Sesame Street... Drouet-Style!

A scene from our household tonight:

Kevin came home this evening after a stressful day at the office, fixed himself a 3-olive vodka martini, and sat down on the sofa to unwind. Within moments Dylan was at his side, pointing at his drink and yelling, "Ah-ah-ah-ah," which is Dylanspeak for "I want that!" In reality what Dylan wanted was the cocktail spear holding the olives, which he mistakenly thought was a straw. There's nothing more enticing than drinking through a straw in Dylanworld.

At any rate, Dylan was clearly not going to get a vodka martini, but no amount of, "That's daddy's," and "No, not for Dylan," was having any effect on our very determined and vocal toddler. Then Kevin suddenly realized that he was sitting under a painting in our living room of three martini glasses done by a local artist. So he seized on the opportunity to distract and educate Dylan. He held his glass up next to the painting and said, "Look Dylan, they are all the same. One martini glass. Two martini glasses. Three martini glasses. Four martini glasses. Look Dylan, four martini glasses." Yup, martini glass math. That's how we roll.

10 Things to Know (and Love) About Dylan

I just couldn't post a tribute to Logan without posting one for Dylan as well. Fair is fair after all!

1) Dylan has a green chenille blanket that he looooves. Green Blanket (yup, we got very creative in naming his lovey) is in his crib for every "night-night" and every nap. Lately Green Blanket has even started making very Linus-esque appearances outside of the crib as well, as can be seen here.

2) He loves the outside. Any outside. Whether it's our front yard or the playground, it's all exciting to Dylan. He brings me his shoes at least three times a day and then points at the door to go outside.

3) Water is like crack to Dylan. He just can't resist it. The bath, the pool, a puddle, or the always-accessible dog water dish are all targets. Two days ago I found him standing with both feet in the water dish, his pajama bottoms soaked. I would've taken a picture, but time-out was callin' his name. Yesterday I caught him doing an experiment on whether daddy's calculator could float. (For the record, it does not!)

4) Dylan is the only kid I know that will put himself down for naps and bedtime. If he's sleepy and you ask him if he's ready for "night-night" he nods very solemnly, then turns around and races to his crib. He'll actually try to climb up and into it if you're lagging too far behind him.

5) Dylan's favorite foods are bananas and Gram's gumbo. Yup, he's a Louisiana boy all right! For the record, the bananas must be eaten straight from the peel. He turns his nose up at them in any other form except baby food. (And yup, he still likes baby food.)

6) Dylan loves, loves, loves his doggie. Poor Nola, our black lab, is an 80-pound living toddler playground as far as Dylan is concerned. Luckily she's the sweetest dog in the world and not only tolerates him climbing on her, trying to ride her, and pulling her tail, but actually plays with him very nicely.

7) He loves anything with wheels. We have inside ride-em toys and outside ride-em toys. We have push toys galore, including a very LOUD lawnmower toy that I don't have the heart to take away and hide from him. (Word to the wise, don't ever buy the Laugh and Learn Lawnmower for a toddler unless you really don't like his parents.) And we have dozens of toy trucks, toy cars, and toy trains. Dylan loves them all. They go flying across our wood floors and coffee table to the exuberant toddler tune of, "vroom VROOM!"

8) Dylan still likes to snuggle... on his terms of course. First thing in the morning and last thing at night are Dylan's cuddle times. He likes the lie back in my arms while he drinks a sippy cup of milk. Isn't that the life? The rest of the day though... forget it! Ask Dylan for a hug or kiss and chances are about 99% that he'll gleefully shake his head "no" at you.

9) Speaking of "no," it's recently been added to Dylan's vocabularly along with "up," "oh!," and "hot." His vocabularly is really starting to expand. But "bye-bye" is still is his favorite. Dylan waves and screams "bye-bye" whenever a truck drives by, a plane flies overhead, we leave a store or restaurant, someone leaves our house, or Dylan thinks someone should leave our house.

10) Dylan loves to clean. He's not very good at it yet, but I have high hopes for it since I hate to clean. He thinks the broom and feather duster at out house are the greatest toys ever. (Aren't we glad we spent money on all the "real" toys littering his bedroom floor.) He wiggles through the cat door in our kitchen into our utility room to get them and then cries when he can't get them back through the cat door with him. When they are out and accessible in the house he drags them around everywhere and won't give them up without a fight.

Tough Little Boys

Just a quickie post... I had a session this morning with my old friend Jack and his mama and mawmaw (n'awlins speak for grandma) at City Park. I haven't processed the images yet, but as I was downloading the card, this one caught my eye:

It just soooooo says little boy to me... bare feet and dirt smudges, that's what little boys are made of. :)

Sneak Peek: Iris

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of photographing little miss Iris for the second time. Last time I took pictures of Iris she wasn't even walking yet. Now she's running! We had a blast walking around the French Quarter and investigating all it has to offer. So without further ado, here's Iris:

Catching Up: Logan & Lulu

So, Babystyle makes a huge stuffed lamb they call Lulu. I've coveted Lulu for a long time. Why? Because the nursery at our house is done in shades of green and decorated with lambs and chicks and bunnies. Lulu goes perfectly! BUT Lulu normally costs about $80. And there's no way Kevin would agree to pay $80 for a huge stuffed lamb. But several months ago a friend of mine mentioned that the huge stuffed animals at Babystyle were on sale. Woohoo! Within minutes there was a big fluffy Lulu on its way to New Orleans, lol. And the best part... Lulu makes a great photo prop!

I have to say, the "Lulu" pictures are some of my favorites of Logan so far. So, I've decided to order a storyboard from them. Below is the mock-up for my 15"x30" storyboard. I'll post more pics when it comes in!

Let Sleeping Boys Lie...

In honor of Logan's newfound ability to sleep through the night, I thought I'd post a couple pics of my boys sleeping. Check out Dylan's super-comfy sleeping position, lol.


Logan...

And Dylan...

My little Linus

Dylan has a green chenille blanket that friends of ours gave us when he was born. The green blanket has been in Dylan's crib with him at night every night since he was old enough to have a blanket in there with him. He's always loved that blanket. He tucks it up next to his cheek at nap time, smiles, and goes right to sleep. (Most of the time anyway!) But lately he wants his green blanket with him ALL DAY LONG. Who knew a blanket could be so much fun??

Pinch me...

I'm afraid to say it and possibly jinx myself, but I think Logan is sleeping through the night! Woohoo! He's slept through pretty much every night for the past week. Mind you, it's preceded by at least two hours of hellish fussiness, but then around 11:30 pm he conks out. This morning he slept until 8 am! (Of course Dylan was up at 7 am as usual. Oh well.) Here are few pictures of my little "angel." I think he was around 2 weeks old for these.

Catching Up: More Logan Newborn Pictures

I'm trying to process Logan's newborn pictures as time allows so you may see several of these "catch-up" posts over the next few weeks. But I'm so glad I took these pictures - even it takes me forever to go through them all. After all, he'll never be this little and squishy again! In fact, he looks so different already... just check out the "One Month Old" post below.

One Month Old...

Okay, so I'm a few days behind - technically Logan turned one month old last Thursday. Give a busy mom a break. ;) The point is that my scrawny, little, alien-looking, chicken-armed and legged baby suddenly looks like a BABY. I mean a real baby. You know, the cute ones with big, open eyes that actually focus. And round pudgy cheeks. And sweet little rolls of fat that are only cute on babies - much as I wish they were cute on adults as well! Here's the proof:

In all his pudgilicious glory...

His eyes open... they really open! LOL

Sweet baby arm rolls

And sweet baby piggie toes