Playing with Zoe

Zoe loves to be around people and dislikes being left out. Luckily Dallas and Chey adore her and usually keep her around. There are a few times that they start playing with her and then migrate to another room leaving her behind. After a few minutes, Zoe will start yelling. If no one responds that usually turns into a cry. She has been doing this since about month four (she just hit five months four days ago).

We have to talk to the two about being gentle and not making Zoe's body move, especially in painful or awkward ways. Dallas loves to carry her and Zoe loves to be carried and given the attention by her older brother; she often smiles when he talks to her and comes to pick her up.



Dallas and Chey were playing Duck, Duck, Goose and let Zoe join in. I will admit this video is staged as I was not quick enough with the camera before.

I love that even with their vast age differences, my children love playing together!

Sledding

After taking Cam up to campus, we stopped by a store to look at sleds. It is the perfect time in Logan to look at sleds 1) there is more snow on the ground this weekend than any other time since we moved here January 1st, 2) all the stores are clearance-ing their snow items to make way for spring.

We grabbed a plastic dish for $3. Went home, dressed in our snow clothes, drove back to campus where Cam took Zoe and the car back home while Dallas, Chey and I trudged up USU's east hill. Unfortunately I forgot the camera. We took turns sledding in various combination of bodies on the sled. The kids both decided they liked all three of us sledding down together best. We took a break and built a snowman - that turned into a snow angel and sled down once more before we had to head home to take care of Zoe.

Luckily we did all of this before 11am because now, at 3pm, the light snowing has turned to a drizzle and the snow is disappearing. There has been an odd amount of rain and snow this winter since we moved here. I think Logan has received more precipitation by rain than snow. We have been spending lots of time at the library.

What Does Your Servant Look Like?

I know parenting shouldn't include sarcasm but around here, too often it does. Mostly when an exasperated Mommy meets a lazy Dallas.

The questions: "I'm thirsty (with an already filled glass just waiting for him at the table)" "I need my shoes (which are by the door like they always are)" or "Where is my ?" gets replied with a, "Go get it yourself, what do I look like? I am not your servant!"

A few days ago I started to reply with my, "You can get it, what do I look like?"
He replied very emphatically, "Not my servant!"

Christmas! (almost two months late)

We actually celebrated sometime during the first full week of January. While it wasn't a up to full Christmas standard - it was after all the first time we celebrated with just our own little family and it was right after a move - it was great for a first go.

A few days before we celebrated (and about three days after we moved in and were mostly settled) we set up the tree. I put hooks on the ornaments while the kids were free to put them anywhere on the tree. I think next year we will have a talk about balance and distribution...

As you can see there are a few clusters of ornaments. In fact, once when tell Dallas to put one on the tree I specifically said to not put it on a branch with another and to spread the ornaments out, so he put it on the branch right next to it instead

Ok, I admit it! I put some of the ornaments on the tree...

We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner of meatballs, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and corn with strawberries and grapes to finish it off and sparkling apple, peach, pear, and grape to drink. (Chey likes to call it "sparkly juice")

I have found my kids love asparagus and I am extremely happy about it.

Also note the festive tablecloth (that is still on our table to this day). I am growing leaps and bounds in homemaking/interior decorating

This is about where the story ends however. Neither Cam nor I remembered to pull out the camera Christmas morning... I told you we are still learning!

Something Dallas got for Christmas/his birthday was a bike and he enjoys new challenge (he has never ridden a two-wheeled bike before... don't get too excited, it has training wheels).

The first time it was ever ridden was to the park. I realized after we started that the way to the park is on a slight incline the entire way. Dallas had to climb that learning curve fast! Then on the way home he was given the chance to work on braking. While at the park he got some practice on the mostly flat pathway.

On the trail in the park. Chey was walking faster than he was riding.

On the sidewalk heading home, he starting picking up speed. He is still wary of going much faster than a run but he sure loves it!

You may notice the weather in those pictures looks not very wintery. We had a week or two of fairly warm, dry weather in beginning/mid January. Since then the snow, rain, cold, and wind have all shown their face and it is no longer very good bike riding weather.

Halloween

Halloween this year was some carving pumpkins, trunk-or-treat at the ward party where Dallas also tried his hand at eating a donut on a string (he gave up after two nibbles), and the Children's Museum "Enchanted Woods" event.

