recent dane-isms

Dane has started carrying his little dog Sparky around quite a lot, and he's started talking to him. It is the CUTEST thing to hear him just saying in the other room, "Sparky, I play trains" or "Sparky, Mommy change Dane's diaper" or "Sparky, lay down ground."

He didn't want to go pick up Tommy from work the other day so as I was convincing him I said, "Daddy will be so happy to see you!" He really picked up that line and has started saying it all the time. "Mommy, I happy see you!" "Sparky, happy see you."

Every day while we drive down to Plano to get Tommy from work, Dane (all on his own) begins planning out things he wants to tell Tommy. He'll just be sitting in the backseat and he'll tell me, "Tell Tommy pasta hot. Tell Tommy Dane make pasta. Tell Tommy pink car!" (Those are all the things he wanted to tell Tommy yesterday.) And then as soon as we get to Tommy's office and he comes out, Dane starts yelling all those things he wanted to tell Tommy like he MUST TELL HIM ALL OF THEM AT ONCE.

He is so into birthdays right now. We called his auntie Callie on Saturday and sang happy birthday to her, and all the rest of this week he'll randomly burst into song: "Happy birf-ay Callie!" And then he makes me sing the song for all of the Winnie the Pooh characters--it's apparently always Eeyore's birthday. I was trying to forestall a tantrum at Ikea today (unsuccessfully, I might add--it happened a few minutes later) and I told him that his own birthday is coming up, and he got sooo excited and started singing "Happy birf-ay Dane" and told me he wants birthday cupcakes. He didn't understand that it's still 2.5 weeks away.

We laugh because he goes from hot to cold in about 2 seconds flat (normal for toddlers, I know, but it's so amazing to see it in action). Today he was throwing a full out tantrum, screaming and sobbing with tears running down his cheeks, because I made him sit in his booster seat to eat lunch LIKE HE ALWAYS DOES. He cried for about three solid minutes. Then in about ten seconds he calmed down, started eating, and two minutes later started singing "Popcorn Popping" and wanted me to join in with him.

He has a little board book with the words to a few of the Winnie the Pooh songs in it, including the intro song with all the characters' names, and he's totally learned the song. He can fill in all of the characters when we sing it for him: "A donkey named..." "EEYORE" "is his friend, and..." "KANGA" "and little..." "ROO!" Today he was being super silly (or so he thought) and was singing, "A donkey named SCHOOLBUS" and looking at me with the funniest face. The sense of humor of a one-year-old.

Yesterday I was unloading the groceries from the car, and had to walk across the street with Dane from where our car was parked to the apartment. It was a bit of a hike (for his attention span) and I was worried Dane would start running into the street and I wouldn't be able to grab him with all the bags. I told Dane, "Can you be very obedient and walk with mommy across the street?" And he very sweetly grabbed my hand (my thumb, since the rest of my hand was filled with grocery bags) and walked with me all the way to our apartment saying, "Obey, obey, obey, obey!" I kept thanking him for being obedient and he was so pleased with himself.

We have a few books he's basically memorized--he'll finish every sentence for us. Most of the ones he loves are about diggers. One of them gives noises for each type of construction vehicle to make, and it says that concrete mixers say "Rumble, rumble!" So now whenever Dane sees a concrete mixer, he says, "Konkey mixer! Wumbo wumbo." It is the BEST. Another book says, "Someday, I'm going to buy a huge digger." and on other pages it says, "I will scoop up rocks. I will push mud." And Dane will just walk around saying those, especially when we see diggers on the side of the road: "Day, buy HUGE digger. Scoop up rocks. Push mud."


Despite the increasing number of meltdowns and tantrums, and the exponentially increased number of HITTING incidents (always Dane hitting me, never anyone else), I really love this age. He is a keeper.

FIVE

It is our FIVE-year wedding anniversary today.

