
• When we were reading his "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food" book and got to the page with the pterodactyl, he pointed and said "this a dinosaur duck" and made me laugh out loud. Funny little guy.
• He likes to say "Oh my goodness."
• Yesterday I told him we needed to clip his nails and he furrowed his eyebrows and said "want keep nails."
• Also yesterday I gave him a few M&M's when he asked for some chocolate. And afterwards he said to himself "good job eat some chocolate."
I am long overdue for a blog update. I have a whole list of things Dylan is doing that I want to share. I have a couple of design projects with deadlines, so I haven't been able to do much on the blog since my Nashville trip. And, it's late. So, here are a few cute videos of Dylan singing with me and wrestling with his stuffed animals.
Dylan and I singing "Open Shut Them". Since this video was taken he's actually started saying "shut them" instead of just "shut".
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Dylan has gotten in the habit of piling all of his stuffed animals in my lap and then crawling on them. So, I started piling the animals on him instead which he thought was very funny.
And here is an explanation for what he is saying at the end of the video. We listen to the Imagination Movers music quite a bit. They have this one song called "On The Farm" and in it there's a part that goes "The roosters, the roosters, the roosters are tired" (for those of you who are in the know with 80s music, it's sung to the tune of "the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire"). Anyway, whenever I ask Dylan if he's tired or comment that he must be tired, he starts saying "the roosters, the roosters, the roosters are tired" like at the end of this video. Hehe.
In lieu of catching up on all things Dylan, I'm going to do this meme instead (passed on from Bethany):
Baby tag sounds dangerous, doesn't it? I have told Dylan's delivery story here...but I can't resist a tag (or an excuse for a fairly easy blog post *grin*).
1. Were you married at the time? Yes! We'd been married for 6 years.
2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? Even though we'd been trying for about six months (but not obsessively trying), my reaction was still "oh s**t!"
4. How did you find out? I missed a period and did a home pregnancy test. Didn't have to wait for the prescribed amount of time, it turned almost immediately.
5. Who did you tell first? Denny
6. Did you want to find out the sex? YES! I'm a planner and just needed to know.
7. Due date? October 26, 2006....one day before my dad's birthday.
8. Did you deliver late or on time? On time. Mainly because I was induced the night before my due date.
9. Did you have morning sickness? During the first trimester I just had a funky feeling tummy and was way tired.
10. What did you crave? Peanut butter toast. And brownies.
11. Who/what irritated you the most? I think I've lost too many brain cells from lack of sleep to remember.
12. What was your first child's sex? Boy
13. How many pounds did you gain throughout pregnancy? 33
14. Did you have any complications during pregnancy? Nope, not during. However, after the birth is another story. (click the link to the whole story above if you are curious)
15. Where did you give birth? Yokota Air Force Base Hospital in Japan.
16. How many hours were you in labor? I was in induced light labor for about 2 hours, then they gave me Pitocin and I went into the "oh my god give me some drugs labor" for 6 (I did get the drugs thank goodness).
17. Who drove you to the hospital? Denny
18. Who watched? One doctor, one or two nurses, and Denny.
19. Was it natural or c-section? It was not a c-section, but if by natural you mean drug-free, um, no.
20. Did you take medication to ease the pain? Yes! An epidural.
21. How much did your child weigh? 7 pounds, 3 oz (I should mention he weighed 22 pounds by four months).
22. Did your child have any complications? Jaundice
23. What did you name him? Dylan Charles Pack (Dylan cause we liked the name, and Charles for my Dad. We've realized since that Dylan is an anagram of my mom's name Lynda.)
24. How old is your first born today? 2 years and 3 months. Crazy isn't it?
If you want to play along, consider yourself tagged! Leave a comment with the link if you get a chance so I can be sure to read it.
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.
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