2 Years + 11 Months

Wow, I just realized that you are only one month away from turning 3 years old!! That's so big!

I wonder what we'll do for your party, I better start getting creative. Daddy will be taking the Colorado Bar a couple weeks after your birthday, so we may have to delay having a birthday party until he's home and free to play! I'm sure you won't mind. :)

We just got home from swimming lessons with Grandma Terry. Today was your first day and you did so well! It was so cute to watch you sing "Ring around the Rosies" and scrunch up your face as you put in the water at the end of the song. Grandma has so many fun teaching techniques that is making swimming lessons fun for you. I'm excited to feel more comfortable with you around water and not be so nervous that you'll drown. I love you too much and get a little paranoid sometimes.

You are such a character.

You are very brave. You love trying new things. You love jumping off higher and higher objects. You try climbing every cool ladder at the park, you are learning how to get up all of them without my help. I appreciate how cautious you are. You always ask for help if you're unsure. I never get worried that you'll fall at the park because you are very careful and aware of your surroundings.

You love bringing your sisters back to your room to play. You always coax them back.

You smashed Sylvie's fingers in the door this morning and you felt so bad. It's hard when you don't quite understand that you're hurting them, but you think it's fun to get reactions. You say that you're mean, and I always correct you. Sometimes you make bad choices, but you are a nice boy. And I am very proud of how hard you work to be a nice boy. This afternoon you made sure to pick up all the diapers and put them in the diaper pale. You make sure the girls are never holding anything they are not supposed to hold, like small items or mommy's phone.

The other day, I was at the computer and heard you run over to the babies screaming, "No, babies! No!" and I looked to see what was wrong. They had taken a bunch of wipes out of the container and so you grabbed all the wipes and the container and put them up on a high shelf where they couldn't reach them anymore. You are so helpful and sweet.

Everyday for lunch, you eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich with a fruit on the side. Sometimes you get chips. You like to watch "Sight Words" while you eat and you are getting really good at reading a bunch of the sight words. You even read your first whole book a month ago. "I Go" it's about a girl and her dragon. You read the whole thing all by yourself. "I go to the deli." Sometimes you need help with the last word in the story line, but it really amazes me! We need to get you some more reading books for sure!

Every time I pull out the camera and take a video or photo of the girls you call out "me me me!" until I take a photo or video of you too. It's so hilarious. You better believe we have tons of photos of you.

You love playing outside. You love playing with balls. You love throwing things... even non-ball objects. Haha. You love kicking things and playing tee-ball. I'm sure we'll get out more to practice when the girls are a little bigger... aka... walking around. It's hard to bring two crawling babies out into our grassy/dirt-filled/bug-infested backyard.

You constantly ask, "Is that funny?" after you just did any random number of things. Your goal is clearly to be the funniest person alive.

You love doing silly dances and call out for everyone to watch. You do the craziest moves and giggle the whole time. You have silly walks, I know I've caught many of them on video... it's impossible to catch them all. You just love to be silly, just like you're daddy.

You prefer mommy to get you in the morning or middle of the night (rarely, but you still get up sometimes). You ask for daddy all day while he's gone. As soon as he comes home you know that means playtime and you run upstairs to play with him there.

You can now buckle the top buckle of your carseat. You refuse to let anyone else help.

You love to laugh.

You have a hard time sitting in time out. You mostly get time out for hurting a sister or being disobedient and not listening. You wander out of time out and hate to sit still.

We fight you almost every night to eat your dinner. You find food a very unimportant part of your day, even when you're crying because you're so hungry. You love snacks (crackers, fruit snacks, fruit strips, teddy grahams, etc.). You'll eat chicken, beans, pureed carrots... most other food items for dinner are a struggle to get you to eat.

You are still allergic to milk. I took you to the allergist a couple weeks ago and they pricked your back again and you cried so hard, that I started crying. You cried, "I don't want to have allergies anymore." It broke my heart. You understand so well.

You are really good at associating things. When we're out and see a cement truck, you say, "Mommy, look, a cement truck, just like in my book." The other day you saw the cover of a Dr. Seuss book and then looked at your friends shirt and said, "Look, mommy, it just matches!" He was wearing a shirt with the exact book image on the front. You really amaze me with your observations and "matching" of everything.

You love kisses and hugs. You like to act like a baby, as they seem to get a lot of attention. Some morning while they are taking their morning nap you'll lay in my lap at the computer... and you like to lay "like a baby"the whole time. I love our one-on-one time. I love running around in the backyard with you and ordering all sorts of food from you in your playhouse. You pull every item out of your pocket, it's adorable.

"Um, yeah, of course" "um, yeah, sure" Those are the cutest responses when I ask different things like, "Can Sylvie sit by you on the couch?" You jump up and make room because you love when they sit by you on the couch. I love your happy little responses.

Dylan, I love you more than you may ever comprehend. I love watching you learn and grow. You are a very special child of God and I am so blessed to call you mine.

I love you forever and ever.

I just melt when you say, "I wub you!" right back. I wub you baby boy. I wub you poreber and eber.

Love,

Mommy

Cell Phone

You've been carrying around your cell phone everywhere for a few days. You keep it in your front pocket, just like daddy does.

At random moments throughout the day you'll pull it out and put it to your ear and say something like, "Oh, hi Jonas (your friend here), what are you doing? Oh, OK! Call me back and leave a message!"

It's hilarious! It took awhile for us to figure out what you were saying at the end. We couldn't understand the leave a message part. haha. I don't even know how you learned that phrase. lol.

Poop

I just love the things you say while pooping. Here are a few that made me laugh...

While you are sitting on the potty: "Mommy, there's no poopoo... (grunting) ope, there it is."

After you pooped: "Mommy, there's my poopoo! We don't eat the poopoo! That's yucky!"

There was one more... and I can't remember it now.