ian – Page 61 – Out Of Their Minds Design

Giving Thanks in Ohio 2008, Part I

On November 26th we drove on down to Ohio, with a car full of stuff and sleepy people. It was a fast trip this time, with little in the way of issues. (We’ll save those for the trip back to Michigan a few days after this entry…) Over our stay we had a great time, as usual, with lots of shopping, eating, and video games to be had.

First, let’s give thanks to Melanie for organizing, hospitality and preparing, and all the ladies for the cooking that went with said preparation!

Next let’s give thanks to life’s three big necessities, family, milk, and a smattering of toys! See this image larger.

“Not now Grandma, I’m on the phone… buy buy sell sell sell.” See this image larger.

Tea for two, and probably a little drool for three 😉 See this image larger.

Kaylee and Ian check out Ian’s sleeping accommodations and find them acceptable and also quite a bit fun to play in! See this image larger.

“Weird nightlight thingy, tell me your secrets!” See this image larger.

“Go give Kaylee a kiss Ian, Kaylee give Ian a kiss…” And boom this happened. It was hilarious, and cute, but it did make me wonder where they’ve seen people kiss that nicely… arms in the right spots, heads tilted to avoid nose-bashing. Heck I don’t think I knew that until I was 15! See this image larger.

“You think I’m funny? I’m some kind of JOKE to you?” Ian has a “Goodfellas” moment. See this image larger.

“9mm uzi…” Kaylee has a “Terminator” moment. See this image larger.

That girl’s got some serious energy! And a whole lotta happy! See this image larger.

And this one’s in here because sometimes the best pictures are a little out of focus. I think Ansel Adams said that. I’m kidding. See this image larger.

It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

When Ian goes down for a nap, one of three things generally happens. The smartest thing that could happen is that Melissa and I would take a nap to try to get a fraction of the energy necessary to keep up with out child’s recharging batteries. Usually I decide to go play video games, or work. But this day we decided it was time to get out the Christmas tree and set it up. And this is no three hour task. Furniture is moved, floors are vacuumed, gates are reoriented, dead Christmas tree lights are tossed aside and quickly replaced by energy efficient LEDs. So you can imagine Ian’s surprise when he awoke to find all of this work completed… he went upstairs leaving the old living room, he came downstairs to a slightly new world.

Ooooh, somebody’s still a little sleepy. See anything different kiddo? See this image larger.

“OVER THERE, MA!” See this image larger.

“I am as overjoyed as I am exhausted and surprised!” See this image larger.

“Hurray!” See this image larger.

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” See this image larger.

Ian checks the lights to make sure he shouldn’t say “Haht!” See this image larger.

Mario Iandretti

Being a bad Da takes practice and excuses. Ian has always imitated my car’s engine while we’ve been in the car, and made the same noise with his little toy cars… he always tries to get in the driver’s seat when I pick him up from daycare and don’t directly place him in the baby seat. So… I figured he should see what a car handles like the safest way I know how… video games.

This is his first time on the Xbox360, particularly the wheel peripheral. It’s pretty early in the morning, so forgive my disheveled appearance. See this image larger.

I think everybody that’s seen this picture has fallen in love with it. I’m not sure what it is that’s so appealing. Gpa Dave got an early glance and said he liked the relaxed grip of Ian’s hand on the wheel. I like the anticipation on his face… “This is fun! Oh but there’s a turn coming…” See this image larger.

Overall he had fun, but his interest did not last long. And that’s probably a good reaction if you ask me. I don’t want to get him too attached to games, but it is something I do as a hobby, and I’d like him to at least understand why his Da likes them. See this image larger.

We decided to let Ma give it a try with Ian too, just for kicks. It was funny how he picked up the wheel with one hand, looked at me as cute as he could, and pointed to the blank television screen saying “Curz?” (“Cars?”) See this image larger.

Such focus! See this image larger.

And a round of applause at the end of the race for our brave champion! See this image larger.

The Incident (and other stories)

Here’s a little something I call “the incident.” It occurred on November 11th… I happened to catch this on audio, but it doesn’t do it justice without a transcript and a bit more narration… Click here to hear the clip. And here’s what you’ll be hearing –

Ian – “Mommy!” “Naaa.” (Ian hits Mama, not accidentally, but not quite realizing the ramifications of what he has done until she looks at him.)

