ian – Page 46 – Out Of Their Minds Design

So Long, September

On September 26th, we had one of the worst dining-out experiences in our lives together. The service was slow enough that Ian almost ate this crayon. Actually, come to think of it, he generally tries to do that under any conditions. That reminds me… some weeks ago, Ian made a face and pulled a tiny wheel out of his mouth, it broke off of a cheap toy plane that he (ironically) got from the dentist. It reminded me how great it is to be able to communicate with Ian that I was able to tell him to spit out the wheel, explain to him that the same piece (an axle, maybe a half-centimeter in length, and the diameter of a pencil lead) jutting out of one side had a matching brother on the other side. “Is it still in your mouth?” (his eyes kind of rolled up thoughtfully as he searched and prodded with his tongue) “Mmm hmm.” “Could you spit it in Daddy’s hand?” “Mmm hmm” (ptooi.)

It was the 2nd of October when we went to Halloween USA to check out trick-or-treat costumes for the little man. Thomas the Tank Engine was a cute possibility. See this image larger.

Still we didn’t go with this one. What did we go with, you ask? You’ll have to wait until next blog entry for the “costume trial run” entry. See this image larger.

This was pretty awesome. On the 4th of October, Ian worked his way around behind me and draped over me in a lazy hug while I read him a bedtime story. See this image larger.

Thank you Mommy, for taking these pictures! See this image larger.

Grandma Sue’s Visit, September 2009, Part III

On the 21st of September, Grandma Sue and I took Ian to Playworld again… we got a few photos out of the deal, and a movie clip I hope to share with you all someday. Here Ian learns to share in a two-seater fire engine. He was a very good boy. See this image larger.

Later we came home and played with the train set. See this image larger.

Technology is going to be a part of this kid’s life… I don’t think he has any options there thanks to my little obsessions. Sorry, kiddo! Here Ian plays with a Nintendo DS. See this image larger.

Apparently somebody’s been watching Mommy and is willing to try out his nail filing skills! See this image larger.

Here the Ramblin’ Chapmans make their musical debut on the Nintendo Wii, playing WiiMusic… and just like the rest of Grandma Sue’s stay, fun was had by all! Thanks for the visit, Grandma Sue! We look forward to the next! See this image larger.

Grandma Sue’s Visit, September 2009, Part II

Deciding that Ian hadn’t had nearly enough fun, it was time to head to Robinette’s Apple Orchard, where there’s a cider mill and a really big apple! See this image larger.

I didn’t take too many pictures of the slide, but there was also a slide. Ian reminded us of this as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, actually! (Without seeing the slide.) See this image larger.

It was great to have Grandma Sue there with us! We checked out the sights on a perfect fall day. See this image larger.

Grandma Sue takes a turn as photographer — thank you! 🙂 See this image larger.

And just when it looked like Ian was about to crash… it was time for donuts! See this image larger.

So Ian ramped up to a sugar-high… burned that off and finally he really did crash. It was part of a master plan, I suppose, for that night, Melissa and I got to go out to a movie and dinner while Grandma Sue put weary Ian down for the night. Thank you!!

The next night, the 20th, we ended up at Target, like we always seem to. Ian let us take some pictures of him in a cool “Sinatra”-style hat. See this image larger.

and another…See this image larger.

and another… See this image larger.

and another! See this image larger.

Grandma Sue’s Visit, September 2009, Part I

Wow, well let’s catch up, shall we? I can’t believe I’m almost a month behind!!! Sorry everybody!

On Friday, the 18th of September, Grandma Sue’s visit started, and we had a great time overall. It was really the perfect time for her to spend a little catch-up time with Ian, because he was ready to impress. It was neat seeing it happen all at once, really. We picked him up from daycare, and Ian ran to her out on the playground, saying something along the lines of “Grandma, my grandma!” We all got in the car, and Grandma Sue asked Ian some good questions, but she was sort of leaving him with yes or no answers… This isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t explore his vocabulary… so I butted in “How was your day kiddo?” “Good. Play outside.” “What else did you do today.” “I play hockey.” “Who was there?” “Owen, Jacob… ” etc. And it went on from there… it is hard to explain, but suffice to say Grandma Sue’s mouth was hanging open in surprise.

