First Cupcake

Surrounded by her peers, she examines said cupcake and decides how best to tackle.

She decides the frosting looks promising and takes her maiden taste.
Not bad. I think I'll have some more of that.
Is this how you do it mama?

Meanwhile, Dylan decides he'll go for the frosting first on his birthday cupcake. After all, he's a pro now that he's FOUR.

Pause for a brief moment, then back to business.


When it is all said and done, sweet Addie is a... happy, sticky mess!

Our Little Girl

Our little girl is growing up fast. Too fast.
Today she waved goodbye to her daddy after we meeting up for lunch. Last week she tried to climb the stairs (made it up 2 of them, with mama and Bonnie close behind).

She still loves the kitty cat. She makes a high-pitched squealing sound whenever she sees him.
She's been trying to say 'dylan' for days now. It's funny. She concentrates so hard, and all that comes out over and over is 'ddddtt' but you can tell that's what she is trying to say.
And man alive, this girl loves to eat. Give her any kind of vegetable (green beans, carrots, corn, peas, broccoli) and she'll gobble it up and want more. She loves vanilla yogurt, cheese, malt-o-meal, bananas, pasta, and pretty much anything else she can steal from your plate.
She squeals with delight when her brother clowns around, trying to make her laugh, or when she's tickled by her daddy.
She loves hair brushes, doorstops, and did I mention food?
And that smile? It can melt your heart in an instant.
She's a happy baby.

Nearly Crawling

At 8 months, Addie is nearly crawling. Tonight after getting her all ready for bed, she protested at the highest volume possible, making it impossible to put both kids to bed in the same room. So I brought her back to our room to nurse and snuggle until Ryan had Dylan settled. Addie had other plans for our mommy-daughter date. She was going to show me her new tricks. At first she cooed and tried her best to clap her hands (still a ways away on that skill). But then then her BIG tricks came out. She was rocking and rolling and showing off. See the video for a peek.

And yes, Dylan came back into our room to watch Addie's show and tell. It was a family event. Nevermind that everyone is tired and NOBODY was in bed yet.

Prepare to Swoon

Addie is currently learning to sit up:

Along with busting out two teeth over the holiday break, she's been babbling up a storm (on her terms, so we have had a hard time catching it on video except this one):

First Smiles!

On Friday, I got my first smile out of Baby Addison. She just looked up at me and smiled. I think Ryan doubted my claims that she was smiling at me until he got one himself yesterday. And then we both saw some together that night.
So I busted out our baby calendar and slapped that "first smile" sticker for Thursday. And then I smiled.

Kid Update

Last week both kids had their pediatrican appointments (incidently the same day we bought the new car). Dylan's was his 3-year checkup (no shots this time around). Addie's was a 1-month checkup.
Both kids did great!

Dylan's Stats:
33 pounds, 3 ounces (50-75th percentile)
39.5 inches tall (80-85th percentile)

Addison's Stats:
7 pounds, 11 ounces (10th percentile)
21.5 inches long (50-75th percentile)
35.75cm head circumference (10-25th percentile)

And another milestone to point out: Addie rolled over from her tummy to her back last night. I thought that was a bit advanced, and it is pretty early from what I read online...
Hope that doesn't mean she'll be crawling early. I need some more time to adjust to two kids before she takes off!

(Involuntary) First Smiles

I remember during my pregnancy, while listening to music with the laptop perched on my belly, that the baby always seemed to kick more while I played this song. Remember?

Well, the other night I wanted to see if that kicking was a sign of her loving or hating the music. Turns out she liked it. So much that we got a string of (involuntary) smiles. A glimpse at what her little smile will be like in another few weeks, and my heart melted. COMPLETELY.

First Bath

Addie's cord fell off on Sunday, so last night she got her first official bath. I think she was hungry when we decided to do it, so she was quite upset with us as you can see.
But she smells terrific!
Now we just hope she's not one of those anti-bath kids. Dylan LOVES the tub and it'd be nice if she did as well...

He's a Cowboy!

Dylan on his first pony ride at the Monrovia Street Fair (which is so fun, we are definitely going to go back):

Dee-bah-det!!

I remember Ryan and I crouched on the floor in St. Louis before Dylan was born, fighting about how to put together the crib we were borrowing from some friends, just a few weeks before Dylan was born. It was memorable.
And this time was similar, except Dylan was fighting with us, wanting to put all the screws and screwdrivers into the holes. But in the end, we had this cutie bed all ready for our little boy. His first EVER 'big boy bed'. And boy is he proud of it.
It even is sporting new bedding from his favorite story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

3-foot Wonder

We had Dylan's 2 year pediatrician visit this week. Here are his stats:
Weight: 28 lb. and 1.5 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 36.75 inches (95th percentile)
Head Circumference: 49.5 (60th percentile)

So by the standard approximation, you are supposed to double your kid's height at 2 years old for what they should be as an adult... which would put Dylan at about 6.1
Not bad. Actually that is what Ryan is, so it makes sense.

