John Dickson vs Maryland: Round 3

Last weekend was pretty crazy for us, and I don't think any of us has recovered from it yet! We went up to Winston Salem on Saturday, then to West Virginia on Sunday, and then to Maryland on Monday, and all the way home that night. John Dickson did VERY well in the car for the 23+ hours he spent in the car over the course of 3 days. He put his cranky pants on for the ride home, but that was only because he kept coughing himself awake, and couldn't seem to sleep the hours away. His cough has only gotten worse, and he has had a fever off and on, which may or may not be related to the THREE teeth he got this weekend. I'm pretty sure all 3 broke through within about 24 hours. Teeth is about the only milestone I really cannot wait for - that little man is terrible at chewing up his food, so some molars would make a world of difference, I think.

John Dickson had his very first echo (other than the ultrasound echo he had) on Monday... Dr Fananapazir said he sounded perfect, and the echo indicated no signs of John Dickson having what Adam has. It is still not conclusive until he is 4ish, but it is looking good. John Dickson just sat there in the big chair, with nothing but his blue jeans on and his big belly sticking out, and watched while he had his echo done. It was too cute.

Tonight John Dickson finally quit taunting Bear with his food and just gave him a teething biscuit. As soon as Bear took it, John Dickson just started to crack up. After dinner, I tried to show John Dickson how the circle fits in the round hole of his cookie jar. I was putting the circle in and out, in and out, and finally John Dickson just snatched it out of my hand and threw it in the top of the cookie jar, like "let me show you the easy way, mom." Too funny. After that, he very deliberately kept trying to arrange my shoes so that he could step into them, but he kept accidentally overturning one of them, and he was standing between his glider and ottoman, which also made it difficult. Finally I put the shoes side by side and stood him up with his feet in them. He just stood there and grinned. It is so neat to watch him figure out how things work.

In the car on the way home on Monday, John Dickson was mimicking a lot of things I was doing. I would put his cup top over my mouth, and then he would grab it, put it over his mouth, and then put it back on mine. Then I would put his giraffe on my head, and he would put his giraffe on his head. He'll put his teething biscuit in his mouth, and then stick it in mine (yeah, that one is kinda gross...) And tonight, he tried to use the door knob on the back door. And he is really close! Another inch or two and he'll have it. And after he was opening cabinets tonight that even I had trouble getting open, thanks to the newly installed baby latches, I dont know how much faith I will have in the baby proof door knobs! We have a very smart, strong, and strong willed child on our hands!

And one more note about his beginners class that he will start in a month or so - He will start having "circle time" where he will be told what he is going to do that day, and will sing a song (?????) and he will be playing on the playground. I would so love to be a fly on the wall! I wonder how he will sing along to a song with lyrics of only "eh" and "dada"... :-)

Until next time... in the meantime, only 18 more days until the big 0-1!!!

Aunt Lauren & Uncle Jarey - check me out!

And more

When I was going to post these pictures, I noticed some of the picture names: JDK Stove, JDK wine, JDK dishwasher, and JDK CokeZero. We knew John Dickson had fun with Granna & Papa, but now we know why!!!

More extravaganza pictures

Notice what he is grabbing...

Snow Day at Granna & Papas

Here are some pictures from John Dickson's snowtime extravaganza with his Granna & Papa. We went up to celebrate Granna's birthday and decided to leave John Dickson in Winston while we went back to brave the Greenville blizzard. It was a good thing we did, because we may have had a John Dickson shaped ice cube with our power out!
Anyway, it appears he made a snowman, caught up on some upside down reading, played with his favorite dog toys, did laps up and down the stairs, and then cooled off in the fridge. You can see for yourself.

John Dickson's latest

John Dickson has been growing up at the speed of light in the past few weeks.
-He has started to hold his arm out to direct you wherever he wants to go. Most of the time it looks like his arm is his radar detector that he has to move all over the room until he settles on what he really wants. In the meantime, he wants you to know that he will be wanting to go somewhere and soon. His way of putting you on standby until he's decided.
-He got tubes in his ears on Friday, and is doing great. The weekend was pretty rough, as he only took his cranky pants off for moments at a time, but all in all he handled it like a champ. We watched as another baby was being taken back, and that baby was screaming and crying and reaching for his parents, which made me start to cry! Then the anesthesiologist came to get John Dickson, and he was wearing a hat with bright sea turtles on it, and he let John Dickson touch his stethoscope. John Dickson was immediately sold on the man with the funny hat, and he was carried away with a big grin on his face. We've been told by everyone not to expect him to be any different that day, that he'll just want to play and wont be tired, but he took 5 hours of naps that day. Since Sunday, John Dickson has been in a better mood, just in general, and his speech started improving just hours after the procedure. All of his dadas are now mamas and babas. But if you asked him who mama and dada are, he'd still tell you it's the vaccuum.
-John Dickson has started to play with his ball, and its completely precious. He will throw it to you (at you, I think is what he's really doing), and if he hits you in the head, well that's just hilarious. HILARIOUS. On that note, he has also decided it's really really funny to hit mommy in the face. Dad definitely doesn't encourage that by laughing, of course.
-John Dickson has finally decided that he likes to walk. He isn't trying to do it by himself, but he will walk all over the yard with us holding his hands. He actually runs. While it was really beautiful outside yesterday, we had John Dickson out in the grass. As if he knew instinctively how to do what he was not supposed to, he immediately crawled to the street over and over again. But he was m-a-d when we picked him up! Very strong willed...
-John Dickson has improved a lot with his eating! Last night he had some gerber ravioli that is designed to be picked up with little fingers. It was pretty funny to watch John Dickson mush ravioli all over his face and eat some too! And we've learned that he loves pickle spears.
-Other than that, John Dickson saw his Grumps again and finally got over whatever his weird anxiety was! He even laid still for Grumps to change his diaper, which took about 5 minutes. I think he was just so in awe over a grandpa doing a diaper change, he couldn't move!
-Lastly, last night John Dickson had his pre-bed sippy cup on the sofa. Normally we hold him with it in his glider, in the dark, to help him wind down. Last night we had him up with us, and he laid back on the pillow behind him and drank his milk with one hand while his other arm was draped up beside his head. It was too precious.

I'll leave you with a funny thought. John Dickson has quit taking naps at daycare, and his teacher asked if he sleeps in the dark at home. I told her yes, and she told me not to worry, that he would nap great next month when he moves up to the beginners class. They all nap at the same time, so the lights are off. Only they nap on mats on the floor. If you are seeing the image that is in my head of John Dickson "napping" on his mat, then you are probably seeing books flying off shelves, paper shredded into pieces, uncontrollable laughter, and other babies being woken up by John Dickson for nap-turned-play-time. Oh, and he'll be sitting at a table to eat his meals.

Until next time...