This and that

Dylan's grown up so much in the past few months! It always catches me off guard when I realize how much he understands and picks up. He still doesn't talk a whole lot (well, in English...he babbles all day!), but he definitely understands everything he hears.

And he notices everything you do. For example, I put an old coffee maker and coffee grinder in a bottom cabinet a few weeks ago, that I had been using most mornings to make myself coffee. But I always made it while he was in his high chair eating breakfast, so I never thought he was paying attention to me. Well now several times a day, he goes into the cabinet and "makes coffee." He takes the grinder and presses the right buttons, takes the top off, pours imaginary coffee into the coffee maker, closes the machine and presses some more buttons. It's hysterical. 

He's also very into routine and rituals. Each morning when he wakes up and I go into his room, we have to follow a specific routine -- he runs around his crib for a few minutes, then I lift him out, and turn off (in this order) the noise machine, the humidifier and the heater (if they were on), then we open the curtains, and then we look at two hanging picture frames of his cousins and I recite each name over and over as he points at people. Then we're able to change his diaper and start our day :)

Dylan's really into balls. Footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, rubber balls...pretty much anything he can kick, throw or swat. He's been taking a soccer class for the past few weeks (class is probably a strong term, since half of it is taken up by bubbles and building towers out of cones) and it's absolutely adorable. And he's really taking to it.

Dylan's also been obsessed with babies lately. Probably a good thing, since his little sister will be here in a few weeks! He points out every baby that we see on the street or in pictures - "bebe, bebe." And we've received several birth announcements in the mail lately, which he immediately claims as his own. He often insists on holding one or more of them as he's eating, so they're all covered in food. And he's also very aware that there's a baby in my belly. He often points at it and explains "bebe, bebe," and even more often, will rip up my shirt and put his head against my stomach. It's so sweet.

Unfortunately, his word "bebe" sounds whole like his word for "pee pee" and very oddly, like whatever word he uses for airplanes. And his words for "book," "box" and "bus" are pretty much identical - "bok-th."

It's been so fun to slow down every once and a while and look at the world through my Dylan lens. It takes us 45 minutes to walk down the street to the mail box, but that's because he's too busy picking up pine cones, or pointing out dogs and buses and trucks, or swinging on the bicycle racks, or trying to walk into open stores. It's far better than just walking to the mailbox! (Well, unless we're in a hurry!).

Last week we went into Twitter to see what this "work" place that Dada goes to every day is. And Dylan had a great time! He now thinks that Dada spends his days all-you-can-eating at a fabulous cafeteria, and running around outside and playing cornhole on a beautiful rooftop terrace!

I could go on and on about all the fun things that Dylan's doing these days!