And oh, man. Getting married to Tommy was the best thing I ever did.

into the groove

Life is good here in Frisco, TX. This was a much better week than last week. We had some fun playdates planned and a few more that happened spontaneously, and lots and lots of things to do. Dane has been fluctuating between being the cutest, sweetest boy in the world to being the most frustrating one who hits me 349 times a day. I guess he must be almost two! (Speaking of which, I've been scouting out the consignment stores near us to find some presents for his birthday and I've already found WAY TOO MANY things. They're all much cheaper than they'd be if I bought them new, so I feel justified, but come on! He only needs about one really good present and he'd be happy. Maybe I'll space out giving them to him so all the newness doesn't wear off really quickly.) But we are getting into the groove of living here and feeling good.

We have a serious problem here that we are working on, though. There is a family that lives right above us with two young boys, and they are SO CRAZY LOUD. Like, Dane has gotten woken up multiple times a week from his nap ever since we got here because they are constantly jumping and thundering around upstairs. (Literally, Dane points to the ceiling and says "Thunder!" when he hears it.) The other day they were frustrating me so much that I even got the broom and hit the ceiling with it a few times (I know, mean, I shouldn't have, blah blah blah.) But today, I tried just going up and asking them really, really nicely about possibly being quieter during naptime, if they could possibly, I'm so sorry to bother you, etc. etc. And so far, so good. It's been about an hour and the thunder has been minimal. I can handle loud jumping as long as it's not when Dane's sleeping. THIS is a strong motivator for us to start house hunting. (That's not happening yet, but if I get super fed up with these kids, it just might start.)

I am starting my new class I am teaching here at Collin College next week. It meets once a week, in the evening, which will work perfectly with our schedule here. Tommy will be able to be home with Dane, and our Saturdays will no longer be dominated by my teaching! I am really excited to teach at a new place. It is just so interesting starting somewhere new (my third school that I've taught at) and seeing how every place does everything differently. I have barely gotten any orientation to anything at this school, so I'm kind of just making everything up as I go along and using a lot of the same stuff I've done in the past. I am having a hard time being totally motivated--usually before a semester starts I like to have EVERYTHING planned out as much as I can--but I know it will all fall together as the semester goes on. Maybe that's the good/bad thing about being a more experienced teacher--the fear of the beginning of the impending semester isn't quite strong enough to get me to get all my work done. Oh well!

the longest week.

We had our first family movie night last week, where we popped popcorn and all sat down together and watched Frozen. It was really fun!

Oh my goodness, this has been the longest week. I seriously cannot believe that it is STILL the same week as it was on Monday--it has felt sooo much longer. Dane and I have been trying really hard to figure out things to do and to keep ourselves entertained, but it is so much work. I think the hardest thing about moving to a new place is not necessarily just leaving all of your friends, but it's losing your routine that you had in your old life--and along with it, the friends that you used to get to see with that routine. We had such a good little schedule in Durham. Music Makers on Monday, Indie on Tuesdays-Thursdays, library storytime on Wednesdays, playgroup on Fridays--we were able to see friends and have something scheduled every day of the week. And then we moved, and every week is a big empty canvas with absolutely NOTHING on it and no one to see. It's amazing what a difference that makes! We are definitely keeping busy--we're going to the library and the bookstore to play on the train table and summer $1 movies and swimming and parks with splash pads. But it all feels pretty lame and like you're just killing time when it's all by yourself and you keep counting down the minutes until naptime because you've got nothing else to fill your time with. I think I need to make a schedule--fill up every day with fun plans and things that we can do every week so that we both know what to expect, and that will hopefully help things to move faster.

But on the other hand, we really do like Frisco. Everyone here has been so friendly and welcoming. And there are so many great things to do. If only there were a children's museum or a Museum of Life and Science like in Durham that we could go to every single day--then it would be perfect! And if only Tommy could be home at 4 instead of 5:30 . . . that would be a dream world indeed. (I know, I know, I am already very spoiled having him home that early.)

Let's cross our fingers that next week Dane and I can figure out some good things to do and better ways to keep busy!

