A Walk in the Park

Toddler survival technique 101:  head to the park.

After nap today, Dylan discovered his Thomas pajamas in a pile of clean laundry.  I tried to hide it under other stuff, but forgot as I was folding.  That's it - regular clothes off ("Dat pans dirty, mommy.  Wash dat pans.") and pajamas on.  Because it was a cold day, pajamas were just too thin to go outside in, but there was no convincing him otherwise.  So, I outfitted him with legwarmers and his winter jacket and we grabbed the tricycle and made for the park.

Not long into the trip, Dylan decided he was better off running from the T-Rexes that were chasing us.  He didn't abandon his helmet right away, and ran like a crazy man all the way to the slides.

Relaxing in the tunnel

Help me, mommy

He was really wanting me to play on the structure with him, but with my wrist still hurting, I wasn't really into it.  We mostly played in the tunnel.  I got out a piece of chocolate to fuel us both:

Chocolate Face

The way home took oodles longer.  We stopped for every little diversion, including a patch of enterprising dandelions:

sniff, sniff

he ate a few seeds...

pulling of the heads

puffs everywhere

After the flowers, the only thing that would keep Dylan moving is to trade off roaring at each other.  He'd roar at me and I'd run; then we traded off.

We finished our park experience with a Dylan rendition of the alphabet song.  He can do the whole thing through, but he doesn't hit all the letters.  His favorite part is the "yeah" at the end, complete with clapping.  He bounced up and down and sang along. 

Freedom in $5

I felt so lazy tonight.  The idea of reheating leftover just felt like too much to handle.  So, I opted for a trip to the mall and thought I might drop some quarters in the kiddie rides. 

Dylan decided the mall fit his schedule, too, and we swung in the parking lot.  The whole way there, he was ROARing at me, and I pretended to be scared, but only at the red lights.  He'd wait until I said, "Ok, I'm stopped, now; you can scare me." and then erupt into his roar so that I could scream and jump.  I tried to catch a photo in the parking lot, but he was already so over that game.  Here he is laughing at me for even trying to capture it on film:

They have these car stroller shopping cart things, and you can rent them for $5.  That may not sound like much, but to me that $5 better buy some serious ease of mall time, you know?

It was so very very worth it.  Dylan loved it so much that I was even able to finish my Food Court meal in peace.  He wanted to be buckled and he wanted to be pushed around.  Fabulous!



Are you done, yet?



All buckled

We also took a quick stop over to the play area, which really was pretty lame.  Dylan wanted to play the "help--save me" game on the large dragonfly.  Since I was the only parent participating, I attracted quite a crowd of youngsters looking to be rescued as well.  It really sucks that I feel nervous and scared about that--like some parent could get all pissed at me for playing with their kid, especially if the kid gets too affectionate.  But, nobody minded and the other parents stayed busy on their phones or just watched.  I got bored pretty quickly and we headed over to the kiddie rides.

the dragonfly

my little mister

And, with my last $3.00, Dylan rode the tractor and trolley.

wicked grin

Hi, Manny!

Another trip around the mall (nice walk, mommy!) and we went home.  Another great evening - domestic duties successfully avoided.

Play-Doh

I just wanted to share a little of our Play-Doh fun.  I'm getting pretty good at moulding the stuff into whatever Dylan wants.  These are old.  I made 5 elephants the morning of the settlement conference that Ivan missed as a way to get Dylan out the door (every morning has its own challenge).  When Ivan missed it, I thought to myself, "How hard can it be?  I had to get up, get myself ready, make a morning snack, get Dylan dressed, and mould 5 elephants out of Play-Doh before I could get out the door this morning.  What did you need to do?"  Ack - bygones.  Get over it.

Here they are:

BounceU

Last night, Dylan and I went out with the single parents group to the BounceU.  What a blast!  I partied like a crazy toddler and, well, so did Dylan.  I didn't have my camera (too much fun to be had), and capturing anything on my phone was impossible.  Here is the blur that is Dylan bouncing his little buns off:

bouncing, bouncing

little monster

One of the other parents had a better camera and caught a shot of two of us in action:

And, this is me taking on Brian for a jousting match that was called off on account of Dylan wanting to wear the helmet.

BounceU is a "yes" place.  Parents can participate, little ones can participate.  Everything is "yes" and I loved it.  Dylan is so brave - he wanted to get on, under, and over all the play areas.  We ran until we were red-faced and sweaty (ok, maybe that was just me...).  We dashed, hands waving above our heads from one play area to another.  Everyone was so happy and the sounds of children (and parents) screaming, squealing, and giggling reverberated off the walls in time to the beat of the BounceU tunes.  So cool; I can't wait to go again!

The group split pizza after, and BounceU had a room for us to enjoy it all.

This is the last picture I got on my camera, my little prince:

Birthday Party

Two is a tough one.  I don't have many friends, and Dylan doesn't really have any. 

So - we decided that to accommodate everyone's schedule, we'd have the party at 9:30 on Sunday morning.  Nothing like starting your day out with chocolate cake and ice cream for breakfast!

Actually, it worked out perfectly.  Madori and Alma made it here no problem, Jim got to finish watching Motocross, and Meredith was able to get some cake before heading to bed (she is a nurse and works nights at the trauma unit).

