That Darn Cat and Boy

Not only did we watch my friend's kids last week, but we also watched their cat. Dallin's never been around a cat before. Within an hour of being at their house, it became clear that Dallin is obsessed with cats (really any animal) and that it was going to drive me crazy. This cat really put up with a lot. If Dallin saw the cat then he wanted to pet, kiss, sleep on, touch noses, point to the eyes etc. This cat is de-clawed in the front, but she did snap at Dallin a few times although never hurt him (and Dallin deserved it!) I was so worried about him getting hurt or hurting the cat, that I was constantly trying to separate them. The cat though is not very intelligent. She would run in the other direction when she saw Dallin, but then would come back into the room a few minutes later!!! Where ever we went in the house (trying to separate them), she would follow. As soon as Dallin saw the cat, he started running for her. You think she would have learned to stay away. I was also hoping Dallin would learn to understand the phrase, "Leave the cat alone!" He never did though.

The cat became a pillow

The cat ran under the bed with Dallin was right behind her.

Dallin searching for the cat in one of her favorite spots. She had just slipped away from him.

Adventure

Last week Zane and I babysat my friend's three kids while she and her husband went to London. My friends kids are 8, 6, and 2 (the two year old is six months older then Dallin). We went from a family of three to a family of six...an adventure. I did the whole mommy thing from getting kids off to school, doing homework, piano practice and lessons, dance lessons, birthday parties, and cooking dinners. Thank goodness my friend has a lot of pre-maid frozen meals because I do not know how anyone cooks dinner with four kids running around and two of them practically twins. Zane and I survived and actually had a good time. Last week sure lead to a lot of discussions on parenting. It is such a hard job!

We didn't get a picture of the 6 year old girl, but she was Dallin's favorite (for some reason I didn't get my camera out as much..oh wait, I was super busy!). Once she got home from school, Dallin followed her everywhere. She loved it and read the boys stories and played games with them.

As we were putting Dallin to bed Sunday night after returning to our home, we kept asking him where his friends were. He kept looking for them saying , "Uh, oh." I think Dallin missed the noise and chaos. Maybe he is ready for a sibling???

Sometimes You Get Lucky

I had my best shopping trip ever yesterday. I got all the above food for FREE...and Kroger paid me $4. This was a 103% savings. My other secret is that I used no coupons. How you ask did I score such a great deal??? As everything rung up, I checked to make sure I got my two five dollars off (part of the deal, buy 10 certain items and receive 5 dollars off) and then the cashier and I noticed that repeated minus five's were popping up (20 in total.) Obviously the register was having problems, so the cashier went to find her manager. The manager said we needed to re-ring up my items. I'm thinking, as I'm putting my already bagged and loaded groceries back to be rung up again, that this is such a pain and Dallin is losing it from all this waiting. The cashier re-rung everything up and guess what, the minus five dollars (20 of them) happened again. By this point the manager didn't know what to do so she said I could just go and, according to the register, they owed me four dollars.

Later I felt a little bad about taking the four dollars, but then I realized in all the chaos, that I left a bag there at the store with my Mac and Cheese in it. So were even.

My lucky day right! Free groceries. My friend Kim was behind me in the check out line waiting that whole time to check out, but it was worth it for her. The register also messed up and she got free groceries too.
Thanks Krogers!

Mischievous

If I had to describe Dallin with one word, it would be mischievous... or just all boy. My sister Haley and Zane were watching the boys play outside after a day, or really a week, stuck inside because of the rain. Haley's son Caleb left the slide to go throw a ball into the baby pool which had filled up with water from all the rain. Zane asked if Caleb would jump in the water and Haley said not likely with his clothes on. Next thing they knew, Dallin comes running over and jumps in the water. Well, Caleb followed suit shortly thereafter. Zane poked his head inside and told me I better come see what mischief our son had gotten into now and this is what I saw...boys having the time of their lives!

Notice Dallin's diaper below. By the time they played for a few minutes, Dallin couldn't even lift his leg to get out of the pool; his diaper, wet shorts, and shoes were just too heavy.

