Video Test Part II

Hi all, today we’re going to try another video. It also happens to be a NEW and GOOD video… a little incentive to try it out this time. 😉 You can hear Ian recite the alphabet and do his best to count to eleven. This is a long movie that has been compressed a lot… So the quality isn’t that great but the size of the video is only 2.3 MB… should be fine on almost any connection, I would think, particularly the way this player works.

What I guess I’d like to know is, how bad does it look to you guys? Would you want to see more videos like this, or would you rather see them look a bit better, but take longer to download? Life’s full of trade-offs!

Give it a shot by clicking here!

The middle part with the diamond, if you’re trying to figure out what’s going on there — he was doing itsy bitsy spider, and stopped when he realized he had made a diamond shape with his thumbs and fingers. He also manages to burp when he says “out” during the line “wash the spider out.”

BREAKING NEWS: Tinkle Tinkle Piddle Star

ROCKFORD, Michigan (Rockford Inquirer) – At approximately 11:00am on Sunday, May 31st, 2009, according to eye witness accounts, Ian Daran Chapman peed in his potty. His mother and father issued a statement to the press this morning —

“We had some close calls here and there but this is his first ‘sit down because I’ve got to go pee, and then actually pee’ scenarios. We praised him and put a sticker on his special potty training chart.”

When confronted directly about the piddle, the small boy confessed “I DEED IT.”

The Chapman Blog will continue investigating this story, and provide more details as they become available.

Alleged scene of the event, as captured by amateur photographer, Daran Chapman. Witnesses claim the potty had at least one-half cup of toddler piddle in it, some say as much as one cup.

Fawn Island, May 22 Trip, Epilogue

So, we got home and Ian was fine for a bit. At some point I think it sinks in that he can’t ask anyone for a boat ride, that he’s down to just his parents — and they are watching his behavior very closely. He got in a bit of a funk, and I admit I did as well.

At dinner, he blew a fit. He did not want black beans and rice, which is one of the first “real food” meals that he fell in love with, and subsequently somehow began to dislike. We explained to him that this was the stuff he loved, that this is the stuff he eats by the greedy handful at Taco Bell but that perhaps has a few more spices in it. He was just not happy with anything. I thought for a minute and grabbed his plate. Added a packet of Taco Bell taco sauce from a meal long ago, and mixed it up with the rice. He still wouldn’t try it at first, but you could kind of see reason catching up with him. He suddenly said “I try it… I LIKE it!” (Hard to say for sure, but I think he might have been sort of imitating the little skit that Melissa and I sometimes put on for Ian to make it look like I tried something and like it…) In this case, it actually worked; he tried it and really DID like it. Ate a whole plate and asked for more!

Here’s an audio clip of a bed-time story Melissa read to Ian one of the nights during the Fawn Island trip. Melissa does a nice job of repeating what he says, so you should be able to figure it out… but the short of it is, he’s getting smarter and his communication becomes clearer every day. This book is called No No Yes Yes. Things to listen for:

“Dumpin food on hi’ hed!”
Shortly after he says the above, he says “No, No” and you can hear an emphasis that is different from the others. It is the emphasis of an adult — sounds like his mommy’s.
“Drawing on the wall.”
“Drawing on the paper.”
“No no no, picking onna nose, onna tissue.” (Don’t pick your nose use a tissue) This is particularly awesome, because without any help other than the drawing, he supplies what the child SHOULD do, on his own.
Remember, his Fs come out as Ps sometimes. So “doggy’s pood” is “doggy’s food.”
There’s a large discussion trying to determine if the baby’s mother is in a few drawings.
“Is this his mommy?”
“This is his mommy.”
“Pet the kitty! Luv the kitty!”
“Kitty go to sleep and get a popsicle.”
“Read the bunny book.”

The clip weighs in at 6.1MB, so you might want to shy away from this one if you have a really slow connection. Click here to hear it!

Fawn Island, May 22 Trip, Part III

On the 25th, there was a final boat ride and if I’m remembering my days correctly, we had some excellent waffles… Grandma Marcia cooked all kinds of great stuff over the weekend, I should really learn to take a picture or two around meal time, but it is always the last thing on my mind when I’m stuffing my face!

So here’s the pictures we did end up with for the rest of the trip, mostly from Ian’s final boat ride before departure!

Another pic of Ian and Grampa Dave heading for the boat! History repeats!See this image larger.

Looks like a couple boat-men to me! See this image larger.

“Off the starboard bow, land ho!” See this image larger.

Ian takes a turn at the helm, and doesn’t do too too bad. Another enjoyable boat ride! See this image larger.

Ian takes this new responsibility very seriously… See this image larger.

Alas it was time to leave, but we had a lot of fun, and we’ll be back again soon. See this image larger.

Tradition dictates a trip to Dairy Queen on the way home is a must! See this image larger.

Colonel Sanders, is that you? See this image larger.

Nom, nom, nom, nom! See this image larger.

…and then it was time for a blissful ride home, his body well-fed; visions of waffles and boat rides dancing in his head. See this image larger.

Fawn Island, May 22 Trip, Part II

The 24th and there was fun to be had! Ian really enjoyed “playing nn uh mats.” These cool mini mats with the alphabet cut into them like puzzle-pieces were a big hit with the little man! See this image larger.

“C” is for “child emergency exit.” See this image larger.

The sideways “Z” looked better than the “N” because the people that made this product did not necessarily know the name of the intended child when they were choosing colors. We’ll write them an angry letter! 😉 See this image larger.

Ian moved into his new dwelling and took to it immediately… some renovations can be seen flying out of the “D” on the top of said house. See this image larger.

