The Little Man picked himself out in a picture tonight and said his name. First time we’ve heard him say his name. Soooo cool.
Mrs. Dude was rolling through some pictures on the phone and asking who was in them. We’ve done this many times. But tonight was new. After pointing out Mama and Dada, he called out his own name. He understands who he is!
Such a small element of life. Yet, such a big element of life. Very rad to see a little mind grasping the concept of self.
Of course, life balances itself out. To keep the Dude and the Mrs. grounded, he also hijacked a matchbox car on a play date and told me it’s “Awstn’s” all night.
Although, Austin is going to have to pry it from Little Dude’s sleeping hands if he wants it back.
A thief that can’t keep a secret, the worst kind. But, I guess that’s a good thing.
It has been raining words at the Dude casa over the last week.
We had the pleasure of enjoying a visit from Grammie and Papa, and Little Dude chose a great time to open the flood gates on his vocab.
He started walking/running during their visit over the summer as well. I’m not sure if the Grandparents help to draw out these new skills, or if it’s just great timing, but either way, it’s awesome that they have the opportunity to enjoy the development first hand.
And enjoy it they did. Grammie and Papa both seemed quite surprised at the the quality, consistency, and quantity of the words pouring out of Little Dude’s mouth.
Putting two words together before two. Grammie was quite excited. Baby genius? Duh. 🙂
It’s pretty comical to hear what he’s putting together. A few examples…
“Hey guys.”
“Feesch” = Fish
“Wherzit?” = Where’s it?
Mostly used when Nemo is captured.
“Whereditgo” = Where’d it go?
Mainly used when hunting for the paci that we’ve hidden.
“Peese” = Please
“Ti ty” = Thank you
“Outside”
“Let’s go”
“Tada!”
“Moy” = More
“Bac” = Bacon
“Sawsig” = Sausage
The Boy loves some breakfast meats. Primal, like his Old Man. 🙂
“All done”
“Ud u” = Love you
But no question, my absolute favorite new Little Dude vocab word is “happy!”
I enjoy the nightly routine of putting LD to bed – one of the best moments of the day because we get some quiet hugs for a minute….that’s something special from a kid that sprints everywhere he goes.
As we hugged the other night, LD said “happy,” “Dada, happy.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was the first time I heard it from him, and he only said it a couple times. I wasn’t sure if I even heard it correctly. I left it at that, and decided not to read into it too much.
Then the next night the “happys” came on full steam. As we hugged, he must have said “Happy.” “Dada, happy.” about twenty times. It was clear as day.
Who knows why he said it, but I’m reading into it. I’m coming up with my own conclusion.
My boy is telling me he’s happy and/or I’m happy as we hug at the end of the day. How can I not read into that? How can I not assume what seems obvious?
He knows what happy means, and he knows that we’re happy. That’s a heart melting moment. And I loved every millisecond of it.
Indeed, Little Dude, “Dada, happy.” Thanks for being a bottomless pit of happiness for the Dude.
The Princess recently graduated to a yellow-striped belt in Tae Kwan Do. This was her fourth two-month session in the past two years.
At the end of each session the kids break a board as part of the test to move up to the next level.
It’s a fun final session to watch. The room is full of excited parents, and even more excited kids. They demonstrate their skills, recite some knowledge, and end with a broken board.
It’s a great confidence-builder, for everyone, to see a little body breaking a board.
We’ve reached the age where the kids actually look like they know what they’re doing. It was an important session.
Princess went from stumbling around flailing her limbs, to a ninja in training. Check out this kick…
The Princess has finally had a run-in with the Tooth Fairy. I made the bold claim that a tooth was loose two months ago. It has finally wiggled it’s way out.
Since this is our first encounter with a Fairy of the Tooth variety, I naturally sought some sage advice; wikipedia and the Tooth Fairy.
The reward left varies by country, the family’s economic status, amounts the child’s peers report receiving and other factors.A 2011 study found that American children receive $2.60 per tooth on average.
Somehow, Mrs. Dude convinced me to pay above minimum wage. You’re welcome Princess.
The Dude has been known to be a bit of a pragmatist on occasion. I often questioned the idea behind leading children to believe in imaginary creatures that come bearing gifts. Although, I now see the benefit of nurturing a young’ins imagination, and I credit the Tooth Fairy with helping open my eyes. Thank you Rock.
June is a busy month around the Dude casa. School’s out, so that’s adds to the crazy. There are also a few special days for us to celebrate. A bunch of family birthdays…Lady in the Shoe has like 25 kids. Close to home, we have the Princess and Little Dude celebrating their big day only five days apart…great for duel bday parties!
But beyond the cake and candles, me and the Mrs. share our anniversary early in the month. We celebrated with a great dinner at a local restaurant, but I let time slip by without a post to commemorate the day.
I had a video saved to share, but I filed it away where I couldn’t find, so here we are three weeks late after I stumbled upon it. I considered saving it for next year, but clearly my filing system needs some improvement. So I figured I’d share now. Better late than never.
Happy belated anniversary Mrs. Dude. Here’s to our version of Danny & Annie…
How many weeks are in a year? Ding, ding, ding…52. Little Dude is officially a one year old.
He picked a great day to burst on the scene. Every few years we’ll get to celebrate Father’s Day and his birthday. And this was one of the lucky years. A nice bonus.
Every stage makes me wish I could freeze time so he’d stop growing. Then I experience the next stage and realize it’s just as good.
