I am struggling with writing this post. I can’t believe that you are three years old! My heart breaks thinking that you are truly not a baby anymore. You are such a big boy! I often find myself wishing that I could go back to when you were 6 months old, just to hold you for a few hours. I am so thankful that you enjoy cuddling. I enjoy this sweet mommy and Dean time.
Over the past six months you moved into the Early Preschool room at the ECDC. Your time with Ms. Elaine has been a wonderful gift. Ms. Elaine truly appreciates the active boy you are and has taught you so much this first semester. You can identify some letters and numbers, have memorized numerous songs, and you are working on fine motor skills. Your daddy and I enjoy looking at the art work you bring home and have a blast playing school with you. You enjoy playing the role of teacher and never hesitate to tell your daddy and I to “hush friends” when we get a bit too loud.
This summer you really grew in your swimming abilities. You had no fear when it came to exploring the pool and swimming. Your daddy and I were so proud of your eagerness to try something new. We definitely see swim lessons in your future.
You are quite the talker! You are always eager to strike up a conversation and spend a lot of time asking “Why?”. Your Daddy and I have decided that the best way to tackle your inquisitive nature and to feed your desire to know is to provide you with a lengthy answer. Sometimes you fully grasp the concept and learn something other times we just plain overwhelm you and you move on to another topic! You also enjoy quizzing strangers when you mean them. Your typical conversation begins with, “What’s your name?”, “What do you do?”, “Where do you live?”. Three questions is usually the extent of your questioning because most people try to make a quick exit from this conversation with a 2 year old!
You can easily entertain yourself and will play independently although you love it when Mommy and Daddy play too! You typically sing to yourself while you play. I LOVE sitting and listening to you sing bits and pieces of songs through out the day. You always have a song in your heart! Your imagination has also kicked in full force! You are always pretending you are someone or that your toys are something different than they are. The other day you built a pipe yard in our living room complete with two generators! You also love cooking yummy food on your grill and feeding it to us and our friends.
Another big milestone of the past six months… you are fully potty trained! You rarely have an accident and are pooping on the potty. You have come a long way! We are so proud of you.
Your faith has grown in the past year. You have learned that “God keeps us safe” and will remind me frequently. In the past six months you have also begun saying our dinner time prayer. It warms my heart each time I hear your sweet words. I am so thankful to have a little voice reminding me of the faithfulness of our God.
Your last visit to Dr. McCoy was an easy visit. You didn’t need any shots and happily participated in the exam. You weighed 35.4 pounds – 84 and were 38.25 inches tall- 61%. You are a growing boy for sure!
Dean, you are the light of our lives. I am so thankful for you and all that you bring to our family. I look forward to seeing what the next six months brings for us! We love you little man!
You are 18 months old! I can’t believe it! One and a half years ago you completely changed our lives and I’m still struck by the impact. You are the most awesome thing, your Daddy and I talk constantly about how much you amazing us. You have changed so much since your 1st birthday. For starters you are now a walker! Towards the end of February/beginning of March you decided to give up on crawling and commit to walking. It began with a few steps across the study and quickly pick up from there.
Because you started walking you were able to move from the infant room to the toddler room at the ECDC. We were so excited for you to get out of the baby room and into the big boy room. At the beginning of March you started to get bored and began hitting and scratching your classmates. We were all sad about your choices but I knew that you were ready to see what those big kids were doing! Since you have changed classrooms we have seen you grow by leaps and bounds. Each day you come home with new words, abilities and skills. It’s amazing. You love the outside time your new class has and look forward to art projects and story time.
You have become very interested in books. Every night we read 2 or 3 books before bed. You especially love the “lift the flap” books. Where is Spot? and Where is baby’s bellybutton? are two of your favorites. You like to pick a book, walk over to us and say book? book?. When we take the book you sit down, cross your legs and wait patiently for us to read it.
Dean, you are a fruit-a-holic! You LOVE berries – strawberries, blackberries, blueberries… We always hear the request for more after you finish a bowl of berries. All of our friends keep watch for berry sales so that we can keep a fully stocked fridge.
