Dax

Okay, so this morning we pulled out the kids journals of their birth through the first years of their lives, and have had so much fun remembering the little cute things they did (and some of the not-so-cute). Poor baby Dax has very little journaling of these first two years of his precious life, and I want to play a little catch up here on the blog!
I guess the first thing that makes him such a fun little munchkin has been a habit over the past couple of months as he's watched Reilly playing baseball. We would go to the games, but had to be sure to bring Dax's own baseball gloves. Yes, I said gloveS. That would be one for each hand. And two times (at least) he has taken a nap or slept with them on at night. He is serious about his "guzge". That's the closest to the pronunciation I can get. "Guhshz" is Kurt's preferred spelling. He also loves to take the catcher's stance with the glove, but with such tiny hands trying to manipulate the glove, he can't really catch anything yet (in the glove).
His other sweet affinity is jumping. I've put some of that on the blog, but it has since evolved into jumping off of things. Last week, it was jumping off of the piano bench like 50 times in a row. He was sweating profusely in our 74 degree living room. I got out the video camera just when he decided to be done. This morning, he was jumping off of Kurt's chest while Kurt was laying on the floor. I'll have to say, he's very stable and very athletic.
He's also into calling everybody's attention to "WATCH! WATCH!!" while he performs some athletic feat or does something funny...yesterday in the car he kept saying, "WATCH Shea Shea!!" (and in between the "watch" and "Shea Shea" is this really cute pause that he has developed as he's learning to put words together). When he had gotten her attention (or perceived that he had) he would perform the Count's (from Sesame Street) evil laugh- which he has down pretty well! He probably did this about ten times in the car.
Dax has recently learned to climb out of his crib...much to the dismay of his parents. Yesterday he climbed out a couple of times, and after realizing that he was not supposed to be climbing out, he decided to take cover in our bedroom and I found him (after who knows how long) sitting in the corner on some pillows with a sippy cup just chillin'...while he was supposed to be taking a nap! He typically gets out of bed (knowing that he's not supposed to be up), and comes out of the bedroom with a sheepish grin and greets us with as much sweetness as he can muster- at two years old he TOTALLY understands how to schmooz!! He says with such put-on schmooz, "Hi Mama! Hi Poppa!" I was startled at 3:00 this morning when I woke up to see Dax standing next to my bed! Though I didn't hear him, Kurt said that he came out of bed asking for his blanket! Kurt searched the house at 3:00 while Dax layed with me and when Kurt found it Dax went right back to sleep snuggled up with "Deedee" (as he used to call it! He now says "blanket" quite clearly!)
Speaking of schmooz, Dax has just about everybody he knows wrapped around his little finger. He LOVES to give hugs to just about anyone at anytime- even perfect strangers. He layed a big smooch on Marissa (Shea's friend) yesterday at church. And I mean on the lips. Anyway he is such a love, and is super easy-going.
We've been swimming a lot this past week, and being so easy-going has been such a blessing to me. He doesn't demand to be in the pool- in fact he's quite content just hanging out with me as I watch the kids- as long as I have some food for him ;). He will just sit with me and walk around and watch all that's happening.
Dax loves to eat! He will eat just about anything, and will eat off anyone's plate if it's left out. He has upset many kids when they come back to their plate only to find it emptied by the little man. He loves kiwi, melon, cukes, all vegetables and fruit, really. I can hardly think of a thing that he has turned down in the past month! He does love sweets too.
I can't believe the sweet little munchkin is two!! We celebrated his birthday at Cherokee Cove again this year- he opened his presents on the deck from Aunt Maggie and Uncle Chuck- Mr. Potato Head (which he LOVES and plays with quietly by himself for long periods of time), a Mets t-shirt from Pop and Granny Dee (he said, "Let's Go Mets!!" when he opened it), a crawl tunnel from grandma and grandpa (which I nearly bought for him myself) and "little surfer" outfit, and three balls from mom and dad (various sizes and shapes).
Dax has been learning to command people to do things that he wants them to do recently. It's rather hilarious to receive a command complete with hand gestures in case you were wondering exactly where he wanted you to be. "Sit down here" he tells me when he wants me to feed him lunch. And he points to the chair where you are to sit. Of course we're helping him with "asking" and not "telling" people what to do. But it's awfully cute anyway to see him with such command.
Last night after we had put Dax to bed I decided to go in and check on him (about 30 minutes later) to see if he was still in bed (little stinker). I went in, and he was laying on bis back awake playing with the velcro on his slippers. I said "Hi sweet-pea" quietly. He looked up at me, and with all seriousness he reached up with one hand and waved me out of the room. "Go away" he said. I cracked up at his sweet innocence. He wasn't being rude at all. "Go away" he said again. No malice. Just two year old sincerity lacking a little in the social politeness area. So I said, "Please, mommy?" "Please Mommy"- he repeated. "Good night sweet-pea". "Good night mommy". And off he went to dream-land.