Henry - 32 weeks!

I went to the doctor today for my 32 week appointment (and the last monthly one, might I add...) and his heart rate continues to be strong at around 130. I assume my blood pressure was ok, and I most definitely did not ask about my weight. I like to think I'm strong at around 130 too :-) That's why I don't ask - haha! But the big news of today is that Henry is head down! I swear I can tell you the exact day he decided to turn, as I noticed the top of my stomach felt different, I could breathe again, and whether this makes biological sense or not, I no longer had to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes. I'm hoping Henry has heard my plan for him to come 2-3 weeks early and this is him trying to make that happen.

Soooo, in preparation for his big arrival, we have decided it might be about time to do something about his room :-) We are trying one more paint color tonight (Powder Puff - ask Adam how excited he is about that name), but we have a backup that will work just fine if Powder Puff doesnt turn out to be all it has promised in my head. I have Friday off and John Dickson has daycare, so we are going to try to knock it all out. Next step: bringing up John Dickson's big boy bed from Columbia so Henry can have a mattress in his crib :-) However, this may be easier said than done. I told John Dickson he was getting a big bed and his little bed is for babies. I think he thought I meant it was for THE baby, and he threw himself on it and said "Mine!!" I guess we will just have to distract him with some "bessess cassole" (breakfast casserole) while we make the big switch - it's his new favorite food.

Carl & Clyde Part Deux

This baby?



Off the market. After 8 days, we finally spoke to our next door neighbor, who saw a marquee at a local shop, looking for a basset and shih tzu. WHOO HOO!!!!!!!

And John Dickson?

"Ohn Daason pay baseball game"
Pitcher?
"No..."
Catcher?
"No..."
Outfielder?
"No..."
Short stop?
"Uh huh"

He's ours and yet we continue to learn something new about him everyday!

Carl and Clyde

Their names change all the time, but for now we have settled on Carl and Clyde while these friendly little guys take up residence in our yard (and in our house). In our bed too if Carl had his way.



Carl seems to be a puppy, is very friendly, appears to be well bred, gets along with John Dickson, is house broken, and is QUIET!!! He sleeps in a crate at night without a peep, as long as you are asleep. He would love to live with you, but he may want to bring his friend, Clyde.



We don't know how old Clyde is, but he's not a puppy and he's definitely not an old dog. He plays fetch, is also house broken, gets along great with other dogs, also sleeps in the crate at night, and is also quiet. He barks at strangers, but that's about it. He is pretty cuddly and has made it known he is a furniture dog.

A note from Carl and Clyde: Please let us live with you. We are beautiful purebreds who are FREE and already come housebroken. We love you. And our owners don't seem to care that we have been gone for a week.

Making Progress

John Dickson is making some serious progress with his potty training! We took him this weekend to buy some big boy underwear (Elmo, of course), and on Sunday we gave it a go. He's gotten to where he will go in the potty every time he sits on it - its the not going in between that has been the issue. We thought the underwear would help with that, but he actually makes himself have accidents. Not sure why... So we started to set the timer, and when it goes off, if he is dry he gets a fruit snack. If he is wet, he starts all over. It only took a few hours of that business for him to get the hang of it. He wore diapers to school yesterday, but when he got home, he put on his favorite pair (Oscar) and went 4 whole hours without an accident! He may have gone longer, but it was bedtime. Speaking of favorite pairs, that little man insists on wearing Bert and Ernie, but there were no Bert and Ernie in the pack.

I was hoping to get away with potty training without bribery, but quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. John Dickson gets a jelly bean (you know, those daay baaains we were talking about) when he goes, and he has gotten to where he practically leaps off of his froggy potty and declares the color he wants, which is without fail, brown. That little man is obsessed with root beer jelly beans.

I'm hoping potty training will be as easy as it has been so far, because after the transition from crib to bed, which, almost 3 months later we are STILL battling - he owes us an easy one.

In other news, a basset hound (who we are calling Carl) and either a shih tzu or a lhasa apso (Im sure I butchered that spelling - and who we are calling Clyde) moseyed (more butchered spelling?) into our garage on Saturday. We have posted a sign, driven around looking for signs, posted on Craigs List, called the vets in the area, and have taken them to be scanned for a micro chip. No such luck. And 4 days later, those little boogers are still mooching off of our food and sleeping in our house. They are really good, sweet (and housebroken!) dogs - and they are sad their owners do not seem to care that they left. We give them until Friday - that's a week. Then, we strongly urge you to consider adopting Carl or Clyde. Pictures to come.

