A tribute to Will

John Dickson feels like he has a special bond with Will due to what is inarguably the best part of Hop on Pop...

Hill, Will
Will went up hill
Will, Hill, Still
Will is up hill still

Here he is - John Dickson with his good buddy Will

John Dickson with the Griffeths

Some more Turkey Day

John Dickson with Bobbie



John Dickson with Jack, who light sabers him with his iphone & will someday teach him to dance (hopefully)



John Dickson with Granna and Jamie



John Dickson with Susan



And finally, with Gus

Thanksgiving!

Just a little peek into John Dickson's first Thanksgiving... with extra special thanks to Randy for all of the pictures!



John Dickson enjoying his feast



John Dickson enjoying his leftovers (note the wardrobe change... that first feast was maybe just a little too delicious)



John Dickson with his Granna, laughing at Bryan over on the side



And John Dickson with Papa and Granna, who look too young to be grandparents (brownie points!)

Another John Dickson gift

I've been searching high and low for a dress to wear to a party we have coming up, with absolutely no luck... except for the one dress I absolutely loved... the one that I wouldn't even let myself try on because it was so far out of my price range...

I picked up John Dickson tonight and went home to an empty house where there was a beautiful present on the counter with a card "for the most beautifulest mommy ever" from John Dickson, Bear, Ellie, Miles (our gecko who shops at Belk) and my wonderful husband. And inside was my dress.

Just thought I'd share :-D

Update and a new video

Here's a new video of me and John Dickson's daily routine when I get home from work and then some great shots of him cracking up at Amanda. I'm working on a video of his different phases of crawling to his current Speed Racer state. Hopefully that'll be up sometime this week before Turkey Day.

Our first John Dickson gift

John Dickson's "first Thanksgiving"

John Dickson had Thanksgiving at his "school" today... at 10:30 am... talk about a sleepy rest of the day! He pretty much sat in my lap and "read" a plastic book while I ate turkey, but it was fun anyway! The other babies were getting samples of the feast, but after John Dickson's experience with Gerber puffs, we thought he might not be quite ready yet. I wish we had it on video... we put a puff on John Dickson's tray, and he didn't seem to know what to do with it (everything else goes straight to the mouth, but this puff was intriguing...)so Adam put it on John Dickson's tongue. That little man looked at us like we were crazy, opened his mouth wide, and tried to make the puff just fall out, but it was stuck to his tongue. He was so confused!

Otherwise, he is eating like a champ, but seems to be allergic to a few foods. We're pretty sure he's allergic to prunes and apricots, but he had a reaction 2 days ago to something he's had before, so we aren't too sure what it was. So long as his cheeks are back to normal tomorrow, he'll be having turkey in preparation for Thanksgiving. He's got baby green bean casserole, apple turkey cranberry, and cinnamon sweet potatoes for the big day. And, of course, a baby's first Thanksgiving bib. 7 days and counting!

And on the daycare front, John Dickson is doing great! He's graduated to the infant 2 room, where they had had him a couple of days when he wasn't feeling well (several weeks ago). They're shocked at how little he cries when he actually feels well, and every day they keep telling me how amazed they are by his crawling. Most of the other babies are crawling too, but John Dickson is crawling at Greyhound speed! Now that he's with babies who are more age appropriate for him, he's fascinated and having a great time. He doesn't care when we leave, and is busy when we return. I couldn't find him the other day because he was camping out under the entertainer at daycare. They said that's what he wants to do all day, and he loves sitting in it as well. Apparently he crawls over to it and hits it until they put him in. I was really frustrated with the last room he was in because they just wouldn't listen to me about his feeding schedule. But these girls actively try to do what we want them to, and everyday they are asking new questions. He's still on the waitlist for another place, but we're happy until then.

We have a hilarious video to share as soon as Adam gets some free time - its a John Dickson laughter extravaganza. Until then...

John Dickson Meets Zoe

John Dickson met Zoe this past weekend. First, he tried out her crate to see just how big she would be. He decided nothing smaller than him could possibly be that bad...



So he decided to make her his own...




Until she bit him on the bootay...



Haha, no, Zoe is adorable. She's just a tad exhausting.

Another "Milestone"

A little known fact about Adam Kelley:
A shower is not complete without a shampooey haired mohawk.

Last night I was called into the bathroom to see John Dickson's latest "milestone." I present to you, for the very first time, a John Dickson bath mohawk.

John Dickson and Kendall...the love story begins.

Hey, are you one of me?



Ok, we can be friends!



So long as you dont steal my Big Linda!



Please don't leave me Kendall!



We can grow old together watching Clemson football on Gram Gram's tv!

Man I love that shirt!

I bought John Dickson this little shirt with a happy dinosaur on it, and everytime I would show it to him he would grin ear to ear! These pictures are all different times I showed it to him (note the hanger in the corner). Its like he just cant believe how great this shirt is... I could just eat his cute little face up!!!!!

Daddy is fuuuuuunny!!

I spend all day trying to get that little dude to smile and laugh, and while I get a few grins and giggles, there's just nothing like daddy to make John Dickson go nuts. All he has to do is walk in the door, look at him funny, shoot him with his hands, bazooka him over his shoulder, touch his face, act like John Dickson just surprised the mess out of him... works every time. These particular pictures are a result of the face touching. I'd say he's easily entertained, but I believe it'd be more accurate to say he's easily entertained by his dad... oh well, the last picture is mine :-)

Some fun games

The entertainer now doubles as a John Dickson fort and cooking is not just for mommy anymore! John Dickson also likes to try to catch his dinosaurs as they pass on his mobile, but so far he hasnt caught any :-) Look at these pictures and tell me he did not just grow up all of a sudden...

7 month pictures

http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=fbc16a41-a495-4293-980b-3e36ab854538

John Dickson Meets Santa Claus Part I

While getting his 7 month pictures done yesterday (in the buff, I might add), he met the one and only Santa Claus. It looks like Santa will be leaving the presents on the front porch this year, because he isn't getting within 100 feet of John Dickson!!! The poor little monkey was terrified. He hasn't developed stranger anxiety yet, so it must have been the beard and the big red suit, but he dug his tiny little nails into me and gripped with both arms. He didn't even want to LOOK at Santa. It helped when Santa took his gloves off, but by then it was already too late. Maybe he'll change his mind come Christmas morning... I hate to give away surprises, but Santa happened to tell me he's already bought John Dickson some socks, and you know how exciting socks are! We aren't worried ;-)

My Little Monkey

Changing time has become quite the challenge recently, as John Dickson tries his hardest to roll over and then crawl the few inches to the edge of his changing table. This is what Adam found tonight as I tried to get John Dickson ready for his bath... and suddenly it all makes sense... we gave birth to a real live monkey.



As you can see from the bath pictures, John Dickson has regained the weight he lost while sick, and then some. We think he's gained 3 lbs in the last 3 weeks...

More Halloween Pictures

Wait... is that a baby, or a giraffe??

John Dickson's first Halloween was really fun. He spent the day decked out in his "boo" socks and various Halloween bibs. We dressed him up to answer the door and hand out candy, but sadly, we only had 4 trick or treaters. When the first kid came, I was holding John Dickson in one hand and the bowl of candy in the other. I closed the door with my foot and looked down to find John Dickson had helped himself to some candy - very sneaky! He didn't make it past the first trick or treater - I guess all the excitement just wore him out! As you can see from the pictures, Big Linda and Grandpop came down to partake in the festivities. Now, on to Thanksgiving :-D