Thursday, December 31, 2009

Christmas Eve

At grandma and grandpa Weber's house, we have our biggest Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. That's when we all get together, eat a huge meal, and exchange presents with each other (Santa of course doesn't drop off his gifts until we're all sleeping...). I thought I'd share a couple photos of our guy from our Christmas Eve celebration:

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Let me at that gift...
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Hmm, what should I open next?
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A little quiet time spent amongst the gift-wrap carnage

Piggy book!

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The first day we arrived in Bemidji, a new book was waiting for Dashiell next to his crib. Rick and I hadn't even noticed it was there, but Dashiell spotted it right away. We started reading him a couple bedtime stories, and he kept repeating "Piggy book! Piggy book!" until we noticed this new book of his: The Porky Pig Counting Book. I don't know where Grandma Weber found it, but it quickly became a hit! He slept with it almost every night and nap.

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Funny note: Right after posting this I looked at the blog and noticed that the picture of Porky Pig on the book cover is nearly a mirror image of Dashiell's 1 year old photo on the side bar...just so happened that they lined up right next to each other. Not that I think D looks like a little piggy, but their expressions are almost identical! Ha! :)

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New Hip!

Grandpa Hanson had hip surgery a couple of weeks ago, and Rick taught Dashiell a new phrase to help explain what happened:

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Minne-SNOW-ta!

Merry Belated Christmas!


The Weber/Hanson family traveled out to Minnesota for the holidays, and boy did we have some snow to deal with!  There was lots of it!  We flew out of Boston the day after a snow storm and nearly missed our flight out since there were so many people changing flights from the day before and holding up the lines (so much for printing out our boarding passes and paying to check our bags online!).   After getting to Bemidji, we had a few dry days, then the snow hit!  We were in the midst of that slow-moving storm that crippled the midwest.  It made for a lovely Christmas day, but it decided to stick around until after the holiday which was awfully inconvenient on Saturday, when we attempted to fly home.  We got as far as Minneapolis, but missed our connection and had to spend the night.  I'm a bit surprised we're not still there!

As you can see from the above photo, Dashiell was longingly waiting to play in the snow on Christmas Eve morning.  This was prior to the storm, so the snow he played in was "old snow".  Later that day he and his cousin Abby spent some quality time outside.

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Here he is checking out his fancy new snowpants:

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Despite our many travel woes, we had a wonderful time in Minnesota!  It was fun seeing Dashiell so excited to see his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  And of course Idgie, aunt Lisa's black lab.  I'll try to post more pictures of our Christmas activities soon!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Pears and big coats

This is the risk we take when we leave fruit out to ripen. He would have eaten part of a third pear as well but I was able to distract him. :) But at least he's eating fruit and not cookies! Though believe me, if I left cookies out on the table he'd make short work of those, too.

With the onset of cold weather, I also thought I'd share a photo of our guy bundled up for the snow. After one of our first snow storms I ran around town trying to find him the proper attire for building a snowman. He refused the big mittens I bought (though he loves his smaller, knit mittens, which we were able to get on him before heading outside), and he isn't a huge fan of the big coat either. As for the snow, he's not sure what to make of it. I think he likes it in theory, but in reality it's cold and difficult to walk in and sometimes you fall face first in it which is no fun. Soon enough he won't be able to get enough of it, but for now I think he prefers his outdoors without the white stuff.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

What I like about you

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Despite all of the challenges that Dashiell's ever-growing independence is bringing, there are so many things that I like about him. Obviously I'm his mom and love all the things he does, but even if I wasn't there would still be plenty to like! Here's a short list, in no particular order:

-He likes to sing to Christmas songs. Whenever "Wonderful Christmastime" comes on the radio, he starts singing "doo-doo-doo" and bops his head. And he requests "Jingle Bells" all the time ("jicka-ba"--took us a while to figure that one out!).
-He loves giving kisses, and makes a "mu-ah!" sound every time he gives you a kiss.
-He's got a great sense of humor! He'll laugh at anything. Yesterday I kept putting his Yertle the Turtle doll on top of my head and naming all the things Yertle was now king of, then "burping" so Yertle would fall off my head, and man it was like it was the funniest thing Dashiell had ever seen! Really boosts your ego to have a toddler around...
-He loves a good snuggle, especially if there are books involved.
-He likes to clean, or at least pretend to clean. We're working on developing this love of cleaning to keep it strong (if only it were possible!).
-He'll gladly hold your hand when walking outside or in public places. Not only is this a good safety procedure, it's just plain nice.
-He's always got a smile for anyone he sees.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Cranky pants

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This is what this morning looked like. Actually this picture was taken a few days ago, but it could have easily been this morning. It was a rough one! Started with a 5:30 am hysterical wake-up (he also woke up crying last night at around midnight--ugh!), then after a snuggle in my bed until 6 am it was time for me to get ready for work, so we began our morning. At every turn, Dashiell cried. We went downstairs for breakfast, and he cried because the Christmas tree wasn't lit yet. He cried because he only got to eat half a banana at breakfast. He cried when he got yogurt all over his hands. He cried when he finished his milk. He cried when his Hot Wheels guitar wasn't working because we hadn't turned it on yet. He cried after a few small tumbles, things that he would normally shake off and move on from. He cried when we went upstairs to change his diaper and when I brushed my teeth. He was hysterical when he couldn't get up-close to the bamboo plant at the top of the stairs (it's on the other side of the gate, and I was still getting ready for work and didn't want to leave the stairs un-gated). And when I put on my coat to leave, it was like the world was ending. So I don't know if this is the start of the terrible two's (though he's only 20-months old), or if he's teething (doesn't look like the 2-year molars are coming in yet, but it could be just the beginning...), or maybe he's getting sick. Whatever the problem, I have to admit that I was kind of relieved to be able to get out of the house...without Dashiell...I know it's a horrible thing to say but sometimes a mom needs a little break!

I do feel bad that Rick has to be the one to deal with all the tears today, especially since yesterday was such a lovely day, despite the fact that we were stuck inside. We did crafts and played and watched some Curious George and Dashiell was happy all day long. We had to miss story time at the library, but we did read many books and sing many songs all by ourselves, so we made up for it! Dashiell is a bit obsessed with our Christmas tree and spent much of the day pointing out the various ornaments to me. So here are a couple of happy pictures of my little guy, hanging out with the Christmas tree. I'm a bit bummed that the bottom picture isn't focused on him, but it's cute anyway...

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thanksgiving Wrestling Match

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Dashiell won. :)

In fact, he won all the battles of Thanksgiving this year, including the Battle of the Nap (none to be had!) and the Battle of Bedtime (he refused to sleep in his portable crib and could only sleep in my bed with me--I should add that he's NEVER slept a full night in my bed before, so this was completely new to both of us!). Sigh. But other than those relatively small issues, he had a fine time. Aunt Elizabeth (Auntie E) and her boyfriend Danny (Danny B) were in town from California and it was wonderful to see them and spend time with them. Dash is completely enamoured with Danny B, and has spent the last week repeating his name (or rather "Dandy B", which let's face it is pretty dang funny) over and over and over again, every once in a while throwing in an "Auntie E" for good measure.