Thursday, April 29, 2010

Dashiell's Second Year Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Oh boy!

Dashiell is developing quite an impressive "boy" sense of humor, and, well, I'm outnumbered!  Farts are incredibly funny, as are burps.  I'm not sure exactly how this started, but at some point Rick started saying "fooooot" (not "foot"--more of a long "o") anytime he or Dashiell passed gas, which would always send Dashiell into fits of giggles.  So, every night that Rick is working, Dashiell and I call him up right before bedtime so Rick can say goodnight to him.  About a week or so ago, Dashiell got on the phone and said "Hi daddy, fooooot!" and laughed and laughed...now it's a regular part of his greeting.  :)

Then the other day I belched and said to Dashiell, "excuse me, I burped", which was the funniest thing to him!  He kept repeating it and laughing, and now every once in a while he'll bust out an "excuse me I burped" out of no where, and crack himself up!  And he loves the part in Yertle the Turtle, when that plain little turtle named Mack burps and causes Yertle's throne to collapse.  I have to stop when it gets to the burp part so he can say "burp" in this raspy low-register voice that he uses for such occasions.  Always makes him smile.  And I admit it, I always smile too...

Once again the picture I'm posting is completely unrelated, but I feel like pictures are always necessary.  This one is Dashiell reading one of the new books his aunt Terri sent him for his birthday while eating dinner.  A habit he picked up from both Rick and me, I'm sure (reading and eating, that is).  We hadn't even read this book to him yet so he has no idea what's happening in it, but the pictures are very fun and expressive and you can see that he's enjoying it!  For the record, it's Mo Willems, "I am Invited to a Party!"  Awesome book.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Maybe not...

Funny story from last night:  We were having dinner, and Dashiell was gobbling up his pasta like crazy.  Rick said to him, "Why don't you have a bite of your green beans?" so Dashiell picked up a green bean and said "green bean really really good!"  Then he took a bite, got this grossed-out look on his face, and said "Maybe not," and put the green bean back onto his plate.  I tried so hard not to laugh, but man was it funny!  We thanked him for trying it and said it was okay if he didn't want to eat anymore. :)  For the record, he's had green beans before and liked them, though there have been other times he hasn't liked them so I think it just depends on his mood.  Green beans aren't always my favorite either, so I can't hold it against him.

Attached are a couple of pictures of Dashiell doing his new favorite outside activity: watering the plants.  Which also includes watering the sidewalk, the driveway, and his shoes.  This is a daily (if not twice daily) activity for him.  I'm hoping this will inspire me to actually do something with my yard this year!


Friday, April 16, 2010

Cause and Effect

I'm bummed to report that I finally had to give Dashiell his first time out this week.  For weeks he's been standing on his chair during meals, but usually will sit back down if I tell him to.  However the other morning, he continued to stand, saying "no dancing on chair", despite my asking him to sit down and telling him that I didn't want him to fall.  I gave him two warnings and told him if he didn't sit down he'd get a time out (not that he knew what that really was since he's never had one before).  So after the second warning I took him out of the chair and made him sit on the kitchen floor.  It involved a lot of screaming (by him) and me trying to get him to sit still, and lasted a very long 20 seconds or so.  It really wasn't fun for either of us.  But after he calmed down a bit I gave him a hug and reassured him that I still loved him and explained why he got a time out, just in case he didn't understand why it happened.

Since then, every time he stands on a chair and I ask him to sit down, he'll sit, say "time out", let out a fake cry (and it's obviously fake), then say "hug mommy" and come over and give me a hug.  So did I just teach him that time outs lead to hugs from mommy?  I mean, I guess he also understands that time outs lead to crying.  I just hope that he realizes that many other GOOD things lead to hugs from mommy, not just time outs! 

Since I didn't take any pictures of Dashiell dancing on his chair (boy would that send mixed messages!), here are a couple of random photos I took recently.  First, I bought Dashiell some new sunglasses the other day, and he's super excited about them!  I think it helps that Rick and I both wear glasses all day every day, so now he has his own glasses!  Plus after I took this picture I raved about how cool he looked and showed him the picture--which he kept wanted to look at over and over--so now it's not too difficult to get him to wear his cool new sunglasses:


The next picture I'm posting is mostly for my friend Molly and those who follow her blog.  She had JUST posted pictures of her daughter putting a bucket over her head, and the next day Dashiell (who did not see the pictures) decided to walk around the house with this wicker basket on his head.  So I guess great toddler minds think alike!  As you can see from the blurriness of the picture he was a boy on the move!  He seemed to be able to see just fine--he walked from the dining room to the kitchen and didn't bump into anything! 

Thursday, April 15, 2010

What's up, Doc?

Just a quick, 5-second video--the other morning Dashiell picked up a play carrot and out of the blue said, "What's up, doc?".  Yes he has watched Bugs Bunny, and the Porky Pig book he has also features Bugs, so I guess he picked it up from one of those sources, but we've never pointed out the connection between Bugs and carrots, nor did we prompt him in any way.  He ending up repeating this pretty much continually for about 2 days.



And yes, that was a little burp beforehand. :-P

Friday, April 9, 2010

Imagination Overload!

