Since Ian moved to his new class a great many things have changed about him, and it has really only been a few days. His old class was mostly girls, and younger. Now he’s running with boys that, you know, do boy stuff. So he’ll sometimes pick his nose, and if he can get away with it, he’ll attempt to pick my nose; just as an example.
The good:
• Ian is saying or trying to say a lot more. The noises coming out of his mouth are more varied and it is allowing him to more closely mimic what Melissa and I are saying. Just this week he’s solidified saying “woof woof” for a dog and has started saying “duck” again. He also says “ROWR!” in regards to animals that roar. The times I’ve written about him saying a word in the past, they were typically one-offs. Now he’s actively repeating words that he learns. So this is a very good thing.
• In general he’s mastering physical stuff a bit better, although this was never really a problem area for Ian. He waves like a champ now, and claps along with everybody else. I was surprised to see him attempt to clamber up into his car seat yesterday, when all I had done was set him in the car. (My Civic doesn’t quite have the room for me to plop him in the seat that Melissa’s 4-door Prius does, I end up having to truly get back there with him to set him in the seat.) He couldn’t quite make it up into the seat proper, but I found this particularly heartening because it (almost) helped me. Ian helping me. That’s pretty cool.
• A little more regularity for sleep. We get the idea that if this kid would stop teething we’d almost be on a normal schedule by now. (Said the Dada, knowing the Mama is probably getting up at all hours of the night every night and thinks Dada is full of doodoo.)
The “bad”: (if you can call it that I do realize that this was inevitable; he’s got to become a boy at some point, right?)
• A lot more fussing and straining to get out of arms, or in a mad attempt to dive off of the diaper changing station.
• A lot more crying and hitting.
• A lot more crazy stunts.
• A lot more trying something that’s wrong, watching for us to say “no!” and then doing it anyway, with a bigger smile on his face.
Anyway, so this all pre-dates Grandpa Dave and Grandma Marcia agreeing to watch the lil guy this upcoming weekend while Melissa and I scoot off to a wedding. I hope Ian has reserved a little good behavior for that particular night.
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.svgvrbfw2008-05-06 09:54:192008-05-06 09:54:19Boys Will Be(come) Boys
I went with Melissa yesterday to see Ian experience his first drop-off in the new classroom. We were immediately directed up the hallway to an area where the newbies (Ian’s new classroom nickname) mingled with much older kids. We saw them all run around a table to some song about hunting a bear. In a way it looked harmless enough, but it did look a bit like “the running of the bulls,” and I saw one of the big kids push around one of the little kids and I can’t say I enjoyed that much. When the newbies got in their own classroom things returned to normal… he looked uncomfortable, but then pulled a plastic toy out of a toy oven, and then I nodded to Melissa. “He’ll be fine.” I’d like to note that we continue to be a little disappointed in this daycare, the possibility of Ian moving to a new daycare is pretty strong at this point.
More stories:
• About three days ago Melissa and I clapped to the beat of a song on a toy and Ian joined in for about 5 claps. Unremarkable, I guess, other than the fact that those claps were also to the beat and in rhythm.
• Last night during bath-time Ian started slam dunking his toy basketballs into a hoop and trying to say “SCORE!” It came out something like “GORE!” (Could he be trying to say “GOAL!” and “SCORE!” at the same time? It is a little more possible than you think… he learned “GOAL!” from a soccer ball toy.)
• Melissa and I admit to being crappy parents the other night. She was cooking, I was busy; we sat him on the dog-pillow and turned on a DVD we know he likes. It was creepy how affective it was. He sat there staring and didn’t even look away. We made a note not to do that to him too often.
• We took Ian to the doctor’s the other day for his usual check-up. In the lobby a little girl spotted Ian’s enthusiasm to see his mom, and decided she wanted to play. Ian’s not much of a thrower when it comes to rolling a ball back and forth. He tends to pick it up and hand it to you rather than roll it back. Anyway, suffice to say Ian had brought a ball and he was extremely kind and sharing with this girl that was borderline spastic. For the record, Ian weighed in at 23 lbs and is 32″ tall.
• The other day when I put Ian’s coat on him, I held the sleeve toward his arm… he transferred the ball in his hand to the other hand, by himself… worked the previously mentioned arm through the sleeve, reached over and grabbed the ball out of his other hand and readied his arm for the other sleeve. Working his arms into the sleeves is not new, but getting objects out of his hands is usually something he lets Melissa or I do.
