Dylan: You're my mommy?
Mommy: Yes, and you're my son.
Dylan: You're my moon.
Mommy: I love you.
Dylan: I love you.
(Big smiles from both of us)
I love you!

Bedtime Story

We read the book, "Baby Signs" tonight. Here is how you read it to me -

"B-A-B-Y S-I-G-N-S" BABY
"R-E-P-A-I-D" DIAPER
"S-T-R-U-H T-I" HURT
"E-M P-L-E-H" HELP ME
"Y-M-M-O-M" MOMMY
"Y-D-D-A-D" DADDY
"X-O-O-B" BOOK (THE K LOOKS LIKE AN X)

Apparently, you have decided that you spell words backwards... except for the title. haha. It was so cute! The first time we read it you did "S-T-R-U-H T-I" OWIE! haha. That was really cute. There are pictures with the words... so I assume you just looked at the picture and deduced what the word was. Pretty impressive!! My smart little boy.

Hilarious

Dylan, you are so cute. Today you said "Mommy pretty " So I said thank you so much, Dylan is handsome. You giggled. And I repeated, Dylan you are too handsome. You pulled the blanket off your head and smiled up at me and said, "Dylan two handsome! "As you held up both hands showing me that you have two of them. Ha ha. I love you.

Monsthers!

You love monsters. You love stories about monsters. You love dragons. "Cary dragons"

Everything is scary to you. Monsters and dragons are the main two things you'll say are in your room, then you'll run out to me to cuddle. You'll do it a lot of the time just for cuddles... but, lately you have genuinely become scared of monsters or dragons in your closet.

You are having a hard time sleeping through the night. You are up a few times most nights (once in awhile you sleep through the night). You get up, turn on your room light (we do have a bright night light in your room), and then just knock on the door until someone comes to get you. It usually turns into pounding on the door. Sometimes you climb back into bed and fall asleep... other times, you just don't give up and it will turn into tears... and we will come and tuck you back into bed.

We love you so much that we have a hard time not coming when you call us. But, it sure is getting rough on us getting woken up throughout the night by you and your sisters. In fact, they are sleeping better than you lately. Even though they are only 2.5 months old!

It made me so sad tonight when you started crying, I rushed in (we were still up feeding babies). You pointed at the closet and said "Happy dragons, there." So, even though we tell you "happy dragon" stories, they are still, nonetheless scary. You were so scared and started saying "Monthers (monsters) and dragons."

We looked in the closet together and made sure there were no dragons or monsters. I finally got you into bed and taught you how your blanket protects you and keeps you safe. Your doggy keeps you safe and your bunny keeps you safe. Then, I asked if you wanted to say a prayer... and you folded your arms immediately.

I asked Heavenly Father to keep you safe through the night and help you feel His love and His spirit so that you could sleep peacefully and happily. I know you felt the spirit because you were calm after and went to sleep. You were even calm through the prayer and said, "Amen" at the end. You are never calm through prayers... maybe 1 out of 30 prayers. I know you felt the spirit and I know that Heavenly Father comforted you in that moment when you needed His comfort in your room all by yourself.

I hope that you can soon understand that you can pray anytime you need comfort. I will continue to show you how and hope that you will learn by example. I love you so much and I'm so grateful for moments like these when we have Heavenly Father watching over us and showing us His love. I'm grateful for this reminder, that He loves us all, big and small.

26.5 Months Old

Wow, where did the last couple months go? Oh, that's right, your two adorable and sweet little sisters were born on August 7th in Salt Lake City. You absolutely love Sylvie and Axie. It is just so fun to watch you with them. I've gotten a little behind on your updates since taking care of you three pretty much takes all of our time! It's so worth it and fun, I just wish I had more of it documented. Oh well.

You are a little chatterbox and I wanted to write down a few of my favorite phrases of yours.

Everything crashes. "Crash!" - always followed by a giggle.
"Mommy cuggle" - when you want to cuddle with mommy. I love it!
"Yong" - when you want us to sing you a song.
"Tory" - when you want a story.
"Ahhh! Monters!" - you think there are monsters in your closet.

I wish I could capture your facials in words. You are so expressive and act out everything you think is happening.

"Cary Monters" - Scary monsters, then you run into my lap so I can protect you.
"Big crash"
"Gickle" - tickle mommy or sylvie or axie, etc.
"Wub you" - Love you
"Miss mommy"

You are Mr. Opposite. No matter what we say, the answer is "no." If we say up, you say down. Literally. You answer "no" on accident to a lot of things you actually want to do, so then you'll rethink and say "ya."