And about 10 months behind his other lateral incisors, his bottom right tooth is finally popping through. Yeah, just in time for us to actually get to ask the doctor about it, it decides to join the rest of the gang. So not only do we have a tantrum-ing toddler, we have the lovely combo of a teething AND tantrum-ing toddler during our visit. But stickers and new toys always help.

And just as the pediatrician came in to see us, Dylan decided to have a little meltdown because Daddy wanted to clean up the toys - and we had a lovely example of how much measures up to the two-year-old mold. But the good part was how she gave us suggestions on how to handle it and complimented Ryan on how he dealt with Dylan's frustration with the toys, reminding Dylan to ask for 'Help' and yielding a much less volatile toddler.

He also got his follow-up Hep A immunization shot, which was uneventful considering he had thrown that lovely tantrum earlier and then didn't cry at all with the shot. He did, however, like the fun "crayola crayon" band aid that they gave him.

And as I type this, Dylan is in his room, singing himself to sleep. My little 3 foot wonder.

Pool Party, San Diego Style

Saturday night, after celebrating with our friends (see previous post), we drove down to San Diego to celebrate with Ryan's family. We enjoyed Sunday by his parent's pool, which was VERY nice indeed (especially with a new bikini bathing suit!) Sitting out there felt like we were on a tropical vacation and the weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor pool-party.


Daddy and Dylan enjoying the pool.

More singing of the beloved "Happy Birthday" song. Dylan even clapped at the end of the song.

Happy Birthday, my little boy!

Birthday Boy

Dylan turned TWO this past weekend. We had a little party at a local park, which was fun. There were balloons, of course, cupcakes (which he LOVED), a battery-powered bubble maker (thanks to Anna for bringing that - it was a HUGE hit), and lots of fruit (another one of his favorites!)


Here he is with his best friend, Rocco, over by the balloons!
Here's the birthday boy eyeing the cupcakes, again with Rocco at his side (notice how after we took EXTRA care to keep them level during transport to the park, they were knocked over just moments before this picture when Dylan decided to crawl behind the table for them, indicating to us that it was time for the cake).


And here's the family all together!

Love Thursday: Fishies and Forts

Today we all ventured out to the Cabrillo Aquarium.
It was a small-ish aquarium, perfect for an hour or two visit, including a tidepool touch-tank.

Here he is giving the fish in the tank a 'kiss'!


On the way home we missed our turn for the street leading us to the freeway. Once we turned around and turned up the correct street, we watched a nasty car wreck just about 50 feet ahead of us (in which the jeep/hummer car did a 180-spin just missing our car by a couple yards)! Imagine if we hadn't missed our turn, perhaps causing us to just miss being one of the cars in that accident?! That could have been us. We pulled over and I almost got out of the car to try and help... flashbacks of last year come to mind. But Ryan knew better. Since we were in the middle of LA, there were plenty of other people already running to help out. I have been thinking about what happened again back in December and I'm thankful that Ryan had the foresight to know what was best for our family today, gently telling me to stay in the car this time.
We drove carefully the rest of the way. Dylan fell asleep in the car, giving us time to talk and enjoy the rest of our time together before taking Ryan back to work. Then Dylan and I came home and took a nice, long nap.

Tonight we had the perfect post-aquarium visit dinner: fish.

Then Daddy and Dylan built their first fort together, which Dylan lovingly referred to as their "how-t" (which I guess was 'house').

And in two days it is Dylan's birthday. Two years. I can't believe it has gone by both so slowly and so quickly at once. I dread how fast Dylan is growing up, however I love watching him grow. It's a bitter-sweet road. And so I buckle-up (it's the law, and part of a campaign here in California, don't you know?) and get ready for the next year's ride!

Dodger Game

A friend of ours works for a company that has LA Dodger Season Tickets with Club Level seating and offered them to us for today, as his wife was scheduled for delivery of their baby this morning (congrats guys!) and obviously wasn't going to use them himself...
So, we went to the LA Dodger game today (and enjoyed some swank seats to boot!)
It was Dylan's first baseball game. We arrived about 30 minutes before the game began and as soon as Dylan finished his first round of snacks, he waived his hands and declared "All Done" like it was time to go. To be honest, I was nervous about how we'd manage through the rest of the game. But we actually made it through the 8th inning before heading home (all in all, he lasted a good 3 hours!)
Our friend Kathy joined us for the event and probably kept both Ryan and I sane as we tag-teamed to the bathroom, getting snacks, and taking Dylan for little "walks" to buy more time watching the actual game. She even trucked up and down the stairs with me on my pilgrimage for some snacks I spotted some neighbors enjoying. Our snacks were fabulous, our seats were in the SHADE, and the Dodgers won.
It was a good day.

