On the 29th Ben and Mel took us to an indoor waterpark that they had been to previously, and we had a blast! We all want to thank them for taking the time and effort to show us a great time while we were there! Here’s some pictures from that leg of the visit, but please read on after the images, as I’ve got some other fun details to share.

When we arrived at the water park, Ian showed a little trepidation about actually entering said water. See this image larger.

But when Ian saw Connor and his school pal Cale having such a good time, he had to try! See this image larger.

The only way he’d truly have the courage to try such a feat, would be in the arms of his Ma. And so they slid down, I got about three pictures, and the lifeguard on duty promptly told us that we could not have two people go down a slide as a group. Soooo he didn’t really try again too many times. See this image larger.

But that didn’t stop him from having a blast! There’s a great big structure with water buckets that fill and drop on your head, and spray guns, and kid pressure-controlled mini geysers… See this image larger.

Here’s Ian and Ma on the structure pausing for a brief picture. He looks like he might be happy to me, am I right? I couldn’t get too many pictures because there is such a network of dripping water flying all over the place that it was dangerous to bring a camera into the fray. See this image larger.

Back in the hotel rooms… Don’t forget, I told you Kaylee would get Ian back for the butt-pushing and the open palm face mashing… here she traps him in the stroller arms and takes him for a walk. All in good fun! 🙂 See this image larger.

Our rooms were adjoining, with a door that opened between the two of them. The little ones had such fun running between the rooms, circling around and running back! It was around this time that Kaylee really got Ian back… after being told to hug him, she did so, and then quickly maneuvered Ian into a belly down horsey ride maneuver and smacked him around a little. He deserved it, and it was expertly done! See this image larger.

In a surprising show of generosity, Connor gave part of his train set for Ian to use back at home. (I say surprising, because I think the level of maturity that Connor showed in being so kind is very rare for his age… what a nice cousin!) Ian displayed complete amazement at Connor’s train set and to this day still gets excited if you tell him we’re going home to play with his trains. He even says “Choo-Choo!” or “Toot Toot!” when you mention “train.” See this image larger.

MORE STORIES FROM THE TRIP – A lot of very cool things happened on or around the trip…

• Ian can now say “sssues” (shoes) “ssirt” (shirt) and “socks” and surprised everybody with “dumptruck” out of nowhere. (You can probably guess from the pictures in previous entries around the time he said it!)

• As I mentioned before, he pointed at Ben and said “Ben.” Aside from his classmates and Melissa and myself, Ben was the first person he named correctly without being told just prior.

• The morning we left the hotel, Ian awoke in his zipped-up tent… (You can see the tent in the image above.) I awoke to hear an un-zipping sound and see his little head peep up and look around. Then he stood up like a newly hatched bird, and looked around blankly until he spotted us! It was neat to see him wake up this way, when his typical wake-up involves being stuck in a crib.

• How good of a time did Ian have, part I: After the arduous 5-6 hour journey home, we played for awhile and Ian suddenly started saying “Baak.” I thought perhaps he wanted a bike ride, but I had my suspicions about what he meant. When he followed up the statement by grabbing my hand, dragging me to the garage and saying “caar” as he pointed at Melissa’s Prius, my suspicions were correct. Ian wanted us to go back to Ohio in the car!!! Why specifically? Read on.

• How good of a time did Ian have, part II: I believe that Ian loved seeing his cousins more than he let on during the trip. Not that he was in anyway unhappy during the trip, I just don’t think he expressed his happiness plainly. Here at home we started going through pictures on my computer and he pointed at the screen, unprovoked and said “CONRR!” (Connor) and “KAYEE!!” (Kaylee) whenever a picture had either of the two displayed. This has gone on for about a week, and you can tell he’s looking forward to seeing them again… I’m not saying that to be mushy or like “Mr. Happy Family Blogger!” Ian genuinely wants to spend more time with them, you can hear it in his voice and see it on his face.

The weekend of the 27th of September continues…

EDIT – Of note, Ian pointed at Ben as he cooked some steaks on the grill and said, very plainly “Ben.”

Grampa Ray and Grandma Barb always want to see pictures of their three grandchildren together. Seems like Ian is always the odd man out when we try to get everybody to hold still. See this image larger.

Kaylee reaches the summit of the swing-set with a cute little smile. See this image larger.

Ian also emerges victorious from a difficult climb that he made look very easy. See this image larger.

Ian and Connor saw eye-to-eye on a lot of tasks this trip, in this particular instance, it was time to get those trucks dirty! See this image larger.

I’m not even sure this one needs a caption. Suffice to say she was taking a bit too long getting through the ladder. But don’t worry, she got him back, eventually. 😉 See this image larger.

Kaylee adjusting Ian’s chapeau. See this image larger.

A smile of thanks… perfect hat placement! See this image larger.

He’s happy to see his cousins, alright, he’s having a blast! Remind me to tell you about just how much he missed them after we got back! See this image larger.

I knew I could trust Connor to be careful with my camera, and once I showed him how it worked, he was off and snapping some great shots! See this image larger.

