Apparently a helicopter just crashed into a hospital. Melissa was there doing some work for a client. She wrote me about it from the office, so I know she’s safe. Apparently the helicopter crew was doing a training exercise and it didn’t go so hot. Melissa was in an underground level at the time. Two people on board are alive, one of them is the pilot. The rest is unknown at this time.
So here’s some of the aforementioned pictures of Ian’s owwie, below, after some other updates.
• Ian says “Mickey!” sometimes for Mickey Mouse.
• Ian and I tried to sneak into Melissa and I’s bedroom while she slept, so I could turn off the monitor, but again “HI!!!!!” was Ian’s idea of a quiet morning greeting. He couldn’t help himself when he saw his Mama sleeping there! I did manage to get a “Hi!” or two on video, and will put that on the blog in a few days.
Here’s a close up of nothing but the purple goose egg. You can tell that one was painful, poor kid. You can see the mysterious scratch on the bridge of his nose as well. See this image larger.
It didn’t affect his spirits much, if you can’t tell. See this image larger.
I like this one because it has a certain honesty. He’s a wonderful, beautiful boy. And then sometimes he’s this guy, here. hehe 😉 (This is a day or two after the injury in this shot and the next.) See this image larger.
Ian loves the doorbell. He also loves holding rocks for some reason. He also enjoys banging the rocks into various items (such as the doorbell) and looking at us questioningly, as if to ask “Might THIS finally be something that requires a rock-bashing, Dada and Mama?” See this image larger.
I’ll probably post a pic or two of the “bonk” later tonight…
• Yesterday Ian said both “pocoyo” and “elly” roughly. These are characters from the tv show Pocoyo… funny to hear him trying to say everything, and really this is a great time to remind all of the family members that he’s a pretty impressionable young man at the moment. You say it, he tries to say it. Watch your language, please.
• Also yesterday, in addition to the crappy day I was already having, we got Ian back from daycare yesterday with a big purple goose-egg on his head, and a scratch between his eyes. They say he jumped out of his chair and landed on the cement floor. This isn’t a high chair, thank God, but it was still quite a fall, and quite a lump. They had no idea where the scratch came from. So…. yeah, new daycare coming up as of June 9th, and I can’t WAIT. When I signed the “incident report” I asked them why I was signing it… they said so that it proved they told me. I said “Ok, just making sure I wasn’t giving approval that my son fell on his head.”
• I think I’m on my way to being sick finally. Melissa had it, I think Ian had it… Gp Dave and Gm Marcia seemed to get it from Ian; yet Gp Ray and Gm Barb are fine and spent a whole 5 or so days with him.
Experience the horrible trauma* of trying to get Ian to go to bed by viewing this video. (Usual note applies here, this is a long video to download… and the loading bar doesn’t work at the moment… just click the link and wait to be instructed to hit play.)
Click here to see the video.
*Yes, I’m kidding, as you’ll see when you click. The only kid I’ve ever seen giggle his way to the bedroom. Also revealed: Ian is a “blankie-boy.” That green pile he collapses on at the end of the video is one of his blankets!
Yesterday was brilliant. Ian and I had a lot of fun running around outside, taking a trip up to the hardware store, and playing in his new expanded area in the house. We didn’t even watch a moment of TV at all… we worked on several words. “Ow!” was one, “Hi!” was another, and “car” for some reason also stuck pretty good. I wasn’t too sure about “Hi!” as we kind of just said it back and forth, albeit frequently that day, but not necessarily when we should have to push context…
So that’s why it was shocking to me this morning… I woke up, sat up in bed, and Melissa was just bringing Ian in the room to say good morning and actually good bye as well. Immediately upon seeing me, Ian’s face lit up and he said “Hi!” He used “Hi!” as a greeting; almost 16 months old and he’s got the context down for a greeting. Think about it: it is much different than “high five” which is an action, or “car” which you can point to on the road. You can’t point to a “Hi!” can you? On the way out the door he waved good-bye, and I sat there wondering what he’s going to learn next.
He also started pushing a plastic car around and making a sort of “vroooom” noise that I sometimes make. (I wonder… will his children go “bzzzzzt” for the sound of a car?)
Lots of amusing stories from last night — Ian was in a great mood and I think the three hour nap helped. Lots of good pictures too…
• Ian tried to say a lot of things tonight. I heard him say “light” which I haven’t heard him try to say in months. He tried to say football, but I believe said goodball. He tried to say many others but is having trouble forming the words. You can tell he’s really trying now, and has much tighter control over his vocal chords. He also babbles all the time, in my mind he’s trying to practice forming different sounds.
