Grammy

one of the things we did with Grammy was to go to see the lights at temple square. Clearly, a good time was had by all.

We had the good fortune of having Grammy (Joe's mom) come to visit us last week for Thanksgiving. It was really nice to have her around. Joe and the boys took her to the airport today to go home. When I came home from work, I asked Dallin how his day was. He said "good but Grammy not here." Porter said, "she went home today." Dallin added, "and I was sad. I cried." I asked if he was okay now, and he said no, he is still sad. He still misses Grammy. Porter didn't want to talk about it.

songs

I took Porter sledding yesterday while Dallin napped. It is nice to be able to do things with Porter alone sometimes. When he is not focused on fighting with Dallin, competing with Dallin, etc., he is a pretty fun kid. When we first got the sledding hill, we were the only people there. Porter wanted it to stay that way so he wrote, "this park is closed" in the snow, hoping that it would fool other people into staying away. When other kids came, he wrote his name on the trails he created, again trying to deter the others from sliding down his hill. He also discovered that he likes to eat snow. He said that he was having it for a snack and offered me some. Then he found a bunch of foot prints in the snow. Some of them were huge. He thought perhaps they had been made by a giant. He and I had a lengthy discussion about giants and how big this giant my possibly be. Then we looked more closely at the footprints and found that they were mine. I'm not a giant, I just have giant feet, I guess. Porter also found some old footprints that had turmed to ice. He thought they were like fossils and then he tried to bury them so someone else could find them.

Dallin was writing little songs in the bathtub tonight. The first one went like this:
Aunt Mallory, Aunt Mallory
da da da da da
stinky poo poo
we love you.

The second one went like this:
Uncle Brett
ba da ba
buncle bett
dett dett dett
uncle Dett

Then he told me that I wasn't his friend and neither is Aunt Mallory. His best friends are Uncle Jacob, Uncle Brett, Uncle Jess and Porter. He also likes some of the boys he goes to daycare with and some of the boys who live in our neighborhood. All of his uncles are his friends in some degree or another. He also likes all his cousins. He does not like any of aunts or any other girls that he knows except Grandma.

My Dallin

Tomorrow is my little Dallin's birthday. He will be three. As he always reminds us, he is not tiny, he is not a baby. He is a grown up. My grown-up Dallin loves to have "piky" hair and look well groomed. He will comb his hair at least five times a day, trying to make it look just right. He loves to eat candy and cheese-its. On the more healthy side, his favorite dinner is turkey (or chicken because he doesn't really know the difference) with rice and fruit. He also loves to eat chicken McNuggets from McDonalds dipped in caramel and root beer. He may be the only child I know who doesn't like pizza. As it turns out, he actually just doesn't like pizza sauce. He loves cheese pizza with garlic butter sauce though.
Dallin is also one of the funniest people I know. He doesn't make us laugh intentionally, he is just so sincere and makes such funny little faces when he tells us things that you can't help but laugh at him.
Dallin is a little ball of energy. He likes to do his gymnastics moves all around the house. He also likes to run and jump and he can't let an opportunity to wrestle pass him by. He is a chatterbox. You can't understand half of what he is telling you, not because his pronunciation is bad, but because he talking so fast and often leaves out key words, but he still wants to tell you. He is especially bad when he is tired. He ramps up the fidgetting, talking, and general complaining to keep from falling asleep.
Dallin has a good memory for things that were important to him. We can't drive by the hotel where Grammy and Grampy stayed the last time they can to visit us without Dallin yelling that was where he went swimming.
Dallin loves his family. He always wants to be with Porter and do whatever Porter is doing. He is often heard to say to me or Joe, "I want give you kisses and loves" or "I want snuggle you." He likes to be kissed and hugged back in return. When he is tired, he likes me to hold his hand and pat him "in the middle" (the middle of his stomach/chest area) to help him fall asleep.
My Dallin is a very sweet and fun little boy and we are lucky to have him. Our family wouldn't be complete without him.

Playing in the fountains at the Gateway.

Dallin on his 2nd Birthday

Dallin's first birthday.

Dallin back when we used to call him "the Chub." He was such a happy little chunk of a baby. We could tell that he was just thrilled to be on earth in the little body he was given. I think he was waiting anxiously in heaven to come down and be with us and Porter and this was his little dream come true.

I have always loved this picture. He had just eaten his first popcicle and it was over him. He seemed to think that we wouldn't notice the mess he had made of himself.

Three years, the day he was born.

punishment

Porter has started telling me that if I don't do as he asks (buy him a toy, play Candyland again, etc.) he will not let me come to his birthday party. Yesterday, he added that I would also not be allowed to take him places ever again. That would really show me.

