Tuesday, October 27, 2009

It's October Already!

We are long overdue for an updated blog posting - it's been a very busy few months.

The boys have been back in full swing at school since Labor Day. As Kyle progressed to the Roaring Rockets room, Dylan settled in to the Thunderbolts handling the transition quite well. He seems excited to be with all of his new friends (he is already a "ladies man" as all of the little girls follow him around to just give him hugs!) He loves to play on the computer and to play with all of the dress-up toys, especially around Halloween when he can dress as a witch and stir the witch brew during pretend play. Despite the language barrier, he seems to communicate with all of other children very well.

Kyle is also doing very well as a new Thunderbolt and is very intently practicing how to write his numbers and his letters already. He is also getting more and more computer work. His language skills have really also taken off as he asks lots and lots (and lots) of questions and has detailed discussions with Charlie and me each day. He is very interested in learning about everything that he sees or hears.

Both boys cannot wait until the big Goddard Halloween party on Friday. Kyle will be dressed as an astronaut and Dylan is going to be a very petite fireman! I am not sure who is bigger, Dylan or the costume!!

Believe it or not, Dylan has already grown an inch since he has been home from China. He still is maintaining his extremely lean and mean figure, though. He is a very active child, who also has very picky eating habits (most of his habits being affected by the time that he spends entertaining, dreaming and making faces vs. actually eating food during mealtime.) We may hit Guiness Book of World Records one of these days for the "world's longest dinner hour!"

Dylan has just started speaking in some full sentences within the last few weeks. His most favorite question is "what you doing (Momma, Kyle or Baba?). He listens to Kyle intently and tries to repeat many of his sentences, too. He is spending alot of time with his favorite books in trying to "read" them to us, by explaining what is going on in the pictures. It's quite amazing how much he has picked up in such a short time. His comprehension is excellent, although he does think that "time out" is a game and one day when I was counting as a discipline measure and said "one......," he immediately piped up and said "two, three!" I was laughing so hard, that I couldn't discipline any further.

Dylan had his first corrective surgery at CHOP in September. It was a long week post the surgery, as he had to move back into diapers and pull-ups during the recovery phase, but then after about 8 days of healing, he was back to normal. We spent that week at home vs. school, so by the end of the week, he thought that it would be good to permanently "stay home with Momma." However, after a short discussion, we did go back to our normal school/work routine. Due to the severity of his urological issues, CHOP has decided that they'll do his repairs in stages, so we have at least one more if not two more surgeries to look forward to during the next two years. Our urologist was excellent and the repair has been amazing to date.

We have spent the late summer and Fall doing lots and lots of fun activities from the shore to amusement parks to Thomas the Train and even had several social engagements on the birthday party circuit.

A few weeks ago, Gramma and Poppa Wedder were in visiting so they got to attend Kyle's 4th Birthday party at Pump It Up and the Chestnut Fall Festival with us. Then, we all went to NYC to see the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island and of course, FAO Schwartz! It was quite interesting to have the boys at Ellis Island with all of the historical immigration displays. We tried to take their pictures in the Great Corridor, but they were more interested in racing around vs. posing for their special picture.

Here are some pictures from some of our August & September activities. We hope that you enjoy them!




Kyle at Dorney Park in the Splash Zone area (one of his favorite places even though the water was freezing!!)



Dylan at the Splash Zone and FREEZING...




The boys with their pal, Snoopy


Dylan being buried by his cousin, Alyx, at the Cape May Beach

Dylan's first Thomas the Train event (Kyle's third!)


Instead of "Hammer Time," it's "Jammie Time."