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...