The Week After The Big Week

It was a quick, yet uneventful week of coming down off the vacation high. Ian started back to school and fizzled quickly, waking Friday AM with a low fever and having a rough day at school. We've noticed that he has always come down sick on Fridays. Either he is maxed out by the time Friday comes or it's just a coincidence. He was fine the next morning with a 15 hour night of sleep and a good sized #2, like anyone would be. Regardless, Grandma Trish starts watching him on Fridays next week...and then swiftly reports for jury duty (the first requirement of the newly retired, so it seems) for the first 2 weeks of August.

Shawn's middle brother Matt's kids Cade and Taylor were still in town visiting the grandparents this week and came to say their final goodbyes to us and Ian yesterday. We had a great dinner at our neighborhood Chinese restaurant and the kids had a great time playing with Ian. So far all of the teenagers from our vacation (4 in all) said they would like a baby brother if he could be like Ian... cries for a few seconds and that's it. He must be out of the ordinary if teenagers can't get enough of a 2 year old. I can't really remember wanting to be around babies much when I was that age (except for my own niece & nephew Ryan and Ashlee). Yeah, Ian's pretty special. I agree.

Today, Ian had class 2 of his Toddler 2 swim class. He has shown marked water confidence in the past 2 weeks and Shawn has even let go of him in the water a few times without incident. After this series of classes, we'll probably take a break and do our own water lessons until he is ready to enter the 3 year old class, where there is NO in-water parent. Scary! At the rate that he has overcome milestones and fears, that should be in no time at all. After Shawn left for his hockey game, Ian and I took the stroller out for a walk in the neighborhood. It's the first time in months that I've used the stroller and Ian was out and pushing it himself half the time. He also met my friend Katie's boxer Zoe and drank half of my Vivanno smoothie from Starbucks. I'm not big on giving him juice, but he's gone over a week without a single drop, so this was a special treat. We then came back and played with his new favorite toys: Buckets, rocks, and water. He's so complicated.

The pictures below are a hodge podge of shots from this week. I didn't pick up the camera once until Friday, so this is an accomplishment. I had to get one of Ian and Cade, which I really wanted since I realized I didn't have a single picture of them together from Coeur d'Alene. It will be a year before they see him again. I can't begin to wonder how different Ian will be then... a whole huge year from now!

I bought him these color wonder markers and he looked at them like "what am I supposed to do with these?" Makes me wonder who is really doing all that cute artwork I bring home from school.

Same with the crayons. He loves his books, but is not at all creatively inclined when it comes to crayons and markers yet. He was much more interested with putting them back in the box.

Ian jammin on the piano with his cousin Cade. You've gotta love that hair!

I love it anytime I can catch his beautiful smile. For those who haven't noticed his alligator crocs... this is a good shot of them. When I ask him to go get his shoes, he always grabs these.

Another smiley shot. This is an hour after his normal Sunday bedtime. Does he look ready to go to sleep? Your answer is the same as his "NO!". Great, he's learned that dreaded word...and seems to know what it means. He's a real kid after all.