Ian Meets Uncle Matt

I wanted to let the Father's Day post have a few days at the top of the page since it was so special to me (and Shawn), but now that a few days have passed, it's time to recap our busy Father's Day weekend and talk about the other highlight… the arrival of Shawn's older/middle brother, Matt! He and his wife Kristen and kids live in Fairbanks, Alaska, and for me, it's been years since I've seen any of them.

Matt is a pilot in the Air National Guard and was passing through Seattle on his way to training in California, and stayed with us for 2 days. Matt and Kristen are the epitome of role model parents in our eyes, and were our instant choice as guardians for Ian should something happen to us. It has been weighing on us heavily that Ian has been home all this time and hasn't met them. With this visit from Matt, we were able to accomplish half of that goal. He will also get to meet his cousins when they visit next month…Kristen, who knows. Maybe she can sneak down for a weekend at some point. If it weren't a fortune to get from Seattle to Fairbanks, we'd see more of them, but living in the middle of a frozen state has its disadvantages.

Matt came in on Friday night and Ian was sleeping by the time they made it to the house. Polli reacted in a way I've never seen before. She is always a bit apprehensive at first with grown men for some reason, but she was extremely agitated by Matt's presence and wasn't giving in to petting and snacks. To her, he was an intruder in our home and while she wasn't vicious, she was defensive and wouldn't get close. At first we thought it was the "wilderness" on his clothes causing such a reaction. He had just been hunting the day before. But later, after we were in bed, she knew a stranger was in the next room and didn't like it one bit. She faced the door with her ears up all night. I doubt she slept at all. The next morning, she was equally defensive until Ian woke up and Matt met and played with him. Almost immediately, upon seeing Matt interact with Ian without incident, Polli walked up to him and sniffed his legs…and they were buddies from then on. What an awesome big sister. Protecting Ian was her first concern.

So, back to Ian's first meeting with his uncle Matt. We had been preparing him by showing pictures. In a photo of the 3 boys with us wives, Ian could pick out Mark (Milk and Mark are the same word right now), Matt, and dad. He has a harder time with us girls, even me since my hair is really different now…But he had been staring at that photo, so I hope it helped reduce some stranger anxiety.

It didn't take long for him to go to Matt and they were perfectly comfortable together the whole weekend. He was appropriately shy at first and clung to my leg at times, but overall, it was a great meeting. Sunday morning, the first thing Ian did when he stood up in his crib was point to the guest room and say "Matt!" It was adorable.

I don't know that Ian cried or whined a single time all weekend, if that's even possible for a 2 year old. He was up by 5:30am on Saturday (Ugggh!) but was down for his nap by 9am, sleeping until noon. After lunch, we headed to the Seattle waterfront to visit the Seattle Aquarium. It was awesome! For anyone from this area or visiting Seattle, it is a must see. Ian was mesmerized at every turn. Six months ago, it would have been overwhelming, but it was perfect timing now. He is interested in everything now: Plants, bugs, animals…everything.

He spent about 2 hours with his mouth wide open in awe of the sea life. He especially loved the sea lions and seals. They were so huge and in the underwater viewing area, they would coast by the glass with their fins flared, playing and doing somersaults in the water. He loved every second of it and probably would have stood there for hours. I think they might have looked like dogs to him. He held Shawn's hand the entire time and never needed to be carried or put in the stroller. He couldn't have been better behaved.

After a stop to Ivar's on the waterfront for some clam chowder, we headed back to the 'burbs to enjoy some moose on the BBQ. Yes, I said moose. It took a while for me to wrap my brain around it and I apologize to my veggie loving friends…but it was darn good. Not gamey and very lean. As long as I don't picture Bullwinkle while I'm eating it, I might be able to convince myself that it's no different than buying hamburger at the grocery store.

Sunday, we started the day with the Father's Day gifts from Ian & Polli to Shawn. It was a bit of a theme gift… Seasons 2 & 3 of The Muppet Show episodes, Jim Henson's Storyteller series, which I think is a bit of a sci-fi/Muppet infused series that played on TV in the 80's….Right up Shawn's alley. He received a copy of "It's Not Easy Being Green", which is a book of anecdotal quotes by and about Jim Henson. He also got a big, beautiful coffee table book chronicling Jim Henson's life and work. As you might guess, Shawn is a huge Muppets fan. The piece d' resistance was the video on the blog post from Sunday, June 15^th. I'm proud of how it turned out and it was pretty emotional. Let's just say-Shawn didn't make it all the way through-and still isn't ready to watch the whole thing. I had no idea it would have such an impact.

So after breakfast, we headed out to Ian's swimming lesson and continued to our normal Sunday afternoon lunch spot, where we met up with Shawn's parents. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting silly on martinis while Ian napped, walked the dogs, and enjoying a rarely seen sunny afternoon in Seattle. It was a perfect Father's Day. Just perfect.

We so enjoyed having Matt for a few days and only wish Kristen could have been with him. If she had, I might have been rescued from the hours of discussion about bow hunting (snooze!). Below are a few pictures of the weekend, including the only picture of Shawn, Ian, and me together since we were in China. Since I'm the one behind the camera 100% of the time, it's hard to get pictures of me with Ian. It was hard to get pictures inside the aquarium. Since I couldn't use flash, almost everything turned out dark or blurry. Asking a 2 year old to stay still was about as ridiculous as asking the fish to stay still…at the same time.

Incidentally, I hit 30,000 hits this week! Thanks to all of you who have stuck by us through the interesting and the boring. We love that we can keep everyone in the loop through this one medium. A day might come that the blog becomes less anecdotal and more informational about Microtia and adoption, but for now it's fun to share our ups and rare downs with Ian. We've gotten to know a lot of great people through this blog and hope to meet many of you in person some day. Thank you for your friendship and support!

Meeting Uncle Matt.

Ian's in motion here, but still a pretty neat shot of the guys in front of the huge aquarium in the lobby.

Ian's best Jack Nicholson impersonation

He's not quite ready to touch the aquatic life just yet...but was content to stare and say "star" over and over again.

Look at all those toes!

Ian's thinking: "There is a sense of irony about the abstract point of view of the fish here. Who is the observed and who is the observer?"

Son of Mr. Limpett

Ian getting his pocket picked. Some of these fish are as big as he is!

These fish seemed to follow the kids around. They were so friendly.

Watching kids play racquetball after his swim lesson.

Hanging out with uncle Matt.

Father's Day with Grandpa Tom

The boys...minus uncle Milk, I mean Mark. We couldn't get them all to look in the same direction, no matter what we did.

Our first family picture since China!