Dylan's new best bud

We all new that cousins were special. And when my sis Lara and I had little girls 3 months apart, we thought it was pretty cool. But no one knew how fast they'd become buddies! Dylan and I just spent 4 days down in Champaign with my parents and Lara and Anya. It was so fun to watch the two little girls start to actually semi-play together! We had to do a little mediating, but mostly it was just good fun. We didn't realize Anya liked Dylan so much, until we were leaving. They all came outside to see us pull out of the driveway (Anya has a need recently to see exactly where people are going), and Anya started crying as we were leaving. She totally got it, and was SO sad! It was the most touching thing. And then when they went inside, I later learned she was still crying pretty hard and they asked her, Do you want Grandma? "NO!" Then, Do you want Grandpa? "NO!" And, Do you want Mommy? "NO!" Last, Do you want Dylan? "YES!"

Unbelievable. They are little humans!

Ooh hee haw humph

This is the sound you hear from Dylan when you ask her a question she wants to respond "YES" to. It's an adorable sound in person, and I wish I could put a sound clip here to show you just how cute it is. But combine the ooh hee haw humph with an ear to ear grin and a little jump of joy, and you can really picture it, no? A few questions she will respond this way to:

"Do you want to eat _____?" (Yes, she will seriously eat anything at any time.)
"Do you want to swing?"
"Do you want to take a nap?" (Only when she's really tired will ooh hee haw humph be the response here, but it just happened 2 minutes ago, so I'm including it.)
"Do you want to listen to music?" (which usually means to her...we're going to dance!)
"Do you want to watch Signing Time?" (the only tv she is allowed to watch, it teaches her some american sign language through songs and such...)
"Do you want to take a bath?"

Here are a couple of pics of her lastest favorite things to get the "ooh hee haw hump" response...

Dylan loves to eat anything she can hold herself and take bites...hard to do with only 1/2 of a tooth, but she tries.

Daddy and Dylan have a blast together at bathtime. Can you tell?

Zoo friends

one of the many full-faced smiles we saw that day.

I don't know how it happened. I don't really like zoos. In fact, I've always thought going to look at animals in cages was pretty boring. But we checked out the Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo when we were in The Wayne for my cousin's wedding and I don't know if it was Dylan's enthusiasm (and that is putting it mildly) or the fact my whole family was there having a blast together, but I loved that zoo! It was incredibly fun and one of my favorite days in a long time. Dylan is an animal lover at heart and she couldn't get enough of the experience. We went on a safari ride where we saw giraffes, zebras, gazelles, an ostrich, and wildabeest! It was really, really cool, and I totally remembered riding in those zebra-striped safari cars as a little kid when our Aunt Jeanie would take me, Lara and my cousins Claire and Jonathan to this zoo. The cars were the same...just a lot smaller than I remembered! And I remember thinking the steering wheel actually controlled the car...such innocence.

Miracles do happen!

I'm proud to report that Dylan Simone Rhodes has a tooth poking through her bottom gums. Now, to most of you, this seems completely normal and nothing to boast about. In case you forgot, Dylan is 14 months old and toothless (until yesterday!). Jason felt it first with his hand and even though she wouldn't really let us see it (we tried repeatedly to get her to do her "fake yawn" so we could peek), we did catch a glimpse of the smallest bit coming through. SO EXCITING! All my worries of Dylan being in the Guiness Book for youngest human with dentures are now a fleeting memory. Can we get a round of applause around here? Yay Dylan!

Memorial Day weekend

Dylan makes her big debut in the new pink Cubs outfit.

Daddy and Dylan enjoy some outdoor fun at the Memorial Day BBQ.

Rachel Smith sent me some photos from Memorial Day weekend. Dylan went to her second Cubs game on Memorial Day and she was all decked out in cubby PINK! She was a trooper even though it was really hot. Luckily we had 7 people there together to pass her back and forth down the aisle when she got bored with one of us. Lately Dylan seems to tire of things rather quickly, minus 2 notable exceptions: swings and crayons. Dylan and I have been to park a twice in the last couple of days, and I apparently need to go more often. She enjoys swinging more than just about anything. She literally screams out into tears when you take her out of the swing. And when you ask her, do you want to get out? She shakes her head violently back and forth - NO NO NO!!! It's hysterical. She seems so melancholy in there sometimes, she doesn't seem to be having fun after awhile, but I guess it's just her Zen moment, and how dare I interrupt that...