"daddy is my best friend"

Had to share this wonderful little moment from this morning. Dylan and I were getting ready to leave the house. As we were coming downstairs, I always insist that I go down first so I can be below him in case he slips. But he always gets a little frustrated and tells me that his daddy lets him go down the stairs first. So today, the same thing happened...I went down first...he let me know that his daddy lets him go down first...and then he stopped for a second in deep thought and then said "Daddy is my best friend." It was the kind of moment that just filled me with joy. Definitely brought some warmth to this very frigid day (6 degrees this morning!).

This recent picture is from a few weeks ago. I think it goes well with the story... shows the happy BFFs having some fun before bedtime.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We all had a very nice Christmas weekend, spending Christmas Eve with my family at my parents house, Christmas morning at home opening gifts, Christmas Day at Keith's brother's house with Keith's family and the next day putting things together, sorting through toys and cleaning up. Here's a picture of Dylan with my brother and Lisa's dog, Maddie, both of them are dressed up for the holiday.

Keith and I got to see Phish twice and in between we spent New Year's Eve in Philly at my friend Alexa's house watching the Phish concert live on t.v. Dylan did some dancing and lots of playing while we had a very relaxing but fun night.

December was such a whirlwind but we enjoyed it and were happy to ring in the new year with our little cutie.

We had told Dylan that on New Years, when we visited Mikah (Alexa's one year old baby), Dylan would have to give Mikah his pacifiers because only babies needed pacifiers. Dylan stayed up until 12:15 on New Years Eve, then fell asleep with his pacifier. The next morning (at around 10am) he woke up and announced that he was giving his pacifier (his "te-te" in Spanish) to Mikah. Then he walked downstairs and put the pacifier in Mikah's mouth as soon as he saw him. Since then, he has not used it, or even asked for it. He lets people know that he's a "little big boy" and doesn't need a "te-te"...Mikah has it because he's a baby. We're definitely hoping that potty training is as easy as this was! That will be our next big transition, probably in the Spring.

Hope everyone had nice holidays and has a happy and healthy 2011!

fun winter weekend

Keith and I were able to take a day off together last Friday and we took Dylan to New York City for some Christmas-y fun. We took the train into Penn Station, which made him happy, considering his love for all things "choo-choo" Then, we took Dylan to each of our offices so he could meet everyone and have a warm lunch inside. We checked out the train store and walked through Bryant Park. We saw a kind of creepy Elmo and cookie monster and took pictures with them on the street. Then we went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center. By that point, Dylan was exhausted and fell asleep in his stroller, allowing me and Keith to enjoy some burgers & fries at our favorite diner near Carnegie Hall. After that nap/lunch break, we went to FAO Schwartz and Dylan picked out one toy for himself (a train, of course) and then we headed home. We took a taxi back to Penn Station which also seemed to be exciting for Dylan who repeated many, many times that we were in a "taxi-car."

The following day, the whole Mason family attended mass in honor of Keith's dad. After mass, we went out to dinner together at Charlie Brown's. Dylan always enjoys spending times with his cousins, who he also calls "my friends!" It was nice to have the family together for a little bit.

The day after that we had Chloe's Chef party, and as you can see from the picture, it involved actual cooking. Dylan made stromboli and a gingerbread cookie, though he was probably the only child concerned about getting his hands dirty. We'll have to work on that! We also took last weekend to decorate the house and put up the tree. We're officially ready for Christmas now!

Very Thankful

Just wanted to post a quick note as the holiday season gets under way. Dylan has had some fun visits from friends who have visited us from the west coast like Miles (and Nate and Meg) and Emiliana (and Todd and Amanda). He has gotten to to birthday parties like Franco's and Mikah's and is looking forward to Chloe's cooking party next weekend. He got to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade with his daddy and his grandma and he's been bundling up with his Abu in the mornings now that's it's so cold and I've been having early morning court hearings way too often.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are, as always, so grateful for everything we have, most of all each other. Though there are loved ones who are missed, we are surrounded by friends and family and you can't ask for too much more than that. And though we are really busy and sometimes tired, we are always happy and thankful for the life we have together. Plus, Keith is never too tired for a kitchen dance-party and Dylan takes after his daddy, which makes for some fun times. Above is a picture from Thanksgiving, our family with our good friends the Martinez family.

Now, on to Christmas decorating and making plans for New Years!

Halloween, raaaar!

So, this Halloween Dylan ended up being a Dragon. At first, we had actually gone to the mall with him and he picked out a giraffe costume for himself from Old Navy. After a couple of weeks of asking him if he was excited to be a giraffe for Halloween, and him responding, "NO!....my want to be a dragon, raaar!" we finally gave in and exchanged the giraffe costume for a dragon costume. After Keith and I spent a very fun weekend seeing Phish on Friday and Saturday in Atlantic City and Dylan having fun with his Grandma at the beach, we headed back home to Cranford and went to Drew and Mindy's "Hallerween" party for a while where Dylan was surrounded by many cute, costumed kids. As it was getting dark, we headed back home and trick-or-treated around our neighborhood. It was Dylan's first time trick-or-treating and he caught on pretty well, asking after each house"one more house???"

