Link to video

Since the previous video took so long to download I'll give you a link to see this one on YouTube. Our church had a fundraiser last week and Dominic and Andy sang "You Are My Sunshine". It was precious. Jill video taped it and put in on YouTube so I have it on my facebook page or you can look it up at

Andy and Dominic Perform

Source: www.youtube.com

They also sang yesterday at church for 13th Sabbath. So I'll have to go over to Jill's house and use her high speed internet to get it on here.

Sibling love

Caitlin LOVES Dominic. I can just imagine the complaints when they are older and she copies him and follows him every where he goes. =)

I'm going to try to upload a video of Dominic talking to her. He always talks in this high pitched voice. She doesn't seem to mind.

Not sure of the quality. It took over an hour on my dial up to down load.

My birthday/Cake

My birthday was very nice. Jon got me some movies and cds that I'd been wanting for a long time. Dominic informed me while we were getting ready for the day that I was so beautiful. =) And a friend gave me a gift certificate to Play Date so I could have some "me" time. Jon also took me out to eat so I wouldn't have to cook.

A few days before my birthday I went to the store and Dominic asked if he could help make my birthday cake. I hadn't intended to get one but changed my mind and had him help me pick out a mix and some frosting. I came home w/ funfetti cake mix, white frosting w/ sprinkles and pink icing for writing. Not what I would have chosen, but it wasn't really for me.

I had made a strawberry cheesecake layered dessert the day before and didn't really want to have 2 desserts in the house so we made the cake this afternoon. Dominic wanted cupcakes and I figured it would be easier to control his portion that way.

I told him not to eat the batter because of the eggs and he only had one little taste about 30 minutes later. He "forgotted". When they were cool we frosted them.

Toe food

I was making lunch for Dominic and he started getting a little concerned because he didn't see me putting enough tofu on his plate.

"Mommy, please, I want more toe food."

So I put more on his plate and we sat down. As we were eating he said,

"Mommy, can I please, please feed my toes. I think they'd wike it."

I was a little amused and didn't answer.

"Mommy, I KNOW they'd wike it. It's TOE food."

Stephanie sticks

Yesterday I gave Dominic some sesame sticks to hold him until lunch time. He kept asking me what they were called. His version is "stephanie sticks". He could tell this wasn't right and kept trying and finally last night right before bed he finally got it correct. Poor little guy. I guess that is a hard one.

My kids

Caitlin is getting so much better at holding her head up and paying attention to the world around her. Dominic continues to be her favorite form of entertainment. She'd much rather watch him than play w/ a toy or be w/ her parents. This is, of course, great when I'm busy and she starts getting annoyed because she's being ignored. I can tell that Dominic is growing up, but the changes aren't as noticeable now as they were before. But w/ Caitlin I can see things almost every day.

I went in to check on her during her nap this morning and was amazed again at how much she looks like my mom. People always comment about how much Caitlin looks like me. But I think she looks like my mom. Her eyes are very much Mom's and her hair is the same color. Dominic has the same hair color as Jon, but his eye lashes are dark so I'm guessing it will get darker. Also his eyes are the same hazel color of my brother. His expressions and mannerisms remind me of my Grandpa Gadd. Isn't it amazing how our genes play around w/ our kid's looks?

Music

Dominic LOVES music. He knows the words to all of his little kid songs and a lot of words to some of our favorite adult songs that we sing. He can sing all of the songs at church as well. If the chorus is sung more than once he'll start following along by the 2nd verse. I guess music is his "thing". I take him to a music class and if he's having a rough day that is what I use to calm him down. He will be singing at the Talent Show at church tomorrow night. He's singing "You Are My Sunshine" while Jon plays the guitar.

When Jon and I are in the car we listen to the radio or our MP3 players. Dominic is pretty vocal about what songs he likes or dislikes. Just to clarify - Jon and I have VERY different tastes in music.

Jon was listening to a radio station on the way home from the Y the other night and a Marilyn Manson song came on. For those of you who don't know who that is - good! For those of you who do -it was the song "The Beautiful People". I guess Jon was getting ready to switch the station because he didn't think Dominic would care for it.

Dominic told Jon "Daddy I like that song, but I can't sing it." I'm not sure if I should be horrified that my son liked a Marilyn Manson song or thankful that it didn't freak him out. Sigh! My husband is corrupting my son. =)

Guard kitty.