It is hard not to underestimate him… heck, just yesterday I went past a video he wanted to watch, flipping through them toward the right… he wanted the video I had passed and he said “left, left!” I knew my right from my left in FIRST GRADE. He’s TWO-AND-A-HALF, for cryin’ out loud. I’m not saying he’ll remember it next week, but it was crazy to hear him say it. It wasn’t just what Ian said, however, but the way he said it, that also surprised Grandma Sue. If you talk to him like an adult, he does his best to answer like an adult, at least most of the time. And if you’re looking for one word answers, he only gives those if he’s feeling shy. We usually get a sentence… and if we’re lucky a paragraph… or story!

Little house of pillows. He sits so still when watching TV, I couldn’t help myself. See this image larger.

September 18th, and Ian and Grandma Sue enjoy a book together during some down-time. See this image larger.

*Lightning McQueen, Gramma! Kachow!* See this image larger.

On September 19th, and we decided to venture out into the world and have some fun. Melissa had heard about a series of shops having a kid’s fair, so Ian got to enjoy Gymboree… we’ve been paying a little extra at daycare so that Ian can enjoy a mobile version of Gymboree that comes to Ian’s school… but this is their “home base.” See this image larger.

Looks like fun! And I know you might be thinking that this activity might wear him out, but trust me, he keeps right on going. (I’ll remind you when we finally got back to the house, and you’ll see just how long he lasted!) See this image larger.

One of the Gymboree employees asked Melissa if our little boy was Ian, and it turned out that she recognized him from the daycare class… she went on to say extremely nice things about Ian, about how he’s a great listener and helper. I thought this picture might be a good time to reflect on what she said. (Hey, these captions don’t write themselves, you know!) See this image larger.

It is always great to hear from somebody that Ian’s being a good boy, particularly from somebody like the Gymboree employee, who had nothing to gain by telling us this. See this image larger.

SCOOOOOORE! See this image larger.

When there’s nothing better to do, why not run in a circle on the mats!! See this image larger.

And heck, why not jump on them while you’re at it! See this image larger.

And then maybe get back up! See this image larger.

Down. See this image larger.

Up. Shew! That’s a lot of work! We left Gymboree, but we went to the cider mill next, that’ll have to wait for next entry. See this image larger.

Animal Hospital

We ended up having to take Seth to the Animal Hospital Emergency Care on Sunday the 11th of October. Thankfully things seem to be getting back to normal, however there was enough “irregularity” (shall we call it?) that we felt the need to spend an enormous amount of money on a domesticated animal. What can we say, Seth is family.

This is blogworthy because Ian was his semi-usual rambunctious self that day, until we told him that the kitty was sick and we were headed to the hospital… immediately he took on the role of big brother saying things like “don’t worry seth. you gunna be ok kitty.” And when we left to get a bite to eat, leaving the cat alone at the hospital for an hour, Ian continually asked where the kitty was.

On a more hilarious note, when a nurse took the three of us into an empty examination room to talk about Seth’s diagnosis, Ian looked at the nurse and slowly pulled his shirt up, seemingly to show her his belly. I noticed this but filed it under “That’s a two-year-old for you.” But when she came in a second time, he did it again. I couldn’t put my finger on why… and then looked back at the nurse and suddenly interrupted everything by laughing really loud. The nurse had a stethoscope around her neck… Ian was lifting his shirt to allow her to listen to his heart, like at our doctor’s office.

Also, on the way home, it was dark out… so Ian assumed we were headed to the cottage, and asked us when we would see the boat.

A couple of notes for posterity:

• The animal hospital is unique in the way it is staffed, resulting in extremely long wait times that are not in order of arrival. Patients are seen in order of stability, which means you could technically be there the rest of your life.

• Ian does not like Dora the Explorer.

• Multiple warnings to the staff did not save the doctor from Seth’s ninja-fast claws. They never listen.

The Latest

Before we embark on a several part entry from Grandma Sue’s visit, I wanted to tell a few stories.

Ian slept very little last night. At one point he mentioned something about scared or scary. So I asked him if he had had a bad dream. He said “Yep.” “Well what did you dream about?” I asked. “Pumpkin,” he said, a little fright in his voice. “A pumpkin?” “Big one.”

Later in the same night, at around 5:40 in the morning, he finally got so tired he couldn’t come back out of his nightmare, I guess. But before falling asleep he asked me to “pet” him, (rub his back a little bit) and sing him the ABC’s.

