Friday, March 25, 2011

Dashiell and the Purple Crayon






Oh how I adore my little guy!  Last Sunday we had a photo party brunch at our house, and Meghan of Megpix Photography came over, set up a backdrop, and took pictures of us and a whole pile of our friends (photos from that are forthcoming).  She left the paper backdrop on the floor so we could have fun coloring on it.  And boy did we have fun coloring!  Dashiell first started out scribbling, then he noticed that he had in his hand a PURPLE CRAYON!!!  Just like Harold in one of his favorite books, Harold and the Purple Crayon (which, if you haven't read, go pick it up RIGHT NOW.  It's cute and clever and so creative!).  So he asked if we could draw like Harold.  He handed me his crayon and started narrating - get this - in first person!  As if HE, Dashiell Hanson, was Harold.  It. Was. Awesome.  He's read the book a million times so he knows it by heart.  He was narrating pretty quickly, so I had to scribble as fast as I could!  And I didn't set up our canvas well - it's a bit all over the place.  But it was so fun hearing Dashiell pretending to be Harold - "Luckily, I kept my wits and my purple crayon", "I made all nine pies I like best!" 

Here he is after the purple crayon dropped to the ground and "Harold" dropped off to sleep:


You all know I believe reading is important, and I hope that D continues to love reading throughout his life, but this activity reinforced how fun reading is and can be - how cool is it that Dash was so inspired by a book that he felt the need to act it out?  And the fact that the book incorporates drawing?  How much better does it get?

Friday, March 18, 2011

Now and then

Lovely, lovely day yesterday, and while I did have to work most of the day, we were able to spend a little time in the nearby park in the late afternoon.  Dashiell was so thrilled to be able to run around, pick up sticks and acorns and chase squirrels (he claims he was trying to feed them acorns, but really I think he just wanted to say hi).  I caught this funny picture of him amidst all the acorns:


You can almost hear him making a rocket ship noise with that acorn cap... :)

Then as I was looking through a file of old photos, I noticed that I had a picture of Dashiell from almost exactly 2 years ago in the same park and nearly the same pose:


Oh my!  Look how much he's grown!  From cute little new-walker to handsome little boy! 

Can you tell I'm feeling a bit nostalgic?  D will be 3 in just a few weeks, and while he will always be my baby he is definitely no longer a baby!   *sniff*  But while I do miss those little baby days (at least the good parts of them!), I'm so thrilled by the little boy he is now.  He's so much fun to be around, and I love his imagination and sense of humor.  Even though he might be challenging some days, I wouldn't change him one bit!

I'll try to post more "then and now" photos as his birthday gets closer, but, well, you all know my posting record as late...

Friday, March 4, 2011

Hodge podge

Yup, that's right.  It's been a month since my last post.  So this is a catch-up post with lots of pictures and not much else.  I can't think of much to post about so hopefully the photos will make up for the lack of content. 

Dashiell helping daddy work on the computer.  I'm positive he was very, very helpful.


The weather has taken a turn for the better, however after my last post I felt the need to include some pictures of Dashiell playing in all of the snow that we had in the back yard.  These were taken a few days after my last post.  

 Here's our kiddo relaxing during story time at the library.  That was the day that a photographer for a local online newspaper was taking pictures, so of course D did not make himself available for photos. 


One morning Dash decided that he needed to play with all the balls, all at once.  Big Bird and Cookie Monster had to get in on the action, too.


Sometimes it's exhausting being a superhero.


Bzzzz...

Auntie E and Danny B were in town a couple of weeks ago, so everyone had to pile in the shark tent for a photo.  It was made extra cozy with the addition of Big Bear.



We can't get enough birthday parties!  Happy belated birthday Grandpa!!

And one final birthday we celebrated the other night - Dr. Seuss!  I think we need to come clean - we just really like cake.

So that was a month in the life of Dashiell!  Whew!  One last cute Dashiell moment:  Last night we were sitting at the table eating dinner and I mentioned to Rick that I turned on the radiator in D's room that morning so he should try to remember to turn it off before putting Dash to bed (it's REALLY loud).  So Dashiell holds up his hand, fingers close together, and says, "My hand is a radiator!  WHSSSSHHH CLONK CLONK CLONK!"  Which is exactly what his radiator sounds like, and the reason we turn it off before he goes to bed.