I know you don't know this...

but John Dickson is TWO now. You've seen most of the pictures, but I haven't gotten to brag on how smart and sweet our little two year old is. If this is how the terrible twos are going to be, bring it on! (Although I know by saying that we have not yet reached the terrible twos... but I like to think they just dont exist for John Dickson). He can be quite the challenge, and he can be downright grumpy and impossible to please at times. And yes, when he finished his milk in the car on Saturday, he let me know by chucking it at my head, but overall he is actually extremely well behaved and a really good natured kid. We love him to pieces. So get ready for a super random stream of consciousness post about the little guy!

- John Dickson LOVES to take care of animals (and people!). He insists on giving the dogs treats (he doesn't understand Ellie's weight watchers plan), and he loves to feed them. Every morning he gets Bear's bowl, fills it up, and if we have time, he sits on the floor with it and hand feeds Bear. If the water bowl runs dry, he carries it to us and says "mo water". He's figured out how to gently pet Bear (he still uses Ellie as a slide sometimes - a nice dismount from the couch), and if he accidently throws something at Bear (he gets confused with the whole fetch game) then he tells Bear "sohhy" and gives him a hug and a kiss. The hug and kiss are all him! When we get home, he waves "hey boo boo, hey boo boo". I don't think Bear is necessarily his favorite, but Ellie pretty much lives in Columbia now, so Bear is usually all John Dickson sees. PLUS, Boo Boo ride car, remember? And that is AWESOME. John Dickson also loves to take care of Pishy and insists on giving her food and water (?? I know). He propped up his Elmo DVD next to Pishy so she could see Elmo, and he threw a book at her, which I like to think was for her entertainment... this morning as we were leaving, I forgot to feed Pishy, and guess who reminded me?

Bear gets his medicine in peanut butter sandwiches, and apparently this has not gone unnoticed. I had some serious heartburn on Saturday and Adam went to the bathroom to get some Zantac for me. John Dickson loves to help, so I said "can you go help daddy get medicine for mommy?" That little man ran to the kitchen and brought me the peanut butter. Is he precious or what? I also asked John Dickson on two separate occasions to bring me a tissue, and he went to the bathroom and tore off a piece of toilet paper. The first time. The second time he couldnt break it, so he tried to bring the whole roll (sorry Nana). Then he threw it away for me. He also likes to get tissues and blow everybody's noses, including his stuffed animals and Bear. Oh, and how does Bear feel about this? Bear no longer sleeps with me all night, he mans the post outside John Dickson's door. He has the tough guy facade, but Bear has a soft spot for that little man.

John Dickson continues to be a good eater and is even starting to eat meat! He's incorporated chicken nuggets, deli turkey, ham, steak, salmon, shrimp, sloppy Joes and hotdogs into his diet (still not a fan of the hamburger), but he still loves his vegetarian chicken and sausage. I know, he's weird. He eats almost all of his vegetables, including peas, carrots, green beans, corn, corn on the cob, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and his favorite - baked beans. He actually asks for baked beans and will pull them out of the fridge and get in his high chair if you open the door. Dont mistake him - he still LOVES a good "tootie" (cookie), and all forms of cake, but he is our good little eater. Hummus and tomato soup are still favorites! I would say "(not together)", but that is simply not true.

John Dickson has some new favorite things, including (of course) "bassetball", turtles, water, air planes, shoes, anything and everything that goes "roun and roun" and his pets. He LOVES to sing, with his favorite song being Row Row Row Your Boat. He asks for that one! Otherwise he loves to sing the wheels on the bus, his ABCs, the itsy bitsy spider, happy birthday, and a few others.

John Dickson has really started to learn a lot of concepts, including "first we have to..." and "if you want to do this, you need to..." This weekend he wanted to go outside, and he had just gotten up from his nap, so I told him if he wanted to go outside, he needed to go to his room and get a diaper and his pants. Sure enough he came back with his pants and a diaper (well, two diapers), and he immediately laid on his back for me to change him. He also understands when he asks for more food and I tell him he has to eat whatever is on his plate first - you think you've seen the kid shovel food - you have no idea. More baked beans? Let me just cram all of these carrots and this boca burger down in 4 seconds flat. It's a miracle he doesn't choke.

Daycare wont potty train until August now, so we haven't started that yet. That's all I'll say about that.

John Dickson seems to really enjoy school and his teachers are great. I've even had trouble getting him to leave on a few occasions. He has made buddies with the lady at the front desk (Ms Wanda) and he works his charm on her to get stickers everyday when he leaves, one for each hand. He then moves them to his cheeks, and by the time we are home they are on his forehead.

