Oakley's words

He didn't talk forever, and just as I predicted he suddenly started speaking full sentences and can say pretty much anything. Well, at least in his own way ;)

Some of my favorites:

Cantaloupe=Canyo
Grape=Gwape
Woody=Wew-dee
Koda=Koga
Ryden=Wydeen
Super Why=Sue-Why
Lucy=Wucy
Link=Wink
Luca=Teeka
Chocolate=Cock-ween
Milk=Nilk
Remote=Re-Note
Cookie=Tootsie
Treat=Taweet
Cake=Kek
Candy=Tandy

I will add more as I think of them.

Funny Things...

Oakley is finally learning to talk. He's caught up with lightening speed. He talks in sentences full time pretty much now. He says things all the time that we aren't expecting or didn't know he knew. And he attempts to say new things all throughout the day.

Some of my favorite things lately:

Whenever we leave and are walking thru the garage, he always says "'scuse me" as we file through.

Recently:
O: "I wanna EAT."
Me: "Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?"
O: pause... "FOOD."
Me: LOL

As we were waiting in line at the bank in our car, Ryden started to cry. Oakley looks over and says, "Bunny, i's o.k." I often say "Honey-bunny" when Ryden is crying or tell him "It's okay." Dakota has started to use the same phrase. So I thought it was so cute when Oakley suddenly busted it out. It was also very sweet.

The other day we went fishing at Pineview Resevoir and had to hike down to a beachy area. After a while, Oakley couldn't resist going in the water, so we let him wade in his clothes. He started throwing mud and got it all over himself. When I helped him out of the water to move down to another area, he exclaims, "I wet! I a MESS. I eed a BAFF!" Yes, yes you do my little boy!

Whenever we are in the car, Oak feels the need to talk. So our car rides usually consist of,
"Mama? (or Daddy, or Koda or Jichan or whomever is in the car)... Whe'e awe you?" You say, "I'm right here," and he moves on to the next person. But he will ask over and over and over again.

Or he likes to tell you everything he sees which is usually one of three things:
O: "Uh, Mama?"
Me: "What, Oakley?"
O: "I 'ee a bode" (bird)
or
"I 'ee caws" (cars)
or
"I 'ee a ay-plane" (airplane)
Occasionally he throws in 'trees' or 'horse' or 'house'. But he will tell you 50 times in one short drive that he sees a bird. EVERY SINGLE BIRD that flies by his window he is sure to tell us about. :)

4th of July

We went to the fireworks in Kaysville on the 4th with Grandma and Jichan. The kids loved it. Their reactions pretty much sum up their personalities right now:

After EVERY firework Oakley exclaimed, "Whoa!"

Dakota told me, "Mom, the fireworks are like pixie dust!" She also sang the Katy Perry song, "Baby You're a Firework" that was playing on the stage. With added emphasis on "Make 'em go 'UH UH UH' as they shoot across the sky." Doug and I were cracking up when she did that. We made her sing it over and over all the way home.

Ryden was in awe of the fireworks and after the first few pops when he realized all was safe and well, he jumped up and down in my lap with excitement.

Capiche

Driving in the car while visiting in Boise.

Me: "Dakota, we're going to go get our food and take it to Annette's house and eat it there, Capiche?"
Dakota: "Capiche!"
Me: "Oakley.... (do you want to go play at Annette's?)"
Before I can finish my sentence...
Oakley-the-kid-who-hardly-talks: "CAPICHE!"
He's smarter than he looks...

Also, at a family gathering recently... I mentioned to Oakley that we were getting ready to go. He ran to the door prematurely, turned, waved and said "See-YA!" LOL. He'd never said that before either.

Welcoming Baby Ryden

Ryden was born on Monday in the early afternoon. The kids came to see him that evening for the first time. They reacted pretty much exactly as I expected. Dakota first entered with Betty and came bounding in the room with a huge grin on her face. I watched her eyes scan the room, looking for the new baby. She climbed up on the bed to see me and then I pointed to Ryden laying in the hospital bassinet. She stood up on the bed to look at him. She exclaimed, "He's out! Your baby came out! He's got red cheeks!" I explained that his name was Ryden and she repeated him name perfectly and asked to hold him.

She sat down on the bed next to me and Betty place him in her lap. She held him so gently and just stared at him quietly for a full 3 or 4 minutes. She kissed him and stroked his head and after those minutes of silence, she looked at me and quietly asked, "Can I keep him?"