During your 18th month of life we moved from Bedford to our new home in TC. You had a hard time with the move. The minute we packed the first box you stopped sleeping. You didn’t want to take a nap or go to bed at night. It was a rough few weeks for your Daddy and me. We tried everything to comfort you and make you feel better. I finally resorted to letting you stay up as late as you wanted. There were many 9 and 10 o’clock nights those few weeks. Thankfully, after the first week in the new house you began to feel comfortable and started getting back into your routine. Life was much better.
You are a super talker! You love to tell people “hi” and have started to use words to express frustration, ask for help, or food items. You love to talk to people in the store and have been labeled as a very friendly baby! In addition to words you have become more independent. You like to feed yourself with a spoon or fork, climb into and out of chairs, walk – but you don’t want anyone to hold your hand, you also like to take your snack out of the box or bag on your own and peel your own banana.
Dean Thomas, we can’t believe that one and a half years have flown by. You melt our hearts with your smiles and hugs. Your Daddy and I can’t wait to see what the next 6 months are going to bring us. Until then!
Today you turned 11 months old! This month has flown by. This month you cut your first tooth, quickly followed by another 2. You now have 3 teeth on the bottom. We’ve felt a tooth on top, I swear I did, but now it’s gone. Hopefully it’ll come back soon. You were such a trooper while cutting these teeth. You had a terrible runny nose, cough, and very nasty diapers! Thankfully Daddy was on diaper duty and we had plenty of Motrin on hand. Dean, you had more firsts than teeth this month! You also went on your first plane trip and traveled outside the state of Texas, and attended your first Aggie and Hogs game.
You have added new sounds and words to your vocabulary. You say “ba” for ball, “Bu” for bottle, Bye, “pu”, and “pa”. Your grandfathers are particularly proud of the “Pa” sound. When said alone Pops beams and when 2 are said Papa stands proud. I like it when you say “Ma Ma” best! You love to babble, click your tongue, and squeal. I know we will have some dear conversations on day, we’re already off to a great start.
You are such a hard worker, Dean. Your curiosity provides endless hours of play and fun. Your Daddy and I love teaching you how to use your toys. This month you mastered stacking your plastic rings on the holder, filling countless containers with objects only to empty them, pushing larger objects like boxes and baskets around on your knees.
Dean Thomas, you are so much fun! We love waking up to your smiling face and going to sleep to your snoring through the monitor. I can’t believe that you will soon be one! I recently looked through our blog to see what your Daddy and I were doing October ’08. I was as big as a house and we went to the State Fair. We talked the entire time about taking your to the fair the next year and how much fun it would be to share the experience with our little boy or girl! This past weekend we had that privilege. Phil came along for the journey too. We were able to take some wonderful 11 month pictures inside the big wheel of a John Deere Tractor…Papa was exceptionally proud! You loved everything about the fair.
Dean I love when you come crawling over to me, grab my pant legs, and reach up for me. I love it when you lean over on top of me and bury your face in my chest or stomach and giggle, and when you cry because you think we’ve left the room and then break into a huge grin when we walk back into the room. Dean, you are the light of our lives. Such a blessing to your Daddy and I. We are so blessed to have you for our son. We are excited to see what this month will bring!
Today you turned 10 months and you are on the move! You have really mastered crawling and can easily move anywhere your heart desires. Needless to say life is not as relaxing as it once was for your Daddy and I. You have managed to get into our DVD/CD collection, knock over an end table and send the lamp crashing to the ground, play in Jiff’s water bowl, crawl into the dog kennel, put the plugged in cord of Daddy’s computer in your mouth – causing a little shock which you didn’t enjoy, and inspected every outlet in the house. We are having a blast chasing after you!
