PlayWorks

This morning we took Dylan to a playground near us called PlayWorks. In the same area, there is a skate park called SkateWorks. Somehow I don't think it will be too many years before we are across the parking lot watching Dylan ride his skateboard up and down half-pipes.

The playground is a neat place, with lots of little Dylan sized crawl spaces, bridges, etc. Dylan ran around for almost an hour!

Dylan has never really enjoyed swings. As time has passed, he's learned how to ride in a way he enjoys.

In this picture, Dylan is saying "All Done, All Done!!"

After the playground we came home and played outside for a bit. Dylan rode his four-wheeler around the yard, wrote on the driveway with some chalk, watered the flowers, and golfed a little bit. Then we came inside for a morning snack. While he was finishing his snack Dylan read his Sesame Street magazine. It appears to be a very interesting issue this month.

Now he's having his afternoon nap, and let's hope it's a long one. He was up at 6:30 today, which is later than my typical week-day wake-up, but on weekends I like to sleep until 7. Why is it that we have to wake him up at 7:20 on weekdays, but on weekends he's up at 6:30?! Maybe it's because all of the other kids at daycare wear him out. I'm looking forward to our next child being worn out by Dylan!

This weekend I started the process of dismantling my craft room. It will soon be the baby's room. Until the basement is finished, my new space will be in the office. Not sure how it will all fit, but we'll make it work.

Speaking of the new baby, he/she has been quite active over the past week. I've been feeling flutters for a few weeks, almost immediately followed by digestive gurgles,which led me to wonder if they were really flutters at all. In the last four or five days they have become definite, albeit gentle, jabs, rolls or kicks. My ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, September 17th. We'll find out then if it is a boy or girl.

18 month check-up

What a difference 6 months makes!

At 12 months Dylan had been walking for one month, weighed 25 lbs, and was 29.5" long. He was a big boy for a 12 month old!

At his 18 month check-up this morning, Dylan weighed 27 lbs, 12 oz, and is 33" long. He's been walking for seven months, running for six, and has been so busy moving around that's starting to put on the pounds a little more slowly now. Dr. Baptist was pleased with his progress, and was impressed with Dylan's vocabulary. I'm pleased to report Dylan now says "Go Bucky!"

No shots today, which I was happy to hear. Dylan doesn't need any more shots until he's 4 years old (hard to imagine!). He won't go back to see Dr. Baptist until his 2-year appointment. By then we'll have a newborn going in for a one-month appointment!

Horsey Ride

Tonight after dinner Dylan wanted to jump on Mom's belly. In lieu of that he got a horsey ride from Daddy.

Brian's a good horse - he makes horse noises, and acts like he's moving his hooves around in the dirt.

Dylan was having a great time, giggling and hiccuping; Brian was having fun too - until Dylan burped up a bit of his dinner on Brian's back. Ugh!!!

It's a good thing our brand new washing machine was delivered today - yay!!! We've been without a washer for over a week, so it will be working overtime for the next few days. First thing's first - we'll do a load of medium's.

EHS 10 Year Reunion

On Friday morning we headed up to Minnesota for a fun filled weekend. We went up for my 10 year high school reunion, but managed to squeeze in a few other fun things. Friday evening Brian and I went to the MN Twins game with Angie and Eric. Angie is a girlfriend of mine from high school, she and her husband Eric drove up from Missouri. We rode the light rail from the Mall of America to the Metrodome - what a smooth system they have going! It cost us $7 round trip for both me and Brian to ride, and that's much cheaper than parking down at the dome.

Here we are waiting to board the (arriving!!) light rail train.

Of course with his parents away for the evening that meant Dylan got to spend lots of fun time with Oma. The following morning, Dylan was up bright and early, and he wanted to join Oma in the bathroom while she worked on her hair and make-up. He sat up on Oma's bathroom counter, playing with her chapstick and looking at himself in the mirror. Wow, what a reflection!

After his afternoon nap, we went over to Great-Grandma Brown's for a visit. Dylan got to play with the flannel board. Listening to my Grandma tell stories using the flannel board is one of my favorite memories of being her grandchild. She was a preschool teacher and had so many different ways to engage our imaginations!

Saturday evening we headed off to the reunion. Brian and I posed outside at my mom's house, in between downpours of rain. The weather was quite chilly on Saturday - rainy, damp and the high was 60 degrees.

