A Person's a Person No Matter How Small

October Videos and some memories

2011-11-20T12:10:00.001-08:00

Finally, some more videos.

I usually can't catch most of the funny stuff on video and Dawson typically throws a fit and stops doing whatever cute thing he was doing, when I do pull out the camera. So I wanted to at least write down some of the funny things he says on a regular basis as he's trying to master the English language.

- We have an alphabet book with Grover twisting his body into each letter. It's a book that I read as a kid, too. When we get to the "H", Dawson puts one hand and one leg down and attempts to stick the other limbs straight up into the air, just like Grover. It's quite funny.

- He loves saying "Oooozzzzy mud" when we're reading "Going on a Bear Hunt."

- He throws temperamental fits when he wants the other parent to do whatever the first one is attempting. Even something simple like giving him his milk. If' dad is doing it, but he wants mom to do it, its "Mommy wants to do it." He's been saying "____ wants to do it" instead of "I want _____ to do it" for quite awhile now. It's usually quite, though not always.

- When he does something for which he thinks we should thank him but for which we failed to do so, he announces, "I yelcome."

- When he wants us to cuddle with him on the couch, it's "I cuddle for you."

- When he needs some fresh air, its "I pay back yard."

- When he wants us to chase him, "I get you."

- When he wants to wrestle, "I jump on daddy!"

- When giving a thoughtful or playful response, "aahhhh.... NO / aahhh... YES."

- When finishing the ABC song, "Next time won't you sing with Dawson (or Elmo).

It's Beginning to Sound a lot Like Christmas

2011-11-09T06:41:00.001-08:00

This year at Christmas, Dawson will be almost three years old. The last two years, he really has not known what was happening. Because he will understand more of what is going on this year, I've been making an effort to get him prepared. :)

We've been watching Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, and I'm hoping I will find Charlie Brown's Christmas and the animated version of The Grinch that Stole Christmas. (Somehow, those got lost in the last year. Although, they might be packed with the Christmas decorations...) Each time he watches the movies, he remembers more and more. He is walking around the house singing the songs and requesting them at bed time.

My next plan of attack is to get out the Christmas books. There are several that teach the true meaning of Christmas as well as several that are just fun.

I can't wait to take him to see Santa, but I'm really looking forward to getting some kind of nativity scene with which he can play and interact.

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas!

Dawson-isms

2011-11-09T06:30:00.001-08:00

Dawson talks more and more every day. His vocabulary is expanding at an amazing rate and it is so interesting and fun to hear what comes out of his mouth... most of the time. :)

When something is not happening the way he thinks it should he says:

"Needs batteries."

"Oh, no it's scratched!" (because that is what happens when DVDs aren't working.)

"It's not working!"

If he wants you to come and snuggle with him he says:

"I cuddle for you!"

When he is really proud of something he says:

"I DID IT!"

If he wants you to see what he is doing:

"Watch, Mommy!"

When he wants me to do something:

"Mommy's wanna do it."

If he is thirsty while he is eating, he coughs and says:

"Need a drink."

When he is frustrated, usually we hear:

"Oh crap!" but we are trying to replace it with, "Oh man!"

Sometimes when something makes him upset he says:

"That's just great!"

So, we are pretty sure that he is mimicking some of his mommy and daddy's words and appropriately using them. :) Mommy and Daddy are glad that we don't use (much) profanity...

Some Videos

2011-08-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Where are the KIDS???

2011-08-11T18:19:00.001-07:00

All parents inevitably seem to have those moments. The ones where the kids are right beside you and then a second later you turn around and they are nowhere in sight. Well, when we were in Iowa, Dawson and his cousin, Dani were with me upstairs getting ready to go on an errand with Grammy Lori and Aunt Rachel. After I finished getting Dawson dressed, I watched the kids go downstairs where Lori and Rachel were in the kitchen. I got dressed and then went downstairs about 5 minutes later.
When I got to the kitchen, I asked, "Where are the kids?" Rachel and Lori looked at each other and said, "They were just here!" Rachel had seen them playing less than a minute before and looked at me bewildered.
We started calling for them, thinking they were on the back porch, in the living room, or the office. After no response and looking in each of the rooms, we checked in the bathroom and even went back upstairs in the bedrooms and closets. No sign of either of them.
I went to the back porch, looked down the cellar stairs, and noticed a truck at the bottom, so I went into the basement and called for them. There was no light on, but I still wanted to double check, so I said each of their names loudly and waited. No response.
I was beginning to panic. I raced outside and looked everywhere around the house. Donnie's parents live on a fairly large farm with a house that sits right at the highway. My heart was racing... Rachel followed me outside and we were both yelling for them, looking in the garage, machine shed, bushes, and the barn. We couldn't see or hear any sign of either of them anywhere.
While I stayed outside searching, Rachel went back in and rechecked some of the places that we had already searched. She just didn't understand how they could disappear so quickly! She went into the basement and walked back into the rear rooms, calling the kids names. As she got closer to the back room, Dani popped out! They had been HIDING, SILENTLY, in the basement TOGETHER the WHOLE TIME!!!
Looking back on this I can laugh, but at the time, I was SO scared that they might be dead on the highway, that I was pretty upset. Rachel talked very seriously and sternly to Dani. Just a week before, she had left the house and gone out into the machine shed by herself because she wanted to play in there. The funny thing is, we don't think either of them would've gone down into the dark basement alone. But, together, they somehow figured that it would be fun to hide from their mommies and not talk when they were calling for them. I guess one of them has figured out how to hide. But they don't understand that the rest of the game involves telling someone to come and SEEK you!
Whew! First dangerous missing child episode down! I hope to not feel that way again any ttime soon!
Erin

My Boy is Reading!

2011-08-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Dawson has settled into an interesting routine. Every single night, he wants to read just three books; a book about Thomas the Tank Engine, Going on a Bear Hunt and Bear Snores On.
Tonight, however, we couldn't find Bear Hunt but thankfully, it wasn't too much of an ordeal.
We read those books so often, that Dawson is saying the words along with me. In the case of Bear Hunt, he is even making the same sounds.

Tonight I tried something new. Knowing that Dawson actually knows many of the words, I would read a few words at the end of a phrase, then point to and read each word, then have Dawson repeat the words individually and then read the entire phrase. And the sending-chills-down-my-spine response from Dawson was that he would READ THE PHRASE! This is just so EXCITING!

I can still remember the first book I ever read, it was A Great Day for Up by Dr. Seuss. What I don't remember, however, is actually learning to read. I know that both of my parents worked really hard with me, but my only two early reading memories was crying with frustration while reading Great Day for Up but finishing because my mom wouldn't let me quit - I also remember her wild celebration when I finished. I also remember riding through Burlington with my dad and reading each sign that he pointed to, which was followed by a celebratory whoop from my dad.

I learned during my TFA Institute training that ideally a kid won't remember learning to read. That's my hope for Dawson, that he won't be able to remember learning to read, that he just reads from his 2 1/2 year old state throughout his life. The ability to read any author's story allows us to live an unlimited number of lives.

We finished the night with another activity I can't remember learning to do but just did my entire life, singing "Jesus Loves Me."

A good night that I wanted to remember, so I took the time to write this blog post.

Our First Family Vacation

2011-06-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we took our first family vacation to Saint Louis. To read about it and to see some pictures, check out this link.

"I ride tractor on"

2011-06-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

"Dawson, do you wanna go with pappa on a tractor ride?", my dad asked Dawson when we were visiting them a few days ago.
Dawson gave no reply, because he didn't know what a tractor ride was. But after Pappa gave him said tractor ride, Dawson kept asking for another ride over and over and over. When Erin and I were in Chicago for a few days, leaving Dawson with Gammy and Pappa, he got his wish for lots of tractor rides.
But the way Dawson was asking to ride on the tractor was a bit odd and it took us a while to figure out what he was saying. The best we can decipher is that he was stating, "I ride tractor on." Since my dad would ask, "do you want to go on a tractor ride?", we assumed he was simply misplacing the on of the phrase "go on a tractor ride."
Whatever the reason, Dawson kept stating, "I ride tractor on", even as we drove by a John Deer dealership on our way home.

And in another funny turn of a phrase, Dawson was watching "Alvin and the Chipmonks" on they way home but he couldn't say the word chipmonk. The most common title he used was chickens, but the funniest title he used was monkey chips. That got a laugh out of Erin and me.

A Memory to which I’d like to Hold On

2011-05-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

If I could put time in a bottle, last night would’ve been a deposit I would’ve made. However, I can’t stop time and my little boy’s relentless march toward becoming a big boy continues. So I’ll just do the next best thing, blog on the memory. And while I likely won’t be able to adequately convey our adventures of last Sunday night, just the act of re-reading this, as I’ll eventually do, will likely trigger the emotions of the memory.

Erin was away for the evening, attending the HS graduation of her adopted sister and since we knew a graduation would not be a good place for Dawson, I had the late afternoon/ evening alone with my boy. As soon as he woke up from his nap, I strapped him in the jogging stroller and headed toward Cornerstone Park. We took our usual route; past the HS, through a newer neighborhood, then eventually through the older, tree-lined neighborhood.

As soon as I unstrapped the restraining harness of the stroller, Dawson tore off toward the playground equipment. As usual, he occasionally stopped his passionate run over the bridges and down the slides to get an approving smile from his daddy. One time, I had to keep Dawson from crashing the birthday party taking place in the shelter. Knowing he was hungry, we sat down at the picnic table and with legs swinging from the bench, Dawson munched down his peanut-butter crackers. Occasionally, he picked up the lid of the little orange container, looked at the cartoon drawing of a cat’s face on it and gave a “meeoow.” But what really melted my heart were the smiles he kept throwing up over his right shoulder, in my direction. Maybe that was just because I kept giving him more crackers. Or maybe it was because he was enjoying the daddy-son outing as much as me.

