Henry's baptism

Henry was baptized this past Sunday at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Columbia. He wore the hand made gown that has been in my family for over 100 years. We got his pictures made in it on Saturday and Adam thinks they look like bridal portraits. I mean, they sort of do. Anyhoo, despite a cranky weekend for Hen, he did really well during the service, keeping himself busy with grabbing my face and my hair. He did not mind the water being poured on his head, but he wasn't thrilled with the prayer.




We were really fortunate to have his godparents stand up front with us during the baptism. I have known Betsy since we were in diapers. We grew up together in church, in girl scouts, in school and in hi steppers. My freshman year of college my family moved in next door to hers and it has guaranteed we get to see Betsy and Brandon everytime we are all in town. I met Brandon in ::cough cough:: marching band ::cough cough:: - in my defense, I was a hi stepper. But he and Betsy have been together even longer than Adam and I, and we love them both. We are truly lucky to have such amazing people to be Henry's godparents.

I know, I know, this blog isn't supposed to be mushy. No worries, I'm done. But seriously, we love them.



After the service we had lunch at the church with an impressive number of family and friends, many of whom traveled a little ways to be there. We're also really blessed to have such a big and supportive family. What - I'm sick and not feeling my sarcastic self.

I searched for months for a bowtie for little Hennis to wear on Sunday after the service and I finally found one Saturday afternoon. We packed that along with 2 other back up ties, you know, in case there was a neckware emergency, but wound up using none of them. Henry was ready to nap as soon as we changed his clothes, and by the time he woke up, it just didn't happen. But doesn't he look dapper in his suit anyway?



And those baby blues...

Anyway, after we took pictures in the sanctuary, I temporarily lost my camera. I have a really bad habit of doing that during the important times. I did manage to get Hen with my parents -



And I got this sweet picture of John Dickson and Ella Boo.

The John Dickson Fridays

Apparently I cant spell the word genius, if that tells you anything about my level of intelligence.

I have been so awful at blogging lately and I am afraid I have missed many many funny things that have come out of John Dickson's mouth and now I can't recall 75% of those, but we'll see what I've got stored up in my big ol head.

I referenced this in my last post, but Henry was crying the other day and John Dickson went over and kissed on him. When that didn't work, John Dickson said "it's ok Henry, nothin's gonna eat you." We nearly died.

A few days later, John Dickson was eating a strawberry and got a leaf in his mouth. When he pulled it out I said "you bit a leaf buddy!" and he laughed in this way he does sometimes when he thinks something is both funny and impressive and he goes "That's bad news!!"

When John Dickson is misbehaving, we frequently tell him "you're gonna lose ____." So if he is throwing his toys, we tell him he's gonna lose the toy. If he's whining about his food, we tell him he's gonna lose it. You get the picture. So John Dickson was upset with me the other day and he said "You're gonna lose your grown up candy!"

Yesterday I was painting my toenails and John Dickson wanted me to paint his toenails too. You may recall this exact same scenario last May when he then proceeded to grab the open bottle of nail polish, run away and then hurl it across the room. This story has a better ending, thankfully. So I told John Dickson no, that was for girls. He then said his toenails hurt, and he needed nail polish. I told him I was painting them to look pretty, because I'm a girl, and I wasn't painting them because they hurt. Seeing he was in serious Jeopardy of walking away empty handed, he said to me "Need candy to make my toenails feel better."

Well played, my man. He got some candy.

Last time I was in Columbia, mom and I took John Dickson to the mall. We went to the Limited so I could try on some dresses, and while I was in the dressing room John Dickson apparently stole a purse off of a manequin, said "thats cute!" and then proceeded to wear it around the store and tell strangers about his purse. He has also been begging for a Barbie ("no buddy, Barbie is for girls") and then for Ken ("I want Ken - Ken is a BOY"). Thank you Toy Story. And on multiple occassions he has referred to his pajamas as "my dress." And don't get me started on the you dont wear panties you wear underwear argument. So imagine my surprise the other day when I tried to get John Dickson to put on a short sleeved t shirt and he adamently protested - "No! I don't want to wear that! That's for girls!!!!!" Little man is a bit confused by the change in seasons.

Little man is also confused about the birds and the bees. I'll have you know he has both a baby sister and a puppy in his tummy. Don't even get me started on the "I want a yittle sister" speech. No sir. No way. No how. Absolutely not. How about a Buzz whose wings pop out of his back?

John Dickson has gotten into the habit of eating breakfast 3 times every morning. He has a breakfast at his "yittle table" before he leaves for school. He then has a bag of cereal in the car, and then he eats breakfast at daycare. Today I finally asked his teacher if he eats a lot in the morning, and she said "Oh yes. Last week we had french toast and he ate 6 pieces." 6 pieces. Good gravy. She was also impressed by the amount of syrup he was able to lap up with those pieces of toast. The kid is impressive, I will give him that.

And last night I melted into a big puddle. We were kissing John Dickson good night and I hugged him and said "I love you." He said "I love you so much" Yep, the "so much" was completely unpromted and he's never said it before. He then asked me to lay in his bed with him. The child is a genius. A GENIUS.

We were eating dinner one night and Adam and I were having a discussion when John Dickson just interrupted to say "I already asked you the question." We started laughing and verified the statement. He said "Yes. All the words are out of my tummy." Where does he come up with this stuff??

That's all I have for now, but I feel the need to point out the fact that while John Dickson seems to love all things girly, the child is obsessed with all superheros, animals, tools, trucks, monsters and fake guns made from his hand, his tie, his blocks, his golf clubs, the list goes on.

