19 months

Dylan is getting so big! She loves to read books, sing songs, torture the cats, and play outside. She has also started to throw big tantrums when she doesn't get her way. A parent at my work said to me, "when kids throw tantrums it means you are doing something right, because you are saying no to things." Apparently we are doing something very right with Dylan! Even though she throws big tantrums, she is so much fun! We have been going to the park a lot recently. Dylan loves to go on the slide and swings and say "hi" and "bye" to the people we see on the way to the park.

Dylan Claire the toddler

Dylan is a serious toddler now. Her favorite word is "no" (which she uses for everything, basically a new babble word), she is refusing the potty, and she is talking and signing more and more. Her vocabulary includes baby, more, no, cracker, quack (ducks fan already), bye bye, dada, mama, and many more that I can't think of. Dylan has really enjoyed going on walks lately and now wants to walk with us rather than be in the stroller. Her favorite house has a statue of a duck in front of it which makes Dylan very happy. She is very adventurous and even goes down the big slide at the park all by herself!

Dylan also enjoys dressing up, which basically means that she takes things from the laundry pile and puts them on. She also likes to put buckets on her head, diapers on her arms and so forth. In addition to dressing up she is loving her baby dolls! We just got her a stroller and she likes to walk her baby around in it.

We just started swimming lessons again and Dylan is loving it! She kicks her legs and especially loves the duck water toys. We will have some pics up soon!

Dylan is oldah. Wicked pisah!

We survived Dylan's first plane ride when we went to Boston to visit Jon, Jenny, Mia, and Kainoa. She enjoyed kicking the seat of the people in front of us and hamming it up for the people behind us. In Massachusetts, Dylan really enjoyed visiting the coast. It was crazy humid so being in water was quite necessary. Mia had a lot of fun with Dylan although she got a little too close and got her hair pulled a few times.

Dylan learned some new signs during the trip such as help and music. Her sign for music consists of moving her head back and forth which is also how she dances. She has also signed and then used the potty consistently for a week or so. She also added a couple of words to her vocab such as, "more" and "cracker." Kelley and I decided that she is now officially a toddler.
Happy Birthday to all of those family members who have a birthday this month! Stay tuned as we promise to write more soon.

14 months!

How much can change in a month! Dylan has mastered the art of walking! She is now trying working on climbing. She can scale the couch, likes to try to climb in the bottom drawer in the kitchen and tries to climb in with mommy or daddy when they are trying to take a shower. She also has been doing more signs, her favorite being dog! Dylan loves to play dress up and wears beaded necklaces almost constantly. She also likes to try to put on mommy and daddy's clothes and loves purses. As the weather gets nicer we have been going to the park, which Dylan loves. She is such a ham! Dylan likes for people to constantly be paying attention to her and if they aren't she will yell and laugh to get attention. Dylan is hilarious and gets more and more fun everyday:)

Arcata is odd.

Its been a couple of weeks but we visited Arcata, CA for the Memorial day weekend. We got to see this weird peddle powered race they do over land, sand, and water. The octomom here was one of the vehicles. We had a great vantage spot on top of the Alibi. The Alibi is Justin's bar and Justin is Grandma Colleen's friend. We also got to visit uncle Jordon while we were there.
The following weekend we took a trip up to the Hood and The Dalles to visit family. Dylan got to swim a little in Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's pool as it was insanely hot in The Dalles.
Dylan is taking steps now but is still a little unsure. She is starting to sign more and we are trying to introduce her to new signs all the time. We are still having Dylan sit on the potty and she goes quite often. I hope people still read this thing. Comments are good.

Her first birthday party!

Dylan celebrated her first birthday party a week ago and she had a blast! She loved being the center of attention and especially loved her homemade organic carrot cake cupcake that Grandma Wendy made for her:) We got a lot of donations for ShelterCare including art supplies, blocks, and a really neat wooden train set! It was great to be able to help out a local charity!

Dylan took her first step last week! She only took one and we haven't seen anymore attempts but it is a start. She is enjoying using her stroller walker toy that Auntie Christa gave her to cruise along! Dylan also is an expert at moving along the furniture as well as pausing to clap her hands and squeal! Dylan has been peeing on the potty more and more and we are excited to think of a future without diapers!

1 year old!

Wow, a whole year! We can't believe it has been that long, but at the same time it seems like Dylan has been part of our life forever:) To celebrate Dylan's birthday we (Kelley and Grandma Colleen) took Dylan to the zoo in Portland. Dylan had a lot of fun and enjoyed looking at all the different animals, especially the goats. She also went on a train ride where she mostly enjoyed trying to pull the hair of the woman sitting in front of us. Overall, it was a really fun day and mommy even let Dylan try a bite of ice cream!

In other Dylan news... she is really becoming a little person! She has started to use a few simple signs such as "milk" and "more." We are working on adding more to her vocabulary. She also loves to clap her hands and wave to people. Dylan really likes to throw toys over her baby gate and try to fit toys into different containers or toys (what can I fit into the ball ramp??) It is a lot of fun to see the wheels in her head turning. Dylan is eating a lot of solids now and has gotten over her distaste of fresh fruit, which is nice! We also took Dylan on her first bike ride in her bike trailer (thanks Irene!!) Happy birthday Dylan!