a most unhappy lion

a most unhappy lion
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

This, by the way, is why Dylan won't be a lion this year (picture was taken during this past Monday's Music Together session)...!

Dylan goes to work

Yesterday, I dragged Dylan to the office with me for my weekly team meeting. As you can see from the pics, he was more eager to get out the door than I was...!

Once at the meeting, he gamely brainstormed design and hashed out some technical details, all of which went far over my head!

oh my god, we're like, totally aging

Fall2007 042
Originally uploaded by HoopsDiva.

Last Saturday, we celebrated Cindy's 40th birthday! Yes, that's right. The days of John Hughes flicks and Valley Girl are ancient history! Here's Dylan with the happy bday gal!

It was a small family party, but hugely fun. Christina posted pictures of Cindy at various ages and we all got to guess how old she was in each one; I made a picture board of more of the same; Tom and I made vegan margarita cupcakes and cookies 'n' cream cupcakes; Bruce and Jennifer (Jeff's sister and BIL) made the birthday cake; and we played an 80s play list to rehash those old high-school days! Oh, and she was Queen for the day -- Dylan saw fit to try out her wand!

Dylan had a teeny tiny one-hour nap, but with all of the love, love, love he was getting from everyone and all of the interesting things to do, he remained a pretty jolly celebrant!

Overall, everyone had fun! More pictures here and here.

night weaning and pumpkins

Dylan found one he liked
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Well, lots has happened since the last post, of which successfully night-weaning Dylan and my sister turning 40 (holy smokes) are the most significant!

On Wednesday night, we finally started successfully weaning Dylan from nursing to sleep. Huge milestone. He's teething and he had a cold that night, too, so we're especially proud of the little fella!

In any case, I knew he was ready (I've periodically attempted night-weaning since Dylan turned 1!) because, although he was frustrated at not being able to nurse, for the first time ever, he actually was willing to let lullabies, rocking and a whole lot of snuggles and words of encouragement soothe him to sleep!

I also figured that we were in for a stretch of a lot of together time, so it was a good day of the week to start the process....

So, here's the little guy at the Rodoni Pumpkin Patch just north of Santa Cruz.

DSC03600
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan wanted to do everything that Taliana did. When she sat on a pumpkin, he wanted to sit on one, too! She climbed the hay bales; so did he!

What was true for the pumpkin patch has been true elsewhere, too. He is now back to rejecting the high chair, but this time, it's because he wants to sit on his own, in a big chair, just like Taliana!

Tom takes a leek
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

So, we'd originally intended to make it all the way to Arata Pumpkin Farm near Half Moon Bay, but the kids both had little colds, so we thought it best to stay close by. This pumpkin patch seemed smaller, but they also had brussel sprouts still on the stalk (!) and cheap leeks, too! Overall, it was a fun way to end a very eventful week and, hopefully, it was a nice "reward" to Dylan for having endured his first two nights of sleeping sans nursing!!

now 17 months

Christina and Dylan blowing bubbles
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

We celebrated my aunt's 60th bday this past Saturday and, boy, did Dylan have a blast. The party started late (6pm -- "late" cuz it was in Castro Valley, ~1.5 hour drive from home, and attending meant flirting with disaster re Dylan's bedtime!), but since it was for one of my favorite aunts and everyone only turns 60 once, we decided to go.

As soon as we got there, he was enthusiastically greeted by Zoe who just clearly adores him (and, amazingly, is strong enough to carry him around)! And, once we were inside and he caught sight of the rest of his cousins (including Jason and Tyler), he immediately joined in the fray, running around, laughing, showing off his dance moves....! He was a total blur!

Dylan wasn't just a blur at the party, though, he's been charming the socks off me with all of his "big boy" developments these past few days. For one, on Thursday, we put him in tennies for the first time (figured it was time for "real shoes" now that the weather is getting bad) and, boy, did they make him look big. For another, he's been talking up a storm. He just started signing "fire", he now says "ai ya yai" (he repeated this one morning when we were running late and I absently muttered this while getting us ready to go!), "help," "poo poo," "icky," "ouch," "owie," and "shoe," and he clearly sings ("caw caw" on one song and "deedle doo" sounds on a few other songs).

He is really beginning to copy us a lot more, too. In addition to vacuuming, "blowing his nose," cleaning things off with wipes, cooking, Tom's karate kicks, blowing food/drink to cool them off, and making munching and sipping sounds when pretending to eat and drink and/or feed his stuffed animals, he now copies me when I lean up against the wall to stretch out my legs.

When he needs (and often says) help, he has started taking our hands and putting them on the thing he needs help with (zippers, lids/caps, Tinkertoys, etc...) and he has also started taking our hands and guiding us to his destinations of choice!

