Yesterday was Trent's birthday and he took the day off work so the three of us could spend it at the NC Zoo. We were also celebrating Dylan's successes in being *almost* completely potty trained since I made the decision to start "hard core" training him last Wednesday (it's been off and on for over a year - time to get it done!). Anyhow, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and there weren't a lot of people which made for a fantastic visit. Here's a small glimpse:
Giraffes - simply love watching them. So elegant.
How many teeth do you have?
Digging for fossils in the Dinosaur exhibit.
Flying a bee requires "steering"
We visited the Watani Grasslands last to see the elephants. Turned out to be perfect timing - the three females were all close to the path and no other visitors were around. I took quite a few photos and even a short video on my phone:
Dylan last night playing with his activity table and practicing his new phrase, "ma ma ma ma." Love it.
A few minutes later when I was carrying him upstairs for his bath, Dylan began patting me on the back (another new thing) while saying "ma ma ma ma" over and over. I took that to mean, "good job, mama." ;)
Dylan was given a balloon by one of his friends following their birthday party recently. He absolutely LOVES this balloon. We literally had to pry the string out his hands the first night to give him a bath and put him to bed. Each morning when we get downstairs, he breaks into a huge smile and giggles when he spots it. Once he gets ahold of it, he will usually crawl all over the place holding onto it which is what led to this story....
Dylan, of course, can crawl easily through his tunnel. What he didn't realize is that taking his balloon through with him was not as easy. I watched as he began his journey with balloon in tow: As he reached the other side, he realized the balloon wasn't quite there and gives a tug on the string: The balloon made it into the tunnel and stopped. Puzzled, Dylan examines the string trying to figure out what to do: With a little encouragement from mom, Dylan soon figures out what to do and frees his balloon:
Dylan enjoyed playing with an activity table at a friend's house last month. When I found the exact same one at a consignment sale last week for $12, I grabbed it immediately. He's had a great time playing with it every day and has already mastered pulling up to a stand while holding onto it.
Here he demonstrates how it works:
I recorded the video on my camera so you'll notice he pauses periodically and flashes a smile for me to take his picture. ;)
Over the weekend Dylan officially began crawling. He would make it just a couple of "steps" and the return to a scoot. Until he discovered something he wanted - the basket we keep downstairs with diapering supplies. Not sure what the attraction is beyond that's not a toy and I'm not supposed to play with it. He makes a "run" for it every chance he gets.
Dylan had my mom and I cracking up on Friday morning when he began a "pretend cry" near the end of breakfast. He kept dropping his face and "crying" then would glance up to make sure we were still watching the show. LOL
Dylan cracked me up on Monday. He was playing in his new exersaucer and just began chatting away. I started filming and ended up with a full 2 minutes of his commentary. A bit too much to upload so I clipped a small bit to share:
What a big day Dylan had yesterday! My cute little elf and I went to the mall to run an errand... While there, we met Santa which was apparently very serious business... Dylan was all smiles before. Would smile at me between photos. All smiles after. And got the biggest grin looking at the photos on the computer when we returned home. But, no, not even the slightest hint of a smile while I took pictures.
After we returned home, I put him on his back on a blanket in our living room to stretch out and play with his toys. I stepped away for moment to get something from the kitchen and when I came back, he was on his tummy! Dylan rolled over for the first time. A moment later he did it again (I saw it this time!) so I set up the video camera on a tripod next to him to try to capture another roll and sure enough...
It seems as though he's almost mastered it as he rolled over several more times - I even found him on his tummy in his crib a couple times overnight.
Dylan recently mastered grabbing and pulling on the fish hanging overhead in his kick & crawl gym. I've shown him several times since we got it that the green fish plays music when a button is pushed. On Monday, I decided to show him a few more times using his hands to see if maybe he was at the point where he could learn to do it himself. Sure enough, a short time later, Dylan hit the button and the music played! When I told Trent about it that night, I commented that I wasn't sure Dylan realized exactly what he was doing but was certain it was intentional. Looks like Dylan does know what he's doing after all though - he has been hitting that button each playtime in it since.
