Sick as a Dog (arf arf)

Sorry, anytime somebody says “dog” now I automatically throw in an arf arf. Can’t help it. Training.

Anyway, I just wanted to make a quick entry that says, in short, I think Melissa is on the last leg of it, I’m in the very final throes of it, and Ian is hopefully getting near the end of this horrible cold we’ve all had. I swear we’ve had this for… three weeks? You can tell Ian’s miserable, particularly when he swallows something and it hits the wrong part of his throat. Breaks a mom and dad’s heart seeing that much pain on a kid’s face. But like I said, almost through this. Spring should make this much less of a problem, from what I understand, and I’ll take all the help I can get.

So um… I came up with this thing two days ago that is working great for the residual smell made by our Diaper Champ, just making a note for posterity. Throw some ripped up newspaper in the bottom of it, under the bag. It is the kind of solution I enjoy: economical, effective, earthy, and… something else that starts with e, I guess. It works really well, sucks the stink right out of the air. (For those of you who don’t know, the Diaper Champ is that thing in Ian’s room that eats diapers and looks like Artoo-Deetoo… we call ours Artoo-Poopoo.)

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I know, you were hoping for pictures, sorry, but we had a good run for that week, didn’t we?

Observations:
• Wow are we sick and tired of being sick and tired. All three of us.

• I found the letter “C” in my shoe about three days ago.

• Ian enjoys saying “mawmawmawmaw” repeatedly when he’s having a heavy drool day. Why? He loves his mom…. aaaand the motion of his mouth creates fantastic spit bubbles!

• Today I saw him put some crackers back in a package and was so impressed that I let him do it quite a few times. Then he realized he had a captive audience, so all the little goldfish crackers were poured on the tray and down into his lap in the high chair. As he was running a temperature today and yesterday, so I can guarantee you that was the biggest smile I’ve seen on the kid in the last 24 hours.

• Ian and the cat are having better days together, and the cat even let Ian pet him a bit today. Yes, then I washed Ian’s hands, of course.

• Ian’s got an eye for detail and a good memory. If I quote a book, he either gets the book, or looks at where the book is. If I quote a DVD he’s seen, he’ll look at the TV as if to see if it happens to be on. It is crazy watching him learn. He just seems to be constantly trying to pick up on how things work. You can see his little hands trying to spin things like a top because of having seen me do it, and he’s got the motion and the idea right, just not the motor skills.

• We have noticed the mischievous glint in his eye many times now, particularly when he sees he’s gotten a bit of a rise out of us.

• We are looking at the possibility of selling the house. We’re not going to make much, but the deals that are out there right now might just make it worth doing. We’ll see.

Ianosaurus

Ah, another slow Monday, (back on the 10th) just father and dino-PJ’d son. The magnetic letters continue to get a lot of play!

“Ianosaurus discover magic letters stick to shiny moving wall!” See this image larger.

“Ianosaurus thumb stuck in 9… or 6… Ianosaurus unsure.” See this image larger.

“Ianosaurus grow hair.” See this image larger.

“Ianosaurus hunt kitty with Q!” (Seth – “Oh SNAP!”)See this image larger.

“Ianosaurus discover crazy world lit by glowing orb behind protective shield. Or perhaps shield protect Ianosaurus. Ianosaurus think deep, head hurt.” See this image larger.

“Ianosaurus accidentally discovered by Mini-Vanosaurus. Remain still. Shhh.” See this image larger.

NappetizZzer!

Bonus points for cool pun title.

This, I believe is the first time, recorded or otherwise, that Ian fell asleep in his high chair while eating.

Melissa and I were having a financial discussion, after Ian had finished eating, and I guess the topic wasn’t very exciting for him. See this image larger.

That chair actually reclines for this kind of situation, but we just put him in his crib. Probably better to teach him that bed is sleep and sleep is bed. Wondering about the wipes package? When we got down to the last wipe we decided to keep the old package for him to play with. This is because he wouldn’t leave it alone, more or less. The little plastic lid requires a delicate flick of the finger to open, but he had it down pat in about three tries. See this image larger.

