High Heels

You're so cute when you're walking around half naked in mommy's shoes.
:)

 

21 MONTHS

My dearest Dylan,

You have really sprouted in the last few months. I can hardly believe we were just on the cruise in California 4 months ago where you were still more like a baby than toddler. You are so old now. You are so tall and so mature. You are starting to connect words together. Anything longer than one syllable you used to say "wee-wee" or "ma-ma" to replace the word, like mango's are "wee-wee's". But, now you can connect "thank you" with "dadda". It's so cute. You are so smart and learning so much every day. It's so fun to hear your new words and watch your understanding grow. You are the highlight of my days. Daddy and I love you more than life itself. We are constantly amazed at the love we feel for you and are constantly in awe that this kind of love exists.

You are getting two baby sisters this summer and we are so excited. We're not sure if you understand there are two babies in my belly, but you give them kisses and it is so precious. You love babies, you lie by them, and you just watch them... we think you may have a few jealousy issues at first, but you'll be the best big brother to them.

You are still a momma's boy. You loooooove mommy. I'm ok with it. Daddy gets a little jealous when you shriek at him coming near you when you just want mommy cuddle time. Most the time you love playing games with daddy, though.

You are so handsome. You have big beautiful eyes, everyone comments on them. You have such a sweet, fun personality. You giggle and love attention. I love your little fingers and toes. I love seeing your naked bum as you run around everywhere. You've been pants-less most the time while potty training.

You have such a sweet demeanor and love hugs and kisses. You kiss all your animals and cars. We just love you!

You at 21 months:

• You love to play with cars and trucks. You carry 3 cars everywhere. You also love trains and buses.
• If you see a semi-truck or a bus, you start "rolling" your arms and saying "buh" (bus)... and you start to fuss if we don't start singing "Wheels on the bus"... we sing that song multiple times every day. It is your favorite. 
• You love acting like different animals. We crawl all over the place acting like lions, cats, dogs, horses, elephants, frogs, etc. We hop around like a kangaroo, while you say "hop, hop, hop". 
• You jump off of everything that you can. You count one, two, three, jump! "boo, boo, boo, jump!"
• You generally wake up happy and only start to fake cry if I haven't come in to get you yet. When I come in the room, you smile at me and say something cute like, "hi" or "elbow" (pointing to your elbow) or "Di-so" (dinosaur - pointing to it on your sippy cup). Once we take off your diaper - since you're potty trained during the day - then you stand up and say "hodj-you" (hold you) and I pick you up and carry you to the living room where we cuddle for at least 30 minutes watching your cartoons. I love cuddling with you. You point out every animal in the cartoon and make sure that I see all the cool things you see. 
• Your favorite breakfast is oatmeal - most any flavor except strawberries and cream (you hate the red pieces in it). Every morning you ask for "oa-meal" - you don't quite say the "l". 
• You love cartoons. You always want the tv on even if it's not on a cartoon and even if you're not in the room. Sorry to say... we don't let you have your way on this one. :)
• You love cookies and treats, after going potty you like to remind us you get a cookie for going. 
• You love sitting in my lap, not next to me, it's getting hard since my pregnant belly is growing so fast with 2 babies in there... you're starting to not fit too well.
• You love the outdoors. You love running around our apartment complex, you love going to the park and you're pretty daring there (makes me nervous!), you love exploring and wandering anywhere new. 
• You love when dadda comes home. You used to get scared when you heard the door knob turning and would run to me, now you know it means dad is home and you run to the door and shout "DADDA!" when he walks in. It's so sweet.
• You love showing off all the body parts you know. Eye, nose, eyebrow, toes, knees, etc.
• You love singing songs. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes is a favorite. You giggle and giggle when we go super fast. 
• You are great at following instructions. You get anything we ask you to, including throwing things away if asked. 
• You love prayers. It's how we get you to bed easily. 
• You love brushing your teeth. You bring your toothbrush and toothpaste to me about 5 times every day saying "teeth?"
• You're usually outgoing... not a very shy kid... but sometimes you get uncomfortable and just sit quietly.
• You eat toast with peanut butter and honey for lunch every day. You don't like pb & jelly for some reason.
• If we're in the car we're either singing "Wheels on the Bus" or making horsey sounds because there are horse statues all over Laramie, WY and every time you see a bus or truck, we sing your favorite song.
• You make animal noises all day long. So cute!
• You have a "baby" - (Blankie) - that you carry everywhere around the house. You always want it on you and whine for it constantly because it's big and heavy and you can't easily get it up on the couch or around corners. 
• You always want to play in our bed. 
• You're a bit territorial and don't like sharing toys. If you find a better toy, then you'll hand over your other toy.
• Lastly, you're perfect and we love you. We could not ask for a more perfect Dylan. :)

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