Weekend Miscellaneous

We had another sunny weekend and were on a roll with the whole outside thing. In our neighborhood, there is a park every few blocks, some more conducive to younger kids than others, but we drove a half mile or so to another park on Saturday AM. We were the only two at this park and Ian liked the see saw bouncy toys, but was not thrilled at all about the swing. We'll have to revisit that concept a little later into the spring or summer, but for now, it was a bit too much.

Grandma Trish came over today for a visit and we had a great time, once again, outside. We walked to Starbucks, picked up some dog treats at our nearby natural pet food store, and hung out at the park for a while. Trish brought with her a very sweet gift a friend made for Ian, a fleece blanket, which will be his lovey at Grandma's house. It was made of an adorable car/truck pattern and Ian was really interested in the wheels on the vehicles, naturally.

Also, our niece Ashleigh made Ian a cute paper mache mouse. Not sure why, but she did. :-) It was really cute and we tried to get a picture of Ian with it, but he was not interested. It was as big as him and even Polli wasn't sure about it. Sorry Ashleigh, but it will have to go in storage until Ian gets older or we run out of storage room, whichever comes first. We really appreciate the thought and effort that went into making it.

It was really nice to have such great weather and we really count ourselves lucky to have weather like this in February. Nice weather this early does tend to come back and bite us, as it typically jump starts our plants and trees...and then a frost or snow comes in March, really screwing up our landscaping projects. We'll see what March brings...but Shawn actually cut the grass yesterday and I don't think we've ever had to start that weekly task this early.

Anyway, we also went shoe shopping this weekend. Sadly, not for me. I was concerned that a pair or two of Ian's shoes were getting too small since he would cry as soon as we started putting them on. I decided to take him to the Stride Rite store to get his feet measured and pick up a couple pair of shoes. I know they're pricey, but we haven't really splurged on anything yet for Ian and thought of all the things that should fit just right, it's shoes. I just about passed out when the woman announced that he is a 6.5 wide. We've been buying him 5.5's, and his everyday shoes are 5's, and from Target, so they're probably a generic width and not wide enough. If only he could have told me "Hey lady, I'm crying for a reason. These things hurt!"

I bought two pair of shoes and we headed out to run more errands. From that store to our car in the parking lot took almost 30 minutes (when figuring in ramps, elevators, parking lot navigation etc.) and when we got to the car and I pulled Ian out of the stroller, a display shoe was underneath him. He had shoplifted a shoe! We made the 30 minute trek back to the store to return it and then made the 30 minute trip AGAIN back to the car. Uggh. I did think it was funny, but wasn't about to keep the shoe...I had just learned first hand how much those things cost and would have felt horrible.

Ian has school pictures tomorrow and I will be reluctantly putting him in his Easter outfit for the day so he'll look spiffy for the occasion. I fully expect a mess at the end of the day...and a trip for a new outfit later, but I'll take my chances. Also, Ian turns 23 months old on Thursday. It will be the last month that I automatically announce his age in months. In another month, he'll be 2. It sounds so grown up!

I got some flack for my post about my Kindle...I know it's completely unacceptable to post about non-Ian related topics. I'll try not to have a life of my own ever again. Sorry, mom! To make up for it, here are a few misc pics from the weekend.

At another neighborhood park. This is near the golf course homes, so there were fancier toys than on our street. He liked this "bouncy bouncy" toy.

...The swings, not so much.


Also, not quite ready to make friends with giant paper mache mice.


Polli the friendly ghost (Ian loves to throw his blanket on Polli and she doesn't really mind it much either.)


Afternoon snack for Ian and Polli


Ian liked his new blanket. He actually noticed the wheels on the vehicles. Such attention to detail (or an unhealthy obsession with wheels).


Just a cute picture. No reason.