Dyleva

24 April 2017

Spring Fever

Busy. Busy. Busy. I like to keep the ninos busy.

Easter Saturday: How many Polish men does it take to evaluate a hole?

Polish Easter at my Dad's. The neighbor has horses!

Easter Sunday!

Come on? It's not Christmas!

Tia Jenna. Always good for a story.

Post Easter party at Jeff's friend's house.

Facepainting

1,200 eggs hidden

jungle gym

trampoline

Major backyard hill that ROCKED!

https://plus.google.com/113530525965696642919/posts/Y2EvgkYjDLV

Meanwhile, Dyl brought this home for Earth Day. Seriously? That's my little tree hugger.

Eva Magnolia

In bloom.

11 April 2017

Spring break! I was so excited to have a week free, to enjoy with my ninos at my leisure. No airplanes. No suitcases. No packing.

I encouraged Dyleva to choose one thing, that they REALLY wanted to do over break. Eva chose a playdate. Dylan chose to jump.

But I chose....to climb the walls.

I had wanted to take Dyleva "rock climbing" for over a year. Well, we finally went.

We walk in. Dude asks, "Is this your first time?" I looked at Dyleva, and replied, "Yes. And I have incredibly low expectations."

But they surprised me.

They did awesome.

Clearly, they didn't climb all the walls, but they did amazing!

No frustration. No temper tanturms.

My little monkeys.

After a week together, we were climbing the walls.

26 March 2017

Skinks and Skaters

What a weekend we had! Our Saturday started off with the best birthday party ever!

Dyleva's cousin Sammy was turning 4. They had Nickel City Reptiles come to their house. Jeff, the owner was most entertaining, for both children and adults. He was fun and knowledgeable and had a ton of really cool animals. https://plus.google.com/113530525965696642919/posts/dVuCpeLMa5R

He began with an African millipede. That was enough to make me squirm.

Waiting in anxious anticipation!

Jeff moved on to a plethora of fascinating creatures: An African bushbaby, a gecko, a two-headed skink, a capuchin monkey, a lynx and......a 32 foot boa constrictor.

Amazing.

Dylan, lovingly referred to as Chachi throughout the show, carried the bulk of the boa. Cracking up the entire time.

Jeff (Dad, Jeff) was not laughing.

^^^^^^^^^^^

The next day, we went to support our cousin Bryan in SABAH. We go every year, and look forward to it. Dyleva loves seeing their cousins, skating down on the Sabre's ice.

We had fun watching the skaters and dancing to the music!

Another favorite thing Dyleva does it run around the stadium, in a complete circle. The passer-byes love it.

17 March 2017

March Madness

It has definitely been a wild March!

Last week Dyleva got two snow days! We didn't go anywhere. I created centers for them, so it would keep them busy, and they would not annoy each other.

One of the centers was a crafty scrapbooking center. Well, Eva found her calling. We had done it before, and she never showed much interest. Something inspired her this time, because she has been working on a scrapbook every spare moment.

Dylan also has had tunnel vision. He has been obsessed with gymnastics of late. Which is really maddening because he believes himself to be invincible. Every time I hear, "Mommy look!" my heart stops and I hold my breath. Back flips, cartwheels, handstands- he is so excited about throwing his little body in the air and hopefully landing safely.

And yet today we had more madness.

The Leprechaun.

This is the third year. Eva's over it. I'm kind of over it. Jeff's over it.

Dylan was determined to catch the leprechaun. Yesterday, he spoke with such enthusiasm and eagerness. It was hard to say no. So we built a trap again this year.

Dylan actually did all the work. All I did was cut the hole. He designed a trap out of a box. Inside the box, he glued chocolate coins. Then he emptied a bottle of glue on the floor of the trap. We carved out a one-way flap. Done.

Well, it must have worked because we caught the little bastard. Unfortunately though, he managed to escape by clawing his way out of the box.

Not after of course he trashed the house, and painted Marley again this year. Not fair, right Mimi?

10 March 2017

Dylanisms V

Dylan had a boo-boo, that I needed to put medicine on. I accidentally got some on his shirt.

Dylan said, "It's okay Mommy, I never bite my shirt."

******
So Dylan had on his bathrobe, and was struggling to put it on. I asked, "Dyl, can I help you?"
"No Mommy," he replied. "I'm a good knotter."

&&&&&

The funniest thing about Dylan these days is his irrationality. I don't always remember the context; but more that the conversation was ridiculous. For example, I had asked Dyl to put on his shoes, as we were leaving. Something got lost in translation because he responded, " Mama, my legs are the things that touch the ground!!!" ok.

*****

Meanwhile, Dylan ran into the fence. Oh, don't be alarmed; it happens all the time. We console him by acknowledging the presence of the (wall, fence, door, curb, ex. hard surface). Then we give him an out. "You must have been running so fast that the wall didn't have time to move out of the way!!!"

Seriously, in this instance, it didn't work. He ran into the fence and freaked out. I brought him ice. Big mistake.

"Ice? No, I want cold ice! Why can't you bring me cold ice?"

Seriously? What would be warm ice?

&&&&&&&&&&

We were getting ready for bed one night and Dylan asked me. "Mommy, did you buy me, or make me?"

********

Tonight, we returned from a talent show at Dyleva's school. There were many acts, some had talent. But there was a LOT of gymnastics. Dylan was very excited. "Mommy, I feel pumped now to do gymnastics. I was a little jealous when I saw them."

*****

So Dyleva and I were looking at their baby books. I have them filled with beautiful fotos, data, and anecdotal notes. There was a section in Dylan's about his favorite toys. When he was a baby, apparently his favorite toys were his musical caterpillar, his giraffe, and his penis. He looked up at me and nonchalantly said, "It still is."

******
It's raining. Been raining. I finally heard the sum pump kick on. I ask Dylan, after an hour, " Hey Dyl, can you go downstairs and see if there is any water on the floor?"

"Mommy, what do I do if there is?" he asks.

"Yell, '!Ay carumba!'"

Two minutes later, he comes back up and yells, "No ay carumba!"

*****

We come out of the doctor's office, and there is an Indian lady, on a bench, speaking on the phone in Hindi. We get in the car, a little later, Dylan says, "Hey Mommy, did you hear that woman speaking Spanish on the phone?"

"Yes Dyl," I answered, " But honey I don't think it was Spanish. That woman was from India..." I explained.

He thought for a minute. "Wow. She came a long way."

25 February 2017

PR. Take two

We went back to Puerto Rico for break.

I kept waiting for the ball to drop; everyone was healthy, there were no natural disasters...it was perfect.

Of course there were some bumps in the road. Jeff's mom was admitted to the hospital the day we left, I did a faceplant in the middle of the street,.....but other than that, one would say it went swimmingly.

We began with the first night in San Juan. Dyleva swam and had some major pillow fights.

Then the next day we travelled to Isla Culebra. We arrived by mini plane. I am still counting my blessings that we landed alive. They weighed each one of us, and our luggage before we got on. When we were ready to leave, all eight passengers-including the captain, were standing on the tarmac. The "agent" kept looking at the plane, and the crowd, and at the little list of weight and balances in his hand. Dylan got placed next to a stranger and entered from the left side of the plane.

Then we went to the right side of the plane. Eva entered with another stranger. Then Jeff and I. Then capitan and another passenger. It was beautiful. A 12 minute frightenly beautiful flight.

Our place was on the beach. Our place was just okay, but the beach was gorgeous. We spent four days there.

Tostones, sunburn, uno, undertow, solitaire, it was a beautiful island to explore.