One fantastic effect of the trip — over the course of those days, or maybe it was when he got back, I’m not sure which — Ian’s ability to verbalize improved twofold at least. We were both positive he was doing better, but the people at daycare were in shock over how much he was trying to say. We’re very proud!
You can pretty much get him to TRY to say anything, and often he tries very hard to explain things to you from his perspective. New words include Grampa Ray’s name, “RAAAAY” and “bowwie” for berry, “diyishush” for delicious, and as you heard a couple entries ago, “versary!” for “anniversary.” Last Monday Ian said “blessoo” after I sneezed. This is a fantastic time for everybody to cut down on swearing, by the way… seriously!
Tonight (the 16th) Ian’s behavior in general was just flat-out smart. He pushed an ottoman across the room so that he could reach some lights and turn them on and off. He did some exercises with Mommy saying “Up!” and “Dowwn!” as he stretched up and touched his toes. He chased the cat around as usual, but tonight added with sincerity “Kitty, kitty waait! Waaait! Wharugon? Wharugon, wait!” And after we put him into the crib tonight he called to us as we were closing the door. “Mommy! Datty! Lavooh. Lavooh. Kitty, Lavooh.”
And so, the final installment for Christmas this year, we end with the rest of our time with Grandma Sue, Uncle Chris and Aunt Annie! (I want to thank you guys for carting us around and your hospitality, as well as the Holiday generosity!) We begin right after we got back from visiting Great Grandma Betty…
December 28th… I read Chris scores to the Giants’ game as we headed back north. When we got back Ian needed some entertaining. See this image larger.
We weren’t getting enough smiles out of Ian at the moment, so I told Uncle Chris to give Ian a toss in the air. Not sure if that screwed up his back… See this image larger.
… but we did get a nice smile out of the deal! That night, we had planned on cruising back up to Grandma Sue’s, but ran out of energy. Uncle Chris offered up that we could stay another night, and we jumped on the idea. Ian had another bad night… he was so far off routine, you could tell he didn’t know what to do. The next morning we hit the road back to The Villages as Chris went off to work. See this image larger.
The night of the 29th we went to one of the Squares to meet up with Vicki and Joe, and Grandma Sue got the dance she’d been thinking about for a good long time. See this image larger.
We only had a few days left with Grandma Sue after our traveling adventures. Here Ian awakens happily at her place and watches a little TV. I think it was this night that Melissa and I got to just sit and talk in the hot tub. That was really great, and relaxing. There was also a night when Ian and Melissa and I got to go out again in a golf-cart and check out the lights. I think Ian will always wonder where all the golf carts are when he sees Christmas lights anywhere. See this image larger.
His feet are still cute, and I can say that — I’m not a big fan of feet. See this image larger.
The evening before we had to head back, and Ian starts really boogieing to the band with Grandma Sue! See this image larger.
It was also great that Ian got to see the whole Johnson/Kunze crew again at dinner that final night of the trip. Here again Ian rocks out! See this image larger.
The one spoiler of the evening was the handrail in the background of that shot. Ian sat down and lulled Melissa into sitting next to him, then he stood up as fast as he could and ran for three steps before hitting that handrail with his head so hard that it knocked him back on the bricks. Looking at it, I got a little miffed. How far out does that need to extend? (More on this in a second.)
Grandma Sue dropped us off at the airport the next morning and away we flew. We had a rough flight home. Ian was not happy and not much could keep him pacified. (My iPhone helped a lot, though.) Will it be better when he has his own seat? He wanted to sit on a lap, and then wanted to run down the aisle (which we did not let him do, of course) and then to sit on the floor of the plane.
We got home after a long drive… and were amazed the next morning when Ian was perfectly back on schedule. He had been so far off during the trip that we expected there to be a readjustment period.
I think staring at the above pictures long enough motivated me to write The Villages and tell them how I felt about their handrails, in as kind a tone as I could take. I got a letter back telling me they had moved flower-pots under the handrails. I figured they were just trying to placate me, but Grandma Sue called me that night to tell me she spotted the moved pots, and wondered how The Villages knew to fix it. So I told her my side of the story and we both had a laugh. Nice to know they’re on top of things! (Turns out, by the way, he never even got much of a bruise on that hit, not sure how he managed that.)
And so that was Christmas ’08!
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.svgvrbfw2009-01-16 00:30:342009-01-16 00:30:34And so this is Christmas ’08, Part VII
And now back to our Christmas adventures! We loaded up the car and headed for Chris and Anne Marie’s on the 26th of December, 2008…
Yup, Grandma Sue, Mommy, Daddy and Ian motored south. Ian slept for part of the way, completely off his schedule, and needed to run around a nearby playground to burn off some of that saved up energy.
Give that kid a couple of cars, and he’s good for quite awhile. We opened presents that night, but didn’t actually take any pictures of that for some reason. I did get video, which I will be doing some fun stuff with hopefully in a little while. Chef Chris treated us to an excellent dinner this evening as well, before dealing a humbling game of Texas Hold ‘Em to his victims. That night, Ian slept horribly… off schedule, ears hurting, at a new house whenever he opens his eyes… I hope Uncle Chris and Auntie Anne understand Ian can be a much better boy. (Not that he did poorly, he actually was an amazing trooper, if you think about it.) See this image larger.