It's hard to believe that at this time last year, he was so wee, he was only beginning to sit up by himself!

Same shirt, different kid

Tyler helps us move in
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

gettin' ready to play the tabla
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

The first picture is of Tyler when he was about 15 months old and the second is of Dylan at 13.5 months!

today's lunch

holding hands
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

all about love

It was a rainy, rainy day and Dylan didn't nap a single minute during the day, but we managed to get in a very, very nice anniversary dinner at Theo's while Heather baked heart-shaped gingerbread for us with Taliana and Dylan!

The pumpkin-apple soup and the dry-farm tomato dish with pine-nut "cheese" were absolutely magnificent although everything was just as yummy as could be.

View the photos in flickr to read the descriptions of chow.

for the 1,000th time!

DSC03050
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Since Dylan was born a mere 17 months ago, my flickr account has grown to exactly (at today's count) 2,051 photos, 1,045 of which are pictures in which Dylan appears. This happens to be the 1,000th photo containing a "dylan" tag (here he is at his lola's house while Tom and I were running the Almaden Classic 10K)....

aloha dylan!

Dylan was apparently the fourth most popular boy's name in Hawaii in 2006. In all of California, Dylan doesn't even crack the Top 20 even though we know of at least 3 other Dylans here in Santa Cruz!

Anyway, I'm neither happy nor sad about any or all of this, and anyone else who is interested in the popularity of baby names in the US (and a few other countries) can check out the Baby Name Map, too.

Dyl sergeant

Here's Dylan requesting lots of extra push ups from Tom. Later on, he tries copying some of Tom's karate kicks. He clearly adores his dad....

together in the park

reisz profile
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Our nanny was sick this morning, so I had to stay home from work which, in turn, offered me a rare chance to hang out with Dylan on a Thursday morn.

We hadn't been to Together in the Park for ages (not since I've been back to work, anyway) so, despite feeling a bit worn out, I couldn't pass up the chance to take him.

I think Dylan must have been either a little on the tired side or a bit overwhelmed by the number of kids and things to do because he didn't do his usual running around all over the place thing; instead, he kinda just did a lot of observation and he moved slowly into new activities.

Anyway, we had a great time. We saw some friends we hadn't seen in a long time and Dylan got to draw with markers, blow bubbles, play in the sand, and ride in a wagon (with Ben and with Eaen); during circle time, we listened to a story and sang some songs, and he just loved being beneath the parachute!

I got a little bit of lunch into him before we started heading home, but he had such a good time, he actually fell asleep in the carseat with his snack in his hand!

My next task is to get him into the crib at daycare without waking him up!!!

not out like shout

DSC03427
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan had another napless day at daycare today, but he's apparently been very cheery nonetheless! Yesterday, we were able to keep him awake until after bath and dinner and then he slept for 12 hours! Tonight, we weren't so lucky. He fell asleep at 5:30pm and woke up at 7pm when I tried to put him down on the bed. Aw shucks.

Since he hadn't had dinner yet, I brought him back down to feed him and that's when he requested to go "out" in the "car" for some "coffee".

It began with the repeated chanting of "car car car" followed by no satisfaction playing on his ride-on car accompanied (always) with his coffee chants. When we figured out he was saying "out," we decided to go out on a little mini-trip to help tucker him out, and since "coffee" is nearly always at the fore of his mind, we headed for a coffeehouse. Hence, the picture.

Last night, Dylan said "night night" for the first time, too....

smelly feet

I forgot to mention that one of the other kids at daycare bit Dylan last Thursday! The poor thing. He apparently recovered quickly and was cheery by the time I came to pick him up, but I'd say he got bitten pretty hard! There is a 1/4" scab forming just at his cuticle!

On a happier note, here's a cute (but low-quality) video of Taliana and Dylan playing "smell Dylan's stinky feet" after last Wednesday's library lap time. For some reason, Dylan thinks it's hilarious that his feet smell so bad! It was sweet of Taliana to indulge him in a little play time...

Back Log: Speaking of feet, at this time last year, Dylan discovered his toes and I guess I was already back to work!

Jason's 6th bday

It was another busy week, ending with two birthday celebrations for little Jason, one with his friends and then one with family the next day!

Dylan enjoyed both (as did Jason!!). He adores his cousins -- and, luckily, they love him right back! -- and he really thrives on interaction and active and energetic play.

He is quite a good climber now; this past week, he successfully clambered up onto the first step of the playground structure (this step was at least half his height), one of our dining room chairs, the step ladder, Heather's futon, and Taliana's rocking horse. It's a little scary. Not only is he good at climbing, he's also very fast! At the playground on Friday, he was up several steps of the playground structure and on the bridge before I got to him!

