Highlights of the past month:
Dylan hosted the Fisher Price Joys of Learning House Party in our backyard. Friends Drew, Ryleigh, Calina, Emily and Maddie, along with their mommys, came over to play with some new toys, including the Ballcano, Ballapalooza, Apptivity Monkey and Ride-On Puppy. They were a hit! The kids worked up an appetite for bagels, muffins and monkey bread, while the moms tried to finish a cup of coffee while it was still hot! What a fun time we all had!
We spent a beautiful fall morning at Trailside center and the new playground with Ami and Mimi. The purpose of the trip was to buy tickets for the upcoming annual hayride, but we enjoyed exploring the museum, peeking at the box turtles and swinging on the swings.
Williams Nursery is a fun place to spend an Autumn afternoon! We navigated their hay maze, took a ride in a wagon, made silly faces in the Halloween cutouts, wandered among the pumpkins and looking at seasonal decorations.
Cousin Ryan and Uncle Bob met us as Melick's Farm for a hayride and some apple picking, followed by a sleepover. After a pizza dinner, Ryan played football outside with some neighborhood boys while Layla and Mom made apple spice cupcakes with brown sugar frosting. In the morning, we all went to Aunt Trudy's house to see cousins Jill, Rich and baby Riley, who were down from Rhode Island. Bob and Debbie came down to Cranford to pick up Ryan, so it was a nice opportunity to get the family together. We love having Ryan spend the night and look forward to more sleepovers in the future.
We celebrated Daddy's 36th birthday, cousin JJ's eleventh birthday, and our friend Gus-o-saurus's 3rd birthday this month.
Mom and Dylan have been spending a lot of alone time together while Layla is in school. On Tuesdays, we sing, dance and play instruments together in the Making Music, Praying Twice music class at St. Helen's Church. Dylan loves learning new songs, banging on the drums and seeing his new friends.
Dylan and Layla enjoyed an afternoon with Ami, Poppy and Mimi at the Union County Harvestfest.
Dylan's bottom lateral incisors (teeth #7 & 8) came in just in time for Halloween, giving him a beautiful jack o'lantern grin!
The game Don't You Kick Me, which involves kicking mommy while swinging, makes Dylan laugh hysterically.
He's developed an aptitude for removing his shoes and pants.
No new words this month, but Dylan has gotten very good at imitating, following directions (when he wants to) and pointing and grunting.
In response to the question, "What does a baby say?", Dylan will give a half-hearted, very phony "Wah", sure to put a smile on anybody's face!
I cannot believe we're only a month away from the big ONE! We have decided on a Cowboy/Western theme for Dylan's first birthday. We are having a small family party at our house, but I'm hoping that the weather is nice enough to have the party outdoors.