Several months ago we put in a cat door and let our inside cat out into the great out of doors. He doesn't have front claws and we were a little worried about him, but it was getting so hard to keep him inside. We put him into the garage at night and he can come and go outside all he wants. He's a much happier cat. If you've read my previous blogs you know that we live in the country and have a bit of a dog problem. Well, yesterday was beautiful weather and I had the windows open. I heard two dogs start barking that bark that means they've found something to chase. I knew it was Tolkien. I ran to the window planning to yell at them and I saw Tolkie all puffed up. Those dogs got close and he flew at them. One was a lab mix and the other was a medium sized mutt. He attacked the smaller one full force and those poor dogs took off at full speed w/ their tails between their legs. I guess Tolkie had finally gotten enough and decided to defend his home. I told him what a brave kitty he was and he actually strutted around like he was proud of himself. So now we have a guard kitty!

stinky boy

Dominic has found a pair of shorts that he LOVES. He will wear them whenever he can. He'd worn them for 3 days straight when he got into the shower w/ them on and got them wet so he couldn't wear them to bed. Jon hung them over the shower curtain to dry and the next morning I saw him swinging the curtain back and forth trying to get them to fall off. It worked and the next minute he'd pulled off his pants so he could wear these shorts again. We finally got a hold of them and washed them. He found them again after being cleaned and was so happy you'd have thought it was Christmas.

It was about 50 degrees this morning and I really had to do some major convincing to get Dominic to wear long pants. He loves that pair of shorts but any will do if those aren't available. I've just glad it's March and not heading into winter.

Playing work

Dominic is really into playing "work". On Friday we played work all day. Dominic would start in the kitchen and get ready for work. He'd put his crocs, jacket, knee and elbow pads, helmet and backpack on. Then he'd get on his motorcycle (bike) and ride to work (living room). When he got to Bosch he'd get his tools out of the toy basket and we'd make washing machines and work on our house and the "motorcycle." Then he'd put everything back on again and ride back home to the kitchen. It was so cute. Yesterday he asked Jon to play with him and I thought they'd play work, but Dominic wanted to play Y (YMCA). So he went into the bedroom and put on his swim shorts and his crocs. He then pretended to swim and play racketball and basketball w/ Jon. He stays in the child care while Jon plays racketball and then Jon takes him swimming. The two girls that watch him are really sweet and seem to think Dominic is a cutie. Dominic calls them "the girls". He knows their names, but doesn't seem to ever call them by name. So yesterday he also played w/ "the girls".

Yesterday we went to a friend's house so we could practice some singing for a talent show that is coming up. Dominic will be singing "You Are My Sunshine". They had taken a door off of their bedroom so they could get a piece of furniture in and hadn't replaced it. Dominic grabbed the door and it fell over on top of him. I panicked, but he only bruised his arm and after a band-aid quit crying and went back to play. The resiliency of children is amazing.

There were a couple of girls there with their dolls. They were playing with Dominic and wanted him to hold the doll and play pretend with them. Dominic pulled up his shirt and tried to breastfeed the doll and embarrassed the poor little girl to death. =) She took her doll back and decided to read to Dominic instead.

Sweet boy and mean mom!

I'm the world's meanest mom. I think today my son might agree. He was in my bedroom playing near the monitor. We've just recently started using it again since Caitlin is now in the kids room. I saw Dominic there and had to go into their bedroom to put away some clothes so I crept up to the monitor and growled. I heard a shriek and Dominic came running to get me. His eyes were huge and he said

"Mom, there's a monster in your bedroom and he's REAL! I heard him growl." I was laughing so hard I cried. He wouldn't go into the bedroom and so he pushed me in to show me where he was hiding.

I spent the next 30 minutes explaining and showing him how the monitors worked. Poor kid!

It seems that I was paid back a few minutes later. You'd think I'd learn not to frighten my kid, but only minutes later I was sitting on the floor and scared Dominic as he came around the corner. He squealed and arms flying hit me in the forehead. I groaned and grabbed my head. Dominic told me it would be ok and disappeared. I heard a crash from the bathroom and went to investigate. He was getting the medicine box out of the cabinet and had knocked some things over. He very carefully opened the box and got out a Dora band-aid and stuck it on my forehead. It was precious. I have the sweetest little boy!!!

I was taking pictures of him and he asked me to take a picture of my band-aid. Not sure if you can see from the picture, but my hair is a bit wild. I had been wearing a pony tail and Dominic took the holder out and "fixed" my hair so it was pretty. =) He sure doesn't like pony tails.

