Dylan's Christmas Carols - Jingle Bells

Dashing thru the snow, fru a one end horse open sleigh. Thru the fears we go, laughing all the way (ha ha ha).
Bells on rapteds ring, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing sooooong tonight.
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle mall the way. Oh much fun it is to ride foo a one end horse open sleigh, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle mall the way. Oh much fun it is to ride foo a one end horse open sleigh!

Battling the Monster, and Rediscovering Christmas

Alright, let me preface this by saying I don't like poo. It's messy, it stinks, and it's difficult to get out of clothes and carpet. However I, like many others, don't mind going poo. So, when in our parenting we started actually making potty-training progress with Dylan, we were very excited at the prospect of not having to change his messy diapers anymore, and just worrying about poo logistics - what happens if we're out at a store when he has to go, for example - rather than wondering which of the boys was stinking up the house. Dylan was making great strides on our third attempt at getting him out of diapers for good. Then we hit the much feared proverbial brick wall. He HATED HATED HATED going poo. Anywhere. Would not do it in a car, would not do it near or far. Would not do it in a potty, would not do it nice or naughty, would not do it in a diaper, would not do it ... with something that rhymes with diaper. Toilet time was becoming battle royale on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. We were losing sleep over it by sitting in the bathroom with a very agitated and in-pain boy for hours on end, sometimes until 11:00 at night. We researched what we could find from both parents and physicians online. We were giving Dylan gentle stool softeners, increasing his fiber, encouraging, begging, bribing, fighting... nothing worked. So, we took him to the doctor.

That visit was possibly the single most unpleasant doctor's office visit I've been to. It had been 4+ days since Dylan had a bowel movement. He wasn't even trying to get it out, he would try as he had been for weeks to hold it in as long as he could. He would whimper and sometimes yell while he stood stiff-legged and butt-clenched trying to not go to the bathroom. Anyway, the doctor helped him with an initial cleaning (I am NEVER going to the doctor for that visit, I don't care what's going on), and prescribed a pediatric laxative to help get Dyl into the habit of actually going #2. Fast forward five more days. Dylan had gone once since the doctor's office visit, with the help of a laxative, and had miraculously managed to overpower a laxative three days later (that's some gol-durn strong willpower in my opinion). Our bribes had become even more lucrative but not any more enticing for little Mr. Stubborn. He had gone right back into the pattern of holding it in until the urge passed, repeated over days.

Brenda and I had reached the end of the rope. I was falling even farther behind in my studies, there was constant battling going on in the house, and we weren't getting sleep. Sunday afternoon we were waiting for a visit from our Home Teachers and we decided to give Dylan a blessing. The thought our home teachers shared with us was about the Savior not only atoning for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, but that He took upon Himself all of our temptations, our pains physical and emotional, and experienced everything any human could possibly experience over any lifetime... and all over the course of His suffering in one evening. We also talked about the Lord's soft heart for little children - He especially does not want them to suffer. After we gave Dylan a blessing, the home teachers left and another battle started with Dylan still struggling to hold in what wanted to come out, although both Brenda and I had our Parental Patience reserve recharged by the HT visit. We gave up fairly quickly in favor of getting Dylan to bed. We put a diaper on him as is common practice until the night wetting improves, and sent him to bed. At about midnight he woke up distressed again, and I braced myself for another round. Instead of having to worry about that Dylan told me "I pushed the poo into my diaper." Indeed he had, and it was pretty impressive (as gross as that sounds). Since that night, we have had only short periods of time when Dylan fought the urge to go. For the second day in a row he has gone, and once on his own (without a proclamation to the world).

Brenda and I are extremely grateful for the tangible blessings that the Gospel and the Priesthood bring into our family! At this Christmas season we wish all of our family and friends a Merry Christmas, and encourage everyone to remember that Christ is the heart, soul and spirit of true giving and service. God bless you all, see you soon!

Hiking near Hollister

Here are some of the picures from our hike up Fremont Peak, near Hollister and Gilroy. It's the highest peak in the area, and you can see for miles in all directions... if we weren't in foggy and smoggy central Cal. It was still an incredible day, and view! Dylan and I had a blast throwing rocks over the edge, it was tough to pull him away when it was time to go.

Getting caught up... maybe.

Hey everyone. Since the last post, we've had quite a bit happening. Of course Brenda's birthday was fabulous, even though I was forced to decorate her cake. ("I don't want to, it's your birthday and you're the expert. Make a cake you will be proud of!" "Right, it's MY birthday, so YOU'RE decorating my cake!") So, as you can tell, I winged it (wung it?) and ended up creating some freakish faux landscape including a sprinkly waterfall. Oh well, at least it tasted fantastic, Bren spared nothing to make sure her cake tasted better than any other!











We spent the evening with family and friends, we barbecued, and we had a wonderful time in spite of screaming children rampaging through the house and yard. Dylan got hold of Bren's food coloring gel set when we weren't paying close enough attention to what he was doing, and he mixed up his own concoction of decorative sprinkles and food coloring gels. Not sure how it tasted, but it didn't seem to deter him.
















I also had the chance during the last few weeks to go on a real mountain biking trip (one that we had to travel farther than 20 minutes from home to get to) in Santa Cruz, on the Wilder Ranch and Enchanted Loop trails. It was fantastic, and I came out of the trip without intimate contact with the trail. Much better than the last trip I went on with the same people (Jon and Dave). Here are a few pictures.

I love biking up here because of the huge variety of terrain and wildlife you can get, even in just a few miles of riding. We started out in a grassy, open field, rode down an access road to the single track through a dense redwood grove, and ended up on another access road through a recently control-burned field overlooking the central California coast. Since we had a few minutes before our drivers (our wives) showed up with the vehicles, we finished the trail all the way to the bluffs and cliffs over the Pacific. Not too many places you can get that variety all in under two hours. We ate lunch at a little hole in the wall diner in Santa Cruz, then headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Del Monte center shops. Dyl was really acting up in one of the stores, and before we could herd him out he fell while playing on the bottom of the escalator. I've always wondered what escalator steps do to fingers if they get caught, and I must say it's not pretty. He didn't need stitches but it sure messed up his middle finger for a while.
That's it for now. Once I get some of the pictures and videos from the previous biking trip I'll put them up for your enjoyment.