Sunday Best IV – High Altitude Edition

Ok so this is the same outfit as a few weeks ago, more or less; but the response was good, so I guess we can wear it more than once, hmm? 😉

I was trying to figure out what looked odd about Ian in this image, Melissa nailed it by saying “He looks like a linebacker.” He almost even has that Heisman Trophy pose going on. See this image larger.

“Ruh? That’s not my best side, Papa.” See this image larger.

Hopefully he’ll figure out the proper way to pick up a dog before his next interaction with a canine, or there’s going to be some hurt feelings. See this image larger.

“WEEEEEE!!!” See this image larger.

“WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!” See this image larger.

“WEEE BETTER STOP THIS I’M GOING TO THROW UP!!!” See this image larger.

Visitors always welcome!

Thanks again for coming over Grandpa Dave and Grandma Marcia, sorry it took me a bit to get these pics up!

He woke up the morning of March 2nd with enough hair to get (what my side of the family would call) an alf-alfa. I love this pic, it is definitely going to be shown to his prom date in 17 years, mark my words. See this image larger.

“Grandma Marcia, Dada won’t fix my hair. Help me out, here.” See this image larger.

“Does my bath hat help hide my cowlick?” See this image larger.

Ian shares his puppy, but only briefly, with Grandpa Dave. Arf! See this image larger.

And then away he goes again! “WhoWantsToSeeMyPuppy? WhoWantsToSeeMyPuppy? WhoWantsToSeeMyPuppy?” See this image larger.

What’s brighter, the flash on the camera or that toothy smile? See this image larger.

Anybody that’s been to a toy store recently and experienced nightmarish visions of Ian in a vast expanse of empty floor, void of toys or fun needs to pinch themselves hard. Please. 😉 See this image larger.

One of Ian’s favorites, Five Little Pumpkins! has far out-lasted the Halloween season, and is in high rotation on the top 5 of Ian’s Book Club. (Eat your heart out, Oprah.) See this image larger.

Ian’s other hat, this one made for outdoor Michigan winters, and indoor Elmer Fudd jokes. See this image larger.

PEEKABOO! Kudos to Grandpa Dave or Grandma Marcia for catching this moment. Whomever was manning (or womanning) the camera did a fine job! See this image larger.

Expanded Horizons

I woke up Saturday morning, and saw one place in the living room where I could change something, and it quickly turned into a very large re-structuring of the entire area, but more importantly Ian’s little playpen grew. Admittedly that was the point of even the first thing I was trying to do, but it was funny how the project grew. (Special note – See the ottomans? Those may appear random but they are either helping structurally or are an escape route for Seth!)

I have a ton of great pics thanks to Dad and Marcia’s visit and a few other things going on here and there, so check back again soon, I’ll have more pics up very quickly!

The gate used to shut him off from the area in the foreground… But now East and West Germany are one and the same, Komrade! See this image larger.

“… and Ian “Speed Racer” Chapman rounds the final turn toward the finish line, nearly lapping Round Hole Block and Four Square Blue Mega Block, whose progress appears almost negligible next to the great Ian’s ferocious velocity!” See this image larger.

What’s around this corner, Ian? (Sadly the answer is “dada with his camera on auto-focus, resulting in a great shot of our couch.”) See this image larger.

Ahdeede

I have to write these down quickly so that I don’t forget. Probably get some more pictures up next entry, sorry for the delay!

Observations:
• Today Ian was brought home from daycare and while Melissa held Ian, I unzipped his winter coat. Ian then proceeded to shrug a bit, then move one shoulder forward and kind of grab at the sleeve to pull his arm out, bending at the elbow… let gravity do the work on the back of the coat, and then slip out of the other arm. I know none of this sounds all that unusual for somebody that knows how to get out of a coat, but this is Ian! We’ve seen hints of this with the restraining straps on the high-chair and his car seat, but he made this look like he’d been taking coats off for as long as Mr. Rogers has been slipping into and out of sweaters!

