oodles of celebratin’

DSC_9935.jpg
at the tree farm
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

It was another busy weekend (went to the holiday parade downtown as well as two celebrations, one on Saturday and another on Sunday), but the highlight of the weekend was the annual pilgrimage to the tree farm! Last year, it was 45F outside and Dylan was miserable the entire time. But this year, he had a blast.

For starters, it was much warmer. I’m sure it was in the 60’s, if even the low 60’s. In no time at all, Tom had his jacket off…and so did Taliana!

The kids did a lotof running around, collecting sticks, running, drawing in the dirt, etc…


Dylan HATES hoods (and hats)
HATES hoods (and hats)
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

I’m surprised I didn’t blog about getting a tree last year, but here’s a picture of Dylan showing just how unhappy he was! I’m glad this year was a more positive experience!


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still "mashing"

Over a month has passed since Halloween and our last visit to LA, but Dylan still has “Monster Mash” on the brain! Yep, he’s still requesting to hear it…even now (the vid was taken just before Thanksgiving)…! It’s a nice constant reminder of our last visit and of just how much he enjoyed spending time with his family (he still also talks about the sitting on Grandma Sharon’s lap and watching the dragon in the Thomas the Train video!)!

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many thanks

Day 253
Day 253
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

There is much news to catch up on, but the most current is the revival of the potty project!

Right now, we’re about one week into the revival, and so far it is going much better than expected. Not only is Dylan waking up with a dry diaper and going pee pee in the potty in the morning (and before we leave the house), he also used the potty at school for the first time–and 3x at that! Last night, he went poo poo in the potty–the first poop in there since we restarted the project last week! He has not soiled a single diaper all week!

I am writing this early on Thanksgiving, so more on today is likely, but among other things, we’re grateful for the happiness and joy this little guy brings us each and every day and we’re happy for all our family and dear friends who have provided him so much love and attention and helped shape the loving little fella that he is–he is such a happy boy!


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the "Blue Steel" look

Day 240: my CEO. does the "blue steel" look
dylan at work
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan loves going to my office…at least 10 times more than I do! Here is 2 Fridays ago (what?? two Fridays ago?? I can’t believe that much time has already passed!). He did a stellar job of mostly staying out of my way. Mostly…! His favorite work things? My phone, the computers, and the whiteboard walls in the meeting rooms!


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post-Halloween bday celebrating

Day 234: snacking on halloween candy
snacking on halloween candy
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Nothing like sugar to keep a couple of kids smiling! This picture was taken on Sunday, Novemeber 2.

That day, we celebrated our good friend Heather’s birthday with a trip to San Francisco — brunch at Herbivore and an afternoon at the Exploratorium — followed by a homemade vegan poppyseed cake (a vegan meringue-y miracle) and a game of Cleopatra back at our place.

Dylan and Taliana both got pretty weary right around 3:30 or 4-ish, but before then, Dylan had lots of fun in the electricity area of the Exploratorium, plugging wires into plugs which completed circuits that lit up lights or made fans whir.

He continues to be incredibly focused on his current obsessions: trains, plugs — plugging in earphones and jacks of all sorts — and vacuums (including “earphone vacuums”!). This makes it difficult to pry him away from his object(s) of interest. So it was at the Exploratorium. We scheduled him and Taliana for giant spirograph drawings, but by the time his turn rolled around, he was so into the circuitboards, he flipped out when he was “forced” to do a spirograph. He made it seem like such torture, of course we let him go back to the circuitboards! Once the kids started bickering, we decided to wrap it up and, luckily, both napped on the way back home.

Back at home, Tom and I had left Dylan’s Halloween basket on the counter, so through a series of poor communications, we eventually found them munching happily on treats, giggling and hugging one another and their stuffed pals (Taliana obediently “asked” for permission to eat candy via telling Dylan to ask me if it was ok. Dylan did, in fact, make it over to me to talk to me, but we think that he must have forgotten what it was he was supposed to ask because it never made it out of his mouth!). In the end, it was just plain cute. They had so much fun together that night that Dylan sacked out immediately anyway….


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Dylan has hope

These were Dylan’s thoughts on election night….

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Halloween

This year, we did the “usual” downtown trick-or-treating with Taliana, then we headed to Cindy’s house to trick-or-treat with the cousins. Dylan had a blast. He was a little nervous until we saw a “Hankey” Mouse decoration at one of the houses! Once he saw that, he was all smiles! I wanted to take a picture of Dylan and Tom in front of one of the figures at the house, but Dylan dashed back over to Hankey Mouse, sat down and smiled!

It was a very busy and very late night, but we still sent out happy birthday wishes to Eli…!

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dylan gets daring

About a month ago, we saw a little guy at gymnastics (a fella smaller than Dylan) who was just as brave and as coordinated as a 2-year old could be! He was running, jumping and climbing with the agility and skill of a 6-year old!

This little guy was climbing on super tall stacks of blocks and jumping eagerly into the foam pit below. Dylan and I watched in awe.

The following week, Dylan decided he wanted to try jumping in, too. So, we started with jumping in from just the edge of the pit and then we slowly worked our way up to the stacked blocks. Dylan would watch Vikram (the little guy) with a huge smile and then he would want to try, too!

By the time Tom was able to take some time off from work (last week) to come join us, Dylan was a pro! He leapt off the blocks fearlessly! I managed to capture a picture of Dylan leaping off of an elevated springboard, but believe it or not, this one was short!


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gourd-eus

Here are some pictures from this year’s trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Dylan was far more eager to crawl through the tunnels and jump on the hay bales than he was last year! We were on our way to play games at Steve’s house, though, so we couldn’t stay for as long as we would have liked. Still, Dylan had a great time (and he had fun at Steve’s, too, where he watched more t.v. in one sitting than he’s ever had in his life so far!).

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one for the road!!

matching chins =D
matching chins =D
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

On our last day in LA, we visited Eli and Rocky one last time.

Dylan is now very familiar with Spongebob Squarepants and completely associates him with Eli. Whenever he sees anything Spongebob now (which, admittedly isn’t very often), he says, “that’s for Eli.”

Also, thanks to Rocky (and her superrific dance), “The Monster Mash” is a current favorite!

At first, the song made him nervous (I think because it had the word “monster” in it), but now he tries to dance to it and he wants it repeated over and over (we’ve since heard it played at gymnastics and at Music Together). He’s even tried singing it!

In any case, we’re all looking forward to the next trip. Dylan still hasn’t stopped talking about LA!


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