The "Enchanted Woods" was done in the middle of October. The children gathered at the entrance of the museum where King Aurthur sent them on a quest in search of the Golden Rose (if you ask Dallas what they were looking for on their quest, he will still tell you, "the Golden Rose"). They were to ask those they met for assistance and to give them any assistance that they could, because the kids were knights (Aurthur knighted them before they embarked on the quest) and knights always help those around them. The children traveled through the museum meeting Robin Hood, Long John Silver, Humpty Dumpty, Dorothy and the Scarecrow, and many other storybook characters. They helped everyone they met and in return the kids got information on where to find the Golden Rose (if the character knew anything) and a little treat (donated to the museum by local businesses: some small toys or coupons or candy... one stop gave them all schoolboy apples from a local farm). It was very fun for the kids and taught them a few good lessons as well. I have no pictures from that day... not good planning on my part.

Dallas' favorite song is "What's This" from Tim Burtons "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Dallas has never seen the movie, but he loves that song (and can sing most of it himself). When it was time to carve the pumpkin we went online to glean ideas from free pumpkin templates. One template was Jack Skelington, the main character, and singer of "What's This", on "Nightmare Before Christmas". Dallas was sold. He wanted a "Jack" pumpkin. So I gave it a whirl.
Unfortunatly, Jack has a stitched mouth which is fairly difficult to carve into a pumpkin, but it all worked out, although Jack is missing a few teeth...


The ward night I again didn't bring the camera with me so you don't get to see Chelane wearing her Trick-or-Treat bag around her neck and pointing to it when asking for candy or Dallas trying to eat the donut on a string. We must be content with pictures in really bad lighting instead...

Dallas got to be Woody this year and Chelane was stuck using his old Buzz Lightyear costume from last year. She did love being Buzz, although she was mistaken for a boy a lot.

These pictures are after the Trunk-or-Treat. Chelane wanted her face painted, which she didn't hold too still for and didn't keep her hands off afterwards... oh well, I should have seen that coming! Dallas has a Chinese yo-yo in his hand. He LOVED playing with it until he (or his sister) pulled the paper off.

The kids weren't the only one who dressed up. I came almost straight from work and didn't bother doing anything fun. However, Cam went all out. He grew out his hair and sideburns since mid-September when Dallas mentioned he wanted Dad to be Wolverine from X-Men for Halloween. Cam visited a local cosmetology school right before the Trunk-or-Treat to get the hair right.


He finished the look off with a flannel, jeans, his leather jacket, and old army dog-tags.

Please excuse the deer-in-the-headlights look, I really have no idea how that happened! This may be a costume we just improve upon every year, Cam had lots of fun dressing up!

Dallas's Mad Skills (lots of pictures!)

Girls like guys with skills. You know like egg-cracking skills, acting skill, photography skills...
(Yes, I shamelessly took that from Napolean Dynamite, a movie I don't really like.)

Dallas has some hidden talents. First, he likes to take pictures; pictures I did not know about until I was loading my pictures onto the computer. I did delete some of his less than complimentary work, but here is (most) of the rest in all it's glory.

Dallas and still life:

The Buzz lightyear beachball. I really feel he captured those little Green Men...

I call this one: Vacuum Over Couch

A picture of Netflix. Looks to be Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner.

Dallas and Portraits:

Chelane less than willing to allow her picture taken. I believe she is practicing for her future diva days... oh, wait she already is one

Chey and Daddy


I think he really captured Cam in this one


Say, "Cheese". Dallas taking the picture of a friend.

As you can see, not only does he take these completely independently, he is quite good at getting the item of interest in the center of the picture. Not bad Dallas!


Second, Dallas acts... sort of. As I mentioned back in this post, Dallas has started "acting" in some "partici-plays" at the local Children's Museum. Here is a picture of him as the "Woodcutter"


In this play there was a bit of standing and sitting and a few lines; not much acting. Dallas would jazz it up a bit by falling to the floor or other oddities. That play wasn't nearly as exciting for him as the play where he was the Big Bad Wolf. Unfortunately, I only have phone pictures for that play, but here they are:

I am sorry if they make your head hurt. Focus and crispness are not the forte of the phone pictures...

Dallas in his adorable Big Bad Wolf costume waiting to start.