“I see dogs” was the enthusiastic answer to the question of whether we should go to the dog show happening the nearby 4-H building. Inside, the sight of all those dogs, the barking and the clapping almost over stimulated Dawson. And when I asked whether we should go to another park, I was given the reply “ut-her pak.” So we played on the playground of Gardner Elementary, Dawson fearlessly, then cautiously, running along the swinging bridge under the bright late-afternoon sun.

At first, he threw a mini-fit about the idea of leaving the park, but I explained we needed to go eat “dineh,” so he walked toward and climbed into the stroller. At home, he tried climbing into his booster seat and again got a big angry when I said we needed to go “bye-bye.” Although he didn’t understand what I meant, Dawson tried to mimic my explanation of where we’d eat with a “Ma-don-owd.”

At McDonalds, he kept trying to run behind the counter as I was waiting to order the food. He then pointed at the toys in the Happy Meal display and I thought, “wont’ be long before he’s asking for one of those.” And while the Chicken was too spicy, he sure wolfed down his fries. And again, I got some more heart-warming smiles as he ate the fries and swung his legs in the thin-air beneath his seat.

I eventually realized that since we were at a fast-food restaurant, it was a bit pointless to insist he eat some more bites of chicken before getting the “tweet.” So I ordered the treat of an ice-cream fudge Sunday and we shared the dessert together.

Later that night, my announcement that it was time to go “night-night” was met by an enthusiastic cheer, demonstrating just how tired my boy was. He grabbed the tooth brush and was trying to do it on his own before I even got into the bathroom. That version of the usual bed-time routine was enjoyable and sweet, reading the usual “Mouse” and “Moon” and singing about “Sunshine” and all the people in my little boy’s little world. With Monkey and Cow joining him underneath Blanket, Dawson quickly fell into a much needed sleep. Though the fact that I forgot to give pain medicine to the teething boy made for a rough night’s sleep.

I can’t hold onto my little boy, keeping him a little boy. I can, however fiercely hold onto the memories; keeping the memories from fading the way my suntan from Sunday afternoon is already fading.

To A Child Love Is Spelled T-I-M-E

2011-05-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Take them to a movie they want to see.
Go on a treasure hunt (collect all the loose change around the house/car) together and then make a trip to the arcade with your findings.
Take a long nature walk together, at their pace. Let them lead the conversation. Find qualities about them that you genuinely love, and compliment them in front of others.
Frame a photo of the two of you, and display it in their room.
Put a few Hershey’s Hugs in one of their coat pockets, and Kisses in the other.
Play a game with them.
Let them win.
Make bath time special. Add lots of bubbles, colored soaps, maybe you could purchase a new tub toy or let them play with things found around the house. I let my kids play with things like colanders and funnels from the kitchen—they love it. Don’t forget to warm the towel!
Send them a handmade card in the mail with a coupon to go get ice cream with you.
Gather all the home movies that feature them as the “star” and have a movie night complete with popcorn and treats.
Using blankets and chairs, or a card table, build a clubhouse together and have a picnic inside.
Read “I love you” books together.
Let them stay up past their bedtime with you and watch cartoon classics together.
Do a chore that is normally reserved for them.
Tuck an encouraging note inside their lunchbox.
Give them your full attention.
Tell them some of the ways they make you happy.
Make them laugh.
Laugh with them.
Make their favorite treat to welcome them home from school with.
Show them your joy when they arrive.
Ask for hugs and kisses.
Listen, and let them make their own decisions whenever possible.
Make them a coupon book filled with things they’d enjoy doing, or things they’d like to get out of doing.
Take a day off from everything: work, household duties, technology, etc. and focus entirely on them.
Cook together.
Write them a poem using the initials of their name.
Decorate their room for no reason.
Create a sign that lavishes them with praise.
Kidnap them from school and take them out for lunch.
Make home a fun place to be.
Make a treasure box from an old shoe box, fill it with “gold” (chocolate coins) and make an official looking treasure map with clues for them to locate the hidden treasure with.
Go to the store and let them pick out all the ingredients to make banana splits. Make and eat them together.
Wrap up in a warm blanket together and take turns making up stories to tell each other.
Make a list of things you love about them and put it on their pillow before bedtime.
Talk about what they did in their day at dinnertime.
Sit down together and write a list of fun activities to do in a day. Write each idea on small slips of paper, roll up the papers and stick them inside balloons. Blow up all the balloons and then pop one balloon at a time until you’ve completed all the activities.
Play back rub/tickle games—ie; Spider crawling up your back…
Make a CD with all their favorite tunes and have a dance party.

March and April videos

2011-05-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

Vocabulary

2011-05-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

As is normal for this age, Dawson’s vocabulary is EXPLODING! But not only is he able to name all kinds of things around him, he is also speaking short, but complete sentences. Sentences containing pronouns, direct objects and even the occasional conjugated verb. When he’s trying, for the hundredth time, to persuade us to let him watch one of his favorite shows, he’ll state, “I watch it, Thomas” (or Nemo, or Elmo, etc). He is singing to us most of the alphabet and the better part of the song “sunshine.” What’s really impressive to me is how he’s finishing the sentences of book or adding in words, like the end of the phrases in “Good Night, Moon” or as I’m reading the line “one morning the warm sun came up and..” from “The Very Hunger Caterpillar”, Dawson will enthusiastically add the “POP” of that sentence.

I think what impressed me the most, however was the other night during dinner. We were, again, getting on the floor to pick up the plastic fork he had, again, thrown on the floor. When he had it in his hand, I told Dawson to put the fork on the, the, the… and the word just wouldn’t come to me. So Dawson decided to help his daddy out, supplying the missing word – “tehbal” (my best phonetic spelling of Dawson’s “table.” His pronunciation may not be quite correct yet, but Dawson was able to produce a word that wasn’t able to make it through his daddy’s temporary mind block. That’s some serious vocab and language development.

Happy Birthday

2011-03-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

January's Videos

2011-02-12T17:40:00.000-08:00

Letters and Numbers

2011-02-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

Erin works REALLY hard in teaching Dawson his letters and numbers. Aiding her efforts are several electronic toys that sing the alphabet and say letters while pronouncing their phonetic sounds. Our Parents as Teachers instructer was over here earlier in the week and described Dawson's ability to count and say his letters as "amazing." She also suggested we get it on video. And while it's really hard to capture the best stuff on video,we did pretty good here. But what you won't see, and what prompted me to get out the camera, is that while Dawson was playing with his toys, he was randomly calling out letters of the alphabet - maybe a few were in order. Erin has got this boy constantly thinking about numbers and letters.

A "Choo Choo Chaine" evening

2011-02-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

Like most boys his age, Dawson is obsessed with trains. He LOVES Thomas the Train, as well as Percy, James and the other inhabitants of the Island of Sodor. So last Friday night, we took Dawson to eat at Fritz's Restaurant in Crown Center Plaza. Fritz's is done in a train theme, complete with trains running near ceiling that bring the food. Dawson was in sensory overload. I'm quite surprised he was even able to finish his food, but he did.

After Fritz's, we walked through the City Link (glass walkways connecting the downtown buildings) over to Union Station. There, Dawson go to see more trains as well as ride the huge escalator. Not only were the trains perfect but the City Link was a toddler's dream, too - enclosed hallways in which Dawson could run as fast as he wanted, while being forced to go in a somewhat straight line. Or maybe it was a parent's dream way for their toddler to burn some energy. Either way, it was a great night.

Shunshine

2011-02-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

The bedtime routine I wrote about here has altered a bit. Dawson no longer wants "Hush Little Baby", instead he wants "You are my sunshine" and he asks for it with "shunshine?". Erin actually started this song, as well as adding the variation that Dawson loves. She adds the names of people Dawson knows. So, instead of "you are my sunshine" it's "you are my ____."
Here's a list of names Dawson asks us to sing (with a phonetic spelling based upon his pronunciation):
Casey
Trisha
Andy
Sindy
Jhake
Cackie
Pappppaaaa
Gramie
Rashe
Mo
Mahrgie
Daddy
Mommy
Bugga - our nickname for Dawson
And the occasional stuffed animal or character from "Thomas".

He's becoming so aware of and attached to the other people in his life. About a half hour before they got here, Erin told Dawson this morning that his cousins were coming over. We then had a half hour of Dawson looking out the window, then asking or even demanding in a whiny voice "Trisha-Andy-Sindy" (It's all one phrase).
Then there's the occassional phrase "Jake-Cakie-Bye-Bye" which means he wants to go see the Armstrong kids at his babysitter, Sarah's house.

Dawson's First Snow

2011-01-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

Today was a snow day for Erin and for Dawson, the first day he's ever been bundled up and gone out to play in the snow.
As you can tell from the video, it will be awhile before he's taking over my job of shoveling the driveway.
Eventually Erin had to take him inside because he kept taking off his mittens. Oh, those dreaded boundaries and consequences.

Things I love about you right now...

2010-12-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

I love that...
-any bearded man in a book is "Jezis"
-you say, "ho ho" whenever you see any kind of Santa
-instead of waving, you like to "pound it" as you were taught by Mary Kate at rehearsals. You're not satisfied until you've fist bumped everyone in the room.
-bed time means cuddling with your "bonkey" - monkey that Aunt Mo and Margie gave you on the day you were born. You throw anything else out of your crib.
-your hair looks like a wild man's when you wake up.
-squeals of delight begin as soon as you see any of your cousins.
-you crawl on my lap to see what I'm reading,watching,making.
-you walk around the house in my shoes and slippers.
-in the morning, when we come out of your room, you look for Daddy to see if he is here. (He is working mornings at FedEx right now.)
-you love to "un" -run. being chased is one of your favorite games.
-I can get you to give me a kiss by pretending to cry.
-you smile up at me when I sing the low parts of "Goodnight Sweetheart" before bed
-you kiss the phone when your grandparents or aunts call

One thing I'm not lovin' so much:
-you have started taking off not only your pants, but your diaper. You've done it twice during nap time and peed on your bed. :(

"Frog"

2010-12-23T17:39:00.001-08:00

Dawson hasn't quite gotten the hang of pronouncing "frog." But in the meantime, it sure is funny to hear what he pronounces in place of "frog." Enjoy...

