Oh, (by the way)...

...Dawson likes to spend his spare time these days:

- Calling Nana on the phone (and throwing a little hissy if we don't)...
- Asking 92834982 times a day "Where Daddy go?" (He's in a bit of a Daddy phase to say the least)...
- Carrying on actual conversations (even though they are almost always about motor vehicles, it's dialogue!)...
- Playing chase, steam roller, wrestling with Daddy, smelling the flowers, and small doses of climbing (and RUNNING from place to place might I add)...
- Working on his tan (which is currently darker than mine)...

21 Months

Blue Mounds State Park

BMSP Tower

Enjoying the train at the zoo on a hot, hot day

Just when I thought it was safe to organize my cabinets...

One cool dude.

Summer buzz cut

4th of July...fireworks for the first time!

As you can tell from these photos, we have thoroughly been enjoying summer and getting our money's worth of our State Park and pool pass. Good thing Dawson would rather be outside than anywhere else. His tan is much darker than mine already (Must be dad's skin tone. Lucky...)!

Picnics, zoo trips, swimming, walks, sandboxes, parks and grill outs have filled our days as of late.

Another sign that summer is here? Dawson got his first summer buzz cut. No steps or lightening bolts in the sideburns...yet that is. ;)

At 21 months, I can't say that much has changed since 20 months, other than sentences getting longer and vocabulary is continuing to expand by the hour. This afternoon I (tried) to lay down and take a nap with him. He was very hyper and all over the place. I looked at him and said "Dawson!..." and then he snapped his head around and said to me, "Dawson come here. Head down on pillow." It was hard to hold that laugh in...it would be safe to say that I did not succeed.

The other day, the three of us wend to Target and Dawson was not happy to sit still in the cart (do we sense a trend here?) so Daryn took him out and placed him on his shoulders. After about 10 minuets of that, it was very clear that we was very bored. So he yelled out "Cooommme ooon!" in a very 14 year-old, whiney teenager voice. Daryn and I cracked up.

We are so enjoying our time with him and are soaking up every moment of this summer sun. I look forward to what our next adventure brings...

20 Months

Family night out. :)

My dinner dates. Aren't they handsome?

A little blurry since the boy doesn't sit still much...

MH Frolic Parade

Stylin' little man...

Driving lessons with Nana

If it drives, chances are D is obsessed with it.

Again...do we sense a pattern?

Skipper Dawson

D and his buddy Brady

Jackson and his sidekick

D and Averi sharing a moment <3

This summer is off to one, great start. We have been soaking up every little moment with this man and he is such a pure joy. From little outings and adventures with our family of three to boating with our good friends Adam, Andrea & Brady to swimming at the Karls pool with the Kalscheur crew to cook outs with the Havercamps with many walks, park visits, etc. inbetween. He is so much fun to be around as he is so quick to pick things up. I love watching him interact with his surroundings and seeing his personality show itself. I would describe him as a chipper, observant, sensitive little boy who is always on the go. If I could have dreamed up a little boy and all his characteristics, Dawson honestly would be it. <3 Spoken like a true, proud momma, huh? ;) But I mean every bit of it...Who knew a heart could love so much?

