family news – Page 56 – Out Of Their Minds Design

Random

On Monday, the 27th, Ian and I went to a local park… upon getting ready to leave, I told Ian to beware of the very hot car, which had been baking in the sun. Ian got inside and said “Iss not too bad.”

When I then suggested that perhaps our next destination could be the bookstore, he said “Less go bookstore. Thassa good idea.”

Here’s some pictures that have accumulated since the Fawn Island trip:

On the 21st, Ian outside playing in his water-table, a cool toy given to us by our neighbors. See this image larger.

On the 25th, Ian and I pose for a few pictures… See this image larger.

I’m going to go ahead and assume that the words “ice cream” were involved to get these looks. See this image larger.

Same day, but later. At Meijer, ol’ Sandy greedily snatched up a penny and gave Ian a ride! See this image larger.

Well-deserved, too, he was a good, patient little boy that particular trip! See this image larger.

The 27th, and Ian tries on Daddy’s shades. See this image larger.

So stylish! See this image larger.

Just yesterday at the park, Ian traces out nonsensical lines in the dirt… Heeeey wait a minute… It almost looks like he’s trying to write something. Nah. See this image larger.

NO he didn’t do that himself, don’t be silly. See this image larger.

Fawn Island, July Trip, Part III

Alright, so now that we have streaming video going on, I’ve got a 20MB video lined up for you. Please let me know if you have any problems watching it.

Click here to watch the video.

This is a sort of play-by-play of the video explaining a few funny bits:

Ian – “I’m on a boat!” “Ride.” “Good ride onna boat.”

(I’m learning to lower the volume for the boat scenes… 75% works nicely.)

During the portion of the video with the cookie, Melissa had given Ian just a bite of cookie for finishing some part of his meal… the video starts with Ian having completed the entire meal, and so he’s now asking for “the whole big cookie.” This is a lot of what he’s like lately. You can talk to him, and generally he’s got a response, and it makes sense. I love when he says “sure” and his laugh at the end — almost a little sugar-crazed.

I believe it was Saturday night when Ian talked Grampa Dave into a boat ride one step at time. It started with a walk, and then a quick trip back in for his life jacket, then a visit down near the boardwalk. And then “wanna go there” to the dock. Then get in boat. (At each of these steps, Grampa Dave would purposely not take the hint… or only advance the process one tiny step, forcing Ian to make additional “subtle” suggestions.) Then Grampa Dave sit here, Ian get in over here. And so on… finally he said “make it go” and “turn it on!”

“Grampa Dave, get my shov-el.”

And yes we fixed his hat there at the end.

We had an excellent time! Looking forward to coming back really soon! (This weekend maybe?)

Fawn Island, July 2008, Part II

On to the Sunday part of our weekend, this was the 19th of July.

Mommy got to sleep in, but look who is up and at it already! See this image larger.

Thank you, oh patient grandparents! See this image larger.

Hard to be sneaky when you’re wearing a lime green lifejacket! See this image larger.

Ian had a ball this weekend. Get it? Look, it isn’t easy to caption all of these, ok? See this image larger.

Fun playing soccer with Gramma Marcia! See this image larger.

A close up from that last shot, the expression on Ian’s face is worth a slightly closer view… See this image larger.

SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE. See this image larger.

I don’t remember what this conversation was about, but now it looks like Grampa Dave is trying to explain to Ian that he might have to go home pretty soon. See this image larger.

One more walk on the boardwalk with Mommy… See this image larger.

… and one more delicious breakfast! Then we drove on home! Thanks a lot Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia, we had a great time, and are all looking forward to coming back as soon as possible! See this image larger.

Some cottage video, next entry!

Fawn Island, July 2008, Part I

Before we begin this entry I want to give a quick update about newbaby… we went to the doctor today and everything appears to be normal and healthy. We heard a heartbeat, the baby moved around a bit, and we scheduled an ultrasound for next month. Another doctor’s appointment in two weeks.

