Devin 2.5yo Update

My sweet boy is two and a half! He's getting to be such a grown-up little man and every morning I swear he's grown a foot during the night.


Devin makes me laugh a lot. He really does say some awesome stuff for a two year old. Course maybe all two year olds are this entertaining, but as he is the only two year old I've spent a lot of time with, I think he's super hilarious and definitely one of a kind.

He can throw some great screaming fests, and we have to tell him to "say good-bye to crazy" every couple of nights, but for the most part he's a pretty great kid. Though if this crazy phase continues for much longer, perhaps I won't think that anymore ;)

Favorite things right now:
*Puzzles
*Construction trucks
*Swinging
*Driving his motorcycle
*Playing outside

*Singing songs. He knows a lot of Primary songs, some that he just picked up from listening to the Children's Songbook CDs. His favorite song to sing is "Book of Mormon Stories," and he knows three of the verses. (One cute story about singing and his great imagination: one afternoon during lunch he was singing "Book of Mormon Stories"--he'd previously asked if Thumper and Bambi were here with us--and he just stopped and looked over at the empty chairs and asked, "Thumper, Bambi, you want to sing with me?" They answered in the affirmative and the singing continued. After lunch he carried them to the couch so they could read some books with us. They also took a nap with him.)

*Dinosaurs. He knows the real names of most dinosaurs and hearing him say those long, complicated names is pretty impressive. He watched The Land Before Time and kept asking me what kind of dinosaurs they were. I think he was confused why they kept referring to the dinosaurs by nickname.

*Books, books, and more books! He will ask me to sit in his bed during roomtime so he can read his books more comfortably and sat in there for 40 minutes one day. One thing currently making my heart happy is his love of the Berenstein Bear books. My parents have tons of these books in the trailer in Tropic, and I spent every summer re-reading every one of them. It's a lot of fun sharing my book memories with Devin. (We are starting to have to limit his book time since he's a book-tearing phase. Makes me so mad. After tearing a book while reading in his bed, and me telling him how sad it was, he told me, "Maybe we can try again tomorrow." Clearly really upset about tearing the book.)


*Going to the library. Obviously connected to the above but definitely one of his most favorite outings. After we get back he likes to explore every new book and asks us to read them over and over. A current favorite author is Mo Willems, especially the Knuffle Bunny and Elephant and Piggie books.

Daddy's Helper

Devin loves his daddy and wants to be with him all the time. 

 The other night Rich got Devin to help with the yard work, which is HUGE for this boy since he doesn't like loud noises at all. He talks about helping, but then he usually runs away, screaming, and hides in his house when the mower starts. While playing with his own play mower Devin will tell me, "It's not scary; it's just loud." This night, however, even though he initially started by hiding in his house, he didn't scream during the yard work, and Rich was able to get Devin to help with the edger, the mower, and the blower! 

Landon is 3 Months

Seriously love this kid. 

I told Rich that it was a good thing Landon was such a smiley boy or I would have a lot harder time transitioning to two kids. Devin was a lover of the seriousfaceness for a long time; Landon, however, just beams up at me every time I place him on the changing table. He even laughed for me at the beginning of June.

There is a marked difference between Landon and Devin at this age. One is not better than another, they're just different. But both wonderful. I've been a freak out at times over the past three months, but I feel like I'm finally settling in, and Landon's smiling face really helps calm the nerves.

As Rich sings in his song to him, Landon is roly, poly, and chunky and has big blue eyes, a round nose, floppy ears, and a cute, cute smile.

He has such a calm, alert personality. He's content most of the time and it's hard to hear him cry since he doesn't do it often.

Likes:

*Daddy's singing
*Nursery rhymes, especially "Goosey, Goosey, Gander"

*Bathtime

*Having his diaper changed

*Listening to Devin talk about his dinosaurs or anything, really. He likes to watch Devin.

Dislikes:

*Tummy time for longer than 3 minutes.

*Having his face rubbed during rub down (he has learned to love the rest of rub down, but it still makes him nervous sometimes)

Outside Fun

Bubbles are a favorite thing right now. Grandma Millett left a bottle for us when she left, and Devin reminds me about them every time we're outside. 

 

He likes to stomp on the bubbles like a T-Rex.

 

I love how something so simple is so amazing to this kid.

Father's Day

We tried to make Rich's Father's Day a special one, since he deserves the very best. We had a pretty low-key day, but coconut cream pie was involved, so I still think it was pretty special.