At 20 months, Dawson...
- Is 28lbs and 3 feet tall. 75% for his weight and off the charts for his height
- Would be pushed in his stroller all day long
- Is completely and utterly obsessed with transportation vehicles. Train, car, truck, school bus, tanker, flat beds, fire truck, semi truck, dune buggy, race car, camper, digger, dump truck, mail man, monster truck, boat, plane, motorcycle, tractor, trailer, bike, van, jeep....and knows exactly what each one is. He'll call them out in books, the window, walks, car rides, commercials....The boy knows his stuff.
- Loves to blow bubbles
- Has quite the set of dance moves
- Has started saying prayers before meal times and bed time....it's so cute.
- Loves going to parks and climbing up the stairs and going down the slide...and we can't forget the swings! He is getting a bit more adventurous and confident as he navigates the playgrounds.
- Slept in yesterday morning til 10am and 9:30am the previous morning! I could get used to this!
- Has been calling me "Bobby" instead of "Mommy" lately when he gets whiny. Where did he learn that!?
- Loves to RUN. Everywhere. And doesn't ever really stop. He just squeals with delight as he runs. "Gonna get you!" he'll say as he runs away from you However he has no concept of boundaries (like busy streets with moving vehicles)...ya, we're working on this one.
- Has a nice start to a little summer tan...he must have Daddy's skin tone. Lucky man! He'll be a bleach blondie before summer is over.
- Counts to 14 but definitely not in order. More like "1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14...yay!" Then claps for himself.
- Has really good manners and appropriately and about 60% of the time with out prompt will say "Please/Thank you (Momma/Daddy)", etc.
- Some favorite current phrases of his: "I don't think so!", "Gonna get you!", "Thank you/Love you/Please (Momma, Daddy, etc.). "Wanna get out!", "Where (Momma, Daddy) go?", We're home!" "Momma/Nikki's Car" And growing by the day...

I am thrilled for this summer and what it will entail. I am excited to dial back a bit this summer and soak up the simple things that summer is all about as I live it through the eyes of my little man...

A Life to Celebrate

This past Sunday, we celebrated Dawson's Great-Great Grandparent's 75th wedding anniversary. Can you even imagine that? A lifetime of love is such an understatement. What a testimony to love, faithfulness, commitment, marriage and soul mates. It was most definitely an occasion to celebrate.

Unfortunately just two days after our celebration ended, so did my Great Grandpa life. He was going to be 100 years old this October. I know it meant so much to him to have our entire family with him days prior as family was so important to him.

I am so thankful that he was able to meet Dawson several times. What a special and rare thing for Dawson to have 5 generation photos. I hope I live a life as long, full and family oriented as he did.

Celebrating 75 years of marriage: Great Grandpa & Grandpa with all Great (and Great-Great) Grandchildren.

Towns family with Great Grandpa and Grandma

5 Generations

First meeting of Great-Greats. <3

19 Months

So happy to see my little man tapping into his creative skills. :)

RUNNING. Always. And most of the time away from Mom and Dad.

D found the golden egg (with $5!). I believe he had a little help from Nana.

D rocked the Easter Egg hunt this year. He so enjoyed looking for eggs.

The Allen crew on Easter.

Our underwear model. Gotta fund the college education somehow, right? ;)

Our little fam. <3

Here we are at the 19 month mark. Dawson's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds each day as he learns new words, phrases, expressions. His sentences are also growing as well with "Thank you Mommy", "Dawson's ____ (cup, shirt, shoes, etc.)", "Hi Seni", " Bye Truck", "Wanna get out!", Want snack", etc.

He is also ALWAYS running. It never fails that when we set him down (outside, at the park, a store, etc.), he sprints away from Mom or Dad as fast as he can in the opposite direction. Daryn and I were talking the other night about how nice it will be when we play outside with Dawson (or go anywhere for that matter!) and he understands boundaries and stays in one place. I'm all about running around, but in the general area would be nice. ;)

We are outside as much as possible. Well on spring days when it isn't below freezing, hailing, snowing, raining or sleeting. Which unfortunately has greatly limited our time outdoors. But when we DO get outside it's running, walking in the stroller with his hands perched on the tray, at the park, blowing bubbles, etc. He doesn't through tantrums much (yet?), but you can almost always count on one when we can't go outside due to weather or when we have to come in. (Spring, if you are reading this, help a mom out and please stick around for a bit?)