Here’s one Connor took of his mom, Ian’s Aunt Melanie! See this image larger.

And a very nice shot of Ian’s Ma! See this image larger.

It may not look like it here, but Ian was able to dodge the killer blue potato chip and counter with a deadly snack-shattering headbutt. See this image larger.

The chairs were in the way of shenanigans involving flailing toddlers, so they were removed by the participants prior to injury. See this image larger.

Back to me having the camera here… Ian laughs as his cousins pile onto Kaylee’s bed… See this image larger.

Quick Ian, join them so we have a good shot for Grandpa Ray and Grandma Barb! Perfect! See this image larger.

He said “shirt” tonight, which was pretty awesome. You could sense that he was sounding it out in his mouth. “S… ssirt.” He’ll get the h in there, give him time.

This entry is about bedtime! Well, ok more than just bedtime, but I did notice that the after-dinner Ian moments have been sorely lacking coverage. So here’s some of that!

September 20; to paraphrase a movie Melissa and I saw recently: A Father-To-Be “I wish I could still get that excited about [water.]” Already Father “I wish I could still get that excited about anything.” See this image larger.

Yep, he’s still laughing! I have to wonder just how bitter I’d have ended up without his smile and laugh. See this image larger.

“And this. This knob turns the water… off.” See this image larger.

Following Mama’s opening salvo of sticking-out-tongue faces; Ian does the same, but ups the ante with a double finger point! See this image larger.

He’s been a great boy, of course, but a little bit more rebellion happens every day. Something about this picture has me thinking about the terrible-twos. See this image larger.

Possible caption: “And then I picked up Da’s phone like this, and called my grandparents!” See this image larger.

“Ha-HA! Deftly escaping from two grown adults!!!…” See this image larger.

“…crap.” See this image larger.

They say in parenting magazines that this helps Ian brush his own teeth if he brushes somebody else’s. As the potential for a shared toothbrush is very real in such a scenario, Da does not participate. See this image larger.

But hey apparently it works! See this image larger.

I read Ian a bedtime story. Our favorite line in this one is “AND A KISS FOR MR. BEAAAR.” See this image larger.

The next night, the 21st, Ma reads a different book to Ian. Here he tries to pop bubbles on the page. (I’m not kidding… there’s a game I let him play on my phone where the bubbles look like that.) See this image larger.

Times like this… let me tell you; I thought I knew what awesome meant a long time ago. But this is it. See this image larger.

Here’s that dresser Gpa Dave re-finished… Ian laid his blanket down in there and tried to sleep for a second or two. See this image larger.

Let’s see if you can spot this signal and what it means: He’s put his head on his blanket in a laying down position, but still walks around with it smooshed to his face. (Answer: I’m really, seriously tired.) See this image larger.

Every night Ian clicks the lightswitch off. Melissa and I laughed about the timing on this shot. Literally a 100th of a second later, that light was off. And a few moments later, he was fast asleep. That’s it for now, see ya! See this image larger.

It is crazy watching Ian learn — I think he’s focusing a little less on motor skills (which he has in droves already) and is turning his attention toward communication.

Hat, cat, bike, back, book, ball, clock, cat, duck, kitty, door, up, please, cheese, dirt, mama, dada, eyes, socks, (more like “zocks”) nose… I know that’s not everything. He’s said so much, and obviously much of this he’s said before, but you need to hear how very clearly he’s speaking most of these, and there’s a frame of reference. He’s not parroting. He’s correctly naming by pointing, gesturing, or signing.

And add to that list a few sentences now:
“Cat go awayee” (Cat go away) Spoken as a kind of narrative, I guess, he was trying to explain what just happened, that the cat had run from him to hide upstairs. I believe that was on the 13th.

On the 15th, Ian dropped a puff into his high-chair and couldn’t find it. “Ware diyi go?” he asked. (Where did it go?) This one was impressive.

Also of note, about a week ago we asked Ian where he hurt and he pointed to his ears. (I believe that’s passed now based on his recovery, but I truly hope he can keep up communicating about this. Nothing sucks worse than not knowing how to help the poor kid.

Over the last several days, Ian surprised Melissa and I both by pointing at the letter “A” on blocks or in books and saying, again very clearly, “A.” No other letters. Just A.

UPDATE – Ok so tonight, the 19th, we took him out to eat (where he and another little boy a bit older than he made friends) and then over to a bookstore. On the way to the restaurant, we ended up driving west into the setting sun, and from the backseat an irritated Ian exclaimed “Eyes!” Probably his way of saying “hey that’s a little hard on the eyes.” At the restaurant they serve squeeze tubes of yogurt to as part of a kid’s meal, with a picture of a cow on it. Ian points and says “moooo.”

At the bookstore they had a multitude of stuffed animals and other toys. To a stuffed steam engine he said “toot toot!” To a bear he says “Bahr!” To a little girl he said “guhl.” And to Clifford, whom everybody knows is the infamous big red dog? He said something that sounded a whole lot like “Red dog.” (Probably more like “reg gog.”)

Here’s a shot from my iPhone from the bookstore trip, just added in for kicks. See this image larger.