• We went out to eat at TGiF’s and had a fun dinner. We ordered Ian some food but it mostly went untouched. Why, you ask? Because he was eating everybody else’s; particularly Grandpa Ray’s. I think the hilarity started when Melissa let Ian have his plastic kiddy spoon. He picked it up and pointed it firmly at Grandpa Ray’s broccoli and cheese soup, as if it were a wand from Harry Potter and the spell was “GIMME.” Grandpa Ray was kind enough to share. Later when the spoon was out of reach but he had been reminded that GP Ray’s bowl was not yet empty, he looked up at his Mom and pointed to his spoon and then Ray’s bowl so that she completely understood the order of events that would lead to happiness. (In case I forget to mention it later, he ate like a champ from everybody’s plate… he had broccoli and cheese soup, spinach dip on nachos, mashed potatoes, a few small french fries, parts of the kid meal pizza, he ate broccoli on its own, and a few other things. Still didn’t go for an offered strawberry.)
• Toward the end of the night tonight he tried to get up on a couch, and failed. Pulled a pillow off the couch. (Which looked to me like an accident, but only for a moment as Melissa pointed out what happened next…) Ian stepped on the pillow and now had the reach and height to pull a leg up onto the top surface of the couch. He didn’t quite make it, so I gave him a tiny boost, but the logic that he was using was impressive. He then reached down and grabbed the pillow, plopped it on the couch, and fell over on it like he was going to go to sleep, little dupa pointed straight up to the sky. He didn’t actually go to sleep, but it was still very funny.
• A quick apology for not whipping out my camera earlier… it is amazing how few shots we get of grandparents when we’re only using their cameras! But here comes a few, I promise! (Hopefully a few more on Sunday!)
VRRRRRRMMMM, EEERT! VRRRRRRRM, HMMVRRRRRRRRM HMMVRRRRRRM! Ian Racer performs another lap in his Mach 5 laundry basket. See this image larger.
If you get out a coat and hold it near Ian, even if it isn’t his, prepare for him to dive into it and head for the door… he’s a boy that likes going outside! (Alternate caption: “And I do my little turn on the catwalk…”) See this image larger.
Melissa mentioned Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain when she saw this picture. He does look like he’s putting on a bit of a show, does he not? See this image larger.
At TGiF’s, GP Ray and Ian enjoy a brief smile before getting back to the serious business of eating. See this image larger.
He did such a great job eating that Melissa gave him a high five. He turned to GP Ray and gave another. And then, get this… he turned to me and offered me a high five. It is one thing to ask for a high five or offer up a hand to kid his age and hope to get one, and another thing entirely when he targets you like he didn’t want to leave you out and initiates a high five. To top that off, he then went for a high ten, from both GP Ray and his mama… the effort paid off, as pictured here. See this image larger.
Clapping along with GM Barb! That tongue is out as a sign of his complete concentration! See this image larger.
Sharing a quick giggle with GM Barb before jammy time! See this image larger.
Ian tilts his head in interest, or is he trying to bite the foam off of the swing pole? Hopefully the former! See this image larger.
This was definitely the weekend of drool. We now think a tooth that we thought was already through is still making its way to the gumline. He slept pretty good last night, so maybe we’re almost in the clear. See this image larger.
Here you can see that Ian’s play area is open all the way to the back wall of the house now… but that’s not where the toys are! 😉 See this image larger.
Here’s some general updates:
• Grandpa Ray and Grandma Barb have been here since Wednesday and will be here through Sunday. They’ve watched Ian on their own here at the house (with me down in the office) for several days and everybody’s had a lot of fun… except we might owe Grandma Barb a new pair of glasses… long story.
• Today I saw Ian lean on something in the living room, and it was the first time that he looked so completely comfortable that he conveyed to me “this is my living room.” Hard to explain, but it was a nice feeling.
• Ian waves like a champ now, we’ve taken him out to eat several times during the GP Ray and GM Barb visit and if you ask him to wave at somebody… there’s hardly a moment’s hesitation. He made friends with another child in a booster seat parallel with his own at the booth next door at Uno’s Chicago Grill. He’s a really friendly kid.
• We’ve decided to open yet another chunk of the house to Ian’s play area. On the main floor, now he’s shut off from the steps and the kitchen only. This should allow for additional exciting adventures.
• It looks like there’s an opening for a new daycare in June that we’re going to take advantage of, most likely.
• Really bad sleeping the last few nights… at 3 or 4 am he wakes up and will not sleep again easily.
