boring post on Dylan

Again, this should be a journal entry, but who wants to look at my bad handwriting.

Dylan has been such a good toddler. For a while I was worried that he would start learning how to push my buttons and I wouldn't know how to dicipline him. Honestly when he did something "bad" I would hit his hand (not that hard, but w/ an upset look on my face). I knew better than to just say "no" and I think I'm good at re-directing his attention instead. (Like giving me a high five instead of hitting something/one.) Well I realized how stupid it was to hit him for hitting. What a double standard. My dad said he would hold our hands firmly until he reasoned with us and we agreed to control our hands. Why not try that?

So now if he spits out his food on the carpet etc. I hold his hands (not that firmly) and have him look in my eyes (which my mom had us do) and I tell him that he should keep his food IN his mouth. (If I mention his "bad" action, that's what he'll remember my dad says.) It is the saddest thing. He knows how dissapointed I am and makes the cutest saddest frowny face. He looks like he is going to cry. I keep my stern poker face (although I just want to kiss him and tell him it's ok) and have him pick up the food and put it in the bowl. He reluctantly does - (and this specific time tears did come). He was so sad that he did something wrong. Once the mess was cleaned up, I smiled and thanked him and asked if he wanted a hug. He came over and rested his sweet head on my shoulder and we made up. He forgot that I was "the mean mom" (and possibly that it's bad to spit food out - we'll see).

I have books on how to deal w/ toddlers but I'm not a reader. I asked my Uncle George how to dicipline Dylan. (I think he likes giving gentle advice.) His advice was to never let Dylan's feet touch the floor at church. The example was that if/when I have to take Dylan out b/c he's being disruptive, don't let him run around and have fun. Hold him so it's more fun to go back to the meeting if he's reverent. I don't let him down on the floor in front of me in church either now. We don't have pews, so he could easily slip out of arm's reach if he thought about it. Today I was so pleased with him at church. He folded his arms for each of the prayers and even waited pretty close to the "amen" before unfolding them. He understood when I said "all done" even though he wanted "moe moe moe moe" than just one piece of sacrament bread. He discretely pointed out all of the people who looked like they were sleeping in church. (He uses sign language after he rudely points right at them and it's amusing to me.) He sat on my lap and cuddled and looked at the speakers when I told him they were talking to him. He said please and signed thank you when the other Dylan's mom shared goldfish w/ him from the row behind us. Oddly he didn't put up too much of a fuss wanting to go play w/ him except for once. I did take him out but didn't let his feet touch the floor! I gave him a baby lecture (my dad's way of diciplining) and he was so sweet after that. I know that church is nap time, so I'm a little more tollerant when he's running around me when I'm teaching the next two lessons. He always falls asleep on the way home.

I feel blessed to have a well behaved baby now, but I just know it's the calm before the storm. Dylan was such a crybaby at first. Everyone at church would be genuinely amazed when they'd see him being quiet. He was sooooo vocal for his blessing. I've gotten lots of words of wisdom from lots of people at church on how to calm the screamer. I'm enjoying this while it lasts and just know that the baby in my tummy isn't going to be as well behaved. He/she already gives me trouble making me feel sick. (That's getting better I think now.) I don't think Dylan's reverent b/c of parenting skills - well partly b/c he doesn't want to make me sad at him - but I see how kids have their own personalities dispite parents. Siblings can be opposites. All we can do is love them and show them "the right way to live and be happy:)"

More good Dylan examples:

Two nights ago we went to a Devil Rays game. We had seats in the party section w/ Steven's work friends. Squirmy Dylan decided he had enough so we went down to visit the Szasz kids. They have great seats - front row behind home plate. Dylan was excited and thrilled to be there. The Szasz's dad said that Dylan is too young to have such a caviar taste. He was leaning over the railing watching to see where the ball landed. When we would stand up and cheer, Dylan loved it. He raised his hands up and stretched and clapped w/ us. When we all sat down, he did the sign for "again." He liked the excitement. His laugh is so cute. It was amazing how much more fun he had on the laps of those kids than up high on my and Steven's laps.
The 2nd picture is really blurry, but Dylan was bouncing from side to side and clapping. See Dylan and Jake in the last picture - staring at the field? He made himself right at home there.
When we were in Navoo, we got to see two of my cousins perform in the BYU ballroom dance show. They were amazing. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to watch the performance, but Dylan was stretching for a better view. We had great seats there - 2nd row, so maybe that's why. He was intently watching all of the acts, the fast ones w/ my cousins and even the slow ones.
Dylan has also seen like 4 movies in the theater. The funny thing is that he's not too into sitting and watching TV. He is quick to point out dog food comercials b/c he recognizes the dogs and sometimes he'll start dancing to a comercial, but that's about it. Both he and Malia want the TV on though. He will go over and turn it on, but won't look at the screen after he makes sure it turned on. This is when we took my dad to the movies for his birthday.