1) We went to California for the Cox family reunion. Friday, August 1, Rob and Cynthia's family drove from Lubbock to Mesa. We went out to eat at Organ Stop and Dean was completely enthralled. And he loved, loved, loved the garlic bread. Rob and Cynthia and all of their kids really liked it, too. It's such a fun family place!
Saturday we caravanned to Anaheim. Anne was able to get 6 3-Day tickets with her military discount, so she gave them to Trevor, me, Ken, Jen, Liz, and Nate. Jenny Jo upgraded her pass too. So that night, we got to ditch Dean with family members and go to Disneyland kiddo free! We used the time to do all the big rides.
On Sunday afternoon, I went to feed Dean some food. We brought his chair with us and it was sitting on the hotel chair. As I was putting him in, Trevor said, "I didn't strap that onto the chair yet. I don't know where the straps are." I explained they were in a little compartment under the chair, but I was going to sit next to Dean the whole time anyway, so it would be fine. And I sat right next to him and fed him his food. Then, without thinking, I got up and walked away to go throw the container away, and of course Dean leaned forward and flipped his seat off the chair and landed on his face. The tray was on his seat, so his face was on the ground, but his bum was still kind of up in the air with his back arched. I was so scared! We grabbed him as quickly as we could. His lip was busted and bleeding pretty bad and his nose was scraped a little. He had a hard time calming down. I was crying. I didn't know if his back or neck were hurt or if we needed to take him in to the ER or something. Eventually he calmed down and we got the blood stopped, and he was acting just like his normal, happy self. I seriously felt like the worst mom ever. But it seemed every other mom in the family had some sort of similar experience which made me feel a little better. Here's him Monday morning all ready for Disneyland and then some picks of his injuries. So sad!
Monday night when we were wiping his face after dinner, we got the scab on his nose and then his nose started bleeding! Poor kid.
He was pretty ambivalent about the rides we took him on. He liked looking around at things, but he was just as happy looking at things walking down the sidewalks as he was on an actual ride. But he did enjoy waiting in line with Daddy!
This is how he rides around these days. All over Disneyland in the stroller (well, anytime in the stroller), in grocery carts he wiggles his legs up, etc. I've gone in to get him from naps and he's been on his back with his feet up on the rail of the crib. It's so funny.
After Disneyland, we spent a couple days at a beach house in Oxnard, CA. It was RIGHT on the beach. We walked out the back door to sand. The beach was never crowded and there were DOLPHINS! About 50 or so yards out from shore. We could see them swimming around. They were so close I could have swam out to them. It's my life dream to swim with dolphins. But I let the frigid water get the best of me. I regret it. Dean actually really enjoyed the ocean. He loved being held down for the waves to rush past his feet, but he wasn't too keen on sitting all the way in the sand. It was just too cold.
Still no actually crawling, but he's getting more and more mobile all the time and getting better at scooting little bits at a time. Here he made it to the tissue box and found entertainment while I cleaned up all the food he threw on the floor during lunch. Yep, we've had flow blown entered the food spitting/dropping phase of life. It's not my favorite.
He is better at scooting backward than forward, so sometimes this happens.
He learned to clap last week, and if we raise our arms and say "Ta-da!" he will raise his arms over his head, too. He will also make car noises as he pushes his car around. It's adorable.
He continues to love drinking out of a straw. This month we introduced him to CapriSuns. We got the flavored water kind.
So he can be a little hot and cold about food. I fed him cut up grapes for the first time and he devoured them! Never has he eaten with more fervor. And then the next day he just spit them out. These pics are from the day he loved them, even though his face doesn't look like it!
I started getting the newspaper on Sundays so I can get the adds and coupons. I'm not sure if I will keep it or not, but I wanted to give it a try. While I'm undecided, Dean definitely votes yes. He loves the paper!
And he loves books. The "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" book that Micah got him is his favorite. He could sit and lift those flaps all day long. (that book isn't in the picture.)
I took him to the park to swing last week on a random cool day. I don't think you can really tell in the picture how awesome his hair looked blowing in the breeze. He really liked the swings.
Here's some pictures of him just generally being happy and looking handsome.