"Ehl-fint"

2010-12-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

Dawson is slowly starting to learn his adoption story (which you can read yourself via the adoption tags on the other posts). Well, I shouldn't exaggerate, but he does like to listen to "Ehl-fint" music (the Seussical soundtrack on the ipod) and pulls both of the Horton Hears a Who ornaments off the tree- which is actually quite annoying. It shouldn't be too long before we're reading him that book, as we did the night he was born.

Here are some pictures of him decorating the tree, putting up the Horton ornament, kissing the Santa ornament and eating an ornament made of crayons.

"Gake"

2010-11-29T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ideally, Erin would be able to stay home with Dawson full-time. Our world, however, is less-than-ideal, though close-to-ideal, since Erin is able to work only part-time and I'm home with Dawson half the afternoons she's at work. Honestly, I think Erin appreciates the chance to get out of the house and work. And, God has been faithful to provide for our family, as you can read here if you'd like.
So when neither of us are with Dawson, he goes to a home daycare run by a lady in our church, Sarah Armstrong. Sarah is a great person, good friend and leader in our church. On top of all that, she's not charging us a lot for the afternoons Dawson is over there.
I've come to the conclusion, though that even if we didn't need to take Dawson to Sarah's, we still would do so. For no other reason than so Dawsie could hang out with Gake.
Jake, as us adults call him, is Sarah's 2 1/2 year old son. Dawson loves Jake. Often when we're getting into the car, Dawson will ask "Gake?" Sarah's best friend, Katy who is also a part of our church, has a 1 1/2 year old son named Seth. Seth also comes to Sarah's sometimes, reuniting the "three amigo's" of the Trinity Family nursery.
There are some other kids at Sarah's daycare, including her 1 year old daughter, Callie. Dawson loves to hug Callie and Sarah wants Dawson to (eventually) date Callie. Dawson likes hugging all of the kids at Sarah's, as I witnessed the last time I picked him up.
For a kid, who for now anyway, is an only child, his friendship with "Gake" and his time at Sarah's are positive elements in his social development.

1st Bloodhound Football Game

2010-11-07T03:51:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Dawson got to experience his first Bloodhound football game at Fort Madison High School, his daddy's Alma-matter. As usual for these type of events / photo ops, dad was more excited than son. Dawson did however, clap along with the crowd a few times.

October Videos

2010-11-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

I've got some good ones in here, Dawson enjoying "Five Little Monkees" and our Night-Night Song.

There's Pee in the Potty!

2010-10-25T20:18:00.001-07:00

Last week, I was sitting in our hall bathroom doing my business while being observed by my toddler son. Dawson has taken an interest in the potty and sometimes will want to sit on his potty chair while Mommy or Daddy are using the facilities. On this particular day, he had such an urge. He pulled his pants down and I helped him with his diaper. He sat on the potty, stood up and went over to the bathtub to check out his toys, and then to the big toilet to say his goodbyes to the contents of the toilet. Then he sat down again. I left the room for a moment to get him something from his room and when I came back, there was liquid in the potty chair! I made a huge deal out of the fact that there was pee in the potty! We danced and sang, and giggled for about 3 minutes. I'm not sure he really knew what happened, but it was the very first time that he peed on the potty!

Tonight at Dinner, My Son Stuck a Pea Up His Nose

2010-10-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that blog title correctly. Tonight, around six o'clock, Dawson and I were sitting at the dinner table eating dinner and I heard him say, "Googer," which is his word for booger. :) He had his finger up his nose and I thought he was just trying to be silly or possibly contrary since I've recently started to ask him to take his finger out of his nose. He thinks it is funny when I give him my "mommy look" and shake my head at him. Anyways, I went to get a napkin to clean his nose. When I pinched his nose with the napkin some dark green gunk came out. I wondered if it was snot until I glimpsed the peas on his tray. Then I went ahead and tried to clean out his nose some more just in case there was more "pea" inside and what do you know, the pea shell plopped out. Dawson was not a happy camper anymore. His poor nose was hurting, especially when I had to go get the bulb syringe because I thought there was another little pea up inside his little nostril!

Bedtime Routine

2010-10-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

Bedtime is quite likely my favorite part of the day. Not only because of the quiet that usually follows but because it's such a great Daddy-Dawsie time. When Dawson was first born, I read in the Healthy Sleep / Happy Child book that kids need a bedtime routine so they can start preparing themselves to sleep. So with little variation, here's how our bedtime routine has looked since Dawson was about 6 weeks old.

We give him milk while changing his diaper and putting on his pajamas. We then move to the rocking chair, where he continues to drink his milk (the amount has been lessened as he's gotten older) as we read him some books. The reading is one of my favorite parts of the routine. We read a few normal/ daytime books but we eventually end with several night-time books. Books such as Night, Night, Little Pookie, Pajama Time, The Going to Bed Book, Five Little Monkeys, and the night-time classic Goodnight, Moon.

After reading and drinking the milk, it's time to pray together. I say, "Dawson, it's time to pray." Sometimes, Dawson responds by folding his hands. Lately, he's started responding by whining and squirming because he knows it's almost time for bed. But when he does fold his hands, my heart melts.

The last part of the routine is the "night-night song," Hush Little, Baby is the official song. One nostalgic thing about this song is that I can remember my mom singing it to me, and tickling me at the end of it, just as I do to Dawson now. Lately, Dawson has wanted to turn around and hug and look at me while I sing him this song. He often smiles, gives me a kiss then puts his head on my shoulder as I finish the song. Last night, he smiled at me and got his face close to mine in a very precious moment.

When the song is over, I let him know it's time for night-night, I put him in the crib, cover him with a blanket and give him a stuffed animal. He usually dives onto that stuffed animal as I cover him with a blanket. Most of the time, he's close to being asleep before I even shut the door. Most of the time...

September Videos

2010-10-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

August's Videos

2010-09-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

18 Months

2010-08-20T18:37:00.001-07:00

Words:
Mom, Mama, Mommy
Dad, Daddy, Dah
baby
tractor
Dawson (Dawsie)
uh-oh
Shhh
Off
Mmm
Bite
drink (dink)
Mmmm
go
Hey
Ball
book (gook)
cracker (cacker)
truck (guck)
car
yay
baby
No, Nay, Nine
Yes - "Es"
Shoes
Bye bye
Choo choo
whee
peepee
poop
Hi
cow
Moo
dog (gog)
Oof (woof)
quack (cack)
nose
eyes
up
papa
phone
hot
cold
moon
something that sounds like "thank you"
Star
Car
Circle
and something that sounds like I love you

Knows many body parts: head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, belly, feet, hands, toes. he points to them when we ask, "Where is your...?"

Climbs on everything: chairs, back of the couch, bathtub,

Walks up and down stairs while holding a hand or the wall

LOVES to read with Mommy, Daddy, and even by himself. Sits for up to twenty minutes listening to books. And he knows if it is upside down and turns it around. He will sit and jabber as he turns the pages and now points to all kinds of things on the pages as we say them. For a long time he has shaken his finger when we read "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".

Dives onto his cow pillow at bed time.

When he wakes up happy, he loves to wrestle and play "BOOM" in his crib, our bed, or on the couch.

Loves to cuddle right when he wakes up.

Drags all of his wheeled toys out, one at a time and lines them up as if in a parade, then scoots them one by one a different direction. He still scoots with one leg underneath him when he plays.

He loves to be chased and tickled. It makes him laugh from his belly.
watches our mouths when we sing.

Sits in the refrigerator when it is open and likes to take all of the condiments out of the door.

Is learning that throwing toys results in toys being in time out. He likes to launch his big trucks and tractors down the steps. As soon as he does, Mommy or Daddy go down after it and put them up where he can see them, but out of his reach.

First Haircut

2010-08-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

If you've met my son, you know that he has beautiful curly, blond hair. For almost 6 months, it has had generous curls, that kept getting fuller and more abundant as it grew. Needless to say, I couldn't cut it. I kept talking about it and lots and lots of people told me I shouldn't. It was a terrible thing to think about - losing my baby's curls felt like losing my baby. This was one milestone that I been putting off for a long time.
Then one day, before school started back up again, I called and made an appointment and decided that I just needed to go and do it. After all, his hair was starting to touch the bottom of his neck and his bangs were definitely hanging in his eyes. I could still wet it and gel it and make it look okay, but I definitely didn't want it to get to the afro stage. :)

So, we arrived at Shear Madness and Brandi brought my little baby to one of the fancy car chairs for his first ever haircut. She started by cutting of f a few curls and putting them in little keepsake baggies. I appreciate that now and know that I will treasure those baby locks in his baby book as he grows up.
As you can see, his curls are still there, just trimmed up and revealing a little boy where there was once a baby. It took me a few days to gt over the curls being gone. I couldn't even post a picture because it was so hard to let my "baby" go. I realized, however, that he is STILL the CUTEST boy on the planet, baby curls or not.

July's Videos

2010-08-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

Family Photo Shoot

2010-08-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

For some great pictures and a rather funny story from a photo shoot we took in June, go to this link.

A Year Ago Today

2010-08-10T19:30:00.001-07:00

This little guy was almost 6 months old.