Ok, so it has been a busy week, which is generally a good thing. Monday wasn’t so great, I admit, because Ian sort of had to come down off of his awesome weekend “high.” We were both pretty exhausted with each other by the end of the day. I think he might also be dealing with a cold. But the rest of this “busy” week came with good news on the job front — it looks like I’ll be getting my position back with the company I worked for out in Kansas. They got a new grant and need a programmer, and here I am. It isn’t fantastic money, but it is a nice supplemental income. I’ll be doing freelance on the side. Speaking of which I have a couple of freelance gigs on the horizon. I’ve been wheelin’ and dealin’.

Amusing things that Ian has said recently:

“Want the whole, big cookie.” (hopefully to be seen in a video here soon, a little bite of cookie was simply not enough.)

“Come on IN!” (said with the lilt of 1950’s TV mom.)

“Dog cookies for Co-Co.” (This took place up at the island. Cocoa is Pat and Erik’s dog that is sometimes up there — how he remembered Cocoa’s name, I have no idea.)

Sunday morning up at the cottage, Grandma Marcia offered Ian a piece of a breakfast cinnamon cake – and he accepted. Marcia then had to do the usual Ian set-up of putting a plastic mat on the floor, getting out a plate, cutting him a piece, etc… Ian looked over at Grampa Dave and said “Grampa Dave, what happened to my cake?!?” (I guess Ian’s way of saying that this was taking too long… but don’t worry Grandma, there’s no such thing as “early enough” when it comes to cake and Ian.)

“You not liffning” (that’s “you’re not listening,” said to Melissa.)

…and a host of others. You can have a full-fledged multi-subject conversation with this kid now. Heck, sometimes he has one with himself. I jsut wish I could get some of these recorded.

Here’s how the cottage trip went:
We arrived the evening of the 17th to a swarm of mosquitoes attacking us in the parking lot! This turned out to be the only even slightly bad thing that happened over the weekend… Everybody had a good time, and Ian was basically an angel. We’ll start the pictures and our coverage of Fawn Island July 2008 on Saturday morning… See this image larger.

Ian attempts his best “hardened salty sailor” look. See this image larger.

Then I played peek-a-boo from under the bill of my hat, and got a smile, and the general announcement: “Daddy’s being silly.” See this image larger.

I guess if Ian misbehaved at all I would say that it was in his ceaseless requests for a boat-ride! See this image larger.

Grampa Dave was happy to oblige, however! See this image larger.

Out on the open water, and it almost looks like he knows what he’s doing! See this image larger.

Then it was… See this image larger.

First Ian, while Mommy stood guard, and vice versa. See this image larger.

Remember the foam pad letters from the last visit to Fawn Island? Somebody who shall remain un-named (Grampa Dave) convinced Ian that the “C” was his helmet. See this image larger.

The “L” also made a good golf club, and looky there, the “T” made a nice… well.. “Tee!” See this image larger.

A big loop of letter-pads and a little guard rail, and a racetrack came to life. See this image larger.

Saftey “C” helmet in place, Ian drags his mommy to her appropriate spot. If I haven’t mentioned it, I love Melissa’s hair this way. It seems to look nice under any circumstances! See this image larger.

Gramma Marcia made ribs on Saturday night that were excellent — but we figured Ian would have no part of them, being a picky eater. But he surprised us all by shoving a rib in his mouth, gnawing for awhile, and pulling out am empty bone. He repeated this for 4 or 5 ribs! You bet he got a dessert cookie as a reward! See this image larger.

He ate that up too, you bet. See this image larger.

Grandma Marcia and Grampa Dave read Ian bedtime stories, and he went to bed a very happy camper! (Now he even has his “own” room at the cottage too! [Don’t get too used to it kiddo, share-time starts this winter!]) See this image larger.