Devin was not super interested in answering my questions for his Father's Day questionnaire, but he did it. Daddy loved reading the answers and the card Devin colored for him. And these answers are pure Devin. I didn't help him with any of these. Even though it took over 30 minutes to finalize I think it turned out pretty cute.

We think our daddy is the best daddy ever. He takes such good care of all of us and these boys adore him.

Happy Father's Day Rich!

Middletown Days Parade

We headed out into the heat Saturday morning for the Middletown Days parade. We got there early and staked out our parade-route claim, then I headed to the library book sale where I scored a dinosaur encyclopedia for Devin. Now we can correctly pronounce any and all dinosaurs.

These were the excited parade watchers.

Clearly Landon is all giddy about the upcoming floats. He didn't stay asleep long since the fire engines were the second or third parade entrant. After that he just spent his time being the cutest little baby on our side of the street.

Devin received a flag and spent the entire parade waving it around. He loved the fire engines and Smokey the Bear, though he wouldn't say "Hi" to him.

He kept his eye out for Ally and kept asking us when she was coming. Eventually the best float made it to us, and he was super excited. 

Yay for the Comstocks!

 

We decided not to head down to the park for the rest of Middletown Days. The day was hot, hot, hot, and we were more interested in returning home to eat lunch in an air conditioned house. So that was the end of the fun. Though Rich and I were able to have a date night that night--our first one solo since Landon!--so the rest of the day was very enjoyable (Thanks, Sue.).

"Water me, please."

We headed outside to enjoy a popsicle, and Devin requested that I take his picture with the excavator and front loader we'd seen delivered earlier in the day. 

I just hope we're home when the real work happens, that would really make Devin's life.

While washing off the popsicle goo I decided to give Devin a complete shower. He really loved this and kept asking "Water me again, please." 

 

 

By the end his shorts got really heavy, giving us a sweet view of his Lightning McQueen underwear.

But my favorite thing about seeing Devin run around half-naked was the wonderful tummy display he was putting on. By the end of the day he has a great little pot belly.

Grandparent Time

Grandma and Grandpa Millett were able to stay for a few days after Landon's blessing, and we had a great time visiting, loving on Landon, and letting Devin entertain us. 

 

Cute stories to remember:

One day Devin asked if he could watch some TV. I told him he could watch something at 4 o'clock, since I figured Landon would wake sometime around there to eat. He asked what number the hand would be pointing to, I told him, then I even showed him on his clock puzzle what 4 o'clock looked like. He told Grandma he was going to wait right by the couch until it was time (about 15 minutes). Grandma distracted him by doing some puzzles, but he must have had one eye on the clock the whole time because at 4 o'clock he got really excited and pointed out the time. Unfortunately all the worrying about the time made him forget what would happen at that time! He eventually remembered and enjoyed some TV time

Grandma Millett always brings blueberries when she comes, which is a real treat for Devin since I never have enough money in the grocery budget to buy them. One morning Grandma put some in Devin's fruit bowl without telling him. When Devin saw the blueberries he gasped and said, "There are some blueberries! Oh, thank you!" Grandma really made his morning.

We also took a lot of pictures of Landon.

 

Define the Treat

Halfway to Clearlake Devin realized he'd forgotten his water. He asked his daddy if he could turn around and get it, and when the answer was a "not gonna happen," he was very upset. Since this was a spur of the moment shopping trip, Rich told Devin that maybe he could have a special treat, which of course helped Devin feel better about forgetting his water. A few minutes later, after getting into some trouble for kicking the chair, screaming, saying "no," etc., Rich asked Devin if he wanted to lose his special treat, to which Devin replied, "I don't want a special treat. I just want a regular treat."

In the end, Devin got his special/regular treat. 

He first ate the chocolate off the top of the doughnut then asked me for more chocolate.

Landon's Blessing Day

Landon was blessed in church this past Sunday. 

 

 

It was a lovely day and the kid was stinkin' cute in the outfit Grandma and Grandpa Downing got for him. We were sad not to have them with us, but we did have the other two sets of grandparents plus Cami and Megan, so it still ended up being a nice weekend with family. 

 

 

 

We made sure to take pictures before church since I knew Devin would not be all over that afterward. 

Poor Landon had been awake most of the morning and wasn't super photogenic when picture time rolled around. In fact, he was awake most of Sunday, but it did make for a long nap on Monday! I have, of course, included lots of pictures. I felt the need to share of every grouping :)

 

 We really do love this Landon boy and are so grateful Heavenly Father sent him to our family.