Grandma Sue Brings the Florida Sunshine, Part III

The next day, Gma Sue, Ian and I went to another cider mill, mostly because of a slide that is just perfect for him. Nice big stairs with rails, not too far up, and not too steep a slope. If it weren’t for the creepy girl that followed Ian around and tried to get in all of our pictures, we’d have been in good shape. See this image larger.

Almost to the slide part! “Pssst, Gramma Suuuue, is creepy girl behind me?” See this image larger.

“Woohoo, get that camera off of there, Da, it’s sliding time!” See this image larger.

If I didn’t mention it before, Ian can clearly say pumpkin. Little girl in background — “I’m watching yooooou.” See this image larger.

I admit to manipulating this image… Gma Sue was looking up in one, Ian in the other, so I smooshed them together. Can you tell? Nice picture, end result! See this image larger.

When you end up playing with the bike rack, it must be time to go! If Ian looks a little sad here it is because he knows Gma Sue had to fly home the next day. We all had a great time show Sue how much Ian had changed!See this image larger.

Other noteworthy things that happened during the trip.

On the way out of the cider mill parking lot, a dog in the next car howled at us a few times. Over the course of the next week he both barked and howled whenever we asked him what a dog says. He also howled at the moon a couple times; very cute too, his eyes crinkle up, his lips pucker into a little “o” and he extends his face up and out at 45°, like a wolf howls.

I wrapped one of Ian’s blankets over my shoulders, and Ian ran over and hugged me. I said to somebody, either Melissa or Gma Sue “that’s just because of the blanket.” As if to prove me exactly wrong, Ian pulled the blanket off of me, dropped it in a pile, and came back and hugged me. He’s getting a lot more into spontaneous hugs. He’s truly a great kid.

Ian has said his own name before, I think, but he’s much closer to being able to say it now, more regular about saying it, and in the proper context. “Who’s that?” I’ll ask, pointing at a picture of him. “EEN!”