benefit concert

at the benefit concert this morning
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

This morning, Dylan and I rushed out to meet Heather and Taliana at a benefit concert for a family whose poor little 10-month old, Hazel, has been diagnosed with an extremely rare but very aggressive and often fatal brain cancer (ATRT -- 90% of the tumor was apparently removed in an emergency procedure done in January, but she will now face ongoing chemotherapy, with side effects that include, nausea, potential loss of hearing, and potential kidney damage...I have included the link here in case anyone is interested in making a donation...).

It was a great turnout, and we saw some really good performances by Joya (Mothersong) and ZunZun (singer Gwen performed while wearing her baby!) as well as Freesia and Ken Beswick, two folks new to me.

Right after Joya's performance, I got a whiff of something unsavory coming from the direction of Dylan's posterior!

Oh, no! Biiiig diaper-ful! And, he peed twice while I was changing him. Per his standard MO, he twisted and turned and tried to make a break for it the entire time! It took nearly 15 minutes to get him back to the performances!!!

After the show, Heather and Taliana came over for a bite to eat and a lot of play on the stairs...Dylan climbed all the way up, then crawled all the way to his bathroom! Now, he's out like shout and I am thinking about how lucky we are to have a healthy little one....

Dylan takes a stand

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Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan is definitely showing signs of dogged persistence of the things he wants! For one, you'll note that he is not in his play yard in this picture (the constant climbing up on the ZipBin was a huge factor as was his constant "I want out" pleas!). He's also standing at the coffee table (a dangerous piece of furniture that I keep moving him away from). There were many things of interest there today -- rice puffs, Oatios, my phone, the home phone, books and mags he wanted to chew on, our Alhambra board game, a couple of remote controls (ok, ok, yes, the table is messy!), etc. Every time I tried to redirect him, he went right back to it!

But, that's ok, 'cuz when he flashes those gums, it just seems like letting him have his fun is the right thing to do...!

ooooh! A new phone!

today's lunch at La Vie
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Wow, this new cameraphone really does take good pictures (the downside seems to be that I can no longer have "Genius of Love" by the Tom Tom Club as Tom's ringtone...! Such a bummer...it was nearly enough to make me swap the phone!))!

Anyway, today we learned some very important signs in class -- signs for the playground (swing, slide, dirt) and the beach (sand, seashells, swimming, surfer(!), waves, boat and sailboat). Well, we also learned signs for football, baseball, soccer, running, walking, train, bicycle, and taking turns.

The class turnout was small today, but here is another cameraphone shot of Dylan with the teacher and a couple of friends from class!

Dylan likes my phone, too....See??

happy Chinese New Year!

Dylan playing at HAT's - 2/18/07
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan didn't have a cool outfit like Taliana's or Heather and Assaf's, so he wore his Giddy Up overalls...a kind of "east" meets "west" fashion non-statement, I s'pose!

Anyway, they had a feast (hot and sour soup, tofu dishes and steamed rice, bok choy, asparagus, and rice ball soup) and a platter of prosperity piled high with macadamia nuts, almonds and dried fruits (plums, chili mango, mango, ginger and papaya)!

Dylan hardly napped, but he was in a good mood nonetheless. He was showered with attention from Jamilah and Heather and, of course, he loved playing with Taliana. Now he's out cold, hopefully, until 7:30am tomorrow!!!

our little ZipBin-eer

After swinging in the park and taking a short nap and then having a meal of some sweet potatoes, peas, bananas and multi-grain cereal, Dylan was ready for more action.

Here he is (wearing his little mountaineer onesie) pulling himself up on to his ZipBin again! Yes, this is the same little trick he developed a couple of weeks ago...! This time, I managed to catch him in the act!

hands down, the cutest hand-me-down baseball cap

having fun swingin'
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan has now outgrown his second flap happy hat, so we plopped this hat that his cousin Jason gave to him on his head.

Then, we put the hat to use...we went to the park to try to tucker him out on the swings and slide so that we could finish our errands in peace!

The plan worked like a charm....

Valentine's day

valentine's day
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

It was such a beautiful day! While Tom slaved away at work, Heather and I stopped by Zoccoli's to get some sandwiches then took the kids to the park. Taliana had a blast swinging, making funny faces, and playing, but Dylan slept through it all!

Well, Dylan woke us all up at 5am, so I guess it's no surprise that he was tired!

He perked up for dinner, though! Tom and I had the pear-ginger waffles we'd been planning on making for brekky (ate them by candlelight!), and Dylan had his usual fare...!

balancing act

everyday there's something new
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Today, the Dell Tech came to service my laptop and, while he was at it, he sullied our floors ! So, I pulled out the vacuum to tidy up and what did little Dylan do?? He climbed up this inflatable rolling cylinder thingy to get a better view of what I was doing! At least he can't climb out of the yard quite yet...!

giddy up!

giddy up!
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Cute li'l outfit from Auntie Cindy...!

another rainy day

Today, it rained again, so in between doing dishes and laundry, vacuuming, and making up another batch of carrots for Dylan, we crawled around the house, read some books, browsed the bookshelves, looked out the window at the rain, and tried the tunnel that Sheila, Chip and the kids got for Dylan.

Clearly, this was the highlight! I sat at one end of it and peered through it at Dylan and he enthusiastically -- and fearlessly -- came crawling through!

a day indoors

a day indoors
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

It was rainy today and Dylan also has a little runny nose, so we stayed home instead of going to Mothersong. To let little Dylan burn off some energy, I let him crawl around outside his play yard (and climb 3 steps!). He especially likes it when I make like I'm chasing him!

I also got a little footage of his distinctive, one-knee-one-foot, crawling style (and him playing chase) for posterity.

sixes

6 seconds - Dylan's current record for unassisted standing.

6 types of fruit Dylan has tried so far - pears, apples, avocado, plums, bananas, apricots

Top 6 CDs on Dylan's playlist - Beethoven's Wig 1 and 2, Dan Zanes' Rocket Ship Beach, John Lithgow's Singin' in the Bathtub, Sing Along with Putomayo, Ralph's World's Peggy's Pie Parlor

6 signs we learned yesterday: cooking, shoes, socks, clothes, where, and found.

so happy

DSC00509_crop
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan is always so happy to see his cousins and aunties!!

Both of his aunties (Cindy and Christina) have such nicely manicured nails...That's why they know all about this Nail salon clip. It isn't about Dylan, but it's hilarious...!

the sweet taste of success

The full clip of Dylan trying to eat an Oatio is really close to 2 minutes -- he's more adept at it now, but he still has to be pretty persistent!

Dylan's new trick

Dylan climbs the ZipBin
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

In a remarkable show of speed and agility, Dylan scaled the ZipBin for a better view of the world beyond the play yard.

I had just turned my back for a moment (to toss a dirty diaper into the pail) and, boom, there he was smiling at me, obviously proud of his accomplishment. So, what he does is he grabs the opposite side of the toy box and pulls his hips up over the edge and, from there, he pulls himself into a standing position!

chop chop

Nothing new to report! We just spent the vast majority of today with Heather and Taliana. Dylan absolutely loved playing on Taliana's slide/swing thingy, but too bad I left my camera at home!

Taliana is a sweetie. She gently pushed Dylan in the swing and then made a lot of sandwiches (really just pieces of her foam playmat!) for us to eat.

Anyway, despite having left the camera behind, I did get some shots before we left and a few when Tom got home from work....You can really see those choppers (in three of them, anyway! The other picture is just cute...!)!