I'm Potty Trained!

Not me, you. You're potty trained!! What a big boy!!

You are only 20 months old and officially potty trained. We are THRILLED! We used the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" and it totally worked! My mom, your grandma Jill, actually used this method on us... and it worked. We were 2 when potty trained, my siblings and I. I would have waited, but since we're expecting twin girls this summer I had to get you out of diapers so that I didn't feel like my life was consumed by changing diapers. :) Plus, I needed time for you to get used to it... Grandma says I was very ambitious potty training you so early.

I have to say, the ONLY hard thing about potty training you this young is that you don't like pulling underwear or pants down because it's hard and you get frustrated.

We started potty training Monday morning... closely following the method of this book... and you did not seem to like it. We're supposed to do 10 positive practice trials, and you were bawling by the third one... so I stopped. You peed on the floor once, we did a couple practices and you helped clean it up. The next time you started to pee on the floor, I caught you a second into it and we ran to the potty for you to finish.

After that, every time I asked you if you needed to go pee pee on the potty you would clearly answer "yes" or "no" and if the answer was yes, then we'd go to the potty and you'd pee and it was simple as that. I let you nap in your diaper, you're too young to go without diapers for naps and at night.

After you woke up, you were potty trained. You went to the potty without any prompting. You just ran in there whenever you needed to go. You go pee in your potty, dump the pee in the toilet, put the seat back in place, then flush the toilet. It is sooooo cute. Side note: you were naked from the waist down that first day.

Tuesday: Day 2. I decided let's put on underwear, you mastered the first part so quickly, pulling down underwear and understanding wet and dry can't be that hard. After the first couple trips to the potty, you decided pulling down underwear was too hard. You don't tell me when you have to pee, so I have to watch you closely because you silently run to the potty and go. You couldn't get the underwear down one time so you just sat down to pee and peed in the underwear. The next time you had to pee, I asked if you needed to and you said, "no" and stared at me as you peed your pants. Ugh!! I was so frustrated!! You were frustrated! But, we did all the positive practices and I explained your underwear were wet and that was disappointing to mommy. The next time, you peed in your underwear again! Nothing I did had made any difference. So, I took off the underwear... and suddenly you were trained again. No accidents. Well, sometimes you stand up mid-pee to watch it and it ends up on the bathroom floor... but that's ok. I get that watching your pee is pretty cool.

Wednesday: Day 3. I tried underwear again, I felt like I couldn't go back once I started it. You would get so mad at me for asking if you had to go pee pee, I almost untrained you. You made it through playgroup without an accident. But you cried when I made you go pee before we left. So, we came home and I decided to just let you go naked and let you get used to the potty for awhile. You were perfectly trained again. You must like being naked. :P

Thursday: Day 4. Naked Day. Success. Maybe one accident out of over 10 bathroom trips. Pretty good. I never once asked you if you had to go. But I gave you treats for being dry.

Friday: Day 5. First outing. Dadda's law buddies were going to dinner at The Library, delicious. We showed you where the potty was. We packed 2 extra pairs of pants just in case and we brought along your potty seat (the kind that goes on top of the toilet). Half way through dinner you announced you had to pee pee and it was great. Accident free. Success. That felt so good. Then we went bowling. We ended up asking you to go after awhile because we were so paranoid. But, you happily went. We could not believe when we came home after being out for over 3 hours that we had made it accident free!

It's nice to not be super terrified of going in public. I'm still not sure how to swing it at the park if you have to pee... there's no potty there. Walmart makes me nervous too since the toilet is so far away from shopping. Oh well. Baby steps. We're almost there! You are such a big boy and we are so proud of how fast you picked up on potty training. Once you get the dexterity to easily pull down your underwear it will be even better. :)

20 Months

Happy 20 months my child! You are so big! It's hard sometimes at the park because people expect you to be older than you are. So, when you go up the big tall slide, which is your favorite... and kids climb up behind you and you stop just to turn around and look at them for a minute before continuing up... people ask, "How old is he?" Because it is not until that moment that they realize you must be younger than you look... as the line of 4 kids piles up behind you anxious to get up to the slide and you just want to turn around and look at them and say hi. haha. You're so funny!

You say "weeeeeee" when you go down slides or do something that you think is fun.