Also, each person that came brought a gift and Dylan opened them one by one, giving each a great amount of attention and appreciation.  No overload, nothing discarded as unattractive. 

His dad sent a "smart bike".  I set it up the night before (ugh, what a pain that was--and thanks to Robin for the help!), but couldn't turn it on.  I re-read the instructions, and I guess it needs 4 D batteries.  Ugh again.  But, Dylan loved it, and had a great time "fixing" it since I'd left my screwdriver set out on the table and he spotted it.

Madori and Alma came first to the party, giving Dylan the opportunity to say hi and open their gift to him.

Then, Robin and the girls came in and Dylan opened their gift with a little help from Becca.

ouch - bit my finger

love my T-Rex

Last, Meredith and Jon came and trumped everyone with a surprise favorite - Cookie Monster Play-Doh set.

Dylan was "too busy, mommy" to be interested in happy cake, which gave us a chance to get some real food in the girls and for Jim to finish watching Motocross.  We finally put the "cookies" away and brought Cookie Monster over to the cake - and then Dylan was ready for happy cake.

He "blew out" the candle himself - or at least blew at it. 

blowing the candle

Mommy-n-Dylan





happy

cake

And, we all had a great time.  Done by 11:00, with time for a cuddle and fun with mommy before a nap.

Good Morning

Sometimes things just run perfectly.  Ok, a lot of times, but it comes in phases.  This morning was brilliant!

I woke up to Dylan talking to himself over the video feed.  He finally asked for me, and I rolled into his room at 7:15 or so.  We played with his dinosaurs for a bit and then went out to watch Wonder Pets.  We conquered a lack of goldfish, but Dylan was upset that we couldn't go shopping right away to get more.  Strawberries made the difference.

Dylan didn't want his diaper changed, but we got past it without a meltdown and he even put on a new shirt without making a fuss.  He even took his walking sticks out of the car, but agreed to give them back to me once he reached Ms. Ladan's.  And, he actually did hand them right over to me and gave me a big kiss before running off with Emily.

It was a great morning!

Two

Dylan's birthday was Friday.  It was perfect and horrible for me all at the same time.  Dylan slept in, giving me time to get up and get ready for court.  So, I woke him by walking in and singing "Happy Birthday."  He was so excited!  We went to Starbucks for happy pumpkin cake (which we got for free!) and he was off to Ms. Ladan's.  She made cupcakes for the kids and gave Dylan a little gift when we went home.

When I picked Dylan up, we went to Fudruckers for a burger.  He is such a big boy!  He picked out his toppings and chose a table for us.  (near the car racing game so that he could run over and play a couple rounds of "Game Over" between bites)

I also sunk $1.50 into the little mechanical bus, and he had a blast riding on it.  Good spirits all around. 

He opened a couple little gifts at the end of the evening, and I cut out three T-Rex for the bath, which he loved.

The court part of my day was tough.  The court messed up and didn't get us on the schedule.  Ivan was hopping mad, and gave me his "pre-trial statement" that he's supposed to have served on me like ages ago.  In it, he said some very horrible things about me, my family, and my friends.  I wasn't so hurt on Friday, but over the weekend, it's sunk in how entitled he feels and how much he needs to look down on me and all things related to me in order to feel ok about his own life.  I remember this feeling - it's how I felt when we were married.  He'd do nothing about anything until I brought it up and then he'd erupt with the insults.  It's so hard to set that hurt aside and just think about the parenting side of things.  Dylan loves his dad.  Ivan loves Dylan.  I love Dylan.  It's like pre-algebra.

Sledding!

A while back, I bought a sledding helmet for Dylan with high hopes of snowy hills.  It's harder than I thought to get out of Sacramento and into the snow, but we finally accomplished a snow day on Saturday.

Dylan is such a dare-devil!  He loved it...every moment of it.  He loved wearing his mittens, putting on his boots, slipping over the icy snow, wearing the helmet, and especially wizzing over the frozen earth.

We went to a snow park off exit 165 up highway 50.  $10 for the parking and $18 for 3 hours of tubing.  First, we went to the free sledding area, but it was so much work to drag Dylan and a sled up that hill every time.  (In fact, I sprained my wrist doing it.)  He giggled with glee when I just pushed the sled from one area to another.  Next time, I'm finding a way to attach a rope to that sled!

Full gear



The hill master





















So, I swallowed the "no money" argument and got us tickets to the tubing hill that has a little magic carpet that moves up the hill.  Way easier!

The first hurdle to overcome for tubing was my own fear.  They don't allow you to hold your kid on your lap.  After some though, I realized that it really is safer for Dylan.  There are zero bumps on the hill and the tube is really deep.  Ok, next we had to convince Dylan that he needs to wear the pink bracelet, not a blue one.  After some convincing, he decided that pink is the "happy birthday" color and special.  The ladies behind the counter helped us with our argument, and he strolled out of the chalet happy as can be about his special happy birthday pink bracelet.  Much better than mommy's lousy blue one!

That was it; Dylan cooperated with every single part of the next 50 minutes (all that was left in the morning session by the time we bought our passes).  He stood only on the black carpet and didn't touch the white sides.  He climbed happily into his own tube and squealed all the way down, shouting, "Again!" at the bottom.  It was magic.

Dylan still has his pink bracelet on.  He won't let me take it off.