Some Kelley Randomness

Thinking of making this blog more Kelley family-ish instead of just John Dickson-ish. But our lives and our thoughts are not all that exciting, so we'll see... In the meantime, here are some random stories and thoughts from this past week.

From time to time we discuss the possibility of a new littlest Kelley. (Keyword: discuss) The thought of two kids (especially one being tornado John Dickson) is a little scary, for me. Until I remember! I already HAVE 2 kids. And its not that bad! One of them spilled some popcorn salt on the floor while watching tv with me last night, and then wiped it up with his hands, which he then licked clean. I won't tell you who did that, but I will tell you that John Dickson doesn't eat popcorn yet, or watch tv at 10:30 pm. I do have to give him (still nameless) credit though... I have been fussing at him for leaving shredded cheese all over the rug (nachos), and spilling reeses pieces on the floor and then brushing the crumbs under the couch and into the edge of the rug. He did clean up after himself this time...

But back to John Dickson. So while I have been off, and still having to pay full time for daycare, I decided to use daycare as sort of a mom's morning out, maybe 2 half days a week. (Which is actually a mom's morning in, cleaning and painting). So last week I dropped off John Dickson and then stood outside the door watching him for a minute or two. This kid Tucker walked up behind John Dickson with what appeared to be a plastic saucepan held over one shoulder with both hands, and then beat him 5 times (5 times!!!) over the head with it. It was like watching an episode of Tom and Jerry. Poor guy was crying and his teacher didn't even see anything happen. Of course I went back in to hold him for a few minutes. Then when I picked him up that afternoon, all of the older kids were playing together and John Dickson was sitting by himself with a little toy. I know he is at the age of parallel play, and could care less that he was by himself, but it looked pretty pathetic. I can't imagine having a child with no friends, because that day really hurt my heart! I will say that his teacher said the bullying is usually the other way around, though.

John Dickson has been having allergic reactions to something at daycare, which remains a mystery. It's not food, but it is definitely something there. He had to go to the doctor last week with a red splotchy face, but some over the counter cream that I wont attempt to spell seems to be doing the trick. Anyhow, he weighed in at 24 lbs 3 oz. He goes back next Tuesday for his 15 month checkup, so we should have a height and some percentiles then.

And my favorite story of the week... I have been trying to get John Dickson to smell his scratch-and-sniff books and also the herbs we have growing outside. I have also been trying to get John Dickson to blow through his bubble wand. Both result in John Dickson sticking his face into whatever it is, but doing nothing. This is still really cute. So the other day I had been getting John Dickson to "smell" the mint outside, and I wanted to show off this new "trick" to Adam. John Dickson bent down and gently blew on each sprig of mint. It was funny, sweet and adorable.

And in non-JD related news, Adam brought home a 2 week old skunk that would fit in the palm of your hand. Supposedly they cant stink until theyve gone through skunk puberty, and therefore it was pretty darn cute. He also brought home a black rat snake. That wasn't cute. They are both gone now. Our neighbor's ex-husband is taking on the skunk as a pet (apparently you can also destinkitize skunks - yes, that is an Amanda Kelley original word - destinkitize). And the black rat snake went on to terrorize someone else.

Told you we weren't too fascinating :-) Until next time...

Happy Father's Day!

Dad, I love you.

And that's whyyyy...

I am going to have to do THIS!

Aaaand THIS!!!

Sorry Dad, I'm just a crazy baby. Happy Father's Day.

Love,

John Dickson

Things Nobody Warned Me About

Right now, there is 1.

1. No one told me that being a mom would entail so much beating. I'm not talking about spankings. I'm talking about a 14 month old who runs rampant in the house beating up his beloved mommy. I give you exhibit A. John Dickson and I are having a GREAT day, which happened to be the first day I was off work, and I decided to stop by the library to rent JD a Baby Einstein DVD. (Aside from one or two, Ive decided that these DVDs are terrible. So has John Dickson, as you will soon see). I take little dude home, set his chair up in front of the tv, and hit play. I'm sitting right next to him, looking through a cookbook for something to make for dinner, when I am pelted in the head with not one, but TWO remotes. I sure hope he starts talking soon, because a better way to tell me the DVD is horrible would be GREAT! Other than that, I have had a bookcase pulled down on me (as previously mentioned), have been bitten repeatedly (especially on the eyebrows... a great place to latch on, apparently), have been clawed around the legs, and have had other random objects thrown at me on a daily basis. And no one even bothered to warn me. For shame...

