The Big Number 1 Is Coming!!!

Dylan, August 30, 2008.

Just to let all you party animals know - Dylan's first birthday (a year...? Already?!?) is coming on September 12th, and the celebration will be on the 14th. (Many thanks to Grandma Pat and Grandpa Lou for letting us use their  lovely home!) It will be a small-ish, immediate family and close friends quiet sort of affair, and an e-vite  will be coming shortly to you lucky few. So do like Dylan (as you can see, he's very serious about this!), grab your par-tay hats and get ready!

Found Gold

No witty comments here, just some photos I found on one of my cards. These were taken just a couple three weeks ago, and then I forgot about them. Dylan is cruising big time, and he is clapping (just say "Yea, Dylan!" and the clapping starts!), and eating nearly nothing but big boy food: zucchini, kiwi, beans, cheese, etc...

Anyway, enjoy the boy in his Hawaiian shirt!

It's Been A Long Time Comin'

Jeez, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I posted. That will give you some idea as to just how crazy things have been these last few weeks. Vacation, rush back to Sac to set up the exhibition, do this and that, get ready for the return to school (less than 10 hours from now!)... So much has happened, and then due to the exhibition, we've not had a computer for the last two weeks.

OK, so enough of the explanations. Here is what you come to this site to see: photos of The Boy (and others, though that is of minor interest). Enjoy, and please note that the exhibition runs 2 more weeks, so it may be a bit of a drought before things return to normal.



It was early in the morning when we had to 'break' camp. We had found the perfect head warmer for Dylan - and good thing! It was chilly and foggy every morning when we were in Morro Bay. What a delight! Anyway, as we took a break from breaking camp, I snapped some photos of The Boy in his headgear. He is so much fun to photograph! (BTW, Jennifer was standing behind me, making The Boy laugh and grin - Mommy can be so funny!)

Dylan, Morro Bay State Park.                       July 2008

The next few photos are of The Boy with various support crew near him, all standing in front of the famous Morro Rock. We all enjoyed the camping trip, and Jennifer declared the little oceanside town her "newest favorite place!" Me, I've always had a lot of affection for the place and I think Dylan will fall right in line with his parents. My mother of course was delighted to have us in town for a few days. That's why everyone is smiling.

The photo below of Dylan and Jennifer is in nearby San Luis Obispo. This particular local attraction is both repulsive and compelling - all the stuff you see on the wall next to Dylan and Jennifer is chewing gum, arranged and stuck on the wall in perpetuity forever. It is a very narrow alley way, and Jennifer had no desire to stand any closer than she had to - as you can see, there is not enough room to get away from it. Bubble Gum Alley is the name of the place, in case you were wondering. Oh, and note Dylan's look - "Please get me out of this disgusting place!"






And this last photo is one of the three of us, in front of our most humble abode (thanks to Pat and Lou for lending it to us!) at Morro Bay State Park. As people from Sacramento, we enjoy the fact that in July we get to wear sweatshirts and warm clothing. We had a really good time, and I know we'll be doing more camping with Dylan (though maybe we'll get an air mattress for the next trip). Ah, camping photos - everyone always looks their best when they've been sleeping in a sleeping bag all night!

'Nuff Said...

Dylan, Sacramento. June, 2008

Dylan Reads!

So The Boy and I were sitting on the floor, when he decides he wants to read the children's classic, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? We certainly want him to be a literate child, one who loves to read, so we read to him daily and he always has books around him. He really seems to like being read to - he pays attention, interacts with the book (turning pages and the like), and really seems to enjoy the illustrations. And when he likes something, or wants to get a good look at it - why he just sticks his face right into it!

What's next? War and Peace? More likely Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Who Do You See?

Dylan Feeds Self - After a Fashion!

Certainly one of the biggest accomplishments for a baby is learning to feed him or herself. Once learned, the baby moves into toddler land and becomes more independent. That is great for baby and parent. Of course, there is a very steep learning curve involved here. And that means messy. Fun, and messy, too! Here's Dylan on one recent adventure in learning to feed himself. Note: He loves to talk while he eats too, and notice those two pearly whites in his mouth! More on the way!

Dylan Joseph Zárate, June 14, 2008, Sacramento, CA

Dylan and his beautiful Mommy, June 14, 2008, Sacramento, CA

Dylan and Mommy

Dylan and Jennifer, Sacramento, June 14, 2008

Here are Dylan and Mommy, together one recent afternoon.

Dylan had his nine month check up on Tuesday, the 17th. All is moving along nicely for the little guy. His latest stats are as follows:

Height:
30.5 inches (97th percentile)

Weight:
21 lbs. 7 0z. (64th percentile)

Head Circumference:
18.5 inches (90th percentile)

Of course, it's that last one that determines GENIUS, so we are pleased he's maintaining that high percentile on circumference!!! But the really important news is that he is healthy and happy.

Next visit (late Sept/early Oct), Dylan gets a whole slew of shots. It's a bit nerve wracking on a few levels: just having a little baby endure all that is tough, especially when it's your little baby and he looks to you to protect him from injury; all the concern regarding injections and autism; possible reactions to the vaccines... Sigh.

Let's see... The Boy is starting to cut two new teeth, up on top, for a complete set of choppers (two on top, two on the bottom)! Very cool! We are working on him feeding himself, and that is going messily! He has not figured out how to crawl yet, but he has gotten rolling over and over, and pushing himself backwards down to an art. No more ear infections (knock on wood!), though he did have a bit of a face rash; the doctor told us a bit of hydrocortisone twice a day to the affected area would help - and it has. His daycare provider, Yolanda, told us that Dylan is best friends with a toddler she cares for, Mitchell. Ah... best friends and he's just nine months old! Dylan is wearing 12-18 month clothes now. And, darn, he's the cutest boy around!

We have just a week and a half left of the school year. A couple weeks off and they are jammed. I have been invited to be in a group show in a local gallery in July, so I'll be prepping for that. Jennifer is going to take a week-long class for work, plus we have a Police concert to attend on the 14th, and a camping trip to go on down on the Central Coast (Morro Bay). All in two weeks. Crazy. Just trying to work out logistics is a bit maddening. Fortunately we have a lot of people who are happy to tend to The Boy, so we've got the concert thing taken care of (thank you so much, Aunt Patti!). It'll be fun, just a tad insane.

I'll post some more photos soon.

Monkey-ing Around

Jennifer snapped some photos of The Boy after he had his bath and I was drying him off... Ain't he just the cutest thing!!!

The Last Day of Vacation...

Well, all good things must end, or so I've been told. I'm not sure WHY that is so, but it certainly is in the case of our May vacation. Dylan being sick the first half of it, and then money woes (don't get us started!) put a dent in what we were thinking of doing in May, but we had a good break and are sorry to see it end. One last fling, a day trip to The City today (5.29.08), was the exclamation point; we had a great time visiting the beach, the Mission area (yummy burritos!), Twin Peaks and Fisherman's Wharf. The weather was terrific, sunny if a bit windy, the parking easy (wow!) and it was a wonderful, stress-free way to finish the month. Dylan enjoyed all the sights and sounds (birds, sea lions, people people people!) and was one tuckered out baby boy by day's end...he slept all the way home, and then went right to sleep when we got him in his crib.

Now we have one month more in the 2007-2008 school year, a mini-break (two weeks, with Jennifer taking a week-long class for work) and then mid-July we start again with new classes for the 2008-2009 year. This is the weird and wacky world of the year-round schedule!