We've finally had some nice weather in Laramie this week so we've gone to the park a lot, sometimes even twice a day. We have yet to leave without a lovely fit thrown by you. You just love the park and hate leaving all the fun. You're favorite are the slides. You made me go down the tall slide with you the first couple days, but now you go all by yourself over and over. (mind you, this is Laramie, the slide is not that safe going up, steep stairs and pretty easy to fall off). You don't like the swings very much, you last for a few minutes then you're done.

We went to Mt. Rushmore this week for dadda's spring break. You loved it. The car ride was fine as you just watched your cartoon songs the whole time, you're getting really good at the letters and making their sounds with it. We visited a Mammoth sink hole and saw tons of mammoth bones and you loved that part of the trip.

You love books.

You love sand, rocks, grass, pennies, quarters, anything little that can be put into a container and dumped out again.

You love music and just started "conducting" in our pew at church. You bob your head to the music and sway back and forth as you try to sing.

You love animals. You say all the sounds of all the animals. You pound your chest for the gorilla, make a fishy face, quack, hiss, etc. It's so cute, you make the noises all day. In the morning when you wake up you wake up making monkey noises and lion growls because you see animals all over your room. We can't get you to not growl during sacrament at church, and people think it's hilarious every time you do it.

You enjoy somersaults. If you do it yourself, you put your head down, then roll on your side. haha. You even do somersaults at the grocery store.

You love to help at the grocery store, you have to walk and push the cart and sometimes I'm not allowed to touch the cart if you're pushing it... even though you can't see. You love running around the store and find treats everywhere that you try to sneak in the cart. You understand very well that what goes in the cart, comes home.

Since you're allergic to milk and eggs, your snacks are usually fruity ones. This works out well for me because I don't eat many fruity candies, so I don't try to eat all your treats. :) You love starbursts, skittles, airheads, suckers, and oreos (no, that's not a fruity treat).

Your favorite dinner is spaghetti with meat sauce. You devour it.

You love cuddles and sitting in our lap. You always have to be in a room where someone else is. You do not like being alone.

You love friends, nursery, playgroup. You cried leaving church today because you were sick you couldn't go to nursery. It was sad.

Your hair is long and curly again.

You're wearing 2T clothes and size 6 shoes, and have been for about a month now.

You're a sponge and love to learn. You want to know what everything is. Everything that you know, you point out a million times a day. Hair, nose, eyes, cheeks, knees, toes, animals, books, dinosaurs, blankies, doggies, grass, rocks, cars, teeth, choo choo train, apple, etc. etc. etc.

You love to color.

When you drop something you say, "woop" which is what I say. haha. You little copycat. You still mimic all sounds you hear.

Your big into fake falling "woooooooee" and making a loud crashing sound when you hit the ground. Your cars also fly all over and get crashing sound effects when they hit the ground.

You carry 3 cars with you everywhere. You grab one, put the next in the crook of that arm, then grab the third car. When you set them down, you line them up in a row.

You're currently learning colors, I think you have a few down pretty well. You also surprise us when you'll bring in a "B" block and say "Beee!" It's amazing what you know.

You're still a momma's boy. You always want to be with momma, luckily, you're starting to loosen up a bit and will go to daddy even if mommy's in the room. I think spring break really helped having him around a lot more.

You love the outdoors and want to get outside anytime we can... this is why we're hoping to find a job in a warmer climate than wyoming... well, we like warm too. You get mad and throw a fit every time I make you come inside after we're outside.

You still get over your fits pretty fast, but you still throw yourself on the floor, tears come pouring, and your face looks soooo sad!

You love smiles, tickles, giggling, cuddles, kisses, hugs. You're such a little sweetheart. We love you so much. You are such a light in our home and we're so grateful to have you.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

19 Months

My favorites -
I love when I look at you and smile, you always look back and give me the biggest smile and start laughing. You just love me, and I just love you.
I love how you say thank you to everything. You even thanked me for buckling you into your car seat the other day.

You just upgraded to a big boy bed... meaning, we took one side of your crib off and replaced it with a little 3 inch railing. You absolutely love it! It's so cute. The last two nights (since you've had the bed like this) you beg to go to bed and you run into it, climb in and giggle as you curl up to go night night. It's so sweet. The only problem... you fell out of it twice last night. I checked on you at 11pm last night and you were asleep on the floor, so I put you back in bed. Then, at 4am you woke up crying, I ran in there and you were sitting on the floor confused and crying. It was so sad. But, there's this 3 inch ledge that you must be climbing over in your sleep to get out. We don't have any idea how you kept getting out in your sleep. In the morning you were in bed just saying "Owie" until we came in and got you.

