Dentist and Swimming

Blake had his first trip to the dentist on Monday.  I decided to go to a pediatric dentist hoping to make it a little bit easier.  While on our little excursion, Blake said some fun things.  The hygentist walked us back to the room where he could pick from 3 different chairs, but all Blake could see was the model of some teeth.  Blake asks, "Are you going to put those in my mouth?" They responded with a no. Blake then asks, "Well, then why do you have them?" He then asked if they were going to give him a shot. The hygentist was then going to polish his teeth, so to show him that it doesn't hurt and that it tickles, she put it on his hands, and Blake says, "Wait..I thought you were going to brush my teeth? Why are your brushing my hand?"  She then starting polishing his teeth and not his hand, and asked the hygentist where her mom was...trying to strike up a conversation I suppose, but it completely caught her off guard.

We went away with a thumbs up that he/we do a fine job brushing and flossing his teeth and that he doesn't have any cavities.   

Blake loves to swim and he can swim by himself now, which is very exciting. He wants to swim everyday and so we are trying to teach him that we don't swim on Sunday, but well, he doesn't know his days of the week so we tell him that we don't swim on the days we go to church.  This morning as we were eating breakfast Blake asked me if dad went to church this morning. I responded with, "Yes, he went to church this morning to teach seminary." Blake then says, "Oh, so then dad can't go swimming today."

Matching

Blake loves to match,  so he was pretty excited to wear a shirt that matched his brother.  The little things in life that make him happy.

Blake has 2 more years until Kindergarten, so he will be in Pre-school next year.  He is a little jealous that his cousins are in school, so we have taken advantage of this and have been doing school time while Dylan takes his nap.  Blake knows the following letters...A,B,D,G,J,M,W...hopefully we will make some progress huh?

Day at the Park

We are kind of lucky to have nice weather year round, so when it is hot, we kind of complain.  We have been having weather in the 90s lately so we do a lot of swimming. Today was in the 80s so off to the park we went.

The boys played together for about 5 seconds.

Dylan sure loves the sand toys.

He also loves to watch his crazy brother run around.

We survived and got some much needed energy out.  

After the park, Blake helped Uncle James clean Amber's car (James' girlfriend). He walked in the house and says, "Mom, I need to rest."  I get all excited, "Oh, you want to take a nap?" He responds, "Oh no, I think I need to rest while watching something." I ask, "Should we read some books?"  He tells me that he should watch TV.  Lazy kid.

Bow Ties, Signs and Dancing

We have our wedding album out on the table for those who want to see it.  Lately Blake has been perusing through it, asking questions and making comments about some of the photos.  So, the other day Michelle and I were sitting at the table and Blake comes into the kitchen with the photos in hand.  He points to the one of me in a tux (kind of weird for a wedding photo I know) and asks, "Daddy, you wore a bow tie?"   Now, Michelle's brother, James, wears a bow tie every week to church (I do not) and we kind of make fun of him for it.  But Blake for sure knows that I don't wear them, so he finds it interesting that I actually have one on. 

I said, "Yes, Buddy.  Mommy wanted me to wear one for our wedding, so I did."

"Wait…..So, Mommy asked you to do something……..and you did it?"

As dads can attest, it's always important that when you stumble upon a teaching moment you take advantage of it and not waste it.  So, I of course jumped on this opportunity.  I said, "You bet buddy.  When mommy asks me to do something, I mind her, I obey.  That makes her very happy. " 

"Ohhh.  And she wanted you to wear a bow tie?  Why?"

So, now what do you say?  Tradition?  The importance of looking your best?  What would work the most efficiently for a 3 year old?  I just opted for a standard well-though- out-answer ,  "Uhhhh, because Mommy asked me to.  " 

So, how'd I do, you might ask?  Did the kid with a thousand questions come up with one more or was he placated? 

Blake then nodded and walked away.   Yes! Success!.  At least for now. 

We try to go on a walk every day.  Sometime we fail or timing doesn't work out.  But we try.  Last week as we were out walking, we passed by this house with a security alarm sign in its front yard.  Aside:  I read an article about 7 years ago that stated about 30% of those signs are just put up to scare away potential burglars--that they don't add in the most important support for the sign, an actual alarm system.  But I digress. 

As we pass by the sign, Blake points to it and says, "That's to keep the bad guys away." 

Michelle and I looked at each other and shrugged.  We don't know where that titbit of information came from. 

Last week, I was in my room getting ready to go to work and Blake walks in.  He sees me almost all ready for work and what would you imagine would be his first question?  You got it. 

"Hey, Daddy.  You going to work today?"

Being the loving father I am I don't whip out a terse remark about Einstein, or Sherlock.  Instead I said, "You bet buddy.  " 

"You gonna drive your car there?" Again, I hold back any sort of biting comment. 

"You got it." 

"Ok, well if you need me, Daddy, while you're at work, you can just call me.  I'll drive Mommy's van over to you and can help out."

"Ohhh.  Okay.  Will Mommy be coming with you?"  I ask. 

"No, just me driving Mommy's van." 

"Oh okay.  I'll do that buddy."

"Good, okay.  So just call me if you need me and I'll drive over."  I think he really thought that part was the important part, hence it's repetition.   I gave him a smile and a big, big hug. 

What a helper huh?    

Finally, I will end with a story about Dylan.  Dylan is growing up so fast it is crazy.  He has picked up a number of new things lately:  standing, straight leg crawling, and shaking his head no. For the last one, he will get a huge grin on his face look at you and shake his eat 3 or 4 times.  It is pretty awesome.  Michelle and I call it  "No, no no." 

So, today, I was dancing in the kitchen while we were preparing dinner--don't judge.  I turned to Dylan and asked"  Hey Dylan, is  Daddy a good dancer?" 

He smiled big and shook his head, no, no no.  Michelle and I laughed pretty good.  

Football

Football season has begun.  Blake is obviously the most excited about it.  Dylan is 10 months old and wearing size 2T/24 month clothes.  Blake is now wearing mostly 5T clothes. Yicks!

Playing

Blake has showed Dylan his love for tools. I was making dinner one day and find Dylan trying to use the toy screwdriver to screw in a screw.  What?  Dylan figures things out quick. He doesn't have the hand eye coordination to do a lot of the things, but you can see him trying to do it. He likes the types of games where you put shapes into designated slots.

A box still can entertain this kid for awhile.  Lately he has been coloring and working on his letters.  He also LOVES to go swimming and has a pretty decent tan to prove it.

This is the crawl.  Not the best picture, but it totally gets his straight leg crawl.  He started this crawl after his surgery because it didn't hurt his stomach.  Then he would just do this crawl when he went on a slippery surface or an unknown area...now I think he does it because he has figured out that it doesn't hurt his knees.  We get a lot of laughs from people when they see his crawl.  He scales around the furniture and is getting pretty fast at doing it...he'll go from one piece of furniture to another because he really doesn't want to crawl unless he has to.  His latest thing is to play hide and seek.  He is typically the one finding Blake and I and has a huge smile when he finds us.

Labor Day

We spent Labor Day at Disneyland...since it had been only a couple of days since our last trip.  We didn't know when we would next be able to go with Aaron, so off we went.  It is not fun to stand in lines with a kid who is in the stage of learning how to walk.  This is what Dylan did in many of the lines.

Blake had to be just like Dylan.

Dylan was a little bored...and Aaron.

Blake's current favorite rides are Pirates of the Carribean and Buzz Lightyear.  Dylan can go on both of those rides, so it works great.  His other favorite rides is Autopia, which Dylan can not ride on, so we took advantage of Aaron being there to watch Dylan while Blake and I drove the cars.