"Mommy, come" - you have become very shy and want mommy or daddy to come with you everywhere. Even down all the slides at the park.

You know all the animals by name. You love animals more than anything.

You still love your cars and especially trains.

You love giving your sisters kisses. "Kith Akie"

"Fwake" - if someone is awake
"Sleep"
"Mommy yone?" - can I play with your phone?
"Coon" - cartoon
"Daddy, see?" - Daddy, come look at what I made.

You've put up to 6 words together in a sentence. You are learning new words every day. You seem anxious to learn and love naming everything you see. Right now you are sitting on the floor behind me naming every animal in "My Big Animal Book." It's so cute! I wish I had my video camera right here.

You love music. You're a little shy with dancing and usually tell me and daddy to stop dancing... haha... other times you'll giggle and dance with us.

23 Months

Dear Dylan,

You are one month away from being 2 years old! You are such a fun little character. We just love every stage you go through and love watching you learn and grow.

You've spent this month in Park City, UT. Mommy is on bed rest until your twin sisters are born, so Grandma Jill and Aunt Maren are helping take care of you while mommy can't get up very often. You are in heaven here. One week Grandma Terry came out and played with you constantly. This week Rulan and Annie are here visiting and you just love Annie. You two giggle at everything the other one does. You ask for her every morning first thing and you even cry going to bed because she's not with you.

You at 23 months

• You carry your school bus (boo bus - with a lisp) everywhere and a little micro machine ambulance which you call the baby bus. 
• Your train is your other favorite toy. It's electric and goes around a track. You love having it go all over Grandma's hardwood kitchen floor. 
• You love milk and choose it over juice any day.
• You could watch school bus videos and sing "Wheels on the Bus" all day. 
• When you count, it's "One, two, one." 
• You're a little cautious, when other kids jump off the couch, you like to jump to somebody. We appreciate as we don't have to worry too much about what risks you'll take.
• You always "see" a rabbit everywhere, in cupboards, corners, closets. 
• You love animals. You love looking out the windows for birds. You love smashing ants. You'll lay down on the ground to get a closer look at any bug. You're going to the zoo tomorrow and I know you'll just go crazy for all the animals there. The other day at a museum you started crying when you saw stuffed bobcats and other big animals because you were so scared. 
• You love belly hugs. You life my or dad's shirt all the way up and lift up your shirt then you lay on us with our bellies touching. It's so sweet. 
• You're still a momma's boy, but you ask for daddy a lot more these days since mommy got boring and just lays on the couch all day on bed rest. 
• You love hugs, kisses, and cuddles. Many other moms comment how their kids won't cuddle with them the way you cuddle with me, all the time. You like to hide your mouth with your hands when we ask for kisses. 
• You love being tickled all over.
• You love using your vocabulary and will narrate everything. "Tickle" "Burp" "Cough" "Funny" "On" (when the tv turns on) "Coon" (cartoon) are just a few of my favorites. 
• You're starting to connect more words, but still not many sentences. 
• You have the bounciest run and love to walk around on tiptoes. You even bounce sideways in a sase move like dancing. 
• You love jumping and turning 180's in the air. 
• You're into sound effects for cars, crashes, airplanes, trains, going down stairs (uh, uh, uh, every step), etc.
• You're very polite with please and thank you.
• You love sundried tomato and basil wheat thins, clementines, strawberries, and cookies.
• I love when you run into my arms for a hug. 
• It's sad because I can't carry you with my pregnancy right now and it breaks my heart when you just cry to be picked up. At least we still get plenty of cuddle time lying down.
• You're quite a bit taller than Annie (who is one month younger than you) and only a couple inches shorter than Rulan (who is 1.5 years older than you). You look much older than you are.
• You have such a sweet personality. You get shy around new people and chat like crazy around people you know.
• You love laughing and making funny faces. 
• You know a lot of the letters of the alphabet by sight. 
• You're very obedient and most the time will stop doing something if I ask you to.
• You don't like to share. If Rulan comes in the room, you will quickly pick up all the cars you can and hide them behind your back so he can't have them. 

