Bye-Bye Little Crib

Tonight is little man's first night out of baby jail. At first he couldn't quit grinning and bouncing on the mattress. He got on, off, on, off....and thankfully wore himself out rather quickly! *Sigh* My baby.

Poor Baby!

My week has largely looked like this. Ambulances, hospitals, and tests, oh my. Little man has a good case of pneumonia and was having a lot of trouble getting oxygen. There were scary, "we think we may see" type test results and a lot of sleepless nights. Today, for the first time, Dash seems to have some, albeit cranky, personality back and isn't totally lethargic. He's even eaten twice today, yay! So we're on the mend. But I realize I've been MIA from the blogosphere. Sometimes life just knocks you off your feet for a bit. When Little Man is all better, I'll be back. Hope to see you soon!

Big Boy!

Little Man no longer needs help to get into chairs, climb onto benches....all that big boy stuff.  He is SO proud of himself. That look of pride was for climbing up into that chair.  Now if I can figure out how to keep him from standing once he's up on the chairs...

Big Little Man

I have to admit, I'm a little bit sad. Dashiell is such an amazing gift, and I have thoroughly loved being the center of this guy's world. Now, don't get me wrong, he's still pretty much my biggest fan. We're good buddies and "Mom" is by far the #1 word that comes out of his mouth. But...he's so big! Who would have thought that little preemie who had a slim shot of making it to birth would soon be this big ol' tank, barreling through life at full speed, with great enthusiasm, and that contagious grin on his face.
It hit me full force a few days ago that I was done. After the six full weeks it took for Dashiell to nurse successfully, I wasn't going to take nursing for granted for one second...and I didn't. But as I lay there nursing the baby a few mornings ago, I realized that this was pretty much it for me. As if on cue, Joel rolled over and said, "Dash, you really need to be done with nursing now. I want your mom back." And that was that.
With the girls I nursed anywhere from 11 to 18 months, but they always let me know when they were ready to be done, and there was never an issue. (Not from them, anyway. I always get a bit postpartum-ey at weaning time. Normal, but sucky.) This little man, though, might have gone on and on and on and on and on and on........you get the point. So, I let him finish nursing that morning, and he hasn't nursed again. Oh, he has asked. Pouted a couple of times, even. But some kisses, snuggles, hugs, and reassurance that he's still my little man and everything is a-okay again. No two of my children have ever weaned the same way, and I was unsure about this cold turkey business. It seems to be doing the trick, though! Every child is different, indeed.
Watching Dashiell gobble up his frittata  and use his fork so well it hits me: I don't have a baby anymore. I've got a toddler on my hands. (Yes, the fork is pink. I can't find any kids forks these days that will actually pick up food so he uses the pink and green hand-me-downs from his sisters.) A running, climbing, talking, playing, stubborn little toddler.
But as I write this post he throws his arms around me, lays his head on my lap and sweetly says, "Mom.  Mom.  Mom." as he smiles at me.
Whatever this new chapter holds, we're going to be just fine.

Snowmen and Snowballs and Sledding, Oh My!

What a day! The snow fell steadily throughout the night, so before I went to bed  I pulled the blinds up in the girls' room so they could see a winter wonderland first thing in the morning. Their excitement upon waking was out of control. A blanket of white, as far as the eye could see! They got right to their schoolwork so they could go play outside, but I had to take pity and let them have an hour long "recess" mid-morning. They were in heaven!! They built snowmen (we were out of carrots, so they got celery noses!), sledding hills, made angles and, as always, snacked on snow. Dashiell kept sneaking his mitten off so that he could gobble up some handfuls, too. After some more schoolwork and a nice warm lunch, back out they went! The neighbor kids had a snow day from school, so some friends joined them out front as they built a few more snowmen and another sledding run. Finally, frozen and soaked from head to toe (but beaming from ear to ear!) they headed back in to "bundle up on the inside" with popcorn and hot chocolate. In the world of kid-dom it simply does not get much better than this!

It Came Back!

Dashiell simply could not contain his wonder and excitement as Winter returned in full force...snowing for three days in a row, right outside in his own backyard. He ponted out the window, jumped up and down, and squealed with delight.  Mostly, though, he stood mesmerized, watching the beautiful flakes descending outside of the window. Snowfall always has a magical quality about it, regardless of how old you are. Watching a little one really see it for the first time? A priceless gift.

Little Man in Action

Nothing makes Little Man quite so happy as a new place to hide, crawl into or climb. The more forbidden, the better, of course. So working his way under the computer desk....the one place in the house where electronics, power strips and power cords reign supreme?  Why, that's just pure glee.

The Petting Zoo

Children and animals are always an entertaining combination, but watching a child really discover them for the first time....well, priceless. We had a great time with the goats, cows, pigs, donkeys, chickens, roosters and more at the petting zoo.  The girls had so much fun introducing their baby brother to the farm animals, telling him all of their names and what sounds they made. Dashiell and a baby goat spent quite some time quietly regarding one another, and then seemed to come to some sort of understanding. The goat agreed to hang out with Dash amidst the chaos of hungry animals and excited children, and Dash agreed to talk to him for awhile while intending to pet his face but inadvertently poking him in the nose. Repeatedly. Oddly enough, baby goat didn't seem to mind. After some wandering, Dashiell discovered the pot-bellied pig. For some reason, that little pig tail wagging back and forth was the funniest thing Little Man had ever seen. The pig would face Dash and grunt at him for a bit, then turn around and aim his rump that direction and Dash would laugh and point at that little piggy tail. (Then the other kids would laugh even harder and point at Dash...egging him on, of course.)  We were also highly entertained at two little piglets that kept chasing a frazzled rooster at high speed. Good times.

I must point out...Miss Seleia is wearing a scarf that she knit all on her own in these pictures, and was quite proud to show it off. That's my girl!

Bath Time

This kid really, really loves his tub and duckies.