Taken on the day before we left for Los Angeles….
Archive for the ‘sleep’ Category
napping with daddy
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009D.Y.L.A.N and Dylan is his name-o
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Dylan’s molars are coming in, but he is such a trooper. Really. He’s such a nice guy, it sometimes stuns me. He likes to joke around, he’s so good at sharing (admittedly, moreso with me and Tom than with other kids), he extends invitations to play with him (“c’mon mommy-o. come back daddy-o. c’mon talinana”) and, so far, he hasn’t displayed any aggressive behaviors towards other kids (physical aggression, anyway; he does sometimes shout “Noooo!” when he wants something they have, and he’ll thrust his little arm out to emphasize his dismay).
Also, he’s getting so good at talking…and getting better at his conversational skills.
Every morning, he surprises me with what’s on his mind (the other day, the first thoughts out were “processors. I have little one. Mommy has big one”; this morning it was “no more sleepin’. I wanna eat”!).
He offers his opinions freely and honestly: Tom made a homemade tomato sauce from our first tomatoes of the season the other night, and when he asked Dylan if the sauce tasted icky (often Dylan prefers plain), he responded with, “It’s not icky. Daddy-o. It tastes fine.”
He’s very bossy and direct: on the way home from daycare just yesterday, he told me he needed to drive…to the office…to work (we wish we had his enthusiasm). He needed to sit in the big seat and I needed to sit “over there”. At night, if I work, he’ll say, “no mommy. Stop working!”
He counts and spells: he’s very reliably counting to 10 and very reliably spelling his name (verbally, thanks to singing the “Bingo” song). He already knows his dad’s name (when asked, he’ll answer “Tom Reisz”), but just recently, he’s learned his mom’s name (it used to be, “my mom…is…mommy”, but now it’s “my mom is “SEAL”).
There’s been so much chatter in such a short span of time!
The other new thing this week is somersaults on his own (though more than half are crooked). And, perhaps the most promising development: he’s requested to sleep in his own bed and has done so for 2 nights this week (he also asked to sleep in his “little bed” last night, but I fell asleep before bed time stories were finished!).
We’re glad the tough “teething” week has ended. He’s such a charmer when he’s content….
a big bday bash
Friday, April 20th, 2007
It’s been another very full day for little Dylan. We went to our weekly Music Together class this morning. Even though, he was ready to nap before we even left the house, he managed to stay awake and even enjoy the singing and dancing!
Directly afterwards, we headed to Ben’s bday party. Lots o’ fun. Jack brought his drum and Joya sang with us. We saw some old friends and met some new ones….
As soon as we got home, I managed to get Dylan in the Ergo and on my back all by myself! Now, he’s snoring away….
g’night, sweet thang!
Thursday, April 12th, 2007
the Square Mouth
Friday, January 19th, 2007(picture forthcoming) Well, we started Thursday off with a bang. Joya was back from Argentina to lead another session of Mothersong and both Dylan and Taliana were thrilled! Dylan broke out in a big, wide grin as soon as we started singing “Barima Tue” and he was all chatty and social with Sierra (who sat next to us). He was clearly glad to be back at Mothersong!
But, then bad mommy decided to head out for a run as soon as we all got back to the house.
This is the first time that Dylan has really flipped out with Heather! Poor Heather had to endure Dylan’s wailing, burrowing into the crook of her neck and into her chest…he apparently tried getting under her shirt several times (!), and there was no way could she even attempt to put him down.
Luckily, I was only out for about 40 minutes…he quieted down as soon as he was back in my arms, but we have decided that, surely, he must now be developing separation anxiety.
Tom and I have been lamenting the fact that he’s been so clingy these past couple of weeks, thinking it was teething-related and he was just wanting some extra TLC. Whenever we step out of his play yard these days, we get the Square Mouth. So sad.
Well, the better news is that he has finally been able to return to a reasonable sleep schedule. He slept about 14 hours total yesterday and already logged 14 hours today.
I think he’s on the road to recovery from his first full-blown cold, too…
the Dylan climbed over the mommy…
Thursday, January 18th, 2007
…to see what he could see…! (sung to the tune of “for he’s a jolly good fellow…” which is also the same song as “the bear climbed over the mountain,” a song we sing and sign in Finger Babble!)
