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.
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.
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.
https://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svg00vrbfwhttps://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svgvrbfw2009-10-13 22:41:482009-10-13 22:41:48Grandma Sue’s Visit, September 2009, Part I
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.
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!
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!
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 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!