Happy 4th!

Tomorrow, Ian will celebrate his first Independence Day. After tomorrow, he will have celebrated almost every major holiday here in the States, except for Labor Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, and Veteran's Day. It's still hard to believe he's been with us that long...but no so hard when I stop and try to think about life before him. No, we don't eat out as often or see nearly as many movies on the big screen, but I can't say I miss much... except maybe those long workouts at the gym every other day...or maybe the occassional cup of coffee at leisure on Sunday morning... OK, I miss that a lot. Everything else, not so much.

It was a slow week this week in the Ian department after such an exciting weekend. We had great weather up to last night, when we had widespread thunderstorms come through our area. People from some parts of the country are yawning right now, but for Western Washington, it's more than rare to get actual thunder and lightening.

Last night, it kicked in at about 10pm and, in our area, just under the foothills of the mountains, it was strong from 10pm until about midnight and then again from about 2 to 4am. When I say strong, we're talking lightening strikes every 15 to 30 seconds with simultaneous and sometimes overlapping thunder booms. The end result was quite an amazing concert that not only annoyed our dog, but gave us a few "gimme a break" moments. There was no time to count "one one-thousand...two one-thousand" between the lightening and the thunder. It was the first time Shawn had ever heard of doing that...and he lived in the south. We stayed up arguing about the validity of whether that accurately indicated the distance of the storm. Regardless, it was not applicable this time. Strikes and booms were happening near and far, on top of each other with sometimes only a few seconds between thunder booms. I just read a news article that estimated 2,500 lightening strikes between the hours of 10pm and 4am. I'm not sure if that's a lot, but it felt/looked like it!

I can't believe I never went for my camera the entire time. It was downstairs and I didn't want to make the long trip there and back. Since we face the mountains, it would have been a great opportunity for some cool shots of something that may never happen again...but I was hot, tired, and trying to keep a very nervous/scared dog from barking and waking Ian. I'm not exactly sure why I was so worried about that since the house shaking, car crashing, cannon firing thunder booms were not bothering him. That kid can sleep through anything, THANK GOODNESS!

We've also had a run of really warm, but very humid weather (part of the reason for the thunderstorms). I happen to like the hot...even the very hot.... but not everyone does around here. Those same people complain when it rains, too. You can't win them all. It has been miserable sleeping, though, and we've been zombies the past few days without much restful sleep. Ian, again no problem. Nothing but a diaper and a fan after a cool bath makes for one happy boy in this weather.

For my out of state friends who want to know why we didn't just crank the A/C.... It's Washington. The free standing kind is not even allowed in our housing development, if that gives you any idea of how often we need it...People who spent the $ to build it into their duct work are actually laughed at. The return on investment is negligible.

So today, it is about 20 degrees cooler and raining, but I don't care. We are leaving in a few days for a family trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where a bunch of us are renting a house on the lake. We love that area and have good friends who live there part of the year. They will be meeting Ian for the first time, and are one of the families who wrote a charater letter for us when we started this crazy roller coaster ride. More than anything, I can't wait to see how Ian does in the lake and on the boat. If nothing else, a 5 hour drive across the state in hot weather and with a toddler, should be interesting.

We're not doing anything for the 4th, but will probably sit out back and watch the neighborhood fireworks while letting Polli go berserk. I'm not sure yet whether it's a good idea to keep Ian up to watch or try to let him sleep through it. Will he care? Will he be more concerned about why Polli's freaking out? Who knows.

Incidentally, I measured Ian (with a measuring tape, while he was moving) and I think he is right about 35.5 inches in height, and at his last swim lesson, he got on the scale and was just shy of 30 pounds. Depending on what chart you look at, that puts him at about the 50th percentile for both height and weight. I'm pretty happy about that. He has shot up 5 inches or more since coming home, and has gained less than a pound. In some pictures, you can see that he still carries his post-meal weight right up front, while in others, I think he looks downright skinny (despite the ever-chunk legs). Regardless, he's eating well, has developed a fondness (if not addiction) for grapes and raisins, which are our new "always in-stock" snacks...except they're toxic to dogs. Thank goodness Polli has a no fruit eating policy that she is pretty adamant about.

On Sunday, Ian and Shawn got busy doing some much needed yard work. Ian mimicked almost everything Shawn did. It was really cute. Now, if Shawn could actually put some pants on before doing yard work, it would be an improvement. I decided that he was warned, therefore his boxers can go up on the blog for the world to see.

Have a happy 4th, everyone! I hope it is a safe and fun day for all. Keep the "hot" (what Ian calls the BBQ/Stove, but also applies to alcoholic beverages or in this case fireworks)...keep them away from the kiddos, and have something fruity to wash down your bbq...or whatever strikes your fancy. After all, for those who work for "the man", it's the last paid 4th of July holiday for a few years and one of only two every 6 or 7 years when we actually get to sleep in the next day! We'd might as well enjoy it!

Ian copies Shawn's hand raking. He is at that phase where he wants to help with everything.

Maw-mo. That's lawnmower in Ian speak. Polli does not care for the fact that they're cutting up her tiny little grass patch, but she always loves it more when it's short.

He loves the bummbrrr (bamboo). There's a plant next to it that he thinks is named "gentle". It's not a plant, it's a gentle. Anyway, Polli often sniffs around in the bamboo and he likes to do what she does... so in the bamboo he goes. He's looking for permission here. I gave him the green light.