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.
Dialogue
February 23
Ian yelled at me to not let Nina near his cars…Daddy – “Come on Nina, (picking up Nina and heading to a different room) Ian wants to play by himself.”
Ian comes rushing in a few moments later, guilt trip having fully gripped him. He hands off a toy to Nina and runs back out of the room.
A moment later he runs back in and says in a high pitch voice —
Ian – “‘Thank you, thank you!’ That’s Nina saying that.” (Yes Ian filled in words for Nina.)He runs out, but then runs right back in.
Ian – “I forgot to say you’re welcome… You’re welcome!”
———–
That night, I checked in on Ian even though he was supposed to be asleep. He asked what I was doing. I told him I came in to talk to him. For a moment, I paused, because I thought I could hear Nina cry. Ian took this as a sign that he was supposed to come up with a topic —Ian – “So whats going on daddy? How’s it goin?”
———–
February 25
Daddy – “Are you so cute?”Nina – “Yeah.”
———–
February 26
Ian – “Do you know what rhymes with sun? Done and bun!”
———–
Ian – “We have to wear our pirate masks so that we can get stuff that’s expensive from under the floor!” (He’s thinking of buried treasure under the ground, but doesn’t quite have it right yet.)
———–
Ian – “Daddy you didn’t let the bug finish talking.” (This one’s hard to explain but I skipped past an intro to a video game that had a talking thing that I’m guessing the game publisher spent millions of dollars creating and animating. I just found it funny that it was referred to as a bug.)
———–
Nina – “uh uh uh!” Then points through one of our gates at a stool. That would be the first time I’ve seen her point at anything.
———–
Nina – “Opuh.” (She handed me a vehicle that opens up, so I believe that was “open.”)
———–
Daddy – “Pillows don’t belong on the floor by the door where dirty shoes go.”Ian – “But the pillows are drums!”
Daddy – “They can be drums in the living room.”
Ian – “But daaaadddyyyyy (elbows down wrists up) it’s for a concert and the concert needs drums all over the wooorld! (arms outspread slightly)”
———–
Ian – “What are you doing with that box?”Daddy – “Recycling it.”
Ian – “You could reuse it. It is good to reuse stuff. Let’s reuse it!”
Daddy – (Laughs and asks Melissa if she can hear all this…)
Ian – “It looks long we could put something long in there like a handle.”
———–
February 27
About a month ago I made a joke that I was going to pull the car out of the garage and leave without Mommy while we were in the car waiting for Melissa to get some last-second stuff for wherever we were going. Ian took me seriously and cried his eyes out like you wouldn’t believe. He went from fine to broken-hearted in about a half-a-second flat. I explained that I was kidding, and that it was just a joke. He stopped crying but was still visibly upset.So a week or so ago we started heading out of the house, I put Nina in the car, Ian in his car seat, I sat down to wait for Melissa and get the car warmed up. Ian says from the back seat “Don’t leave without Mommy, and DON’T TELL ANY JOKES.”
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.
February 18th, I’d say I can’t imagine what he’s dreaming about, but I think it is pretty obvious when you think about it long enough… younger days when he lazed in the Nashville sun. See this image larger.
…and there were decidedly less children — perhaps not quite so many toys. See this image larger.
Ian snuggles up after a shopping trip on the 19th, exhausted. See this image larger.
Before the 20th of February, Nina was unceremoniously dumped in either the living room, or the sun room if she was going to play on the ground floor. (Upstairs probably the play room.) But on the 20th we connected the sun room to the living room via the dining room! See this image larger.
Little girl cruised along the wall excitedly and crawled back and forth. New freedom! See this image larger.
She’s trying to look casual here, but she’s very happy about the wider boundaries! See this image larger.
Ian was also happy!See this image larger.
Blurry shot of Nina… See this image larger.
Night of the 20th, bath-time! See this image larger.
Ian was dumping water on his head a lot, it cracked Nina up! See this image larger.
On the 21st, Ian gave Nina a quick ride on this “boat” made out of a Lego play-organizer. He’d lower a side and she’d crawl right in! See this image larger.
From one carpeted shore, to the other! See this image larger.
February 17th… and it is silly picture day! Ok this one’s cute instead of silly, but give us a second to get warmed up. See this image larger.
Ian giggles shyly. He’s sitting in the spot where he would be in time-out, but he’s just taking off his shoes after a hard day at school. See this image larger.
Ooop, the show has started, folks! Sit down and prepare for silly. See this image larger.
That’s my boy! See this image larger.
Grrrr. See this image larger.
Yahoo!! See this image larger.
Hi sweet pea! See this image larger.
Quick kiss! See this image larger.
*Scuse me, Daddy!* See this image larger.
Three of us! Should have gotten Mommy in there somewhere. See this image larger.
*I’ll call Mommy and get her over here… beep beep boop boop beep boop beep* See this image larger.
Video
Click here to see Nina deftly swipe Daddy’s phone off of his belt-clip and hold it ransom.
Dialog
Ian – “Guys, in 5 minutes I’m going to neeeeed some wipin’.” (Ian, from toilet, sounding strangely proud.)Ian – “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Ian – “Let’s have a clothes folding party! Mommy will be impressed with us.”
Nina – “More.” (Verbally, plus sign language.)