It was so cute! She continues to be a good big sister. She sings to him, gives him binky and tells him stories. She likes to hold him and talk to him and mimic everything I do with her baby doll.

Oakley is a different story... He hasn't shown an interest in babies ever. Period. We tried to prepare him for the birth and he just did not care. His reaction to seeing the baby for the first time was pretty much the same. He did not care. He didn't want to be at the hospital and was being difficult to start. When he came in, he didn't want to say hi or see the baby. He just ran around and grumbled, and was being destructive.

Finally, Dakota wanted Daddy to see the baby and tried to carry Ryden over to him. Doug took Ryden and finally Oakley was curious. He walked up to where Doug was sitting and got on his tippy toes and checked him out. He pointed at first (a little rough) and then got frustrated and starting swatting at him. He lost interest and walked away. Ryden was returned to me in bed and after about a half hour, Oakley again showed interest in who was taking my attention. He climbed up on my bed and and looked at the baby. Finally, he pointed again. He showed me his eyes and his cheeks and his mouth. Then when I tried to get him to say "baby", he got mad and jumped down. That was about the end of his interaction that night.

Today, we brought Ryden home from the hospital. Dakota showed immediate interest again. But again, Oakley was distracted and irritated. But after about an hour of running around, he finally walked over to where I was sitting and checked him out again, pointing and looking at me with a curious face. I tried to get him to say "baby" and he just jibbered at me, but it was a positive response.

After taking a nap, Oakley came into my room where I was feeding the baby. He climbed up on my bed and gently approached him again. He pointed to his face again and then he said "Bayba". I smiled and encouraged him and he said it a few more times. Since then, he has tried to push the baby in his swing and has shown a little more interest. I think it will get better with time. The first time he heard Ryden cry around dinner time, he stopped eating, turned and just stared at him in amazement. Aunt Melissa came by to visit and was holding the baby for a bit. When Oakley entered the room and saw me without the baby for the first time, he came running over and jumped into my lap. He was so happy to have his own mommy time. I think I will just need to carve out special time for him every day.

We love having a new baby brother in the house and I look forward to all the cute ways my kids will bond over the next few weeks and for the rest of our lives!

Big Sister and Sibling Rivalry

Dakota has always been a good helper and a pretty good big sister. She wakes up before any of us, and so we are in the habit now of leaving the TV on her favorite cartoon channel. When she wakes up, she usually sneaks out of the bedroom and comes in to say good morning, then goes downstairs, turns on the TV and helps herself to some breakfast while the rest of us are trying to get as much shut-eye as possible.

As soon as she hears Oakley wake up, she comes back up and lets him out of the room. The other morning, she let him out and then proceeded to open a package of pop tarts and gave one of them to him. Such a nice big sister! Always taking care of her baby brother.

For the most part, they play really well together and are pretty great friends. However, lately Oakley has started to learn how to get a reaction out of Dakota.

The other day, Dakota had some toy animals all lined up, playing. Oakley ran in, grabbed two animals out of the line-up and dashed out of the room. After she cried for him to return them, he finally brought them back, dropped them on the floor near her and as she reached to pick them up, he grabbed two more out of the line and took off again! What a stinker!

He also has been pulling her hair just to get a reaction.

Let the rivalry begin!

Disclaimer: I do have to admit that often he does just go up to her and give her big hugs and loves her so so much.

Ko-Da

Oakley is starting to jabber a ton, but doesn't say anything super clearly. But today when he woke up from his nap, we needed to go pick up Dakota from a playdate.

I asked him, "Should we go pick up Koda?"

He replied: "Ka-da!"

I asked him again, "Ko-da?"

He replied again, "Ka-da!"

Then he proceeded to say her name in the car about 20 times on the way to get her and throughout the rest of the day. It's super cute and I love that he learned her name as one of his first words. If you ask him to say "Koda", he will say it back to you and smile with satisfaction. Dakota thought it was pretty cool and asked him all the way home to say her name.

Ya

Oakley is just barely starting to try to talk. One thing he has picked up on is that people say "ya" in response to questions sometimes. So whenever you ask him a question... no matter the question... he replies, "YA!"

He must just recognize the inflection in your voice when you ask a question.

Oak'ey be so dangerous..

