Childhood

Me- "Dylan, are you enjoying your childhood? Is there anything you think is missing?"
Dylan- "well, I would like a blow up pumpkin in our yard"
Me- "Is that what you feel is missing?"
Dylan- "well, it would make it better."

Candyhouse Grandpa

While up in Oregon, Dylan wanted to do whatever my dad was doing. He'd be getting in to his swimsuit and he'd ask "Is Grandpa getting into his swimsuit right now?"

We'd be getting ready for the day and he'd ask, "What kind of shoes is Grandpa going to wear today?"

Hiking stick time

On Grandpa's paddleboard. They took almost daily trips around on the lake together, Dylan perched on the front of my dad's board.

Making fires at night.

Swimming on the lake together.

Fishing.

Playing his guitar for the kids. (He's learning to play a metallica song that is just too cool).

We found them clowning around together at the Newport Aquarium.

Dylan loved spending time with his Candyhouse Grandpa.

Mirror, Mirror

Dylan: "There is only one of everyone, right?"

Me: "Yes Dylan, there is only one Mommy, one Daddy, one Dylan, and one Addison."

Dylan: "Yeah. There is.... Unless you look in the mirror!"

First and Fourth

Just sitting here sipping a Sangria and reflecting on the kids' birthday party today.

First off, it was a success, but the morning started off with a bit of a snag. There are two gazebo pavilions you can rent at the park. I had reserved Gazebo A from 10-2. And apparently two other parties were double-booked for Gazebo B for the full day. A very crabby lady in gray-sweatpants (who will be referred to as Gray-Sweatpants from here on) approached me to ask for my paperwork, proving that I had the rights to Gazebo A.

Yeah, I had them... at home, on my desk.

So Ryan had to drive back home and get them. And meanwhile Gray-Sweatpants informed me she was calling the police to see how they wanted to divide up the 2 gazebos between all 3 groups...

Talk about stress just as our party was starting.

Later we noticed that her 'party' wasn't going to start till HOURS later. All she wanted that space for was to 'set up' - and Tinkerbell style for a toddler's party no-less. Come on people! 4 hours to setup a party?!)

Thankfully it turned out so we kept our original reserved spot and they duked out the details between themselves. I had a party to get started.

And partying we did. It was a patriotic-themed party (inspired by the fact that the 4th of July is exactly halfway between the kids' birthdays - with Addie's on the first and Dylan's on the 7th of July).
Dylan had a blast with his friends, running around with water guns decorated up with 'Cars' stickers (per his request), throwing water balloons (provided for the kids to toss at their daddys, courtesy of Kathy), drinking juice boxes, eating lots of fruit snacks and hotdogs.







Addie had fun... eating. She enjoyed strawberries, goldfish, and... her first chocolate cupcake! (Seperate post to follow with pictures of her first cake experience)


She also enjoyed the swings and watching her big brother run around with his buddies. Here she is with Christy, just after the water balloon fight.



At the end of the party, Addie was wiped out, shirtless and sticky from cupcake icing, and overdue for her afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, Dylan somehow had energy to spare. So when we got home, he unwrapped their gifts, took his bath, came along with Kathy and I to get my Saturday Flowers, the grocery store, Panera for dinner take-out (all while Addie napped), and continued to play non-stop until nearly 8pm!


That, my friends, is why this mama is drinking a Sangria at 11:05pm. ;)

Conversation With My Preschooler

Tonight after Dylan's Taekwondo class, on our way out the door, Dylan pushed his way past the adults to give his teacher a big hug. He then proceeded to invite his teacher to our house to 'see his stickers', which was pretty cute.
And on the drive home, he and I had the following conversation:

"Mommy, I want Master Johnny to come to our house."

"Dylan, that's fine, we can invite him and his family in another few weeks when we are all less busy, ok?"

"Ok, Mommy. But I want him to come not in his Taekwondo uniform. I want him to come with pants... and a shirt and... underwear."

Underwear? Dylan sure has a strict dress-code for guests at our house.

Taekwondo

Dylan started Taekwondo in an effort to help him build confidence, self-regulation, respect, and an outlet for all that massive preschool energy!

Ryan took him there last Friday and asked him if he wanted to try out a class. At first Dylan was hesitant, but then he saw a 5 year old boy sporting his green belt and Dylan quickly asked if he could do 'that' too. Explanations have been given about the ranking of belts and how it will take a lot of hard work. Dylan was on-board at least in theory.

It's been a week now and he's been to 4 classes and while he's still pretty shy, he's come out of his shell a bit more each class. The teacher (Master Johnny) is a great motivator and clearly loves the kids and his job, seeking to get to know each child and connect with them to help them open up and become both more confident and disciplined (a skill, no doubt). Dylan has become more motivated to 'earn stickers' and earn 'patches' for his uniform, even stating tonight before bed that he's going to say 'YES SIR!' nice and loud tomorrow so he can earn lots of stickers. He began asking to practice his 'tricks' before bed at night and trying out a nice loud 'yes sir' and 'hiya' in the car. He hasn't earned his first belt (white) yet, but if he gets through the first two weeks of trial classes, he'll get that and I think it will help him feel like he's accomplished something.

