8.22.2005

Music to Little Soul

Hey little one!
Sing and dance.
I hope you never lose that.


Dylan, my 22 months old son, loves music. And I love that fact. It's obvious that music soothes, energizes, relaxes, and inspires him.
If he's overtired, the "new-age" music will calm him down. He's falling asleep more easily. If he's cranky (in the car), we just have to put his ABC song, and a grin will show up on his face.

When he watches the TV show, he'll dance to the beat .. not just kiddie song, Rock n Roll, Disco, or Rap just do the same justice. He'll shake his head and his two little hands go up and down in the air. He'll spin around in circle.

I just notice recently, ... everytime Barney is almost ended, they always sing the .."I love you, you love me, we're a happy family .." song.
And everytime .. Everytime! he hears this song, he'll look for me, .. It doesn't matter what I do, he'll take my hand and he says "up, up". I have to drop and stop whatever I do, cause if I don't, .. he'll stand there persistently shaking my hand. So I give up, then still holding my hand he will lead me to the TV.

Why? Cause Barney and friends do this little dancing, hugging and kissing. And my son wants to dance, hug, and kiss me. His face is so happy and fulfilled. When the song ends, he lets go of my hand and let me back to whatever I did before.

Thanks for giving me that, son.
To remind me, that sometimes ... I have to drop everything I do just to dance, hug and kiss you.

P.S. I love this ritual!

8.08.2005

To Splish Splash Waterpark




Finally, bisa ngajakin Dylan berenang!!
I've been dying to take Dylan to the pool. It's sooo hard to find a swimming pool in NY. Either you have to pay membership or you have to be a residence, the latter usually happens in Long Island Neighbourhood. Membership kayak di YMCA juga mahal banget, about $850/year, lagian kolamnya juga buat bukan maen2 tapi lebih untuk swimming lesson dan biasanya indoor. Nggak asyik banget lah. Heran deh, ... padahal dulu di Indo, berenang minimal seminggu sekali dengan gampangnya ... fasilitas banyak juga bagus2. Kadang emang NY sucks ..

Kemaren tgl 27 Jul, di suatu hari Rabu yang panaaaas banget (about 96F), kita nekad deh ke Splish Splash Waterpark di Riverhead, LIE exit 72, yg kira2 kalo nge-drive sekitar 1.5 jam-an dr rumah. Gedeee banget tempatnya, banyak banget attraction, tapi yaa berhubung ama Dylan, kita terbatas banget bisa maennya. Padahal nggak weekend gitu juga rameee banget, .. ada Kelly Ripa juga ama anak2nya. Anton yang lihat sih, bukan aku, pas Dylan and I changed clothes.

Rides yang kita coba: Octopus Pool, Elephant Slide, Pirates Cove, 3 Little Body Flumes, Monsoon Lagoon, ama Lazy River.

Pertamanya kita nyobain di Octopus Pool, ada swing setnya buat infant duduk di atas pool. Wah, Dylan begitu dimasukin air, kayak kucing .. langsung mau lompat keluar ... pokoknya dia takut banget deh. Gimana nih, ... diajakin maen water kok malah nggak mau? ... Ya udah, gantian terusnya, ama papa ... maen di kolam slide .. eh dia seneng banget. Dua kali slide ama papa dan yang ketiga kita bertiga barengan di slide yang gedhe di tengah .. wiiiiii ... jadi inget masa kecil .. haha.

Udah dari situ balik lagi ke octopus pool, mulai deh, dia berani main swing nya, malah nggak mau diturunin ... mintanya diayun-ayunin terus, sambil kaki kecilnya maen2 di air. Enak ya, nak?

Dylan paling seneng pas maen2 di bagian yang nyemprot2 .. hehe .. nggak tau namanya apa. Kayak Fountain yang nyemprot2 dari lantai, gantian nyemprot2nya .. ada kira2 9 spot di suatu square gitu. Dia lari2 setiap sekali ada yang nyemprot, maksudnya mau nangkep ... lari sini, lari sana ... sambil ketawa2, ... nggak ada capeknya. Seneeeeng banget mukanya, ...basaaah semua (namanya disemprot pasti basah lah yauw .. hehe). Anton and I just sit by the stone bench ngeliatin dia, rasanya seneng banget ngeliatin dia begitu enjoying the moment. Sayang kamera ditinggal di locker, jadi nggak ada foto2 pas dia di situ. Orang-orang yang lewat pada ketawa2 ngeliatin Dylan yang begitu riang gembiranya .... bikin seger deh.

Terakhirnya yang pas di Lazy River, Dylan kedinginan, rada2 shivering gitu .. habis di Long Island tuh kan agak dingin biarpun siangnya panas banget, maklum lokasi countryside banget. Aku pelukin dia yang cuman pake little swimmer pampers doang .. duh, kasiannya, ... udah agak kering, eh... kesiram air lagi pas kita lewat di daerah air terjun ... Ya deh, habis itu kita pulang. Anyhow, it was a realllly nice day. Summer should be like that :)!

7.19.2005

20 Months, So Far

Simple things for adults look astonishing when done by toddler.
The world is a new discovery for the simplest things.

