First Day of School!

Dylan turning 3 meant all kinds of new changes for him education-wise. We've had 2 speech teachers meeting with him once a week for an hour for about the last year and a half, and there hasn't been a huge improvement. He's stopped saying some of the things he was before(backpack, map) but I think that's because we've cut down on his tv time. He's mimicking much more now which is a wonderful surprise every time. 'Walk' was the most recent. He picks the strangest words to hold onto. 'Owl' is the best. Talk about a difficult word to say! He has learned all his letter, numbers up to 30, and most standard colors. He's been making the sounds for each letter when they're pointed out, so alphabet play is a really fun thing for Andrew and I. Anything we can do to hear his little voice!

Anyway, turning 3 meant we could stick with the same teaching setup or bump him up to a full on school schedule. He qualified for 5 days a week, 3 hours a day. Well guess what Tuesday was!

Doesn't that face just say it all?

Me being the crazie I am just had to have him out waiting for the bus 15 minutes early.

Problem is, it's been about 35 degrees during the day, so outside playtime didn't last too long.

This brings us to 'Inside the new-ish car' playtime. Not my favorite, but he really loves climbing into the trunk space. It was kind of funny when I opened the back hatch to get him out for the bus!Thankfully there weren't any issues with him wanting to get on the bus. Getting him to come off the bus, not so easy. The dude did not want to go home. He tried twice to get back on! Good thing I had some nice distractions for him at home.

Puzzles and Cookies!
It's been a standing tradition that on the first day of school you get some kind of treat, usually cookies. In fact, when my sister went to college, she got cookies on the first day too. I love the tradition and hope to keep it going for Dylan!

I hope to have some exciting progress reports for you soon!

3 Year Doctor Appointment

Pretty much every time we've had an appointment with the pediatrician I end up taking pictures of Dylan while we wait for the doctor. This usually mean the little dude is stripped down just to his diaper. Here's a little recap.

{First Year Appointment}

{Second Year Appointment}

This last visit ended that. He's now officially measured against the wall and weighed on a regular scale. He's such a big boy now! 38 lbs. and 39 1/2" tall.

{That's his 'You know you're kinda crazie, right Mom?' look}

Having to wait is no problem for a problem solving kind of dude when Mom has her travel size Barrel o' Monkeys!

We're so proud of our big boy! This next year is going to be wonderful!

Our Long Awaited Vacation

Seriously, we've been waiting for most of the year for the first week in November to come. It meant 7 full days in our previous home, the state of California! One week stuffed with family time, 2 additional birthday parties for our new 3 year old, a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory, and waaaay too much time in a car. There was lots more thrown in there too. Here are a few of the highlights.First off, the Wedding!!! This was the main reason we headed out to sunny ol' Cali. From what I heard, this captured all but 2 of the Slazas side, and had 5 generations. Amazing!Carousel Ride #1 with Dad

A quick trip to a Lego store. I'm sure the little man would love a bunch of these gigantic ones!

Friday we hit up the Jelly Belly Factory. I've been there plenty of times, but what kid can go wrong when they're surrounded by candy? I think Dylan thought he was going to be able to drive this home. Cute car huh?

Our jaunt over to San Francisco wouldn't have been complete without chowder bowls. Yum!

We went by this guy twice and both times had the little dude give him a dollar. He reached into his pocket both times and gave his a little bag of Sweet Tarts back(we threw them away, don't worry). Totally cute watching Dylan just stare at him. And if you don't know who these guys are, they get all silver painted up and dance robot style to music. It's tons of fun to watch. This guy had a quirky personality-He'd move his cup around when people tried to tip them, so they were really working for it. He was super sweet with kids though.

Yeah for the Hard Rock Cafe!

Barking Seals-These suckers are nuts! You could hear them all around the pier.

Carousel ride #2 with Mom.

Thanks to my buddy Courtney I've got tons of pictures with the 3 of us, it's just a matter of going through them all. I'll post some of those soon. We're already missing our California family, but are so happy we were able to spend so much time with everyone. We love you!

Pumpkin Pickin'

I'm on a big time kick to make some more memories with my little family, and a hay ride with pumpkin picking was definitely on the list. Last weekend we made it happen, starting with successfully getting on the last hayride of the day!For a kid with an issue touching grass, you can imagine how well the hay went over when we first got up there. There were plenty of 'Dylan, sit down!'s heard before we took off.

He didn't quite get it, but he looks so darn cute. It was just me being counter productive again.

Andrew-'Sit down Dylan!'

Me-'But he looks so cute! Hold on, let me get another picture.'

Lots and lots of pointing at the pumpkins

And of course, plenty of displays of Dylan's manly strength
It was a gorgeous day. Pictures just look even better with pumpkins in the background.
I love my dudes.Back to the hay ride empty handed (we snagged a tiny pumpkin for the dude back near the entrance)Another wonderful memory with my little family.