Random funnies

These are probably more of a had to be there kind of a thing, but they were pretty funny to us.



Occasion #1
Adam: What does a giraffe say?
John Dickson: Honk Honk
Occasion #2
Adam: What does a giraffe say?
John Dickson: Pump Pump
Occasion #3 - seeing a giraffe at the zoo
John Dickson: Jaff honk honk!!
While reading a book
Adam: Where is the hoopdehoop?
John Dickson points
Adam: That's right! What does a hoopdehoop say?
John Dickson: honk honk



John Dickson trying to put a necklace on Adam
Me: Is Daddy beautiful?
John Dickson: Daddy boo-full
Me: Is Mommy beautiful?
John Dickson: No! Daddy boo-full
Me: Is Mommy pretty?
John Dickson: No. Daddy pitty
Me: Is Mommy fat?
John Dickson: No. Daddy fat.

John Dickson discovering and identifying a Batman action figure
John Dickson: Ohn Daason!!! (translation: John Dickson)

John Dickson wanting to flush the toilet
John Dickson: I flush it
Me: No, you need to pee pee to flush it
John Dickson: Mommy potty
Me: Mommy doesn't need to go
John Dickson: DADDY!!!! GO POTTY!!!!

John Dickson climbing on his potty trying to get the bribery jelly beans on the bathroom counter
John Dickson: I eat daay baaaains (said with a MAJOR southern accent)
Me: No, don't climb on your potty
John Dickson: Daaaay baaaaiiiins
Me: No, you have to pee pee for a jelly bean
John Dickson after much thought: Sit counter?
Me: Nice try

John Dickson seems to be understanding more what a new baby means, and he does not seem fond of the idea.
Me: Where is Henry?
John Dickson: Henry bye bye.

Driving past McDonalds the other day
John Dickson: AckDonals
Why is this noteworthy? Oh, because he has never been to McDonalds. At some point he learned to read.

Talking about Adam's truck
John Dickson: Mommy's tuck
Adam, who takes this very personally, even though he insincerely offered to trade vehicles with me after wrecking my car: No! Daddy's truck
John Dickson: Ohn Daason's tuck
Adam: No, Daddy's truck
John Dickson in a very low whisper: Ohn Daason's tuck

And lastly, I came in to re-tuck John Dickson into his bed and he took his Elmo, turned him over a couple of times, and then asked me very confused, "Ears???" An astute little toddler he is - Elmo has no ears.

"I ride it"

10,000 Ducks

Update: Out of 10,000 ducks, ours was 1 of 36 winners! What are the odds? (Don't answer that)

Saturday was John Dickson's heaven. We started out by going to feed ducks at Falls Park in downtown.



Little did John Dickson know that there would later be 10,000 ducks hanging out in the water.



It was the Reedy River Duck Derby. You might have to enlarge this picture to see the little ducks sliding down the waterfall.



Did I mention there were bubbles? Heaven.





And John Dickson has some big news!!! We found out on Monday that he was moving up to the 2 year old class... on Monday. He is now chowing down in the cafeteria, participating in music class on Mondays and his little toddler exercise class on Fridays. But the biggest change of all - potty training!!! They started with him on Tuesday, and while they said he was excited to sit on the potty, there was no activity. Today was a repeat. So... we took John Dickson to go buy a little potty shaped like a frog, and oh man. OH MAN. He was so excited about his new potty! We sat while the tub filled with water, and when it was full, we decided to try again later and put him in the tub. But that little man? He was determined, so we left him on the potty and about a minute later - success!!! It was very obvious that it was intentional too, which was great. He then took a bath and then immediately wanted to get back on the potty where he immediately went AGAIN!!! I'm no fool - I'm not going to say this will be easy or that he's going to take right to it, but he's off to a great start. We're proud of our little monkey.

Zoo Tots

Can you guess what John Dickson's first Zoo Tots was about?



We (read: I) made him this fancy headband, and then we (read: I) learned the difference between African and Asian elephants, as well as how much the elephants at the Greenville Zoo eat. 10 lbs of this, 10 lbs of that... (sidebar: Miss Mandy Zoo Lady, let's start with the color gray and the size big). We then got to go to the entrance of the elephant barn, but not inside. No worries, the elephants weren't in there anyway, and their poo was, so it was ok.



The best part? John Dickson insisted on wearing his elephant ears all through downtown Greenville. We had strangers ask to take his picture. I thought this was hi-larious. Adam, not so much.



You could just eat him up, no?