together in the park

Posted on October 11, 2007 by cvc

reisz profile
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Our nanny was sick this morning, so I had to stay home from work which, in turn, offered me a rare chance to hang out with Dylan on a Thursday morn.

We hadn’t been to Together in the Park for ages (not since I’ve been back to work, anyway) so, despite feeling a bit worn out, I couldn’t pass up the chance to take him.

I think Dylan must have been either a little on the tired side or a bit overwhelmed by the number of kids and things to do because he didn’t do his usual running around all over the place thing; instead, he kinda just did a lot of observation and he moved slowly into new activities.

Anyway, we had a great time. We saw some friends we hadn’t seen in a long time and Dylan got to draw with markers, blow bubbles, play in the sand, and ride in a wagon (with Ben and with Eaen); during circle time, we listened to a story and sang some songs, and he just loved being beneath the parachute!

I got a little bit of lunch into him before we started heading home, but he had such a good time, he actually fell asleep in the carseat with his snack in his hand!

My next task is to get him into the crib at daycare without waking him up!!!


Posted in playgrounds, weekly_fun | Comments Off on together in the park

not out like shout

Posted on October 11, 2007 by cvc
DSC03427
DSC03427
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Dylan had another napless day at daycare today, but he’s apparently been very cheery nonetheless! Yesterday, we were able to keep him awake until after bath and dinner and then he slept for 12 hours! Tonight, we weren’t so lucky. He fell asleep at 5:30pm and woke up at 7pm when I tried to put him down on the bed. Aw shucks.

Since he hadn’t had dinner yet, I brought him back down to feed him and that’s when he requested to go “out” in the “car” for some “coffee”.

It began with the repeated chanting of “car car car” followed by no satisfaction playing on his ride-on car accompanied (always) with his coffee chants. When we figured out he was saying “out,” we decided to go out on a little mini-trip to help tucker him out, and since “coffee” is nearly always at the fore of his mind, we headed for a coffeehouse. Hence, the picture.

Last night, Dylan said “night night” for the first time, too….


Posted in daily_dylan, words | Comments Off on not out like shout

smelly feet

Posted on October 8, 2007 by cvc

I forgot to mention that one of the other kids at daycare bit Dylan last Thursday! The poor thing. He apparently recovered quickly and was cheery by the time I came to pick him up, but I’d say he got bitten pretty hard! There is a 1/4″ scab forming just at his cuticle!

On a happier note, here’s a cute (but low-quality) video of Taliana and Dylan playing “smell Dylan’s stinky feet” after last Wednesday’s library lap time. For some reason, Dylan thinks it’s hilarious that his feet smell so bad! It was sweet of Taliana to indulge him in a little play time…

Back Log: Speaking of feet, at this time last year, Dylan discovered his toes and I guess I was already back to work!

Posted in rhymetime, taliana, vids, weekly_fun | Comments Off on smelly feet

Jason’s 6th bday

Posted on October 8, 2007 by cvc

It was another busy week, ending with two birthday celebrations for little Jason, one with his friends and then one with family the next day!

Dylan enjoyed both (as did Jason!!). He adores his cousins — and, luckily, they love him right back! — and he really thrives on interaction and active and energetic play.

He is quite a good climber now; this past week, he successfully clambered up onto the first step of the playground structure (this step was at least half his height), one of our dining room chairs, the step ladder, Heather’s futon, and Taliana’s rocking horse. It’s a little scary. Not only is he good at climbing, he’s also very fast! At the playground on Friday, he was up several steps of the playground structure and on the bridge before I got to him!

This past week, Dylan has also developed a new relationship with his high chair. Whereas before he resisted eating in it for the duration of a meal, he is now proactively telling us he wants to “neat” and leading us to put him in it! Of course, he still says and signs “all done” when he’s still nibbling his last few bites, but it definitely feels like progress to have him initiating meals in the chair!

He’s also got his dancing shoes on a lot more lately and he’s taken to changing his stuffed animals’ diapers!

New words he’s added to his verbal repertoire these past 2 weeks: “drink,” “cup”, “car,” “help,” and an abbreviated version of “broccoli” (“coffee,” however, remains his #1 word, I kid you not. He sometimes absently sings the word as background to his current activity!).

Posted in cousins, jason, playgrounds, weekly_fun, words | Comments Off on Jason’s 6th bday

cous cous monster

Posted on October 6, 2007 by cvc
dining with dylan is always a joy
dining with dylan is always a joy
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

At least he likes cous cous…!


Posted in daily_dylan, food | Comments Off on cous cous monster

no pic-nic

Posted on October 3, 2007 by cvc

No suitable photo for today’s post, but it was too harried a day for me to whip out a camera anyway! Dylan woke up before dawn. I repeat, before dawn. It was 4:35am and poor Tom was just getting out of the shower before heading out for Long Beach (and back). I tried in vain to get him to fall back asleep up until 5:20am when I opted for a new strategy: tucker him out so he can at least get in a nap before our 10am Finger Babble class!

