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Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Week

We spent last Sunday in Leavenworth visiting at Mom and Dad Dickson's. Here Levi is getting a little tutorial about all the buttons on the camera. As you can see he is quite interested. It's not often he is encouraged to actually touch the camera.
Sometimes Levi really cracks his Gran up. How cute are they? Levi has REALLY been enjoying blueberries lately.

Luke did some serious tree trimming at our place this week. Levi was watching from the upstairs window and everytime Luke started up the saw Levi said, "HAW!" Every time a limb fell to the ground Levi said, "YAY!" Look at these two taking a drink- Luke from his pop can and Levi from his sippy cup.

Levi got to play with two of his buddies this week, Micah and Daniel. Daniel pushed one of the toy bins away from the wall far enough to make a 'barn'. He announced that they were three cows in the barn. He is 3 1/2 and uses a lot of imagination in his play. Levi is definitely not at that level yet. As I talked about taking a picture of the cows in the barn Levi came over to look at the camera and was disappointed that I didn't actually take any pictures of real cows. He looked at me with a questioning, "Moo?"

My baby is getting so big! Look at those feet.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Father's Day 2009

Dear Daddy,


Happy Father’s Day! Mama and I are glad for a day to celebrate what a wonderful Dad you are.


I am excited to give you some presents. I had lots of ideas and wanted to give you some of my very favorite things- you know, like maybe a school bus, a squirrel, potato chips, a puppy, or a baby. Mama said we could give you some potato chips but the others will have to wait a little bit.

I watch you very closely and want to do whatever you are doing. After you go to work and Mama and I sit down for breakfast, we hold hands and she says a prayer. Then I lean down and kiss her hand- just like you do after our supper time prayer. She really likes that.

It’s great how you always look out for me. You were concerned that I might get scared by the doctors wearing masks when I went to the hospital to get tubes in my ears. You made a special trip to bring home some masks for us to play with. The next day when we went to the hospital, I wasn’t afraid at all.

It’s great how you help me settle back to sleep after I’ve had a bad dream. Thank you for making meal time, bath time, play time, and errands so much fun. Thank you for wrestling with me, praying for me, and singing to me. We have so much fun together and it’s just going to get better as I get older. We’ll be able to go camping and golfing and I can help you mow the lawn!

From the day you heard that I was on the way, you have thrown everything you have into being a great Dad. You never hold back. As I said last year, thanks for how you take such good care of me and Mama. She says she hopes I grow up to be just like you. I do, too.

Love,
Levi

Monday, June 15, 2009

A Little Light Reading

Levi sat down for a quiet evening with his paci and a book he had seen his Daddy perusing. (by 'quiet evening' I mean 20 seconds of being still)




Earlier this evening Levi went with Lucas to run by the grocery. As they parked the car Levi said, "Pray? pray?" Lucas obliged with a quick prayer. After the Amen, Levi then said, "Pray? more, more?" So Lucas said another prayer. A third time Levi asked for more praying and a third time Lucas said a prayer. Finally, Levi was satisfied and ready to climb out of the car for his outing.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I Dig This

How are you all doing? We here at the Dickson headquarters have been doing just fine. Amber turned 32 last Friday and had a wonderful birthday. Thank you to all those who called with birthday wishes and even bigger thanks to those who called and sang.

Levi has been busy learning lots of new words and gives his mama at least two heart attacks per day with his climbing and falling (or nearly falling) antics. Last week he fell onto the concrete landing by the front door. He had a pretty big scab covering his nose and upper lip but has healed quite quickly. Here he is poking around with a stick on the driveway.

"hooray! dirt and rocks and sticks!" "What you talkin' 'bout, Mama?"

"Maybe there will be bugs in here?"

"My drooling has slowed down considerably but hasn't disappeared completely."


Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Today

I was reading a forum online where women posted their favorite mom memories. Some were hilarious, some were touching, all were relatable.

My favorite motherhood memory?

It happened at dinner tonight. I watched as my 19 month old son, inserted a French fry into his ear and attempted to use it as a cotton swab.

Had I been asked the same question yesterday I would have described what happened that morning. He stopped playing with his toy cars and came over to me with a huge smile and gave me the sloppiest kiss ever manufactured.

Picking a favorite motherhood memory is like picking out your favorite toe- they all have their own particular significance. My favorite memory always ends up being whatever happened that day. Living in the now is one of the biggest lessons Levi has taught me. That attitude doesn’t come naturally to me but every day I get better at it. In motherhood the highs are so high (the first ‘ma-ma’, the first steps, the contagious giggles) and the lows are very low (the three medication-free hours of pushing, the clogged milk ducts, the passionate toddler tantrums) but in between all of that we have the now. The now is my favorite part.

So happy! So tired!


On more than one occasion I nearly ate him right up.

Making family memoires.


The now.