Adam wanted to make sure you saw John Dickson meet a pig.

Cute face up close

John Dickson's first trip to the zoo!

To celebrate a day off from work and a cute little munchkin who is approaching 5 months (5 months!), we took John Dickson out for an afternoon at the Greenville Zoo. It's no Riverbanks, for sure, but we had a good time anyway. We have to admit, it was more fun for us to take the little man and show him the animals than it was actually fun for him. He took zero interest in any of the animals, with the exception of a few.

He enjoyed watching the giraffes, who were in constant motion, "fetching" the "animal food", i.e. crackers Adam kept throwing them. Adam kept saying something about having power, making the giraffes chase food... I dunno... Maybe it's because the cracker I threw didn't make it over the ditch...

He also liked the orangutans, and was literally an inch away from the baby. These he probably liked because of the constant banging the daddy orangutan was making with a rock and the glass. The exibits at the Greenville zoo are pretty sad...


John Dickson and Daddy looking at the giraffes


John Dickson giving the daddy organgutan a high five


John Dickson and Daddy at the ape exhibit


I really wish you could see this picture up close... the face is priceless!


Petting zoo

Look who's sitting!!

Well he is still practicing... but what a cute behind...

Ooh la la

John Dickson's girl, Misty May-Treanor, will be on the next season of Dancing With the Stars!

Holy Cow!

So I went to get John Dickson dressed this morning, and none of his 6 month clothes would even snap! These are the same clothes he wore to Maryland just 2 weeks ago... I think he literally grew overnight!!!! Needless to say, he just retired half his wardrobe this morning. We'll have to have another boy, or a nephew (hint hint) for sure, because I was not ready to put some of those clothes away!!!

The first 3 are John Dickson playing in his entertainer. The last 2 are what we found in the crib the other morning... a really happy baby...

Its true what they say... they grow up too fast :-(

Whoo hoo chair!

As it turns out, we wasted a pretty good bit of money on some fancy high tech things to occupy John Dickson throughout the day. One of his favorite things he owns is his Clemson papasan chair, and we have gotten a ton of mileage out of that!! No lights, no music, no bells or whistles - just a chair, and he loves it. We're able to cook and eat dinner again, get dressed in the morning, and our hygeine is probably the best it has been in months - ha. We have been meaning to post pictures before now so Uncle Mike & Aunt Marianne can see their gift being much appreciated, so here are a couple...

But Dad, I'm not tired!

We shall keep Ellie

Ellie and Bear inspect John Dickson pretty closely from time to time, giving him a good sniffing over just in case we've switched babies on them. They also give his little (big!) feet kisses, because hey, who wouldnt? But John Dickson's first real interaction with the dogs came last night. Ellie stood there while John Dickson yanked on her ears, then pulled on her bottom eye lid (literally) and then grabbed her nose and tried to eat it. (Obviously at this point we had to pull him away...) But Ellie stood there and just took it. And when he would let go, she didn't even try to move away. It was really sweet to watch. We'll keep her afterall.

The downside to this, of course, is that Ellie feels she has bonded with the baby and is now entitled to sleep in his nursery. She thinks she's being sneaky, but we most definitely hear her over the monitor. It sounds like a little like Darth Vader is in there.

And in other dog news, "maybe Nana" and Lacey came last night, and John Dickson was fascinated by Lacey. He is use to dogs, but not ones that are smaller than his stuffed animals. So I assume he thought Lacey was a fun toy, as he would squeal everytime he saw her, and was looking for her when he couldn't see her.

We'll try to get these these things on video tonight and see if you cant see for yourself...

Beach Trip #2

My first night away from John Dickson... documented on camera... Adam took John Dickson to the beach to see his Great Grands and the rest of Adam's extended family. The little man was in rare form, laughing his head off for most of the trip. (Not really sure why I'm the one writing about this... but we'll continue...) He may or may not have put his feet in the water again - I'm not sure... In fact, the above is about all I know. Except that he crashed pretty hard that night, turning in at around 7:00 and sleeping until 8:00 the next morning.

Doctor's appointment

John Dickson went for his 4 month checkup today. We were SHOCKED when the doctor said we had not been feeding him enough. He measured 26 1/2 inches long. Because he was so long, Dr Greene thought he may have gotten measured a little longer than he really is, but she says that every time... His length was in the 90th percentile, with his weight only in the 50th. The little monkey only weighed in at 15 lbs 6 oz, less than a 2 lb increase from his appointment 2 months ago. I feel awful! If he's gone hungry, he sure hasn't acted it!

John Dickson kept interrupting Dr. Greene with all of his squeals and laughter...(the room has a wall sized mirror in it - it was heaven). It made it all the worse when those 4 shots came. John Dickson screamed so hard he was choking. As much as John Dickson loves his baby Tylenol, he might even would do it all over again just for a taste of the pink stuff :-) Next time Adam gets shot duty.

Otherwise, everything went well, and after his next checkup (6 months) he'll be starting solids and be introduced to a cup. Expect many, many pictures...

1. Daddy and Monkey reading their books
2. Daddy and Monkey eating their books
3. Monkey reading his book
4. Daddy and Monkey
5. Monkey

I love my Bear!

Katy and Ryan gave John Dickson his new giant snuggly bear, who, as you can see, is already his best bud. This is comforting to Adam and me, as we were discussing the fact that John Dickson literally has no friends...haha awww sad. Anyway, look closely at the 2nd picture and you will see John Dickson grabbing hold of Lacey's hair and yanking her head back. Lacey didn't get back on the chair for quite some time... Also, in the 3rd picture, I'm pretty sure John Dickson and Mr. Snuggles are watching tv.

Strolling is exhausting!

1,2 Pre-walk
3,4,5 Post-walk

Videopalooza

This first video is a pretty funny one of us attempting to film John Dickson sleeping, and the second is just a montage of cuteness including his first recorded roll over, his first time in a Johnny Jump Up, and his first time driving a car. Also, I'm already aware that John Dickson's name appears as "John Dickso" at the end of the first movie. I'm not much on proofreading, and the video editor refuses to leave the last letter in some of the names in there for reasons unknown. I think it's the same way in the second one, too.

Sorry for the long delay (it seems the bulk of our posts start that way), but I took the camera to school to take some pictures for my thesis defense and left it in my lab about two weeks ago. I am a horrible person. No real changes except for the fact that John Dickson now despises sleep in all its forms and has to be tricked into naps (if they happen) and bedtime (which no longer exists). During that time however, we did manage to get some good video of the little dude and once I get it edited I'll post several more. This is just a little teaser of him playing at his Global Command Center. I'm not sure that's what it's called, but it probably is.

In other (read: less interesting) news, I passed my thesis defense and will officially be Adam Kelley, MASTER OF SCIENCE come sometime in August. I don't actually know when the graduation is. Hopefully I'll be back later with more videos, if Grumpus allows it.