Dominic picks out his clothes every day. He will get one piece at a time and come stand beside me as he puts it on in case he needs help. Then he'll ride his bike back into his bedroom to get another piece. As you can imagine this takes some time and leads to some interesting combinations. This morning he somehow got into the clothes that were a bit big and so we had to put a belt on him to hold the pants up. So he needed help every time he went potty. I was standing behind him while he went today and he said

"Go please mommy, I want to be in privie-sing."

I left!

Our new couches

Several of our friends and family asked that I post a picture of our new furniture. We had bought a couch and love seat back when we were in college. After 3 moves, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 kids, my brother and an exchange student, all of whom abused our furniture, it was time for some new ones. I was being a bit stingy and didn't want to use our money for furniture. I kept telling Jon that we could put a blanket over the cracks in the seat and no one would know. Have you ever tried to keep a blanket on a couch w/ a 2 year old? It can't be done. The stuffing was coming out of the couch when I finally broke down and told Jon we should go shopping. We went that night! =) Jon and I have very similar tastes until it comes to furniture so I'm amazed we found something that we both like. The 1st place that we went had this set but we didn't want to buy the 1st thing we saw. Went to the 2nd store and they had this couch and recliner for a ton less and gave us a coupon as well. So now Jon has the recliner that he's been wanting for ever. It's also a rocker so I'm happy.These couches have leather bottoms and the light color is the micro fiber suede stuff that is supposedly really stain resistant. So we shall see how it holds up w/ my kids.

I got this adorable picture of my men right before church on Sabbath. Since they are sitting on the couch I thought I'd put it in here.

I had forgotten how we need to prepare Dominic for any changes that happen. If prepared ahead he can handle anything. So on Thursday morning when he came out to find no couch in the living room he was a bit unnerved. I explained that Daddy had taken the old couch away and was getting us a new one. So that evening when Jon came home w/ the new furniture Dominic was all excited. "Oh wow Daddy, what a cute couch!" For the past couple of days he's come out of his room and looked at the couch - "Oh, there's the cute couch that Daddy got us."

Snakes smell . . .???

The weather has been beautiful. So yesterday we took Dominic to the park so he could ride his bike. We'd gotten him a new helmet and it came w/ elbow and knee pads. He loves them!

As we were parking at Union Point Park Dominic started sniffing very deeply.

SNIFF! SNIFF!

"It smells like snakes."

SNIFF! SNIFF!

I had to ask - "What do snakes smell like?"

SNIFF! SNIFF!

"Like pets!"

SNIFF! SNIFF!

Today Dominic kept fake falling from his bike.

"Look Mom, I didn't get hurt. My knee pods kept me safe."

After a few falls he landed w/ the handle bar in his stomach. In a very strained voice he said

"Look Mom, my pods kept me safe." Groan. "I guess!"

The time change worked out fairly well for us. The weather was amazing yesterday and so we decided to keep Dominic up instead of putting him down for a nap. That way at his regular bedtime at 8pm it wouldn't feel like the old 7pm and he'd hopefully go right to sleep. On missed nap days we usually have lots of whining and break downs so we were a bit nervous.

We went to the park w/ a friend and had a picnic. We rode the model A to the river, we went on bike rides and Dominic and Jon worked on things in the garage. He was amazing for how little sleep he'd had. We were both so relieved. So the kids went down at their normal bedtimes and woke up at 7:30am this morning. A wonderful change from the usual 6:30am. So unlike most people, I've been over the moon happy about the time change.

Just a random picture of Caitlin laughing. She's such a happy baby when she's not tired. She's getting more and more aware of her surroundings and loves her brother to talk to her. About the only time she fusses now is when she's tired. So hopefully she's growing out of it. Although I've been warned that girls are more fussy and needy than boys. =)

Nudist

Today I was watching a friend's kids. While the girls were sleeping the boys were playing on the couch. I went to check on Caitlin and when I came back I saw both boys completely naked laying on the floor and couch, arms flailing. "Look Mom, we're swimming." More like skinny dipping! I made them put their clothes back on. When my friend returned from her appt. I was telling her about it. We noticed that they were quiet and went to check on them. They were "swimming" again, both naked.

The weather is beautiful (mid 70s) so we went to the park for a picnic. There is a huge volley ball court there w/ sand. I'm changing Caitlin and I look over to see Dominic pulling off his underwear w/ his friend following his example. Sigh! I couldn't seem to keep his clothes on him today. The pants didn't fit well and maybe that's why?!?

