Busy Week, Busy Month!

I have to start back at work on Monday, and I had two big goals for John Dickson before he would have to go back to daycare...

1. Eating finger foods
2. Drinking from a cup

It's not that I was in a hurry for him to reach those milestones, but it will be another 3 months before Im off again, and it's so hard to work with him on new things when he is in daycare 5 days out of the week. I told you John Dickson started eating finger foods on Monday, but then on Thursday he started drinking from his cup! For the first couple he had trouble figuring out how to get the last 2 ounces or so out, but he's figured it out and is a little champ!



He also spent some time this week studying the dryer (one of my all time favorite pictures...look at that cherub face!)...



...and reorganizing the pots and pans cabinet. Actually there are no pans, but it felt weird to say "the pot cabinet." Adam calls this his "Farmer John" outfit.



He also had an interview at Blanchard... taking after his mommy :-)




It's funny... every month Adam and I find ourselves talking about how we don't want John Dickson to get any bigger or any older, that he's just perfect that month. And yet every month is better than the last. Probably my favorite thing this month was John Dickson starting to crawl over to me when I'm on the floor, and pulling up to be hugged and loved on for a minute or two. He has started to play an adorable game of chase where he squeals when you start to catch up with him. While he doesn't have a "lovey" or other security object, he has started trying to carry his toys with him all over the house. He'll crawl room to room with a pair of pajames, or will pull his van around by the string. He also crawls around with the "cookies" from his cookie jar and it sounds like he has iron knuckles. He's started saying "dada" and the occasional "mama", and we've watched his sense of humor develop as well. Anticipation just kills him! If you turn around really slowly or go to tickle him really slowly, or when he hears you getting close during his chase games, he just cracks up with that big belly laugh. He got his first tooth and he started showing real interest in one of his Baby Einstein DVDs (for better or for worse). All in month 9. Crazy.

9 months old!

John Dickson turned 9 months yesterday and commemorated the event with a visit to the pediatrician... a well visit! We had forgotten what those were like! He had lost weight right before Christmas - at least a pound - so the numbers may be a little skewed, but he weighed in at 19 lbs 12 oz (almost 40th percentile) and measured 29 inches (75th percentile). His head was also in the 75th. He got shots again and wasn't quite the big boy he was last time. There was a little screaming, but he got over it as soon as I picked him up.

I talked to the doctor about his eating woes... the boy hates anything remotely solid (not strained, but actual solid foods). I told her we had been trying for 6 weeks now to get him to eat stage 3 food or tiny bits of banana or his puffs. However, John Dickson will gag himself or throw up trying to get it out of his mouth. He also has learned to use his fingers to get it out, or to hang his head over and salivate until it falls out. Meal time is exhausting! So the doctor said it isn't anything to worry about until he is 1 yr. I took him home and fixed the two of us some lunch. He ate, and then while I was eating I poured some puffs in front of him to play with while I finished eating. I looked over and he was feeding himself puffs! Actually chewing and swallowing. He did keep one finger in his mouth I guess to make sure those puffs didn't try to sneak off or something, but he was doing it! He's not very good at it, so I helped him with a few more, but he ate them! Since then he's had a tiny bit of banana and a smidgen of cheese. We've started introducing dairy, and he LOVES yogurt!! Still gets infuriated by any attempts to make him drink juice, but baby steps, right?

Another funny puff related story... (puffs are like flavored puffed rice, in case you're wondering) While John Dickson was eating some puffs yesterday he held one out over the side of his high chair and Bear came over and sniffed it. Then John Dickson yanked it back and squealed with laughter! He did it three times!! We may have a little bully on our hands...

And lastly, yesterday Dr. Greene said "John Dickson, I think you may be a little bit spoiled!" Hmm... sounds about right!!! Spoiled, but every bit as sweet!!

John Dickson's 1st Second Christmas

John Dickson's 1st 2nd Christmas was spent in Winston Salem with Granna, Papa, Aunt Erin & Uncle Jason. There was more of taking bows off of presents, playing with ribbon and grabbing ornaments off of the tree. John Dickson also really liked trying to eat Frosty's nose and playing with dog toys. Also in Winston, John Dickson started mimicking this sound he makes that sounds like radio station static... he's been doing it for a while, but now if you do it to him, he will look at you, make the sound back, and grin. And that grin is thiiiis close to having a 2nd tooth!

John Dickson's First 1st Christmas

When you think of a baby's stereotypical 1st Christmas, John Dickson nailed it on the head! He got a ton of great presents from everybody and got to use his beautiful cross-stitched-by-Grandma stocking, but was really only interested in trash and bows. And also a glasses case that was a gift to his Aunt Lauren. (Sorry Aunt Lauren!) Since we've come home he has had a lot of fun playing with all of his new toys, which are especially appealing now that they are in baskets that he can turn over :-) Here are a few highlights from his first Christmas (spent with all of the people from his first Christmas Eve)

John Dickson Pre-Christmas Action

Ok, so the past few weeks have been some of the busiest of our lives I think! John Dickson and I were sick together for about 2 weeks (always fun - thank God for 2 grandmas!!!) and then we had Christmas in Columbia and then again in Winston Salem. In the meantime a tornado went through our house (the figurative kind) and we are just now getting life to return to normal. So back to blogging!