Dallin has been having a hard time going to daycare, nursery, etc. lately. The last couple of weeks, I have leave him crying with someone. I call after a few minutes and see if he is okay, and he is, but it is still hard. This morning he told me that he didn't want me to leave. He said if I left, he would be sad and would have to cry. It is heartbreaking. At least Porter likes to go now. I'm not sure what to do with him. I think some of it is because he is not feeling very well. He has had a cold for a couple of weeks now so that makes him grumpier, but that probably doesn't account for all of his attachment stuff lately. Ugh.

more

Tonight I was putting Dallin and Porter to bed and Dallin kept telling me to go away (as he does when he is tired). I said okay and got up. He started to cry and said, "don't go, I will be sared" (how he says "scared.") I told him not to tell me to go away then or I would go away and not come back. He said, "but I can't stop."

Dallin has been telling me that he will be scared all the time lately. He didn't want to go to nursery on sunday and so he told me he would be scared if I left him. I told him there was nothing to be scared about, there was nothing scary about nursery and so he replied, "but I will be sad." He also told me that when he was tiny baby he would cry. I asked why he was sad when he was a baby and he said that he was scared of monsters. He is still scared of monsters.

Porter passed on more advice to Dallin tonight about good manners. At dinner, Porter told Dallin that when you are eating and your mouth is full, if you want to talk you need to put your hand over your mouth. Then he demonstrated how to cover your mouth. At least he is learning something at daycare.

words of wisdom

Porter learns all sorts of things at daycare and comes home to pass them along. Among the pearls of wisdom he has shared with are:
(1) if your head is sweaty, you need to drink water
(2) if you are good to the earth, the earth will be good to you
(3) it is bad manners to hit. It is good manners to keep your hands to yourself.

Also, Porter and I were at the grocery store to buy food for the can drive at daycare and he asked why were buying food. I told him that some people don't have food. He said, "because their moms are mean and won't buy food for them, huh? I said no, some of them don't have any money to buy food. He said they should go to the bank to get some. I couldn't get him to understand that is not how the monetary system works.

Finally, today, Porter and Dallin were fighting, Porter said, "Dallin do you have any last words before you die?"

double beds

Yesterday, Porter told me that people like to have their own rooms. It is very weird that I share a bed with Dad and he shares a bed with Dallin. He said "that is just weird" about four times. Then he told me that a bed for two people is called a "double bed." "It is called double because it is for two people. If someone else wants to sleep in the bed, they will have to lay at the bottom because there isn't room. There are some beds that a really big. They are for like 60 people. I don't know what they are called." I asked him what a bed for one person is called, he said, "a one person bed."

I took Porter and Dallin to the dollar theater yesterday. We saw Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Porter stood on his seat the whole time so he could see better. Dallin had to hold my hand because it was "sarry." He did enjoy the popcorn and milk duds though. Also, Dallin apparently really likes the cartoon movie cat that is the face of cinemark. He wanted to walk by the poster multiple times and laugh.

Dallin also told me yesterday that he doesn't like to be in the "grown up" gynmastics class. There are too many kids. He wants to go back to the "baby" class.

two gymnasts

today was the biannual gymnastics tournament. Both boys were able to participate this time. They both loved it and were happy to win medals (though Porter reminded us tonight that he still has more medals and trophies than Dallin. He brought all of his out to the living room and displayed them by him on the couch). Afterward, we celebrated at Golden Corral.

battle

Earlier this summer, an epic battle began in our house. Two strong-willed opponents faced off and the outcome was by no means certain. Multiple tactics were employed, some more above-board than others. At times, the tension in the house was almost unbearable. I am speaking, of course, of Joe and Porter's fight over the training wheels. After the seemingly unending struggle, summer has come to an end and bike riding will soon no longer be an option, a winner has emerged. dunt da da da (drum roll) . . . It is Porter. The training wheels remain on the bike. I have to admit that I was rooting for him all along. I am glad that he didn't let his dad threaten, bribe, cajol, or talk him into doing something he didn't feel ready to do. There are times when Porter's stubborness, coupled with his boundless anxieties, try my patience and hold him back. However, I think there is something to be said for knowing your own limitations and deciding for yourself when you are ready to do something. I'm sure that next summer the training wheels will come off and probably with very little struggle.

Happy Halloween

On Halloween, we had Wolverine and a red ninja visit us.
Wolverine showed off his muscles

while the ninja showed off his sweet sword skills

and they both teamed up to chase bad guys off the lawn

coloring

(our family: Joe, me, Porter, and Dallin)

Porter and Dallin are coloring pictures right now. They are using stencils sent to them by Grammy. Porter just drew a star with a face on it and numerous "scratches" on it. He says it was in fight with another star. Dallin is drawing blobs. He got tired of it for a minute and started shaking his pencil. He said the pencil wanted to dance. And it did. Porter also drew a picture of our family. It was the most exciting thing Dallin has seen in a long time. Porter showed it to him and explained who each person was. After the explanation, Dallin said, "Dat is me!, Dat is Mom!!, Dat is Dad!!!, Dat is you!!!!" Each sentence was said in a more excitable voice than the last. He was talking at dog whistle pitch near the end. Porter also drew an apple tree with poison tree while Dallin played "sissors tic tack toe" (a game of his own creation that involves cutting his paper into to tiny pieces). He says he won.