After collecting all his candy, our little munchkin laid it all out on the floor so he could look at it, organize it, and pick a couple of pieces to eat. It turns out he really likes candy.

Other cute little things: as he picks up better pronunciation and more and more words each day, Dylan is now able to have full conversations with us. And he has really funny comments -- like today when we had to get up early because I had to be in court in New York. First he was very confused as to why were up while it was still "night out?!" And then I told him I had to go to work and take him to his Abu's house, but since we were up at the same time as Daddy, we were going to drive Daddy to the bus stop. He answered: "that's a great idea!"

We always get to see his little brain working in really cute ways...like, since he knows it sometimes only rains a little...he calls the opposite, storms, "big rain." And since he knows he's sometimes just a little tired, when he's really tired, he says he's BIG TIRED.

Yesterday, when he was driving in the car with Keith, Keith asked him if he loved the song that was playing on the radio and Dylan answered: "NO, my no love that song, my love you!"

Does it even get any cuter than that?!

"you make me happy"

Just wanted to post a couple quick stories before I forget.
We had a lovely labor day weekend even though the three of us were all a little sick with colds.

On Friday night, we had a little dance party at home. I taped a couple of the songs and posted one below. Sometimes Dylan asks for dance parties, sometimes it's Keith that requests them, but the two of them always have fun and usually talk me into putting my book down and joining them.


I spent a lot of the weekend reading and studying and as you can see from this picture, Dylan helped me get through some of my more difficult and theoretical books. He looked through this book closely and then closed it and said "the end." and moved on to stealing my nose and telling me he was going to put it in his pocket until I asked him PLEASE to return it to my face. very cute.

After grilling at home on Sunday, we went to a BBQ at my aunt and uncle's on Monday and the whole family was there plus lots of family friends. Dylan debuted his new joke: "Guess What?" "...chicken butt!" (except in the cutest toddler voice imaginable). He also stole lots of noses and tried to do some knock-knock jokes except that he's still answering his own knocks, and sometimes just telling people that it's "Dylan" when they say "who's there."

On Tuesday the 7th of September, I went to pick him up from my mom's and I walked in on his going to the potty for the first time. very exciting! but it still hasn't been repeated. baby steps, I guess.

Finally, yesterday while I was at class, he and Keith were having a little talk before bed-time and Dylan stopped in the middle of the conversation to say "Daddy, you make me happy." When Keith told me that story, I just got filled up with joy. What can be better than hearing that? Must have been such a sweet moment. This morning when I dropped him off and was having breakfast with my mom, I told her the story and Dylan was next to me listening to us talking. After I finished he said, "you too, mommy. you make me happy, too." Just when I thought that story couldn't have gotten better...it did. Seeing my baby growing up and talking more and more is really nice and fulfilling. And watching him string so many words together to say a complete sentence is always fun, but having his complete thoughts and sentences be such kind and thoughtful ones makes me feel overjoyed. In some way or another, he makes us happy like that everyday.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmiSHwrLDTE

This way beach, that way ice cream.

This year's Mason family Jersey Shore trip was extra special...because we got to see Snooki. Just kidding. Though we did see Snooki, but that wasn't the special part. Dylan had so much fun hanging with his cousins all week. There were times he would look at them all and say, "my cousins!" We spent our mornings at the beach where the water was just beautiful most of the week. Dylan took his naps after lunch and by the time he woke up, his cousins would be back at the house, ready to play. They taught him how to play football (sort of)...he does love the hiking part but kind of lingers in a crouched position looking down for a while before throwing the ball forward. Emily gave him some soccer advice. They all played baseball and nerf bowling with him. He watched cartoons with Logan. He had a blast with each one of his cousins and they were so good to him, always letting him play with them and taking care of him, too. There were times they would be playing their own games, and Dylan would come in and demand attention and they just adjusted their game to include him...it was so sweet.

Though Dylan was very fearful of the water all week, and didn't really like the feel of sand at the beginning, or the look of the birds on the beach...he apparently turned into a fearless child at the boardwalk. Keith took him to the games at Seaside and Dylan went on lots of rides with his older cousins that mommy would not have approved of if she had been there. Luckily for Dylan, I was away for one night (seeing a Phish show) and the daredevil side of our child was allowed to shine, under the supervision of his older cousins who took good care of him on the rides, I hear. I wish I had been there.

Finally, the most consistent part of the trip was our nightly ice-cream walks. Every night, a while after eating dinner, we all took a walk to get ice cream together. Every night, Dylan ordered for himself. Some nights, "Nilla" (vanilla), other nights "Nilla and cookies." From our beach house, there were only two directions, according to Dylan: this way beach, that way ice cream. you'd think that's just a toddler's simple perspective, but for most of that week I think we all felt that way which was really nice.