Full Circle

2010-07-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

I wrote an adoption story on my blog, you can read it here. That is, if you want to cry a few tears of joy...

Hobby

2010-07-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

One of Dawson's favorite hobby is putting objects into an alignment then destroying or moving that line. He usually does this with his toys, particularly his toy cars. It's funny to watch his do this but I also can't help but analyze his reasons for doing so. Is he just amusing himself? Does he like to be organized? Is he a tad OCD? I wonder about the OCD part because he works to make sure the objects are aligned as closely or symmetrically as possible. Maybe not however, since after making the line he promptly destroys the symmetry he'd just created.

Imitator

2010-07-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Dawson loves imitating us, which is some parts cute, some parts flattering with an element of scariness as well. I guess it makes sense, however that Dawson would imitate the two people he spends the most time around. The cutest part of it is that when he's doing something he knows he's seen mom and dad do, he gets a huge smile on his face. It's as if he's saying, "look at me, I'm just like mom and dad"!

Here's a list of some ways he imitates us:
- Calling and texting. He puts the phone to his ear and starts gibbering. He also tries to send text messages.
- Sweeping. He drags the broom across the floor and tries to push debris into the dustpan. He's a bit too short to do this successfully, though.
- Fork. He's much more content if he can use a fork. Usually, I put the food on the fork for him but occasionally he's able to do the entire movement on his own.
- Wiping the kitchen floor. I often use a towel to wipe up spills or spots on the tiled kitchen floor. Occasionally, Dawson likes to do that as well.
- Brushing teeth. This is a big one. He loves to brush his teeth now and it's hard to get him to let me do the brushing first. Occasionally, we stand in front of the mirror and brush together, this makes Dawson very proud.
- Kissing. Maybe the sweetest thing he does. If Erin and I share a kiss, Dawson wants in on it. He also will randomly decide to give an open-mouthed kiss to one of us. He hasn't got the puckering down yet.
- Pointing. He'll imitate our pointing.
- TV remote. This was cute at first but now kind of annoying. We usually have to hide the remote because he takes great pride in making some sort of change occur on the TV screen.
- Brushing hair. He'll grab one of Erin's brushes and then run into the living room to show me how he brushes his hair or to brush my hair. I usually have to turn the brus
h around so the bristles are going through is hair.
- Driving. When we're pushing him in his little green car, he turns the steering wheel and honks the horn. With his forward-facing car seat, he can watch us drive. He doesn't see us honk too often, though.

May and June videos

2010-07-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

These are late, but here are the videos from May and June. The video of him walking at the school are from the first week he was walking.

1st Baseball Game

2010-06-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Last night, I took Dawson to his first ever baseball game. It was at Community America Ballpark, the home of the Kansas City T-Bones independent baseball club. I'm not paying the money for a Royals game until Dawson understands the difference between the KC Royals and the Burlington Bees. Even though Dawson had no clue what was going on, the money was well spent. We got a picture of our trip, did some tailgating (during which he was more cooperative than I'd expected), got a picture with Big Jay the University of Kansas mascot and looked at other kids at the playground while swinging.

Dawson didn't appreciate being held in our little section of seats however, so I had to let him walk around some of the patio seating. As we were walking back to our seats, he was staring backwards and refused to turn around. I turned to see that the object of his fascination was the huge T-Bones mascot, Sizzle. Dawson was in awe. He kept waving at Sizzle, that is until Sizzle got closer, at which time Dawson got very shy.

All in all, it was a good and successful first trip to a bah game. It was shared with some good friends from church, including Dawson's buddy Seth, who is just a few months younger. Dawson even commented that hotdogs do taste better when grilled outside of a stadium - or something like that.

April Videos

2010-05-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

A heart-warming weekend

2010-05-17T16:10:00.001-07:00

The older Dawson gets, the more expressive and interactive he's becoming. It's really quite sweet and entertaining. Here are a few examples:

If we're laying down, on the bed or the couch, he crawls on top of us for a hug then turns around and squirms up next to our body for some snuggling. When Dawson wiggles up to us 'rear end first,' he's wanting to snuggle. I was reading on the couch this afternoon when he climbed up over the end - as he's prone to do with the assistance of a wooden box - then snuggled up next to me. Sometimes he'll just throw his body on top of ours to give a bear-hug.

Snuggling and hugging aren't his only ways of showing affection, he also enjoys giving us love pats. He'll smile and laugh while patting me on the shoulder or the face.

This morning he learned how to work the garage door opener. He saw the button, knew what it was for then watched in awe as his action made the garage door go up and down.

While pumping gas last night, I knocked on his window to smile at him while he was in the car seat. When he turned to his left at the noise of my knocking and saw 'daddie' (a word he'll repeat even when I'm in the other room) he burst out into one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen and started laughing and waving. Knocking on his window was a simple act but the exuberance of his response melted my heart in a brand new way.

Over the past few weeks, he's been standing fully upright from a seated or kneeling position. He would only do it once in awhile, though. But over the weekend, he started doing it more often and more quickly, while holding two fairly large toys. This morning, as I was sitting on the couch reading, Dawson repeatedly stood up, sat down, then stood up again. My positive reinforcement was prompting him to keep showing off.

He's also finally began to take 2 or 3 little steps. Nothing major but we know the big promenade isn't too far off. Well, as I was still sitting on the couch reading this morning, out of the corner of my eye I saw Dawson moving rather quickly. Nothing new but this time he was up higher than usual. I quickly turned to see Dawson taking full steps for the longest distance yet, at least 7 or 8 full steps - the entire length of the couch. When he finally stopped and threw himself down on a pillow, I cheered like crazy. Of course, this excited Dawson and we both laughed for about 5 full minutes, then spent some time giggling, wrestling, tickling and playing "boom" (where I toss him onto the couch). It was a really, really exciting moment. I was so proud to see him move so much and glad I could experience such a big milestone.

It was repeated on slighty smaller but more dramtic scale later that evening. Our Parents as Teachers coach was over at our house and trying to entice Dawson to stand for a toy. Dawson just won't do stuff like that when we prompt him, he does it on his own volition. But when he was already standing, Erin held out a toy for him. In classic baby-walking style, he gingerly reached out as far as he could but with the toy being just beyond his fingertips he began taking small steps toward Erin. He walked for about 5 steps before sitting down. All three of us were quite excited, so to join in our enthusiasm Dawson stood back up and began clapping. The boy was enjoying the attention.

Our boy likes to sleep

2010-04-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

We've had the idea that about the only thing we can really shape in Dawson's first year are his sleep habits. I've posted on these before, our struggles and successes. Well, Dawsie loves his sleep, he needs his sleep and he knows when it's time to go to bed.

About a month ago, Grandma Kim was watching him while we were out. Now Kim likes to keep Dawson up as long as possible to spend as much time with him as she can. This night Dawson let his Grandma know it was time for bed. At 8:00, which is about as late as he can stay up, Dawson crawled down the hall, sat in front of the closed door to his bedroom and cried. Think about that, he was begging his Grandma to let him go to bed.

That's awesome.

Now just tonight, Erin had just bathed Dawson and put on his diapers when her dad called. She took the phone into Dawson's room and sat in the rocking chair while talking with her dad.
Dawson crawled into his room, popped his binkie in his mouth, grabbed a few books from the nightstand and tried crawling into his mommy's lap.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child stated it's very important to set up a bedtime routine for small children, so they begin preparing for sleep. The book never mentioned that the child might be the one to enforce the routine.

An Exceptional Charmer

2010-04-25T12:44:00.001-07:00

I've heard it so many times that I've finally stopped fighting it, "Your son is such a pretty baby / boy." Instead of saying, "he's not pretty he's handsome," I just smile and say "thanks."
I don't know if he'll always have this skill but Dawson puts his good looks to work in charming other people.
A great example was last Monday night, when a lady from Parents as Teachers came over to meet with us. After getting over his initial shyness, Dawson started showing off for Ann. He started by just being flirty, then he began pulling pillows off the coach and launching himself onto them. He worked everyone, including himself, into a good fit of laughter. Dawson is certainly a charmer.

But he's also exceptional, at least according to Ann. She kept giving him the age appropriate tests to see whether his cognitive and motor skills had developed to the point at which they should be. And with just one exception (a big exception I'll write about in a second) Dawson passed all of them. He could stack blocks, pick up things with his fingers, stand up, etc.

What he's not doing yet is walking. Every stage (crawling, rolling over, etc.) Dawson has been patient and cautious, waiting until he could do it with ease. He's taking an even more cautious approach to walking. Recently, he'd stand for a moment before realizing he was standing on his own and then, once he realized it, would quickly sit back down. He gets mad if we try to have him stand or walk, too. Within a few days, however he's started standing straight up from a walking toy or something and begin clapping his hands while standing for a good 30 seconds. He'll even take a step or two before going back into a crawl. It seems he'll start walking almost reluctantly and accidentally.

After our meeting with Ann, we took Dawson outside for a stroll along the sidewalk on his John Deere ATV. He's pushing it along the sidewalk or riding it himself, careful to steer clear of the grass. Dawson walked over to the neighbors East of us and charmed the wife, Robin for awhile.

But I think Dawson grew tired of charming adults and decided to try someone closer to his age. So he decided to put the moves on the cute neighbor girl, Gabby. Gabby isn't too much older for Dawson, just old enough to be in his 'league' but still a challenge.

So, he pushed the ATV over to Gabby, started talking with her, then made his big move. He got off his ATV and got onto Gabby's bike with her. I thought it was pretty smooth but Gabby wasn't too sure. Once Gabby's dad came back outside with a shotgun, Dawson decided it was time to head for home...

