15 Month Deagan Update!

It's been a while since I've done a Deagan update!

My baby boy is a full-fledged toddler these days. This past month he has really taken off and learned SO much! It's kind of blowing me away how he was all baby and little, then just the last few weeks he's suddenly this big kid! Who is talking! I mean, what happened?!?

We took DJ in for his 15 month checkup. Like always, he's practically perfect in every way. (Mary Poppins reference? Get it?) But really, that kid is right on track for everything.

Just a few developmets:

The kid is a climber. I'm certain he's part mountain goat. His favorite thing to do is go outside and climb up the slide, get to the top, slide down, then repeat. He could do it for hours. He climbs on anything in the house he can get to. The other day, I was doing my makeup when Savannah came in and asked for a snack. I went into the kitchen to make something when I found half the contents of the recycling bin laying on the floor, with a stool in front of the stove, and Deagan sitting triumphantly on the counter with his hands in a pan of brownies yelling "COOKIE!!!" 

I very nearly had a heart attack! I think I will be putting the stools downstairs for a little while...

He has also really taken off with his talking. He has gotten really good at repeating words. Some of his words he uses pretty consistently are:

Mom

Dad

Baby

Sissy (What he calls Savannah)

Cookie (what he calls all foods)

Bite (what he says when he's hungry, or sees you eating something)

No!

Outside (this is the cutest! He says it "ow-sigh")

Say-yee (Sagey, my sister)

Coke! (He just started saying this when I was making him a sippy cup of milk. I think his grandpa had something to do with this) 

Puppy 

Hi

Hello

Hey

Bye

Thank You

Baba (bottle)

And the other day he clearly said "high five!" and now I can't get him to do it again!

He loves to give his sister hugs and kisses. She gets more than anyone else, which makes me a bit jealous ;-) And he likes to pat her head and say "Baby!" or "sissy!"

If my Mom or Dad is in the room, he doesn't want anything to do with me. He just wants them. 

When he pouts or throws a fit, he kneels down and slams his head on the ground. This has resulted in several bumps and bruises, and one fat lip. I keep thinking one day he will hurt himself enough that he will learn not to do it anymore, but that day hasn't come yet. Usually, I just ignore it and he stops fairly quickly. He did it in the bathtub the other night. I felt bad, but at the same time it was kind of the funniest thing ever to see his look of shock when he was sputtering out water.  

We have found that, unfortunately, he has inherited my extremely sensitive skin. 10 minutes running through the grass means hives and rashes from head to toe, which he scratches, and makes worse. It's so sad to see him all scraped up from scratching!

He's getting the most fun little personality. He's just like Savannah in that he loves being around other people. He's not shy or nervous around anyone. He's very loving too. He likes to give kisses and hugs, and when his sister cries, he starts crying with her. They both hold hands while in the car, or watching TV. The first thing that Savannah does in the morning is go crawl in his crib and they snuggle and play until I get up and go get them. They are best friends and I just love watching them play together!

I love you Deagan! Please don't grow up too fast!

Preschool!

So about a month ago, there was a day where I had about 5 people ask me if I had Savannah signed up for preschool yet, and I kind of freaked out.

I had COMPLETELY dropped the ball on Preschool! For some reason, that always just seemed like a very distant thing. I was thinking that you went to preschool at 4, not 3 AND 4! 

So I started scrambling, calling and e-mailing a bunch of different places, trying to find an opening. Do you want to know what is completely bonkers? Most preschools start enrollment a good 8-12 months before the school year even starts! Even for just the little community preschool that the rec center does, you have to go in January or February, line up at 7am to get a wristband, that will hold your spot in line for registration that evening, for class that doesn't even start until August. It's kind of a joke.

And the only preschools that had openings were far away and VERY expensive. Like, one preschool in Salt Lake was 1 1/2 hours a day, 3 days a week and it was 12,000 for the full 8 months! Twelve. Thousand. Dollars.

For PRE-school guys!

So then I started thinking, well, who needs school yeah? I'll homeschool for preschool! We will just watch a ton of Sesame Street and play with play dough all day, it will almost be the same thing! 

But I ended up calling my Mom, kind of upset about how I was basically the worst Mom ever for not signing my kid up, and she mentioned how a lady I had known for years might have a couple of openings. Of course! Why didn't I even think of her? She was my sister's preschool teacher! So my Mom called me back 5 minutes later and told me she had called her, and Savannah was all set to go! She had missed the first day of class, but she would be fine to join in the next morning. 

Let me tell you, no 3 year old who has ever lived, was more excited about going to school than Savannah was. We got up bright and early, and put her in her new school clothes that her grandma and grandpa had gone out and gotten her the night before. She barely ate any breakfast because she kept saying "Ok Mom, I'm done eating, let's go to my preschool now!" 

When I told her to come outside on the porch so I could take some pictures, she said "Yes, let's take pictures of fabulous Savannah!"

 

^^The moment she noticed a bird in the tree.^^

 

"Mama, get that bird!"

So far, she is absolutely loving it! She excitedly jumps out of the car when I drop her off, yelling "Bye Mom!" without even glancing back. Half the time, I ask for a kiss goodbye when we get to the door and she doesn't even hear me, she's so focused on getting in there and starting the day. She really loves her teacher and tells me that she is her best friend at school. The other day when I went to pick her up, Savannah started throwing a fit and didn't want to leave. I ended up having to pick her up and carry her out to the car!

I'm really glad I put Savannah in Preschool. I knew that a lot of the stuff they will learn she already knows. She knows her letters and numbers and colors already, but there are a lot of things she is learning that are new to her too. One of the most exciting things to watch her do is trace her letters! I knew that she didn't need preschool to learn social skills either. Anyone who knows her, knows how outgoing and friendly she is! (How both my kids are! Deagan got right up in a kids face the other day, trying to hug him and the kid kind of panicked and fell off my porch!) 