Just another day in the life of a boy.

More New Words

Here's a video of Dallin's latest words. His favorites are Cookie (Cookie Monster) and Elmo. He loves books now (finally!) especially ones with Elmo and Cookie Monster. He has stopped saying milk and says book instead. This gets very confusing when he is crying for a book and I give him a book, and then he gets even madder. What he really meant was milk. I try to say mmmm, mmmm milk and Dallin will say booook. The other day we were trying to teach him Caleb by saying ca, ca, ca Caleb. Dallin then said, "Bless you." I guess he thought we were coughing. He says bless you when someone sneezes or coughs including himself. He will usually keep saying it until one of us says thank you. So polite. (You can see in the video some home repairs Zane is doing right now. More to come on that later.)

Dallin's favorite time of day (and mine too) is when daddy comes home. Zane and Dallin can play together for hours. I sit back and just laugh at them. I've tried to join in a couple of times, but it isn't the same. This is just daddy and son time and it is special. Last week they were bonking heads together. I asked Zane why he and Dallin were doing this, and he told me it is a guy thing. Hurting yourself, wrestling, playing tackle...ya, a guy thing.

Mommy switching it up and laying on Dallin's lap instead. He didn't like it after awhile.

Dallin eating an orange for the first time.

Notice another bump on Dallin's head. At his 18 month appointment, his doctor checked his knees (usually there is a bruise or some scratches on them) and said, "Good. I like to see a boy with some bumps and bruises. It means he is active." Active? If you mean running non stop (you should see how fast his feet can move!) and climbing and jumping off of anything, well then Dallin is active! We are constantly saying, "Now Dallin, think this through. Do you think this is a good idea?" Well of course jumping off the couch head first is a good idea to an 18 month old. He keeps me on my toes and I love it!

Future Missionaries

This is how my sister found Caleb and Dallin one night while she was babysitting. Can you see them tracting the streets one day telling everyone about the gospel? 18 months old and they already love the scriptures!

Bed Head

This is Dallin first thing in the morning. He really has some cool hair going!

At the Zoo

While my siblings and Zane and I went to the Salt Lake Temple, grandma and grandpa took the kids to the Hogle Zoo. My Aunt, cousin, and my grandma came along to help.

Fun times in Utah

Because we were spending four days driving to Utah for my grandpa's funeral, we decided to spend some time visiting family instead of turning around and driving straight back. Here are some of the highlights.

Monday night we had a picnic at a park, let the boys run around, and played Red Rover. Apparently this seemed weird to everyone around us to see nine adults and three kids playing this game. Maybe it was only weird because at the end the losing team decided to "all come over" and a couple of kids went flying. In the end, we were all in a pile laughing, well and some crying. After goofing around, we read some letters that my grandpa wrote from his mission in Australia and talked about favorite memories. It was the perfect way to celebrate his life.

Dallin is getting very independent. He wanted to climb the rope ladder all by himself

and go down the big slide without anyone catching him...still a daredevil.

My sister started taking away her son's pacifier right before our impromptu trip. After the first hour of the trip, Haley was going to give in and give Caleb a pacifier. I stupidly said, "You're not going to give in are you?" So Haley cut a hole in Caleb's pacifier and then gave it to him (she has been snipping the tops of the pacifiers and then giving them to Caleb. Caleb isn't stupid though and knows it isn't any good after that.) After some more screaming, we decided for the sanity of the adults in the car that all rules were out the window and Caleb would get a pacifier. The only one left though was Dallin's, so from there on out, the boys had matching pacifiers.

Eating a ice cream cone for the first time! Caleb's technique was to leave the cone on the table and bend over and lick it. Dallin's was to dig right in! Much more messy.

Our family with my Great Grandma and Grandpa Shurtliff (my grandparents.) Notice there still holding hands and in love!

Hanging out at the Dinosaur Museum. Being the youngest grandchild on Zane's side has its benefits. Dallin's older cousins loved taking care of him! This is Dallin with his cousin Samantha.

Dallin and I crawling through a cave...maybe a little scary?

Watch out for the shark!