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.

The Truck Bath

Dayton was fully dressed and ready to go to the park today. He was playing in his room, while I loaded the dishwasher.

After a few minutes of quiet, I suddenly realized that there was water running somewhere in the house.

That was when Jade (our cat) came running into the kitchen, with his wet fur sticking out in every direction. Wet fur? Oh no!

I ran down the hallway, to discover Dayton sitting in the bathtub, fully clothed, and washing his toy trucks under the running faucet. I was laughing too hard to be angry, so I grabbed my camera and just enjoyed the moment.

"What are you doing in here?"

"BAFF!"

Thank goodness he didn't figure out how to fill the bathtub or open the shampoo bottles! Now he and his trucks are very clean.

Here is the video I took of "The Truck Bath":