The Dickinson Boys: Fall in Maryland

Woo hoo- it's finally fall! After living in SC and TX over the past five years I'm very excited to have a "real" fall again where the weather gets cooler and the leaves change colors. It's definitely cooling down here- we've even had to turn on the heat this week! The leaves are just starting to change and I imagine it's about to get really beautiful around here. Will loves his "punkins" on the porch too!

There has been no rest for the weary around here. Our days (and sometimes nights) are very busy and sometimes I have very little downtime. Can't get into specifics on the internet but suffice it to say that we're REALLY missing a certain someone around here. Some days the boys are very pleasant and cooperative. Then others...not so much. Luke is still eating twice a night so I get anywhere from 5-7 hours of sleep broken into three parts. Sometimes he's up to eat around 5:00 am and I get him back down around 6:00- just when Will is getting up. Those are fun mornings. One night this past week both boys kept waking up upset or hungry and I was out of bed at 11, 11:30, 11:45-12:30, 1:00, 3:30-4:30 and then up for good at 6:00. Luckily, most nights go much better than that.

Luke has had a couple of small milestones since my last post. First, he's now sleeping in his own room! I thought it would be difficult to make the transition but it actually wasn't too bad. He was just getting too big for the bassinet and he needed to be sleeping in his crib. He usually sleeps pretty well in his crib at night but he's still fighting me on daytime naps. Also, he's now able to use his little Baby Einstein activity center. I have to wrap a blanket around his middle because he's still pretty small, but his feet reach and he can hold his head up well enough. He even has been reaching for the toys to play. Big brother also likes playing with those toys since they're "new" (he hasn't seen them in a long time) and Luke really likes watching Will.

Luke has been very vocal this week and he likes to babble while he's playing. He's still eating like a champ. Unfortunately, we've had a diaper blowout every day for the past four days. It seems to be a trend. I'm talking change the clothes, the changing table pad and put the kid in a bath kind of blowouts. He managed to blow out a diaper in public today which meant I was trying to clean up a large amount of you-know-what in the car in the parking lot. Not our finest moment. But he's as adorable as ever. His hair has a mind of it's own but I think it's cute. People keep asking me if I had a lot of heartburn with him (which I did). They just can't believe that such a small baby has so much hair. He has a little orange Halloween one-piece that said "Hairwolf" on it. It was actually Will's but I laughed when I saw it- it certainly suits Luke!

We've had a whirlwind of activities during the past couple of weeks so I won't bore everyone with all of the details. But to mention a few: a couple of weeks ago we got to meet with a friend of ours from Charleston whose husband worked with David. She came over with her adorable four-year-old boy and the kids played then we went out to lunch. It was nice to see a friendly face from a few years back! There are actually a lot of JAGs that end up in this area so we know a few people from other assignments.

Will has had two Jumpbunch classes and swimming lessons since my last post. Last Friday at Jumpbunch the theme was hockey. Just like soccer, hockey is not a sport that is very familiar to Will. Again, he had a great time running around the gym but he didn't really attempt to do the hockey activities. They were using pool noodles and small plastic balls. Will preferred to just run around with his equipment. A few times he put the ball down and hit it with the noodle, but he quickly realized that it would roll across the gym and other kids would try to pick it up. That was the end of that. Will seems to be getting a bit more comfortable swimming. He will go underwater and jump in off the side. When he jumps in he says "one, two three- to infinity and beyond" and then jumps. Doesn't get much cuter than that! It's funny to see him practicing his swimming in the bathtub too. He's still have trouble blowing bubbles in the water- he's still just drinking the water. Not sure if he's going to make it to swimming this week since I won't have childcare for Luke.

We've had several park outings (which is always a chore to keep Will from hurting himself while carrying Luke along). This week we're starting story time at the Library on Wednesday mornings. On Friday we'll do Jumpbunch and then Luke has his four-month checkup. He'll still be 9 days away from four months but I had to take the appointment when I could get it.

We're still making progress with Will's speech. I'm always surprised when I effortlessly understand what he's saying. A few days ago he yelled "spider on window" from the other room. I went in to see what he was looking at and, sure enough, there was a spider on the window. Some of the things he says are hilarious. One day he was throwing a fit over something insignificant and I told him, "this is not a crisis." Next thing I know he was rolling around on the ground yelling "Crisis! Crisis!" Since my brother Jake has been staying with us, Will likes yelling up the stairs, "Hey Jake, dinner" to "call" Jake to dinner. It's funny when he does it at dinner time when I ask him to tell Uncle Jake that dinner is ready. It's especially funny when he does it at 8:00 in the morning or when Uncle Jake isn't even here. Also, sometimes I call Luke "Lukie" and when Will tries to say "Lukie" it comes out "Cookie." So Will usually calls Luke "Cookie." He'll point to "Cookie's toys" or "Cookie's blanket." Sometimes in the morning when Will first sees Luke he says "hi Cookie." I've even caught myself referring to Luke as "Cookie" when I'm talking to Will. Finally, we've had some problems with Zoe taking food right out of Will's hands. I usually smack her nose and say "bad dog." And now Will runs around yelling "bad dog Zoe!" Whoops.

This morning we went to Bethesda for my endocrinology appointment to check my thyroid (all is well). Unfortunately, a 10:00 am appointment means that we're trying to get there during DC rush hour. It took us an hour and 4o minutes to get there! The drive, coupled with problems parking and the aforementioned diaper blowout means that we've had quite a day. It looks like a lot of our specialty care appointments will be at Bethesda. They've closed the old Walter Reed and combined Walter Reed with Bethesda to make the "National Naval Medical Center." It's currently being renovated but some of the new portions are pretty nice. It's where a lot (if not all) of the wounded veterans come for rehabilitation so you see a lot of young people with prosthetic legs and sometimes arms (and sometimes both). It's a pretty humbling experience just walking through the lobby. It's enough to give a little perspective about throwing a pity party after a long commute and screaming children. Without traffic it's not a bad drive- I think I'll just try to schedule appointments at midday instead of in the mornings or late afternoons.

Will is still counting up a storm. He has made some progress in that he can now usually accurately tell you when he has one, two or three of something. He also seems to be understanding how to make words plural. He'll say "one car" and then "two cars." He seems to grasp that "s" on the end of words makes them plural.

On a less glowing note, we've had some trouble this week with Will listening to Mommy. More than usual. He's tried to run into the street, jump down the stairs and climb on furniture. He's dumped out an entire shaker of salt and taken eggs out of the fridge then dropping them on the floor. I'm right there when these things happen and I sternly tell him to stop. He used to listen some of the time. Now, he usually tries to push me. I usually have to physically stop him from doing these things. About half the times he gets into trouble he seems to comprehend and he gets upset and seems remorseful. Sometimes, though, he ignores me. Will has spent a lot of time in his room lately. Can't wait until there are two mischievous little boys!