Fall Fun!

Two more months have passed and we are now planning Dylan's 1st Birthday! He will turn ONE this Sunday, November 23rd. Ryleigh has offered several suggestions for a birthday theme (i.e., Spiderman, Diego, and more recently, race cars) but I'm still undecided. We did monkeys for Ryleigh because she was born in the "Year of the Monkey." Dylan was born during the "Year of the Pig," and for some reason, pigs just don't seem as enduring.

Dylan is now crawling and pulling himself up to his feet. He mastered both in the same week. At first, he didn't take full advantage of his new-found mobility. He wouldn't venture too far from the spot where he was placed. Things have changed, though, and he now motors from room to room and is even trying out the stairs! Just yesterday I found him with his knees on the second step from the floor and his hands and elbows on the third step. He was trying to retrieve a favorite toy...something I believe he must have tossed up the stairs himself.

It's been fun to see how intensely he engages in play. Ryleigh rarely entertained herself for more than 15 minutes, and typically would only play with the toys that were in her immediate surrounding. She never searched the toy box for toys she couldn't see. Dylan is the opposite. He leaves nothing unturned! In fact, it seems that he already has a disaster ritual...pulling out every drawer and emptying everything he can reach in Ryleigh's play kitchen in a very methodical way. We laugh as we watch him do the same thing, in the same order, nearly every time he starts to play in the living room. I guess he likes to see all of the toys at once! And one of his favorites (the one he was trying to retrieve on the stairs) is a plastic ear of corn. I'm not quite sure what the attraction is, but he'll carry that thing around with him for the longest time.

Dylan cut his first tooth this week! His top right tooth. And it's a big one! The front left tooth also looks as if it's going to make its grand entrance sometime soon. Dylan also got his first haircut a couple weeks ago. He's becoming such a big boy!

He is still a ham and is so easily amused. He can go from a full cry to giggling in a matter of seconds. He loves to laugh! And he has also started trying his hand at being the entertainer. He will make noises, expecting Ryleigh to mimic him. While we were all eating dinner last week, he started making his noises and threw in a few cute facial expressions (blinking his eyes). When we laughed, he started laughing and continued on with his charade. It was the cutest thing.

Below are a few photos taken this fall...

(view of northern Michigan; Lake Bellaire)