Dallas just blew the house made of sticks down! (You can see the employee (in blue) moving the house as it "blows down")

Dallas trying to "huff and puff and blow" the third little pig's house down (his little lips are puckered and his cheeks are full of air... you can't see it with the phone-picture, but he is).

Dallas did so amazing with that part. He was attentive, followed directions, and LOVED trying to blow all the houses down. It was great fun to watch.


Third, Dallas has gained some culinary skills. Back in June, I bought some alphabet cookie cutters, so one lazy Sunday afternoon Dallas and I made sugar cookies and spelled the names of everyone in the house with the cookies cutters. Dallas had great fun and I learned that sugar cookies need to be a bit thicker than, say, pie crust...

Anyway. That day Dallas asked me if he could help crack the eggs. I gave him a short tutorial of what to do, helped him crack an egg, and thought nothing of it until we moved. A month ago, he asked to eat German Pancakes, a recipe that takes 6 six eggs. Then he asked to crack them. I gave him the bowl, and the eggs and watched:

Sorry that is is sideways and small.

I was pretty amazed. He did all six eggs and I haven't cracked many eggs since. Later I showed him how to cut up potatoes one day while making soup. He was able to cu them himself and safely. Daddy got quite nervous seeing Dallas with a knife, so I haven't continued to nurture that skill.

Yesterday, Dallas also helped my clean and carve a pumpkin. The wonders of this kid never end. More to come...

The Apartment * The Job * The Kids * The Hubby

The Apartment: is great. The best self-funded place we have ever lived in since tying the knot. It isn't perfect, but I am ridiculously happy with it, especially after hearing about a teenage "shooter" a block away from a townhouse we had been looking at and wanting(and almost got except the leasing guy went out of town and we couldn't get a hold of him and didn't want to wait). The area down here in South Ogden is much safer, prettier, and out-of-the-way without being way out. Dallas and Chelane are sharing a room (and a bed... it is a full), the Ward has many old people and young couples (I really love having "old people" wards, they have so much more experience and a much better perspective on life), and there are many kids in the apartment complex. I am sure pictures will come shortly.

The Job: is great. I really enjoy teaching but I get WAY stressed out over all the things I need to do. It isn't helping that about a quarter of my Algebra students do not have books (we discovered this a few days before the school year started, the wrong books had been ordered over the summer; we fixed it but the correct books are on back-order) so I am making worksheets for everything lately. Also, it is Parent-Teacher Conference this week so grades need to be in and I get to stay at the school until 8pm on Thursday (yay, me!).

I am still not very organized either. I feel like I am mostly treading water and only making little progress at a time, but it still is progress. I have to keep myself from thinking too long term (of all the things I need to do) or I REALLY freak out. Poor Cam has to deal with it all; I think my moods may have been worse than when I was pregnant. Dallas tells me to "calm down" and asks me if I am OK quite a bit. I have been having a little depression, but I think it is just tied to the new-working-Mom thing. I believe this would be all easier it I knew the kids weren't at home waiting for me to come home. Also, since I do teach math, there are always students who want to stay after because they do not understand something (especially if they missed class), which isn't conducive to the getting-things-done-quickly-at-school-in-order-to-get-home-early desires I have.

However, I did find that the school has a grant for teachers with Math and/or Science licenses: $30/hr for after contracted time spent with tutor students. I already have over seven hours since the beginning of the school-year. It is like having another part-time job.

I do love teaching and I do love math.

The Kids: are great!
Dallas: Dallas' speech is getting better. He talked to his "Nana" on the phone a few weeks ago and she could understand what he was saying without a translator. He is getting better at correcting himself and mimicking correct speech. He is also a puzzle whiz. He doesn't sit still for many things but puzzles, movies, and learning new things he does. The kid is a sponge!

He likes to help in the kitchen: measuring, baking, cleaning. His favorite is to crack eggs and he does so masterfully. You will see a video soon.

We also have a pretty awesome Children's Museum here (I bought a family membership the first week we were here) and we frequent it often (every Friday at least). Aside from there very cool exhibits that keep Dallas and Chelane busy, they have a "step on stage" program and hold a "partici-play" a few times everyday. At these "partici-plays" the kids get to act out parts while a museum employee narrates a story. Dallas loves them; Chelane has a hard time sitting through them. We have some pictures of these as well.