Ian and I couldn’t make up our minds which hat he should wear… so we wore all three. What was even more amusing is he did NOT attempt to take this totem-pole of chapeaus off of his head until I removed them for him. See this image larger.
Turns out if I make a hiccup noise, he laughs. Which is great because I was able to catch this grin as a result. See this image larger.
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• Today he was picking up his sippy cup and ramming it into the dining room table which is next to his high chair. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. I told him not to do that. He must have thought I had an issue with the noise, as I swear to you he did this: He slid a folded “burp” cloth toward him on the table, centering it in the area in question… and then rammed his sippy into that instead. Thud. Thud. Thud.
• He pointed at Seth today and said “kih-kih kih” which is his attempt at kitty cat.
• He has a tendency to spike his sippy onto the floor, however there’s a technique we’ve been using to both re-direct him and give him positive reinforcement… if he puts something in the correct spot we cheer and yell “score!” There’s a cupholder in the high chair tray, so that’s his scoring zone. Upstairs he tries to dunk his basketballs into the diaper champ. This is unfortunate on many levels. So again, if he puts the basketball in the basket-like holder as opposed to the diaper champ: SCORE!
• I was surprised to see him dip his spoon into a container I held and pick up a scoop… and plop it happily into his mouth, unassisted other than my aforementioned holding of the bowl of food. Melissa says this has been going on for some time, but I don’t let him try it enough on his own, I’m seeing. (Yours truly has to get over that whole “if I let him do this he’ll make a big mess” hurtle.)
• Yesterday I noticed he put the cap partially back on a pack of puffs… similar to a Pringles can, or a can of tennis balls if you know what I mean. It takes a delicate yet firm touch to pull it off of there, which he mastered early. Putting it back on takes some precise aim and he managed to line up the cap, which is pretty awesome, if you ask me… but even better…
• This morning he successfully removed the cap off of a container of puffs, pulled some out, ate some, put some back in, lined up the cap (like yesterday) but then he upped the ante by giving it a firm pat on the top to snap said lid in place. The proud grimace after the slap could be read as “what’s next?”
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.svgvrbfw2008-04-28 23:35:062008-04-28 23:35:06Knock Softly And Carry a Big Sippy
Boys Will Be(come) Boys
Since Ian moved to his new class a great many things have changed about him, and it has really only been a few days. His old class was mostly girls, and younger. Now he’s running with boys that, you know, do boy stuff. So he’ll sometimes pick his nose, and if he can get away with it, he’ll attempt to pick my nose; just as an example.
The good:
• Ian is saying or trying to say a lot more. The noises coming out of his mouth are more varied and it is allowing him to more closely mimic what Melissa and I are saying. Just this week he’s solidified saying “woof woof” for a dog and has started saying “duck” again. He also says “ROWR!” in regards to animals that roar. The times I’ve written about him saying a word in the past, they were typically one-offs. Now he’s actively repeating words that he learns. So this is a very good thing.
• In general he’s mastering physical stuff a bit better, although this was never really a problem area for Ian. He waves like a champ now, and claps along with everybody else. I was surprised to see him attempt to clamber up into his car seat yesterday, when all I had done was set him in the car. (My Civic doesn’t quite have the room for me to plop him in the seat that Melissa’s 4-door Prius does, I end up having to truly get back there with him to set him in the seat.) He couldn’t quite make it up into the seat proper, but I found this particularly heartening because it (almost) helped me. Ian helping me. That’s pretty cool.
• A little more regularity for sleep. We get the idea that if this kid would stop teething we’d almost be on a normal schedule by now. (Said the Dada, knowing the Mama is probably getting up at all hours of the night every night and thinks Dada is full of doodoo.)
The “bad”: (if you can call it that I do realize that this was inevitable; he’s got to become a boy at some point, right?)
• A lot more fussing and straining to get out of arms, or in a mad attempt to dive off of the diaper changing station.
• A lot more crying and hitting.
• A lot more crazy stunts.
• A lot more trying something that’s wrong, watching for us to say “no!” and then doing it anyway, with a bigger smile on his face.