1. He can put his hands into the sleeves once I put the shirt over his head. Sometimes he missed though :) And if he's holding something in his one hand, he'll transfer the object to the other hand before putting his arm into the sleeve. I never teach him that, he just do it naturally.

2. He can open any bottle cap or change the bulb !! Yes, he's mastering the skill of twist. He likes to unscrew the bulb and then proudly show it to me. Yeah, yeah, you look pretty handy to me, son.

3. He's imitating his daddy snoring style. Bisa niruin papa ngorok, gayanya: tiduran di atas bantal, kepalanya noleh ke samping terus ngeluarin suara ... krookk, kroook ... huahahaha ... kapok nggak kowe paaa, ditiruin anaknya!! huehehehe ..

4. Sudah bisa bilang kata2 yang terakhir kita ucapkan ke dia. He can say aak/eek (poopoo) which he says when i change his diaper. Habis aku suka tanya, Dylan eek ya? terus dia pegangin pantatnya sambil bilang, eek.

5. He likes to "help" around the house. Whenever I cook, he'll sit on the bar stool by the countertop, next to me ... He'll watch, then he'll try to grab the spoon and "help" me mix. Well, okay .. that always ends up with me yelling at him actually. But i have to admit it was quite fun.

6. He can open drawers, he's very interesting with anything new. His little fingers are powerful tools now. He loves the excitement when he finally gets to see what's inside, then ... things start flying on the air and the floor will be covered by random stuff. Oh my, oh my ..

7. Yes, he is strong. He can pick and lift up a roll of carpet runner. He did it when we were in Target. I knew he was trying to take it off the shelf, then a lady said, "wow, he's strong. he can pick up the carpet". I said, "he's trying to". She said, "No, he picked it up, I saw him". Of course, right then, he's doing it again ;)
He can pick (then drag around the house) my pressure cooker (8 pounds) which even quite hefty for me. Ok skinny boy, you prove that you have some muscle :)

8. He likes to put anything metal in his mouth (keychain, keys, nail! yeah nail, coin, and anything else that has metal in it). As much as I try to keep these things out of his reach, there's always a way from him of getting it. He got under the sofa, little nook, in the basket ..
The thing is, he knows that he's doing something forbidden. He stares at me with his mouth plumps up and wait for my reaction. When i say, "Give it to me Dylan", he spits it out from his mouth and give it to me, or else he gave me that devilish smirk then run away .. doh.

9. He can say hiiiiiiii (not hi) when he looks at his feet and they got dirty.

10. He can drink from regular glass/cup like an adult. He also drink soup by zipping it from the edge of the bowl (yeah, you found shortcut, eh?).

11. He knows how to ask for Elmo DVD ... he says"mama, ... nanana ... naaaa *singing*". I teach him how to push the Play button everytime he FF or REV by messing the dial button.

12. He loves fish, ... he goes fish, fish, fish .... then he sits on the little stool in front of the aquarium and poking on the glass. He likes doggie and birdie, .. he goes ... wuuuffff with his littlest voice (so cute).

13. He loves staring at the moon at night while we are waiting outside on the patio for papa to come home. He's mesmerized by the glow and the shape of it.

14. Sometimes he'll throw stuff in the garbage can. I found some dollar bills in the trash .. hemmm, I wonder how much more he threw that i didn't know?

15. He likes to sing, he's really singing ... with his own words and rhyme ... patiputa puta laaaa .. amaniya ... and the other favorites are Row Row The Boat and If You Happy and You Know It, then he stomps his feet and spins himself till he loses his balance.

16. He likes to see photographs of daddy's family. He says .. nee-nek, nee-nek ... then he says papa .. papa .. pointing to uncle Oki, who really looks like papa (yes son, they look kinda the same).

17. He likes to get involved with anything we do. When we're painting his room, the paint got all over his hand cause he played with the roller. When we try to put his table and chair together, he used his crayon as imaginary screwdriver. When i fold laundry, he will unfold them. When I sweep the floor, he'll grab the broom and dustpan then try to sweep the carpet (wrong place, son).

18. He moves to the beat of music, he'll shake his head and dance. Oh .. you are so young and free... You even make your papa not ashamed to dance .. hahaha ...

19. He climbs the stair like a pro. Now he even knows what those handrails are for, it's just scarry how he manages to hold on to them but his body is hanging out of the edge of the stair. Please son, just climb it up, don't walk on it like an adult, soon you can do it, but not now.

20. He loveeeeees ball, everytime we go to Target, there's this rack that has bunch of different kind of balls. i will always try to avoid pass through there, cause he'll play there forever. But the other day, he got a hold on to a Spalding Basketball and won't let go. It's the real big, heavy, NBA playing ball. He insisted to give this ball a home. He didn't trust anybody to get this ball out of his hand. Not me, not the cashier ... so it was a struggle to scan the price :)

Not really 21. Papa just woke him up when Dy started to fall asleep. He was a little shocked and said mama .. mama .. with scarry face. I said, "it's okay Dylan ... it's okay .. itu papa stupid". Then he looked at me and pointed his finger to papa and said "stupid...".
O O, I better watch what I said from now on (though it was kinda funny though .. hehehe).