Chelane has started saying three word phrases like: "sit on you" and "stop it, Dallas" all very clearly. She is among the youngest in nursery at church (nursery ages are 15-36+ months and she is only 23 months) but she is almost the tallest (the only child that beats her is over 3 years old). She asked to use the potty the other night and actually went... we are thinking maybe trying to potty train her during my break in October. We haven't decided yet. She is more attached to her binky than ever. She has taken to hiding under the kitchen sink and running away from you when you call. What can I say? She is two.

The Hubby: Cam didn't start school this semester. We didn't realize that tuition was due so soon (which I should have remembered from going to college) and we didn't have all the necessary things to apply for residency yet. While we probably would have been refunded the extra tuition cost, we didn't have the money to front it all right then and were still trying to adjust. So Cam decided to take the time off. He was initially looking for a job, perhaps back at his old work, but we decided against it. The hours wouldn't work well for school and it is a solid 40 minutes away (in good traffic).

He is still looking into other part-time-in-the-evening possibilities, but he is being the stay-at-home daddy for now. During the first week he commented, "Chasing after the kids all day is tiring." Really? I mentioned that if you try to get a schedule going it works better than just trying to keep them out of mischief all day. They are usually car-less during the day so that makes doing things outside the home tough. Right now he and Dallas are doing a 100 piece astronaut puzzle.


An older gentleman sat next to me and the kids in the pew at church(Cam went home a little early with backpain). Chelane sat on his lap from time to time. He said it took him back to 50 years ago when his kids were that little. I know I will cherish these days. Working makes me miss being home. I would change places with Cam in a heartbeat.

My Name is Kassie and I have a problem...

I buy way too many toys for my kids at clearance sales... Seriously. Kmart and Targets seasonal toy clearances kill me. I don't really spend too much but I LOVE going there for birthday/Christmas presents. However, we were pretty set for said holidays after the LAST clearance sale, but I still went to another one today and Target hasn't even done their summer clearance sale yet. I can't miss Target's sale...

Today I went shopping at Kmart in Kent, who is having their "additional 50% off clearance toys sale", but I brought the kids with me, which I am deciding is not a good idea. The one purchase I am super happy about was a pack of 10 transformers, all about the size of matchbox cars, that actually do transform (and some rather complexly). But Dallas saw them and LOVES them; so of course they were taken out of the box and "transformed" within a half hour of returning home. So much for Christmas and Birthday presents.

I should probably just take the other three things I bought at Kmart back, especially if I am going to hit the Target sale coming up in the next few weeks...

The Interview

I know this is in reverse order (telling you that I got the job and THEN talking about the interview) but the interview(s) were just too fun not to share. So here it goes.

The school contacted via email and asked to set up a time to do a phone interview. That morning I got the kiddos fed and all situation with a movie to await the call. When it came I went to a back bedroom, to reduce extra noise but so I could still hear the kids. Well the interview was going (apparently) well when Dallas decided to pick that 30 minute period I was going to have a phone interview to have a bowel movement.

I hear a, "Mom! I went poop in the potty!" Followed by a, "Mom, wash my bum!" The yells got more and more desperate as I left him on the toilet, culminating in a shrill, "MOM!". Finally, craddling phone against my shoulder, I figure I can get Dallas taken care of without stopping the phone conversation.

I am sure most of you moms out there are betting against me already. And you would be right, it didn't work.

Nothing crazy happened, like dropping the phone in the toilet, but, much to me chagrin, I had to excuse myself. The ladies on the other end were very understanding of my leave. After I returned, they finished their questions and ended with a promise to give me another call at the end of the week.

A few days later, I decide to take a shower after breakfast while the kids are watching TV. As the water starts, I think, through the sound of the running water, I hear the cell phone ringing.

Now, I have thought I heard TONS of things through the shower. It started when Dallas was a newborn baby and I was so nervous about leaving him sleeping in his crib while I showered that I would stop the water 2 or 3 times when I "heard" him crying. Now-a-days, when I "hear" something while I am showering, I write it off as the running water playing tricks with my mind.

Only this time it wasn't.

After I stopped the water, Dallas walks to the bathroom door and informs me that Grandma had called as he hands me the cell phone. I pulled up incoming calls and, sure enough,the number of the school called 5 minutes ago.