We love you, of course. We love you more every day and will always love you for just being you. Happy 23 months!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

22 Months

Dear Dylan,

Happy 22 Months! Right now you are running around outside exploring with Aunt Maren. You are having so much fun with her. I'm jealous I can't join you. I've been on strict horizontal bed rest for almost 3 weeks now and we've decided to move in with Grandma Jill. Maren is here helping us pack, clean, and move out there. She just moved in there, too. They will be your stand-in parents for the time being. I'm not supposed to be upright in order to keep you baby twin sisters safe and healthy in my belly for another few months, and daddy is studying really hard for the California Bar Exam... so, we needed some help with family to keep you happy and taken care of.

It breaks my heart to watch everyone else get to chase you around and take you to the park. But, I know this is only temporary and I can hardly wait for your little sisters to get here so we can all go and play together.

Here in Laramie you have been going to a new friends house every day for a few hours, and you have been having a blast. You love your friends and you have been so good for those watching you. You just giggle and play and copy the other kids. Everyone's report is the same, "He's sooooo easy!" You really are such a good boy.

We've moving to Park City in a couple days and I'm sure you'll love living with Grandma and Grandpa even more than seeing all your friends here. They just adore you.

You at 22 months:

• Your vocabulary continues to astound me. You pick up new words everywhere. You try explaining things to us and I feel so bad when I can't understand you... most the time we know what you're saying though. 
• You love buses. We sing the Wheels on the Bus everywhere we go, you ask for it by saying "bus" and rolling your arms round and round. You just got a school bus as a gift from someone who watched you because you held onto their bus the whole time you were at their place. This morning you woke up asking for your bus and last night you fell asleep with the bus in your hand. When you say "bus" you articulate clearly and say your "s" with your tongue between your teeth, kind of like a lisp. It's so cute. 
• Your new train is your other favorite toy. You could watch it go around the track over and over. You'll pretend to put things in its' path then yank them off the track right before the train gets to it. 
• You are full of giggles and if we just smile at you, you start laughing.
• You love your dinosaur dvd and ask for it every day. Since I'm on bed rest, we have watched it a lot. 
• You're potty trained as long as we're at home. You gave up other places so we just put a diaper on you when we go out.
• You love hugs and kisses. You kiss my belly saying "babies"... not sure if you understand there are babies in there. :) You always climb on me, while I'm lying down on bed rest, and just lay on me hugging me. I love you.
• We can't really do laundry or any project really, you like to throw the clothes all over the place or dig everything out of boxes. 
• Your run is a bouncy run on your tip toes... it's so funny. Everyone loves it and comments on it. 
• When you kiss you do big puckered lips. 
• You love to crawl around the floor acting like a horse, dog, lion, froggy, etc.
• You love playing in the sink, you love water and pouring it between multiple containers.
• You love milk and juice, "muck" and "jjuu". You do not like drinking water.
• You love going outside, if you hear us say "outside" you run to the door and knock on it until we leave. You love rocks, dirt, and exploring. You chase rabbits and birds and point out different cars, trucks, and buses.
• You love singing together. Your favorites are: Wheels on the bus, 3 Monkeys swing in the tree and the alligator snaps the monkey out of the tree, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes (you laugh super hard when we go super fast), Popcorn Popping, Twinkle Little Star, My Heavenly Father Loves Me (our nightly lullaby). 
• You like honey on your peanut butter toast.
• You like sharing your vocabulary and are always pointing out your elbow or cars or toes or chairs, etc. When you give a kiss, you say kiss. When you pee, you yell "pee pee". When you touch my hair you say, "hair". It's pretty adorable. You're so smart. 
• You love watching bus videos or videos of babies. 
• You love babies, we hope you love your sisters as much. You lay down and stare at babies and point out their eyes, nose, toes, etc.
• You love skyping grandma jill (video chat on the computer) and you just want to see all her animals the whole time... ducks, sheep, giraffe. 
• You love any animal and go crazy for dogs at the park. You neigh every time we drive by the horse statues around Laramie - you know where they are. 
• You ask for daddy a lot more during the day now.
• You like brushing your teeth and will bring your toothbrush and toothpaste to me at random times throughout the day.
• You now call us mommy and daddy, instead of momma and dadda. It's so sweet.

We will never stop loving you, you are the most fantastic, entertaining, sweet, giggly little boy there is. We love you forever. You can do no wrong in our eyes... I, honestly, have a hard time disciplining your because I just want you to be happy 100% of the time. I'm learning though because I know it's for your own good. I love love  love you!!! Happy 22 months my precious baby boy. 

Love, 

Mommy