Dayton's 2nd Birthday!!!

Dayton celebrated his second birthday on July 3rd. Unbelievable! I brought cupcakes into his class on Friday. On Saturday, we went to Discovery Green in downtown Houston and watched the dock dog jumping. It was amazing and Dayton was mesmerized watching. He cooled off by running through the fountains and it was hysterical to watch him. We treated all of us to a night at a local resort and enjoyed the pools and an evening away. After a morning of swimming at the resort on his birthday, Noah and his family came over for dinner and birthday cake. It was great seeing the kids play together including Noah's older brother Isiah.

Do not miss the videos at the bottom.

Mommy, Daddy and Dayton on his 2nd Birthday
Dayton and his class having cupcakes

Dayton and Daddy watching the dog jump into the water

Speaking of jumping into the water, here is Dayton jumping into the fountains

He LOVED running through the fountains

Just LOOK at that face!

Dayton and Noah

A Visit to Jersey

My parents threw Dayton an early low-key 2nd birthday party at their house with the family when we visited in June. A bit of my 35th was sprinkled in too. It was great to have the family together. Dayton also visited the Museum of Natural History in NYC for his second time but this time Daddy was able to come too.

Bebop, Daddy and Dayton at the park under the GW Bridge
A funny picture of Aunt Phyllis with Dayton

Mutual Admiration

After the morning at the museum...he could not make it the 2 blocks back to the car

Dayton in the half shell...order it up! Picture in the Giant Clam Shell at Museum of Natural History

Canadian Geese...watch out for the poop!

Annabel and Mommy helping Dayton blow out his bday candles

Dayton and Annabel in bday attire

A Thomas the Train cake for Dayton

Dayton checking out the really cool frogs at the museum

Yummy dinner with Annabel, Aunt Sandi, Aunt Jenna and Uncle Dave

Dayton pointing out the animals at the museum

Dayton's last plane ride on our lap...at 2 years old, he needs his own seat! While it's expensive, it's definitely time.

Dayton and Daddy and a GRANDDADDY of a dinosaur

Jill's 35th Birthday

Yes, it happened. I turned 35 years old. We invited the neighbors over for a pizza party. An added bonus, Nan was in-town for a visit too. We had a great time.

Dayton and his BFF, Noah

Noah - - - Dayton's first friend that he truly made on his own. They are two peas in a pod at Daycare. Dayton had been talking about Noah for a month or so when I finally decided to leave a note in Noah's daycare backpack for his parents. These kids had to get together to play on the weekend. Dayton would wake up in the morning singing 'Happy Birthday to Noah' and it was months away from Noah's birthday. "How was school, Dayton"?...his response, "Play Noah".

Our first play date was at the arboretum on May 30th. Dayton still talks about Noah and the turtles because we saw a lot of them that day. We're excited to get to know Noah and his family better as I'm sure these kids will be good friends for a long time.

These are pictures of their first play date together as well as the one above from Noah's 2nd birthday party in June.

Dayton Loves to Swim

I have not updated the blog since March...apologies to all you fans out there...I say, sarcastically. I'm sitting here on the couch on a Saturday praying that Dayton will nap so I can take the next hour to play 'blog catch-up'. He's rolling around in his crib right now and no longer screaming in protest that it's nap time so hopefully, things are heading in the right direction. Over the past couple of months, he sometimes fights nap time on the weekend and it's not hugely uncommon for him to skip the mid-day shuteye. Instead he plays in his crib for about 90 minutes when finally his Mom and Dad cave in and go get him. I hope today is not one of those days. The kid needs a nap and really, Mom and Dad do too.

Dayton has always loved the water. He loves to swim. Has no fear. On his two year birthday, he officially began pushing Mommy and Daddy away from holding him in the pool and instead began swimming between us. Only a couple of feet but we are proud parents, of course. When he jumps into the water, he is completely competent swimming back up to the surface. This picture was taken in May at our friends Madeline and Ronnie's house. Dayton climbed to the high ledge of the pool and began jumping off. He set the stage for the 5 year old little girl to follow.

There is no doubt that Dayton will be a good swimmer but we can't help but have flashes of him being the next Michael Phelps. Luckily, he's not oddly proportioned like Mr. Phelps. In fact, at his 2 year doctors appointment this week, Dayton was 90% for height and 50% for weight. He weighed 28 1/4 pounds and was 3' 1/4" long. These percentiles have been his trend since he was an infant and will hopefully continue as he grows.