February 14th, Valentine’s Day… Ian and Nina share a smile. This shot is important because it shows a new addition to our floorplan, the chair/ottoman combo. This allowed Ian to get in and out of the living room while Nina was being gated in. It is also important because as I write this, we expanded Nina’s territory greatly. (You shall see soon!) See this image larger.
See that flag balloon? Nina picked it up and sucked on the plastic bit that allows a “stick” to be shoved into it. Hard to explain, but I’m pretty sure she thought the flag balloon was one of those fruit pouches that you saw a few entries back. See this image larger.
February 15th, Ian got a haircut. He looks so cute! See this image larger.
Daddy scolds Nina for attempting to lift him with the Force again. See this image larger.
February 16th, My first attempt at a loaf of bread. It ended up not rising enough, my fault. There will be more attempts. See this image larger.
Video
Click here to watch Ian preparing for Valentine’s day, on February 10th.
Video
Click here to watch part 2 of the above video.!
February 13th, we were coming up on a melt, so I took Ian outside while the snow was packing well… the snow was still ridiculously deep, though. See this image larger.
I pulled up his hat eventually, I swear. See this image larger.
Body of snowman created. See this image larger.
Nina supervises from where it is warm and toasty. See this image larger.
A bucket for a hat, and a shovel were considered. See this image larger.
Alas, poor Yorick… See this image larger.
Final assembly… See this image larger.
Hi Mommy! It’s cold out here! See this image larger.
Nina chills in a bristle-block container… See this image larger.
That night we had a gorgeous sunset… See this image larger.
Ah, water tower… you give us water pressure but you are an eyesore. I’m just being honest with you. See this image larger.
I’m giving this ONE VIDEO its very own blog post and keeping it the latest post for 24 hours. That’s right. It is that awesome.
Video
Click here to watch this conversation, recorded on February 13th.
February 6th, Nina is startled by a revelation… *WE SHOULD MAKE A BAND.* See this image larger.
*Brother, you’ve got the strumming down, but– oh look your fingers are on the wrong strings. Here. And Here.* See this image larger.
*Hi, we’re the Chapmanz… and a ONE TWO THREE FOAW!* See this image larger.
That’s Ian on soulful lead guitar. See this image larger.
And Nina on keyboard and orange ice cream co– uh, singing. Thank you for coming to our jam session! See this image larger.
Melissa has been feeding Nina these fruit pouches for forever, and both of us have either squeezed the contents into a bowl, or squeezed a spoonful at a time into Nina’s mouth. See this image larger.
I thought about doing this but never did follow up on it. Mommy handed her the whole pouch. Nina emptied it like a champ. This is good because it means that somebody else can eat while she’s feeding herself. See this image larger.
Video
Click here to watch Nina on February 7th babbling for a bit.
Video
Click here to watch Nina realize that Mommy is home!
February 8th, I went through the steps of how to draw a snowman, and Ian followed right along. Check it out!!! See this image larger.
February 10th, still a little angel while he’s sleeping. See this image larger.
Sweet dreams, little man. See this image larger.
Video
Click here to watch Nina and Ian in action. I want to point out that this video illustrates another theory that I started figuring out with Ian. If you keep things humming along fairly happily, he stays happy and tries to do good things. If you yell at him and make him feel like crap, he’s only going to do worse things. Either way it is a snowball effect, good or bad. I’ve been referring to this theory as “keep it light.” I started reading a book that I thought might help with Ian, and I think it did, a little, but ultimately Ian isn’t the kind of kid they’re talking about. Some kids have a way of behaving that is the way they are at all times. Ian changes depending on who is or isn’t around, which tells me the behavior should be correctable. In the case of this video, for example, one could blow a fit about not being able to film Nina, or one could realize that what is being recorded is much closer to the way life is right now, and have some fun with it.
February 2nd, so Nina’s pretty awesome about standing and walking with her pink pony or Ian’s old wheeled truck. But one of the more surprising moves she can pull off is getting on or off the pony very quickly. See this image larger.
This is something else that she seems to do a lot, which is pretend that the TV is a drive-in movie theater. Just the other day, Ian and I were sitting happily next to each other watching a show on the couch… where was Nina? The wheeled truck, just chilling and watching the same show, down at ground level. See this image larger.
Neigh! See this image larger.
February 4th, and you may have heard we got a little snow! See this image larger.
Our street. See this image larger.
Sidewalk! See this image larger.
Video
Click here to watch another clip of Nina saying “Hi Da Da!”
Video
Click here to watch Nina cruising around with her pony.
Video
Click here to watch Nina building with some blocks!
February 5th, we finally got around to adding those smashed cookies to a new batch of ice cream, just vanilla this time. Was pretty awesome. See this image larger.
Ian helped me pour the ingredients in! See this image larger.
This is Ian attempting to clean the spatula, and me whipping it out of his hand. See this image larger.
Here, try a sample spoon. See this image larger.
Ian built this elaborate track thing. Pretty cool! See this image larger.
You want to see me get a little sad? Put a stack of Ian’s outgrown shirts in a stack and put a name on the top that isn’t Ian’s. Yup, these are moving on to a boy who fits in them. See this image larger.
Some of these outfits are the definitive Ian at a different age. This striped shirt for example. I’m not sure what video or picture it is in, but when I picture Ian at a certain age, he’s in this shirt. So. I stole it. I took it out of the stack and put it in a drawer. See this image larger.
Ow. 
Ooo! 
Hi!