A happy birthday to Grampa Dave!
I asked Ian to sing “Happy Birthday” to Grampa Dave so that I could record it and post it on the blog. As you can hear by clicking the link below, at first he just wished Grampa Dave a happy birthday. When I asked him to sing, he curiously made up his own lyrics. Luckily, he’s awesome.
Audio
Click here to hear Ian’s version of Happy Birthday, recorded March 7th.
February 28th, when Ian successfully creates something awesome, and you ask him what it is, sometimes the name needs to be emphasized with a bit of a cheer. Like this might be, for example the “Super… See this image larger.
“…Rampy…” See this image larger.
“…Loop Shooty!” See this image larger.
Ian combined three different toys, by himself to make this. I made one small adjustment, otherwise it was all his. I was really impressed! See this image larger.
Video
Click here to see the extended toy, wherein he added his rocket toy to the end of the ramp… again, all by himself.
Nina workin’ those legs and chins on the jumperoo. She’s over 19 lbs now… one more until she can face forward in the car! See this image larger.
Is he going to kiss her, or pull real hard on the jumperoo and try to make a nina-pault? I can never be sure. If it makes you feel any better, Nina stood next to Ian with a toy screwdriver with a similarly uncertain smile just the other night. See this image larger.
Oh no, here he comes! See this image larger.
See he was just going to kiss her. All that worrying you just did for nothin’. See this image larger.
*Shew! That was close!* See this image larger.
Even though he is laying on princess mats and holding a moon buggy toy, he looks like he’s old enough here to drive. See this image larger.
*Sorry I’m out of smiles for the day. Hmph.* See this image larger.
*K! One more!* See this image larger.
*Daddy, I’ma tell you another story. Gather ’round folks at home. This one’s about Captain Astronaut Dude. He used to drive in a buggy like this one.* See this image larger.
*Hi Daddy, I will be helping with the story. I’m Ian. Hi.* See this image larger.
*Once upon a time there was this big accident involving a space shuttle, a car, a truck a train, and a huge lego. Captain Astronaut Dude was the bad driver.* See this image larger.
*Deputy Stormtrooper arrived in his big birthday cake to settle the matter!* See this image larger.
*But Astronaut Dude, who was in the space shuttle? He said “I have points on my license already, I’m SO out of here!”* See this image larger.
*So he flew away!* KKKKHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! See this image larger.
*But a new sheriff had just been appointed, perhaps you’ve heard of her… Sheriff Nina. That’s my sister.* See this image larger.
*As a 90 foot space alien baby sheriff, Nina knew just what to do, she grabbed Astronaut Dude and stuck him in solitary confinement. That’s the punishment on Altair Nine for a hit and run.* See this image larger.
*Fum fay on a kwyet nite, ou can ftill hear himf makin a sfound wike dis “ARARARAGGGGGH!!!” The end!* See this image larger.
February 25th, and Ian gives Daddy a nice hug. I wish for more of these moments all of the time. See this image larger.
*WHOA WHOA. HE’S GOT A WAFFLE.* See this image larger.
*I WOULD ALSO LIKE A WAFFLE!* See this image larger.
*mmm waffle* See this image larger.
After the kids went to school, Nina’s shoes and I waited for them to come home. See this image larger.
Dialogue
February 23
Ian yelled at me to not let Nina near his cars…Daddy – “Come on Nina, (picking up Nina and heading to a different room) Ian wants to play by himself.”
Ian comes rushing in a few moments later, guilt trip having fully gripped him. He hands off a toy to Nina and runs back out of the room.
A moment later he runs back in and says in a high pitch voice —
Ian – “‘Thank you, thank you!’ That’s Nina saying that.” (Yes Ian filled in words for Nina.)He runs out, but then runs right back in.
Ian – “I forgot to say you’re welcome… You’re welcome!”
———–
That night, I checked in on Ian even though he was supposed to be asleep. He asked what I was doing. I told him I came in to talk to him. For a moment, I paused, because I thought I could hear Nina cry. Ian took this as a sign that he was supposed to come up with a topic —Ian – “So whats going on daddy? How’s it goin?”
