Big Double Deuce

My big boy just chillaxin':Rockin' the post nap bedhead:Multi-tasking while talkin' to Mimi:

Video of Dylan singing his ending to "London Bridges" as "...My fair ladyBUG":

I am amazed I will have a 2 year old in 2 months. Because he loves all things transportation, and I know Tommy will get a huge kick out of it, I'm throwing Dylan a "Cars" themed party and got some of the supplies today. My baby can't really be this old, can he?

Proof that he is:

*Dylan got tooth # 10, it was the 4th tooth in about 2 weeks. This one was on his bottom right side, with space between it and his front teeth. It looks like he has 4 windows in his mouth.

*Out of his mouth: "belly button" "fishes" (also for whales and sharks) "cock-a-looda-loo" (cock-a-doodle-doo) "Come on, Shilo. Hold my hand." "I need some milk please." "I don't want it." "Gimme 5" "Ready, set, go!" "I love you very much!" "Thunder, ka-boom!" "For cryin' ou(t) loud" "Goodness sake" "Supa-man" (He has Superman jammies)

*When we read Eric Carle's book "From Head to Toe" he says, "Clap your hands" and "I can do it! Yeah!" (The "Yeah" comes from me getting excited when he would say it.)

*He can sing almost all of "I am a Child of God" and "Twinkle, Twinkle." He sings the "up" and "down" parts of "London Bridges" with his special ending. He laughs so hard during the chorus of "This Old Man." I am trying to get better footage of this, but performing on cue is not his specialty.

*It used to be when I told him, "Say please" he would just repeat "Please." Now he adds in the word "said" so it sounds like he's giving ME the command. "Say please, mama. Good mannas, sweet-a-bug!" I am going to be rendered obsolete if he keeps this up.

*He is learning to eat with a fork. He will say, "Poke it the fork. You did it, Di-yan!" Again, his own best cheerleader.

*He will hold his toy camera and say "Say cheese. Good one." Familiar?

*When he is deciding which book to read he will say, "Let's do..." It's the same thing I say when I am deciding what to feed him or what song to sing next.

*When he sees Tyler or Joey making grunting noises he says, "Push it out, ____." Yup, I say that too.

*Tommy and Dylan love to "steam roll-a" each other.

*He had his 1st escape from Mimi's porta-crib. He didn't fall. He climbed out and came to the top of the stairs. When he saw me he proudly called, "Hi, mama!" Turkey.

*Mimi taught Dylan how to successfully drink from a straw. Who knew all it would take is some cherry limeade?

*He still loves his bike and asks to go on a "bicycle ride" with his "heh-met."

*For a while when he would realize it was time to go to nursery he would fuss but would stop either when he got a toy or as the door was closing behind Autrey or I. This last week he didn't fuss or really even say good bye. He has Christi Taylor, his nursery leader, wrapped around his finger.

*Ever since we went to Houston this last time and Dylan was around Maggie and Tommy, every time we change his "diapoo" he says, "I go potty big by" (I go potty like a big boy). I put him on the toilet, and though he has only tooted twice he sure gets a kick out of trying. When he is done sitting on it he will say, "All done, Di-yan?" I have visions of him potty training himself. A girl can dream, right?

Playing and Singing with Tommy

Allyson, Tommy, and baby "Ty-o" (Tyler) came over to BBQ and play the other night. We are trying to spend as much time with them as we can since they are moving to Amarillo this week. These are some of the random candids:"Howdy pard-ner":Dylan loves to buck himself/dive off:Video of Dylan singing most of "Twinkle, Twinkle." It also captures Dylan taking trains from Tommy. I promise we are working on that. I'll show Dylan this video when he is frustrated younger siblings/friends are learning to share to prove he used to take toys too:


New way to do "Papa Rosie" (Pocket + Rosie...Ring Around the Rosie). Tommy and Dylan both loved it and asked to do it over and over. I love Dylan's dizzy walk:

Labor Day for the Little Manly Man

While we were out and about hitting the Labor Day sales we stopped at Bass Pro Shop so Dylan could see the fish and other animals:As much as he enjoyed the wildlife, this is what he really enjoyed:Target practice with Daddy:Playing with a coon skin hat: At Toys R Us we got Dylan some Man Store tools (Home Depot. Not to be confused with the Blue Man Store, Lowe's.) We decided it was a good idea since they are a safer version of Autrey's he always wanted to play with:Assisting cutting chair rails:

Cute video of Dylan hammering some scrap wood and 'fixing it' with his tools:

Houston Children's Museum

We drove down to Houston last week to meet up with all the Duke crew. Matt and Autrey joined us for the weekend, but the rest of the week it was just the girls and 5 cousins...and Doug at night. Between sick/teething kids, nap schedules, and all the effort involved in going out and about most of the time we stayed and played at Mimi and Papa's. No problem there. Mimi has a pool and lots of toys. Dylan played with the trucks and kitchen set "making food" most of the time.

Eating at the 'big kid table': Treat time. They love Mimi's suckers:However, we did visit Mimi at her school, go shopping, and spend an afternoon at the Woodlands Children's Museum. The museum was the only place I really took any pictures, and as you can see Dylan was having way too much fun playing to hold still and look at me. I'm glad he loved it so much!

