Sunday, May 24, 2009

The joys of being a mom

John Dickson picked a daffodil today, examined it closely, and then...... he gave it to his mommy. Melt. My. Heart.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Little man on a mission!

Disclaimer: You may want to skip the following line and proceed to the stories -

Our little boy is growing up. I said it. After 13 1/2 months, I'm out of denial for a minute here.

John Dickson has finally started to communicate (without words or sign language...) exactly what he wants. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? We aren't sure yet, but it is definitely cute.
He has started bringing books over to me, and then he turns around and backs up into my lap. Liking to be read to is a very recent development, but John Dickson loves a good book now! Especially at bedtime.
John Dickson has learned that the front door is the path to all that is good and wonderful in his world - outside. Like I mentioned, John Dickson was sick this past weekend. It didn't slow him down a whole heck of a lot, but we kept him home anyway. It was also cold and rainy, so we stayed inside. And apparently this gave John Dickson some serious cabin fever (no pun intended). Last night John Dickson would grab my hand and pull me over to the front door. If I didn't open it, he pulled down hard on my hand. I'd let him peek outside, and then he would cry when I shut the door. Repeat. And repeat. Now, this is where we see just how smart that little man is... he goes to his Daddy, grabs his hand, and pulls him to the front door. He would take us from the back bedroom all the way to the front door. And now that he knows you know what he wants, he does NOT take no for an answer without putting up a fight.
John Dickson also has decided that while water is an unthinkable filler for a sippy cup, it is positively the best thing on earth when it is a nice clean glass that is mine or Adam's. He will stand on the floor with his arms up to the counter, pleading for more water. You know, pleading in a John Dickson way.

And in a completely unrelated story, the other night at dinner I would pull up John Dickson's arm and then tickle his little armpit. After that, we kept telling John Dickson to raise his hands, and then when he would, we would tickle him again. He fell for it about 15 times. So don't worry... he's growing up, but he's not there yet!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

So sick...and so sweet...

John Dickson had his cranky pants on last night until I realized he was wearing his sick pants disguised as his cranky pants. He had a fever of 101 before being given a dose of Tylenol and some good snuggles. (Even with this fever, John Dickson ate an entire bowl of chili... ) Anyway, John Dickson went to bed early and woke up at 2:30 with a fever of 103. He was sooo pitiful. This morning he slept in until 8:30 and then we went to the doctor. He has a red throat and a runny nose, but no fever! That may be because he still has Motrin in his system, but it is still nice to have a cucumber baby. The pediatrician did a strep test, and it did come back negative. Whoo hoo! So we'll just have to wait out whatever little bug he has. In the meantime, he has been the sweetest, most cuddly John Dickson I think I have ever seen...

As a side note, Ms. Becky (his "teacher") told me she learned yesterday just how much John Dickson loves his bankie... My mind of course, immediately went to him trying to bite her finger off, but thankfully he just threw himself down on top of it to keep her from taking it. Oh to be a fly on the wall!!!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Still here!

You don't have to tell me I've been a terrible blogger... I realized that on my own when I had to try three different username/password combinations to log on! In case you can't tell, I'm back to work...

I'm not even sure where to begin on the past few weeks, so I will start with our favorite new development - DANCING!!! Dancing to his pack 'n play music attachment, dancing to his singing tool bench, dancing to the radio, dancing to anything and everything musical! John Dickson LOVES to dance. And he got his mom's rhythm. Well, his dad's too. Let's face it - we are just a family of terrible dancers. Anyway, it started Sunday night when John Dickson turned on some music and then stood there between me and Adam with his hands on his hips and his lips tucked in and just started to boogie. Three times that night he did this! Adam and I were absolutely in hysterics. Turns out he learned this at daycare. Money well spent - am I right?

Speaking of daycare, John Dickson has been back for 2 weeks now. And despite our skepticism about him eating at a table and sleeping on a mat, he has done surprisingly well. His first day he took an hour long nap, and since then he has been sleeping 2 hours. His teacher said that he wraps himself up in his blanket (bankie, as he calls it... ok, as we call it...) and she pats him for about 5 minutes, at which point he falls asleep and she takes his bankie off of his head. And no, the lights are not on in there for naptime, so I'm not sure why John Dickson covers his head. He doesn't do it at home. I think it's pretty funny, because it is what the orangatans did when we went to the National Zoo.

Anyway, in an effort to avoid too many meals at daycare (I know, I'm obsessed with John Dickson eating healthy - its my thing and it probably wont change anytime soon...), we have been feeding him breakfast before he goes. However, 9 times out of 10, John Dickson convinces Ms. Becky that he needs another breakfast. His daily report has a spot to check for each meal whether he "ate lots", "ate most" or "ate some." You guessed it, John Dickson has only had one day where he didnt "ate lots" for every snack and every meal. And that was the day after he was up in the middle of the night because of teething. Ms. Becky even swore to me that John Dickson ate a tuna sandwich and salad (one of the healthy meals). She said he loved it... In 12 years or so, we are going to have to take out a second mortgage on our house just to feed Adam and teenage John Dickson. If we have another boy down the road, well... God help us.

I have now had 2 incredible mother's days! Last year John Dickson was baptized, and I got to spend the day with both of our families, and this year I had a weekend with my mom, followed by an afternoon with my hubby and my little boy. Adam grilled some cedar plank salmon, and we went for a walk with John Dickson in his turbo wagon. It was pretty much my ideal night. John Dickson bought me a pretty dress (I know! Such a sweet boy.) and some calla lilies. And a card that was not the card I got last year :-) My Valentine's day card was signed "Dadada Nanana" and this one was signed "Dis, Dat, Eh". John Dickson has come so far with his speech! (No, he does not have any words). On Friday, they had cake and tea with mom at daycare, and I got a little plant that had a sign sticking out of it that said something clever (I cant remember what... whoops), but it had little lady bugs made out of his finger prints.

John Dickson IS waving bye bye now! And he has a new use for the laundry basket. It's usually only out when it has clean clothes in it, and John Dickson has decided it is his new hot tub. We will be in the kitchen, and he will leave and go in the living room to climb in and play with a toy while in the basket on top of the (were) folded clothes. It's amazing what you can find when you put away clean clothes in our house. John Dickson continues to empty drawers, baskets, purses, etc in his usual reckless fashion. And telling him "no" (to other things) continues to be a really funny joke to him. I mean, laugh out loud, knock your socks off funny.

But back to bankie... John Dickson now sleeps with bankie, Ralph (his giraffe), and a small pillow (for snuggling purposes). Every night we lay him down with all 3 things, and then we go back in there about an hour later, and there he is... sleeping like an angel... one arm around the pillow, Ralph next to his head, and bankie snuggled in there somehow. Only everything is now at the other end of the crib. It does not matter which direction you put him down in - he will turn around and take everything with him. He is so funny...

Other than that, John Dickson had a great morning with his Grumps last weekend. He didn't cry even one time, and he is even voluntarily playing with Grumps now! This may have been the best Grumps/JD experience to date.

Until next time...