Dylan started school again yesterday, and unfortunately, he was not excited to return. This year he is attending a Montessori school near our home, so it is all brand new.
I know he will “get used” to school again and enjoy playing with the other students, but today I felt like an AWFUL mother. I left my baby with strangers while he screamed, “Mommy!”
It HAS to get better.
Dylan loves the pool. He asks quite frequently to get in the,”Poooo -l,” and to go, “Mim-ming.”
He is enjoying swimming more that he is no longer taking swim lessons. He didn’t enjoy the lessons, but I think they helped him learn some basics.
Check him out!
Tuesday Dylan and I met Sarah and Brynleigh at The Dallas World Aquarium. It was a good time.
Due to the awful traffic we encountered on I-75 we arrived about 30 mins late, and Sarah and Brynleigh had already fed a Toucan! They met us at the elevator and we started our journey through the rain forest.
I recently acquired an iPhone 4 so I went a little overboard with the number of videos I took, but they will give you a little on-line tour of aquarium and some of the most exciting things Dylan saw on his rain forest trek.
The otter were little clowns and played up to the audience. They kept swimming right in front of Dylan and Brynleigh. I think they liked the babies. The babies certainly enjoyed watching the sea otters swim it up.
I have been to the DWA before and remembered there were quite a few monkeys in the past, so I was a little disappointed to see a couple of monkeys. I am not sure the babies got a real good view of the monkeys because they were kind of hanging out in the distance. They are cute!
We were able to park the strollers pretty close to the turtles and stingrays so the babies got a great view. Dylan said, “Turt-le. Turt-le.”
Dylan normally asks to walk when we are in stores and other places, but I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the people and animals because every time I asked him if he wanted to get out of the stroller and walk, he responded, “No.”
We spent quite some time in front of the HUGE aquarium. The babies liked watching the fish, turtles and manatee swim around.
After the aquarium we decided to go outside and visit the penguins!
These little penguins seemed a little sleepy. They pretty much just stood their and squinted their little eyes.
Luckily a few of the penguins decided to swim a little.
Here are the cute little stroller buddies checking out the penguins. They are cute!
About this time Sarah and I decided that it was getting a little too crowded with all of the daycare groups and it was almost lunchtime, so we started to make our way back out of the aquarium… and we somehow stumbled on an entire section we had missed!
So we saw some flamingos. (Miss Brynleigh liked these!)
We saw the shark tank. Dylan likes to say,”Shark! Shark! Chomp!”
And we saw a sleepy kitty… or LEOPARD.
We had a great time at the aquarium. When we got home Dylan kept on talking about it. He would say, “Fish! Turt-le,” or make monkey noises.
Although the DWA is a little pricey, I would suggest going, and going EARLY. It gets SUPER crowded after 10:30 or so.
Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Dylan has been taking swim lessons for the last week through Infant Aquatics and is doing pretty well. He has floating down and is working on kicking. He doesn’t mind going under water but HATES floating on his back.
Jim, Laura and Liam came over for breakfast this morning and the boys went swimming. Here they are enjoying the pool on Father’s Day.
Yeah, I apparently haven’t posted anything since VALENTINE’S DAY! I knew it had been awhile but didn’t realize it had been that long!
So, here is a quick run-down…
Dylan is a 1 1/2 years old now! He is getting so big. At his doctor check-up on the 10th he weighed in at just under 27 pounds which put him in the 50th percentile for weight and he was just over 33 inches which put him in the 85th percentile for height. He is starting to slim down; although, he still has a baby belly on him.
We have been lucky to have him home with us since school ended and he keeps us busy all day! He still loves reading and has taken a bigger interest in building things with his blocks (instead of just knocking them down). Oh, and he likes to sort things… ANY things – he arranges them in piles by color, or size, or whatever else his little mind imagines.
And he talks… A LOT! His vocabulary is growing rapidly. Some of his favorite things to say are -
And of course… “No! No!” He says this to Abbey while shaking his little finger at her.
And one of my favorite new developments is all the hugs and kisses he gives us. He is a good boy. 
For Valentine’s Day Kyle and I decided to take Dylan to the Stonebriar Mall in Frisco so Dylan could ride the carousel.
I didn’t have high hopes that Dylan would enjoy it because I know it frightens a lot of children the first time, but Dylan seemed to really enjoy it. Here he is getting geared up for the big ride.
Once the music and the carousel started, Dylan seemed to be a little uneasy, but he didn’t fuss. His eyes just got big and he looked around. (Sorry the video quality isn’t great. The battery ran out in our Flip and Kyle had to use his iPhone to video).
Towards the end of the ride Dylan got a little fidgety and wanted down from the horse, but overall, he seemed to have fun.
