Updates

Well, it's been almost a year since I last posted.  We didn't have the internet for quite some time, and I forgot about the blog in the midst of everything else... so... here are some basic updates.

Dayton is about to turn three years old.  He can speak in full sentences now, although he still prefers to use short, concise sentences to communicate.  He is extremely active, and he just about runs me ragged.  He has reached the "demanding" phase: He knows what he wants, and he will ask for it.  Repeatedly.

Dayton is in a "big boy bed"  (twin size) now, and he is an early bird!  Often, he will get up at 6:30 in the morning with Daddy.  Since I am a night owl, this is really hard for me to adjust to, and I am still struggling to wake up with him.  He loves his big bed, though.  It has plenty of room for him to pile blankets all over.  He still loves his toddler-size blankets, and he totes multiple blankets all around the house.

He discovered books, and he loves to read!  This makes me so happy!  When he was younger, he didn't take much interest in reading, but now he brings me storybooks and snuggles up for us to read together.  Right now his favorite books are "Snuggle Puppy" and "Put Me in the Zoo".  He also loves "There's a Monster at the End of This Book", which was one of my special favorites as a kid.

He loves kid movies.  A little too much.  We have started having a T.V. curfew, and setting time limits on movie-watching.

Dayton is TALL!  (And slim.)  I am amazed at how tall he is for his age!

There are so many more ways that he has grown and changed in the past year, but I think that future blogs will be able to describe Dayton better.  Besides, I need to get to sleep!  It is late, and my little early bird will be up at dawn saying, "Mama!  The sunshine came up!"

Courtesy Wake-Up Call

This morning I woke up to a loud shout of: "JADE!" followed by peals of laughter.  I listened to Dayton talking with the cat (who had gone into Dayton's room to play), and after a few moments of silence, I began to hear a plaintive call for "Help, help, help."

When I went into the room, Dayton was dangling his leg through the crib bars, and Jade was batting "ferociously" at Dayton's foot.

"Help," called Dayton.

I just laughed and got him out of his crib.  Dayton has learned the best word to get my attention, and although his leg wasn't stuck, he really believed that he was in dire need of assistance.  After all, one little boy can't take on a "fierce jungle tiger" like Jade all alone.  He needed help!

Dayton's Favorite Things (Age: 2)

FAVORITE FOODS:  Milk, green beans, and bagels with cream cheese.

FAVORITE FRIENDS:  Uncle Will, and Jessie's kids - his cousins: Audryana (Audy), Logan, and Chloe.  (He calls them all "the Audies".)

FAVORITE ACTIVITY:  Playing with the laser pointer.  Jade (our cat) chases that red laser light everywhere, and they are entertained for hours!

FAVORITE TOY:  His big, yellow dump truck, which he pushes around the house at high speeds, trying to run over everyone and everything in his path.

FAVORITE COMFORTS:  His bottle (we're trying to wean him off) and the little quilt I made for him.  Blanket-washing day is always tough for Dayton.

FAVORITE PERSON:  Daddy.

FAVORITE WORDS:  "Jade" (pronounced "drade"), "Mow-Mow" (cat sounds), "Go Go" (he wants to get out of the house) and "ba-ba" (bottle).

Choo Choo! Dayton's TWO!

Dayton turned 2 today!  It was a really nice day - everyone made a huge effort to make sure that he had a great time.  Mom and Dad came with Jacob, James, Grant, and Will (Dayton immediately tackled Will - they are wonderful playmates).  Cindy and Russ rearranged their schedules for their grandbaby (THANK YOU!), and Jessie and Seth brought Dayton's cousins (Audryana, Logan, Chloe, and Kynlee) along to join in the fun.

We had a "choo choo" train cake, high-speed chases down Dayton's new slide, and plenty of noise.  Dayton got a little overwhelmed at first - it was a large group - but after some cuddling and distraction, he was ready to play!  I think he was a rather successful host, for being only 2 years old.

First Invitation

Today was an important milestone for me:  I was invited to play.

Dayton prefers to play alone.  He likes to drive his dump truck around the house at high speeds, color with markers, and play downstairs on his own.  I usually initiate together playtime myself, by introducing a new activity or by jumping in and joining him at whatever he is doing (like driving his cars across the floor).  My little one is a very independent child, and it never occurred to me that I had never been invited to play with him.

He has a little ballpit (shaped like a cozy coupe), which came with a bunch of different-colored plastic balls.  I took him downstairs today and gathered a bunch of those balls, to show him how to throw them around the room.  Our basement is unfinished - it has a cement floor and no walls, so it's the perfect playroom - lots of space and nothing to damage!

We had a lot of fun throwing the balls and chasing them across the floor.  I was teaching him colors, and we were trying to hit various objects, like his swing and his basketball hoop.  We were having a blast!

After a while, I stood up to go upstairs.  Dayton leapt to his feet, chased after me, and grabbed my hand.  He gave my hand a tug and looked up at me with his big blue eyes.

"Mom, balls."

And so I stayed, sniffling and holding back tears.  I was so proud to have been invited to stay.  I felt wanted, which, especially in Motherhood, is very different from feeling needed.  And a very special feeling, too.

3-Minute Masterpiece

We bought Dayton washable markers.  This is what happened when I took Gypsy outside for about 3 minutes.

Lift-Off

Today is the first day that we had a good snow - and it stayed on the ground.

Today is also the first day that Dayton figured out how to open the front door.

He celebrated by throwing open the door, picking up the cat, and tossing poor Jade out into the snow.  I wonder if this was a "flight test" of some sort: The First Cat Launched Into Outer Snow (If the cat survives all that white stuff, then we can assume that young boys can survive it, too).

Dayton will be turning 2 in about 2 weeks.  And so begins our adventure in toddlerhood.