Friday, July 30, 2010

Favorite Picture Friday

Bo, shortly after Dutch was born, needed a little extra love.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Hey!


Grandpa Greg and Chris and I went out and bought Dutch a pool.
He loved it!  He spent the whole time saying, "Hey!" like he was the Fonz, or an extra in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
His favorite part was climbing in and "falling" onto his butt.
And, in case you were wondering.  Bo loves it just as much or more than Dutch.  No pictures of that though, maybe soon.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Good News and a Little Bad

Today we went for Dutch's 2-year well-baby pediatric visit.  While Dr. Lash was super nice and extra helpful, I did miss Dr. Shaver and all of his nurses and MA's.  Oh well though.

Stats:
Dutch is 34 lbs 2 oz, putting him in the 96th percentile for his age.
He is 37.5 inches tall, which puts him in the 97th percentile.
His head is 49.5 cm around, so he's in the 60th percentile.
Yup, he's a fat guy with a tiny head. :)

He struggled and screamed and wiggled through the entire visit.  He didn't want his weight taken, or his temperature, or his head measured, or his heart listened to... You get the idea.  It was a very big struggle to handle him alone.

The good news is he his healthy and normal in almost every way.  The bad news is that his speech is WAY behind.  The doctor referred me to the early intervention program through the school district, so we'll hopefully get all of that figured out soon.

All in all, it was a very exhausting morning, but I'm glad it's over and done with for another year!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Mama Gets to Gush

The only thing I love more than my little Dutch is the opportunity to talk about him.  I have a lot of great friends (with and without kids) who love my little guy and don't mind when I go on and on about him.  A friend I haven't talked to in a while was asking about Dutch and it made me realize that I might not have shared a lot of this with you, my blog readers.  It was easier to blog when we weren't close to any family.  Now I can't remember who I've told what to, so forgive me if this is repetitious, but allow me to take a moment and gush about my baby.

Dutch is 2!  Can you believe it?  Chris and I were talking the other day about how it seems like such a short time in some ways, but feels like forever in other ways.  We just can't remember life before Dutch.  It was the same way with Bo.  He fit so completely into our little family that it seemed like we'd always had him.

Dutch is my little sound-effects baby.  He can tell you what a dog, cat, cow, fish, lizard, and bird say.  He LOVES to make car sounds: vroom, beep-beep, and the sound of a car shifting that seems to be a staple in all boys repertoire.  He isn't really talking very much still; he'll babble, but he doesn't use a whole lot of words.  Sometimes I worry about it, but most of the time I'm not too concerned.

It's so funny to me that I can already tell what kind of learner he's going to be.  Dutch is 100% tactile in everything he does.  He wants to touch it and try it out.  Not to mention if he sees you do something once he can almost always replicate it.  Not always a good thing.  For instance, he can unlock and open our front door.  If we don't keep the chain on he escapes about 3 or 4 times a day.

Bo is still his best friend.  It makes me laugh because he loves to boss Bo around.  It's as though he feels like everyone else gets to boss him around, so he needs someone to boss.  Bo is pretty patient with Dutch too.  When Dutch body-slams him he just gets up and moves.  We were very lucky to have a dog as mellow as Bo.  Any other dog would have bit my little boy by now!

He loves his push toys and we've found that he's more willing to go on a walk and not want to be picked up and carried if he has his little cart thingie to push.  This has made walking to get the mail a much more pleasant experience.  He's getting WAY too heavy to haul around, but try to tell him that!

The saddest thing about him being 2 is the fact that he's so much more active and thereby so much skinnier.  He's lost almost all of his chubs.  The only place he's still got some is his cute little belly.  He's still got a milk belly.  And no bum at all!  It's amazing his pants stay up (and, let's face it, a lot of times they don't).

