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.

Things I love about you right now...

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"

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"

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"

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

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

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