Well, that strategy didn’t work either. He stayed awake. Not only that, he peed on the carpet (ok, that was my fault…he dashed off mid-diaper change and I didn’t catch him in time!), and dumped half of his breakfast onto his shirt…! This morning was no fun at all!

But, gratefully, he was a gem in Finger Babble and thus began the turnaround. He sat on Angelita’s lap while she sang “Going on a Bear Hunt”; he helped clean up (he’s actually getting quite good at putting things away when asked — at least in public!); and he tried to be social and friendly (Jack was a bit taken aback when Dylan tried to hug him. Poor Dylan doesn’t get that not other kids are not necessarily accustomed to being mauled by other kids like he is by his cousins!); he shared toys and tried to make conversation with Daisy about her doll….

His nanny also came to class with us today so that she could learn some signs to practice with him and to then watch him while I was in my weekly team meeting.

He slept for only 40 minutes with Paris as he awoke when we transferred him to the carseat to take him to school.

Once at “school”, I told the staff that he now says “neat” when he wants to “eat” and as soon as he heard that, he started repeating, “neat. neat. neat”, so they gave him a snack and he never napped after that!

Despite the lack of sleep, he apparently had a good afternoon there. He didn’t cry when I left and he played down in the toddler room for a while. When I came to pick him up, he was as happy as could be!

This evening, he ate well — we started assembling his play kitchen — and he promptly fell asleep at 9:08pm!

Phew. What a day. I am tired (was tired all day long). I wonder how Dylan felt…!

Posted in baby_signing, daily_dylan, daycare | Comments Off on no pic-nic

oooo! oooatmeal bars!

Posted on October 1, 2007 by cvc
dylan's driving
dylan’s driving
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

Well, a lot has happened this week, but work kind of gets in the way of updates!

Anyway, the weekly routine lately has been Music Together, Finger Babble, Library Laptime, work, and Friday excursion. Dylan does a million and one cute things that I think, “gotta blog it”, but then the moment morphs into a new one and I start to lose track!

Well, we discovered Organic Food Bar Oooatmeal bars, thanks to Candi and Kees (who kindly shared some of Kees’s snack with Dylan during Finger Babble last week!). Dylan just loves this stuff. In fact, he liked it so much that he remembered what the wrapper looked like (!) and when we went grocery shopping, he spotted them (they were close to his eye level!) and started going absolutely nuts! He started yammering on, picked one up, and attempted to eat it straight through the wrapper!

We also had a very, very full day of drawing, writing and playing at Auntie Cindy’s house; Dylan was pooped out, cranky and totally disinterested in riding in his car seat…until I whipped out one of those Oooatmeal bars! After that, he was all conversation and cheers (and, lucky me, I got a peaceful ride home!).

Ooother things: Today, Dylan strung two words together: “more” and “coffee” and also spent a fair amount of time behind the wheel — first in our car, while we waited for my duathlon to start (it was 47F outside! Brrrr….), and then at Toys R Us (he sat in a demo corvette located at the front of the store). He has also mastered his ride-on toys! In the short space of a week, he went from being able to go only backwards to being able to propel himself around in both directions. It’s very cute.

Back Log: At this time last year, Dylan rolled over from back to tummy (Read post).


Posted in daily_dylan, milestones, weekly_fun | Comments Off on oooo! oooatmeal bars!

fresh laundry

Posted on September 27, 2007 by cvc

freshly laundered
Originally uploaded by coffywoman.

This little guy always does something to make us smile! Today, he said “Taliana!” and they sought each other’s hands out to hold. It was the cutest thing and I was very disappointed that my cameraphone was crapping out on me and I couldn’t capture the moment! So, a picture from last night will have to suffice (it beats a post with just words, right??).


Posted in rhymetime, weekly_fun | Comments Off on fresh laundry

what’s a bang-joe??

Posted on September 24, 2007 by cvc

Tyler on flickr

Tyler can tell you: “It’s a drum connected to a piece of guitar”! Oh, yeah! He learned this when his grandpa pointed out a banjo while they were watching a bluegrass performance on tv!

Posted in cousins, tyler | Comments Off on what’s a bang-joe??

training run

Posted on September 23, 2007 by cvc

Mom and Christina watched Dylan while Tom and I ran the Almaden Classic 10K — the first in a series of San Jose running events that comprise a “hat trick”. We get some sort of “special” finisher’s award for running this 10K, the San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half and the Silicon Valley Half.

Since the run was good timing for our respective training programs, we decided to do it. I mean why not? And Lola wanted to visit with Dylan anyway!

So, without further ado, here are a few of the pictures of Dylan having fun at Lola’s house (there were many, many more, but the flash setting was accidentally switched to “slow synchro”, so a lot of them were too blurry! Too bad!)!

Posted in aunts, cousins, daily_dylan, lola, running | Comments Off on training run