March 7th — when we went to Ikea on the previous day, one of the things that we bought was a toy basket of vegetables. The basket has been used as a cap ever since. This was the night Ian and I got pretty sick. See this image larger.

That Nina can stand up with the aid of a rocket is a good thing. She was not walking at this time — she was standing up in the middle of the floor, by herself, though — but never when there was a camera around, and pretty infrequently. As you’ll see, the next week following this day was monumental. On a side note, the word “nike” looks a whole lot like “nina” on her pants when her shirt is pulled down enough. See this image larger.

Ian as a police officer! See this image larger.

Ian’s squad car, that he made himself. See the “lights” on top? The kid is creative, no bones about that. See this image larger.

Believe this was on the 8th. For those of you that come to my house and are amazed by how much the cat loves you, don’t be offended when I say… yes, he loves you… but he loves me more. 😉 Don’t believe me? Check out the video below. See this image larger.

We have some great videos too, check these out!

Video
Click here to see the kitty give Daddy some headbutts o’ love.

Please forgive the time it took to make the next few entries… lots of video to look through and edit, and not a whole lot of time to do so thanks to my projects. Without further ado, let’s get goin!

On March 2nd, we had a video conference with Grandma Sue! See this image larger.

A brief hug, and nobody got hurt, even better! Speaking of which, I’ll probably never forget that boo boo on Ian’s hand, as it stopped him from washing that hand for a number of days. (We’d wash it for him sometimes, though.) See this image larger.

On March 4th we headed for Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia’s house, but didn’t make it there… Nina got sick in the car, from what we thought might be a reaction to some antibiotics that she was on at the time. What we didn’t know was that she was carrying around a stomach bug that ended up hitting Ian and I (and Grandma Marcia, sorry!) later on in the week. Instead, oblivious, we woke up in the morning, saw that Nina was fine, and got back on the road. Thus, we ended up in Southgate on the 5th, when this and most of the other pictures here were taken. See this image larger.

Nina reads about princesses while the boys play. See this image larger.

Nina got to try these graham cracker goldfish, and she liked them quite a bit! See this image larger.

They say she’s the Girl of the Remote! (You can even see the light is lit on the remote!) See this image larger.

Oh, sorry, sorry! PRINCESS of the Remote! Sheesh! See this image larger.

Grandma Marcia treated Mommy to a dance concert, the kind of day she sorely needed — while Grampa Dave and I watched the kids! Here Grampa tries to out-race Nina’s page-turning antics! See this image larger.

This looks like a testimonial video to me – “Have you read ‘Good Night, Baby Mickey?’ Well I have, and I’m here to tell you it changed my life.” See this image larger.

While Nina checks out what else is on the table, Ian ponders what to do next in the background. I think he’s thinking about something that will garner everybody’s attention! 😉 See this image larger.

Here Ian plays with a moonbase we all helped him build, including some custom-built parts by Grampa Dave! See this image larger.

Grandma Marcia reads Nina one of her favorite books! See this image larger.

Nina going for a slow spin on the rotating ottoman! See this image larger.

Good-night stories for all! Thanks ladies! See this image larger.

Ian listens attentively as Grandma Marcia reads him a tale! See this image larger.

*Can I nom this Gramma?* NOM NOM NOM See this image larger.

Daddy and Grampa Dave’s handiwork! See this image larger.

We have some great videos too, check these out!

Video
Click here to watch an excellent video. If you watch carefully, you’ll see Nina take a cracker, say “NOM NOM NOM,” and then YOU decide whether or not she hears me say “That’s enough.”

Video
Click here to watch Nina ask for the jar to be opened!

Video
Click here to see Nina preparing to get yet more reading time out of Grandma Marcia!

We went home on the 6th after a brief visit to Ikea. (Remind me to show you these awesome trays that we bought!!) We had a great time, thanks guys, and sorry again about the stomach bug!

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.

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.

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.