Despite the beatings, this has been a week for the books for me and John Dickson. It has just been an ordinary week, but John Dickson has been in a fantastic mood and his little personality is really starting to shine. On Monday we went to the botanical gardens to feed the ducks. John Dickson actually threw little pieces of bread to the ducks, and was enamored when they would eat. However, our trip got cut short when we rolled over a yellow jacket nest (I took one for the team in the side... John Dickson escaped unscathed, thankfully). If you know me, you know I am nothing if not terrified of flying bugs. Stinger, no stinger, they all STINK! So of course I took off running, John Dickson and stroller in tow. By then, we were so far off the straw path, I didn't think I was ever going to get the stroller back up the hill, especially in flip flops. I'm not kidding... I was yanking, pulling and sliding, and it just wasn't happening. It was one of those utterly helpless moments when you just want to sit down and cry, because it seems it may be the only option, and I was thiiiiiis close to doing just that. I had to yank the stoller backwards up the hill, giving John Dickson whiplash all the way, and grab onto somewhat flimsy bushes to help hoist us up the hill. When we finally got to the top, I turned around to see John Dickson's shoe. At the bottom of the hill. In the water. If it wasn't for a sweet little boy running around, there would be a duck out there sporting a really cute brown flip flop. I'll just say that.

Then again on Friday, we went to Reedy River Park in downtown Greenville to see the waterfall. I actually did not realize there was a whole other section of the park that had more ducks and a little sprinkler area you could run through. John Dickson had a dove walk right up to him and he had a flock of geese who thought he had come armed with food. I tried to take pictures, but I was too busy trying to keep John Dickson from falling in the water to get any good ones. Which brings me to my next topic.

If I had to sum my duties as a parent, they would go something like this... (loving on him is a given)

0-3 months: Keeping John Dickson fed, changed, and rested. Mostly fed.

3-6 months: Keeping John Dickson in motion, at all times.

6-12 months: Entertaining John Dickson.

12-14 months: Keeping John Dickson ALIVE.

I kid you not, it is a FULL TIME JOB. We run around from 7am-7pm making sure that little man is safe. He is into EVERYTHING. We have tried 2 different baby locks for the cabinets, and John Dickson literally laughs at them, pulls them off, and hands us the 409. He is doing cartwheels off of the couch, trying to stand up in his glider, is climbing into his high chair, etc. etc. etc. When I try to pull something out of the oven, I have to take John Dickson to the farthest point in the house, and then run back as fast as I can. I have about a 15 second window. He is FAST now. I was trying to make dinner the other night when I turned around and saw John Dickson standing in his high chair. Just standing there. "Look mom, no hands!" Big, big grin. As soon as my heart started beating again, I ran over and snatched him up. If you don't have kids, you aren't allowed to judge. Just wait, you'll see...

Every stage brings its own new challenges and leaves behind some of the old, but the rewards just grow exponentially. We have a little boy who loves to give hugs and big slobbery open mouth kisses. Night time is THE BEST. Around 7:00 John Dickson starts having pit fits, and literally races around the house laughing and squealing. He will stop to throw a toy and then he's off again. Then he sits still in your lap to read books before bed, and then it is the best time of the entire day. When it is my turn to put him to bed, John Dickson sits in my lap and we just... enjoy each other. He love loves it when you gnaw on his feet, and as that is immediately post-bath time, its the only time of the day it happens anymore :-) He will sit in my lap and actually put his feet up to my mouth. I'll make silly faces at him and he just laughs. This goes on for a while. He is just so still and content. It is just precious. And then we get a good 10 minutes or so of super cute sounds coming from the nursery before he finally drifts off to sleep. And he is getting smart! He is really starting to follow instructions really well, and surprises us everyday with things he seems to understand. For example: I gave John Dickson a piece of jerky to give to Bear, and he started to put it in his mouth. I said "no, no, give that to Bear", and he walked over and literally put it in Bear's mouth. And he loves to close things now... Doors, car doors, the dishwasher, the dryer, drawers, etc. It actually comes in handy!

And if you back up a week, John Dickson had a visit from his Granna and Papa while I was in Raleigh. They went to the zoo, had pictures made, and John Dickson had his very first ice cream - banana! I think this pictures sums it up nicely.

Until next time...

How many posts am I allowed to name "Yep, still here!"

As usual, sorry for being so slack, yadda yadda yadda....