"konkey mickers" and car transporters

Oh my goodness, Dane has such a personality these days. He has these obsessions and things that he LOVES, and it's so fun to see him get excited about things and understand what they are all on his own. Obviously, one of the major things he is really into is transportation vehicles: cars, trucks, trains, planes, you name it. It is a kind of self-perpetuating thing to love because any time we drive anywhere he gets thrilled to see all the trucks and construction vehicles driving along the road. Our drives are now just filled with commentary from him on what things he sees as we drive: "Blue car! Blue car! Blue baby car! Green konkey micker! [Concrete mixer, for those of you who don't speak Dane...] Up the bridge! Down the bridge! Car transporter! Tow truck!" Seriously, he knows the names of all sorts of trucks, thanks to several books we have, and he calls them out when he sees them. He even BUILT HIS OWN car transporter while playing with his truck and car and putting them on top of each other--and then named it! It blows my mind at how quickly his little mind picks things up. What an amazing skill to be able to see a picture in a book, understand what it is, and then recognize it again in another context and understand that this thing and the picture in the book are the same! It blows my mind. Kids learn so much so fast!

He is talking up a STORM. He is very serious about playing with his trains and one day while I was playing with him, he looks up at me and very seriously said, "I need more tunnels." We were leaving to go somewhere in the car and I told him he couldn't bring his blankie with him, and he said, "I blankie mommy's bag." Like he knew I could just put it in my diaper bag and that would solve that problem. He loves to sing along in sacrament meeting, just this long, drawn-out monotone chant that he yells while everyone else is singing the hymns, and he'll sing at least one or two lines from most of the songs we sing a lot (ABCs, Wheels on the Bus, I am a Child of God, etc.). 

Something he is REALLY into is helping in the kitchen. He really, really wants to stand on his little stool and help "tap eggs" (as he calls it) and do basically whatever you're doing. This is nice because it entertains him, but bad when you've got the stove or knives going. But you can distract him by letting him play with the water in the sink if you're desperate. 

At some point, he decided it was funny to pretend to go to sleep while we're eating our meals. So now at least once a meal he pretends to fall asleep (eyes closed, snoring noises, everything) and snickers while we beg him to wake up. He thinks it's hilarious. And so do I, frankly. 

Look, he's asleep! Don't go to sleep, Dane! Stay awake!

This is probably the funniest thing: He has a little hole in the arm of his booster seat where you can hook in the tray if you want to use it. For some reason he looks down in the hole and then will look up at you and say, "Ernie in there?" "Bert in there?" "Tigger in there?" Every day he asks about his friends (from Sesame Street or Winnie the Pooh) who are in this little hole in his booster chair. I am positive that we did not suggest this or give him the idea that there were people in this hole so I have no idea where this came from. But it is super funny. (This is them looking for Ernie in the hole.)

He went and stood in the corner and started talking, listening to the echoes. We asked him what he was doing, and he said, "Crying in the corner." ????

Tommy is still his favorite person in the world, and he is showing that affection by calling him solely by his given name. "Daddy" has been completely removed from Dane's vocabulary and replaced by "Tommy." Whenever he sees him, he says, "Hi, Tommy! Hi, Tommy!" He used to use "Daddy" as an adjective to describe something big ("Big Daddy truck!") but now even that has been replaced by Tommy. It is so funny. We keep trying to get him to say Daddy but he seriously hasn't said "Daddy" even once for almost a month now. 

(In a similar vein--we would say "Take a big Daddy drink!" to get him to drink more milk at the end of a meal. He has now run with that and will take drinks for everyone in our family. "Big Tommy drink! Baby Maddie drink! Zach drink! Troy drink! Papa drink! Cole drink!" He'll go through all his aunts and uncles and cousins if we let him.)

Dane and Tommy wearing capes and marching around the living room. This happened after FHE a few weeks ago when we were marching and singing "Follow the Prophet" and somehow it became this. 

Look at these best friends forever! Tommy and Dane!

Seriously, if someone had told me that one day I would be voluntarily looking up the names of different construction vehicles so I could distinguish between them, I don't know if I would have believed them. But I totally am and Dane could probably spend all day talking about them--that and trains. I think we need to find him some other interests too. But it sure is cute!