Ma corrects Ian, and I do as well… the words of the adults are not the focus here though…

Ian – (His eyes are as big as dinner plates at this point, as the prospect of braving the cruel Michigan winter living out of a Pampers box on the street slowly dawns on him.) “I’m sowwy. Love you. Sowwy. Sowwwwy. “

One other note, unrelated but interesting: Ian wiped his own nose, and then walked over and put the tissue in the trash. Our trash has a lid, but he figured it out, of course. It was impressive on many levels. This was pretty much a one time occurrence, but we’re hoping for more!

Footy pajamas are probably one of life’s most unique pleasures in that they make you feel warm and snuggly just seeing a cute kid wearing them. See this image larger.

Speaking of warm, Ian’s in full winter regalia here, from boots to mittens, and snow pants. Was the 3 minute walk worth the 10 minute battle of suiting up? As long as he’s happy, yes. See this image larger.

Ever wonder how they make those mirror “disco” balls? Just let a 22 month old near a roll of tin foil for 5 seconds. See this image larger.

Da’s B-day

Way back on November 2nd, yours truly got a little older, and had a great time doing it. Truly these are the best years of my life, and despite everything that’s wrong out in the world today, my little world within that world would be hard-pressed to be happier.

I got this for my birthday from Melissa, and it is one of the best gifts I’ve ever received… she took an existing children’s book and glued pictures of Ian and I over the drawings, so that it became about my relationship with Ian. I couldn’t even speak when she gave it to me, it was so nice! See this image larger.

Gramma Marcia was kind enough to lend us her skill and scissors for Ian’s first haircut. It was crazy to see how different he looked so quickly! See this image larger.

Well ok, first he just very quickly looked sad, but he got over it pretty fast, and then — Voila! A more handsome and mature looking lad See this image larger.

Eventually this will go in a more prestigious container, but for now there’s the first snip of hair! See this image larger.

Ian did a few cool things over the course of the weekend, as usual, but the one that stopped everybody in their tracks was when we went out to eat (on my birthday) and Ian suddenly said “Mahsha!” in the parking lot, while looking at Marcia. Nice job, kiddo! For that you can have some ice cream!

This is called an animated gif – I took pictures of Ian eating ice cream at dinner, and kind of stitched them together as a sequence, just like making a flip book. This probably looks like it is sped up, but he attacked that sundae with at least this much vigor.

Thank you to Gpa Dave and Gma Marcia for driving out to see us on my birthday… the idea had been to let Melissa and I have a night out alone, but the truth of the matter was it was a great present to spend my birthday dinner with a bigger chunk of my family. I didn’t want to hear about how much fun those three had that night, I wanted to see!

Random stuff

About a week ago he came out of a nap, but was apparently still tired… I sat down on the couch with Ian in a little bundle. He fell asleep in my arms — and it was as wonderful as when he was an infant, if not more so.

About three days ago (the 5th) Ian took my hat off, played with it a bit, and handed it back to me, saying “Here you go, Daaaddy!” This was a stunner, Melissa and I had to check with each other to make sure we weren’t hearing things.

I left my shoes out of the closet, and Ian said “Bindon!” That’s his word for Brandon, my co-worker who shows up some days at my office — and when he does? You guessed it, he leaves his shoes at the door.

On Monday the 3rd, I poured Ian a bowl of Cheerios in the morning for breakfast. He looked down and announced “Zeros!” The day this was written (the 8th) he had Cheerios for breakfast and it was remarkable to see him handle a bowl half filled with milk and cereal and end up with the vast majority of it in his tummy, all by himself.

He was so sick Monday (the 3rd) night that he was up every 10-15 minutes crying. We ended up letting him sleep in our bed, and he slept much better. No ramifications from that yet. Was funny to hear him meow back at the cat when Seth pulled his usual middle-of-the-night antics.

We came up with a new game where he sits on a blanket and I drag him around a bit on the blanket. We make him sit in the middle of the blanket and pat the place where he should sit while saying “sit.” We shouldn’t have been surprised when he requested playing this game by gathering the blanket from a couch, throwing it on the floor, tapping the middle of it and saying “sit.” See this image larger.

The Many Faces of Bathtime

Sometimes he looks old, sometimes quite young. You’ll see that a lot as we tour The Many Faces of Bathtime! Here we wonder if he’s peeing. See this image larger.

Here we KNOW he’s peeing. See this image larger.

We love this smile. I should probably Photoshop the black-bean skin off of his tooth. See this image larger.

“Pardon me Ma’am, but have you considered this higher-quality baby shampoo? As you can see it gives enhanced lift and body at a price just pennies above your store bought brand.” See this image larger.

Wet! See this image larger.

More wet! See this image larger.

I’m not sure which sort of “classic” comedy actor I’m thinking of, but I see a little of that in this picture. Who am I thinking of? Tim Conway? Gomer Pyle? Clampetts?See this image larger.