———–
February 25
Daddy – “Are you so cute?”Nina – “Yeah.”
———–
February 26
Ian – “Do you know what rhymes with sun? Done and bun!”
———–
Ian – “We have to wear our pirate masks so that we can get stuff that’s expensive from under the floor!” (He’s thinking of buried treasure under the ground, but doesn’t quite have it right yet.)
———–
Ian – “Daddy you didn’t let the bug finish talking.” (This one’s hard to explain but I skipped past an intro to a video game that had a talking thing that I’m guessing the game publisher spent millions of dollars creating and animating. I just found it funny that it was referred to as a bug.)
———–
Nina – “uh uh uh!” Then points through one of our gates at a stool. That would be the first time I’ve seen her point at anything.
———–
Nina – “Opuh.” (She handed me a vehicle that opens up, so I believe that was “open.”)
———–
Daddy – “Pillows don’t belong on the floor by the door where dirty shoes go.”Ian – “But the pillows are drums!”
Daddy – “They can be drums in the living room.”
Ian – “But daaaadddyyyyy (elbows down wrists up) it’s for a concert and the concert needs drums all over the wooorld! (arms outspread slightly)”
———–
Ian – “What are you doing with that box?”Daddy – “Recycling it.”
Ian – “You could reuse it. It is good to reuse stuff. Let’s reuse it!”
Daddy – (Laughs and asks Melissa if she can hear all this…)
Ian – “It looks long we could put something long in there like a handle.”
———–
February 27
About a month ago I made a joke that I was going to pull the car out of the garage and leave without Mommy while we were in the car waiting for Melissa to get some last-second stuff for wherever we were going. Ian took me seriously and cried his eyes out like you wouldn’t believe. He went from fine to broken-hearted in about a half-a-second flat. I explained that I was kidding, and that it was just a joke. He stopped crying but was still visibly upset.So a week or so ago we started heading out of the house, I put Nina in the car, Ian in his car seat, I sat down to wait for Melissa and get the car warmed up. Ian says from the back seat “Don’t leave without Mommy, and DON’T TELL ANY JOKES.”
Alright, so unless Melissa is hiding some photos on her phone, I believe we’re all caught up on the blog. This is mostly commentary at this point, just sharing some thoughts.
I find myself going through a lot emotionally, because the two kids are at such different spots. With Nina, I’m trying not to get TOO excited by the things I see her learning. I’m pushing whenever I can to teach her more, and it is so hard to remember where Ian was at her age, and even harder to recognize that ultimately comparing the children is irrelevant. Everybody tells you not to do so, but how can one help but use what little experience they have in a situation like this? She’s really cruising around, and walking always seems like it is going to happen “in the next couple days.” You could say she’s lagging on gross motor skills, but you can’t say she’s unwilling to learn or try. She’s been fighting since before she was born, and I remind myself of that probably too often — this is the same little girl that had a 50% chance of not making it. Flip a coin sometime and think of all the things that Nina has accomplished. And then thank God.
With Ian I try not to get too disappointed that he doesn’t really want to spend time with me sometimes. Because I know he doesn’t mean it, and that he’s four. He’s doing great at school, his Tumble-Time teacher actually wrote that Ian is the best listener in her class. The best? Care to share some technique there, Ms. Jill? Ian went through a spell of accidents, during which time he was simply too excited by whatever was going on to stop and pee. We’ve straightened that situation out by no longer asking and instead telling him to do so every hour or so. “Go. Potty.” “I don’t have t-” “Go. Potty.” It is amazing hearing his vocabulary grow. I wish I could see a sort of map of what he knows so that we could work on the things he does not know, because you can see it in his eyes when you try to teach him things one-on-one… he’s absorbing all of it. It is also crazy how much he remembers about some things… he asked to go to Boyne Mountain the other day “The place with the waterslide with the elevators, where we slept there, because we were lost.” (The latter part is not true, we got there just fine.) I should also note that this morning Ian really wanted to spend time with me, which is great, mornings are the main time that he tells me to go away. The other night we played a game on my Xbox 360 called Kinectimals, and we had a blast together, actually laughing out loud. There’s a part where you hold your hand up and point it around at the TV, and it shows “sparkles” where you can dig. We then do the hand motion for digging like a dog or cat might, and the treasure is revealed on the screen. He ate it up.
