Dawson getting ready to go down
the slide at the Monrovia Community
Center Playground.
Action shot!
Dawson and his friend Matthew
engaged in a serious conversation
about the leaf Matthew is holding.
Dawson with his friend, Matthew.
More sliding at the playground.
Two days before we went to the playground
Dawson busted his lip! In this picture
you can barely see the little cut he got
on his bottom lip. Poor guy! He did great,
though! Within days we couldn't even see
the cut.
Dawson with his friends, Jonah & Norah, playing
in our driveway.
Dawson leaning against the tree we
planted on his first birthday. Look
how big both have grown. We will
have another picture next month.
(Don't worry, Bentley has a tree too!)
Dawson was resting for a minute.
He leaned up against the side of
his swing set and wiped his dirty hands
on his shirt. Sweet profile shot.
Happy 23 months, sweet boy!
My big boy playing on his slide in our
backyard.
Happy at 23 months!
Dawson's favorite way to slide...
on his tummy!
I think Dawson actually looks a little like
me in this picture!! I always look at his
pictures, and I see John immediately.
So I was excited to think he looked like me
here. If only it were centered and not in the
shade. I was sticking the camera through the
playset to get a picture before he slid down the
slide on his tummy so I couldn't get it centered.
My sweet boy!
This is what our carrots look like right now...exciting, I know!
One of our two red strawberries!!
Dawson loves to talk about the garden.
Here he gave a long speech about
the strawberry. He kept making these
serious faces the whole time while talking
and pointing to the red strawberry.
As I say every month, it is so hard for me to believe that Dawson is 23 months old, but, at the same time, when I listen to him using sentences, see him coloring or painting, and watch him interact with his friends, I know he is definitely 23 months!
The past month was a big month for Dawson! March 31st was the last day Dawson had his pacifier! I cannot believe he kicked the habit as easily as he did, but Dawson always amazes me. Our original plan had been to slowly phase out the "pacie." We had attempted to only allow him to have it in bed, but during the day Dawson would go in his room and be in a panic if he could not find it! I was determined that he would not have it at his 2nd birthday, so John and I decided that on April 1st we would take the pacifier away. On March 31st Dawson got out of bed, and I checked his pacies for holes like I did every morning, and during the night he had chewed holes in the only two pacies we had left. It looked like the day to say goodbye to pacie had come a day early. I showed him the holes and then cut off the nipple pieces and told him that his pacie broke. He was very concerned, and he closely examined the broken pacies for a while. At bedtime I was worried he wouldn't go to sleep, so I got out the broken pacie and talked about how it was broken. After about 15 minutes of knocking to come out of his room and a couple tears, Dawson went to sleep without his pacie. The next morning John asked Dawson where his pacie was, and Dawson responded, "It break! Uh oh!" I knew that Dawson understood completely which made me even more determined that he would not get another pacie. Since then Dawson has continued to take a little longer than usual to go to sleep. He used to go to sleep in less than five minutes, and now it takes about 10. In our opinion, that's not too bad considering how attached he was to pacie. I was impressed at how Dawson handled it like a big boy!
Another big occurrence this month was that Dawson has started requesting to use the potty. Since Dawson has two friends that I have been keeping for a few weeks, he has realized that some of his friends use the potty. On March 26th, Dawson was playing when he suddenly announced he needed to go to the bathroom. John and I were in disbelief, since we have not pushed the potty issues at all and have not tried to potty train Dawson yet. (Our first obstacle was the potty, we were planning to work on the potty training later this summer.) Since Dawson seemed serious we took him to the bathroom and "ta-da," as Dawson would say, he did it! Every day since then he has successfully used the potty between 1 and 3 times. I am amazed. We are still not pushing the potty issue by asking him if he needs to go, and we only take him when he says he needs to go. Again, Dawson has impressed me with how big he is that he can do this!
At 23 months Dawson is through his first picky eating stage, and he is back to eating almost everything I make. As I mentioned, Dawson's vocabulary has just exploded this month. It seems like it would be impossible to list all the words he can say like I used to do because he says new things every day! I love that we can carry on little conversations now, and he responds. He still loves gnomes, and he blows a kiss and says, "bye bye gnome," every time we back down the driveway. He is so sweet!
In the past month, Dawson has learned he can boss Bentley around, and he takes advantage of this! He knows that Bentley is not allowed on the couch if we are having a snack in the living room, and he will snap his fingers at her and tell her "No, no! Doggie no!" over and over until she (amazingly) finally does obey. I think it's hilarious that he snaps at her. When he drops food at the table, he snaps and calls Bentley. When she comes he points out the food for her to eat. I guess this is the trade off for having to be bossed around by a 1 year old!?! :)
Dawson still loves his books. One of his current favorites is a book his Lolly and Pop gave him his first Christmas. It's called Hello, Smokey, and it is about UT's mascot, Smokey, attending a football game. At the end of every page he waves and tells Smokey hello. At the end of the book Smokey goes to bed, and Dawson always kisses the page in the book where Smokey is tucked in bed.
At 23 months, Dawson loves to watch his Daddy do anything and everything! Watching his Daddy do yardwork his his very favorite. Dawson loves to push his mower around the yard, and he mows in perfect lines exactly like John. After seeing his Daddy use the weed-eater a few times, Dawson now turns every toy into a weed-eater and makes a noise. He turns his toy vacuum upside down to be a weed-eater. His toy foam sword, baseball bat, and toy broom have all also been used as imaginary weed-eaters! I love to see him playing when he's using his imagination!
Dawson has also been learning a lot about how to play with friends since he has had two friends at his house a lot recently! He has become much better about sharing, but he could still use some improvement. He loves to play with his friends and gets so, so happy when they get to our house.
We had another playground playdate with his friends Matthew, Caroline, and Norah last week, and Dawson had a ball running, climbing, sliding, and swinging with his friends. Yesterday morning, Dawson also had a playdate at his friend, Jack's house. After playing inside for a while, we ventured outside to play in Jack's sandbox! At first, Dawson was not a fan, and he said "Ewie! Ew!" when he got sand on his hands and feet. After he realized he could shovel, rake, and pour the sand, he and Jack had fun playing together in the sand box.
The number one thing that Dawson loves to do at 23 months is play outside. From the minute he wakes up until bedtime, that is all he wants to do. He already has a noticeable farmers tan! He has so much fun outside and is so happy, that we have been spending a lot of time outside!!
I cannot believe that next month's update will be two years! His birthday party will be on his actual birthday this year, Saturday, May 14th, and we're sending out invitations very soon! I have been planning it for a couple months (you know me!), and I can't wait to have the party for Dawson.
That about sums up the 23 month update for Dawson, but John and I have been busy recently as well. Between work and yardwork, John has found time to begin removing the linoleum from our bathroom so that we can very soon put down tile! Also, last weekend, John got to enjoy the beautiful weather at the driving range with some friends after church! Other than watching two of Dawson's friends during the week days, I have stayed busy planning Dawson's birthday party, a baby shower for a friend, and our Easter Party/Playdate for all of his friends next week. I have also been continuing to work in my garden, and I already have two almost-ripe strawberries! Just a couple more days, and they will be ready to pick! Dawson loves to go "help" with the garden. He loves to check the strawberries to see how red they are. He's such a good helper.
I hope you've enjoyed the update on Dawson.
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