Y-Bike and Tomato Soup
April 17th, found this Lego guy and vehicle suspended above the window sill. The string from the blinds was carefully (and you’ll note, safely!) wrapped around his waist and through his hands… Ian’s work!
April 18th, this little cutie had breakfast! See this image larger.
And then it was time to play!
Ian’s engineering skills continue to impress: Here’s a two winged spaceship, that really looked nice.
April 20th, so many nicely matching things in this image… but then again I once had Nina pick out an outfit for herself recently and she cried out “BLUE!” as if she had grown tired of purple and pink. See this image larger.
Can’t help it though, you’re cute as a button in any color, little girl!
April 21st, our woods out back in the spring.
Tomato soup!
*Hey, you takin’ my picture?* See this image larger.
Check out this one larger, you can see tomato soup suspended in mid-air, never to make it to a mouth, lol. See this image larger.
*I’ll do better next time!*
Even with a mask of orangey red, so very cute! See this image larger.
Nina trying to look a little sneaky. See this image larger.
April 26th, no idea what these boys are protesting, but I agree whole-heartedly with their cause! See this image larger.
The kids make a wonderful spaceship!
April 27th, I got Nina a little present… this is Mommy and the kids pulling up in the driveway. See this image larger.
Nina was pretty excited! See this image larger.
And this is what she got! A Y-Bike! It is a nicely built little bike, without pedals. It is supposed to improve your balance dramatically, for anything — but it is supposed to really help with riding a real bike. See this image larger.
Same day, Nina’s got her ponies in, and looks so cute! See this image larger.
Awww! See this image larger.
You ready for another spin on the Y-Bike? See this image larger.
Cue “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, please! (Click here if you don’t know the tune!)See this image larger.
Go little girl! See this image larger.
April 28th, Nina adds a “table cloth” to her table for a nice snack! See this image larger.
So here he is, almost ready to go out the door. I love this shirt on him because it reminds me of a shirt he used to wear as a toddler that I think of as definitively “Ian.” (In fact, I still have said shirt, snatched from the “garage sale” pile — I couldn’t part with it!) 
*Here we go, kiddo!* He was excited, and we were too! 
Nina was ready to go as well! 
So how did it turn out? Awesome. We sat down in the lobby and started filling out paperwork when suddenly Casey from up the street walked by. And then Brendan from next door filed by in a line of kids with a smile and a wave. And then one of the kids from daycare that Ian knows well, named Quinn, sat down right next to us because he would be in the same year — maybe even the same class, who knows? In short, one tiny visit and Ian knew that there were going to be familiar faces! When a teacher showed up to take Ian from us and talk to him about a few things, I winced, waiting for the outburst of tears. And there was one, but not from OUR brave little boy — it was a different kid. Ian grabbed the teacher’s hand, and off they went, a nervous smile on Ian’s face. When he came back the teacher told us that he was just a little distracted, otherwise fine. I grabbed Ian and went out the back door of the school to show him the playground. The adult on duty to watch over the kids welcomed us and ushered us on to go play. First we saw Brendan again playing near one area of the sprawling playground, which was cool… but soon we were surrounded by children, maybe as many as 15, following us around, asking me when Ian would be starting and which teacher he would be with. I felt like a bodyguard for a rock star, and Ian was shy but not so much to miss the gist of the message these kids were sending – You’re amongst friends. Everything is going to be alright. 
We were all beaming with pride over the way things went, and so it was definitely time for ice cream! What a beautiful day it was, in every way. 
As a parent, it was odd to suddenly have the fruit of all of your teaching under scrutiny. It was like he was suddenly under a microscope, compared to daycare, where there are no grades — just an annual parent/caregiver conference. You could see the writing right there on the wall… a baby/toddler/preschooler no longer: coming soon, Ian the Student! And that’s why this day was a bit of a relief. Ian seemed to be staring this lion of a challenge in the face, without much in the way of fear, and walked away excited for the future. (I know, we’ll see how long this lasts, we hope for a good long time. To this day he still asks when he gets to go to kindergarten instead of daycare.) Next comes orientation! 
Big field-trip day at daycare on April 13th, Ian looks ready to go! 
Here we are at the museum. Mostly because I’m writing this here, I’ll never forget that one of the museum staff gave me crap about my kid sitting on my lap. She said her name was Mrs. B. I made up words for the “B” in my head. They weren’t kind words. Anyway, it turns out the museum had an entire exhibit about making the trip to Mars! 
Ian figured out he could make a whoosh noise by squeezing this bottle. It turns out we wouldn’t have these kinds of advancements if we hadn’t had the space program. 
Time to try on the helmet! 
It fits! 
Apparently walking on Mars would not be entirely unlike walking on a couple of sponges strapped to your feet. I had no idea! 
This particular leap reminds me of a certain “Boojamas” picture from a few years back. 
Ian had a fun time messing with this stuff! 
Finally it was time to go out and see the exhibit, or so I thought. 
Instead Ian got to play with these light-up legos and a few other things in a small room. I couldn’t believe we paid money for this, but then somebody mentioned that we would be getting a voucher to get into the exhibit “free” on a different date. (“Free” was still a bit of a misnomer, but it was better than just seeing this one room.) 
There’s a merry-go-round at the museum, and Ian enjoyed his ride! 