Dominic is always jumping. He loves to jump off the couch and today he landed wrong on his big toe. I knew he was hurting pretty badly. He kept holding his foot and wouldn't even be consoled w/ a band-aid. It swelled up a little and now 8 hrs later he's still limping, but we don't think it's broken. I'm sure it is just one of many injuries we'll be dealing w/ in the future.

Dominic was having a rough morning. Between being tired (I wore him out at the park) and still in pain w/ his foot he couldn't seem to obey. I put him in the tub to remove all of the sand since he'd rolled in it naked before I could get to him. I was telling him that it made me very sad to have to spank him. It hurt my feelings and made me sad. So could he please obey so that I didn't have to punish him. He looked at me and said "Well it hurts my bum when you spank." Uh! Yea! Guess he didn't get the point. Although when it was time to get out of the tub he obeyed immediately. I was so proud of him.

Dominic's wife & other things

Dominic is fascinated w/ my wedding ring. I didn't wear one the whole time I was pregnant and so he has re-noticed it. He wanted to wear a ring also and I told him he'd have to wait until he grew up and got married. That my ring was to let everyone know I was married.

"Oh, to your husband?" "Daddy's your husband, mom." (Did he think I didn't know?)

He wanted to know if he was going to have a wife when he was all "growed" up. I said yes and asked him what he wanted her to look like.

"She's gonna have brown hair and wong hair wike you mommy. But no pony taiw. I don't wike pony taiws." Poor little wife! When ever I have a pony tail in he pulls out the holder. So now I know why.

Every time we stop at Jon's work or drive by Dominic points out where Daddy works. They are doing some extensive road work in front of the road leading to Jon's plant and so Dominic would point out any construction site and tell us "There's Bosch." I corrected him and told him it was road construction. So now when ever he sees those orange cones he gets all excited.

"Mommy, there's road construkin."

I had a dumb moment this morning. Dominic LOVES punching the numbers on the microwave. So every morning we find something to heat up. He's knows his numbers now because of it, so what's a little wasted electricity. This morning he got over zealous and pushed a button while the microwave was on. It suddenly child proofed it and I couldn't figure out how to undo it. I had heated up his pancake, but mine was still frozen. I was bemoaning the fact that I'd have to eat something different when Dominic said

"It's ok, mommy. Don't get frustrated. You can use the toaster." (toaster oven) I felt like an idiot. My 2 yr old thought of a solution before I did. I ended up just unplugging the microwave and when I plugged it back in it worked. But he's right, I could have used the toaster. Smart kid!

Random pictures

Dominic wanted me to help him "fix" his bike this morning. This bike has been through several owners and it probably does need help. But it works great and Dominic rides it all over the house. Not sure why he felt the need to wear the hard hat. =)

On Sunday we piled all of the dirty clothes by the gate ready to sort and take down stairs to the laundry. Dominic jumped in the pile and wanted to be buried. He'd poke his head out every once in a while and tell us to "ask where's Dominic."

This morning we were running from one end of the house to the other because the monsters were chasing us. I decided to make use of the time and got out my weights. Dominic didn't want to be left out of exercising and got 2 tv remotes and walked beside me. It was so cute. Of course, as soon as I stopped walking to get the camera he put them down.

I was exhausted and plopped myself on the couch w/ a water bottle. Dominic ran and got his water bottle and hit it against mine. "Cheers! Mom!" and then started drinking. Now where in the world did he learn that?

Sabbath morning my entire family was asleep and I couldn't get them to wake up. So I started taking pictures hoping the flash would move them. It didn't but I love this picture of Jon and Caitlin sleeping in the same position. I'd fed Caitlin and was changing her when I realized I didn't have anything to put back on her. So I put her in our bed and pulled up the covers while I went to get some more clothes. When I came back she was asleep like this.

This next picture is so cute. Dominic is playing the guitar while we sing. We sing every night for worship and he wanted to take a turn at playing. He's pretty good at strumming. If you look closely you can see Caitlin sucking her thumb in the back ground.

All attempts at getting her to take a pacifier are in vain. She loves her thumb and has sucked it so much there's a little blister on it. I was hoping she'd take a pacifier so I could take it away from her when I was ready to wean her from it. It's kind of hard to take a thumb away. But kids never do what you want, so she's a thumb sucker. Sigh!