Camille and Brandon come visit

Right after getting home from all of our trips, we got to have some visitors come extend our vacation time, haha. Since we had them here for four days, we got a good excuse to do sightseeing and fun stuff that we might not usually do on our own. We had a GREAT time with them visiting, and Dane got used to having Camille and Brandon sleeping in the living room and coming out to surprise them every morning. He loooves them (especially Brandon--he's still got his thing for the men in his life) and he was sad to say good-bye. They were good sports and we had fun going around the Dallas-Fort Worth area doing some fun stuff together. Unfortunately, Tommy had to work most of the time they were here, but he got to hang out with us in the evenings and play TICKET TO RIDE with us every night. (We had several tournaments.)

One of the big things we did was heading to downtown Dallas. We drove past the place where JFK was shot (but it was raining and there was no parking and we didn't really feel like getting out) and then headed to the science museum downtown. It is ridiculous how much it cost to get in there, but we had a good time there and Dane LOVED seeing the dinosaurs and animals. It's definitely aimed at an older crowd than Dane, but he still had fun.

We (stupidly) paid extra to go to this dinosaur exhibit, which was tiny and not worth our time except for this cute little archaeological dig for the kids to play in. Dane had a blast and loved wearing the goggles. He kept saying, "Mommy, I goggles."

One of Dane's favorite animals--the ibex!

Then after the museum, we walked (with some unintentional detours) to Klyde Warren Park, where there were food trucks and some splash pads for Dane to run around in. He was IN HEAVEN. This boy is such a water bug. He would get his whole face covered in the spray and he would just stand there and laugh. He could have stayed there all day (but we left to get him home for a nap after about an hour, haha).

Another day, we drove to Forth Worth to go to the Stockyards. It's the place where most of the cattle came through in the good old days, and at the highest point they had some 5 million cattle come through there in a year (or maybe even more). And now they are down to some 15 cattle that they use for their twice-daily tourist cattle drive. Amazing how things change. But it's got this little street with old-timey stores and several museums and animals you can go see. It was a very Texas touristy thing to do and I was glad we could all go so we could see it!

Dane loved petting the horses.

Dane just riding on a bull. (We had to pay $5 for this picture, although I didn't realize it at the time. . . Oh well.)

Oh man, SO CUTE.

Waiting for the cattle drive...

 Dane was so enthralled by the cows!

And then we hung out closer to home a few days. Dane loved all the extra attention he was getting from his friends. 

One of the nights was 1/2 off cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, so we braved the lines and each got a piece. (Best choice: 'Smores!)

We ate a delicious, DELICIOUS chicken dinner at Babe's with the Myres family. There was a point where they started playing the hokey-pokey and had everyone who would get up and join them. Dane was terrified (for some reason... would not stop clinging to Tommy) but everyone else had a good time.

We got a good one of everyone on Kristin's phone--I just need to get it from her!

 We went to Costco one morning and ate Costco hot dogs for lunch there. Dane ate a whole one by himself. 

He loved playing hide-and-seek with Camille. He's not very subtle. 

After they left, we had to really, finally, truly come back down to earth and get down to the business of actually living here in Texas and starting to get a routine down. It's hard, but it must be done. Can't be on vacation forever!

Trip #4: Murphy and Myres Family Reunions!

Sorry--SO MANY PICTURES in this post!

A week after our trips to NYC and UT, Dane and I packed up for the last time and headed up to Utah one more time for the Murphy family reunion. I had really debated about whether I was going to go, because back when we were planning all of this, I had been really stressed with all the moving and packing and other traveling, and I didn't know if I could handle flying with Dane by myself and being with him by myself all week. But there were lots of good reasons to go to the reunion--getting to see my grandmas and grandpas and cousins who we hadn't seen for a while, getting to spend more time with Austin, etc. And bonus--my Grandpa Myres had a big birthday bash that same week, so there was a mini-family reunion for the Myres side as well, so I knew we'd get to see both sides of my family while we were there. I knew I'd have lots of help with Dane once we were there, and I figured he would be really happy to be there and be surrounded by his adoring fans all week long. 