Love Thursday: Disneyland

This past Sunday we went to Disneyland with Ryan's family. It was Dylan's first EVER such experience.

During our visit to Toontown, we toured Mickey's House and then had a private meeting with just us and Mickey, which was pretty special. Dylan wouldn't give Mickey a hug (being a little leary of the big-headed, wide-eyed mouse, I'm sure), but he did give an enthusiastic "high-five" which was cute!

His Auntie Meghan (Mimi) got him a super-cool Mickey Balloon.
Somehow Meghan knew that Dylan NEEDED a balloon. And she was right.
It was definitely one of the highlights of the day for Dylan!

And after 12 hours at Disneyland, no nap, and lots of snacks, this little boy was TIRED.

...And so were we.

monkey see, monkey do

Sitting in his highchair, Dylan waves his finger in the air back and forth at daddy, saying "no no no" with a fickle smile.

We exchange a knowing look: The mimicking has begun. We must really start to be careful what we say and do around him (not like we didn't before, but it didn't seem AS pressing before now).

He copies my dance moves in the car, our expressions, and crosses his legs and leans up against the car just like daddy while waiting for mommy. He pushes his foot in my way while I paint my toenails, indicating that he wants his painted like mommy's.

And yesterday he started singing. The tune? The gymboree Clean-Up song, but his words are "bee-bup, bee-bup" - which just cracked us up when we realized that of all the songs we sing together, he picked up this one to sing first (goes to show what neat-freaks his parents truly are!)

What's next, I ask.

First Sentence

While I prepare to gather up a cuddly, post-bottle (his version of a martini, we joke) toddler for bed, Ryan and I melt in unison with Dylan's first ever, non-prompted, first sentence:
"Night-Night Daddy!"

Guess who can use the potty?

(And I'm not talking about Ryan or I here... thank you very much!)

Yeah, that's right, little D-man has christened the potty chair today. His first official poopy on the toilet, followed by an arching pee across the room (I SO need to get that shield put on the seat so that doesn't keep happening to him).
Anyhow, we were going upstairs for his nap and I totally figured his sudden interest in us going in the bathroom was due to him trying to stall. I was going to change his diaper before his nap anyhow, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to let the little dude sit on the toilet for a minute or two. No big deal really.

When he announced "ahh nah" which is how he says all done, I encouraged him to sit for just one more minute (to work on his tolerance for the potty each time we try). He sits there. Sits there. Then PLOP PLOP PLOP he went.
Yes, Dylan can use the potty!

Now I wasn't prepared with any specific prizes or anything for him yet, but we did place a fun little phone call to daddy at work while he still sat up on the potty. A toilet call to daddy. Very fun stuff.

And then I finally let him flush the toilet all by himself (because despite all his interest in the potty, we've made him wait to flush the big potty until he actually USED the potty). Now THAT was a fun moment for him.

Now don't go away just yet because there's more. Seriously there is.
Ok, so then after his nap, he woke up with a dry diaper (surprises all around for us here) and so I whisked him over to the potty and after a bit of deliberation and a little reluctance, he peed again. Go Dylan!

THEN tonight just before bedtime I thought I'd offer the potty again just in case he wanted to give it one last go around...
He wanted to and to our delight actually pooped again. This time daddy got to see it and we all celebrated and Dylan got a hershey kisses for a treat. Big moment. He's totally psyched about that now. Now all I need is a bag of hersheys or other treat that I can use. Any suggestions? I hear M&Ms work good.

Who says little boys can't wear lipstick?

Ok, so maybe it was lipgloss, but whatever.

Dylan has been increasingly more interested in whatever mommy does and putting on makeup is no exception. He wants to share in the experience and be pretty too. How can you resist a little boy wanting to wear lipstick? It's just too cute and to be honest, I don't see anything wrong with letting a toddler enjoy the freedoms of childhood. This short time where little girls still get to play with trucks and touch worms. The time when little boys are still allowed to play dress-up and wear lipgloss and feel pretty and special. I'm not going to dress him up in dresses, per se. However, I'm not going to freak out over the occasional glossy lips either. He's 20 months for crying out loud!

Now isn't he pretty? (then he runs over to daddy and get compliments on his shiny lips afterwards, which is entirely too precious, smiling while he waits for daddy to 'notice').