• Tonight he proudly proclaimed “AHDEEDE. AHDEEDE.” with a big smile on his face. Doesn’t mean much to you? What if I told you that Melissa and I had just said “You DID it!” a moment before?

• The peekaboo in the curtains game got a little more interesting while I was watching him last night. He used both curtains, throwing them open like he was a host for the Tonight Show.

• Tonight shortly after the “AHDEEDE” incident, I began piling pillows in a tower. He picked one up and placed it on top. It didn’t stay, but it was still funny to see him try. (Really just seeing him pick up a pillow is impressive, given his size. He looks a lot like Superman picking up a car.)

Compari-son

I realized last night that Grandpa Dave and Grandma Marcia would be visiting a year (almost to the day) later than their March 5th trip of last year. Obviously they’ve been here between then and now, but this juxtaposition makes for a great photo opportunity. I’ll type more about the great visit in the next entry, but for now, a comparison!

A year ago… See this image larger.

Today! Dang, is that kid putting on some weight? He looks a bit heavier, doesn’t he? He better lay off the bon-bons! 😉 See this image larger.

A year ago… See this image larger.

Today! Also congrats to Ian for staying awake through our picture-taking this time around! 😉 See this image larger.

DVDs in progress

I’m about halfway to where I want to be before I release the next Ian DVDs. Maybe you’re wondering why it takes so long. Well… you know other projects crop up, and really the only time I can work on these is after he goes to bed, or Melissa gets stuck on mommy duty, which happens often, admittedly. (Truly Melissa is a saint, and if I don’t make that plain enough in these pages, I’ll say it again: Melissa is a saint.) The other reason is that discs 2 and 3 are going to be delivered in the same case, in order to save your shelf space… so you’re waiting on volume 3 at this point, sorry!

Is it hard work or a labor of love making the DVDs? Absolutely both. The thing that makes editing hard is two-fold. The first is that while I don’t try to spend a bunch of time behind the camera, deleting footage at all makes the gesture of taping precious moments a bit hollow. And it is difficult to edit out some of the slower moments because doing so gives a less clear picture of the way our lives really are. So there’s a fine line. It’s hard to know what to keep and what to throw out, particularly when you think of the possible audience; say… somebody showing the disc to a friend, for instance. We’re trying to keep them both entertaining AND true-to-life, if that’s possible.

By the way, please throw a comment or two in if you like a particular kind of blog entry. I’m always looking for feedback as to what people want to see. I heard quite a few folks liked the mini-movies, perhaps because they were quick downloads and hastily got to the point. We’ll try to do more of those. Would you rather see photos over movies? Would you rather read stories? I’ve been trying to mix it up quite a bit.

Observations:
• Only real story currently is that we had Ian’s weight checked because he had taken a little dip on the growth chart back a few checkups ago when he was sick… (and you can probably imagine which part of sick kept Ian’s weight down temporarily…) He turns out to be absolutely fine. He also gained a pound and a half in the last month. He’s now 22 pounds.

• This might be a “had to be there” kind of thing. I had Ian in my arms today and asked him if he was tired. He pointed across the gate. I stepped over it and started to head for the stairway. He diverted me by franticly pointing toward the table. I moved a few steps in that direction and stopped. He continued to point and kind of whip his arm back and forth while pointing as if to say “THERE, Dada… THERE. RIGHT THERE. GO THERE.” He was pointing near the counter. I moved over to it, carrying Ian with me. With a great fervor he dropped his hand to point now at a bag of crackers and some “puffs” that were in a bin on the counter. Guess he was hungry.

• We moved the cat’s food to the kitchen in preparation for expanded Ian territory… still in the works, but the cat needs to know early. We’ve learned that about him. We also have shades now for the office and Ian’s room. They work and look great, we’re very happy with them.

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