First Sporting KC Game

The other night, a former Teach For America colleague who now works for Sporting Kansas City, took us to our first Sporting KC game. This friend, Peter got us a dinner at the buffet in the VIP section, took us out on the field and gave us free seats.  Dawson was quite intrigued by the whole event. When Sporting KC just missed a goal, the crowd belted out a loud cry of anguish, which caused Dawson to declare, "that scared me." He enjoyed clapping along with the crowd and impatiently asked us to go watch the "soccer ball game" or "baseball game" (he gets his sports mixed up).  I'm pretty sure Dawson's favorite part of the night was all the cheese in the buffet line.  My favorite part was when he wandered into a crowd of older, distinguished looking men who tried to strike up a conversation with Dawson, but he just stood in the circle of them shyly looking at his feet.  We found out later that group was a group of the owners of the soccer club.  I wish Dawson had smoozed them a little bit more. As you can tell from the pictures, Dawson was not in the mood to be looking at the camera. 

Stench

The other night, we were laying on the couch together and Dawson was doing his usual
job of piling every available pillow and blanket on top of me.  Dawson then laid on top of
that pile, as the pile rested on top of me.
I'm not sure what I'd had for dinner that night, but it was creating some serious
pain in my stomach.  Thinking I could release some of the gaseous pressure and
that Dawson wouldn't care, I did so.  A few moments later, however Dawson did care.
Dawson wrinked up his nose and got a bewildered look on his face.  He then pointed to the
inside of his nose, acted like he was in pain and then said, "my nose hurts."  I started to laugh
at that point but lost it at what he said next.  Dawson looked at me, with a serious
and pained expression, ording, "Daddy, don't poop in my nose!

"I tackle daddy"

For a solid 9 months now, Dawson's favorite activity is "I tackle daddy."  Though the definition of
tackling has changed over time.  Now it's much closer to wrestling with daddy but since daddy
is a forme football player rather than former a wrestler, we've stuck with tackling.

At first, tackling involved me laying on the floor while Dawson lauched himself from the couch
toward a semi-soft landing on my stomach and the occassional not-so-soft landing in other areas.
Dawson eventually began to fear the lack of a gauranteed soft landing, so tackling became an act
of Dawson pulling out every single blanket from a cabinet
and every pillow from the couch and covering me with them.

Lately however, Dawson has discoverd the joy of the spare bed in the tv room downstairs.  Now, "I tackle
daddy" has changed into "I go downstairs and tackle daddy."  On that downstairs bed we have good times
doing thins like pillow fights
(Dawson taking a dive even before the pillow hits him), form tackling drills, me pushing Dawson over
while he's jumping on the bed, swinging from the treadmill to the bed or me diving headfirst
at my boy on the other side of the bed.  It's just your basic father-son bonding time.

The good news is that as Dawson gets older and stronger, these matches are going to get more
intense and I'm sure the day in coming in which my son will put a serious hurting on me.  Right now,
though, its' just a bunch of silly stuff all wrapped up in the imperative, "I tackle daddy."

"I be cold with you."

It's been funny for Erin to see that I'm not the only male who believes less clothes is better
than more clothes.  In fact, Erin has now realized that the desire to wear pretty much only
underwear is a universal male trait.  Dawson's favorite outfit is nothing but a diaper with
his next favorite outfit being a shirt and diaper.

So when I happen to be walking from the shower or from the bedroom to iron my pants and wearing
only underwear, Dawson immediately drops his drawers and strips off his shirt in order to join
the'a la mode' of the male househould. And since toddlers still bond with skin-to-skin contact,
Dawson runs up and asks me to hold him or he just grabs my bare legs.  Dawson also usually adds an
"I be cold with you, Daddy."  It's very humorous and incredibly predictable.  If Dawson ever
sees me without pants or without a shirt, he immediately removes the corresponding article of
clothing.  When he does this, Erin and I just laugh.

"Cold" is usually how Dawson describes his pants-less mode.  Most likely it's because whenever he
does strip off his pants, which is quite often, we tell him he'll get cold without his clothes.
Especially when Dawson and I are down in the cold basement jumping in the bed and Dawson strips
off his pants, I ask a bewildered, "why do you want to be cold."  I guess Dawson is numb to the cold
or just figures that no matter his body temperature, the male bonding that occurs while
jumping on the bed needs to be done sans-pants.

I'm not sure whether he'll ever grow into the civilized notion that pants are not a bad thing.

Exerting his independence

Ever since he's been born, though we're not exactly sure of the reason, our nickname for
Dawson has been "bugga."  Maybe it was the bug-like quality of his bulging newborn eyes.
Whatever the reason, "bugga bugga" has stuck.

The other day however, when refering him by the regular nickname, he obstinately replied with
a "I am not bugga.  I am Dawson."

And there it is, a new level of self-assertion.  "I am not who you say I am, I am my own person."


Our little boy is growing up into a man.

October Videos and some memories

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).

Where are the KIDS???

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

"I ride tractor on"

"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 "Choo Choo Chaine" evening

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

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

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.

"Frog"

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...

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

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!

Family Photo Shoot

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

Hobby

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

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.

Up the Stairs and Down the Stairs

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.

I fought the stairs and - I won

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.

"Look, mom!"

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

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

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...