Photobucket

Rick and I were just talking last night about how it seems like Dashiell's imagination has totally blossomed recently.  He's been so into "pretend" play lately, and it's really fun to see what he comes up with!  Last night he decided our dining room was a cave and kept bringing me into the cave with him--he'd grab my hand and say "mommy walk!" (the repeat "walk" over and over and over...), then I'd ask "where are we going", and he'd pause, and say "um...cave!".  Then he'd point his finger around the room and say "flashlight", as if he was waving a flashlight around so he could see better. 

This morning when he was playing with his Little People I could have sworn the L.P. were talking about going to the zoo.  I hear it's one of their favorite things to do. :)  And of course he loves making and eating pretend food, which he often shares with Rick and me.  Yesterday morning he was "fixing" our broken entertainment center door.  And he loves making tunnels in the living room out of pillows, and making his animals (usually his kitty or Yertle the Turtle), go through the tunnel.  He's just so fun to play with now!

Photobucket
Driving around with Yertle again

Photobucket
My little designer

I've also noticed over the past month or so that Dashiell understands sequential order much better now.  Before, if I told him that we were going to eat breakfast, get dressed, and go to the library, he'd get upset that we weren't going to the library first.  Now if I tell him the same thing, he gets it!  We'll eat breakfast, then he'll ask me "get dressed, go to library?".  Or if I tell him we can go back outside to see the flowers after his nap, when he gets up from his nap he'll say "go see flower?"  Which is great, since I can now tell him what our day is going to look like and not worry as much about D throwing a fit because we're not doing whatever fun thing we have planned NOW.  The downside is that sometimes we run out of time to do everything we have planned (with a toddler?  No way!), and it makes Dashiell sad when we can't do all of our fun things.

It's just amazing what a little person he's becoming now, and how much he understand of the world around him.  It's pretty cool.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hello? Hello?!



Here's why I love this video:  First, it really seems like Dashiell is trying to listen to whoever he's "talking" to.  Second, he walks around when he talks on the phone, just like mommy!

On an unrelated note, we had Dashiell's 2 year well-visit this morning, and our guy is a champ!  He's currently 32.8 lbs, which is in the 85th percentile, and 37 1/2" tall, which is in the--wait for it--100th percentile!  As Dr. Dave put it, he's taller than all of his friends!  Or at least all the friends who are the same age as he is.  And he's now a little more than half Rick's height. 

He didn't have any shots today, but he did have to get blood taken for his lead test, and he was soooo brave!  Didn't cry one bit--not even when the nurse pricked his finger--and only pulled his hand back once when she was squeezing his finger.  I think he was so excited by the squirrel sticker she gave him that he forgot to put up a fuss!

We also discovered that Dashiell has a little ear infection.  His first!  But I kid you not, he showed absolutely no obvious signs of having the infection.  He had a cold a few weeks ago and has had a runny nose ever since, which I was assuming was seasonal allergies since I've been suffering through allergies myself the past couple of weeks.  Turns out that the runny nose might be part of the ear infection thing, though if it continues past the 10 days of antibiotics we can try a low dose of claritin or zyrtec (I'm assuming there's a kid's version?  Haven't checked on that yet).  I'm hoping it just clears up with the antibiotics, because claritin makes me hyper and shakey and kind of crazy, so I can only imagine what it might do to my kiddo!

That's all the news here!  Hope you enjoy the video!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Two years old! Can you believe it??


Happy, happy birthday to my little guy!!! It's hard to believe that two years ago right now I was already 22 hours into labor, with 8 left to go! Most of that day was kind of a blur, really. The day before, one day after I was supposed to get induced but didn't, we were just about to get an ultrasound when--whoosh! My water broke! Shortly after we were off to the hospital for the longest 30 hours of my life. My birth plan was thrown out the window after about 14 hours of labor, when I broke down and got the epidural. Then I got some sleep! Which was good, considering how much longer it would be before Dashiell was born! :) We had a few scares when D's heart rate dropped a bit, and I came very close to having a C-section--I'm forever thankful that I didn't, though I know that if it had come to that it would have been just fine. Dashiell was born at 10:38 that evening, at a whooping 9 lbs! Wow!

I think back to those first few days and weeks, when I just couldn't believe I had this little person to take care of and love for the rest of my life! How daunting it all seemed! Now I just couldn't imagine what my life would be like without my little guy. Even when he's just spending the night over at his grandparents, I feel a little lost, like I don't know what to do without him. Though believe me, I am always thankful for the time to get stuff done!

We had a very busy weekend celebrating both Dashiell's birthday and Easter Sunday. We had a "little" party (little in comparison to last year's--somehow we still managed to have 30 people in our house and yard this year), and it was a beautiful day. Sunny, warm, and perfect for a birthday party!

Dash is going to be waking up from his nap any minute now, so I'll wrap this up with just a few pictures. First, a better look at his monkey cake:

A monkey for my little monkey! I have to say I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Anyone looking to make a monkey cake should visit the PBS kids web site-they give very detailed and fairly easy instructions.

Next, prior to everyone arriving (and after his "no nap" nap), we gave him his big present--a new grill!
It's super cool, and he's so happy with it. He loves making hot dogs for me. Mmm! :)

And I just thought this next picture was too cute--he and his friend Liam spent a good chunk of the afternoon dragging balloons back and forth down to sidewalk on the side of our house. Dashiell just looks so happy! Balloons and friends are a good combination.
Despite some sleep deprivation related crankiness, the day was great. It was wonderful to have so many of our friends and family around to help us celebrate his big day! And I couldn't be more proud of my BIG guy! Happy birthday pumpkin! Your mommy and daddy love you very much!