Recently (last week, maybe the week before) Ian really did give up the zooey for good at last. We were just trying to explain that with its new hole, the pacifier would likely need to be thrown out soon, and that he should be the one to do so, when the time comes. He immediately threw it in the diaper genie, and gave the lever a throw. Much later that night he mentioned something along the lines of “Grampa Dave go to store buy a zooey.”I think every person we talked to about pacifiers said that their kid asked once or twice and then was over it. We have not been so lucky. At least once a night he asks for it. It makes me feel a bit bad, really… particularly when I tuck him back in late at night and his mouth makes a sucking motion looking for it… I feel bad because we so heavily pushed him into relying on it.

Ian actually opened the bathroom door the other day so that the cat could get to his spare bowl of water. He mentioned this specifically, and I would call this the first case of Ian teaming up with his “fuzzy brother from another mother.”

Ian sang PERFECT back-up vocals when I sang the themesong for “Dinosaur Train” just a few days ago. It goes like this:
Dinosaur train!
(Dinosaur train.)
Dinosaur train!
(Dinosaur train.)
Gunna riiide (ride, ride, ride riiiiiiide)
Dinosaur train!

This one’s hard to explain, but suffice to say I whistled the themesong to a show when he referenced it — a show called Callilou. Ian turned and stared at me, he couldn’t believe the song was coming out of my mouth. “CALLILOU SONG DADDY!!! CALLILOU SONG!!!”

I’ve got some good pics and some audio clips that I’ll throw on here as soon as I can. I’m still in a bit of a busy stretch for a little while. I think things should start to ease up around November. The good news is that I have a job starting around October 15th. Very awesome!

No news is good news on the little girl. She’s got more kicks than a karate school according to Mommy!

September Sunday Evening and Monday

Bath time! See this image larger.

I have a great shot of his butt too, but I figure he’s getting old enough now that maybe it is a bad idea to post it on the internet. See this image larger.

Yay, bath crayons! See this image larger.

*I can draw on walls! (…in the bathtub only.)* See this image larger.

Ian and I at Millennium Park, the next day… Monday, September 14th. See this image larger.

Can he climb that? Yes he can. See this image larger.

Did we have fun? Yes, we did! See this image larger.

September Sunday

Ah, Sunday morning… here we are on the way home from church. Ian pauses in front of some black-eyed susans. Really I’m guessing on that flower type. Let’s make up a name. Yellow Dinkies. I’m pretty sure they were Yellow Dinkies. See this image larger.

Couldn’t get him to look at the camera because an airplane was flying overhead. Still cute, no? See this image larger.

We got home and Ian decided it was time to bang the drum. See this image larger.

He makes some funny faces when he’s drumming, particularly if he’s drumming AND singing the alphabet. See this image larger.

DOOMP DOOMP DOOMP DOOMP See this image larger.

Photo Study

On September 12th, I just decided I should shoot as many detail shots as I could, just for the sake of record.

I think what set me off was looking down at his feet and realizing that I couldn’t remember them at too many different sizes between now and when he was born… See this image larger.

His hands have always been so hilarious to me… those little nails… I admit that I happily avoid cutting his nails and let my better half take care of it. They’re too tiny, and if I hurt him I’d probably be more upset than he would be. See this image larger.

Of course the only way to take any shot of him sitting this still is to put the television on… his new favorite video (sometimes pronounced “bideo”) is from They Might Be Giants, called Here Comes Science. See this image larger.

There are parts of said video/bideo that go over such complicated matters as the periodic table of elements, so if Ian looks stunned, it is understandably so. See this image larger.

On the other hand… (that was some kind of pun-joke-thing, if you don’t get it, try to relax a little — it’s been a long day.) See this image larger.

Had to animate this one… I believe I might have had to scream “FREE ICE CREAM” in order to get him to look my way for a second.

Winner of Cutest Nose on Earth, second year running. See this image larger.

Forever our boy. See this image larger.

Dinner Out!

Just scrambling to catch up at this point… here’s a few shots of us eating out on September 11th, 2009… Ian still sits in a high chair, but he barely seems to fit. (And those booster seats aren’t much good with our little squirmer… we might as well skip that and go right to sitting on the real chair.) See this image larger.

*That was a big bite… better count my fingers… yep, still there.* See this image larger.

*No pictures, Daddy…* See this image larger.

*I said NO PICTURES, HEEEYA!* See this image larger.