Silently Counting

I have to give a little back story to this video in order for you to really understand why we(the parents) were amazed. First off, Dylan is just barely beginning to talk. Words like Map, Backpack, Up and Ball have started coming out in the last two weeks, and we're thrilled! We still don't know how many other things he associates with their actual words though. Tonight we ended up at the local mall to give Dylan some much needed run-around time. There is a board game kind of theme with a large multi-colored path and a gigantic 'spinner'(doesn't actually spin). Andrew looked up at one point and realized that Dylan was jumping from number to number. We quickly caught on to why he was doing this, and I pushed Andrew over to get a video of it. (Just so you know, there wasn't any coaching or counting. He did this on his own. This video was the 5th or 6th time he did it.)

Now to most parents this might not mean much for their almost 3 year old, but this is huge for Dylan! I hope you were smiling and cheering as much as we did!

Our Little Brainiac

Dylan=Little Einstein Lover

Here's the proof

(turn your volume way down-sorry it's so loud)

He's so into the closing scene of this show that I can sing the first few lines over and over again, and he does the actions with me every time. Then of course he signs for 'more'.

{Just in case you were wondering, Dylan shakes his head because at that point in the song the little Rocket ship shakes as it's form of a bow}

Remember Us?

We're back! Man, I've seriously neglected this blog. It's time to play catch-up. Here are some of the little highlights along with some great pictures of the little man and sometimes us, the parents!

Unlimited pancakes-Both my dudes scarfed them down.

{January}

He's had lemons before, but this one he seriously took a bite of. He hasn't had one since!

{February}

The blizzard had us all home in p.j.'s for most of the week. This was also about the time Dylan developed a love for the movie Cars, Mater especially.

{February}

We got these ears a few weeks before Easter and he wore them non-stop for weeks. By the time Easter rolled around, he was done with them. He moved to wearing them around his tummy!

{March}

After hitting the Hershey Factory, we were off to Sonic. The little man turns into a super stud whenever he wears Andrew's sunglasses!

{March}

This year's Egg Hunt was too fun. Dylan still has a bit of an issue with grass, hence the little pinching fingers. Things got a bit crazy once he learned they opened. Fun!

{April}I love my dudes!

{April}

Memorial day was the first swim of the year! He's turning out just like his Dad-Go Sox!
{May} After a much needed haircut a few days ago, this is the little man today!

The mini-trampoline we borrowed from my Mom has been one of his favorites lately. It's better than jumping off the couches onto the floor!

Within the last few days Dylan has gotten into the habit of climbing up behind me when I'm sitting on a chair and throwing his arms around my neck. That's his silent cue for a piggy-back ride, but I just love how it feels!

We've been quite the busy little family lately, and I hope to get more info up soon.
We love you!

It's Update Time!

It's been a little while since I posted about Dylan's speech progress, so I'm here to remedy that. He hasn't had a session in 3 weeks because he's been all kinds of sick, but yesterday things clicked for him. He's still not using words, but he is now signing the word 'more', which is huge. Now Andrew and I have some kind of communication going with him. It's been awesome. A few days from now we're going to try introducing another word and we hope to continue in that way until real words are in play.

Now onto some of the fun things he's been doing. After months and months of wondering why Dylan climbs all over everything but still wouldn't climb out of his crib, he finally did it. Amazingly a week or two later, the awesome Katie offered us her son's toddler bed. Thank you! It's gorgeous and I love it, and so does the little dude.

That didn't stop him from saying goodbye to his crib in his own way. One last climb in and out.

He's also learned that the process for getting out of his eating chair is pretty much the same for getting back in. No clue why, but he keeps getting in it and just sitting there, even when he doesn't want anything to eat. Good thing we keep his chair on the floor.

Now for something Andrew and I have learned. Putting Cake Bites up on the counter does not mean they are safe from the grabby fingers of Dylan.

The toddler-proof latch on the fridge is also getting a ton of use. Dylan's all about getting the condiments and putting them in the dining room.

Now onto Wheel of Fortune. I'm gonna let you in on a very well kept secret. Any idea who trained Vanna White to be such the wonderful button pusher that she is? That's right. Dylan did.

Along with Wheel of Fortune, we've found out that Dylan absolutely loves the third Ice Age movie. Thanks for that fun gift Gramish! Something about the squirrely Scrat character just makes him smile every time.

Things with Andrew and I have been good. He's having a harder time at work because of the colder weather, but he braves it like a macho manly man and I love him for it. My little business is really taking off and I'm loving it. *Snickety Snacks* has been the perfect solution to my need to feel productive and meet new people. I'm loving it! All in all, our little family is doing wonderfully. Thanks so much to all the friends and family who love us. We love you too!

Our Little Growed Up Dude

Dylan turned 2 on Sunday and Andrew and I are still amazed that he's grown so quickly. Even though he's not really talking yet, this little kid has amazing facial expressions that let us know that he totally gets it. He keeps us on our toes, especially with his quick as lightning moves when it comes to grabbing snacks and treats. Here's proof.

I'm completely good with sacrificing cupcakes and such to make the little dude smile. As much as I loved the year just after he was born, I think this last year has been better, just in different ways. The hand holding, smiles, funky noises, headstands, carpet burns, slide riding, nugget eating, circle spinning and hugging days just can't be beat. Excuse me now while I go hug and squeeze on him!

