brought to you by the letter "O"

cute!
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Today's letter was "O" (per Cindy's curriculum), so Cindy called up early this AM to tell me she was taking the kids on a field trip to the Ocean (other activities apparently also included making octopus with paper plates and party streamers!).

Cindy and Jason at the Lighthouse
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

All of the stars were in alignment for a successful day out with the Dylan.

He woke up early (7-ish AM), had brekky around 8:30am and was ready for a nap by 9-ish. This meant he got some zzzz's in before his rambunctious cousins arrived.

Unfortunately, the Museum of Natural History and the Seymour Marine Discovery Center are both closed on Mondays, so all we were left with was the Surfing Museum on West Cliff...

Still, we made the best of it and talked about seals, sharks, and the canyons at the bottom of the Monterey Bay...and the kids still had a blast.

Dylan and Tyler
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

I was able to feed Dylan his second meal of solids while we were driving across town and then he napped while Cindy and I ate lunch (very polite of him!) and while Jason and Tyler ate pizza, so he was well-rested and ready to play by the time we got home (around 4PM)....Dylan and Tyler look a little like, yeah??

Oh, O's!

first time eating Oatios
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

At first, he couldn't get them into his mouth. Then, he didn't know what to do with them. And, then he didn't know what to make of the taste!

Dylan spat out the Oatios as soon as he got a taste of 'em, but his curiosity is getting the better of him!

He insists on figuring out the best way to get them into his little piehole, so he's really been gobbling them up!

Yesterday at Mothersong

mothersong
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

What?? Another picture?

little Dilly

Yesterday's word of the day:

dilli or dilly (DIL-ee) noun

Someone or something that is remarkable or unusual.

[Shortening of delightful or delicious.]

Succinctly describes little Dylan, sometimes called "dilly" for short!

Taser blast ends standoff at downtown Santa Cruz restaurant

What's this have to do with Dylan??

A fella holes himself up in La Vie (yes, the same place we got Tom's bday "cheesecake"!), puts scissors to his throat, makes obscene gestures out the window, holds up knives and smokes a cigarette, and none of us parked in A Mother's Place parking lot are allowed to get our cars after class. We have to leave out the back, climb up a steep hill to the levee trail and wend our way to downtown thissaway. Thank goodness it happened near downtown, though, right? Because, at least, we could get lunch and then wait it out -- until 4PM! -- at Bad Ass Coffee.

A few things about Bad Ass: (1) Their play area for kids is wonderful -- never mind that their business name is something you don't want to hear your kids say..for a while, at least! (2) The ambiance is great -- big screen TV, big surfer display, holiday lights, surfboards, and nice miam.miam mugs for sale inside. (3) The owner has a 5-year old and was totally friendly and nice.

So, about Finger Babble!

It was another great class. We learned fruit, vegetable, berries, orange, cracker, pasta, noodles, open, close, egg, carrot, hot, soup, spoon, fork, other side (as in "other side of the mountain"), apple, tree, fall down, smile/grin, dog, I love you, muffin, popcorn, drink, cheese, shoes, and cookie.

One of the other babies is already signing!

It is very exciting and so cute to see. I can't wait until Dylan can start expressing some of his own thoughts and observations!

the daily Dylan...

teeth...finally!
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan is starting to cruise from one standing "station" to another and, in the past couple of days, he's improved his balance with his toy car/walker -- if it starts going forward faster than he can keep up, he pulls it back towards him...and he's now able to take a number of steps while clutching the steering wheel (though I still keep a hand near by so I can catch him if he pitches forward).

Now, you can also see his two little teeth when he smiles! They're not fully up yet, but they're through the gums.

the Square Mouth

(picture forthcoming) Well, we started Thursday off with a bang. Joya was back from Argentina to lead another session of Mothersong and both Dylan and Taliana were thrilled! Dylan broke out in a big, wide grin as soon as we started singing "Barima Tue" and he was all chatty and social with Sierra (who sat next to us). He was clearly glad to be back at Mothersong!