I had a choice, the shot where he’s not looking but waving (seen here) or I could choose the one where he’s looking but not waving or smiling. It isn’t easy running a blog. See this image larger.

This might be Ian’s first (recorded or otherwise) boat trip without being accompanied by his fretful Mommy or Daddy! Suffice to say there were naps to be had… Thanks Gramma Marcia and Grampa Dave for taking Ian on yet another safe boat cruise! See this image larger.

Again, there were shots where we were looking at the camera, but I like this one the best… Ian and I enjoying the use of Daddy’s iPhone as an educational toy. You should see him play the “shape builder” game, which is like an electronic puzzle… you literally won’t believe your eyes. See this image larger.

More soon!

Fawn Island, May 22 Trip, Part I

So the day after Melissa got home, Ian awoke to see his Mommy through his bleary eyes and that all was right again in the world. Then we packed up and headed off to Canada!

On the way there was one close call traffic-wise wherein a car cut me off and I was forced to do some braking that wasn’t TOO close or bad, but was enough to make the car lurch a bit and a squeal of protest to emit from the rubber on Melissa’s car’s tires. Ian wasn’t too phased by the situation, at least according to his reaction: “WEEEEEEEE!”

Ian went from having only one parent around, to a full set plus two grandparents! He was very happy all weekend. Here Grandma Marcia and Ian walk around near the clubhouse! See this image larger.

This shot also from the 22nd… I know you’re probably wondering why he doesn’t have an ear-to-ear grin on his face. After all, he loves boat rides. Think in context. Would you want to stop and take a picture before one of your favorite activities? If there’s one thing being two is all about — it’s honestly broadcasting what you think you’re feeling. See this image larger.

Mama observes and protects while Ian gives the blue ball a sound drubbing. This was shot on the 23rd. See this image larger.

Ian hands Grandma Marcia a “flower” that he found on the lawn. Sure it was a dandelion, but it is the thought that counts! See this image larger.

These are the cottage moments that live in my head whenever I’m not there… a relaxing drink on a gorgeous day, with people you love. Grampa Dave at one point referred to his beverage as his vitamins, so this is how Ian referred to them from then on. Was great to see him walk by on the deck, stop, look at Grampa Dave… back to me… back to Grampa Dave’s cup… “Grampa’s bitamins.” See this image larger.

The iPhone’s camera abilities leave a lot to be desired… fast objects tend to look distorted… Kind of nice effect though, he looks like he’s got a helluva kick. See this image larger.

Cocoa accepts a dog biscuit from a giggling Ian, looks like friends are fast when a cookie is involved! See this image larger.

Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia were kind enough to give Ian a lot of boat rides, so don’t be surprised if you see a lot of shots of everybody in the boat, or heading to the boat. Particularly these two! Cute shot! See this image larger.

This looked a lot more cute in person… he sort of looked like a character from a Michaelangelo painting, the way he was floating adrift in a cloud of blue blankets… See this image larger.

More to come!

Help!!!

Hi everybody!

If you come to the blog often and watch videos, please take a moment to help me test the following video player at this link:

Click here to try it!

Now you should be able to see that it is loading because there will be diagonal stripes animated in a bar on the screen. It is also a much better player in general. Please try it out and let me know what you think in the comments section below. (NOTE – yes, it is the “twinkle twinkle” video again, but you wanted to watch it over anyway, didn’t you? 🙂 )

The Artist at Work

EDIT – Wanted to catalog a couple cool things he’s said recently before I forget. He pointed at a dog on the side of his toy truck, and a jet on different picture and said “Doggie go on plane n go away way up inna sky.” That’s pretty much Ian making up a story right there. Also this morning before there was any hint of what breakfast would be, Ian promised “Get cereal bar n I eat it up all gone.” This wouldn’t be interesting except that he said it before seeing a cereal bar, so he was asking for one, and explaining what would happen next… in my mind this is slightly different than when he asks for a popsicle, but it is hard to explain in what way.

Remember the drawings I showed you here that Ian did quite a few days ago? Well I have some images from the 17th of May that I forgot about… these are of Ian making one of his masterpieces.

Here he is, at one with his artistic muse, and sporting some pretty cool pee jays! See this image larger.

“Awww, Dad, you’re interrupting my most important work… blue squiggle #35.” See this image larger.

Admit it, you find it adorable that he fits on my desk along with the tablet… admit it!!! See this image larger.

Don’t tell Ian, with the click of a lever on the back, the tablet eases down into a horizontal position so that you can draw on it from above like a piece of paper… but what fun would that be?!? See this image larger.

Mommy’s Home!

So Melissa has returned safely to the nest, and everything is sorta back to normal! Yay!

Here’s a pic of Ian from yesterday…

He’s seen enough golf to know to shoot the ball toward the flag… in this case a utility marking flag makes a perfect Ian-sized target! See this image larger.

Mister Mom, Thursday Edition

@Melissa –

9:19AM – He either slept very well last night or I slept so well that he didn’t wake me up more than once, at 6am. I’m pretty sure he slept well, probably to make up for the night before.

This is the first morning where Ian woke up and called for “Daddy.”

Drop-off went fine. Miss Judy told me Ian was doing alright all things considered. I said “Yeah, me too,” and we laughed.

Have a safe flight home please, and don’t forget to lift your feet on take-off.

Melissa is through security at the San Fran airport… she’ll land in Chicago first, and end up in Michigan at around 11:00pm EST. Because Ian will be asleep and I don’t have any real options to leave him here — she will take a taxi home and she will return home here in Rockford at around midnight.

UPDATE – Melissa landed safely in Chicago…

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