Happy 3 Years!

It's hard to believe that my precious little baby Dylan is a big, tall 3-year-old boy who does all sorts of crazy boy things! You were this tiny (not THAT tiny, lol) little baby for so long. You were just sweet, innocent and loved cuddles and hugs (you still do). One day, I look down and I see this tall, growing boy who is testing the world.

It's amazing to watch you learn and grow. You are so curious about things. You get so excited when you pick up on something we talk about.

I'll get off the phone and you'll repeat a few things I said... when I didn't even know you were listening. So sweet.

The other day you said, "What time is it mom? Oh, it's 30 o'clock!" And you've said that a few times since, so adorable. I think it's time I teach you to tell time!

If there's anything you don't know at this point it's because I failed to teach you. It's hard to figure out everything to teach you, so I try to teach you things as soon as you start asking or showing an interest. This world is so big and I know you want to understand how every little thing works.

You have this book from the library about how cars work. It's really long and detailed and super boring... but, you love it. You like when I read to you about the carburetors and pistons.

Lately, you have been mimicking the babies.  You like to act just like them. If other people don't know what you're doing, you just look like a 3 year old who hasn't learned to talk yet. You just make an, "ahhhhhhh" sound as you point your finger or bat at my face like the babies do.

You love crawling around with your cute sisters. It makes them giggle as they follow you around the house. They think you are hilarious in everything you do... until you take their toys away, which happens quite often... then, they look at me and cry.

You are seriously testing every boundary these days. We thought we understood terrible two's... and we didn't think they were too bad... then in the last few months, it hit. You are learning that you can choose what you do and that you do not always have to choose to do what we ask you.

You spend a lot of time in time out. We are trying so hard to discipline you in the right way. We want you to grow up a well-rounded person who understands choices and consequences. We want you to make the right choice because you want to. We try to let you have choices and offer consequences... sometimes you just don't care and so we try harsher and harsher consequences to get you to care. It doesn't always work because you are stubborn and are a little young to understand a consequence.

Everything we do, we try to think about the outcome in the longterm. We pray for you and your personal growth. You often test what we'll do by hitting your sisters or pushing them over. This is really hard for us because we don't want them to get hurt, and in turn we don't want you to think that's the way to get a big reaction out of us (like you seem to enjoy getting).

We love that you explore everywhere and you love new things and places.

You are thrilled to visit cousins or grandparents or aunts and uncles. You just love family. You are so aware of the special love and bond there. Ryan and Becca's family visited our home a couple weeks ago and you were all in heaven playing together. It was so sweet to watch as you and Annie held hands everywhere you went and had your sweet little conversations.

You went to Disneyland for the first time with your cousins that week too! You absolutely loved it. You actually went to Disneyworld when you were about 16 months old, but you were too young to enjoy the magic. Disneyland, for you, was so magical. You got to meet Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and Winnie the Pooh. You went on endless rides that brought Disney movies to life. You still talk about it. We got you a Buzz Lightyear Figure with wings that pop out when you push a button... you love it and call it your special Disneyland toy.

At Disneyland, you went on your first rollercoaster and at the end said, "again" and got really sad when we had to get off. You didn't get scared on any of the rides, which was a shocker. There are some scary parts and you would flinch or act scared, but you would love talking about it and you never had nightmares. So, yay! :)

You love singing songs, you make up songs all the time about anything.

You love blanket forts.

You just finished your first set of swim lessons. Grandma Terry taught you for 2 weeks, we'd drive the 30 minutes to their house for the lesson. One time you cried all the way through... but the rest were pretty successful. You love to show off. You can now put your face under water with confidence, you do the crab walk, you can drop in the water next to the pool edge, turn around and grab the wall, you can almost swim to grandma (you mostly bicycle your legs and start sinking, pretty cute).

You love your racecar. You have a red racecar, Lightning McQueen, that you have to have everywhere with you.

For dinner you mostly eat chicken nuggets, pureed carrots, beans, spaghetti, tofu. You rarely branch out of that. Oh, and rice or pasta sometimes.

Your best friends are Jonas and Seren. You and Jonas get in a lot of fights, but you love to play together.

You are in 3T clothes. The pants are the perfect length, but the shirts (which you have been wearing since your 2nd birthday, are starting to get small.

You are very tall and look much older than you are. You are quite handsome.

You love to put on makeup with mommy. You mostly use eyeshadow and my eyeshadow brush to put it on just one eyebrow really dark. You say, "I'm so handsome. Mommy, you're so cute."

Whenever I walk downstairs dressed up with my hair done, you say, "Mommy, you're so cute." or "pretty." Daddy has trained you well.

You love being outside. You love to play in the water.

You like to repeat what we say. You'll whisper back to us what we said or sang.

You love playing on our phones (which are little computers - I have the iphone 4s right now).

You love to be silly. You have a funny walk and a funny voice that you do.

You often steal food off the babies trays.

You like to lock and unlock doors. You locked me out once. It was stressful as I could hear Sylvie crying inside.

You listen pretty well. You like to be obedient and you like to make us happy.

We just put up a baby gate and you could spend all day opening and closing that gate as you go back and forth through it.

You like to be a big boy and do things just like us.

We love you so much! We love your kisses and cuddles. We love your infectious laugh. We love your independence. Keep exploring and trying new things. We love you forever.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

What's that on your chin mommy?

Oh, a polkadot?

Haha. Referring to a zit on my chin. 

My House is a Temple

Dylan: I just love my house.
Mommy: You do? What do you love about your house?
Dylan: It has doors.
Mommy: What else do you love about your house?
Dylan: My house is a temple. I can go in church with lots of nice kids.
Mommy: What else does your house have?
Dylan: My cousins.
Mommy: Does that make you happy?
Dylan: That just makes me so happy. Yes. My cousins.
Mommy: What else?
Dylan: Nice kids singing songs. Singing the temple song. Yes.

I love hearing what makes you happy. I hope these things forever make you happy.

Playtime

(As you look over at the clock...)

Dylan: Hmmmm, what time is it? Oh, it's playtime! It's 30 o'clock! It's time for playtime!

Cookiebread Man

We read the book The Gingerbread Man tonight for bed and you called the Gingerbread Man the "Cookiebread Man" and it really made me smile.

We went to Disneyland last Friday and you LOVED it. We left the twins with Grandma Terry and Jake. You met Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and Winnie the Pooh. You went on your first roller coaster in Toon Town and got really sad to get off, "again!"

We played out back in our new pool for the first time today and you loved it. It's quite slippery, so you fell a few times... as did the twins... not sure what to do about that. Oh well.

In other news:

You are getting to be quite defiant. You refuse to just sit in timeout and climb the stairs or run around... you also hit your sisters to prove your point... which is...? That you don't have to listen to us? I think.

You eventually get to your sweet self again, you come over to say sorry, you give your sisters hugs and kisses. It's so sweet.

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.