Oak knows how to climb UP stairs but not down. So we've been trying to keep him away from the stairs when we are upstairs. Dakota even knows and as soon as Oak even looks towards the stairs, she scolds Oakley "NO NO Oak'ey. No no stairs!" And she'll try to shut the door to the bedroom so he can't get out, or she'll pull on his clothes or almost strangle him trying to get him to stay put. I've been trying to teach her to be softer with him and that she doesn't have to boss him around that much. It's ok, if he looks towards the stairs LOL. Just don't let him go down etc...

So this morning I am in my room putting some clothes away and I thought the kids were playing in their bedroom. I could see the hall by the stairs and never saw them cross it. Suddenly, I hear Dakota saying "Help me! Help me! NO NO Oak'ey!!!"

So I reply by telling Dakota, "Leave him alone. It's okay." (Thinking they are in their room and she is mad that he is looking at the stairs or going anywhere near the door). I continue to hear her scolding him and start to worry she might be hurting him, so I start towards their room when I realize Dakota is at the top of the stairs. Lo and behold, they had crossed the hall w/o me noticing and Oakley was suspended head first down the stairs with Dakota pulling on the footy of his PJ's like they are reigns and holding on for dear life!

Thank you miss Dakota. THIS time you were so helpful! If it weren't for her, Oak would have tumbled down a full flight of stairs head first.

After I grabbed Oaklely, Dakota says, "Mama, Oak'ey be soooo dangerous!"

I had to agree. We also gave her tons of praise for being a great big sister.

Guess I'll have to keep a closer eye on those two than I thought!

Giggles

Tonight while I was B-feeding Oakley in the rocking chair, Dakota was trying to climb up on the chair with us. Oakley started kicking her away gently with his foot. Dakota kept sliding off the chair exclaiming, "OOOPS!". This happened over and over till both kids were giggling uncontrollably at each other.

Nights like this, I realize how much I love having 2 kids!

Creepy Crawler

Yesterday, I left Oakley downstairs and ran upstairs to get a diaper ask Doug to change his diaper. Dakota followed me up, and we were all in the master bedroom talking. Doug agreed and started toward the door when I hear him exclaim, "What THE ???? Are you sure you left him downstairs???"

I replied, "100% sure, why? Did he climb up the stairs?"

Yes, indeed he did. He was making his way into our room as we spoke.

My creepy crawler is now a climber as well!

He absolutely HATES being left alone in a room and this is proof! I am convinced his stair climbing is a direct result of his sheer will power to be in the same room with us.

Poop E'ry-Where!

Dakota has been potty training for the last few weeks and has actually done quite well. The other day I needed to email something and left her downstairs alone for a few minutes. Next thing I know, she is walking into my room with her pants off saying "Mess! Leg!" As she gets closer, I notice that its poop all down her leg. I wipe it off and run downstairs... I figure, maybe she pooped in her panties and tried to take them off herself or maybe she went in the toilet but somehow got some on herself in the process. So what did I discover??

She pooped in the potty (in her little potty) like a good girl and then tried to be a big girl and empty out the potty into the big toilet on her own. Only, she doesn't have a very steady hand and ended up spilling it all over our living room and herself in the process. She also left the potty looking like a volcano.

Unfortunately, Oakley saw the spill and inched his way over and was covered in it by the time I got to him. I had to strip him, clean under his finger nails and between his fat rolls, scrub the carpet in about 20 different spots, and completely clean the little potty. As I am in the kitchen rinsing out a rag I was using on the carpet, Dakota comes running into the kitchen and proclaims, "Mamma, POOP! E'ryWHERE!"

Yes, Dakota. YOU got poop EVERY where!

Oakley Laughs

A few weeks ago, we were on our way to a friend's wedding reception in Provo. We drove by some run down apartments and I said, "Those look pretty ghetto... although I guess if you're a Poor Poor college student..." and I was interrupted by a loud burst of giggling. I guess he though "poor poor" was funny.. I said it a few more times to him and each time he bursted out laughing. First time we've really got him giggling. We were all laughing at how cute it was.

Also in the car, on our way home from Boise for my mom's wedding, I sat in the back for a while to calm him down and started pretending like I was going eat him with 'yummy' noises. He also erupted with laughter and we were able to get a little on video from Doug's phone.

He is a smiley happy guys most the time and pretty easy these days to make him laugh. Good natured boy.

Bless You

The other day Oakley was in his bouncer seat and sneezed.... Dakota was walking by and promptly looked his way and said, "bless you!" Doug and I both looked at each other with the look... 'Did she really just say that??' and 'Did YOU teach her that?' NOPE. Neither of us taught her that. I guess she just picked it up!