I was a little mortified.

I immediately called them back, wondering what Dallas had done/said and how it had been taken on the other end... The school secretary puts me on hold for the director (read: principal), who answers my call with a, "How old is your son?" Yes, the two ladies, the school director and the math department head, who had conference called for my interview, had called back (on conference) only to be answered by my 3 year-old son, who talked to them for a short while before hanging up. They were both laughing fairly hard as I tripped over myself apologizing.

They had called back to offer me the job and, after all that, amazingly enough, they went through with it. I think this school may be a good fit for me.

On a side note I have been so used to, "You were one of the best interviews and we would love to have you at our school but, we went with someone with more experience..." that I was quite speechless when they offered me the job. When I could finally make words come (I had a few "gracious looser" responses prepared but no acceptance speech) I accepted the job on the spot, to which the ladies replied (laughing) "Wouldn't you like to talk it over with your husband?" Oh, yeah the husband, oops...

On a more sider note, in the last month Chelane has learned:
1. milk + straw = geyser of bubbles
2. inhaling air + drinking = burp on will (no joke)

While Dallas has started letting himself out of the house for walks (complete with shoes and snacks).

/sigh

PT: Day 20

Almost three week from the time we started getting Dallas to the potty and now he seems to have it down. For the first week he wouldn't go poo in the toilet and THAT was annoying. But on day 10 he did it and it seemed to "click" that he didn't need to be afraid/worried/anxious (or whatever the problem was) anymore. I think I can say he is potty trained. He also filled up his "potty chart" and now we have to go to the Bouncy Place sometime soon. We are very proud of him. He even uses public toilets. What a guy!

I am still frantically applying for jobs in Utah, however the frequency of job postings are lower now. I have one school that wants to interview so Cam, me, and the kiddos are taking a mini-vacation to Utah in June (between Cam's quarters) to do the interview and have a little relaxing time before finishing school and moving. Hopefully another school (or two) will want to interview me and someone will hire me.

Cam will graduate with his Associates in Arts degree in August right before we move and he starts school again at Weber State University. He has already registered for his classes and we have put a deposit on housing. We are keeping a little busy (as you can tell :)

As for Chelane, she sits around and looks cute.

New Tricks

Dallas' preferred method of communication was signing until September-ish of last year. Since then his speech has exploded with full sentences and some fun quirks. We haven't hit the how-do-we-get-him-to-stop-talking yet and still really enjoy hearing him express himself verbally.

Last night he sang "Happy Birthday" to his Grandpa almost completely by himself. He can count to 10 at high speed (we are working on getting through those pesky teen numbers). He doesn't just say "no" but "no no no no no ..." usually with a sing-song tune. But we were really floored last night when, after discussing who was to say the family prayer, Dallas pulled out a "Dear Heavenly Father, Thankee for this day. Thankee for Mom, Ch'ane, (his version of 'Chelane' pronouned 'Shane'), Larryboy (not sure why Larryboy from Veggie Tales was wiggling his way into Dallas' prayers, but Dallas does love watching Larryboy). Thankee for Grampa, Jadon (his 12 year old uncle). Thankee for this day. Thankee play. Thankee Dad, Larryboy, Jadon. Name Jesus Christ, Amen." With no help, no prompting, nothing. Cam and I were very impressed.

Chelane is also learning some new tricks. The most prominent one lately is following his her daddy's footsteps to earn the family name of 'Mooch' by walking up to anyone with food, saying, "bite" and opening her mouth with an "ah, ah, ah" until the bite is given.

PT: Day One

Cam and I decided to take the plunge this weekend (well I guess I more decided and then dragged Cameron off the cliff with me) and potty train Dallas.

I know, I know. Many people are probably aghast that he is almost three and-a-half and we never bothered trying, but don't worry, Cam and I haven't died yet from changing diapers. We also don't feel like any less of a parent for not trying to potty train Dallas earlier (regardless of comments from others since he was about twenty months regarding us toilet training him).

Anyway, justification aside, Dallas is doing very well. We put the underwear on after breakfast (about 9am) and had a talk about the toilet (he already knew what it was, but a reminder always helps), keeping the underwear dry, and letting Mom or Dad know when he needed to go potty. He did wet himself a little (no where near a full release) about 10:30am. Then around 11:30 he was holding himself and dancing around so I insisted he needed to go. I got him on the pot, turned the faucet on a little, and went to get him a drink of water (I was trying to encourage him all I could; when I came back he was going in the potty and it was a FULL bladder release.

