Firsts

First hair cut:

Dallin has the opposite problem as Zane. Dallin 's hair grows faster on top of his head and is much shorter on the sides. Whereas Zane's sides are nice and thick and on the top, well not so much. In the picture below, my sister has styled Dallin's hair in a nice mowhawk. You can see how much longer the hair on top is compared to the sides. I decided we needed to even out Dallin's hair.

Before hair cut

Getting ready.

All done and so handsome!

Dallin was wonderful. He held pretty still and didn't cry. It helped that we were at grandma's house and his cousin Drew was also there entertaining Dallin.

More firsts:

Standing and walking along the couch

Walking:

On Saturday, Dallin actually took four steps between Zane and me. He did it twice, but then refused to do it again. He won't stand by himself. When you stand him up, Dallin immediately starts jumping. He refuses to hold still long enough to get his balance. He loves pushing this toy though. He is a great walker with it.

Wake Up Call

Every morning between 7 and 7:30 a.m. I get my wake up call. I hear the sweetest noises from my baby monitor. First there is the babbling of da da, da da, then the thumping starts of little feet pounding on the mattress, then the jumping starts and finally the lullaby music being turned on and off all with babbling happy sounds in the background.

Dallin is the happiest baby when he wakes up. He also loves playing in his crib especially since he learned to stand, which for Dallin means jumping, and how to push the button on his rain forest to make the monkey swing back and forth and play music. He is content to play in his crib for at least a half hour before he lets me know he really is up and come and get me right now mom! When I walk into his room with his bottle and singing his good morning song, I get the biggest smile ever from him. He is the best alarm clock I have ever had. (His crib is covered in blankets because Dallin started chewing on his crib so I had to cover up all the wood. I promise; it is all very safe. I know you can buy something to put on the crib to protect it, but the blankets were more cost effective!)

Finding Joy in the Journey

The talks in church today were on President Monson's conference address, “Finding Joy in the Journey.” A sister told a story about when she had three kids under the age of three and her experience at the grocery store (disaster). She explained what she learned from that experience; that there were things she just couldn't do any more with the stage of life that she was in (going out to eat with the kids, shopping, talking on the phone for more then five minutes etc). What she could do was focus on being a good mother and finding joy in this stage of life because those three kids were going to grow up fast and that stage would be over too soon.

I really appreciated her thoughts because they helped me feel better with my decision to quit teaching piano lessons. One day Zane and I were brainstorming ideas on how to make piano lessons easier with Dallin besides everything we had already tried. After much discussion, we realized this really wasn’t working out and wasn’t good for our family. Other moms I know have made it work and are great moms and piano teachers, but for Dallin and me, it wasn't working. The part of me that misses teaching and being with my students thinks that as a mom we sure give up a lot, and the other part of me thinks about those six years of waiting for Dallin, the fasting and praying, and the joy we felt when he was finally placed in our arms. This side always wins. How many times have I said in the last few months that Dallin is growing up way too fast (literally, he is huge!)? It is flying by and I don't want to miss a second of it. So I will miss making music with my students and being able to interact with them. I will miss talking with my students and laughing with them. I will miss the challenge of trying to find ways to make piano enjoyable. (The best is when a student came to piano lessons grumpy and left my house with a smile on their face. This is when I knew I made a difference.) I will miss it, but I'm finding joy in my journey with Dallin.

Since quitting, Dallin and I have taken more wagon rides, played with friends, played with toys, cooked dinner at a decent time, and yes ran some errands. There is less crying and less frustration all around…and he’s worth it!

Taking a ride with cousins Drew and baby Sam

Playing with cars.

Are boys born with the knowledge on how to throw a ball and that when you push a car, you say voom, voom? I'm always making animal sounds, and Dallin has not yet mimicked me on them, but when he pushes a car on the ground, he makes a voom, voom sound (well maybe not exactly that sound, but close enough.)

Toddlers

I found this in my favorite baby book, The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems.

The Eight Rules of Toddler Play- anonymous

1. If I like it--it's mine.

2. If it's in my hand--it's mine.

3. If I can take it from you--it's mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago--it's mine.

5. If it's mine it must never appear to be yours in any way, shape, or form!

6. If I am doing or building something--all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks like mine--it's mine.

8. If I think it's mine--it's mine.

Dallin is starting in this toddler stage. Mostly right now, he is the victim of his two cousins who are definitely in this stage. His toys are always getting taken away from him but amazing enough he still thinks his cousins are the coolest and will follow them wherever they go. I'm sure to them, especially Drew who is a couple of years older, Dallin is the little pest who keeps getting into his stuff!

This picture is of cousin Caleb trying to get into the walker that Dallin is enjoying. Caleb hasn't played in this walker for a long time since he learned to walk early, but now that Dallin is enjoying it, he realizes there must be something fun about it! Dallin doesn't seem to mind though that Caleb has one of his legs in the same hole as Dallin and is squishing him.

(He isn't crying in this picture; he always squints when he sees a flash of a camera.)

Ahh the fun toddler stage!

Another funny story:

Dallin played at cousin Drew's house tonight and somehow pulled on the table cloth that Drew's toys were on knocking all his toys to the ground. Drew (3 years old) turns to Dallin and says, "No Dallin no! Time out. Go to time out!" Poor boys. Dallin doesn't understand what Drew is yelling about and Drew doesn't understand why this pesty boy keeps messing up his toys. Kari and I, well we just laugh!