Fearless

Dylan's earned this nickname this summer... He likes playing in the water, but he LOVES playing in pools. He loves putting his face in the water, thinks it's funny when he goes under, and is not afraid to jump in:

What didn't get caught on camera was Dylan jumping off the attached spa, which was at least three feet out of the water. He didn't even flinch when Shane put him on top of it and told him to jump...

I love that he's so excited to swim and happy that he's not afraid, but it puts me on edge. So far he's been pretty good to only jump in where there's a parent and in our last swimming adventure he actually kicked his feet and moved his arms when he accidentally walked off the step and into deeper water (I was right there with him, I just wanted to see what he'd do).

Thank goodness for pools, sprinklers, and splash pads... I'm not sure how else we'd survive the summer!

Adventures in finger painting

Today was a bad nap day for Dylan...which meant we had a lot of afternoon to fill. I decided to try out some homemade finger paints that I found here yesterday**. I stripped Dylan down, covered him in sunscreen (anticipating some water play after the painting) and let him loose.

BEFORE:

(After mixing up the paint base, I realized I only had red, green, and a little bit of yellow food coloring left...that's why my colors all look similar.)

DURING:

I wondered if Dylan would have issues with the paint on his hands. He'd only paint with his thumbs at first and was staying on the paper. After he seemed to be getting bored with the paper, I told him to paint his knee. Once he discovered he could paint himself, he didn't care so much about the texture.

AFTER:

Eventually he discovered that painting my legs was WAY more fun than painting himself. He thought it was so funny...


When he was done, I hosed him down and then let him play in the sprinklers for a while. It would've been more fun if it wasn't so hot here, but I'm glad we found something new to do to break up the day.

(**NOTE: I skipped on the dish soap that the recipe recommends because I was worried Dylan would try to eat the paint. However, if you are going to paint anything other than paper with this, I would recommend it as well. After spraying down my legs, I still had faint colors all over them. It all came off with soap, but I think the soap would help it all wash off the first time...)

Happy Face

Ever since Dylan learned that he could look at pictures and video of himself on our camera and Flip, we haven't been able to get good pictures of him. Once he sees the camera, he starts running toward it saying his name over and over again. Case in point (in case you couldn't tell, Dylan calls himself "Ninin"):

{As I put together this video, Dylan sat on my lap saying "More ninin? More ninin?" over and over again.... He loves himself.}

Lately, if I tell him I want to take a picture he'll nod his head in agreement. Then I ask him for his happy face, which leads to this:


I've resorted to telling him to say cheese when I want to take pictures, which actually yielded one decent picture at the park yesterday:


He may not be good at his toothy, dimple-filled smiles anymore, but he's sure getting good at silly faces:


In other news, my goal is to add a few more updates to the blog...including dance parties, our little fish, and the mailbox...so stay tuned.