Last Night Was a Blur

It's not what you think...Ben, Dexter, and I went to our friends' house for a small dinner party and Dexter and their son Ian were going a mile a minute. They were moving around so much I was lucky to catch a shot of them together.

The Smoke Alarm Narrative

About 6 months ago, Ben set off the smoke alarm while cooking hot dogs. Dexter was in his highchair watching My Bologna go nuts and Ben frantically waving a towel at the smoke detector. Apparently, this was an exciting event for Dexter. We couldn't go anywhere without him pointing out every smoke alarm, "Moke arm". A few weeks later, Dexter said, "Moke arm go beep beep beep." A few weeks later, he said, "Daddy. Hot dogs. Moke ararm go beep beep beep." A couple of days ago, he said, "Daddy clean moke ararm with towel." As Dexter's vocabulary evolves, so does the narrative of the exciting smoke alarm event.

An Emerging Theme

Dexter and Ian's creation at the dinner table last night (great company, great meal!).

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others

Car, car, car, car, chicken, car.

Gender Roles?

Tonight at dinner, Dexter was announcing that he is a boy, and Daddy is a boy, and Mama is a girl, and My Bologna is a boy. I said, "Yes, you are all boys except for Mama! What is a Mama to do?" Without missing a beat, Dexy replied, "Vacuum cleaner."

Mother's Day

My boys and I had a wonderful Mother's Day. We went out to lunch, went grocery shopping, and bought a little patio set. Ben grilled and we ate outside. They got me a window box for flowers (now full of ivy and snap-dragons on our front porch), some craft paper, and a gift certificate for a massage at a new local "spa". But the best gift of all was how Ben dressed Dexter for the day.

Hunting for Easter Eggs

Dexy enjoyed the Easter egg hunt but had a little trouble locating the last egg (Ben and I "hid" it up on his swingset). He eventually found and retrieved it!

Coloring Easter Eggs

With a little help from Grandma and Grampy, Dexter really got into coloring Easter eggs!

Easter Bunny Enthusiasm

At Christmas, Dexter got a photo with Santa at the mall but he wasn't too sure about what was going on. I'm not sure he knew much about the Easter Bunny but when he saw the 6 foot tall bunny in the mall, he went running over and wanted to play and hug.

Turtle Sandbox

Grandma and Grampy bought Dexter an awesome turtle sandbox. We set it up Easter morning and it superseded all Easter activities until Dexter had had his fill (and was full of sand!). Grandma was an equally enthusiastic sandbox partner!

Easter Visit from Grandma and Grampy

It took me a little while to get all the videos and photos organized from Grandma and Grampy's recent visit. Dexter had a ball with them! He loved going to the airport to pick them up and drop them off, he impressed them with his ability to eat anything and everything, and LOVED playing with them. They did lots of drawing and coloring, played catch with the new ball and glove they bought him, and participated in Easter preparations like coloring eggs. My mom even showed us how to make rice krispy treats in the shape of eggs that were hollow in the middle so we could fill them with jellybeans and other little yummy candies. Dexter still talks about their visit and talks about them every time he sees an airplane.

Blabbermouth

Now that Dexter is talking, he wants to share his experiences with us. This is wonderful - it's always exciting to hear Dexter recount activities of the day for me. But this Saturday, Dexter and I made a surprise birthday cake for Daddy while he was at work. I was careful to wash all the dishes and hide the cake to surprise him on his actual birthday on Sunday. Dexter, however, had no intention of not telling Daddy about the cake-making. At dinner, out of the blue, he said, "make cake with Mama." Ben, of course, was on it immediately and started with the probing questions. It didn't take much for Dexter to go on and on about using the mixer and putting in eggs. So much for the birthday cake surprise :)

Breath of Fresh Air

It's been a rough time at work for me lately but I had a wonderful experience these last two days when I went to a methods workshop and got to see my undergraduate advisor (always a treat) and meet some interesting French folks who taught me about multiple correspondence analysis. It's been a breath of much needed fresh air.

Jamming

I heard some crazy music coming from the basement and when I went down there to see what Ben had playing on the stereo, I saw that the music was coming from Dexter and Daddy jamming together on organ and guitar!

Preparing the Soil

Planting Seeds