You're big on saying "owie" probably because you know we'll coddle you if you're hurt, and you love the hugs and love... which we give you anyway, of course. :)

You're a big kisser. You sometimes get so kissy that you'll hold a kiss for quite awhile. You love hugs, you pat our backs when you're hugging us.

You love music and cartoons. You love to dance, you'll copy any dance moves you see. My favorite is your booty dance, you get down low and shake it. haha.

You're going to be a big brother in 6 months! We're hoping you gain a little more independence by then, you're still very attached to mommy, you just love me and want me to hold you all the time (except, of course, when you want to play).

Your curly hair is growing back out.

You love running and playing with other kids. You're getting very territorial and do not like sharing your toys. You know how to keep a toy away from another kid by dodging their grabs.

When we drop daddy off at school, you burst into tears crying, "Dadda!" It's so sad, you get over it pretty quickly though.

You're still a picky eater. You hate pbj sandwiches. You love chicken nuggets and fries. You love grapes. You love froot loops.

You laugh during prayers. You fold your arms, bow your head, then giggle. You last about 30 seconds and then you're goofing off.

You mimic every sound you hear, from any person, child, baby, or animal. If we taught you an animal sound like, "meow" and you hear a cat then you perfect it and say, "wow" because that's closer to what you heard. You mimic cries, laughs, yells, grunts, coughs, squeals, etc.

When you want a cartoon you say "tee" and point to your teeth. I'm not sure if you think the tv is the same name as teeth? It's pretty cute though.

You're pretty obedient, unless you think it's really funny. You hit, and that's funny to you, so that's probably most of your time outs. But, if I ask you to put a toy away, you're quick to go pick it up and put it away.

You bring me your shoes and beg for your coat if we act like we're about to leave, you do not want to get left behind.

You run away from me all.the.time. Getting shoes on, you run away so I have to chase you (sounds contradictory to the last post, but they are both very true). If we going out to the car, you run down the walk so I have to catch you to get you in. If it's time to get dressed, you run to the opposite side of the apartment and hide... you eventually wander back in if I don't chase you. You're a very good boy... you just like to have fun while being obedient. :)

You're a goof. You make faces at us and at yourself in the mirror.

You like having your teeth brushed. But sometimes say, "owie" the whole time.

You love drinks. You love milk and juice (we water both down because you drink so much). This makes you have tons of full wet diapers throughout the day. The only way I can get you to not drink so much is put water in your bottle, then you only take a drink if you're thirsty, not for a treat.

Aunt Mette's family came here last week and you kept wanting to hold Austin (8 months old).

You love to smile and laugh, you love to be a part of the conversation and insert your thoughts, you love conversations and laugh when I have one with only you.

You say, "ya" all the time. I finally taught it to you after you were so stuck on "no!" even when you wanted something. Now, you understand "ya" is how you tell me that you actually want it.

You bring crackers to me if you want them. You know how to get things or where to look for items you want.

Your favorite toys are the cars you drive everywhere (little ones you hold), and blocks that you can stack or put on your fingers. You still love books and could read them all day.

Your latest obsession is with animal noises. You kept showing the family in front of us at church the lion and growling on Sunday. You're very good at the animals and want me to teach you new animals... but I don't know what a gazelle says or dung beetle... so you just get confused when those magnets come up in your animal book. Sometimes we hear you in the middle of the night or in the morning in bed making monkey noises. Your blanket has monkeys on it, so it's the first thing you see. Auntie Maren made you that blanket.

We love you to pieces our dear Dylan. You are the light of our lives and bring so much joy into our family. You make us happier than we ever imagined. We can only hope to do the same for you. We love you forever and a day. Mwah.

Can You Whisper?

Yesterday.

We were reading a book where Mr. Brown can make all kinds of sounds. One page is about how he can whisper whisper.

So, I'm whispering to you and I ask, "Dylan, can you whisper whisper whisper?"

You immediately fold your arms and bow your head for prayer, then you peek up at me to see if you're doing it right. It was soooo sweet!