Dancer Boy, Dancer Boy

Dylan does this little dance thing randomly which looks pretty darn close to river-dancing, minus the high kicks. He usually does it when he's excited about something or when he's try to get claps and 'Yeeeaaaa's from us. Well he has a new thing to be excited about I guess. Seeing as how I haven't been able to catch this on video for the last 6+ months, having one full minute is like being able to pet the Loch Ness monster. Amazing.

He's Almost Two!!

Wow, he's such a big dude! Less than a month and he'll be 2.

Yeeaaa For Puzzles!

Dylan had another session with his 'Speech Teacher' today and it went really well. Thank goodness she brought a puzzle! The little man is a whiz with those. Here's what she had to say:

"Dylan followed familiar request/commands, when he was asked to sit down he sat promptly. He engaged in play with a puzzle for 10 minutes. He completed a nine piece large knob puzzle. Dylan was encouraged to imitate animal sounds as he placed the piece into the appropriate slot. We worked with pop beads to increase using hands together, eye hand coordination and wrist rotation. Initially he needed support to connect the beads, by the end of the activity he was able to connect the beads with minimal assistance. Dylan communicated mostly with pointing, reaching and sounds."

The biggest change I've noticed is that he's making more sounds. When we would repeat a word to him, he'd always revert back to 'da-da' for some reason, but now it seems like he's listening more and he's picked up on saying 'mmmmm' when I say the word more. I still maintain that he's just going to talk when he wants to. The cute little content kid is happy with how things are.

Our Little Self Taught Gymnast

As I see the length of the afternoon nap slowly getting shorter, it's comforting to know that he's somewhat wearing himself out before he falls asleep. After 20 minutes of him jabbering in his room when he should have been sleeping, I went in to see what he was talking about. The world is fascinating up-side-down.

Oh, such a funny little dude.

A Happier Kitchen Part 2

I wrote about the happy new changes to our kitchen on my other blog, and I thought that since this is the family side of things, I'd write how we feel about it. I can't get enough. I'm so jazzed for all of the new space! Andrew is being patient and loving and keeps saying 'If it makes you happy then I'm good'. I'm trying not to go to crazy with it all. I think the little dude is on the fence about it. He loves that he can finally get in the kitchen, but baby proofing everything kind of puts a stop to it. Well, we thought we baby proofed everything.
Leave it to him to find the one thing that isn't latched shut. And once again, I ran to the find the camera and actually hoped he was still there, just like I did this time and of course when he did this. Talk about mixed signals. "Duuuuude, what's with the banging in the kitchen? Oh my goodness! What are you doing? Get down. Wait......stay there. I'll be right back. I hope you're still on that! Hold on.........Ok. Ooooooone, twooooo, three! *click* Ok, now you can get down." I'm capturing precious memories :o)

O.C.D. and Measurements

Andrew and I have noticed that Dylan is taking after me in a few interesting ways. He's becoming very particular about certain things and has recently started lining up everything. Blocks, cars, and now these little rings. He's also found a new form of measurement. This hallways is exactly one Dylan wide!

First Official Visit

After weeks of waiting for Dylan to get started with Infants & Toddlers, the person helping him with his speech finally came today. The first time I met her I had some reservations about how she would be with Dylan because she didn't try to talk to him or anything. Today she jumped right into it with him, which I loved. He caught right on with the toys she brought, and somewhat paid attention to the words she was repeating. But honestly, who can pay attention with new toys around? Here's what she had to say about today:

"Dylan had a wonderful session. He warmed up quickly to the provider and was very interested in the bag of toys. We worked with the shape sorter(triangle, square, circle). Initially Dylan needed hand over hand to help him place the shape appropriately. On his 2nd and 3rd trials, Dylan used trial and error to complete the task independently. Dylan was very attentive while working with the peek-a-boo blocks. Initially he only covered the base but with encouragement and model he stacked the blocks. He responded to requests and followed simple directions. Dylan was very quiet today, he used actions/gestures to get his needs met."

That last part was so cute. Anyone who spends time with him can agree that he's a pretty quiet little kid, but he's making up for it physically. Whenever he got all of the shape blocks inside the container he would grab my hand, raise my arm, and set the container in my hand. He'd then pull off the top on his own as if to say, 'Thanks, I got it now.' I felt like a robot. When I put my hands behind my back he went looking for them when he needed my help again. It's so cute to see him from somewhat of an outside point of view. I try to just sit back and let his 'teacher' do her thing, which gives me time to really watch the little things he's doing, like when he raises his eyebrows or clenches a hand while he's using the other one. He's a quiet dude, and we love him!

He's finally attached to something, and I'm jumping for joy! He was never a pacifier kid and still isn't attached to any toys or stuffed animals, and to a degree it worried me. I like knowing if he has preferences at all, outside of picking between Blue's Clues and the Backyardigans. Before he was born we bought two little green 'softy' blankets that I fell in love with. One is green with lighter polka dots, and this one is brown and green checkered with little elephants. The elephant softy has become his cape. He loves dragging it around and brings it to me so that I'll wrap it around his shoulders. Man I just wanna scoop him up and squeeze him. Cute little snuggly dude.