This past week, Dylan has also developed a new relationship with his high chair. Whereas before he resisted eating in it for the duration of a meal, he is now proactively telling us he wants to "neat" and leading us to put him in it! Of course, he still says and signs "all done" when he's still nibbling his last few bites, but it definitely feels like progress to have him initiating meals in the chair!

He's also got his dancing shoes on a lot more lately and he's taken to changing his stuffed animals' diapers!

New words he's added to his verbal repertoire these past 2 weeks: "drink," "cup", "car," "help," and an abbreviated version of "broccoli" ("coffee," however, remains his #1 word, I kid you not. He sometimes absently sings the word as background to his current activity!).

• cook
• coffee
• no
• bye bye
• hi
• daddy
• mommy
• doggy
• light
• duck
• quack
• more
• all done
• banana
• eat
• Taliana
• drink
• cup
• car
• broccoli??
• help

• all done
• apple
• baby
• bath
• cat
• chicken
• cooking
• cow
• dog
• drink
• duck
• eat
• elephant
• fan
• hat
• hot
• light
• mommy
• monkey
• more
• mouse
• music
• pig
• potato
• sleepy
• strawberry

cous cous monster

dining with dylan is always a joy
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

At least he likes cous cous...!

no pic-nic

No suitable photo for today's post, but it was too harried a day for me to whip out a camera anyway! Dylan woke up before dawn. I repeat, before dawn. It was 4:35am and poor Tom was just getting out of the shower before heading out for Long Beach (and back). I tried in vain to get him to fall back asleep up until 5:20am when I opted for a new strategy: tucker him out so he can at least get in a nap before our 10am Finger Babble class!

Well, that strategy didn't work either. He stayed awake. Not only that, he peed on the carpet (ok, that was my fault...he dashed off mid-diaper change and I didn't catch him in time!), and dumped half of his breakfast onto his shirt...! This morning was no fun at all!

But, gratefully, he was a gem in Finger Babble and thus began the turnaround. He sat on Angelita's lap while she sang "Going on a Bear Hunt"; he helped clean up (he's actually getting quite good at putting things away when asked -- at least in public!); and he tried to be social and friendly (Jack was a bit taken aback when Dylan tried to hug him. Poor Dylan doesn't get that not other kids are not necessarily accustomed to being mauled by other kids like he is by his cousins!); he shared toys and tried to make conversation with Daisy about her doll....

His nanny also came to class with us today so that she could learn some signs to practice with him and to then watch him while I was in my weekly team meeting.

He slept for only 40 minutes with Paris as he awoke when we transferred him to the carseat to take him to school.

Once at "school", I told the staff that he now says "neat" when he wants to "eat" and as soon as he heard that, he started repeating, "neat. neat. neat", so they gave him a snack and he never napped after that!

Despite the lack of sleep, he apparently had a good afternoon there. He didn't cry when I left and he played down in the toddler room for a while. When I came to pick him up, he was as happy as could be!

This evening, he ate well -- we started assembling his play kitchen -- and he promptly fell asleep at 9:08pm!

Phew. What a day. I am tired (was tired all day long). I wonder how Dylan felt...!

oooo! oooatmeal bars!

dylan's driving
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Well, a lot has happened this week, but work kind of gets in the way of updates!

Anyway, the weekly routine lately has been Music Together, Finger Babble, Library Laptime, work, and Friday excursion. Dylan does a million and one cute things that I think, "gotta blog it", but then the moment morphs into a new one and I start to lose track!

Well, we discovered Organic Food Bar Oooatmeal bars, thanks to Candi and Kees (who kindly shared some of Kees's snack with Dylan during Finger Babble last week!). Dylan just loves this stuff. In fact, he liked it so much that he remembered what the wrapper looked like (!) and when we went grocery shopping, he spotted them (they were close to his eye level!) and started going absolutely nuts! He started yammering on, picked one up, and attempted to eat it straight through the wrapper!

We also had a very, very full day of drawing, writing and playing at Auntie Cindy's house; Dylan was pooped out, cranky and totally disinterested in riding in his car seat...until I whipped out one of those Oooatmeal bars! After that, he was all conversation and cheers (and, lucky me, I got a peaceful ride home!).

Ooother things: Today, Dylan strung two words together: "more" and "coffee" and also spent a fair amount of time behind the wheel -- first in our car, while we waited for my duathlon to start (it was 47F outside! Brrrr....), and then at Toys R Us (he sat in a demo corvette located at the front of the store). He has also mastered his ride-on toys! In the short space of a week, he went from being able to go only backwards to being able to propel himself around in both directions. It's very cute.

Back Log: At this time last year, Dylan rolled over from back to tummy (Read post).