John Dickson isn't a big TV guy, which suits me juuuust fine. He still likes his baby einstein videos, and he enjoys a good Sesame Street DVD, but other than that, he really just sticks to Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse. Oh, and his favorite Dancing with the Stars contestants are Evan and Erin (not together). His least favorite is Jake and he hopes Jake goes home tomorrow. I digress.

John Dickson's talking has taken off and he is using 3 word phrases all the time. His latest are "I like it" and "I take it", which he uses whenever he wants to take something with him either in the car or into the store or wherever. Nothing makes you feel better than to fix a meal and have John Dickson say "I like it." What can I say? He's easy to please. He also says "I touch it" which he started saying when he first saw the neighbor's basketball lying in the grass. His eyes got all starry and he just kept saying "I touch it, I touch it." So, of course, softy Nana went and got the step stool so she could lift John Dickson up to the basketball goal. Grumps thought he could do it... let's just say, not quite.

Happy birthday to our precious munchkin!!

Request for Pictures

If anybody else took any pictures at John Dickson's party, we would love it if you would share the love :-) Especially pictures of John Dickson on his tricycle - we only got a couple due to camera malfunction. Thanks!

Easter Sunday

Last weekend was a big, busy weekend! Friday we had our pictures and spent the day getting ready for John Dickson's party. Saturday was the main event, followed by a ::gasp:: date for me and Adam, complete with dinner AND a movie! (Henry ate waaaaay too much popcorn). And ::gasp:: I stayed awake for the whole movie! Go me!! We saw Hot Tub Time Machine - worth seeing, but not my favorite movie ever. We came home to find John Dickson still up and getting into March Madness with my mom and dad. He is now obsessed with basketball. No really, obsessed. He got a little money for his birthday, so we got him an adjustable basketball goal, and OH MAN. This morning he woke up, in our bed, and said "bassetball" and then ran off to start playing. When the kid wants to play before he has his morning cup of milkjoe or some breakfast, it only seems fair to call it an obsession.

Which brings us to Easter, which is what this post is about. John Dickson woke up to find the Easter Bunny had left him a basket of goodies, complete with a giant Handy Manny coloring book!



After all of the Easter Bunny excitement, John Dickson went to the Easter service, and he made it ALMOST to the very end. We're working on it! He belted it out during all of the songs, which was absolutely adorable, and when it came time to share the peace, everyone around us was quick to comment on how stinkin' cute he was. He has also developed a precious "amen" and he folds his hands to pray. I love it :-)

After church we had a big lunch with my parents, Aunt La La and Uncle Jared, and Mimi and Grandy. I was put in charge of filling the deviled eggs, and caught a lot of flack (sp?) for polishing off the filling before the eggs were filled. I didn't realize there were more egg whites :-) And sheesh, it was Henry's fault anyhow! (Yes, yes I do use that excuse A LOT, but I'm carrying Adam's baby - I think its fair to blame excessive eating on the baby). All I can say is thank goodness Henry didn't accidently eat all of the bread or my dad might have cried.

After lunch and John Dickson's non-nap, we went outside to find the Easter Bunny had left some eggs!






I spent so much time searching for the perfect Easter baskets for John Dickson and Henry that I finally gave up and decided the perfect baskets must be coming soon to a store near us NEXT Easter... so John Dickson used his make shift basket. I pulled out a picture of my old Easter basket to see if it could be passed down, but with all of the flowers and bows I decided against it.

John Dickson finished off his Easter with a big playdate with Walter! The guy I use to work for now has 2 kids, and his older one is 2 also. The boys had a blast playing trains (except when Walter literally locked John Dickson in his room), playing in the sandbox, and riding Walter's "roller coaster." They worked up quite the appetite and polished off some pizza and LOTS of grapes. It was the first playdate John Dickson has really had since he was old enough to really play, and it was quite a success.

Bath and bed and then on to John Dickson's real birthday.

To be continued... (Desperate Housewives is coming on...)

Birthday Party: Part Last

Why its for his new tricycle!! P.S. His feet dont reach the pedals, so we'll be buying him some blocks for those soon :-)




And a couple more present pictures

And More...

The cake



A picture of John Dickson looking like he is eating cake. He is not. He would not even try it. I can't say I blame him - it did NOT taste good. I do not bake.



Looking like a big boy



What did I say? Sleepy.



This is maybe one of the cutest pictures ever - John Dickson giving Bobbie a kiss in his new helmet!