His head slipped through the visor with a pop and he giggled, of course. See this image larger.

“Whoa, whoa, is that a CAMERA in here?” See this image larger.

I got about five shots like this, and they were so wonderful it was hard to narrow it down to one… See this image larger.

… or two. Really we’re lucky I have the restraint to not show more than two… See this image larger.

… or three. This one’s my favorite. See this image larger.

Looks a little drunk in this one. See this image larger.

Ma takes a turn getting her hair brushed for a change. See this image larger.

Finally, time for bed! See this image larger.

Robinette’s with the Schoenborns 2008

One of the cider mills that we visited with Grandma Sue during her recent visit is a place we also go to with some very good friends of ours, the Schoenborns! We met them back when Melissa and I worked with Martin at Square One Design, and started a tradition of getting together at the cider mill (a place called Robinettes) once a year in the fall. With Grandma Sue Ian had a lot of fun, and as you can see here, our meet with the Schoenborns on November 1st was a lot of fun as well, particularly compared to last year, when he really didn’t get to do as much… (Click to see!)

Isaac and Ian run through the leaves, with a curiously satisfying “crunch crunch crunch!” See this image larger.

Ian enjoyed garnering the attention of all the children by forming a roadblock across the top of the slide. See this image larger.

Uncharacteristically, he sort of stopped and stared around when he got to the bottom of this tree. See this image larger.

We take the opportunity for a quick self-portrait. Ian takes this opportunity to try and eat a wood chip while his parents are distracted. See this image larger.

Have I said my wife is beautiful this entry yet? No? Well, she is. 🙂 See this image larger.

Anything is twice as safe as long as you’re holding Ma’s hand! See this image larger.

Isaac and Ian prepare to go down the slide together… I smell a photo opportunity! See this image larger.

Ok, both of you go down the slide at the same time… ONE, TWO — IAN! Ah well, maybe next year! Thanks Schoenborns! See this image larger.

Halloween 2008, Part II

In honor of Ian’s quickly approaching “terrible twos” we decided it was permissible for him to wear a Darth Vader costume. He’s the evil villain in Star Wars, of course. See this image larger.

“YOU DARE PROVIDE YOUR LORD VADER WITH A HEALTHY FRUIT-SNACK?” See this image larger.

Doesn’t quite play the part of an evil overlord very well does he? All I see is a happy little boy! See this image larger.

“THE DARK LORD OF THE SITH REQUIRES YOUR ASSISTANCE IN OPENING THIS CONFECTION.” See this image larger.

I’ve learned to stop questioning, and simply enjoy the fact that my wife just gets more and more beautiful. See this image larger.

“LORD VADER COMMANDS YOUR PARENTS TO CONTACT MINE IN REGARDS TO A PLAYDATE, MINNIE MOUSE GIRL. TRIFLE WITH MY EMOTIONS AT YOUR PERIL!” See this image larger.

So ends another Halloween… May the Force be with you. See this image larger.

Click here to hear an mp3 of Ian saying “Trick or Treat!” (It should be noted that he learned this a day or so after Halloween… there was enough repetition as the evening progressed, that he got it eventually, just not quite in time. It was cute the night he figured it out, because he led Mama by the hand and trick or treated around the living room.)

Click here to hear an mp3 of Ian laughing like a vampire. (Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia got Ian a book that plays a sort of menacing laugh. That plus his weekly exposure to Sesame Street’s Count probably caused this. I love it!)

Halloween 2008, Part I

The first part of Halloween was the day care party, and we decided to have Ian wear the same costume that he wore last year… after all he should fit in it this year, right? (We even thought about the same costume for trick-or-treating, but I wouldn’t let a good photo opportunity pass me by. He’s too cute not to try another one!) See this image larger.

We thought for sure he’d hate the under-the-chin strap hood, but he put up with it just fine. Perhaps seeing the other kids in costume made it more acceptable. See this image larger.

“Pumkin!” See this image larger.

“Excited, Yoda is!” See this image larger.

We visited the bigger kid rooms, and here Ian finds a farm so that we can all make animal noises. See this image larger.

Yoda manned the toy register and played with Ma… “Your change here is. A nice day you have. Come again, you should.” See this image larger.

“NO NO a ten you gave, a TWENTY you DID NOT. CALL A SUPERVISOR, I MUST.” See this image larger.

I fashioned his pumpkin after Ellie from Pocoyo, an elephant character, which can be seen in the circular inset. See this image larger.

Trying to remember what Ian looked like last year in this costume? Here’s a flashback to 2007!