In the top picture, Dawson is waving at some dogs walking by. Dawson has started to take quite a liking to dogs. When he hears one barking, he'll look around for it and say "gog." When he sees a dog, either an actual dog or one in a picture, he does his best bark imitation. I wanted to spell his 'bark' phonetically, but I just can't figure out how to do it.

Balls and Books

2010-04-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

About 2 months ago, Dawson discovered a "bahl." A ball is still one of his favorite things. He crawls at a dead sprint toward a ball, grasps it firmly and then holds it over his head with a celabratory "bahl"! He then throws it, chases it, picks it up and proceeds to throw it again - a solo game of catch.
Dawson's other favorite activity is to read. He is constantly sitting down with a book and turning through the pages. Sometimes he'll point stuff out on pages, like a "bahl," which is anything that is round or the balls on the Baby's first Hawkeye Book.
Now, we never taught Dawson to like balls - that's all original to him. We have however, been reading to him since day one. So I'm proud to say his reading is a learned behavior.
If Dawson likes to play ball and read all the while he's growing up, we're sure going to have a lot in common.

Balloons

2010-04-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

As you can see from these pictures, Dawson had a lot of balloons for his 1st Birthday. Thy floated around the house for several weeks after the party. And he just discovered a sick looking balloon behind his crib three days ago.
I didn't get any pictures or video of the incident I'm about to describe, so I'm blogging it to hep us remember.
One morning, not long after waking, I was playing with Dawson in his room when he decided to go after some stray balloons. He was able to hold one and shake it around while the other kept bouncing just above his head. Eventually, the 'free' balloon built up enough static that it stuck to the back of Dawson's head. As Dawson kept twirling around, looking for the balloon, it would detach momentarily and then come to rest again just above the back of his head. As the balloon settled back down on his back, Dawson would giggle/squeal in joy, twirl around - generally having the time of his life. I've seen Dawson do a lot of heart-meltingly adorable things, but that might be an all-time favorite memory.

Attempts at Chatter

2010-04-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

Dawson's vocabulary is slowly growing. Here are some words that he uses that we can distinguish from the other Chinese-like babble that we hear. :)

Mama (mama or mom)
Dada (dada or dah)
Bye (bah with a wave)
Bird (buh)
Ball (Bah - repetitively)
Yum (Mmmmm)
Quack (Kack kack)
Hi (hi)
Eye (ah)

March Videos

2010-04-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

12 months old!

2010-03-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY DAWSON!

Cupcake #1 at Aunt Casey's house.

Cupcake #2 with Aunt Megan at Papa and Marla's.

Opening presents with Miss Briana at Grandma Kim's.

Sitting in the wagon from Papa, Marla, and Paige.

Birthday balloons in his crib!

Seuss Birthday party cake!

Little Dawsie has just turned one. Here's a good description of his actions these days:

- Loves playing with his ball and has a big proud smile as he states, "bahl." His other two vocabulary words are "dah" and "mah."
- Enjoys putting objects into open spaces, containers or drawers and taking them back out.
- Tosses toys and household items down the stairs, chases after them then hauls them back up.
- Is responsible for objects in the basement being found in the upstairs bedroom.
- LOVES his blocks.
- Cuddles his stuffed cow pillow while going to sleep.
- Is OBSESSED with opening any type of cabinet door.
- Finds great amusement in pulling out the pans from under the stove and the tupperware from out of the cabinet.
- Loves most vegetables but hates most fruit.
- Takes great pride in draining his sippy cup.
- Goes crazy at the sound of running water. Splashes around in the bath and is not happy when taken out of the tub. He LOVES baths.
- Still takes two naps per day.
- Gives tight hugs right before bedtime.
- Kisses things he loves, such as stuffed animals, books and mommys and daddys.
- "Dances" to music by shaking his bottom.

Brushing the teeth

2010-03-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

With Dawson turning one, we had another doctor's appointment. The main reason for the trip was the shots, and they were the worst so far. The pain shocked him so much that it took his breathe away. It's not pleasant to watch your son's tongue silently throb in with the intensity of the cries that can't yet come out. But let's move on...

What wasn't quite so bad but still not that pleasant was Dawson's first experience with brushing his teeth. The doctor said it's time to get him into that habit. Here are some pictures from this first tooth brushing. As you can see, he didn't really enjoy it. Coincidentally, we haven't remembered to brush his teeth since.

Some more videos

2010-03-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

Up the Stairs and Down the Stairs

2010-02-03T19:31:00.001-08:00

Dawson's most favorite activity this month is climbing up and down any flight of stairs that he sees. Aunt Casey's is the first place where he accomplished the feat of going up... without anyone watching him actually do it. All of us were unpacking and I turned around for one minute and then I saw him at the top of the stairs bouncing up and down while sitting on his bottom, smiling his big toothy smile!

I showed him twice how to turn around at the top of the stairs to crawl down backwards and now he can go up and down with great ease. It is hilarious to see him "on a mission" to make his way down. He scoots around in a circle and sometimes bumps into the couch or wall all the while thinking that he is headed down. But when he finally gets to the right spot, down he goes!

The last few days, he has decided to take souvenirs on his trips down the stairs. In one hand, he will hold a block, ball, or anything else he can hold and go all the way down. Sometimes he makes it back up with his treasured item, and sometimes he doesn't.

His newest feat, however is launching things down the steps when the gate is open AND closed. I have found a baby bottle, one of my tall brown boots, and his fire truck toy, all at the bottom of the steps. I guess he hasn't yet figured out that those larger items are more difficult to retrieve. Every time he learns something new, we smile. It is such a joy to discover the world again through his eyes.

11 Months

2010-01-25T10:04:00.000-08:00

It is very difficult for parents to believe how fast children grow and change. In this eleventh month of Dawson's life, I can see why that sentiment is often expressed. Just 11 months ago, we were holding a tiny baby who needed us to meet every single need. Now, he is moving completely on his own and exerting his will to get into everything that he can reach. His personality is coming out and it is so fun to watch him bloom and grow.

At 11 Months Dawson...
-has tooth number three coming in -bolts through the bathroom door with his super lightning crawl saying "Bah" and heads for the bathtub
-climbs up the stairs slowly and when we turn him around, can lower himself down carefully, turning to watch his feet as he goes
-fell down the stairs once and apparently learned his lesson, he now sits and bounces at the top of the stairs until someone comes to get him
-loves to play with his blocks; stacks and bangs them, puts them in his giraffe toy, carries them all over the house while he crawls with one foot behind and the other on the floor in front of him -says "Mhmmm" when he is hungry and bangs his head against the high chair, screeching while he is waiting for his food
-wakes up time is between 5 and 5:45 -pushes his toy tractors across the floor while crawling everywhere
-talks himself to sleep
-bounces up and down any time music comes on
-is naturally happy and laughs expressively
-watches the garbage truck go down the street every week with Daddy from the window
-shakes his head "no" and "yes", sometimes at appropriate times
-eats black beans, carrots, crackers, sweet potatoes, rice, shredded chicken (sometimes), cheese, Cheerios, pasta, green beans, peas, pears, applesauce, cereal, toast, corn, potatoes
-won't eat red peppers or bananas
-loves pulling things out of any drawers that are accessible. We have made two drawers in the kitchen just for Dawson friendly things.
-is amazed by the TV, grabs at the pictures and tries to push the buttons.
-put the phone up to his ear like he was talking
-is a big hugger, especially right before bed time
-puts his hands up when we ask "How big is Dawson?" during the response "SOOO Big!"

Some videos from November and December

2010-01-25T06:26:00.000-08:00

Sweet Boy

2010-01-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

Lately, Dawson has been showing a lot of affection. When he wakes up in the morning, he puts his arms around our necks and squeezes us tight. He also likes to lay his head down on our shoulders when he is sleepy or even trying to just show affection. It is SO sweet. Last night right before putting Dawson to bed, we were praying together as a family. Dawson was in Daddy's arms and reached out to grab Mommy and gave me a hug. Then he kissed me right on the lips. Immediately after that, he reached out for Daddy again and hugged him. Then he was right back to reaching out for a Mommy hug. It melts my heart that he is responding to the love that we are showing him. I thanked God last night that Dawson is beginning to understand what love means. What a sweet, loving boy we have!

10 Months

2009-12-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

At 10 Months Dawson Partrick Miller...
-Is into all drawers, doors, compartments, flaps, pretty much anything that can open and shut. He pulls out everything he can and turns them into toys. He especially likes to do this with pots and pans.

-Climbs and pulls up on everything he can. Tries to pull himself on top of things.

-Shakes his head "No".

-Opens and shuts his hand toward himself. We think it means "I want something," but we are trying to teach him to use it with "Hi" and "Bye". When we do it back, he cracks up.-Loves his walker toys and bolts down the hallway, through the kitchen, and in the living room. This makes his cousins laugh!

-Gives us a cheesy smile sometimes.

-Makes a clicking noise in his mouth that we like to mimic and he laughs.

-Still LOVES peek-a-boo!
-Smiles every time we start to read his favorite books, Snuggle Puppy and Barnyard Dance

-Follows us everywhere

-Crawls at lightning speed

-Fascinated with the bathtub, toilet paper and toilet. Has yet to figure out how to flush...

-Wiggles uncontrollably when having his diaper changed.

-Starting to fight sleep

-Eats pasta, toast, pizza crust, carrots, green beans, yellow squash, oranges, apples, pears, bananas, cheerios, and little bits of all kinds of other things.

-Loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders.

-Watched his first snowfall on Christmas Eve

-Had his first stomach flu

-Investigates everything - especially electronic devices like the phone, remotes, laptop, and television. He also LOVES anything with wheels. He turns them over to figure out how the wheels work.

