Nesting

Dashiell in his nest, made of "bugs, leaves and bees".  I don't know if I'd like a nest of bees.  Too stingy.

This picture is the perfect example of how difficult it is to get rid of toys Dashiell should be beyond, developmentally.  He mastered those stacking blocks ages ago, and that small bead maze?  You'd think he'd be bored with it by now.  But he finds new ways to play with old toys, and as soon as I put something up in the attic he's asking for it again.

Oh, one other funny thing he did with the stacking blocks the other day - made a tower, then knocked it down and said "I'm an Angry Bird!"  Hee.  :)

Three? THREE? How can that BE?

Today is Dashiell's third birthday.  Wow.  I mean WOW.  The day of his birth seems like yesterday and forever ago all at once.  And daily I am amazed by this little guy who Rick and I are raising.  This morning he typed the alphabet backwards (from Z to A) on the computer.  Yesterday he started getting upset at play group because a smaller child kept taking away the toys he was playing with, and fighting back tears he came up to me and said, "it's his turn now but when he's done I can play with it?"  Both hugely amazing accomplishments, in this mommy's opinion.  The first because he's weirdly talented when it comes to letters, and seriously, I can barely get through the alphabet backwards, how is it possible that my 3-year-old can?  The second because he's really starting to understand that in social situations sometimes you have to be the bigger man (well, kid) and just let things go, even if it makes you a little upset to do so.   I'm just so proud of my guy.  What an awesome 3-year-old I have!

Alright, enough with the wistfulness!  In celebration of this momentous occasion, we threw a HUGE birthday party for Dashiell's friends and family on Saturday, and it was a big hit!  Our theme was Dr. Seuss, and it was easy to go overboard with it!  Here are just a few pictures of the decorations:

I found a Dr. Seuss font online so I could make the banner, and scanned and printed up every single Dr. Seuss book we could get ahold of (most of which we own but I had to borrow a couple from Nana Hanson).  The book covers were all over the living room and dining room, with a couple scattered in other locations as well.  I also mounted a few quotes from Dashiell's favorite books to include in the decorations.  I couldn't find a local source for Dr. Seuss balloons (I did find one online but would have had to pay for rush shipping, and the balloon wasn't that impressive anyway), so we went with a blue star with Dr. Seuss stickers on it. 

The food:

I tried to go with mostly Dr. Seuss themed food - Green Deviled Eggs and Ham Sandwiches, Dr. Seuss's ABC Cookies, Who Pudding, colored Goldfish for One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, I labeled the pasta salad "Poodles Eating Noodles" from Fox in Socks, and the beverages we had were Pink Ink (from One Fish Two Fish) and Moose Juice and Goose Juice (from the Sleep Book) - unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the beverage table, but it looked awfully festive!

Here's Dashiell enjoying the first of many (and I mean MANY) ABC cookies:

His cake was amazing!  Our talented friend Lauren Cotter made it for him, and she did such a wonderful job!  And it was HUGE!!  We still have the whole bottom section left.  I probably should have made everyone take bigger pieces, but even slicing it fairly thin the pieces were enormous - that's a tall cake!  And super tasty, too - chocolate with cookies and creme filling...yum!!



And of course the presents we awesome too.  But of all the fun things Dashiell got, it was a map that his great-aunt Sue laminated for him that was the biggest hit:

So much so that he didn't want to open anything else!  But he did also like the beautiful quilt his Nana Hanson made for him - Dr. Seuss themed!

He's been sleeping with it every night and at naps.  I think he feels very grown up with this "real" blanket, instead of just the knit blankets he's used to.

All in all it was a great day, and we get to do a little more celebrating tonight!  It's the birthday that never ends - yay!  I should note that when I left Dashiell and Rick this morning, they were busily playing with Dash's new Bat Cave!  I don't know who was having more fun, Dashiell or Rick. :)

Happy Birthday to my big guy!  I look forward to seeing what's in store for next year!

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?

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...