But, then bad mommy decided to head out for a run as soon as we all got back to the house.

This is the first time that Dylan has really flipped out with Heather! Poor Heather had to endure Dylan's wailing, burrowing into the crook of her neck and into her chest...he apparently tried getting under her shirt several times (!), and there was no way could she even attempt to put him down.

Luckily, I was only out for about 40 minutes...he quieted down as soon as he was back in my arms, but we have decided that, surely, he must now be developing separation anxiety.

Tom and I have been lamenting the fact that he's been so clingy these past couple of weeks, thinking it was teething-related and he was just wanting some extra TLC. Whenever we step out of his play yard these days, we get the Square Mouth. So sad.

Well, the better news is that he has finally been able to return to a reasonable sleep schedule. He slept about 14 hours total yesterday and already logged 14 hours today.

I think he's on the road to recovery from his first full-blown cold, too...

the Dylan climbed over the mommy...

climbing the mommy
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

...to see what he could see...! (sung to the tune of "for he's a jolly good fellow..." which is also the same song as "the bear climbed over the mountain," a song we sing and sign in Finger Babble!)

We went to our second Finger Babble class last Tuesday where, once again, Dylan was way too distracted by wanting to nurse to pay much attention to signing! He is still having a tough time napping in the mornings (going on a week now) and his little teeth are still just barely through the gums!! Poor thing....

So, once again, Tom and I signed to the other babies and took the lessons back home.

This time, we learned duck, stroller, doll, hill, keys, car, telephone, elephant, play, far (and near!), light, dance, sad, in and out, and fan (a personal favorite!).

playing with Auntie Cindy

Dylan loves being naked (or just in diapers, anyway)! Here is some late holiday footage of Dylan playing with Auntie and cracking up!

standing up to Elmo

Dylan started really wanting to pull himself up into standing position when we were down in LA, so Dylan has been heartily enjoying the Elmo table that Lola gave him for Christmas.

decoding this look...

what is this place? - 12/29/06
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Yesterday was the first session of Dylan's Finger Babble sign language class. We decided to try signing with Dylan because it has been shown to reduce crying and frustration (baby can communicate observations, wants, needs before they can actually speak) and signing facilitates the development of verbal communication (signing babies tend to have larger vocabularies and tend to speak sooner).

Anyway, the class was a lot of fun. A lot of other moms and babies from the mommy group are also enrolled, and the class is run like a playgroup where signing is incorporated into songs and play time.

Yesterday, we learned a lot of signs...Tom and I did, anyway! Dylan's been having a tough time with napping in the AM lately, so all he wanted to do was nurse and nap (for next time, we're working on shifting his morning nap to be a little earlier)!

Here are the signs we learned yesterday. This way, next time Dylan's around, you can know what he's "talkin' about...!"

We learned high, low, see, ball, baby, surprise, help, clown, eat, more, daddy, all done, clean up, music, what, help, happy, grandma (mommy with a couple of bounces!), the official sign for hello, hat, thank you, cat, bubbles, and in the context of songs, sky, rock, mountain, and bear.

Once I get my good laptop up and running again, maybe I'll post the modified signs for "mommy" and "daddy!"

cutting teeth

01/03/07 - "Oh, welllll...."
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Oh, my goodness! We forgot to mention that Dylan's tooth is finally coming in! I was feeling sick on New Year's Day, so I hadn't really been letting Dylan put my fingers in his mouth, but Tom got his finger in there and felt something sharp!

Dylan is dealing with it remarkably well. He's been a little on the fussier side, to be certain -- he hasn't wanted me to stray too far and he's wanted to comfort-nurse whenever he wants to! But, he's still sleeping through the night, doing his usual waking around 4-5am and he's still in pretty good spirits.

It's taking its time coming in hence Dylan's "Oh, well" expression....

More LA photos

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to LA. You can see Dylan thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with everyone he saw!