February 18th, I’d say I can’t imagine what he’s dreaming about, but I think it is pretty obvious when you think about it long enough… younger days when he lazed in the Nashville sun. See this image larger.
…and there were decidedly less children — perhaps not quite so many toys. See this image larger.
Ian snuggles up after a shopping trip on the 19th, exhausted. See this image larger.
Before the 20th of February, Nina was unceremoniously dumped in either the living room, or the sun room if she was going to play on the ground floor. (Upstairs probably the play room.) But on the 20th we connected the sun room to the living room via the dining room! See this image larger.
Little girl cruised along the wall excitedly and crawled back and forth. New freedom! See this image larger.
She’s trying to look casual here, but she’s very happy about the wider boundaries! See this image larger.
Ian was also happy!See this image larger.
Blurry shot of Nina… See this image larger.
Night of the 20th, bath-time! See this image larger.
Ian was dumping water on his head a lot, it cracked Nina up! See this image larger.
On the 21st, Ian gave Nina a quick ride on this “boat” made out of a Lego play-organizer. He’d lower a side and she’d crawl right in! See this image larger.
From one carpeted shore, to the other! See this image larger.
February 17th… and it is silly picture day! Ok this one’s cute instead of silly, but give us a second to get warmed up. See this image larger.
Ian giggles shyly. He’s sitting in the spot where he would be in time-out, but he’s just taking off his shoes after a hard day at school. See this image larger.
Ooop, the show has started, folks! Sit down and prepare for silly. See this image larger.
That’s my boy! See this image larger.
Grrrr. See this image larger.
Yahoo!! See this image larger.
Hi sweet pea! See this image larger.
Quick kiss! See this image larger.
*Scuse me, Daddy!* See this image larger.
Three of us! Should have gotten Mommy in there somewhere. See this image larger.
*I’ll call Mommy and get her over here… beep beep boop boop beep boop beep* See this image larger.
Video
Click here to see Nina deftly swipe Daddy’s phone off of his belt-clip and hold it ransom.
Dialog
Ian – “Guys, in 5 minutes I’m going to neeeeed some wipin’.” (Ian, from toilet, sounding strangely proud.)Ian – “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Ian – “Let’s have a clothes folding party! Mommy will be impressed with us.”
Nina – “More.” (Verbally, plus sign language.)
February 14th, Valentine’s Day… Ian and Nina share a smile. This shot is important because it shows a new addition to our floorplan, the chair/ottoman combo. This allowed Ian to get in and out of the living room while Nina was being gated in. It is also important because as I write this, we expanded Nina’s territory greatly. (You shall see soon!) See this image larger.
See that flag balloon? Nina picked it up and sucked on the plastic bit that allows a “stick” to be shoved into it. Hard to explain, but I’m pretty sure she thought the flag balloon was one of those fruit pouches that you saw a few entries back. See this image larger.
February 15th, Ian got a haircut. He looks so cute! See this image larger.
Daddy scolds Nina for attempting to lift him with the Force again. See this image larger.
February 16th, My first attempt at a loaf of bread. It ended up not rising enough, my fault. There will be more attempts. See this image larger.
Video
Click here to watch Ian preparing for Valentine’s day, on February 10th.
Video
Click here to watch part 2 of the above video.!
February 13th, we were coming up on a melt, so I took Ian outside while the snow was packing well… the snow was still ridiculously deep, though. See this image larger.
I pulled up his hat eventually, I swear. See this image larger.
Body of snowman created. See this image larger.
Nina supervises from where it is warm and toasty. See this image larger.
A bucket for a hat, and a shovel were considered. See this image larger.
Alas, poor Yorick… See this image larger.
Final assembly… See this image larger.
Hi Mommy! It’s cold out here! See this image larger.
Nina chills in a bristle-block container… See this image larger.
That night we had a gorgeous sunset… See this image larger.
Ah, water tower… you give us water pressure but you are an eyesore. I’m just being honest with you. See this image larger.
Ow. 
Ooo! 
Hi!