Last weekend there were a few behavioral issues that Dylan struggled through. It was a tough weekend. But after just a few of his classes, I think he's gaining a sense of control over himself and it's showing in his behavior at home too. With a lot of changes going on at home with Ryan's new job and figuring out how to carve out family-time while Ryan is working longer hours, I understand that some of his acting out is a part of Dylan processing all that and being a preschooler too. Yet, I think that having an outlet for his energy, learning new tools for self-regulation, developing a sense of accomplishment, learning about respect and discipline, and having rewards for hard work and effort outside of our home, is all going to be VERY good for Dylan this year.

Hi-Ya!



Here is a video of Dylan at his first class last weekend. Notice how he keeps looking back to us for direction and reassurance? Poor kid, just didn't know what to do, but wanted to stay in the class. He did a lot of standing there, taking it all in that first day. Another mom told me that her son burst into tears his first class because it was so overwhelming for him. I guess Dylan staying in the class and not running back towards us was a good sign.
He's done a bit more each time he's gone now. I'll post another video when I get more clips.

Aunt Mimi

Aunt Mimi (Ryan's sister) came to visit us when she was in California 2 weeks ago.

These days it's pretty hard to get a good picture of Dylan. This one of him and his Aunt Mimi turned out pretty nice. You can tell he loved having her here.

Gymnastics Boy

Splish Splash

Last time we were down in San Diego, the kids got some nice pool-time in. It's no secret that Dylan loves his grandparent's pool - he asks nearly everyday when we are going back to Football Nama's house. But now the cats out of the bag... Addie loves it too!
I love her little bathing suits (she has two of them). She wasn't too keen on the matching hat, but I was able to keep it on long enough for a picture or two.
Dylan in his own little heaven Football Nama's pool!

Tantrum

Dylan still throws some pretty classic toddler tantrums. Of course he does. And over pretty much anything, but at least we are gaining a sense of humor about a lot of things. And when he does something he knows he isn't supposed to... like pull his sister's leg, block her from moving across the room to one of us, throw something in the house, or 'back talk', he gets a time out. FOUR whole minutes to start (because the recommendation is a minute for every year of age), but we add another minute if he fights us further. Sometimes those time-outs are all the quiet our house sees during the day and we sometimes secretly (ok, not so secretly anymore since I'm posting about it) enjoy when we can relish in some silence.
One day last week I got some nice quiet time for a whopping 10 minutes because of his behavior!



And let me add for the record that the tantrum/episode of 'self-expression' was only beginning with what you see here on the video. It got worse after the tape stopped rolling...

A Flower A Day...

Everyday Dylan somehow picks me a flower. Sometimes he does it in our courtyard. Other times it's at the gardens, the zoo, preschool, church, grandma's house, or even at Disneyland. I've come to love that daily moment when he reaches out to hand it to me, with that proud, warm smile, saying "here mama!"
Some things you have to enjoy for the moment, because it's only a phase and your child will stop doing it almost as suddenly as they first started. But this flower picking routine has been going steady for a while now.
Perhaps it began when he and I started our weekly routine of going to the local flower shop together on Saturdays to buy flowers. Perhaps it started with our walks at the gardens, where I pointed out all the flowers I know the names of and like. Perhaps it stems from his own love of nature.
But whatever the genesis of this routine, I'm glad to be an integral part of it.

Our Holidays at a Glance

Dylan and Addie enjoyed the holidays this year.
They met Santa at the Americana Mall, which was pretty impressive.



We spent two days at Disneyland with Ryan's family, complete with the Pixar Parade that knocked Dylan's socks off!



Then we went down to San Diego up through Christmas Day.
Dylan had fun waking everyone up on Christmas morning, opening presents, and giving Addie a present he made and wrapped by himself:



On the day after Christmas, we headed up to Lompoc to spend a week up at Briana's sister's house, where Dylan soaked up some time with his cousins and Addie popped out her second tooth.

Here's some footage of the cousins helping bring the presents into the livingroom for opening:

Sibling Love-ery

Dylan loves his sister and she loves him right back. Part of the joy of being a parent is watching your children love eachother.
The other part is taking lots of pictures of them loving eachother!

Promises to a toddler gone wrong

Kathy watched the kids so Ryan and I could go out on a date last Wednesday night. We had fun, but apparently Dylan got the wrong idea about the evening. Kathy writes it better than I can, so I'll send you here to see the play-by-play of how it went.
Plus there is a precious little video at the end with Addie chatting it up with the camera. So if reading a funny story about Dylan doesn't lure you over to her blog, then I'll tempt you with the promise of a cute video of Addie.