The first year flew by, and we’re looking forward to what year numero dos has in store.
One year is a big milestone, and Little Dude celebrated in style by becoming a full-time walker on the big day. He has been practicing little by little over the past couple weeks, but Sunday was the day he committed to it.
And not just walking. The Boy is throwing like a champ…and kicking! For real. Kicking. A ball!
Brought a tear to the Dude’s eye to see some soccer coming out of him. I’m hoping we can sign his first contract by his second bday.
Here’s a highlight reel of the birthday weekend. What better way to celebrated than highlights of a one year old walking and a classic Footloose song?
Although, I’ll warn you that it may drag on a bit for anyone that is not his Mom and Dad…but it’s fun for us to see ALL of the first steps. However, if you find that your bored, skip ahead to the 2:50 mark. Soccer skills on a one year old are pretty entertaining.
Last weekend we enjoyed a fab Memorial Day. Some grilling, crabbing, a little poop on the deck, first trip to the pool. The unofficial start to the summer is the bestest! So much to look forward to.
But the highlight of the extended weekend was the Princess breaking out of her shackles (i.e. training wheels) and two wheelin’! Yep, we have another bike rider in the Dude casa.
It was an interesting experience filled with some apprehension, a few tears, a couple breaks to rest tired legs, but in the end, there were some big smiles and a complete and utter success. Quite the milestone. A skill, and an experience, not to be forgotten.
We’re super proud of you Princess. Get to peddling on that freedom machine!
I’m not sure why this post has taken so long. I really should have gotten it out immediately. If for no other reason than Princess’ aunt Shi-Shi is across the country and couldn’t take in the spectacle….did I say spectacle?…I mean recital.
My guess is that my tardiness is the result of what has come to be known as the Barry Hangover. The Lady in the Shoe and her brood came for a weekend visit to watch the Princess’ dance recital. Their last name is Barry – hence, the Barry Hangover.
Life with six kids under one roof is a blur. So much so that I can’t even attempt to explain the weekend. However, I do believe this one example sums up the weekend pretty well. As I stood at the kitchen sink overlooking the backyard, washing some of the dinner plates, I noticed a little body climbing the steps in the yard. This little dude was carrying a flaming stick from the campfire through the yard chanting “MARSHMALLOWS – MARSHMALLOWS – MARSHMALLOWS.”
The natives were restless. Clearly time for s’mores. A very Lords of the Fly type of scene for a very Lords of the Fly type of weekend.
Hence the Barry Hangover – and my tardy posting.
Anywho. Back to the subject at hand. The Recital.
After a considerable payment (Thank you Nina), the Princess has spent every Tuesday afternoon for the last eight months learning to “dance.”
After eight months of preparation, we reached the culminating point of the year, the recital. An ungodly amount of makeup was worn, costumes and wardrobe changes were prepared, celebratory flowers were purchased, and family came from miles around. The big day.
There was clearly a lot of effort poured in the show and all of the preparation. It is great to see people care about an activity so much, and without them the community would be missing a vital art. Hats off for the effort and commitment.
This was the Dude’s very first experience with any type of dance recital. I typically try to avoid anything that takes place in a theater environment. I’m not sure what to think about the result. I think the Princess enjoyed herself. But at the same time, I think we could have said let’s go to the beach, and she would have been like “Ok, see ya later dance.”…as long as we promised she could have the flowers.
She was definitely excited about the makeup. Is makeup genetic for girls?! The Princess and my three year old niece are completely mesmerized as soon as they see it. Kind of like a ball for Little Dude.
She also LOVED getting the flowers at the end and ate up the attention. But I think she could have done without all that dancing in the middle. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but it all appeared chaotic to me, and I’m not sure the Princess digs chaos.
In the end, we all enjoyed the show, and it was great to see the Princess smiling from ear to ear.
Ah, but I see your wheels spinning. What’s the Mustache Polka all about, you ask? One of the songs the Princess danced to was the Hopscotch Polka. But to torture her, I sang the Mustache Polka all day long. Hilarious, right? So much fun being a dad!
The beauty of this video can be found in the small details. Five year old dance recital madness.
Happy Easter from the Dudes. Little Dude makes one heck of an Easter Bunny.
We had some gorgeous weather and made our first trip to the beach for the spring season. The good news is Little Dude is not afraid of the water. The bad news is Little Dude is not afraid of the water.
In case you’re wondering where the Easter Bunny comes from, Newser has you covered…those crazy pagans.
Little Dude is officially on the move. He’s actually been on the move for a little over a week. I’ve been trying to get this post out since last weekend, but life happened. No good excuse, just a series of bad ones.
Kids. That will be my general excuse for the foreseeable future.
Here we are a week and a half late. L.D. is crawling, and luckily, this video is actually the very first time he put together a serious crawl…as you can tell from Mrs. Dude’s excitement. I happened to grab the camera at the right time.
Little Dude is loving his new found freedom. Just like figuring out how to sit-up, it’s a whole new world for him. He can follow his interests wherever they take him.
After a week of crawling experience, it’s safe to say he’s got the hang of his new skill. He’s pretty much sprint-crawling now…sprawling? And the things he’s interested in…generally the most dangerous non-baby items in view.
Be careful what you wish for. I guess it’s a cliche for a reason. It’s a awesome to see each new skill, but as his freedom increases our responsibility increase as well. And I think this relationship stays the same until roles reverse and he starts changing my diapers.