It had rained a good portion of the evening on Saturday, but let up just as the sun was going down for a spectacular (at times double) rainbow! Too beautiful! See this image larger.

More to come in a day or two!

July Catch Up, Part IV

On the 15th of July, Miss Preggo over there (pointing to Melissa) had a hankerin’ for IHOP for dinner. Ian had little or no recollection of the few times we’ve had breakfast food for dinner, but he fully approved. See this image larger.

Excitement built as he started seeing pictures of pancakes on the menu and walls. When the waitress arrived he said “I want pancakes!” Of course as Melissa ordered her own food Ian decided he wanted that as well. You can hear that clip by clicking here. He also went out of his way to thank everybody for everything, even the hostess that seated us. See this image larger.

I didn’t take a picture of the pancake when it arrived, but it was the size of a flattened beach ball, had a whipped cream nose, strawberry eyes, and banana slices for a mouth. Ian destroyed it over time, sometimes a nibble here or there, sometimes eagerly hefting great hand-sized slabs. (Which we would try to take from him and help him cut down to size… “small bites” is the newest lesson we’re trying to teach him.) See this image larger.

And then it was gone. Alas Smiley-Face Pancake, we hardly knew ye. But ye were sweet and delicious and remembered fondly ye will be. See this image larger.

July Catch Up, Part III

On the 13th of July, Ian showed up in my office wearing these “slippers” although they look suspiciously like stuffed blocks I’ve seen somewhere before. See this image larger.

July 14th was bath-night for all little boys in the Chapman household, here’s our little charmer trying to splash his mommy and daddy. See this image larger.

He was in a good mood for this one, I can’t say this is always the case. See this image larger.

I like this shot because it isn’t the typical view of Ian’s face/head. See this image larger.

Somebody was being silly. See this image larger.

He’s probably wondering why I keep trying to get my hand in the picture. See this image larger.

If any part of your brain is wondering if it really takes two grown adults to pin a toddler down for tooth-brushing, the answer is mostly “yes.” See this image larger.

I wanted a couple pictures of Ian and myself, so I just said “to heck with it,” and took a bunch. I liked quite a few of them. This one… See this image larger.

… and this one… See this image larger.

… and this one! See this image larger.

Alright time for stories, and then off to sleepies, little man. See this image larger.

July Catch Up, Part II – New Baby Stuff!

Ok so let’s go over the facts that we know…

Baby is due January 7th!

On June 27th we had our first ultrasound, unscheduled and frightening as all get out. But then there was waving and happiness! His/her head is on the left, facing up. If you look carefully you can see a chin right around where the two dotted lines cross, lips and a nose slightly above that, in profile.

On July 2nd we had an ultrasound when we got back to Grand Rapids… In particular can you see one of his/her hands up there near the top? Four closed fingers and a tucked-in thumb!

When we finally got in to see the doctor, on July 8th, she allowed us to record the heartbeat… I have that recording for you here. Click here to listen.

We have another doctor’s appointment next week, we’ll let you know if anything new is revealed!

July Catch Up, Part I

Alright here’s some pretty random photos and events that bring us from the end of June to present…

On the third of July, Ian enjoys reading through the same catalog again… there’s pictures of kids golfing in it. See this image larger.

On the fourth of July Ian must have been inspired by the previous day’s catalog browsing. See this image larger.

Ian got out the hose himself and tried to fill up the pool… but Mommy explained that it was as full as it needed to get. See this image larger.

So on his own he walked back over and reeled the hose back in! See this image larger.

He picked this flower just for you! See this image larger.

This park that Ian and I went to with the Dad’s group on the 13th wasn’t all that exciting, on the far south side of Grand Rapids… at least from an equipment standpoint. There is one thing that it did have, however, and that’s ROOM. It had many large soccer fields and a gorgeous lightly wooded area… See this image larger.