And pretty soon we are going to have to have The Hen Thursdays, as Henry played his first joke on us. We heard Buzz talking in spanish and playing music, and we went into the living room to find Hen on the floor working the remote control. It was pretty darn cute.

Stay tuned for pictures from Henry's baptism yesterday! In the meantime, I give you John Dickson "in the baby house." Ignore the ghetto drying racks in the background. And the fact that the ghetto drying racks are in the living room. We were mopping :-)

Part II

Dear Henry,

I want you to know you are my brother and my best friend.



And I promise to always look out for you



And when you cry



I will tell you its ok...



"Nothing's gonna eat you Henry"



Love,
John Dickson

True story.

Valentines Day Part I

A holiday post with parts? Well thats new :-)

The older John Dickson gets, the more fun holidays are to celebrate with him. He did the party thing at school on Friday, but Monday was our turn to celebrate with him. Adam went to Walmart Sunday night with instructions to get a balloon and he came back with this:



I couldn't have chosen it better myself. And the heart shaped donut - perfect. Who wouldn't love that?



Oh.



Oh I see.

Well, he tried to humor us anyway.



He did not finish. COME ON MAN - ITS DUNKIN DONUTS!!!!!! Mommy would kill for one of those if she wasn't trying to get into her old clothes. Oh well, he loved the balloon. I mean, he absolutely over the top loved it.

And Happy Valentines Day to our sweet Hen!

The Latest

Man. It took me so long to get caught up on Christmas blogging that I sort of quit blogging about current events. So, lets catch up.

Henry has 2 teeth now and is working on a 3rd and possibly a 4th. He's pulling up (yes, I believe he beat John Dickson... considering how lazy Hen was his first 3-4 months, I am floored by this...), he's drinking from sippy cups (2 a day - and he kills em!!), and he's eating puffs. His teacher suggested we go ahead and try them - she said everytime they get puffs out for the other babies, Henry starts squealing and flapping his arms like he is going to take off. Apparently he has been seriously wanting to try him some puffs. So last night we tried, and he tore it up. When I went to pick him up today he had just finished his snack of puffs and I found one stuck to his face, one clenched in his fist, 2 in his lap and 1 stuck to his shirt. Precious.

And John Dickson. Oh, John Dickson. See, a few months ago I thought we were in the terrible twos. And then things got better, and I was impressed that we managed to survive the difficult phase. And then I later found out that that wasn't the terrible twos at all. The terrible twos, turns out, are much worse :-)

When I picked John Dickson up today, he refused to leave daycare. As I went to go get his jacket and his blanket, he stood outside the tech center with his face pressed up against the glass, trying to watch a movie. He said "leave me." I told him I wasn't going to leave him. So I went to go get Henry's car seat, which was by the front door. And then I heard blood curdling screams for Mommy. Poor dude actually thought I did leave him. We were not off to a good start. Then he refused to put his jacket on and kept trying to thrash his way out of it as I kept trying to put it on (did I mention its supposed to snow tonight?). He then goes rag doll on me and the assistant director finally carries Henry out to the car for me so that I can carry the rag doll, who then decided he wanted to walk. He cried because he didn't want to hold my hand. He cried because he didn't want to get in his car seat. He cried because the radio was on when I turned on the car and he wanted to listen to his CD. He cried because he wanted me to turn the car off. When we got home, he cried because the radio turned off. And then the kicker - he cried because he wanted "a treat." Then he cried because he had to go potty (no, I wasn't prohibiting him from using the bathroom). Then he cried because the light was off. He pulled it together long enough to eat 2 helpings of breakfast casserole, blueberries, and 3 helpings of grapes. And then he went to bed.

The past few weeks have been off the charts for whining. I seriously do not know where it comes from - we don't give in and we do our absolute best to ignore him. But when you get to the 45 minute to an hour mark, that becomes increasingly difficult.

But of course my little boy isn't all whine and rag doll. As usual, he has been an amazing big brother. Quite frankly he can be more intuitive when it comes to Henry than we are. Exhibit A - we were in the car and Henry started crying - John Dickson told us the sun was in Henry's eyes and instructed us to pull his canopy down. Henry immediately stopped crying. Exhibit B - we were in the car again and Henry was crying again. John Dickson says, exasperated, "Henry! The sun is NOT in your eyes!" And then he says to us - "Henry needs his blanket. Give him his blanket." Well we couldn't reach Henry's blanket, so John Dickson offered up his, and immediately, Henry stops crying. Exhibit C - Henry was crying yet again in the car, and John Dickson says "I gonna make Henry laugh." He then leans over and makes funny noises and faces, and I kid you not, Henry, mid cry, immediately switches to hysterical laughter. The kid is good. And in case you are wondering what happened to sweet easy going Hen, he's still here, but the car ride home from daycare is when he is tired and getting hungry.




At dinner the other night John Dickson said "you're my best friend." And then he pointed to Adam and me and said "You, and you." Melt. My. Heart.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention... when I went to pick up John Dickson the other day, his teacher told me she wanted to show me his igloo. They used upside down styrofoam bowls with little openings cut out of them and glued sugar cubes to them. John Dickson was not impressed. I'll let you decide which one is his.




We get excellent reports on John Dickson and he seems to be handling the 3 year old class very well. He comes home every day singing a new song or talking about what he learned that day, and sometimes we even catch him talking about exercises and we see him practice and hear him say "turn around... feet together." I don't know why, but this tickles me to death. There's no other way to put it.


Oh, and Mom, this is for you. This was all him and I knew you'd get a kick out of it. Ignore the runny nose.



That's the toy box my dad made for me and my sister when we were kids, and we have many pictures of us doing this exact same thing. In fact, it almost looks like the same picture, except John Dickson has hair. I did not...