Anyway, so this all pre-dates Grandpa Dave and Grandma Marcia agreeing to watch the lil guy this upcoming weekend while Melissa and I scoot off to a wedding. I hope Ian has reserved a little good behavior for that particular night.
Movin’ On Up
I went with Melissa yesterday to see Ian experience his first drop-off in the new classroom. We were immediately directed up the hallway to an area where the newbies (Ian’s new classroom nickname) mingled with much older kids. We saw them all run around a table to some song about hunting a bear. In a way it looked harmless enough, but it did look a bit like “the running of the bulls,” and I saw one of the big kids push around one of the little kids and I can’t say I enjoyed that much. When the newbies got in their own classroom things returned to normal… he looked uncomfortable, but then pulled a plastic toy out of a toy oven, and then I nodded to Melissa. “He’ll be fine.” I’d like to note that we continue to be a little disappointed in this daycare, the possibility of Ian moving to a new daycare is pretty strong at this point.
More stories:
• About three days ago Melissa and I clapped to the beat of a song on a toy and Ian joined in for about 5 claps. Unremarkable, I guess, other than the fact that those claps were also to the beat and in rhythm.
• Last night during bath-time Ian started slam dunking his toy basketballs into a hoop and trying to say “SCORE!” It came out something like “GORE!” (Could he be trying to say “GOAL!” and “SCORE!” at the same time? It is a little more possible than you think… he learned “GOAL!” from a soccer ball toy.)
• Melissa and I admit to being crappy parents the other night. She was cooking, I was busy; we sat him on the dog-pillow and turned on a DVD we know he likes. It was creepy how affective it was. He sat there staring and didn’t even look away. We made a note not to do that to him too often.
• We took Ian to the doctor’s the other day for his usual check-up. In the lobby a little girl spotted Ian’s enthusiasm to see his mom, and decided she wanted to play. Ian’s not much of a thrower when it comes to rolling a ball back and forth. He tends to pick it up and hand it to you rather than roll it back. Anyway, suffice to say Ian had brought a ball and he was extremely kind and sharing with this girl that was borderline spastic. For the record, Ian weighed in at 23 lbs and is 32″ tall.
• The other day when I put Ian’s coat on him, I held the sleeve toward his arm… he transferred the ball in his hand to the other hand, by himself… worked the previously mentioned arm through the sleeve, reached over and grabbed the ball out of his other hand and readied his arm for the other sleeve. Working his arms into the sleeves is not new, but getting objects out of his hands is usually something he lets Melissa or I do.
Knock Softly And Carry a Big Sippy
Updates/observations:
• Today he was picking up his sippy cup and ramming it into the dining room table which is next to his high chair. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. I told him not to do that. He must have thought I had an issue with the noise, as I swear to you he did this: He slid a folded “burp” cloth toward him on the table, centering it in the area in question… and then rammed his sippy into that instead. Thud. Thud. Thud.
• He pointed at Seth today and said “kih-kih kih” which is his attempt at kitty cat.
• He has a tendency to spike his sippy onto the floor, however there’s a technique we’ve been using to both re-direct him and give him positive reinforcement… if he puts something in the correct spot we cheer and yell “score!” There’s a cupholder in the high chair tray, so that’s his scoring zone. Upstairs he tries to dunk his basketballs into the diaper champ. This is unfortunate on many levels. So again, if he puts the basketball in the basket-like holder as opposed to the diaper champ: SCORE!
• I was surprised to see him dip his spoon into a container I held and pick up a scoop… and plop it happily into his mouth, unassisted other than my aforementioned holding of the bowl of food. Melissa says this has been going on for some time, but I don’t let him try it enough on his own, I’m seeing. (Yours truly has to get over that whole “if I let him do this he’ll make a big mess” hurtle.)
• Yesterday I noticed he put the cap partially back on a pack of puffs… similar to a Pringles can, or a can of tennis balls if you know what I mean. It takes a delicate yet firm touch to pull it off of there, which he mastered early. Putting it back on takes some precise aim and he managed to line up the cap, which is pretty awesome, if you ask me… but even better…
• This morning he successfully removed the cap off of a container of puffs, pulled some out, ate some, put some back in, lined up the cap (like yesterday) but then he upped the ante by giving it a firm pat on the top to snap said lid in place. The proud grimace after the slap could be read as “what’s next?”