Just adding this because it made Melissa and I giggle. Mommy upgraded Ian to “big boy” zooeys… they’re kind of flat and don’t allow him to get suction so much as something to grind on… Ian awoke about five minutes after being put down tonight, handed me his “big boy” zooey and said “baby zooey.” (By which he meant “give me my old zooey back or nobody’s going to sleep tonight.”)
In general Ian’s being just an awesome chatterbox — his voice saying anything is still music to my ears.
Today is Saturday March 21st… and spring begins from a chronological point of view, but we woke up to a light coat of snow over everything.
At the moment Ian is upstairs doing this kind of warbling mumble that he sometimes croons before taking a nap or going to bed. Seth is asleep on the recliner I didn’t buy for him, and Mommy’s napping on the couch, having woken up far too early this morning with a little early bird knocking on his door.
We’ve been practicing all kinds of stuff with Ian, so he’s had few more tries at the alphabet; mostly on par with the description I gave a few entries ago. If you’re interested in hearing it, here it is… twice. The second one is about what we usually hear these days. It was recorded on Monday, March 16th. (Aunt Annie’s B-day! Hope you had a happy one!)
Click here to hear Ian singing the alphabet, it is 1.37MB in length, so even the slowest connections shouldn’t have too much of a problem with it. I particularly love “elemenelloemennopeeee.”
Yesterday we let Ian play that WiiFit game again. You’ve got to understand that up until now, he has stood on a pressure sensitive board, and watched, while I put my hands down near his feet, and pushed around to make things happen. In other words, I’ve been playing the game for Ian. (For those that don’t know, changing your balance slightly on the board steers the object on the screen… difficult for many adults to master.) So yesterday I leaned his body around for him, with my hands on his shoulders or hips, and taught him how to really play. I figured he’d maybe understand a bit of what I was saying and we’d come back to it again later, but was floored when I saw him play a game where he had to drop a ball through a hole. It requires some subtle movements… he made the ball move over near the hole, but was shooting too far to the north of the hole. He carefully shifted his weight back on the board, steering the ball to the south, but as it had been moving, it was now too far to the west. He shifted his weight to the right, to counter this, and the ball plunked in the hole perfectly. I guess this is maybe too hard to explain in a way that highlights just how neat it was… suffice to say he learned before my eyes, he did so very quickly, and perfectly.
Grandma Sue will attest to the fact that I get this look on my face sometimes when the TV is on, as well. See this image larger.
Yes, I rolled up his pant-legs eventually. That’s quite a soccer team he has there… (you can customize some of the characters on this game system) — left to right that’s Mommy, Gma Barb, Csn Connor, Gpa Dave, Unc Chris, Unc Ben, Aunt Mel, Gma Marcia, and Phil Oosterhouse. (The game chooses at random or else I’d get a family shot going.) See this image larger.
A few entries ago I talked about hiding the bunnies in the house somewhere… here’s a quick shot of the kind of place they end up, although most are a lot more hidden than this. (They’ve ended up on top of the picture frame on the left, wedged in a door-frame where it almost meets the neighboring wall, in a plant, on the thermostat, behind some dinosaurs, in a couple toy trucks, toy farm, etc.) 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.svgvrbfw2009-03-21 12:56:272009-03-21 12:56:27More Fun and Games
I think a dislike of pickles (particularly on cheeseburgers) permeates my side of the family as far back as I know… except that I like them sometimes. Hopefully there hasn’t been any talk of being kicked out of the Chapman clan because of my partial enjoyment of them, BECAUSE IAN LOVES PICKLES. He loves them so much he asks for them, by name, when I ask him if I can get him anything else. He also asks for them in a vocal tone he reserves for such delicacies as cookies, bananas, and snacks. His voice does an odd shift in all those words as well, with emphasis toward the front and a sort of questioning higher pitch toward the end… “PEEK cull?” “COOK eee?”
Here’s a picture of Ian scarfing down a pickle. We usually stop him at around 8-10 slices, but if we let him, he’d eat them until he made himself sick. See this image larger.
He did try to throw out the instructions to the tricycle before I put it together, however, so that should put any questions about the strength of the Chapman genes in him to rest. 😉
Funny to see how the bedtime ritual has changed now that Ian sleeps in his “big boy bed.” Melissa brushes his teeth, we change his diaper, give him his zooey, read him some stories — and then previously he’d hand his blankie over to mommy, who would pick him up, they’d walk over so that Ian could bend down and turn off the lights, I’d kiss him… into the crib he’d go, and off to dreamland. Now it is different: He picks up his blankies, walks by himself to the light switch, turns it off, comes back and hugs mommy, walks over on his own to me and hugs me… and then jumps into bed. (The other night, he then jumped right back out of bed and gave Melissa and I a bonus kiss, because he felt like it. We felt particularly blessed that night.)
We play a lot of little goofy games… during diaper changes I’ll sometimes act like I think his feet stink and make horrible faces down at him. He thinks this is the pinnacle of comedy, and between giggle-fits sometimes requests “ageen!”
Another thing I’ve been doing the last few weeks is hiding four little stuffed animal bunnies (these are little “peep” stuffed animals, for the record… Grampa Dafe got them for Ian on his first Easter, two years ago now…) somewhere in the house for him to find. They’re only a few inches tall, so they are easily integrated into other toys. But it is neat to see him brighten up when it is time to go bunny-hunting after day care — and then a big grin crosses his face when they’re all reunited. We also consider this to be a good way to practice for an Easter egg hunt.