On Friday, February 12, 2010, we got lots of snow (7-12 inches in the DFW area)! Here is a photo of the backyard.
Dylan has seen snow in Kansas before but he has never seen it at his own house. We thought he might enjoy the chance to frolic in it, but he did not even like to touch it.
Kyle made Dylan a little Snow Baby, but Dylan wanted nothing to do with it.
Hopefully he will get a chance to play in the snow when he gets a little older… maybe he will like it then.
In my last post – from months ago – I promised to share some more Christmas photos, but I never got around to doing it. So, before I begin with the updates on Dylan, here is Dylan with one of the last Christmas presents he opened.
Dylan has been busy since Christmas. He has moved up to the 12 – 18 month class at daycare and has become the baby “pack leader”. He is all over the place and his little legs move so quickly.
He loves playing with his Mega Blocks (mostly taking them apart) and knocking down his blocks; although, he has recently begun stacking them as well.
Here is a video of him playing with his blocks.
Dylan is a very busy baby! He loves playing, opening drawers, closing doors and getting in to things. He is still a happy little guy who loves to make people laugh. One of my favorite new traits of Dylan’s is to give his mama lots of hugs.
Last Christmas Dylan looked like this…
And this Christmas he looks like this…
I am amazed every day at how much he has grown in one year. He is still as sweet and as handsome as ever! We look forward to all the Christmas celebrations to come. Until then, here are some photos from Christmas this year.
Dylan has been blessed to celebrate Christmas SEVERAL times, and he even has one more to go (with Uncle Chris). The first presents he opened were from his teacher, Ms. Luisa, who gave him a cute stuffed frog and his Uncle Neil and Aunt Amy who sent him a stuffed Pooh bear. He then opened the gift cards from his Aunt Dana and the Martinez family (we haven’t bought him anything with them yet because we have been so busy). I was bad and didn’t take any pictures of him opening any of these presents, but I can assure you that he enjoyed it!
For Kyle’s birthday and Christmas Eve, we headed to Kansas to celebrate with family there. Our first stop was Lawrence to see Uncle Anthony, Aunt Jessica and the girls. Here he is spending some time with Jasmine and Samantha before bedtime. The girls gave Dylan a cute Jayhawk sweatsuit, but again, I failed document the present opening. He had so much fun playing with the girls and getting their undivided attention.
Since we were in Lawrence, we had to go visit the KU campus for some shopping and photo opportunities (Warning – LOTS of photos to come).
Here is Dylan posing with the “mythical” Jayhawk outside of the student union.
And here he is relaxing from shopping and practicing his basketball shot in one of the stores.
Dylan could actually stand in front of the statue of Phog Allen outside the Field House for his yearly pose.
And here is yet ANOTHER photo of Dylan with dad in the Field House (I might have taken hundreds of such pics… or at least it felt that way).
After spending time on the campus, we drove to Kansas City to see Uncle Andy’s house and eat at Jack Stack’s Barbecue where Dylan tasted a little brisket and pork; he wasn’t sold on it.
Then, it was time to head to Wichita, Kansas, to see Nana and Papa Smith and spend some more time with Uncle Andy. Dylan took a haul of presents away from Wichita! One of his favorites is the beautiful wooden rocking chair they had made for Dylan (which was technically a birthday gift, but he opened it on the 23rd so I am including it in the Christmas post). He thinks he is such a big boy because he can move back and forth and rock himself.
And, here are some of the other photos from our trip to Kansas.
Dylan is taking a load off in his new Mega Blocks wagon (again, technically a birthday present). He loves unstacking the blocks and putting them back in to the wagon. He hasn’t actually gotten the hang of building with them yet.
Dylan was a little astounded after opening all of his Santa presents and seeing his pile of toys. So much to play with!
More presents upstairs (non-Santa gifts)! Dylan got a Sock Monkey!
Here is Dylan giving Nana Smith some cuddles after all the presents were opened and everyone got dressed. He loved seeing everyone, opening presents and getting TONS of attention.
We had planned to leave Wichita on Christmas Eve after dinner to be home for Christmas Day. We intended Dylan to wake up in his own bed and have Christmas morning at home with Mom, Dad and Abbey, but the snow in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas kept us in Kansas until early afternoon on Christmas Day. It turns out that it was okay because we got to spend more time with the Smith family and have a fun-filled Christmas!
More Christmas posts to come… Christmas with Mom and Dad (and Papa and Grammie Stevens’s gift) and Christmas with Mamma and Pappa Stevens.
You can check out all of the Christmas photos (at least the ones I have posted so far) at Dylan’s Flickr page if you are interested.
I hope all of you had as wonderful a Christmas as we did! We are grateful to have you all in our lives.
