Dash

Dash is growing up so much.  Brandan and I are always asking him if he'll stop growing, but he always answers, "I can't promise that".

Dash is a super smart kid.  He is always adding up numbers and writing new words.  He loves science experiments and running.  The other day he ran home from Brandan's school without stopping once! That's over half a mile. 

Dash is a great brother.  He might pick on his little brothers occasionally, but if he thinks any one else is criticizing them or making fun, he is the first to come to their rescue.




Dash and Colt in the play area of Burger King. Colt couldn't climb the stairs so Dash voluntarily helped him by letting him climb on his back and then giving him a boost.

 Dash and Abby Ivie are best friends. She plays cars with him and he plays dress up with her.

Since Dash was just little he has loved organizing and arranging.  He used to just categorize his cars by color, but now he has moved on to bigger objects and more complex organizational methods.  No less than four times a week, he re-organizes his room, including moving furniture and rearranging drawers.  We keep some food storage under the boys' bed and Dash's latest arrangements swapped food and toys.




This is the toy box.  That is oatmeal on top of granola bars, on top of crackers, on top of canned green beans.




Toys in the oatmeal and cracker boxes.




Toys in the granola bar boxes.




Toys in the oatmeal box.

 Dash is a pretty sensitive kid and he hates feeling embarrassed (who doesn't, right?), but, unfortunately, he embarrasses easily.  The other day he actually had a pretty embarrassing incident that we are both still recovering from. 
We had gone down to the high school to watch the boys basketball game.  We were sitting in the stands when Dash needed to go to the bathroom.  He knows where the bathroom is so I said he could go out by himself.  A few minutes later I saw Dash following a little girl in the door across the gym.  So now we are sitting in the bleachers on one side of the gym and Dash is walking along in front of the bleachers on the other side of the gym.  While we watched, Dash realized that he couldn't see us in the bleachers and he started to look worried.  Brandan and Colt quickly went down and out the door so they could get Dash.  In the meantime, the ball players are on one side of the court lined up to shoot a foul shot and Dash has turned and is looking across the gym and without realizing it is starting to wander into the court.  I'm panicking a little bit, and without thinking I call out his name right as everyone is real quite because of the foul shot. Dash sees me and immediately sprints right across the gym floor.  The whole gym breaks out into laughter right as Dash reached the bleachers.  It was heartbreaking because his little lip started to quiver and he turned red.  I felt so bad for him (and for myself).  We packed up to leave and headed out right away.  I've thought about it since though, and in a way, it was kind of a touching thing.  When Dash heard my voice his face lit up and he didn't see anything but me and he ran, fast too.  In fact, most of the school administrators have commented to Brandan on how fast Dash can run.