I love you.

18 Months

You are finally old enough to officially go to nursery... as my calling is in nursery, you've been in there since about 9 months old. Daddy joins us in there too, why not? :)

Photo: From the cruise, you playing with Jaxon, your cousin who is 9, you love him more than you love mommy. :)

Vocabulary: You can say around 40 words, we tried counting and it really got up there. You repeat anything we ask you to, not that it sounds exactly like it, but it sure is cute. You can make most animal sounds, I need to video that. The monkey "oo oo oo, ah ah ah", the elephant you're pretty good at, the rooster, "cock-ah", etc.You communicate pretty well and can tell us what you want.

Manners: You have such sweet manners. You say please and thank you for everything. Seriously. It's been great, you don't really fuss much... sometimes you keep saying please and forget to tell me what it is you want so it takes awhile to figure out why you're saying please over and over.

Places Visited This Month: You went on your first cruise out of LA, CA down the Baja to Puerta Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and La Paz... your first visit to Mexico. We visited grandparents in Utah and California... all 3 sets. We went to Fort Collins, CO to go shopping and you made it over the Cheyenne to see your cousin, Darby get baptized.

Dylan at 18 Months:

• You are very jealous. I still cannot hold another baby without you running over and fussing for me to pick you up too.
• You sleep from about 7:30-7:30 or 8:00. We love it.
• You take one nap every day from about 12-2.
• You're a good traveler as long as you have your dvd player, which plays songs with cartoons dancing, sometimes you sing and dance along.
• You love hugs and kisses. You hug all of your friends.
• You're a momma's boy, you choose mommy over anybody.
• You're a goof. You love to watch yourself in the mirror making faces, fussing, growling, laughing, etc.
• You love making faces at people and when they make faces back you laugh.
• You love cars, balls, music, water (to play in), books (esp if they have flips or parts to remove) and your sippy cup.
• You like watching cartoons in the morning: sesame street, barney, dinosaur train, whatever is on. If you're in the other room playing and I turn off the tv, you run out and beg for me to turn it back on... you're like mommy... you like the background noise.
• You love wearing hats. If you find one, you put it on... and giggle.
• If I go anywhere near the front door, you run over as if you're scared I'm going to leave you. You start begging for your coat right away. You don't even like me to take out the garbage without bringing you (and it is COLD outside).
• You follow me around in the morning. You pick out the toy you want to play with and bring it in by my computer, then when I go to the kitchen you pick it up and follow me in there, then you follow me to the bathroom, etc. It's pretty cute.
• You still say "no" a lot and you do not say "yes" at all. If you want something you either repeat the word or look at me in silence waiting for it. 
• You did you first somersault yesterday in Sacrament meeting. haha.
• When you have friends over you do not like sharing your toys. You're very territorial.
• You love the colored pencils, sometimes you even draw with them... but, mostly you take them out of the box and put them back in, over and over.
• You love cuddling with mommy or daddy and with stuffed animals. 

We just love you to pieces. We are so grateful to have you in our lives. 

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

New Coat

You got this adorable new coat from Grandma Jill as an early Christmas present.

Here is proof that you don't always love when I run away to snap pictures of you. 

Yes, I agree, you should be the model for this coat. You are too cute!

16 Months Old

16 Months Old

25 Pounds

Uber Tall

Vocabulary: Thank you, no (said constantly), peek-a-boo ("pay-a-boo"), baby, more ("mo"), nose ("no"), eye, toes ("toe"), cheek, bye-bye, ow, etc. You don't really say your s's but you pick up on so many words so easily. You're a smarty pants. 

My dear sweet Dylan,

You are 16 months old today. I feel like I was just writing your 15 month letter yesterday. I'm already starting to miss your babyness. :) I love you so much. My heart just melts even thinking about you. 

You are becoming such a character. You find hilarity in almost any moment. You laugh when we bow our heads and pray. You just giggle. Then you'll try to mock it (fold your arms, bow your head) and look up at us and start laughing again. haha. 

You make faces at yourself in the mirror every day. You watch yourself smile, laugh, pucker lips, jump, dance, and even fake cry. 

You mimmic everything. You try to repeat a lot of words we say. If another kid cries, you will try to make the same sound and you'll distort your face to look like you're crying too. If we laugh, you laugh... this entertains large groups of people very easily. 