I think the biggest reason I wanted to get Savannah in preschool when I really thought about it wasn't because I didn't want to be the only Mom in the neighborhood who's kid wasn't in school, but because I wanted to give Savannah that time away from me, away from home where she gets to fully be her, completely Savannah. Where she will learn how to make friends, and where she will learn how to listen to other adults, and even how to get in trouble with other adults. 

Deagan really misses his sister while she's gone, the other day he just kept walking around, looking up at me and saying "Sissy? Baby? Sissy?" But I think it's really good for him and I to get that one-on-one time together too. Savannah had 2 years of just mom-and-me time and she gets that every day while Deagan naps, so it's nice to get a few hours to snuggle and play and get to know him a little better when he's not just tearing the house apart with his sister (A.K.A partner in crime!)

So far she's been in school for a month and she just absolutely loves it. She's really thriving at school and I get excited for her every time I drop her off!

Heading Home Again

And here we are at the conclusion of our California vacation.

I'm missing it already!

My parents recently went on a vacation to Santa Barbara, and while there, they went to a Spanish festival where they picked up these adorable outfits!

 

We went to church that Sunday morning where Chantel and Jacob both spoke in Sacrament meeting, and then Bryant, Ed, Chantel and Tyler sang a song in 4 different languages: Portugues, English, Tagalog and Spanish, it was beautiful! After church, we all went outside to take some family photos. Deagan was having none of it and fell asleep.

I think this is my favorite picture of Deagan and Grandma Donna! I'm having it printed out and framed to keep in his room. 

 

When we were at Donna's, Deagan didn't want anyone except her. He'd start to pout or cry and instead of running to Bryant or I, he'd head straight for Grandma!

 

We also dug out Bryant and Jacob's old Halloween costumes. My mother-in-law hand made those!

Can you guess what we will all be for Halloween this year?

 

And Deagan, trying to get in on the action.

Once again we had a great vacation! It was so fun getting to see everyone! We are planning on heading out there for Christmas this year (Let's hope there is some snow! California could sure use it!)

On to Mt. Shasta!

Part 4 of our California trip! Are you getting sick of them yet? Probably. Too bad!

First off, remember a couple of posts ago, I wrote how Deagan had been sick for a few hours and was fine by that night? Well we all got it at some point. I felt terrible on the drive from Mountain Ranch to Sacramento, and was fine that night. Bryant got it that night and was sick into the middle of the next day. And Savannah got it on our first full day in Mt. Shasta. We took her to see the new Ninja Turtles movie and she was fine. We brought her home and she vomited about 12 times, took a nap, then woke up and proclaimed that she was all better and ran off playing as if nothing had happened! It was completely crazy and I still have no idea what it was, exactly, that we all caught.

That weekend, Jacob and Sally and their kids came up for a couple of days, so we all headed out on for a day at the lake!

 

I;m not much of a tubing girl. One word: Contacts. Ugh, so annoying when you get water under those things! Not to mention, I'm a complete wuss when it comes to anything fast. So I happily sat on the boat and snuggled the kids. At one point, I had all 4. Two on each knee, and two on either side of me. Savannah and Deagan were complete angels out on the boat. You know how people buy those thunder jackets for their dogs, that are made to keep dogs calm? Well putting a life jacket on Deagan kind of has the same effect. He mostly just laid there like a slug.  

Both kids even fell asleep for a bit in my arms!

 

White leg alert!

I took both kids out, one at a time for a spin on the kayak. Kayaking is one of my favorite things! Love it!

It was a beautiful day out on the lake, and I didn't get sunburned AT ALL! Score one for the albino chick!

Welcome Home Sister Stokes!

Part 3 of our California Trip!

Like I mentioned before, the whole reason we decided to go out to California was to be there when Bryant's sister Chantel came home from her LDS Mission  in the Philippines!

Chantel hadn't met Deagan before that day! I think Savannah remembered her. We kept a picture of Chantel on our fridge and talked a lot about her and what a missionary is to Savannah often, so I think she was able to remember a bit. 

Deagan is always barefoot. I've only recently started making him wear shoes in public places and he's not entirely loving it.

We were all there at the airport to welcome her home! 

Afterwards, we all went to lunch and met up with some more family!

Sharing food! Parenting WIN!

After lunch, we drove all the way back to Mt. Shasta (about a 3 hour drive). Want to know how bad the drought is in California right now? ^^ This is Lake Shasta. It's insanely low!

Welcome home Chantel! The people of the Philippines were very blessed to have you for the last 18 months. And I'm very blessed to have you as a sister-in-law!

And to send this blog post home, here are a few photos of the cousins together!

 Savannah was in heaven with all of Jayden's dress up clothes! It was so adorable!

 

She was particularly excited about dressing up as her best imaginary friend, Peter Pan

Mason and I got some one-on-one time too. It kind of stinks that my niece and nephew have to live so far away! If they lived close, I'd be the best, most child-spoiling, crazy aunt around!

 Aaaaand here's one of the Stokes brothers!

We loved our time in Sacramento! It's always great to see Jake and Sally and their kids. Savannah keeps asking me when we get to see her sister Jayden again. I try to explain that they are cousins, and what that means, but she keeps saying "No Mom, Jayden and me are sisters. Like how Ana and Elsa are sisters!"

I hope we get to see them again soon!

*Just a side note: Weed, California is a town about 10-15 minutes away from Mt. Shasta, where my in-laws live and where Bryant grew up. Right now, most of the town has been completely destroyed by a wildfire. Over 100 structures are destroyed or damaged, and 1500 people are evacuated. If you are in the NorCal area, please consider donating items to shelters and families. So many people have lost everything. For more info on the fire, go HERE.