Here I am with Angie and Jean, two of my closest girlfriends from high school. We usually get together each year for a Girls Weekend, however Angie is 22 weeks pregnant, and I'm 17 weeks now, and the fall is just approaching too fast - we're running out of time! We're looking forward to a Girls Weekend 2008!

The reunion was a lot of fun. More people came than I expected, based on the RSVP's. It was a lot of fun to see my friends that I haven't seen face to face in years. Now that we're in the days of easy electronic communication I get to stay updated on their lives on a weekly basis, but it's so nice to get a big hug and to see their smiling faces. There were many pregnant classmates there, and that was fun too.

I had the shock of my life towards the end of the reunion. I saw this couple staring at me, and I didn't recognize either of them, so I tried to pretend I hadn't noticed they were STARING. The guy approached me and asked me if I used to have a friend named Jenni Phillips. I looked at the female with him, and it was Jenni! She had married this guy (a classmate I didn't recognize at first!) only the day before, and was at my reunion. For those of you that don't know, Jenni grew up in the house across the street from me on Heritage Lane. We were best buds from ages 1 - 7, until my family moved to a new house. We maintained our friendship over the years, but attended different schools and eventually lost touch. My girlfriend Erica often stops in the Starbucks in Eagan, and one day recognized Jenni as the Barrista - and got her e-mail address for me. So Jenni and I have been e-mailing again for the last year or two. Every time I am in Eagan, I stop at Starbucks to see if she's working. How strange that after all this time she came to my reunion!

Fine Dining

For dinner tonight we had a scrumptious meal of tortellini with marinara sauce. It pleased our most discriminating client. In fact, he sent the chef back to the kitchen for two extra servings.

Once his belly was full, we sent our demanding customer off to the spa (umm hmm, bath tub) for a rejuvenating and (most especially) cleansing experience. The scent of his after bath lotion is a delight to the senses.

As soon as I am done fooling around with our blog, the Little Mister is demanding his turn at the computer. It seems Papa turned Dylan on to the delights of Bob the Builder's website. Bob, here we come!

Hello Burnett's!!!!

Friday afternoon Brian and I went golfing. After that we went to the Fair with our friend's Nate and Erin.

We left home Saturday morning for Cedar Rapids. Our friends Jeff and Beth Burnett were in town for the weekend from Phoenix. We had a great time hanging out with old friends at the park, though it was a steamy day. Here is a picture of Dylan after about half an hour outside. Pink little cheeks!

Here is Dylan, along with Jack and Sara Barr's daughter, Rachel. They were so hot they were digging ice cubes out of the cooler!

After two hours we sent Dylan home to Grandma and Papa's. He was fussy, hot, and none of us were enoying him a whole lot. He was better off in the air conditioning, getting a nice nap! Brian, Jeff and the guys went off to play disc golf - crazy! They were gone quite awhile, and at one point we started to wonder if they had collapsed from the heat somewhere out on the course. Alas, they made it back to the park shelter soaked in sweat.

Here I am with Beth - in all of our sweaty glory. Now I want to give a shout out to Sheryl - I hear you read our blog often, so I'm sure you'll get my message - we missed you!!!! We're considering Cruise 2009...won't you?! :)

What to do?

Grandma and Papa (as Dylan now calls Richard) just left with my little guy in their back seat. I waved to him and he just sat back and relaxed. After the fun he had with Grandma and Papa yesterday, I'm quite sure he'll enjoy himself in the next 24 hours.

The trio went to the library yesterday morning. The children's reading program doesn't start up again until September, so they didn't get to do that, but they did get to play with puzzles and board books and hug a giant teddy bear.

Dylan also introduced Grandma and Papa to the world of Disney/Pixar's movie Cars yesterday. It is his latest obsession. I told Grandma she might have to do some therapy with Dylan, to work on his tv obsession. I swear, he doesn't watch THAT much tv. Maybe that's why he can't tear his attention away when it does get turned on.

So now, here I sit at 8:30 on a Friday morning. My day off...no Dylan. What to do? Sure, there are plenty of things to do around the house, but I'd rather take this time to do something I wouldn't normally do with Dylan around. I may go back to bed, maybe paint my fingernails, the options are endless. As a parent of a toddler you often wish for time for yourself. Now that I have it, I hardly know what to do with myself!

Lucky for me I won't have too much time to fill. Brian is meeting me at my doctor's office for my 10:45 appointment - we'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat today - and then he's taking the rest of the day off. We may golf, if it's too hot outside we may go to a movie. So many options...