Please keep Levi Schoenborn in your thoughts and prayers… he continues to struggle with RSV, although I believe he is doing better based on what I’m reading.
For those of you wondering, I am working some billing hours at the moment, but it isn’t anything long-term. I’ll take what I can get at this point. Melissa continues to be an excellent sugar mama. 😉
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.svgvrbfw2009-03-19 17:37:042009-03-19 17:37:04In a Pickle
Baby Zooey
Just adding this because it made Melissa and I giggle. Mommy upgraded Ian to “big boy” zooeys… they’re kind of flat and don’t allow him to get suction so much as something to grind on… Ian awoke about five minutes after being put down tonight, handed me his “big boy” zooey and said “baby zooey.” (By which he meant “give me my old zooey back or nobody’s going to sleep tonight.”)
In general Ian’s being just an awesome chatterbox — his voice saying anything is still music to my ears.
More Fun and Games
Today is Saturday March 21st… and spring begins from a chronological point of view, but we woke up to a light coat of snow over everything.
At the moment Ian is upstairs doing this kind of warbling mumble that he sometimes croons before taking a nap or going to bed. Seth is asleep on the recliner I didn’t buy for him, and Mommy’s napping on the couch, having woken up far too early this morning with a little early bird knocking on his door.
We’ve been practicing all kinds of stuff with Ian, so he’s had few more tries at the alphabet; mostly on par with the description I gave a few entries ago. If you’re interested in hearing it, here it is… twice. The second one is about what we usually hear these days. It was recorded on Monday, March 16th. (Aunt Annie’s B-day! Hope you had a happy one!)
Click here to hear Ian singing the alphabet, it is 1.37MB in length, so even the slowest connections shouldn’t have too much of a problem with it. I particularly love “elemenelloemennopeeee.”
Yesterday we let Ian play that WiiFit game again. You’ve got to understand that up until now, he has stood on a pressure sensitive board, and watched, while I put my hands down near his feet, and pushed around to make things happen. In other words, I’ve been playing the game for Ian. (For those that don’t know, changing your balance slightly on the board steers the object on the screen… difficult for many adults to master.) So yesterday I leaned his body around for him, with my hands on his shoulders or hips, and taught him how to really play. I figured he’d maybe understand a bit of what I was saying and we’d come back to it again later, but was floored when I saw him play a game where he had to drop a ball through a hole. It requires some subtle movements… he made the ball move over near the hole, but was shooting too far to the north of the hole. He carefully shifted his weight back on the board, steering the ball to the south, but as it had been moving, it was now too far to the west. He shifted his weight to the right, to counter this, and the ball plunked in the hole perfectly. I guess this is maybe too hard to explain in a way that highlights just how neat it was… suffice to say he learned before my eyes, he did so very quickly, and perfectly.
In a Pickle
I think a dislike of pickles (particularly on cheeseburgers) permeates my side of the family as far back as I know… except that I like them sometimes. Hopefully there hasn’t been any talk of being kicked out of the Chapman clan because of my partial enjoyment of them, BECAUSE IAN LOVES PICKLES. He loves them so much he asks for them, by name, when I ask him if I can get him anything else. He also asks for them in a vocal tone he reserves for such delicacies as cookies, bananas, and snacks. His voice does an odd shift in all those words as well, with emphasis toward the front and a sort of questioning higher pitch toward the end… “PEEK cull?” “COOK eee?”
He did try to throw out the instructions to the tricycle before I put it together, however, so that should put any questions about the strength of the Chapman genes in him to rest. 😉
Funny to see how the bedtime ritual has changed now that Ian sleeps in his “big boy bed.” Melissa brushes his teeth, we change his diaper, give him his zooey, read him some stories — and then previously he’d hand his blankie over to mommy, who would pick him up, they’d walk over so that Ian could bend down and turn off the lights, I’d kiss him… into the crib he’d go, and off to dreamland. Now it is different: He picks up his blankies, walks by himself to the light switch, turns it off, comes back and hugs mommy, walks over on his own to me and hugs me… and then jumps into bed. (The other night, he then jumped right back out of bed and gave Melissa and I a bonus kiss, because he felt like it. We felt particularly blessed that night.)
We play a lot of little goofy games… during diaper changes I’ll sometimes act like I think his feet stink and make horrible faces down at him. He thinks this is the pinnacle of comedy, and between giggle-fits sometimes requests “ageen!”
Another thing I’ve been doing the last few weeks is hiding four little stuffed animal bunnies (these are little “peep” stuffed animals, for the record… Grampa Dafe got them for Ian on his first Easter, two years ago now…) somewhere in the house for him to find. They’re only a few inches tall, so they are easily integrated into other toys. But it is neat to see him brighten up when it is time to go bunny-hunting after day care — and then a big grin crosses his face when they’re all reunited. We also consider this to be a good way to practice for an Easter egg hunt.
Please keep Levi Schoenborn in your thoughts and prayers… he continues to struggle with RSV, although I believe he is doing better based on what I’m reading.
For those of you wondering, I am working some billing hours at the moment, but it isn’t anything long-term. I’ll take what I can get at this point. Melissa continues to be an excellent sugar mama. 😉