Ian and I watched They Might Be Giants’ Here Come The 1,2,3’s… he sat exactly like this, comfortably resting his hand on my arm for about a half-hour, I bet. If you’re wondering about the battle-wounds on Ian’s face, he fell over on the cement while running around outside. As you can tell in later pics, most of the marks were gone the next day.See this image larger.
Exhausted from a day of shopping with GM Barb and GP Ray, Ian didn’t even make it up the stairs to his crib. Somebody must have hit his snooze button! See this image larger.
We have several pics of him making a basket, but this one shows him shouting “GOAR!!!” (as I may have mentioned before, this word is believed to be half “GOAL!” and half “SCORE!” He’ll get it down, give him some time 😉 ) The more he does this, the cuter it gets, as there’s genuine excitement and elation in his voice. See this image larger.
I missed out on this trip because I was working, but here’s a happy little man on a swing! See this image larger.
Yup, still swinging! See this image larger.
And now sliding with Mama! See this image larger.
It may not look like it from this angle, but this is after Ian fell back asleep in my arms after he was pulled from the car seat. He sometimes sleeps with one eye part-way open, a trait he picked up from his Mama. This was the night we went out to Johnny Carino’s restaurant. Soooo sleepy! See this image larger.
So last weekend, as I said, Grandpa Dave and Grandma Marcia were in town and watched Ian while we went to a wedding and reception… here’s some pics! (By the way, I’m dead serious about this — we need to take more pictures. If you’re part of a duo, we especially need to take a picture of the couple + Ian…)
Thanks again for making the trip guys!
Another update shortly…
A brief moment of the boys all together just before Melissa and I went to the wedding.. (Can you believe we didn’t get any pics of Melissa dressed to the nines? Bad daddy!) See this image larger.
Ian picks out a book and shows Grandpa Dave some of the other items hidden in the nooks and crannies of our bookshelf. See this image larger.
It sure didn’t take him long to get comfortable with his babysitters! See this image larger.
“GRAMMA MARCIA, LOOK! LOOKIT! OH MY GOSH LOOOOK. It’s a rock. Cool, huh?”
“Nom nom nom, fank oo gwamma nom nom nom.”
Hey we just wanted to say thanks to everybody for the nice emails, blog comments, and cards… Happy Belated Mother’s Day from the blog as well to all of you moms out there who are reading this!
I’ll get some pics up in a few days, but this weekend Grandpa Dave and Grandma Marcia were brave enough to volunteer to watch Ian for quite awhile while Melissa and I went to a friend’s wedding. A good time was indeed had by all, as Ian and Grandparents enjoyed each other’s company, and the two of us had fun at the wedding and reception. Thanks for watching him, and changing some pretty nasty diapers!
• Ian definitely said “Bye” to Grandpa Dave and Grandma Marcia as they left on Sunday morning. I think that’s a one-off for now, but we’ll see if it sticks. I’m trying to repeat a lot of things these days whenever possible after seeing how well “Woof woof” has “stuck.”
• GP Dave and GM Marcia heard Ian say “whoa!”
• Ian continues to master spinning things with his thumb and forefinger, particularly on hard surfaces like the linoleum floor near our front door. (Grandpa Dave definitely reinforced this during their visit… they had lots of fun.)
• Overall I think the neatest thing was seeing that Ian has learned to trust GP Dave and GM Marcia… when we left he was quite sad, but only for a very brief time.
• He will take your hand and guide you to the front door now when he wants to go outside. It is funny mostly because of how gentle and careful he is compared to the (at times) lumbering pile of barely controlled velocity. (I believe he did this for his babysitters, as well as parents, correct me if I’m wrong.)
• A general note if you’re outside with Ian: Please be advised that he has no idea that a rock is not food. I’m not sure how kids learn that, but hopefully Ian will learn it the easy way. (This is something I just noticed today, not something he pulled with his sitters.)
• The other day I visited the new daycare we’re thinking about trying to move Ian to. Melissa had already been, but it was my turn to check it out. It seemed very nice… great to see a bit of genuine enthusiasm from teachers at his age group.
• Melissa and I are pretty sure Ian only has room for four more teeth!
Next entry I’ll get some pics up that relate to this entry… then after that we’ll talk about Grandpa Ray and Grandma Barb’s (soon-to-be) visit!
(The title reference is from one of Ian’s top-read books Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion.)
The flip-flopping. See this image larger.
The flop-flipping. See this image larger.
My new answer to “how do you like being a dad?” will be a link to this picture. See this image larger.
We love you too, kiddo. See this image larger.