I asked the horse if he enjoyed his ride, and he said “neigh.” 
You might want to look at this picture bigger, as the look of excitement is very evident on Ian’s face. He had a great time! We bought a book, and decided that we would come back in a few weeks for Part II! 
I’d heard about a small park that overlooked the landing airplanes at the airport… Ian and I spent a few minutes there, waiting for Mommy to come back from California. I found it on instinct, which was good, because there sure weren’t any signs pointing it out. 
I forget why, but I was out of energy that week, so Mommy had to come home from her trip and give our kids a bath. Sorry Mommy! (EDIT – scratch that, I remember exactly why — The first of a few viruses started hitting me at this point, but I didn’t realize it. This one basically did not allow me to bend my knees or flex fingers or toes without arthritis-level pain. It lasted about a week-and-a-half.) 
Nina tries for the “Buckwheat.” 
Ian couldn’t look more manic if he tried…
I take that back.
Nina shows us her washcloth.
Our little cutie! 
Our handsome boy! 
April 8th, Melissa reads the kids a bedtime story. 
Ian sleeps peacefully. 
April 9th. Ok this one is going to be hard to explain. There’s a show called Yo Gabba Gabba that Nina watches that has big goofy characters with gigantic eyes and huge smiles. One of the characters is named Muno. Nina looked into Victoria’s Secret as we walked through the mall, saw the half-mannequins, and said “Muno’s family!” For the sake of clarification, I’ll spell this out: the bras and panties made eyes and smiles. 
April 10th… we juuuust dropped Mommy off at the airport, and I decided to check the Home Depot in the area for hinges to continue the War On Brass. This particular Home Depot had racing car shopping carts. I pointed one out to the kids from the car, and they seemed mildly excited. I walked out and grabbed it and by the time I turned around, the kids had somehow worked themselves into some kind of punch-drunk frenzy. 
We went on to have a great shopping trip, despite our sadness at Mommy leaving town to go all the way to California! 
Awww! 
The “wearing a diaper on your head” fashion trend continues… who started this ridiculousness? None can say. (Daddy did!) I SAID “NONE CAN SAY.” 
Ian enjoys a moderately warm day, a nice one for April. 
This is a shot from April 3rd as a sort of bonus. Did you ever wonder how a little two-year-old could take up 90% of the bed? Mystery solved! 
April 8th, and we got a package from Aunt Jill! 
There was a card! 
Nina got a fluffy bunny and a sucker! 
And Ian got an alligator! 
Look out! 
Soon it was time to dress up and head out to church! 
Too bad this one was blurry, but we got some other shots of Nina with her cute hat on! 
As we’re leaving church! 
There was cuteness and anticipation in the air! 
*Pardon me, would you like to read some literature about Jesus?* 
When we got home, Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia had hoppity-hop hopped over from Southgate – it was Easter Egg Huntin’ time! 
Ooh here’s one! 
And another! 
Got one! 
Oooh I bet this is a good one! 
Ian still lights up like a lightbulb during this activity, which is awesome. 
Good to see that little boy show up from time-to-time! 
The hunt continues! 
This was hilarious… we worked our way to the backyard, and suddenly the eggs got much, much bigger! 
How’d that happen? 
Almost perfect picture… if only I could have leaned a bit and caught Nina in there too! 
Treasure in tow, Nina heads back to the house to get a better looksy! 
That’s a heavy bag! 
THERE’S CANDY IN THESE, NINA! AND STICKERS AND MICKY MOUSE!!! 
Thank you, Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia, for taking this lovely shot of the four of us!! 
An upside-down shot, just for kicks! 
Grampa Dave, Gramma Marcia and the kids shell out the grins! 
We love you guys! Thanks for the Easter Egg Hunt! We know that takes a lot of extra work, you’re awesome! 
Nina looking cute, but it might be time to switch into something more casual! 
Having fun with a toy that Grampa and Gramma brought!
Ian got a cool R2-D2 microscope! 
How’s this work, Grampa? (I ask Grampa Dave the same thing all the time, but I call him Dad!) 
Bunny! 
Grampa Dave reads Ian a book about the solar system! 
Nina shows Gramma Marcia her fridge! *This is the freezer. Keeps stuff cold. Like seriously cold.* 
Ian lookin’ cute in his dress-up shirt! 
Diggin’ through some legos! 
This book with a cut-out allows us to see how much Nina enjoys being read to! 
Grampa Dave and Ian meet up in a tunnel! 
We had great fun with Grampa and Gramma, thanks so much for making the trip! (Here, Nina uses a toy as a makeshift healing machine, checking each of my toes. Um… thanks?) 
The boys next door and Ian go for a spin! 
What a beautiful boy he is! 
April 1st, and who is that little cutie with the flower-thingy in her hair? 
Hey, hey! Who said you could take that off? 
We’ve got at least another 3 pictures to take in this photoshoot young lady! 
She looks like such a proper lady! 
Thanks for sticking around to pose! 
*Can I take this off yet?* 
April 2nd, Nina has a nice breakfast at her table. 
April 3rd, an Easter package from Aunt Mel! 
Chaos ensues! 
And there was much happiness in the land! 
At this point it wouldn’t surprise me if Nina was learning how to read in this picture. 
Ian gets right to building! 