4 Months

Addie had her 4 month checkup yesterday. Let's forget that I forgot about the appointment until my phone alarm reminded me AT the time of the appointment. Oopsy.

Anyways, here are her latest measurements:
weight 12# (10th percentile)
height 24.5 inches (50th percentile)
head circumference 40cm (20th percentile)

The doctor said that she looks great and that her weight, while it could be a bit higher, isn't a concern since she's holding steady on her curve. (and for the grandmas out there, I'm still going to work on fattening her up.)

She had 4 vaccinations, which came in the form of 3 shots and an oral rotavirus vaccine. She was a superstar. Dylan held her hand (since I was alone and I couldn't really distract him during her shots anyhow) and told her to be brave. They were fabulous. Made me proud to be their mama.

We need to start giving her polyvisol, a vitamin supplement that they recommend for all 4 month olds, so we'll get that.

Dylan also had a little impromptu checkup because he was getting his flu mist and he has had a pesky cough for about 2 months now. Doctor said he's fine, no infection or bronchitis. Agreed with me that Dylan should drink whole milk since he's still pretty lean for his height. And she thought that a mulivitamin for Dylan would be a good idea too when I asked about that.

3 months

Addie is 3 months old. She coos and smiles when she sees her mommy or daddy's faces, loves to be held (hello seperation anxiety!), and is gaining weight nicely now. She's right between the 10th and the 25th percentile for weight now, which means a lot. She still is primarily breastfed, but gets about 2 ounces of formula per day most days to add some calories.

Her eyes are still mostly blue, but changing ever so slightly now more to a greyish hue. She's got a sweet temperment, but really doesn't like being set down. It takes stealth-like skills to transfer her from my arms to the cradle some days for to get her to take a solid nap.

Dylan adores her, but is still learning about what she can and cannot do. The other night he spent about 5 minutes preparing her swing for her to sleep in. He laid out her blankets and pacifier and dolly on the swing in a very particular way, making sure it was 'just so'. He loves helping her calm down when she cries. He turns on her swing to play music (often to my dismay, but strangely it seems to help her when he does it and doesn't when I try). He gives her the pacifier. He sings her songs with me in the car. And he tells me to go to see the baby when she cries, saying 'she needs you mommy'. He rarely is jealous and when he is, we try to help him label his feelings and ask for attention in a positive way. I'm sure as she develops more of her personality and is awake more, we'll run into more of the 'jealousy' for our time, but for now I'm proud of him. He's a good big brother. And he loves his sister. What else can you ask for with a three year old?

Plus, Dylan is nearly all potty trained! GO DYLAN!!!

Ryan has stayed home with Addie a few times while I've gone back to work. It has been lovely to see how Ryan has 'risen to the occassion,' making up his mind to enjoy the day with his daughter instead of complaining about what he could be getting done at work. He's brought her to me at lunch so I could nurse her and see her halfway through the day. And he sends texts with sweet little pictures of her and notes updating me on what they are up to, which is just the reassurance I need (hello worry-wart mama!). He's a fabulous husband and father. And I'm thankful that they have had that time to bond together on their own.

Bento Box

Have you heard of a Bento Box? Well, I got one to try out with Dylan's lunches.
He heard me talking about 'bento boxes' with some friends and decided that his toy bin was a 'bento box' and has been practically living in that thing this past week!
Playful little boy, in his Bento Box.
Tonight I made his first round of treats for his box to take to preschool tomorrow. I figure if nothing else, I can try to fancy-up his meals and get him to try new things. This time I did carrots, salami and cheese in star shapes, butterfly crackers, and spinach-cheese pinwheels. I'm pretending that he'll actually try the spinach. A mom can hope, can't she?

Cry Baby

When Addie cries, Dylan invariably either says "baby needs you, mama" or tries to help soothe her himself either with a pacifier or a snuggle.
And when he snuggles her, it truly warms my heart.

Silly Dilly

At Karissa's house last week. He sported a dinosaur mask for most of the afternoon. Then he found the rain boots and added them to the ensemble. And finally, I added the fire hat at the last minute to cover what would have made this post a shade beyond our usual PG-rating.

Airplanes! (Part 2)

This weekend Dylan and his daddy worked on another airplane project.
Ryan had a few moments of frustration when Dylan decided he HAD to fly his newly-assembled airplane around before the glue had dried. More than once, I felt obliged to kindly remind Ryan that the DOING of the project was more important than the RESULT.
The painting portion of the project went much better. However Dylan got so excited about each new color of paint that the airplane changed colors about 3 times. First it was black, then purple and white, then blue.
Again, it's all about having fun in the DOING. Right?

Right.