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!"

Chatty Addie

Addie is definitely a girl when it comes to language.
While Daddy was gone one night at his LSAT class, Addie practiced saying 'dada' before bed.
She was also working on her standing skills as a side act.
And I'm glad she thinks I'm as funny as I do.



Note: those pajamas are 3-6 month sized. At 10 months I am amazed she still fit into them.
With how much this girl eats, you would be amazed too!

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!"

The Courtyard

Our little dude is a bundle of energy. So much in fact that I can't even bear to coop him up in the car to drive over to the park some mornings. As such, last week I decided to give the 'ol courtyard in front of our townhome another try and see how much energy Dylan can burn off out there. To my delight it actually worked and he took some nice naps afterwards. Usually we are destined for a long napless afternoon when we don't get out to the park in the mornings, so that was a nice discovery.

Our courtyard just outside our front door. It has a lovely little fountain and some grass and a lots of trees and flowers.

The trees along our patio are all in bloom. Normally I think those trees are too leafy and dark, but right now they are full of blossoms and really pretty.

Dylan loves to run around along the walkway, giggling and chasing after us.

Exploring in the grass.

We ran around, chasing each other. We played peek-a-boo around the trees. We blew bubbles. We ate kumquats off the trees.
He discovered berries on the bushes (and as you can see in the video that we'll post another time, he tries to put them back on the bushes after knocking a few off).

And all this time this little special space for us has been just outside our front door. Go figure.

p.s. The other night as we prayed together before dinner, Dylan held our hands as he usually does... then echoed our amens with a precious little "a-mahn"

funny words

Dylan has the most precious way of saying things these days. It's the pronunciations that make me laugh. Like for instance, when we get ready to go somewhere, he helps us gather his shoes, calling them his "jews." And when he points to his nose, he says "nooo" like the cutest little boy EVER. Then when Ryan asks Dylan to show him the sign for FOOD, dylan makes the food/eat sign on Ryan's mouth.
Ryan and I can't get enough of it.

This past weekend we bought Dylan a new car seat: The Britax Decathlon. After I got rear-ended, the insurance company agreed to pay for a new car seat and since he really shouldn't be riding in his old one anymore after the accident, we made the trip out to West Covina and got him a new one. This Christmas on our drive down to San Diego, then up to San Francisco and Napa Valley, I'm sure it will prove to be a good choice.

"more", or "all done"?

Dylan signing for more (and yes, that is food on his face - jelly from his waffle, to be exact)...
and all done.

He is getting pretty good at communicating during mealtimes, which is good, because it always has the potential for confusion with Dylan pushing away food or tossing unwanted morsels on the floor. Sign language seems to really cut down on frustration. That is, as long as he asks for something we are willing to give him...


I made a list of Dylan's words to date (as of 15 months) in honor of our recent visit to the pediatrician. So far, I've counted 16 words:
Kittycat (ke kee kah, or itty)
Dog (dahg)
Mommy (ma mah)
Daddy (dah dah)
Ball (bah)
More (moh)
Milk (muh)
Book (buh)
Baby
All Done (signing)
Please (signing)
Bubbles (Buhuz)
Duck (duh)
Cookie
Car
Bottle (ba-ba)