So the next morning we woke up and Uncle Chris drove his exhausted cargo to Naples.
Upon arrival, Ian immediately took inventory… “One fish, two fish… shhh Daddy I’m counting, here.” You may have noticed the blossoming violet splotch on Ian’s forehead… he slipped on a cement lanai a few days earlier, and it became like a living mood ring on his head… purple means he’s feeling sassy and tired. See this image larger.
Great Grandma Betty knew precisely what to do with her great grandson under the circumstances. We decided to try and either bring food or order it and that was going to take awhile, so these animal crackers came in quite handy… and tasty! See this image larger.
“Hello Applebees? Yes I have an order for 6 people. I need a cheeseburger without the cheese. What? Yes, FINE a HAMBURGER then… SO BE IT!” See this image larger.
Ian played “Santa,” distributing the gifts accordingly. It was awesome to see him get names right on the first try for most of us. See this image larger.
A hug of thanks, and maybe an apology or two for turning the stereo on and off 42 times. See this image larger.
I don’t think I got a good shot with Melissa in it with Grandma, but we did manage to pull off this one and the next. Ian wasn’t even supposed to be in this shot per se, but I think it turned out pretty good! See this image larger.
Granny and the boys! Well, two of the boys. As you could tell from the pacifier being included in more and more shots toward the end there, Ian was running out of energy fast! See this image larger.
It did end up being a relatively quick trip, but it was great to see Great Grandma Betty again! Ian called her “Betty” at one point, which was really awesome, and he’s done so again at least once since seeing these pictures. We all had a good time visiting, and look forward to doing so again! (Or hopefully we’ll see you up in Michigan over the summer sometime, Grandma?) 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.svgvrbfw2009-01-14 01:41:532009-01-14 01:41:53And so this is Christmas ’08, Part VI
Maximum Verbosity
One fantastic effect of the trip — over the course of those days, or maybe it was when he got back, I’m not sure which — Ian’s ability to verbalize improved twofold at least. We were both positive he was doing better, but the people at daycare were in shock over how much he was trying to say. We’re very proud!
You can pretty much get him to TRY to say anything, and often he tries very hard to explain things to you from his perspective. New words include Grampa Ray’s name, “RAAAAY” and “bowwie” for berry, “diyishush” for delicious, and as you heard a couple entries ago, “versary!” for “anniversary.” Last Monday Ian said “blessoo” after I sneezed. This is a fantastic time for everybody to cut down on swearing, by the way… seriously!
And then there was the night I got my iPhone out to show Ian a picture or two and he thought I was checking in with Grandma Sue… Click here to hear it, and be careful with volume, it gets loud!
Tonight (the 16th) Ian’s behavior in general was just flat-out smart. He pushed an ottoman across the room so that he could reach some lights and turn them on and off. He did some exercises with Mommy saying “Up!” and “Dowwn!” as he stretched up and touched his toes. He chased the cat around as usual, but tonight added with sincerity “Kitty, kitty waait! Waaait! Wharugon? Wharugon, wait!” And after we put him into the crib tonight he called to us as we were closing the door. “Mommy! Datty! Lavooh. Lavooh. Kitty, Lavooh.”
And so this is Christmas ’08, Part VII
And so, the final installment for Christmas this year, we end with the rest of our time with Grandma Sue, Uncle Chris and Aunt Annie! (I want to thank you guys for carting us around and your hospitality, as well as the Holiday generosity!) We begin right after we got back from visiting Great Grandma Betty…
The one spoiler of the evening was the handrail in the background of that shot. Ian sat down and lulled Melissa into sitting next to him, then he stood up as fast as he could and ran for three steps before hitting that handrail with his head so hard that it knocked him back on the bricks. Looking at it, I got a little miffed. How far out does that need to extend? (More on this in a second.)
Grandma Sue dropped us off at the airport the next morning and away we flew. We had a rough flight home. Ian was not happy and not much could keep him pacified. (My iPhone helped a lot, though.) Will it be better when he has his own seat? He wanted to sit on a lap, and then wanted to run down the aisle (which we did not let him do, of course) and then to sit on the floor of the plane.
We got home after a long drive… and were amazed the next morning when Ian was perfectly back on schedule. He had been so far off during the trip that we expected there to be a readjustment period.
I think staring at the above pictures long enough motivated me to write The Villages and tell them how I felt about their handrails, in as kind a tone as I could take. I got a letter back telling me they had moved flower-pots under the handrails. I figured they were just trying to placate me, but Grandma Sue called me that night to tell me she spotted the moved pots, and wondered how The Villages knew to fix it. So I told her my side of the story and we both had a laugh. Nice to know they’re on top of things! (Turns out, by the way, he never even got much of a bruise on that hit, not sure how he managed that.)
And so that was Christmas ’08!
And so this is Christmas ’08, Part VI
And now back to our Christmas adventures! We loaded up the car and headed for Chris and Anne Marie’s on the 26th of December, 2008…