He has not peed anywhere but the toilet since. Many time he tells us he needs to go and then takes himself. It is so nice doing this when he can get himself on and off the toilet.

He did have a little bowel movement in his underwear and seems to resist doing those on the toilet and I am keeping my fingers crossed about not wetting the bed tonight. he do still have a few hurdles to jump but the prognostic so far is looking just fine and dandy. We are SOO happy he didn't decide to dig his very opinionated, three year-old heels in about it (knock on wood).

Hopefully after this weekend, we will have a completely toilet trained toddler.

The Hair Cut From... You Know

The words "hair cut" sends Dallas into a frenzy.

See, the game plan the first time I cut Dallas' hair (back before he turned one) was me holding him down while my sister ran the clippers over his head. There was lots of screaming and crying... and not just by Dallas... After that I cut his hair with scissors and it took a long time. So we started moving back to the clippers, but decided to have someone else do it. That didn't work so well either. Now he associated "hair cut" with pin-downed-while-a-vibrating-horror-moves-across-my-head.

Two days ago he got gum in his hair. He really likes to chew and normally he is very good with keeping the gum where it should be, just not that day. Luckily it was on the back of his neck so I just cut it out with scissors; but I decided to do the rest to match. Dallas screamed and cried when I said "hair cut" and strapped him into a booster seat in front of the TV. He cried when I sprayed his hair down. He kept crying as I started combing and cutting his hair.

By the time I finished the back of his head he had calmed down and had no problem with me finishing. He said "Mom all done!" in a very happy voice prematurely a half dozen times so he is obviously not completely OK with hair cutting, but I think I may be moving back to comb and scissor cuts to reduce the trauma on that poor boy...

Taxes = Candy

Dallas does not take kindly to my spending time on the computer when he wants some mommy attention. Today, however, my computer time was not devoted to WoW - I was trying to do taxes.

Occasionally, Dallas would walk over to me and pat my lap and demand ask, "Sit with you, mommy." I was trying to explain how important taxes were, so I put in prespective.

"Dallas I have to do the taxes so we can get money. Do you know what we can get with money?"

"Umm, candy?"

"Yes Dallas, Mommy needs to do the taxes so we can get candy."

Poor Neglected Dallas

Last night, about 8:30pm, thirty minutes after Dallas' extremely loose "bedtime", Dallas wanted to play a game called Barnyard Bingo.

I didn't want to play with him (trying to unwind from work you know... and I was enjoying my time on the computer). Cam wasn't playing with him either, so we had Dallas go ask Jadon. Jadon was going to bed and therefore did not want to play as well.

What is a poor Dallas to do? He has Barnyard Bingo all out and ready as he sits by himself in the middle of the family room... just looking at it...

Until Dallas finds a friend.

Dallas picked up his Buzz Lightyear and asked, "Buzz you pay games wit me?" Buzz (or Dallas talking for Buzz) answered, "Yeah."

Dallas was so estatic. "Yay! Buzz you said yeah! Ok Buzz your turn." he said as he helped Buzz Lightyear take his turn by picking up a game piece. "Buzz you got boo tow (blue cow). Ok Buzz eye (my) turn." Dallas picked up his own game piece. "Buzz I got welwo iken (yellow chicken)."

Apparently playing for two is tiring, though, for that is all the farther Dallas made through his game with Buzz last night.

Part of me felt HORRIBLE for not playing with him (especially when he started playing with Buzz) but another part thought that this playing pretend would be good for him (and he did an awesome job taking turns!)

However thinking about it again this morning, I am a horrible mother and I could have played one, five-minute game with him...

Moral of the story: put your kids to bed on time.

Photo Shoot

Some family pictures! These were taken back in November (so the kids have grown up a little bit since then) but they are still as cute. It was also SUPER cold that day, so the kids were pretty cranky and a little runny/red nosed. However, thanks to the talents of Carrie Stroud, you can't even tell!