Dawson was really fun for Easter this year. He LOVED dying eggs and looking for them as well. It was fun to see him get so excited. He didn't mind the candy that came along with Easter too. :)

At 19 months...
- Dawson weighs (to be determined at his apt next week, but I am guessing 27 or 28lbs?)
- Has 16 teeth. His eye teeth are through the gums but still in the process of coming up
- It showing some interest in potty training. I think he mostly likes to request to sit on the potty chair and read books. :)
- Feeds him self really well with spoons and forks
- Loves to push his trucks back and forth on the table
- Looks out the front window for hours each day (literally) calling out "Seni!", "Flatbed!", "Truck!", "Car!", "Buddy!". ("Buddy" started off as the garbage man that waves to him each Friday, but now it somehow became all UPS trucks, FedEx trucks and mailman)
- LOVES his Nana (my mom), Papa (my dad), Grandma (Alice) and Grandpa (Dan). And most certainly GG (my Mom's mom, Grandma Judy).
- Sleeps 7:30pm-7:30am (give or take) each night
- Naps 12:30 - 3:00 (give or take) each day
- Loves to "help" unload and load the dishwasher, sweep the floors, throw things away, etc.
- Is a little OCD about having doors open. Any time he catches a closet door, cabinet door, dishwasher door, bedroom door, refrigerator door open, he MUST close it. This is also an instance that he does a little angry dance if he can't close them because they are being used.
- Plays really well by himself. Looking at books, playing and setting up his train set, driving cars around. He is really independent.
- Will repeat anything you ask him too...this can be fun. And also dangerous.

18 months of Awesome

My little heart breaker turned 18 months old yesterday. I don't know about you, but that sort of seems like a big deal...

Grandpa Dan taught D how to put his hands in his pockets. :)

What can I say, the boy loves wagon rides?

At the Children's Museum...

And surprise, surprise, we found come cars!

The last six months have meant huge changes for D, mainly with his speech and communication growing leaps and bounds. I can't even count the words in his vocabulary any more...everything is pretty much fair game, sentences and expressing preferences too! He also recognizes people and will remember their names after they've left.

Last night Daryn and I were looking back at photos and videos since his first birthday and I can't even believe how much he's grown out of a baby face and into a little toddler. His voice isn't so high pitched and he has thinned out and shot up. Makes me want to cling to every single moment because they are all flying by too fast.

I can't wait for this summer. Running outside, parks, swimming. Each season for the next few years will be an entirely new experience as Dawson grows, and what fun to watch it unfold through his eyes.

At 18 months, Dawson...

- Spends his days playing with his train set, reading books or watching the cars, trucks, "seni-trucks", tankers, buses, flat beds, "Humma" pass by on the highway out our front window. With each visit with GG, his vehicle vocabulary expands.

- Will sleep in a bit later if he stays up a bit later at night. It used to be the later past his bedtime, the earlier he would get up. But the switch has been made. What a great tool for a parent to use at will... :)

- Loves to put all his cars, trucks, trains, etc. up on the kitchen table to display. It doesn't matter how many times we correct him to not, he still does. I am tossing the towel in on this one!

- Drives his cars through his legs too. It's darn cute...

- Sleeps 12-13 hours at night and naps 3 hours in the afternoon

- Tries to escape to the outdoors any chance he gets. Literally. We have to keep the doors locked so he doesn't go out without us. Doesn't matter that spring has decided to stick around yet, this boy knows what and where he want to be.

- Never stays in the same place for more than 30 seconds unless he's sleeping, food is involved or Cars, Sesame Street or Mickey Mouse is on.

- Loves, I'm talking LOVES juice.

Potty Chair

 
I can't even believe I'm typing this right now, but Dawson has been expressing an interest in potty training lately. He says "potty" and "poop" when he goes (not every time, but sometimes) and is very interested when Daryn and I are using the bathroom too. So after doing some research and consulting with Nikki :), I bought a potty chair last night at Target. My plan was to have him sit on it once or twice a day with no pressure and just see what happens. Well tonight I put him on the chair and he went! He received an insane amout of praise and a spoon full of ice cream to celebrate. So we'll see what becomes of this, but we are off to a great start!