-Calls Daddy, Mommy, and Aunt Casey, "Mama"
-Tentatively climbs the stairs.
-Has figured out how to turn himself around on the couch or bed and get down, feet first.

I fought the stairs and - I won

2009-12-29T06:13:00.000-08:00

It had to happen eventually. In fact, I was even wondering whether I should hasten the opportunity (not really, that's child abuse). But Dawson eventually had to fall down the stairs. It happened yesterday. I went downstairs to do laundry and didn't close the babygate behind me, then left to pick up our babysitter for the evening. Erin was with Dawson in the bedroom. The quick little crawler bolted through the open bedroom door. A few moments later, Erin wondered "is the babygate closed." No sooner had that thought crossed her mind then she heard the helpless sound of a 10 month old boy tumbling down our carpeted stairs. The final thud was followed by a full-lunged cry.

When I got home, I was shown the red bump that had appeared above his eye. I hope this doesn't sound sadistic, but I was quite proud of my boy. Dawson is getting braver and I'm allowing him more freedom, which is resulting in his falls becoming more regular while also producing less tears. The tumble down the short staircase had to happen eventually. And to know that he tumbled down, cried a bit but then had a big smile as daddy looked at his bump, well, that makes a dad pretty proud of his tough little boy.

Teething and Sinuses

2009-12-22T18:04:00.000-08:00

I should have never written this post. The past two weeks, Dawson has been teething and has had a sinus infection, meaning he wakes up crying about every two hours. It's been pretty rough in the Miller house, with the lack of sleep. We got some medicine from the Dr. today so hopefully that will help.

That's parenting, right? Just when you think you've got something figured out you find yourself starting all over again.

I'll never write a "mission accomplished" post again.

Dear Santa...

2009-12-18T15:45:00.002-08:00

First Christmas Special

2009-12-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

Dawson's first tv Christmas special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Vacuum

2009-12-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

Dawson is fascinated with how things work and the vacuum is his largest object of fascination. He was scared of it at first but mom helped calm his fears. Now he can't get enough of the vacuum; he climbs on it, pulls it over, spins the wheels and pulls at the cord. He does however, still get scared when it makes the loud noise when the belt slips, sending him crawling to mommy.

First Words

2009-12-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

Donnie and I have been able to pick up a few words that Dawson has started to understand. He smiles when he hears his name and when we start to read his favorite book, Snuggle Puppy. He understands Mommy and Daddy when he hears them and has started to say them in his own way - "Mama" and "Dah". My favorite time of the day is when I get home from work and he sees me. He gets a HUGE smile on his face and starts crawling over to grab onto my pant legs all the while saying, "Mama, Mama!"
Another important item to Dawson is his bottle. He has used his version of the word, "baba" several times in context, asking us for it. He is now able to hold it by himself without help. And you should see him go to town with it. When he sees it he often squeals and if it is anywhere near his reach, he grabs it!

Videos from October

2009-12-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

9 months old

2009-11-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

At nine months of age, our little boy...
- Laughs at his own burps, convincing mom this trait is a part of a man's DNA
- Is able to to maneuver back down from a standing position to a seated position with growing ease
- Tests any stationary or somewhat stationary object to see if he can pull himself up with it. When he does pull into a standing position, he gets a big smile on his face and looks around to show off for whoever is watching.
- Loves cheerios
- Can 'cruise' along the furniture
- Has a deep belly laugh
- Loves looking out the living room window
- Clings tightly to our necks when getting him out of the crib in the morning. This is, by far, daddy's favorite part of the day.
- Still loves "Snuggle Puppy"
- Army crawls across the floor with surprising speed. He's just now begun doing the regular crawl.
- Is obsessed with the end-table drawer underneath the TV
- Toes peek out over the edge of his car seat
- Wiggles on the changing table, making changing his diapers an almost impossible task
- Is wearing 12 - 18 month sized clothes
- Eats 3 meals per day
- Is in the 90th percentile of height and 50th of weight
- Has 2 little teeth and takes 2 long naps each day
- Has begun research for his doctoral dissertation... okay, maybe next month.

Night Sleep

2009-11-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

Last night, Dawson went to bed at 7:30 and didn't wake up until 5:40. He went down without any struggle and woke up happy. It hasn't been easy to get there, though.

Erin and I have been following pretty closely the guidance in the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, recommended to us by our mutual funds rep, Brian. Dawson has been sticking with the sleep milestones and habits Dr. Weissbluth outlines in his book; two long naps during the nap and waking up once for a nighttime feeding. With Dawson approaching 9 months however, Dr. W says it's time to phase out the night feeding. So Sunday night, I sent Erin to sleep downstairs so I could do the "work" of helping Dawson break his habit of a midnight bottle.

2:30, Dawson woke up crying for his bottle, right on cue. I put a binky back in his mouth, tried to quite him but it didn't work. It was then time to let Dawson cry it out. 3:00 he was still screaming full strength so I went back in, put the binky back in his mouth and laid him back down. That didn't work, so there was another 20 minutes of crying but the cries were lessening in intensity. I went back in to check on him and saw that he was at least laying down by now and I knew he was about to give in to sleep. 10 minutes later, he was asleep, not waking up again until 6:45.

Now, believe me, that hour of crying was not easy. I laid in bed for awhile, did some reading but mostly kept reassuring myself I was doing the right thing. "If he doesn't learn to sleep now, he'll never learn and I want him to sleep at college," "crying is a form of amnesia, it will help him unlearn his waking up habit," and "babies have to learn to self soothe and if you do it for them, they'll never learn." Those principles from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child kept me strong.

The next night, he woke up again and cried for another hour. This time, I didn't do anything to sooth him and he eventually fell asleep on his own.

The third night, I woke up at exact same time but NO CRYING BABY! At 4:00 that morning, he cried out and I thought he was going to wake up but he went right back to sleep.

This round of self-will has been won by mommy and daddy. Not only do we gain the benefit of a full night's sleep but Dawson gains the benefit of learning how to sleep through the night and how to put himself back to sleep if he wakes up. It's a great, great feeling and I'm VERY glad it's over.

This morning in church, I was recommending that book to sleep-deprived parents of a one month old. I was told by another family that when they decided to break their son of the night waking habit, he cried for 6 straight hours! Dawson is such an easy baby.

Sleeping next to daddy

2009-11-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

Erin and I have both had some precious moments with Dawson the past couple of weeks. When he wakes up at an hour we deem too early, we quickly feed and change him, then force him to lie next to us on the couch. We position our bodies in such a way that he's basically crammed between the couch and our side, restricting most of his wiggling (though not all). We drape our arms over him, hold his little finger in our hand, put the binky back in his mouth and then lie there hoping to go back to sleep. After 10-15 minutes, the wiggling stops, his breaths get longer and deeper and we get anywhere from a 20 minute to an hour long nap. Often, I'm still awake while Dawson sleeps. Feeling his sleeping little body curled up next to mine is one of the most moving experiences I've had as parent.

I did another post on "sleeping next to daddy" here.

"Look, mom!"

2009-11-15T13:04:00.001-08:00

No, Dawson is not taking steroids. His strength is all natural.

By George, I think we've got one?!?! A tooth that is...

2009-11-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening, I caught a glimpse of a little white something poking through the little pink gums inside Dawson's mouth. Yep! After several months of thinking that Dawson has been teething, I think the first tooth is pushing through his little gums. You see, I think most new parents think that their child is teething for a long time before the teeth actually show up in their child's mouth. Most of the time if I can't figure out why Dawson is fussy, I blame it on his yet-to-be-seen teeth that MUST be causing him serious pain. If it is not hunger, sleepiness, or a need for a fresh diaper, it must be tooth related! I have been joking with Donnie that we need to take him to the dentist to see if they will x-ray his mouth to see if there actually are teeth inside there! The difficulty with a baby is, he doesn't like me to stick my finger in his mouth for my purposes to see if there are any teeth... If it is his idea, by all means, he can chew, suck, or drool all over my fingers. :) But I think in the midst of his protest last night, I discovered a little tooth edge poking through his bottom gums. A little one-toothed wonder!

Sleeping with Daddy

2009-11-06T20:56:00.001-08:00

Dawson's Daddy wrote a post about what it is like to cuddle up in Daddy's arms. You can read it here.

8 Months Old!

2009-10-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

At 8 months, our little Horton:

- Listens attentively to his favorite books. He often looks back and smiles during Snuggle Puppy. It is a singing book. :)

- Can pull himself up to a standing position

- Has a determined way of getting to whatever object grabs his attention. Lots of army crawling around our house!

- Has a happy sound that sounds an awful lot like a growl

- Can scoot all across the living room and kitchen floors

- Loves being tickled under the ribs

- Enjoys hanging with daddy and friends while they life weights in the garage

- Can't actually crawl, but gets up on hands and knees to rock back and forth

- Hugs around the neck and gives open-mouthed kisses

-Loves to see his Aunt Casey and cousins Tricia, Sydney and Andy when he stays with them while Mommy and Daddy work two days of the week.

Crawling Videos

2009-10-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun crawling videos.
The last two are about a month later than the first one, which shows how much quicker he moves now.
I love the "lion" video. You can hear Dawson's lion-like "growl" and watch how he doesn't stop until he reaches the object of his desire. Dawson is relentless. Relentless, like a lion hunting his prey.

Upwardly Mobile

2009-10-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

We had another "first" over the weekend, from a sitting position, the little guy pulled himself up into a standing position. So that night, we promptly lowered his crib to prevent him from climbing over the railing.
He's also able to get up onto his knees and crawl a few 'steps' in the traditional crawl. He quickly gets tired or loses his balance and falls back down with a slight whine.

Dawson is so energetic. When he wants something, he'll give a total effort in his pursuit. I can't imagine what we're in for once he starts walking...

I'm here to "Pump - You Up!"