Dallas and Books

Dallas has always been a go-go-go sort of child. Even when he was little(r) he wanted to be down on the floor moving, not held and cuddled. He started rolling over, crawling, and walking fairly early. In fact his speech delay could probably be fully attributed to his lack of slowing down. He wouldn't sit still and watch us when we talked to him, he wasn't figuring out how to make the sounds with his mouth (plus the signing - talking by moving - was right up his alley).

Now-a-days he is still a go-er and do-er with one exception: books. He really loves books. And he sits still to look at them. Naptime and bedtime, better known as "quiet time" around these parts, always includes books for Dallas to look at, and often me reading to him as well. His taste is leaning towards longer and longer books.

The other day I read him Pooh's Heffalump Movie Book word-for-word and asked him questions about the pictures ("Who is hiding?" "How is Tigger feeling?") making the book take close to fifteen minutes. He wasn't the slightest bit ansy, even at the end. If you have had the pleasure of experiencing Dallas first-hand, you know him sitting still that long is a pretty big deal.

I hope when I check on him at night in the future I will be greeted by more scenes like this.

Christmas PJ's

I have a sometimes bad habit of taking pictures of things with the intent to blog... and then it doesn't happen. I happened upon this beauty:



It is a family tradition (like in many families I am realizing) to make (or purchase) new PJ's for Christmas. This year Cameron and I braved the early morning Black Friday at JoAnne's Fabric (where we spent two and a half hours, split between the cutting line and the register) to buy flannel at $1.50/yd.

Dallas has been into rockets and things "blasting off" ever since this summer. It may have had something to do with launching homemade model rockets on the Fourth of July... even though, at the time, the sound was very scary to him.

Cam and I count to three after we ask Dallas to stop doing something before we enforce (you know, the time you give the child to make the correct choice on their own... or maybe it is the time you give yourself, silently pleading that they WILL do the right thing on their own so you don't have to get up and clean up yet another mess...). At times Dallas will end our stern "three" with a "blast off" or a blast-off sound.

So when we were in JoAnne's and I found an amazing spaceship/rocket/outer-space themed flannel print, I was ecstatic.

At home when I pulled all the flannel out and started making Chelane's pair, Dallas moseyed over and saw his print. He didn't let go of it for well over an hour.

I was thinking "SCORE!" If only I can be this in tune with what he likes once he hits his teenage years...

Baby Songs

Anyone ever watch "Baby Songs" back in the day? It is a compilation of songs with catchy lyrics (scroll down on the linked page and read "Security" if nothing else... it is totally Dallas), upbeat music, with fun (usually related) skits all written by some dude named Hap Palmer and a lady named Martha Cheney. I remember there being three volumes and I loved them when I was little.

While looking through my parents' video cabinet I found one volume survived my sister's mass de-junking and put it on for Dallas.

I have very mixed feelings about the video:

1) Dallas requests to watch it at least once a day since I made him watch it the first time.

2) Dallas is trying to (and does a very good job many times) sing along. He tries to match the words and the notes, since he is still barely talking, this is AWESOME!

3) I knew all the songs when I was little and it only took one go-through to remember them and now they are always stuck in my head. This is not so awesome.

Luckily this lone surviving video is NOT the one with the freaky monkey-highchair skit, but does have the disturbing alien-bathtub scene.

You win some, you loose some.

The English Language

Dallas has been going through a contrary phase for, well, ever. With his increasing verbal skills his protests to "Dallas please help me" have gone from "no" to "no mommy" to "no help me, mommy" (the "no help me, mommy" is him negating what I ask him to do... he isn't asking for me to help him instead).

This morning, before breakfast, we were cleaning up last night's mess (Dallas had a bit of a melt down on the way to bed last night, so not much cleaning got done). I asked Dallas to help me, par always, and got the, "No help me, mommy. No help me. No help... you. No help you, mommy."

At least he is using proper pronouns when he protests now...

Chelane, on the other hand, is a helper. She love to put things "in," many people mistake this for loving to clean-up, which she doesn't always want to do.

However yesterday, with Dallas being contrary, I asked him to put his blanket, which was out in the family room, on his bed. Dallas refused and walked away. Exasperated, I turned to Chelane and said, "Chelane can you go put Dallas' blanket on his bed?" and she did. I will admit I was not expecting it. This morning Chelane also put her binkie and stuffed Nemo fish back in her crib on the first request.

I am amazed at her receptive comprehension and of her willingness to obey. Please tell me this isn't just a phase.