Update on Dean

It's been forever since I've posted anything, and Dean has changed so much! Good thing the only people who read this see him monthly on video chats. Here's a little snapshot into what Dean is like right now:

-He just learned to jump with his feet leaving the ground. He's been "jumping" for a while, but it was just squatting down and then going on tip-toes. Now he get's off the ground and he is very proud of himself and wants to jump all day long.

-His vocabulary is taking off! He can say short sentences now. He imitates words we say, and he loves to practice saying new words. He's starting to learn some of his letters (just recognizing them). We got an iPad to occupy him during our flights this summer, and one app was an alphabet one and he seems to have learned from it. He can fill in letters as we sing the alphabet song.

-This goes along with vocabulary I guess, but Dean is getting so good at helping me read his books! I think the thing he was most excited about when we got home were his books. I didn't pack many with us, and he found some he liked at cousin's houses, but he was sure excited for some of his books. And he remembered them! And the words! He can say words now that he couldn't before we left, so I'm not sure how he learned them. For example, Anne got him one of those recordable books for Christmas and it's her reading "Frosty the Snowman." Dean grabbed that book, and said "Snowman." He never said that before we left, and I can guarantee you he didn't hear the word snowman on our trip. He just remembered and now can say it! Isn't that just crazy?

-Dean loves cars. I thought about getting him a car track a while ago since he liked playing with one at a friend's house, but opted for the train track instead. He loves it, but while traveling this summer, both Stacy and Nathan had car tracks at their houses and they were his favorite toy at both places, so today I bought one for him (on Craigslist...those things are like $40 new. Are you kidding me?!)

-Eating continues to be a struggle, but at least he loves smoothies now, and today I finally convinced him to eat the banana chips (dried banana) I bought forever ago. I honestly think it's because he got his first taste of potato chips on our trip, and he now knows chips are delicious. So I called them chips and eventually he ate them. He doesn't eat dinner most days because I just give him what we're eating and he won't eat it. Sometimes I have luck with the food grinder, some days he eats just fine, and lots of days he just doesn't eat hardly anything. Good thing he eats breakfast and lunch!


-He loves to stand up when and where he's not supposed to and then say, "Bum!" knowing that I tell him to sit on his bum. Stinker.

-Unfortunately, he gets time-out fairly regularly for biting or other aggressive behavior. He and Jonah had a love/hate relationship. A couple times in a toy squabble, Dean grabbed Jonah's face. Once he pulled Jonah's hair really hard. He only ever bites me (although he did bite Libby's hair once when he was mad at her). So far he's gotten really good at staying in time-out, but I'm not sure the "no biting" message is getting through. I just hope he doesn't bite anyone in nursery! I don't want my kid to be "that" kid!

-I've convinced him that there are two ways to ask nicely: say please and giving kisses. He doesn't like to say please, but I've been getting lots of kisses.

-He's still a big momma's boy.

-He has all his teeth except his 2 year old molars. He has a cute smile. I hope he gets to keep those teeth because the past few weeks he has fought getting his teeth brushed with a furious passion. I still do it, but I know it's not a thorough job. I do my best.

-He's dang adorable. But blogger won't let me upload pictures right now, so you don't get to see it.

Texas Thanksgiving

Let's just be honest, I only have pictures of Dean. But I promise we had a really, really fun time with Stacy and Michael and their families. We went to the zoo, the mall, Rainforest Cafe (which Dean did NOT like), and a family farm place. Thanksgiving dinner was scrumptious, including the best Thanksgiving turkey I've ever had. We also went jogging a few times and went to the park, and just had a good time talking. And Cara gave me a massage and made my back feel better. Good times all around.

Long Time, Some See

I realize most people who read this blog have seen us recently, so I'm not going to actually try to recap the last (almost) 6 months of our lives. Yep, Dean will be 17 months old in a week, and my last post was his 11 month post. I guess I need to blog about events now rather than months. Here's some picture overload for you though.

From "his" birthday dinner the day before his birthday and then "his" cake on his birthday.

Oh, he is just so cute.

One time when I kept trying to get a picture and he just wanted to go to bed.

We like to make faces at each other.

This is one of my all time FAVORITE pictures of Dean. Oh that smile.

Somehow he quit screaming for two seconds and allowed Trevor to snap this ultra cute picture of the world's most handsome lumberjack. He was also the world's saddest/warmest/toobigforhisclothes lumberjack, but we'll focus on handsome.

Dean is such a good helper!

Stay tuned for posts about Thanksgiving and Christmas and more about Dean.