2009-09-22T07:07:00.001-07:00

Dawson had been bugging me to let him work out with me, so I finally gave in. Since we were doing pull-ups today, he wanted to join in. Of course, my son is such a stud that he has to show off and do one-armed pull ups. It's just so effortless for him...

7 Months Old

2009-09-14T15:45:00.001-07:00

We are blown away by the fact that our little boy is already more than a half year old. Dawson is a gift that we give thanks for every night. We have a nightly ritual of praying together as a family before we put him in bed.

Something that I don't want to forget is how we both call him, "Bugga Bugga." Depending on the moment, it is "Ugga Bugga Boo", "Daddy's Little Bugga Bugga", "Bugga Boo", or sometimes even "Bugga Bear". I'm sure Dawson will tell us when he is big enough that he prefers that people don't know that we do this. :)

At seven months...
Dawson enjoys
-standing up with help much more than sitting
-rolling around the room to get things that he wants
-mimicking our sounds and noises. His favorite to mimick is, "Hi!" and we think he was trying to be Yogi Bear a couple of weeks ago saying, "Hey Booboo!"
-making raspberry noises while spitting lots of drool all over whomever is holding him
-staring at the green numbers on the digital clock in our bedroom. He is obsessed with that clock!
-eating sweet peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, winter squash, applesauce, and is not too sure about bananas. He makes the funniest faces with the bananas like they are sour to him.
-playing peek-a-boo and laughing at Mommy when she jumps out.
-smiling every morning when he wakes up. He has done this for at least 5 months.
-discovering everything around him. He is very inquisitive and likes to study things with his eyes before sticking it in his mouth.

His hair is getting long. Long enough to curl when he gets out of the bath and to have a faughawk with a little help from Mom.

He gets compliments from everyone saying how handsome he is and he smiles whenever anyone says it.

He is long enough to fit well in his 6-12 month outfits. Mommy planned ahead and got good deals on his clothes, but he will outgrow them very soon. We're going to have to get bigger sizes!

The Joys of being a Pastor's Kid

2009-09-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

How many times will I talk about Dawson during my Sunday morning messages? Well, I'm not exactly sure. I can promise however, that his name will come up fairly often.

Today I was wrapping up the sermon series "The Gospel Accoring to Dr. Seuss" (inspired by Dawson) and used "Horton Hatches the Egg" to help illustrate Paul's teaching on adoption into God's family from Ephesians 1. It was a powerful story. You can read or listen to it here.

We also had some people who were a big part of Dawson's story there to hear the message as well.

And more videos...

2009-09-13T19:37:00.001-07:00

A Whole Bunch of Videos

2009-09-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

First Football Game and First 5k

2009-09-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a blog post on Dawson's first 5K on Sunday, August 30th. link

Here are pictures of Dawson getting ready for his first Hawkeye football game of the year. The game came down to two blocked kicks in a row to end the game. I about tossed Dawson up in the air in excitement. Almost. link

6 Months Old!

2009-08-26T06:58:00.001-07:00

Our 6 month old not-s0-little baby no longer likes being rocked to sleep

Will talk himself to sleep

When he's happy, he lets out an ear-splitting squeel

Can rollover from front to back and back to front

When we hold him in our lap and read / sing "Snuggle Puppy" he turns to look up into our faces and smiles

Has monkey toes, grabs his psychadelic elephant with his toes

LOVES his excersaucer, spins the wheel with a vengeance

Wrinkles his nose while he laughs and gets a serious expression while concentrating

Smiles as the baby cereal pours out of his mouth and down his chin

During peek-a-boo, his expression changes from wide-eyed anticipation to giggles of pure joy

Enjoys sucking on his toes

Is an aspiring singer

Spends Tuesdays and Thursdays at Aunt Casey's, where he's loved on by three of his cousins

Is in the top 90th percentile in height and 50th percentile in weight

Still spits up a LOT, with no warning whats0ever

Gets daddy up early (4:30 - 6:00) for runs but then falls asleep in the jogging stroller

Did NOT enjoy his 6 month vacinations

A visit from Miss Brianna

2009-08-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

Dawson's birth mom, Brianna came over last night for her monthly visit with Dawson. It was a good visit, though Dawson was fussy most of the time and Brianna got some quality time with Dawson. Brianna was able to feed Dawson a bottle and some solid food, read him a book, see him in the outfit she bought him and rock him to sleep.

We'd made a commitment for Brianna to visit once a month for Dawson's first 6 months. Those 6 months are now up and Brianna is moving to Minneapolis. It was a rather sad evening, though Brianna seeing how healthy and happy Dawson is was heartening.

A little gift

2009-08-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight we were at the annual vision rally for the Kansas City District Church of the Nazarene. There were a couple thousand people there to hear our District Superintendent give his annual report on our KC churches. During his report, our DS shared a powerful video telling the story of our church's Love Wins ministry. People were crying and applauding, it was a wonderful moment.

During the entire two hour service, Dawson was being held by a friend of ours, Jerry Godwin, who was a father-figure to Erin as a teenager in her home church. Jerry's incredible skill with babies has earned him the nickname "the baby whisperer." His baby skills were in full force as he somehow kept Dawson happy the entire two hours. I'd never seen anything like it.

But when our video came on the big screen, Dawson started giggling with joy. He would look at us then look at the big screen, mommy and daddy larger than life. And when my voice came over the PA system, he would give a happy coo.

Thousands of people were clapping for us throughout the video but I have to say that Dawson's excitement at hearing our voices gave us a joy deeper than the applause of the crowd. As we said our nightly prayer over our son, Erin thanked God for "this little gift of Dawson's joy."

Five Months Old!

2009-08-01T07:43:00.001-07:00

laughs when we make animal noises in his ear

rolls from his back to his side A LOT (has rolled from back to stomach and stomach to back a few times)

arches his back to see whatever is behind him

giggles when we play "This little piggy"

calms down when we sing to him

puts anything he can get his hands on in his mouth

LOVES his exersaucer, (thanks Garcia Gag!) especially the spinny toy

spits up at least twice after every meal!

has tried cereal and LOVES to chew on the spoon

wiggles and touches Mommy's face when trying to go to sleep

goes to sleep on his right side, in our arms, but we lay him on his left to avoid a flat head

screamed his head off for three different babysitters who love him

doesn't mind wearing a hat

has yet to be in the pool... even though we have a VERY cute swimming outfit!

smiles A LOT!

jabbers ALL the time

First time for solid foods

2009-07-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

We finally took our Dr.'s advice from a month ago to start giving Dawson some solid food twice a day. The food isn't for nutritional value (which is good because I don't think any of it was actually swallowed) but to get him used to the consistency of solid food and the act of swallowing. We just so happened to have a camera on hand for this momentous occasion.

His tears were likely a protest, "why are you shoving this stuff in my mouth? I'm hungry and want some real food!"

First time away from our little boy!

2009-07-24T14:37:00.001-07:00

We're currently in the middle of a two week vacation. Most of the time is being spent at my parents. We did however, get away for a two night trip to Chicago, just the two of us. The trip was enjoyable and relaxing. The two weeks leading up to the trip however, were quite anxious for us.

Two weekends ago, mom and dad came down for GCT's Bye, Bye Birdie. Mom and dad came to the High School to take Dawson from Erin in the middle of Friday night's show and planned on putting him to bed. We didn't think anything of it because he always went down for us very easily. Well, as we just read in Baby's First Year: Week by Week, 5-7 month old babies often have a fear of strangers. Over-tired to begin with, Dawson completely freaked out when mom tried to feed him and put him to bed, he wouldn't stop crying for anything. Eventually, Dad came to the High School to get Dawson. The next day, mom kept trying to put Dawson down for his naps but he wanted none of it. He kept up what I call his "who are you and what have you done to my mommy?" cry. Mom kept at it though and by Sunday afternoon, she was able to rock him to sleep. So we had a little hope...

But our hope started to dim the next Sunday night. Dawson's birth-grandma watched him while we went to see Anything Goes at Starlight Theatre. We weren't even out of the house before Dawson started throwing a fit. From the time we handed Dawson to Kim till the time he collapses exhausted in his crib, he threw a fit. I think he stopped a few times to catch his breath and regain some strength but it was two hours of who are you and what have you done to my mommy?!

The next day, we drove to mom and dad's, planning on leaving for Chicago the next morning. Mom held him most of that day, put him down for a nap and even put him to sleep that night. We wanted her to wait until we were gone so we wouldn't have to hear him cry but mom wanted to start weaning him from us even before we left. Mom held one of Erin's shirts on her shoulder while she fed and rocked him to sleep, which helped a little. He went down that night without too much fuss. We felt so much guilt, feeling like we were abandoning our baby to the fear from being around people he doesn't know but mom believed it wasn't fear that caused Dawson to cry but simply a child's insistence of having his own way, "I want my mommy." That made us feel a little better.

Not wanting him to wake up in a strange place and to a strange face, I woke up with Dawson early Tuesday morning. We did our normal routine with him until mom put him down for a nap about 2 hours later. Pushing through the guilt, we stole away for our mini-vacation while he was napping. The guilt piled up the closer we got to Chicago and followed us around the windy city.

We avoided calling mom until late Tuesday night. Relief flowed in to replace our anxiety as mom told us Dawson had done just fine, he'd enjoyed being around her, Aunt Rachel, Grandpa and cousin Danni. We were then able to relax and enjoy ourselves on Wednesday. Wednesday, July 23rd, was the first full 24 hour period we were away from our little boy. Each time we saw parents with a baby, we missed him a little bit more. We couldn't believe how much we missed him and we kept stealing glances at the picture of Dawson in the excer-saucer still on our camera.

