The Dickinson Boys: Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! We have been on the move over the past several weeks and things are finally settling down. At the end of November, David left for his second Accident Investigation Board in Las Vegas. Right on cue, Will got sick just a few days after David left. In a matter of less than 24 hours, Will went from fine to having a lot of difficulty breathing. I got him a quick appointment at the pediatrician on base and he needed a breathing treatment and a course of steroids to help his breathing. Then we had to do breathing treatments every 4 hours through the night for a few days, eventually tapering off. The poor guy felt awful and could hardly walk a few feet without gasping for air. Even when he felt so bad, he managed to mutter "bye bye, Daddy's office" as we passed David's office building on base after seeing the doctor! Thankfully, the medication kicked in very quickly and by the next day he was on the mend. He eventually began cooperating with treatments but the first few were a struggle. I'm hoping it's not a continuing trend that the kids get really sick when David leaves town!

Once Will was feeling better we were able to get out of the house a little more. Unfortunately, the weather turned cold so we were limited on what we could do. I braved two kids in a restaurant a few times when we wanted to get out and I didn't feel like cooking. We went a couple of times to the mall in Annapolis where there is a large indoor play area for kids. During one of our trips to the mall the kids saw Santa. We arrived very early but there was still a long line. By the time it was our turn, Will was a bit impatient. He showed Santa his airplane and gave him a high five, but when I tried to put him on Santa's lap, he got very upset. They snapped a quick picture and we were on our way. Maybe next year Will will like Santa...probably just in time for Luke to decide he's scared of him!

Even more exciting than Santa for Will was the "Go Navy" blimp we saw outside the mall. It was a game day in Annapolis and the blimp was flying around. Will went crazy and thought it was the greatest thing he'd ever seen. Since then he occasionally talks about blimps. This past weekend, several weeks after he'd seen the blimp, we passed the mall (which we don't go to very often) and Will started talking about the blimp! His memory for locations, events and people has greatly improved over the last couple of months.

Before Christmas I showed Will a few of the Christmas shows that came on TV. Most of them he didn't care much about. But he LOVES The Polar Express! I didn't think he would like it because the colors are kind of dark and there aren't many songs. But he loves it. He likes to act out scenes from the movie (including punching train tickets and yelling "all aboard") and he sings the "hot chocolate" song. He has a little sliver bell ornament, like the one in the movie, and the other night he was staring at it repeating "I beeve, I beeve, I beeve" (trying to say, "I believe.").

Prior to leaving Maryland for Christmas Luke had his 6 month well-baby check-up. As of 12/16 he was 27.7 inches and 17 lbs, 10 oz. That puts him in the 93rd percentile for height and the 66th for weight. Since then, though, he has hit a little growth spurt and seems much bigger. Luke is able to sit up for long periods of time without falling over and has been eating like a champ. He loves yogurt and will eat most fruits and vegetables without any problems.

On 12/17 my mom flew to Maryland to help us drive back to Indiana. We made the two-day trip without any problems. The boys are great car travelers. We spent several days in Evansville and David was able to fly in on Christmas Eve and stayed for a couple of days. His board finally concluded a few days after he returned to Nellis AFB and he was able to fly back to Louisville on New Year's Eve. There was a lot of back and forth for him (and us) but we are very happy that we got to see him for Christmas.

While in Indiana Will got to play with his cousin, Xander. Will is still learning to share but he eventually began playing well with Xander. It was cute to watch them together. Will also got to see his other cousin, Savannah, who he calls "Salina." Even after we returned home to MD, Will still keeps talking about "Xander and Salina."

Will has recently been doing more "pretend play" and he often acts out very elaborate and detailed scenes. While playing with a play kitchen at Grandma Crockett's house, he pretended to cook and serve dinner using fairly detailed steps to cook the food...complete with sound effects. He likes to pretend to set the table and wash windows. He has also been talking a lot more and is often hilarious. The other night he sat down to dinner, surveyed his plate and said, "let's see here." On the drive from IN to MD he pointed out the color of every truck he saw, so we had long stretches of hearing "white truck...white truck...white truck..." with occasional blue and red trucks. As we pulled into our neighborhood after our long drive from IN Will was getting fussy (it was pretty late). To distract him I started yelling "we did it...we're home!" Now, when we come back from places around town (like the grocery store or just walking around the block) Will likes to triumphantly yell "we did it...we're home...we did it!"

At one point before Christmas Will kept asking for his sand toys, which I keep in the basement. I brought a few up so he could play with them. He gathered them up, looked at me and said "now go beach." After laughing I had to explain that it is winter and the beach is "closed." Finally, when saying "uh oh" I sometimes say "uh oh, Spaghettios." Will, who has never even had "Spaghettios" now says "uh oh, Spa-daddy-ohs."

Will has been very concerned about helping Luke lately. He loves to give Luke his bottles (sometimes even trying to get dirty bottles out of the sink to take to Luke). Sometimes when Luke cries Will will say "Cookie hungry. Bottle." Telling me to get a bottle for Luke. On our walk the other day I had a blanket covering Luke. Whenever Luke would kick so his shoe was poking out of the blanket, Will would come running yelling, "uh oh, Cookie." And he'd pull the blanket down so that his feet were covered again. The problem is that he kept pulling the blanket off Luke's body to make sure his feet were nice and warm! But he thought he was helping. On the same walk, Will started stroking Luke's head saying, "it's OK, Cookie." Luke was quiet and happy but Will still was trying to comfort him! Finally, Luke often drops toys off the side of the high chair and Will always runs to give them back to him. Will thinks the game is hilarious!

Will has made a lot of progress learning colors. I'd say he knows about 11-12 colors on a consistent basis. We're working on the difference between light and dark blue and green. And sometimes he confuses gray and brown. But he's making a lot of progress. Also, about a month ago he graduated to a big boy cup! I hadn't thought to try to give him a regular cup and once I did, he was pretty good at it. We've had a few spills but he's mostly drinking out of a regular cup (as opposed to a sippy cup) for every meal at home.

Since we've been back in Maryland we've been working on unpacking and getting the house back in order. David went to work last Friday but got to take Monday and Tuesday off so we had a four-day weekend with him. Monday afternoon we got a lot of snow but it melted quickly on Tuesday when it warmed up a lot. At one point in Evansville we had some snow and Will got to play in it for the very first time. He seemed to really enjoy it. He kept wanting to build a snowman but the snow was kind of soft and slushy. Today at story time at the library the craft was building a snowman out of marshmallows. I thought Will would love it because he loves pointing out snowmen, but all he wanted to do was eat the "marshpillows."

At the end of this month we're going to be taking a trip to Alabama to do some house-hunting since we are moving to Montgomery this summer. We are going to drive over a couple of days, with a stop in Durham, NC to visit a large children's museum there. We can't believe that we're moving again already! There is certainly no rest for the weary around here! At least we won't have a newborn for this move!

Luke fits in his giant stocking!

Will helping to feed Luke

Drinking milk out of a big boy cup!

Will iChatting with Daddy while Daddy was in Las Vegas. Will took the phone around the house and showed David things like the vacuum and the Christmas tree.