I am currently training in Raleigh and am in the middle of my longest separation from my doodle bug yet. It's (full) day 3, with 2 nights (1 more full day) to go. I hope I can make it. In the meantime, to cope, I have gone to the mall across the street and visited Janie and Jack. 3 times now. Unfortunately, the same girl was working every time. And she knows my name now. I thought I had escaped her tonight until I heard someone ask me how much longer I was in town. Whoops! Something about looking at really sweet baby clothes is therapeutic. John Dickson will be sporting a super sweet little romper when I get home. Don't tell Adam. Need to know... you understand... I had to majorly talk myself out of hedging my bets and buying our precious niece or nephew some spring clothes. I'm hoping John Dickson fits in 18 or 24 month clothes as long as possible, as the clothes get exponentially less cute when you pass that mark. On the otherhand, a very tiny part of me wishes John Dickson was a little bit older, because there is a store here that has the world's largest gummy bears (The biggest is $30, with a smaller, yet still huge size for $10). I would so love to bring John Dickson back one!

Apparently I have already missed some pretty cute stuff - with such a cute subject, how could I not, right? Adam caught John Dickson dancing on top of the air conditioning grate and cracking up as the air blew up his shorts. I accidentally brought Adam's truck key with me to Raleigh, so he borrowed our neighbors car, and John Dickson also thinks that that car is hilarious. Apparently he laughs the whole way home. (See below) We've been really blessed to have great neighbors who help us out a lot! It is a lot more difficult than we could have guessed to have no family within 2 hours.

John Dickson also got to go out for a Daddy/John Dickson bonding dinner at Chick Fil A, where John Dickson got his first CFA kids meal, and had his first experience with french fries. He ate every bite. Then they went to the grocery store where Adam raced the cart up and down the aisles, much to John Dickson's delight. He said he had a few near collisions, but "didn't care - John Dickson was laughing!!" John Dickson is a huge mommy's boy, but when I am gone, Daddy is the cat's meow. And loving it, of course! It makes it easier to be gone, knowing that it really is a great bonding experience for my boys. Here are some of the pictures I've gotten so far this week -

This picture is John Dickson eating his breakfast at school. Look at my big boy eating his yogurt with a spoon! Come on now, could he get any more precious?

You can look but you cant pinch!!!

Aside from being out of town... John Dickson turned 14 months last month! He has come a long way just since his birthday... he is doing so well with feeding himself! He can actually climb up into his high chair, turn around, and sit down, all by himself. I have to be careful to wash his high chair tray and put it back immediately so he can't climb up unsupervised! We also have had to start closing the bathroom doors, for 2 reasons.

1) I was putting away John Dickson's clean clothes one day when John Dickson left me. I went to go get him, and found him with a Coke Zero can that had been in the bathroom trash (another new no-no). And yes, he was swishing it in the toilet. Which already had a tennis ball in it. No kidding people, this all happened in about 2 minutes.

2) That little dude can get into the bathtub all by himself! He is a climbing fool!

John Dickson also tried to climb his bookcase. I moved all of his books off because they were too tempting on the shelf they were on, and I didn't want to entice him to climb. But with the books gone, the shelf looked more like a platform than a place to house books, so it had the opposite effect. I was sitting on the floor playing with John Dickson when he decided to step into one of his baskets (on the bottom shelf) to reach the shelf that use to have his books. I was trying to pry his little hands off when the bookshelf suddenly started toppling forwards. Fortunately I was kind of over John Dickson, and he was completely fine. And I survived piggy banks in the head and picture frames on the funny bone. The bookcase is now gone.

John Dickson also LOVES to talk on the phone. He has always loved playing with our phones, but he has all of a sudden started to imitate us on the phone. He holds the phone face down on his shoulder and cocks his head to the side and walks around chatting. It's too funny! He really sounds like he is having a conversation with somebody.

John Dickson is also trying to put his shoes on, with absolutely no luck. He is no longer walking, but running! We try to put the dogs' water up while they are outside, but if we forget and John Dickson spots it, he takes off cackling in anticipation, and then splashes as hard as he can until we catch him. It may sound from this particular post that we are inattentive parents, but we are simply just slower than our baby hurricane.

John Dickson has been playing in his pool and his water table, and if the water is warm enough, he really enjoys it! He especially likes to get wet and then go play in the dirt. Which is ok with mommy! Little boys are supposed to be dirty... its a pretty good indication they are having fun. He does, however, get an early bath on those days, or at least a good rinsing off in the sink (which he LOVES).

John Dickson also has experienced the detachable shower head in the bath. Adam was spraying his back and John Dickson had his hands behind his head, and just kind of leaned his head back and grinned, as if he was getting a spa treatment or something. He has also done this when I have scratched the top his back. To be honest, I don't know how much more I can handle typing tonight. The more I go on, the more homesick I get! If you're still with me, you're probably getting tired of reading too!

I promise many more posts in the weeks to come, as I have the next 4 weeks home with John Dickson. It'll be the perfect farewell to my part time arrangement. Sadly, yes, I will be back to full time.

Until next time...