What I really wish I had pictures/video of are the morning dvd workouts Lori, Allyson, and I did with the 5 kids in the room. It really kicks it up a notch when you have to avoid stepping on kids/toys and have your kid climbing on you as soon as you get down on the ground to do sit-ups or push-ups. Tommy was an excellent trainer. He kept yelling, "Jump, Shilo. Jump!" and I didn't stop. Pretty funny. Today I started day 1 of the P90X workout. Brutal. Way harder than anything I've done before and I'm out of shape. Should be fun. I wish I could borrow Tommy so he could keep me motivated. Although Dylan does a great job keeping me hydrated. He hands me my water bottle about every minute or so. Such a great little helper.

21 months old

Update time again. Almost my bedtime, so I'll cut to the chase. Pictures at the end:

*Dylan got teeth # 7, 8, and 9 this week. I was beginning to wonder, since he got #6 back in April. His streak of weird teeth placement continues. All three teeth are 2 spaces away from the nearest tooth (one top right, one top left, one bottom left).

*New Words and Phrases: "paghetti" (spaghetti), "ha-ba-gas" (hamburgers on the grill), "cuddah" (cuddle...he will ask to. Love it.), "Dis way" (This way), "Dere you go" (There you go), "I got it/you," "I hab (have) it," "No touch it," "No problem," "You ok?" "I go fast," "No thank you," "Juice/Milk/Wada (Water) please," "Howdy pardner," "Daddy painting" and "Mommy cleaning" (Yup, that about sums up our last month's activities).

*He still loves his transportation vehicles. He has learned to identify and say "Fire truck/man," "Tracoo/Fahmah" (Tractor/Farmer), "Dump truck," "Gah-bage truck," "I see a big truck."

*When he puts his toys away he tells himself "Goo dob, Di-yan!" (Good job, Dylan!) because I usually do.

*When he sees traffic lights he will say, "Red means stop" and "Green means go. Go, go, go!" He is also quick to point out a "bumpy road."

*Dylan LOVES to push the button to make the garage door go up and down. Sometimes he will whine for it in the middle of the day randomly. He will say, "I push the button." Then afterwards he says "garage open/close" although he mixes up which is which.

*He tells other kids (and TV characters) to "Be nice" and "Don't push."

*He said his 1st prayer all by himself while he was eating a snack. He folded his arms and said, "Hevly Fadder. Amen!" and ate his grapes. He has done it since inserting the word "happy." He also will say one word at a time while Autrey and I pray and we fit that into the next sentence we say. He was shy with the missionaries tonight, but he is getting pretty good at prayers.

*He sings his version of the song from Annie "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, I love you tomorrow." He fills in words for the song that goes "I love you, a bushel and a peck..." and "I am a Child of God."

*He loves the book One Duck Stuck, which he calls "Help, help". He says that phrase at the right time and also says "'Thank you/Thanks!' said the duck."

*He likes to sing The Wheels on the Bus. He makes the motions and says "beep, beep, beep" "up and down," "vroom, vroom, vroom," and "town."

*He randomly said "Call G-ma" one day. So we did. He also hands me his toy mail letters and says "from G-ma/Mimi/Papa" wanting me to 'read' what they say.

*He will occasionally still ask me about where "Tay-Tay" (Uncle Terry) is and then answer himself saying "Tay-Tay working." Amazing. He's only seen Terry once he would remember and it was over a month ago. I need to teach him to say, "Tay-Tay on E-bay." Haha.

*Tommy pops up all the time in Dylan's conversations throughout the day. I'm REALLY sad they are moving. That's all I can say about that right now. *sigh*

*The Boston's were our 1st house guests at our new house. He still asks, "Where's Kate?"

*Dylan is great at putting clothespins in an empty big plastic apple juice container with a small opening. (Dexterity skill Kristen told me about.)

*He likes to use his spoon to feed himself. All by himself. He still shoves as much food in his mouth as he can fit without taking smaller bites of dry food, such as bread.

*He walks and runs while swinging his left arm only.

*He loves his tunnel and his play tent, even though he trips on the entrance as he barrels in and out.

*He loves to climb moving boxes, chairs, coffee tables, and ladders. He had WAY too much fun while we were unpacking.

Trust me, little man, I'm not fooled at all.

Popping Packing Bubbles

Random video of Dylan's 1st experience timidly popping the big, loud packing bubbles last week. Enjoy!

High Quality H2O

This weekend we went to the new Sea Life Aquarium at the Grapevine Mills mall with Mimi and Papa. (For those of you close by, we decided it was nice but probably more expensive than it was worth. We even went after 5pm when it was discounted.) Tommy and Dylan liked looking at everything and going through the underwater shark tunnel. That thing was trippy because even the floor was glass. Just about the only animal Dylan was allowed to touch was the hermit crab, and he just wanted to look at it:Lookin' at the fish with daddy:
Then we decided to get in the water ourselves in Dylan's new little pool in the shade on the deck. Dylan thought it was great to squirt his bath toys, even when he shot himself in the eye in the 4th picture down:

Cute video of Dylan and Autrey in the pool. I haven't been great at getting video of Dylan talking, but he says some things in this one:


Thanks for the water fun, Mimi and Papa!