rolling along

I went to the Hungtinton Gardens with my friend Ana and her 13 month old daughter, Rowan, this past Thursday. Dylan had his first experience rolling down the grassy hillside (see video below). And might I add that the weather was PERFECT. It was 73 degrees and sunny the entire time we were out (despite the wind and rain later that evening). Amazing for January weather, even in Southern California. And the giggles from Dylan as he rolled down the hill and ran back up was wonderful and just what I needed after a long week of feeling sick on the couch.
Three cheers for Huntington Gardens and the rose garden hillside!



On another note, Dylan is now 18 months. I can't believe how fast the past year has gone by. He's recently figured out the family snuggles and group kisses (where Ryan and I both kiss him at once as he kisses us back) and absolutely loves his trains and legos. He takes them to bed with him at naptime and won't have it any other way. The other afternoon he actually slept a full 3 hours after our day at the gardens and when he woke up, he still had the same yellow lego clutched in his hand like it was part of his body. Pretty cute.

And today when I picked him up from daycare, they said that he tried to say his colors during storytime, which was impressive. Also, he is coloring well, not attempting to eat crayons, which they were happy to report. I guess I'm not a slouch mommy like I thought. All that reading to him and pointing out colors and letting him color in the tub (washable tub-crayons, of course) DOES make a difference.

He knows most of his body parts (which I have to give daycare credit for teaching him because we didn't even work on that and one day he showed me his "nose"). Kids really are like sponges in how fast they learn new things. And I love my little sponge, with all his fingers and toes, nose, hair, mouth, ears, eyes, and precious little belly button.