He's Walking!!!

Dylan started walking this week at exactly 11 months. That's an entire 6 weeks before big brother, Jake. He started crawling 2 weeks after Jake (at 8 months) so I figured he'd be slower to walk as well. Not so much! I was sitting in the living room one night with Unc Bri Bri who was in town to work on electricity on the lot to prepare for the foundation to be poured. Dylan was wearing his cute little froggie pj's with froggie feet and took a few steps towards me. Awwwwww!!!!!! It was so precious.

Since then he has picked it up really well and doesn't fall very much. I feel sorry for Jake because now Dylan follows him everywhere grabbing him, crawling all over him and trying to steal the hat off his head. I try to tell Jake that he can't help it but that doesn't appease him much. I am constantly hearing Jake scream, "NO, D!!!!!!!!!!!!" all day long. It's pretty funny. Dylan idolizes his big brother, Jake. Who wouldn't?

Balls

Dylan said his first word a couple weeks ago, "ball". When I say "said his first word", I mean became completely and totally infatuated and absolutely obsessed with. Every single item he sees that is round in shape becomes a ball in his little world. Grapes, watermelons, peas, circles, the list goes on as this child does not differentiate. He has a one track mind when it comes to balls and just repeats the word over and over and over when he sees one. His eyes get really big and he'll start bouncing up and down to wiggle out of your arms to get to that ball. It's like baby crack. He could literally play with them for an entire hour without getting bored. When Jake was this age, he had an obsessive love with trash cans. So much so that he wrote a little love poem in October of 2009:

Ode to a Trash Can

My love began with a flirtation with the Diaper Champ & blossomed into a full blown love affair with the trash can. Tall kitchen cans, short bathroom cans, large stinky garage cans, ones @ the park. I have equal opportunity love to give & would never dare to discriminate. I can't get enough of you & will just die if I go a second longer w/o throwing something away in you. Be mine forever. Love, Jakie Monster Dunn

Princess

The boys have been real sweetie pies lately. Jake is so polite and always saying, please, thank you, I'm sorry, and "esscuse" me when he burps. When he sees Daddy and me hugging, he always jumps in for a group hug and loves to cuddle and give kisses. He just recently started telling me that I look like a princess after I get dressed in the morning. I have no idea where he picked up that term but it makes me smile all day long when he says it. According to Jake, I especially look more princess like when I wear dresses and anything green. Green dresses are apparently the ultimate in coolness according to this 3 year old hipster.

The Coolest Kid in School

Last night our Nanny, Carolina, was picking up someone's son that she babysits at the Montessori school that Jake also goes to. She peeked her head into Jake's room to say hi to Jake and his teacher, Miss Gigi, asked her how she knew Jake. Carolina told her she was his nanny which prompted her to tell Carolina that Jake is the coolest kid in their whole school. So sweet! They really adore Jake there. His teachers tell me he has one of the sweetest dispositions and he minds really well. He also wears his sunglasses inside like he's too cool as well as a Hurley hat and an enormous SpiderMan watch that, according to Jake, is always set for 5:00. He takes his shoes off during circle time which drives Miss Kelly crazy because it takes him forever to put them back on and when he does, they are on the wrong foot. There is no convincing him to correct the error so I guess they just choose their battles because when I pick him up at the end of the day, they are still on the wrong foot.

I really love this school and my only issue with Montessori is the uniform. Apparently at age three, not only does 5 become the most important number in the world (he is now convinced that he is 5 and a half), but they also develop their own sense of self and want to choose their own clothes (the nerve of him!!!). He refuses to wear all of the cool Baby Ambercrombie like clothes that I get him and he is absolutely OBSESSED with a red pirate t-shirt that Scott's mom picked up for him on her vacation to Florida. The second he wakes up in the morning he wants to put on this shirt and I comply to avoid a meltdown and it is a full on battle to get him to change out of the shirt and into his uniform. The first thing he asks for when he gets home every night is his pirate shirt. It has turned into an absolute obsessive compulsion and we seriously need to go out and buy him some new pirate shirts.

The Paci Fairy

This weekend Jake gathered up all of his paci's and put them in a pretty present bag to give to the Paci Fairy. He put them under a tree in our backyard for the Paci Fairy to take them up, up and away to give to another little baby that needs them. He left afterwards with Scott to get an ice cream cone as his reward and when he came back, he went outside to check the tree to find the Paci Fairy had already come! A couple times over the weekend he pleaded, "Paci, come back down!!!" but not one single tear was shed. What a brave boy. Here's a pic of his sacrifice to the Paci Fairy.

The Perfect Mom

So, I have a friend who is the Perfect Mom. As soon as her babies climb out of the womb, they sleep in until 9 and are reciting Shakespeare by age 2. She dresses them up in super cute girly dresses every single day with matching bows so they are prepared for all of the impromptu tea parties going on in their Canadian toddler social circle. She makes things like French Toast every morning, Zucchini bread for lunch and is as patient and kind as she is particular. One day I plan on Jake marrying one of her daughters so that they can pass along their Perfect genes to my grandchildren. I told her a really funny story the other day about Jake and The Paci Fairy and she said it would make a good blog post. She was right. A very important trait of the Perfect Mom is to chronicle all of the funny and endearing things that go on in her babies’ lives. She even does things like takes pictures of them every month on a chair with a really cool sign that says their age that she makes with some crazy software that I have no idea how to use. I envy her Perfect Mom blog because she will never forget all of the things that have made her smile since her babies arrived. So, in honor of my quest to be The Perfect Mom, too, I am starting this blog. It won’t be as fancy or detailed or organized as hers. Think of it as the Not So Perfect but Definitely Trying Mom blog.