We went to our second Finger Babble class last Tuesday where, once again, Dylan was way too distracted by wanting to nurse to pay much attention to signing! He is still having a tough time napping in the mornings (going on a week now) and his little teeth are still just barely through the gums!! Poor thing….
So, once again, Tom and I signed to the other babies and took the lessons back home.
This time, we learned duck, stroller, doll, hill, keys, car, telephone, elephant, play, far (and near!), light, dance, sad, in and out, and fan (a personal favorite!).
decoding this look…
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
Yesterday was the first session of Dylan’s Finger Babble sign language class. We decided to try signing with Dylan because it has been shown to reduce crying and frustration (baby can communicate observations, wants, needs before they can actually speak) and signing facilitates the development of verbal communication (signing babies tend to have larger vocabularies and tend to speak sooner).
Anyway, the class was a lot of fun. A lot of other moms and babies from the mommy group are also enrolled, and the class is run like a playgroup where signing is incorporated into songs and play time.
Yesterday, we learned a lot of signs…Tom and I did, anyway! Dylan’s been having a tough time with napping in the AM lately, so all he wanted to do was nurse and nap (for next time, we’re working on shifting his morning nap to be a little earlier)!
Here are the signs we learned yesterday. This way, next time Dylan’s around, you can know what he’s “talkin’ about…!”
We learned high, low, see, ball, baby, surprise, help, clown, eat, more, daddy, all done, clean up, music, what, help, happy, grandma (mommy with a couple of bounces!), the official sign for hello, hat, thank you, cat, bubbles, and in the context of songs, sky, rock, mountain, and bear.
Once I get my good laptop up and running again, maybe I’ll post the modified signs for “mommy” and “daddy!”
Group Photo
Tuesday, December 26th, 2006
Here we all are at Cindy’s house.
We all had brunch then got down to the business of opening gifts. Later on, Candice, Cindy and Bob, and the Taylors (Jeff’s side of the family) came over for dinner feasting and games.
As usual, Dylan had a grand time! The only prob was getting in his naps, but he managed a good 1.5 nap right before dinner, so he ended up with about close to 13 hours of sleep for the day!
Can’t believe another year is about to end…
Today, we are getting ready to leave for LA.
Once Dylan falls asleep (hopefully, this will happen shortly after we give him a second meal of solids and a bath!), we’re heading on out!
Christmas in the Park
Monday, December 25th, 2006
We went to Christmas in the Park with the family on Friday night.
Dylan fell asleep in the car on the way over. Poor little guy has not been able to keep abreast of his zzzz’s these past few days! Bananas and rice cereal finally started backing up in his system and he’s been waking up in the middle of the night with thunderous gas!
We started him on pears 4 days ago, though, and finally saw some diaper action last night…whoa.
Anyway, I digress! After a quickie catnap of about 30 minutes, Dylan woke up! So, here he is with his daddy, wondering where the heck he is…
Before we headed out to the park, though, we had some appetizers at mom’s and Dylan got a chance to play with Jason and hang out with his Auntie Christina before she left for work.
A few more photos are in the usual place…
Between Pooperman and Superman!
Sunday, October 22nd, 2006
The mommy group Dylan and I usually attend on Friday mornings was canceled this past week, so one of the moms offered to open up her house to all of us instead.
We almost didn’t make it. Dylan didn’t sleep well the previous night (he got up at 5am and didn’t get back to sleep until 7am) and I was pretty exhausted.
Dylan and I didn’t end up getting out of bed until about 9am and I was thinking I wouldn’t have time to get both of us ready! Besides that, I was worried he’d be cranky from lack of sleep (and teething).
By the time we got to the house, there were already several mommies and babies there! We found a space right at the edge of the rug next to Blythe and baby Justin (who later changed into his Superman costume) and Mariah and baby Finley (who happened to be wearing a “Pooperman” onesie!).
It turns out the boys were all born within the same week of each other. Justin (Superman) is 3 days older than Dylan and Dylan is 4 days older than Finley (Pooperman)!
It was really so much fun to hang out with all the moms and babes.
Another mom also brought materials for making baby footprint ghosts, so we also got a keepsake of Dylan’s feet.
The morning started out rough, but I’m really glad we made it in the end.