You love hugs. You give every kid a hug. You even kissed Lillie Killpack today (your 18 month old friend). Then she licked your cheek. haha.

You are independent, yet check to make sure I'm there. You like to walk off by yourself, but will check every 10 feet to make sure I'm behind you still. At home you like to sit on my lap while I work at the computer, you push all the keys on the keyboard and play with the mouse... it's hard to get work done with you here, but you are pretty cute acting like you have so much business to attend to. You like to play in the same room that I'm in, you do not like to go off by yourself.

We finally weaned you from the bottle. You're now using a sippy cup, happily. You were way attached to the bottle, so I'm glad the second time we tried to wean you it worked with only a few frustrated no's. 

No. You say "no" ALL.THE.TIME. You love that word. If you don't understand what I'm asking you, you think for a second because you don't want to say no if it's something you want. We sometimes ask you things just to hear your cute little "no." You'll even come to my face, point at me, and yell, "NO!" You may have learned that from me.

I make loud noises sometimes, just joking around or if I'm frustrated... you copy all of them. 

You understand what time out is now... but you don't really mind it. You find it a funny game to sneak away from the wall, have me "yell" at you to get back, and you run back to the wall. 

If Dadda or I are lying down, you like to come put your face right over ours and talk to us. 

You're a little chatterbox. You say hi to everyone. You say hi to every stuffed animal, action figure, picture of people on boxes or magazines, etc. When you say "hi" you smile and wait for a response and you'll say hi over and over until you get a response from someone. You also will lean forward and put your face in another kid's face to say hi.

You like to talk all day long. I'm pretty sure you think you make sense. It's fun to hear you try to learn a new word. Today it was "grapes" and you just kept make a "pake" type sound. It was so cute!

If we're at home, you can be a handful, but still pretty easy. If we're in public, you are sooo easy! You are so entertained by other people you barely think about your own needs. 

Immediately upon entering the car, you start to point at the radio and fuss until I turn it on. If I turn it down at any point, you fuss until it's turned up to the proper volume. You love music. You love any cartoon that is singing, cartoon-talking is boring.

You love to draw. You've discovered markers, pens, pencils, etc. and you always want to play with them and write all over things. You learned you can write on your hand and that entertained you for awhile.

I found you one day last week with blush all over your face. It was pretty funny. I didn't have time to take a picture because we had to run out the door.

You just got your last canine in yesterday. YAY! You now have all of your first 16 teeth... should be a break now from your teething tears. You poor thing.

You're sleeping like an angel again since you're not sick and you're done teething.

You're still allergic to milk and eggs, we're crossing our fingers this allergy goes away... for now, I'm continuously learning of new foods I can feed you as I used to feel so limited without milk. 

You had your first Halloween. You were a soccer player from Ireland. You really got the hang of getting candy from everyone. You got to have your first sucker, pixie stick, skittles, starburst, laffy taffy, sweetarts, etc. The only thing you didn't love was sweetarts and starburst. 

It's been so much fun watching you learn and grow. You get really focused on different projects and you're so curious to understand how things work. You know how to turn on and off almost everything in the apartment, including all of your toys. You are mad that you haven't yet figured out how to take the lid off of your sippy cup (hopefully that will take awhile). You love opening and closing doors. People always comment on how it looks like you're trying to figure something out or comment that you're a thinker. 

After I change your poopy diaper, I put it in a sack to take out to the dumpster (they stink up our apartment). You love to play with the sack and you always want to carry it to the dumpster and throw it in yourself.

You've started hitting yourself in the head and you say "Ow" every time you hit it.

You give us kisses with flat lips. The last couple of days you've been practicing puckering your lips for kisses. You'll watch yourself in the mirror to make sure you're doing it right, then you'll lean in for a proper kiss. :)

You love to laugh. You love when daddy comes home. You love to dance and you love when people notice you dancing. You love nursery at church. You love to play with other kids. You don't mind being babysat, we've never had a problem leaving you with someone.You prefer if I come and get you in the morning rather than daddy, probably because you're used to it and you like a schedule.

I've started a photography business, who knows how long I'll keep it up... but for now, you're my number one subject. I LOVE this picture of you.

I love you forever and a day! 

Love,

Mommy