Storytime at Little Threads

Dylan went to a storytime at Little Threads in Roscoe Village on Monday. The storyteller lady is fantastic!

He flirted with the store owner behind the counter.

Gingerbread Men and Women

We went over to our neighors Dan and Laura's place, and Dylan and their daughter Anne decorated some gingerbread men.

Anne taking a bite. :)

They live on the 3rd floor, and D was struck by the view from high up.

Merry Christmas!

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us!" (1 Jn. 3:1) What an event and truth we have to celebrate every year. We hope that yours was a blessed Christmas.

We had a wonderful time with my parents and Marc's brother Marty in town. It was a jam-packed week, but sooooo fun.

Caifano Christmas Eve

Dylan and cousin Noah cracked me up.

Singing Christmas carols.

Gift opening - Dylan got an Illini football for Christmas.

Baby Morgan is eyeing Dylan's football.

A minute later, Dylan was playing with Morgan's pink phone while Morgan played with the football. :)

Do you remember the Thanksgiving "show down" when Dylan got jealous that Morgan was in "his" highchair? It almost happened again. Thankfully, we diverted D's attention. :)

Piano Man

It is official - Dylan LOVES the piano:

Playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with Nana. He actually lifts his fingers to help play the notes now.

Christmas Eve - I wondered where Dylan had gone, and wondered around the corner to see this scene. It was just the two boys in the room, tickling the ivories.

The Caifano family sings carols while Dylan's Papa plays (more like - jams out) the piano. Dylan marched right up and watched....

...and then participated in playing.

At Aunt Kathy's (a piano teacher, like Dylan's Papa and Nana), we also sang Christmas carols. Again, he was drawn to the piano.

And again he helped play. :)

Ortman Christmas

The Ortman side of the family celebrated on Christmas Day. Mom and Dad came over for brunch, and later we went to my aunt Kathy and Uncle Dave's house for dinner with their family. Kathy is my Dad's sister.

Dylan wore a special jacket during Christmas week. His Grandpa Tom wore it when he was a little boy!

Dylan's great-grandma purchased the jacket at Marshall Fields on State Street when she and Grandpa lived out here while he went to chiropractic school. Isn't that amazing?!

Me opening my new boots!

At aunt Kathy's. Dylan and Grandma are greeting cousin Colin.

My cousin Tonya, her husband Christian, and 3 kids that don't belong to them. :) (They're her sister Tammy's cute boys.)

Dylan roped Grandpa into a game of "chase" the day after Christmas.

Downtown

We got to spend quite a bit of time downtown, due to our time shopping, and Mom and Dad staying in a hotel down there. Such a treat!!

Mom and Dad in front of their hotel.

Dad and I having coffee on State Street.

Breakfast at the Drake. We've discovered that they have a wonderful brunch for a very reasonable price! And a wonderful view.

If you've never been to the Drake at Christmas time, the decorations are amazing.

"Amma" Time

Dylan had sooooo much fun with his Grandma ("Amma.")

Tickle time.

At Family Grounds.

Dylan got to open one of his Christmas presents early. Grandma gave him a tent!

His animal friends went in the tent.

And so did he.

We went to Bubbles Academy on Wednesday.

Grandma helping Dylan climb.

At the end of the class, they blew bubbles - a big hit.

Playing his favorite game of "chase."

One day when Mom was putting Dylan down for a nap, I wondered what was taking so long in his room. I stepped in, and saw the scene. Mom had Dylan sooo relaxed. He was just laying back, sipping his milk, while Mom held the book up high so he could see the pictures from his lounging position. :)

Caifano Christmas

We headed to Orland Park on the Sunday before Christmas for a fabulous Christmas dinner and gift opening with Marc's family.

Dylan opening a present.

He loves his switchback racetrack.

Marc and Marty playing with one of Dylan's toys. Note: Dylan is napping.

'Tis The Season.....

...to be sick. Marc and Dylan are both sick with colds. This obviously means that Dylan and I can't go to any playgroups or moms groups. We have spent many hours indoors these past few days. Here are some things we've been doing to kill the time:

• We played with all - and I mean ALL - our toys.
• Went to Target. D walked around, and I got a Starbucks. (Monday)
• Watched a video.
• Made a tower with toilet paper rolls and Kleenex boxes.
• Tore apart Trader Joe's paper bags. (Nice idea, Sarah H!)
• Picked up some 50 cent toys at a resale shop.
  
• Went to Target. D walked around, and I got a Starbucks. (Tuesday)
• Watched a video.
• Got out mixing bowls and salad tongs and played the drums.
• Skyped with Nana.
• Looked at pictures of ourselves (well, of Dylan) in IPhoto.
• Created a "Toddler Tunes" playlist on GrooveShark and played nicely with our blocks to the music. (Thank you, Sarah H!)
• Made an elevated walking ramp by pushing the coffee table up against the couch.
• Went to Target. D walked around, and I got a Starbucks. (Wednesday)
• Watched a video.
• Put all the stuffed animals in a pile and dove into them.
• Jumped on Mommy and Daddy's bed.
• Did I mention we went to Target, and watched some videos?

Christmas Shopping

Marc and I have had a tradition to do our downtown Christmas shopping on Michigan Avenue on an "off" night. We hop on the 147 bus at the end of our block, and 10 minutes later we're there!

We went out to dinner at Grand Luxe Cafe, and got a table with a view!

This shot is from earlier in the week when we did some Christmas shopping at Old Navy. We let D walk around the store, and when he saw the display of stuffed animals, he made a beeline for it.

Animal Friends

We put D's animal friends in an empty diaper box, tied a string to it, and pulled it around the other night.

Another time, we lined them up in the hallway......

...and put them in their canvas bin. Then we took them out.....

...and D crawled in.