Imagination Overload!

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!

Driving around with Yertle again

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.

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!

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!

Car ride

Not much time to post these days!  We've been getting prepped for Dashiell's birthday party, cleaning up from all the rain, and busily working!  So I thought I'd post this quick picture from a couple of weeks ago.  D's been "driving" his car around the house a lot lately, but still hasn't figured out how to drive without standing up. :) He also loves driving around with his Yertle the turtle.