Layla - 38 months

Sleepover Weekend with cousin Ryan - Applepicking at Melick's Farm

Swingtime

Helping Daddy blow out the candles on his cinnamon birthday cake!

Getting ready for Halloween: Just a typical ballerina firefighting kitty cat!

"Mommy, Dylan is my assistant."



A beautiful Fall Day at William's Nursery



Looking for shapes in the clouds




A special message to Mommy during bathtime

                                                               After school nap with Daddy

Playing Superheroes

Playground at Melick's Farm

Layla the kitty cat, eating dinner on the floor

 

An exhausted Layla

Checking out the turtles at the Trailside Museum

 

Layla's new behavioral incentive system - So far so good!

 

 

This Month:

 

Layla celebrated many birthdays - for Daddy, cousin JJ and friend Gus

 

Naptime has been mostly dry!  Hooray!  We're not quite ready to attempt nighttime potty training though. 

 

Layla thoroughly enjoys going to school and her afterschool sports class, but she doesn't like to share too much about her day.  In fact, she was pretty upset when I attended her Open House because her school is "private."

 

She loves showing off her new "moves" including splits, walking backwards up the stairs and various dance moves. 

 

Layla enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of hayrides and the Harvest Festival at Watchung Reservation with Ami, Poppy and Mimi while Mom and Dad took the afternoon off!

 

Dylan - 11 months

 

 

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. 

Layla - 37 months

 

 

Some highlights from this month:

- Layla enjoyed many day trips this month, including evening visits to Turtleback Zoo and Sesame Place.  Weeks later, she is still asking us what our favorite parts about each trip.  Her favorites were the train ride at the zoo, and the teacup ride, Elmo's World show and the parade at Sesame Place.

- Although she doesn't yet have the attention span for fishing, her cousin Tommy, who's (quite the fisherman, let her reel in her first fish!

- We were Italian for a day at the Hoboken Italian Festival, where Layla indulged in fresh squeezed lemonade, ice pops, and several bouncy castles (and mom and dad sampled some delicious Italian food).  Afterwards, she played at the fun waterfront playground before running for cover from the wind and rain.  Luckily, we made it back to the car in the nick of time.  We finished this fun evening with a quick visit to Aunt Nadia and Uncle Jay's. 

- An early morning drive down to Philadelphia for the Kids with Food Allergies Expo was a beautiful way to spend a Sunday! Layla had so much fun playing in the Kids Zone at the Plymouth Meeting Mall, grooving to the music of Kyle Dine, collecting allergy-free goodies from all of the vendors and of course, riding on the double-decker carousel.  After the Expo, we grabbed lunch at Chipotle and then headed home.  That evening, we received a phone call that Layla won the raffle for the Star Wars Lego set! What fun!

- Perhaps the biggest milestone of the month, however, was Layla's first day of preschool.   After meeting her teachers during Welcome to School Day, Layla began attending her Wee Three classes 3 days per week.  She is also enrolled in a sports sampler class after school on Wednesdays.  Layla had a great first week meeting new friends, painting, reading new stories and becoming acquainted with her teachers, classroom, and class pet, a hamster named Coconut.  Mommy and Daddy are overjoyed that the school is entirely nut-free, and that her teacher is personally and professionally familiar with food allergies.  There wasn't any doubt that Layla was going to love school, but everyone is surprised that Mommy didn't cry on her first day!

Funny Layla Quotes:

Layla: "I want bunk beds like Mimi."
Mommy: (laughs)
Layla: "It's not funny.  It's serious."

"It's raining, Mommy.  Know why? Because the flowers are saying, 'I want a drink! I want a drink!'"

Layla's Backyard Pirate Party

I wanted to post some pictures of the decorations and activities from Layla's 3rd birthday.  A pirate theme was lots of fun to plan, and from what the kids have told me, they had fun participating!  This was my first party that I planned witht he help of Pinterest, which of course made things much easier (and also made me more ambitious!) Feel free to duplicate my treasure hunt, but please "pin" my blog!

Layla's double chocolate brownie cake - adapted from Parents.com

Digging for treasure

Surrender the Booty - BEFORE

AFTER

 

Table Decorations

 

Entrance to backyard

One scary pirate birthday girl!

Pirate graveyard

Davy Jones' Locker - baby pool filled with water "cannons"

Scallywags

 

Pirate name tags and 1st treasure hunt clue!

 

 

 

 

 

Iced tea "grog"

 

We somehow didn't get a picture of the kids digging up the treasure, which was a Pirate Pinata!  They had a blast taking turns trying to break the pinata and filling their goody bags with lollipops, tootsie rolls and stickers!

 

Time for dessert and cake!

 

Happy Birthday to my favorite little pirate girl!

Dylan - 10 months

 

 

Here are some highlights from the past month:

 

Dylan began standing on his own, at first hesitantly and now with confidence.  No first steps yet, but you can almost see the wheels turning in his head.

 

He enjoys ripping paper (and eating it).

 

Dylan is learning how to share.  He always offers a bite of whatever he is eating, and is known to occasionally stuff his pacifier in an unsuspecting person's mouth. 

 

My usually easy-going boy has been showing his frustration with grunts, screams and clenched fists.  In an attempt to alleviate some of his frustration with communication, Layla and I have been using a lot of sign language around Dylan.  He recently began signing "all done" and waves hello and goodbye. 

 

Dylan says "da-da", "up", and "hi" frequently.  He also says "na-na" (night night) when he's tired. The verdict is still out as to whether he truly says "pop" (Poppy) or" eat." 

 

His favorite song is "We Will Rock You" by Queen (his big sister prefers the Spongebob cover).

 

Dylan joined his sister as participants in a nap strike, which thankfully, has ended.

 

He continues to be a voracious eater and has taken a liking to gnawing on his crib, as evidenced by the scrape marks on the side rail and paint flakes on his chin.

 

My favorite new skill this month is the big open mouth kisses that Dylan gives on request!

 

***

 

Dylan had a fun play date with some other CHS alum babies, Ryleigh, Emily and Maddie, at the Orange Avenue Pool.

 

He had his first zoo trip at Turtleback Zoo on a cool Wednesday evening.

 

An impromptu day trip to Sesame Place proved to be an exciting adventure.  Dylan especially enjoyed the carousel and lazy river ride.

 

 

 

With Daddy at Turtleback Zoo

 

Swinging at Orange Avenue Pool

 

 

Dylan with his best bud, Poppy

 

 

 

Relaxing with Dad

 

 

Sleepy Boy

 

 

Hanging out with some beautiful ladies

 

 

Dylan and his little cousin, Alexiya