Dylan's First Haircut!

Today, Dylan visited the barber for the first time. He did so well. No crying! Of course the barber earned his money by skillfully cutting the hair of a moving object!

Taking a stand

It was only a matter of time. You can't stop Dylan, you can only hope to contain him.

In other news, both Grace and Dylan are quite enamored of their new toy piano. I'm glad that mom knows what toys to get.

8 months old

Tomorrow Dylan and Grace celebrate their two-thirds birthday -- cake for everyone! Every week or two there seems to be a new milestone. Grace now stands up regularly using anything she can get her hands on for support -- crib rails, gate in our living room, etc. Dylan has a mysterious gravitational pull toward Truman's tail and for some reason finds the dog hilarious (apparently some inside joke that mom and dad don't yet comprehend.)

A few photos to commemorate the big 2/3....

Fun at mealtime

Waiter, I'll have the 2 oz. Gerber applesauce and some milk, please. But before that, I'd like some playtime to smash my blocks together...

Grace is now sitting up on her own. Here she is playing with her picture book, which contains photos of her and her brother with both sets of grandparents.

Before and after

Let's start with milestone #1. We took Dylan and Grace on their first plane trip this past weekend. They both handled the travel well, although Grace got fussy on the return trip. In general, they were both quite interested in looking out the window, and Dylan also took the opportunity to snooze a bit.

We went to my cousin Vasant's wedding, and it was a beautiful wedding and reception. Lots of smiles everywhere, and a great opportunity to reconnect with the relatives. I am particularly happy that the kids got to meet their great grandparents. The kiddos were on occasion a bit out of sorts from the crowds and noise (and for their parents keeping them up waaaaaaaay past their bedtime on Friday -- lesson learned). However, when we left them to their own devices and gave them some breathing room, they just loved crawling and rolling around in the hotel lobby, in the hotel room bed, etc.

Attached is a priceless before and after scene from our room at the Augusta Marriott. It appears that after politely tolerating her brother kicking her in utero for several months, daddy's little princess has learned to assert herself.

Milestone #2: This past weekend, Dylan started clearly enunciating what I've been wanting to hear for some time now...."Dada!" Now, he just spontaneously launches into enthusiastic spurts of multiple "dada"s.