EY Christmas party - AKA John Dickson's night to live it up with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jarey! They let him stay up late, watch R rated movies, eat sugar straight from the bag and drink some beer. All in all he had a terrific time with 1 of his 2 favorite sets of aunts and uncles!! PS Uncle Jarey - if you're reading... I had my first Krystal burger the other day and these are my thoughts:
1. I was very impressed the "Krystal" came the exact way I order my burgers - Mustard, pickle and onion (but hey, I dont have to tell you that, right?) And NO KETCHUP!!! ROCK MY WORLD!!! (Yep, I said it)
2. Otherwise, gross city. Sorry.



John Dickson playing with the bow from Great Grandy's present. The bow did not have a tail when I wrapped presents, but somehow it got longer and longer every day. During John Dickson's sick couple of weeks, this was one of the very few things that made him happy. (Can you tell he doesn't feel so great?!?) Also below is a picture of him on his worst sick day... pathetic, right?





Feeling good again and enjoying the tree. We had to move all of the ornaments to about 2 feet off the ground.



Christmas Eve outfit. I could just eat him up!! John Dickson had a super fun first Christmas Eve at Aunt Lauren's house where he had his first Chanakuristmaseve dinner. Yep, that's right! And it was deeelicious. He also had fun playing with his Great Uncle Mike, Great Aunt Marianne, Great Mimi, Great Grandy, Pop Pop, Granny Pants and Uncle Jarey.

The good news and the bad news...

We'll start with the bad news...

John Dickson went to the doctor again yesterday for what the doctor initially thought might be pneumonia. After a chest x ray she decided it was bronchitis and possibly early pneumonia. He had a fever over 103, was throwing up and refused to drink very much. It was pitiful. On top of that, he never responded to his antibiotic from before, so his ear was still infected, and he has a tooth that is so close to popping that you can see it through his gums. It was a rough day for such a little body. But by about 9:00 last night he was coming to life again, and at midnight he sucked down 4 ounces. After a good night's sleep he woke up this morning cool as a cucumber. It was such a relief... We put him in the bath to try and cool him off last night and before we could even get a diaper on him afterwards he had conked out. Fortunately for his mommy there were no accidents :-)

The good news...

"Dada"
"Mama"
"Nana"
and a growl of some sort

We'll have to get it on video to share... he has the sweetest little voice! After 8 months of nothing but "eh" he has decided he loves talking! He whispers "dada" to himself when he is really concentrating on something, and he likes to hit the vacuum and call it dada too.

And in other news, we experienced a harsh reality yesterday that went like this...

Dr. Greene: Do you have infant tylenol or children's tylenol?
Me: Infant
Dr. Greene: He needs 4 ml of children's tylenol
Me: Children's??
Dr. Greene: He's not really an infant anymore
Me: :-(

I promise to post pictures soon... maybe even Part II to John Dickson meeting Santa...

Activity Update

John Dickson has once again been busy at school... we found out what his "Christmas project" was - an ornament with his precious thumbprint on it! Also, he has been reading Christmas books, and today he sang Jingle Bells and then played with bells. Too cute.

He has also been battling an ear infection and we are in the process of trying to determine whether or not he has allergies. His doctor thinks maybe so... she said "it could be pets." Uh oh.

No pictures today - it has been a CRAZY 2 weeks. Until next time just imagine the sweet smell of baby, the feel of baby cuddles & the sounds of that precious laugh.

Learning a lot at school

I picked up John Dickson from school today and his daily sheet, for the first time, had a comment on the "activities" line.

"Worked on a Christmas project"

Pretty advanced for 8 months, huh?

A few more

Here are a few more shots of John Dickson in Christmas mode.


Family Crimmus






John Dickson with his Daddy & his Papa



::gasp::

Christmaserize!

Anybody who knows me knows I'm pretty huge into the Christmas holiday... so I've pretty much been anticipating John Dickson's first Christmas tree since around August 19 of last year when all 4 of those tests came back positive. I had a few ornament collections growing up, and I couldn't wait to start one for John Dickson. We picked out a first in series ornament for the little dude, wrapped it up, helped him unwrap it, and tried to let him participate in hanging it on the tree. It is now in 2 pieces. Ahh well, you live and learn. He likes the tree, but wasn't quite as excited about it as he was the ones in Lowes and in Kohls... EVEN THOUGH I guarantee you our tree had more lights ;-) His Big Linda, Granny Banany, Gram Grams, Grammy, Riddler, Nana, Grandma, whatever she finally decides on, has spent half the year cross stitching John Dickson an extra special stocking & I cant wait to show off a picture of it when it is all sewn together.

In the meantime, enjoy some Christmas action shots of our monkey.