You eat like a champ my dear boy. So far there isn’t one thing you won’t eat. You LOVE green peas, Nutragrain bars, bananas, turkey hot dogs and pasta. Ms. Gina and Ms. Linda are always telling me how much you love to eat at school. Last Friday they fed you your first grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. You loved them both. You are such an independent eater. We load your high chair tray up with food and you chow down. Almost all of your food makes it into your mouth – pretty impressive. You’ve also become a champ with your sippy cup. You have learned to tip your head backwards and sip away. Such a big boy!
You have learned to clap your hands and often clap when we come to get you out of your crib after your sleep, when I come to pick you up from school, and when you’ve done something you shouldn’t have and know that clapping will make Mommy and Daddy smile! You are so full of joy and love to express your happiness and excitement with smiles and clapping. You also enjoy any type of music, dancing, playing patty cake, and playing with your train and ball popping toy.
Dean you are a social butterfly. You love playing with your friends at school. When I drop you off at school you quickly surround yourselves with a group of friends and start playing away. It is so cute to watch you and 2 of your classmates pass balls back and forth. You have also started making art in class. Your artistic ability is showing – right now you have been making a lot of dots and finger print work but we can see your Van Gogh potential!
As I mentioned, you love to play with balls! You always have one or two in your hand and love to throw them to other people. You can also say the word ball or “Ba”. You love the big exercise ball. We hold you on the ball and let you work on your core. I think you’ll really enjoy a ball pit one day. We might have to put one on your Christmas wish list.
Dean Thomas you are the light of our lives. We have more fun each day and love the smiles you bring to our faces. We love you squirt!
Today you turned 8 months old! This past month has been one my favorites because I’ve been able to stay home with you all day thanks to summer break. My heart overflows with joy every morning when I wake up to you singing and jabbering in bed. You never wake up crying which makes your wake up call a welcomed event. Finding your voice has been a fun experience for you as well as your daddy and I. You have learned how to develop a high pitched squeal, your Aunt Lesley calls you the raptor when she hears it. You love to make this sounds when we are in the car. I think the small space makes it sound even louder which encourages you to squeal more. I’m considering ear plugs for car rides but I’m also thankful for joyful noises!
I no longer worry about putting a blanket down in the living room for you to play on, it proves to be fruitless since you are now a rolling over champ. You can quickly navigate your way to the closest toy, taste it, throw it aside and move on to the next one. In a matter of minutes the living room floor is covered with toys which you have thrown about. You enjoy scooting yourself to the farthest toy and start the tasting and tossing game again. You also do a great job playing independently, your favorite activity is unloading the red baskets that line your toy shelves. You like to empty the basket and play with it rather than your toys. They are so entertaining and an excellent investment in my opinion!
You continue to be an extremely happy boy and love to flirt with anyone who talks to you. Earlier this week we were at the grocery store and you managed to “woo” 5 ladies while we were at the store. Three of them sought you out at the check out counter just to get one more glimpse of your smile! Of course mommy and daddy swell with pride when others think you are as cute as we do!
Grahm crackers, Nilla Wafers, Wasa are just a few of your favorite treats. Daddy and I are working on introducing you to more table food. We’ve tried strawberries, bananas, kiwi, watermelon, avocado, ice cream, and a few other treats. You tend to spit anything we put in your mouth back out. I don’t think you like chunks of food considering you are used to a menu of pureed foods. Jiff has benefited from your expanded palate. He happily gobbles up anything found on the floor after you drop it from the high chair. I think you guys have an agreement, the food smuggler and gobbler. Don’t worry little man, I’m on to you!
Speaking of Jiff, you have become fast friends with him. You love to pull his tail and pet him (or more like pull his hair). You are constantly looking for him, he’s the first thing you want to see when I take you out of your crib. You look for him when you are eating, playing and you love when he walks next to the stroller during our morning walks. He is truly baby’s best friend.
Dean Thomas you are the light of our lives. The past month has been a blessing we are so thankful for. Your daddy and I are continually praying for wisdom as we help you grow. We don’t know everything yet but we are sure working hard to learn. Our hearts soar when we see your smile, hear your voice, and watch you rock and bounce. We still can’t believe you’re ours.