By Wednesday night, we were aching to get back home to see him. From the time we hopped on the subway to driving the last stretch of Hwy 16, that ache grew stronger the closer we got to mom and dad's. As we ran through the front door into the living room, we heard his first sounds of waking up from a nap. We bounded up the stairs, into his room and were greeted with an extra special "good morning smile." Dawson's usual excitement at being greeted after a nap was intensified by seeing us again after two days. The cooing and laughing were the sweetest they've been in awhile.

Maybe I should've entitled this post, "first time experiencing the joy of being reunited with our boy"?

First time in Excer-saucer

2009-07-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago, Casey gave us two excer-saucer. They've been sitting in the garage collecting dust ever since. Well, last week I got them out hosed them off, scrubbed them down, washed the cloth seats and presented them to Dawson.

It was quite the sight, the first time I set Dawson in one of the seats. Dawson was totally blown away by all the toys placed in front of him, it was total sensory overload. He shook with excitement and seemed paralyzed by all the possibilities. Eventually, however, he figured out how to interact with the toys while moving around in his seat. He's gotten in a groove now and really enjoys his time in an excer-saucer. It's a whole 'nother level from a bouncy seat. Of course, I've gotta keep a rag nearby to wipe up the pools of spit up.

First Time Crying Himself to Sleep

2009-07-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

Dawson usually goes to sleep pretty easily, as long as we time it right. We feed him, rock him then put him down. If he fusses, we go back in his room, quiet him down and give him his pacifier again.
We're also reading the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and just received a timely warning from that book. The Author, who is a Dr. specializing in sleep patterns of children, warned that while it's no big deal to go in and check on your kids at 4 months, as they get older they'll learn to manipulate you. He wrote you have to let them cry once you put them down, no matter how long it will take. Even if you set a limit of say, 20 minutes, the child will learn they need to cry for 20 minutes before getting a response. If you just let them cry, they'll eventually fall asleep. And crying to sleep does not harm their psyche.

Last night, Dawson clearly wanted to play rather than go to sleep. When we put him down, he cried very hard. While it was difficult, we kept ourselves from going in his room to comfort him. Eventually, the crying got softer until he drifted off to sleep.

Luckily for our nerves, it only took 11 minutes.

We Love You Dawson

2009-07-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

Check out this post - link.

Swinging and Sliding

2009-07-08T08:55:00.001-07:00

On the 4th of July weekend, Trinity Family worshipped at the park. While it wasn't Dawson first trip to a park it was his first time on the swings and going down a slide.
Enjoy the picture.

Fear

2009-07-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Although Erin tells me she's seen Dawson scared a few other times, two mornings ago was the first time I'd personally seen Dawson frightened. It wasn't anything major but it was the first time I'd been able to observe the emotion of fear crossing my son's face.

I was trying to get laundry done while Erin was sleeping but it's hard to transfer loads from the washer to the dryer with a baby occupying one of your arms. So I set Dawson down in a basket full of burp cloths and bibs straight out of the dryer. That sight was so cute that I started laughing, which made Dawson smile while made me laugh even more.

As Dawson snuggled in the basket of warm laundry, I swung the dryer door closed just above his head, causing him to startle with the sound. When I started the dryer however, was when I saw fear on his little face. The sound of the dryer starting must've made Dawson think the world was ending. His face held a mixture of terror and bewilderment, which was an interesting face to look at.

True to baby form however, it only lasted a couple seconds. Dawson soon reverted back to his trusting baby self and smile some more as I carried him upstairs in a basket full of laundry.

Good Morning Smile

2009-07-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

Though I' a bit groggy when this happens before 6:00, my favorite part of the day with Dawson is what we call the "good morning smile." Dawson wakes up cooing then eventually gets bored or lonely enough that he starts crying to get our attention. When we go into his room and stick our faces in his crib, he lets loose with a smile that lights up the whole nursery. I LOVE that smile. It really is the best part of the day. I prefer however, to experience that part of the day as close to 7:00 as possible.

Some More Videos

2009-06-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

Father's Day

2009-06-22T15:27:00.001-07:00

We celebrated our first Father's Day. You can read about it here.

4 month checkup

2009-06-22T15:22:00.001-07:00

Dawson got his 4 month checkup at the Doctor's office today. The Dr. told us just what we expected, that Dawson is doing great. We did talk about our two concerns: 1) his constant spitting up and 2) his flattening head.
1) If Dawson didn't spit up, he might be the easiest baby in the world. The Dr. put him on some medicine to counter the acid-reflux causing the spit up. But it's really just a convenience for us (less changing of clothes for all of us) because the spitting up isn't hurting Dawson and he's still growing fine.
2) We've gotta get Dawson more tummy time and get him to sleep on his right side, neither of which he really likes. The flatness should go away in a few years and it's nothing to worry about yet but we've gotta address it.

Dawson is 26 inches, which puts him in the 90th percentile for height and 14.5 lbs, which is the 50th percentile for weight.

Oh yeah, he also got his 4 month shots. While he didn't cry a lot at the time of the shots, he's been fussy all day because of the soreness.

Rolling Over

2009-06-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ignoring his cries of protest, we've been giving Dawson some extended "tummy time" the past couple weeks. This morning at 6:30, Erin came into the bedroom very excited that the tummy time has paid off; Dawson rolled over from his belly to his back 5 times in a row! He'd been rolling over partway but never all the way over without any help.

Around 9:30 I put him on his belly hoping to see the same thing and all he did was cry in protest. After I picked him up, he screamed for about another half hour. So I guess I'll have to wait to see it for myself...

Three Months

2009-06-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Our little boy at three months...
-chews on his tongue when he is happy
-weighs 15 pounds
-looks really long
-tries to converse in his baby language of cooing and squawking when we talk to him
-kicks his feet when excited
-puts everything in his mouth
-holds tight to his burp cloths and Mommy's clothes
-grabs for toys like rattles
-loves to be on the floor under his octopus garden
-sits in his Bumbo chair
-is starting to like tummy time a bit more
-smiles and jabbers a lot when Mommy or Daddy come around
-relaxes when Mommy sings or sways with him in her arms
-likes to hear you say, "ACHOO" after he sneezes (he giggles)
-is spitting up a lot after he eats
-sleeps for 8-9 hours straight at night!!!
-naps for 2-3 hour stretches during the day
-eats 5 and 1/2 ounces of formula per feeding
-uses his binky less
-visited Grammie and Papa's farm in Iowa for the first time

A Twist of Fate

2009-06-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Dawson's Daddy figured out an interesting tidbit that would have made our family quite diffr=erent from now. Read more here: A Twist of Fate

Smiling Boy

2009-05-20T14:14:00.001-07:00

Within the past few weeks or so, Dawson has begun interacting with us a lot more. It happens during the 3 or 4 times per day in which he's wide awake. Last week, I was sitting next to him on the coach reading to him from a book about preaching and he just started busting up laughing. I don't know what was so funny about the book but he loved it. Then I started making a funny noise and hitting my forehead with the book and he was cracking up like crazy. It was one of the best moments as a dad so far.

A couple posts down are some pictures of Dawson smiling. Here are some videos of him laughing. It's hard to get him to coo in cue. I had another video with some good and loud coos but for some reason, I'm having trouble uploading it to Youtube.

He's also doing this thing when he gets so overwhelmed by everything going on around him that he can't decide which way to look, so he turns his head back and forth, trying to get it all in.

Dawson's tryout video

2009-05-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

Check out this video and post, link.

You know what's cool? Dawson is actually on the bottom of the official callback list as a "Special Baby Callback." For awhile, you can check it out here.

Sleeping Patterns

2009-05-16T19:59:00.001-07:00

We just put Dawson down for the night and he is out like a light. His sleeping habits have started to become more consistent. Following the advice from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, I've been keeping a sleep journal, tracking his sleeping patterns. The author, who is a doctor specializing in children's sleep habits, wrote that kids under four months should stay awake no more than than 2 hours straight and should be allowed to sleep whenever they're tired. At four months, parents start working to establish a napping schedule.
This seems to be a much more balanced approach than what was suggested (no, commanded) in Baby Wise. But while we've discarded the advice on the nap schedule, what we took away from Baby Wise was the need for a feeding schedule.
Dawson has been sleeping for about 10 hours at night, waking up twice to eat but immediately going back to sleep after being changed and fed. That's been very nice but it's lead to the amazing miracles we've experienced the past two nights.
On Thursday night, Dawson slept 8 straight hours! We put him down at 9:30 and he didn't wake up until 5:30. Often, though after setting a new record for sleep, he'd shorten it by an hour or two the next night. I guess, technically he did shorten it the next night, but only by an hour, meaning he slept 7 straight hours on Friday night! Simply amazing.
Maybe this is a move toward a full night's sleep for mommy and daddy?

Wait, I hear some whimpering. Maybe tonight won't be that easy. Dawson had a rough day today, very fussy.

2 months a little late!

2009-05-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is now almost three months old, so here are some things I want to remember about him around 2 months old:

-can lift his head pretty well with tummy time

-likes to be on the changing table at eye level with Mommy and Daddy

-coos and giggles in response to facial expression and baby talk

-likes to look around when he is up on your shoulder

-tells us when he is sleepy by staring off into space or getting fussy

-is eating close 4 oz. per feeding

-spending lots of time with Daddy while Mommy goes back to work until summer

-bats at hanging toys and even grabs them to shake them

-loves the sound of the shower

-rolled over from tummy to back after his bath

-coos in the warm bath water

-loves music, goes to sleep to lullabies, especially loves mommy singing

Lifecare

2009-05-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, we spoke at a benefit dinner for the crisis pregnancy center through which we adopted Dawson, Lifecare. It was a very emotionally intense night but one we'll always remember. To see some pictures and read about it, go to my other blog.