I've put Dylan in his crib almost daily and turned on his mobile. Only in the past week has he really started to notice it and react. I love peeking in at him as he watches the animals go round & round and talks to them. :)
Dylan loves the the seahorse our sweet friends Laura, Blake & Cameron sent to him. Just before I made this video yesterday, he reached out and touched the seahorse which I took to mean "let's play." He's not quite to the point of squeezing it to turn it on by himself yet. ;) Once his seahorse lit up and began playing his music, Dylan started dancing and babbling:
Yesterday it was once again time to head out to our college's football stadium for a game. We arrived about an hour and a half before game time. This left us time to wander around a bit. It was a chilly start to the day - upper 50s and breezy.
Front of the football center: The sun started shining and temps climbing as the Wolfpack took the field: By the end of the game, we were warm and nicely sunburned to match our team colors. LOL Worth the sacrifice though for a thrilling game. NC State was taking on ranked East Carolina and probably expected to come out on bottom. I snapped this shot during the 4th quarter - the teams were tied up 24 - 24 and there were 45.2 seconds left on the clock. Notice the stadium is full. Everyone was on the edge of their seats wondering what would happen. The 4th ended still tied. Overtime began with ECU getting the ball first. NCSU defense held and managed to recover a fumble by ECU. Our turn for the chance to score for the win..... [and a small warning - before watching turn down the volume a bit ;) ]
The day started very early for me. Once a year the YMCA has a Prayer Breakfast at 7:00am. Today was the day and it was located about 25 minutes from home so I made sure to be out the door by 6:30. So well worth it. They are always enjoyable, but this year tops the list. The guest speaker & musician was Mark Schultz. He's a Christian artist and unknown to me until today. I was utterly blown away. He's a wonderful speaker and his music reaches out and touches you. You can't walk away from hearing his songs and say you didn't feel the Spirit. It was a beautiful way to start the Easter weekend. :)
No scrapping today so far, but perhaps in a bit. I did finally get a few things off my to-do list. For starters, I bought a new keyboard & mouse. We have been having issues for several months now with the keyboard that came with the computer. It just didn't always work. After weeks of looking and 1 purchase & return - we realized it wasn't the keyboard but rather the port. I wanted a keyboard with a cord, but that is difficult to get these days. It seems everyone prefers wireless. So, here I am in grand form on the new wireless keyboard. For the most part, it seems to be working ok. It is occasionally not getting the signal which was one of my fears. Let's hope it manages to work 99% of the time because I've had it with shopping for these things.
While out keyboard shopping, I had holes drilled in my designing with 2007 calendar so I could put the pages in my binders. I prefer to store the previous calendars this way by category so I can easily reference them and pull out a page or two to use. They are so full of wonderful ideas and inspiration to help jolt me when I'm having a scrapper's block. :)
I did have one small misfortune. It seems the guy at the store wasn't very well trained in the process of drilling holes so the last 10 pages have torn holes. I used reinforcers to fix them, but I'm a bit irritated. Last year at least the first person admitted to not knowing so I took it elsewhere. Elsewhere being the store I went to today. Needless to say, I'll be more careful next year.
Finally, for a bit of humor.... I joined YouTube today (am I the last person to do so?) and uploaded a little video I made of Chester. ;) Cali makes a small cameo. Keep in mind, I filmed this with my regular Kodak digital camera so it's not high quality. Without further ado, I present Chester versus the Bag:
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The only consignment sale I participate in. Find my tips for consigning and making the most money possible in this post.
. We have been having issues for several months now with the keyboard that came with the computer. It just didn't always work. After weeks of looking and 1 purchase & return - we realized it wasn't the keyboard but rather the port. I wanted a keyboard with a cord, but that is difficult to get these days. It seems everyone prefers wireless. So, here I am in grand form on the new wireless keyboard. For the most part, it seems to be working ok. It is occasionally not getting the signal which was one of my fears. Let's hope it manages to work 99% of the time because I've had it with shopping for these things.
