Friday, August 28, 2009

Vocabulary explosion!

Dashiell has been so vocal lately, it's kind of crazy! He's starting to repeat more of the things we say, and he even used a two-word sentence the other day ("close door", when I was about to tell him yet again to close the door of storage closet we haven't babyproofed yet)! Very exciting. I know everyone says that soon enough I'll want him to stop talking because he'll just babble on and on and on, but for now it's just fun to hear him. Of course most of the words are things only Rick and I can understand, and some words sound absolutely nothing like what the real word is ("lo-lu" is somehow water, as in a glass of water, and his new favorite word is "broccoli", though it sounds more like "cock-deedle-de"--we only know it's broccoli because he'll repeat it ad nauseam when he's eating broccoli). But hey, he's speaking and that's what matters!

And all those ABC books he loves for us to read to him are paying off, too. We were coloring (i.e. scribbling) yesterday, and I started writing letters on the paper and asking what they were. He got A and B right away! Most of the other letters needed some prompting, but I figure it's a start. Following that I had to sing the ABC's about 20 times. Sometimes I wonder why I ever taught him the sign for "more". ;)

Side note, the previous post is a photo album that I made for my mom of our Minnesota vacation. I figured it was much easier than posting each individual picture.

And on a second side note, I wanted to plug a product that we found SO helpful on our travels (no I'm not getting paid for this, but it's such a good thing that I wanted to share it with any other parents of small children who read this)--the gogo Kidz Travelmate: http://gogobabyz.com/product-i14550-c26-g6-b0-p0-gogo_Kidz_Travelmate_.aspx . It's essentially a luggage roller that you can attach your car seat to, and it was a lifesaver in the airport! We could either keep Dashiell in the car seat and roll him around in it (like a stroller), which was great when he was sleeping in the car seat after the last leg of our flight into Boston, or we could let Dashiell walk (burning off pent-up energy from being stuck in a car seat for the length of a flight) and hang our carry-ons on it. We debated buying it for months because it is not cheap, but are now so glad we bit the bullet and bought it. The company also sells refurbished versions of travelmate that are slightly less expensive, though I think they're currently out of stock. Anyone in the Boston area who wants to borrow ours for upcoming trips should contact us--we'd definitely share it.

Have a great weekend!

Minnesota Vacation 2009

Click here to view this photo book larger

Monday, August 24, 2009

Favorite moments

Dashiell has been a kissing fool for a month or two now, feeling the need to kiss everyone in the room whenever prompted. So we were at the visitor's center in Bemidji after we visited Paul and Babe, and this cute little 14-month-old girl came up to him and they started playing together. Then as we were leaving, she decided to give Dashiell a kiss:

With maybe a little prompting from her mom...

Once we got back to my parents' house Dashiell decided that if cute girls were going to kiss him, he'd better learn to do it right! It was really the funniest thing ever! Thanks go out to Terri Lynn, my Cabbage Patch Kid.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Minnesota!

Dashiell, Rick and I visiting Babe the Blue Ox (Paul Bunyan not pictured)

Apologies for not blogging prior to our trip (too busy getting ready), and not being able to post during our trip either (no internet at my folks' house). And this post is going to be short, too, since we just got home yesterday after a very fun-filled trip out to Minnesota to see my family and didn't get nearly enough sleep last night--it's definitely going to be an early bedtime for us all.

Quick synopsis of the trip: We flew out to Minneapolis on the 15th, then drove up to Bemidji shortly after landing. It was a long day but I'm glad we got it all over with at once! We spent most of the week at my mom and dad's house, visited lots of people and places, then went back to Mpls on Thursday. More fun visiting ensued, then we flew back to Boston yesterday.

Yesterday was rough for us all, especially poor Dashiell. Our flight originally was supposed to leave at around 4 pm, but it was late and we ended up having to change our connecting flight to one that got us into Boston at around 12:30 am. At the end of the first flight Dash kept signing "all done", which pretty much summarized how we all felt. He couldn't get himself comfortable enough to get any good sleep on the second flight, and though he did fall asleep eventually, laying across my lap and partially onto Rick's, it was definitely fitful, and much too short. I felt like such a horrible mom putting him through that--the poor kid was miserable!

So today has mostly been a day of rest, and currently both of the Hanson men are sleeping while I post. I need to join them pretty much right now, or I may fall asleep on the keyboard. I promise to post more pictures of our trip soon!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Handsome Boy Modeling School

I took this picture of Dashiell yesterday shortly after we woke up. He felt the need to wear his fuzzy shoes that morning, and also wanted to put on his hat (yes he is still in his pj's). As he was playing on the kitchen floor he struck this pose that I was lucky enough to catch with the camera on my phone. Sent it to Rick and he asked me "what is this, an ad for the Handsome Boy Modeling School?" Ha!


Sorry it's so out of focus but I thought you'd all enjoy it anyway!
In other word-related news, Dashiell clearly said "peek-a-boo" yesterday after hearing it in a song (it was very slow and deliberate--"peek....ah....booo"). It was very cute.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A few pictures

Not much going on in the Weber Hanson house, but I wanted to post a few pictures anyway.

Here's another picture from the beach--Dashiell was enjoying his jelly sandwich, nearly asleep in my beach chair:
lounging at the beach


I thought it would be funny if Dashiell wore his pajama bottoms as a hat. And guess what? I was right!
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Dashiell LOVES being tossed on the bed. And he loves wearing nothing but a diaper. Combine the two, and you get one happy kid!
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He was having a great time yesterday putting my hat on his head and taking it off again--
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Have a great week!