The other thing about Dutch is that he is a fruit and veggie eater.  We have had to get a lock on the fridge door because otherwise he would eat an entire flat of blueberries, or strawberries, or blackberries, or... you get the idea.  I don't think he's ever met a fruit or veggie that he didn't like.  I guess he takes after his Mama in that sense.

And he takes after his Daddy in the fact that he's a total flirt!  He'll bat his (incredibly long) eyelashes and coo at anything female.  He loves girls!  And he doesn't care about age, weight, hair color, or anything else.  If she smiles at him that's enough.

So there are some things you might not have known about my silly baby boy.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A List for Tuesday

Three Things I Never Thought I'd Say:

1. "We don't use our potty as a hat."
2. "Don't you want to poop in the toilet?  Pooping is so fun!"
3. "No baby, peeing on the floor isn't nearly as much fun as peeing in the potty."

Monday, July 19, 2010

Potty Training: Day 1

Today was by far the easiest day we will have potty training.  All we did today was buy the supplies.  A toilet (see the picture below), training pants, and carpet cleaner (for any accidents that may occur).

We decided to just let Dutch get used to having the potty around.  We encouraged him to sit on it fully clothed and to take it with him wherever he went.  He took that to heart:
This is Dutch just before bedtime.  He wanted his potty to be in the bed with him.  Chris and I looked at each other, shrugged, and allowed it.  I just hope he doesn't use it as a step-stool to get out of bed!

Here are the rest of the "potty pics."


Tomorrow the real work begins!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Saturday's Warrior and Potty Training

My good friend Julie and I went and saw the play "110 in the Shade" (the musical version of "The Rainmaker) down in Orem.  And guess what!  The dad from the movie Saturday's Warrior was in it!  I was super-excited.  Some of you may not care, but I know my sisters will think it's awesome.

In other news, I've decided to potty train Dutch in the next two weeks.  Call, e-mail, or comment your advice.  I need all the help I can get.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Favorite Picture Friday

My pajama-clad baby being a big helper.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Meeting Ms. Levine

These are the pictures from when Cat and I got to meet Gail Carson Levine at the King's English.  I tried very hard to seem normal and put together.  I succeeded marginally, if at all!  :)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A List for Tuesday

Five Questions I Have About the Movie Toy Story:
Warning: This might ruin some things for you.  As my husband told me, "Point out your plot-holes elsewhere!"

1.  If Andy's family is moving in a week why does he take the time to re-decorate his cowboy room into a spaceman room?
2.  How is it possible for Mr. Potato Head to have eyebrows?
3. In the first scene Molly's crib is in Andy's room.  Where does the crib go in the next scene?
4. At the very end they drop RC's remote control.  Does that mean he'll never be able to work again?
5. What happens to the hole Sid made in Woody's head?

If you have the answers, I'd really like them.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Dutch Turns 2!

Okay, okay, okay.  Dutch's birthday party was almost a week ago and he turned two on Sunday, so you think I would have blogged about either one of those things, right?  Well, I didn't.  I was waiting for Chris to help me upload the plethora of pictures I was sure he had taken (because I'd told him to).  There aren't very many.  There are NONE from his actual birthday and only a handful from his party, so this blog will not be picture heavy at all.  There is also not one picture that shows off his birthday party theme.

Start at the very beginning: Dutch had a Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel party, which is to say it was a construction party.  I bought a bunch of super-cute decorations.  Each of the kids got a plastic construction hat and a little orange Home Depot apron with their name on it.  They also each got a construction vehicle hot wheels of some sort.  It was a super-fun party and I think everyone had a really great time.

Here are a few pictures of Dutch to prove it.  I don't have any evidence of anyone else having fun, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

His shirt says:
"Dad's Little Firecracker"

Chris wearing one of the child-sized Home Depot aprons.

Dutch opening a present.
In this picture you can see Julie's legs, Bryson's legs, the back of Ashlyn's and Cambria's heads, Clarissa, and I think it's Hayden's shoulder.
So see, there WERE other people there!