So we bought our tickets and decided to go--and then a few weeks later, we found out that Tommy was scheduled to be in Richmond for training for that very same week! So I was even more glad to be going, so that I could be doing something fun while Tommy was gone all week. (Unfortunately, Tommy has four more weeks of trainings in Richmond spread throughout his first year, so we didn't get out of missing him while traveling altogether.)

The Murphy reunion was in Lindon this year, at some distant relative's ginormous house that was only about a three-minute drive from my grandma and grandpa's house in Orem (which made it very convenient!). We had a great time seeing all our cousins, swimming, playing basketball and volleyball in the indoor sport court, hiking to Timp Caves, doing family games, making plates, and a few other activities I didn't do because of Dane and his schedule (7 Peaks, the Styx/Foreigner concert, tubing the Provo River). It was really, really a blast. We stayed up too late talking and didn't get enough sleep (particularly me and Bethany one night when Dane woke up and stayed up for three hours in the middle of the night talking about an elephant that he'd dreamed about), and it was totally worth it!

Dane surrounded by his subjects, showing them how he knows all of the obscure animals in his animals A-Z book.

Swimming in the backyard pool (Dane and I were out there every afternoon).

Dane and Elliot, the two great-grandchildren. They had a ton of fun together (and were totally the stars of the show all week).

 The house had an indoor basketball court, which was perfect for the Murphy family. Almost every night, after all of the official activities, the whole gang went downstairs for some midnight basketball or volleyball.

We went to G and G Murphys' house for a genealogy discussion one morning. This is just a funny picture of how concerned Dane was to see his face in the camera on the iPad. 

One morning, we hiked up to the Timp Caves, which is something I'd never actually done while living there! I was really glad to go, and even more glad that my mom volunteered to stay home with Dane--because it would not have been a great hike with him. We had a great time.

Not sure why this isn't rotated, but this is what the caves look like inside. Crazy and awesome!

The hiking group of us.

Dane and Elliot playing together at Grandma and Grandpa's house in their backyard. 

Elliot showed Dane how to pick raspberries off the bushes in Grandma's backyard, and Dane LOVED eating them. He's still talking about it now. 

Our family wearing our reunion shirts.

Dane and Elliot giving hugs.

Cute selfie by Dane!

Grandpa took Dane for a ride on his wheelchair, and Dane liked it but was kind of scared. He held this exact position the whole time and didn't move, like he was afraid he was going to fall off. 

Four-generation picture with Dane's Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa. 

I am so mad that this picture didn't turn out any better--but these are my two cousins my age on the Murphy side: Jake and Jolysa. I was so happy to catch up with them and see them again.

On Thursday of that week, Pioneer Day, it was also my Grandpa Myres' 80th birthday. The family had decided to throw a big bash with all of his kids there, so it was a mini-family reunion with all of the aunts and uncles and most of the cousins. I was really glad we got to be there for this party too. 

No Myres family gathering is complete without a watermelon--or ten.

Dane, mysteriously covered in dirt, with his best friend Joseph.

These are my two cousins, Ninna and Lucia. Don't they just look adorable/a lot of trouble? And can't you see why Dane loves coming here, when my cousins are around his age for him to play with?

They set up a big bounce house in the backyard for all the grandkids to play in, and a baby pool for the little kids. Dane was soooo happy in the baby pool. (He is laughing and grinning in this picture, in case it doesn't look like it.)

He also LOOOOOOOVED the trampoline!

Most of the cousins who were able to be there were the younger ones, but it was fun to see the BYU cousins who were there. This is Gracie! Such a cutie!

The highlight of the party was when Cosmo came to deliver Grandpa's birthday cake!

He even lost arm-wrestling with Grandpa!

We all got pictures with Cosmo afterwards. (We made this pic our computer background and Dane keeps asking to see it, saying "Cosimo!")

Grandma and Grandpa danced for us when an old song came on. So cute.

G and G and all nine of their kids.

This picture was the gem of the day--Grandpa and his brother and best friend Lanny. This picture needs to be framed! 

I had been stressed about how much work it was going to be traveling with Dane for this trip, but really, it would have been harder to be at home this week by myself than to be in Utah for the family reunion. I can't say how glad I am that we went.