So Ian did what Ian seems to love to do more than anything on Earth. Run and run and run. I love this picture, it is well worth looking at larger. The more I look at this picture, in fact, the more I feel like it is trying to remind me about a secret of life that I’ve long forgotten — but every little boy knows by heart. See this image larger.

Pausing for breath. See this image larger.

His shirt says that he does all of his own stunts. I bought it for him before he could crawl. See this image larger.

All Talk

Ian has just blown me away lately with the way his speech has advanced. I mentioned the conversation he had with Kaylee on the way to Connor’s baseball game… here’s some others that caught my attention.

At the grocery store, he said “My sing the alphabet,” and then launched into song.

“Dump truck!” (Me – “Oh yeah, there’s a dump truck, very good kiddo, see the way it has two containers attached?”) “Dump truck like a choo choo.”

(Mommy – “How about we go take a bath.”) Ian – How about no. (This may sound like sarcasm, and it was hilariously well-timed… but really he wasn’t trying to throw this back in her face so much as say “That thing you said? No, I don’t want to.”)

He came home on July 11th, and was just talking up a storm: “Hi Daddy! Hi. Want water. Where cup go? Cup. Want Cup. Want Froggy book. (me – It’s a video, kiddo.) Want Froggy bvideo. (opens case, finds it empty) uh-oh! Lost Froggy bideo. Where go?”

Later he gave up on dinner a little too early, and started getting rambunctious. He climbed into Mommy’s seat, right behind her, while she was eating. And he said “Sit beind Mommy. Mommy, how was your today?” (This is almost always what I ask Melissa at dinner, although not quite in those words.)

“No go to dinosaurs, daddy… (heading in the direction of the museum where we saw the dinosaur exhibit with some friends…) … Where Mr. Mahtin and Ms. M’lissa go?” (Yup, those were the friends we saw the exhibit with, hehe.)

On our Monday together (soon to be an entry) Ian and I drove to Mommy’s work-place in order to take her out to lunch. When I called to talk to her Ian was saying in the background.
“Want to talk to you Mommy!”
On the way there I found that the road I wanted to take was shut down. Irate I exclaimed “I wish somebody had told me that.”
(brief pause, and then from back seat)
“My sorry Daddy. Sorry. Sorry Daddy.”
(pause)
“You ok Daddy?”
(pause while I’m laughing)
“Won’t do again. Won’t do it again, Daddy.”

EDIT – Another nice one… on the way to the park the other day I quoted a book to him that we’ve read before “(Some kind of truck) hauls big loads, right Ian?” He spotted a motorcycle and mumbled something back that I could not hear in my fairly loud car. I asked him a couple more times and then realized he was quoting the same book, a different line. “Fun to (mumble)” he said. “Oh that’s right, ‘motorcycles are fun to drive.'” He corrected me very clearly — “RIDE. Fun to RIDE.” So there you have it, the first time my son has corrected me using knowledge gleaned from a book. I have a feeling it won’t be the last.

(We’ve had a few more, I’ll try to remember and write them here; it saddens me greatly when I let these slip through the cracks, particularly when he’s been so vocal lately.)

Combine the above with a load of awesome behavior. His fits don’t seem nearly as… unreasonable. At least most of the time. He sort of wavers back and forth, but we’re happy for the inconsistency, because the fits used to be 100% melt down. A few of those days were literally filled to the brim with “please” and “thank you.” You can see him suddenly go into helpful mode, and it is so heartening as a parent. Melissa and I share glowing happy smiles during these moments. One of these was Saturday, the Fourth of July.

Some New Features

I don’t have these ideas completely implemented yet, but I’m adding categories and applying them to the blog entries so that it will be easy to find specific entries in the future. Know it was a video? Choose the video category. Want to read only about the new baby? Click the new baby category. Only ian? Choose ian. And I did the same for audio clips.

The part that is not done is applying said categories… I’d sort of need to go through each entry to do that, of course. I’ll do it slowly over time so as not to interrupt the news.

EDIT – I believe I have all of the entries categorized now.