Why the new helmet? Glad you asked... dun dun dun... to be continued...

More Party Pictures

John Dickson's birthday party was Saturday, and it was great to have so many friends and family there who love him to celebrate his turning two!

To back track - check out John Dickson grocery shopping at Publix to get ready for his shindig - I find the giant car shopping carts obnoxious to maneuver through a crowded store, but John Dickson knows how to work his Nana. The whole way through the store he would say "I drive! I drive!" (And yes, his outfit is the same as on Saturday - we had pictures done Friday and the outfit killed 2 birds with one stone)



It was a big day and John Dickson partied hard -





It took him a minute to warm up to his buddy Kendall - apparently he had forgotten the good time they had not long ago at Nana's house. No worries, Kendall came armed with tub tablets that turn the bath water different colors - a new John Dickson obsession!

A Teaser

So... I have to take advantage of John Dickson's nap time to get our house nice and clean again, so here are a few pictures from his birthday party. Details and more pictures will just have to come later.

Checking our Dorothy - his new "Pishy"



Hanging out with Elmo



Getting ready to light his candles



Opening presents - this is about as excited as his face got - he was EXHAUSTED!! But I assure you he LOVED every one of his presents when he got back home to Piedmont!



John Dickson with his new shades - that kid loves him some "gasses"

Henry Update and Daily Excuse

Daily Excuse: The power was out last night and our (neighbor's) internet didn't work. So... no pictures yet. Sorry.

I went to the doctor this morning (and Adam got to come too - whoo hoo!) and he said the following:
a) quit lying on your back (thumbs down)
b) you can eat hotdogs (thumbs up)
c) we have a STRONG baby - not like in a "oh your baby is healthy" way, in a "your baby is healthy and is VERY strong" way. (thumbs up for our little NFL star)
d) i'm measuring ahead, Henry measured ahead at the last ultrasound, and he definitely wants to do an ultrasound closer to the end. With as much trouble as John Dickson gave me at 8 lbs, it sounds like Dr Heidtman doesn't want Henry to get any bigger than John Dickson was (i'm going to have to grow extra thumbs just to give enough thumbs up on this one :-) )

That's it for now!

2 year check up

I somehow came down with a stomach bug or ate something that did not agree, but the posting of birthday pictures has not happened yet. In the meantime, John Dickson enjoyed running rampant through the house after bedtime while my insides came out. I'm better now, so expect pictures soon.

John Dickson's 2 year check up was this morning and he is 28 lbs (much lighter than we thought and in the 50th percentile) and 35 inches (68th percentile). His head remains up there in the 83rd. Yep, 24 month or 2T clothes, and 4T-5T hats. His head is a Propst/Kelley combo, thats for sure! If the double your height at 2 years rings true, John Dickson will be about 5' 10". Not too shabby for having Propst genes!!! A little weak for the Kelley genes. I guess what Adam said before we got married is true - "if we have kids, they'll be the perfect height, because I'm so tall and you're so short. And they'll be the perfect level of smartness because I'm so smart and you're, well... And they'll be averagely attractive because I look so good and you're eeehh...." Yes you heard right, this was BEFORE we got married. And I still married him. He owes me, right? Maybe if he reads this I'll get tulips :-)

Everything checked out great! His left tube has fallen out but is in the canal. His right ear had some wax so the doctor couldn't see if the tube was in or not, but it was not in his canal, so it is either in or it is all the way out. I told her about our bedtime woes and she said it sounds like we are doing the right thing and to stick with it. I was kind of hoping she would say we were doing it all wrong and offer up magical suggestions. In the meantime, John Dickson will continue to never go to bed. And most importantly, NO SHOTS!!!! I had even given John Dickson Tylenol this morning in preparation, but it turns out there was no need. John Dickson was really good the entire time and he got a big Handy Manny sticker as a reward. He decided his roughly 2 inch by 2 inch sticker should go on his cheek.

Thats about it! Bear is making leaps and bounds with his heeling and is already cutting back on his steroids. Whoo hoo!

Dont leave us!

We're bad bloggers. Bad bad bad, bad bad. But we have tons of pictures to share and updating to do, including John Dickson's birthday weekend extravaganza! That little dude is TWO!!!!!!!!!!! And when you sing happy birthday to him, he lights up like the sun. And he has much to tell you about his new best friend - Pishy! (That's "fishy" in your language). Trying to explain why pishies cant ride in the car is quite the challenge. So check back in a day or two - its two year old cuteness you cant miss!!!