Fun with Family

Friday was a great day for Ian and Grandma Trish. I think it was nice for both of them to get back to their normal schedule. Before I left for work, I had Ian show her his "run and jump" circuit, which is essentially Ian Follow the Leader. We have to follow him as he takes us around the house (usually at a run) and tells us what to do (hop, jump, skip, freeze, sideways, backward, etc.) He had Trish huffing and puffing in no time. It was funny to see her running and jumping around the house, completely at the mercy of a two year old. I decided that everyone who comes over should have to do "run/jumps".

When I got home from work at 3:30, he had been down for nap since 12:30. Grandma left for home and I expected Ian to be waking up any second. Two hours later, at almost 5:30, I decided to make sure he was still breathing. There was no emergency and he wasn't sick. He was happily sitting up in his crib playing with a toy listening to his music player. He stood up with a quiet "hi, mommy!". It still amazes me that he is so good at entertaining himself in his crib.

So yesterday, we headed out for a final trip to the optical store to get his glasses ordered. We're doing the square-ish rubber frames shown 2 posts ago in yellow, but in dark gray and dark blue. With his dark hair and skin, darker glasses will look better on his face. It takes about 2 weeks for the frames to come in and then another week for the lenses... so we'll have to wait for 3 more weeks to see how he does with them.

We were very late for naptime at that point, so we rushed home. Ian took another very long nap (almost 4 hours) and we went in and dragged him from his crib a few minutes before my brother was expected to show up for dinner and belated Christmas gifts.

My brother Rex hasn't seen Ian since his birthday party back in April, so I was excited to see if Ian remembered him and how different Ian would be to Rex. I'm not sure Ian remembered him completely and he was a little shy at first, but he quickly came around and they were giggling and wrestling before long. We had a great dinner of homemade chicken cordon bleu and scalloped potatoes, and Ian behaved wonderfully.

Because Rex was in Arizona and California over the holidays, we did our Christmas gifts a little late. Ian got some great CD's, DVD's, and workbooks. Best of all, he got a game called Animal Scramble, which is a cross between tag and hide-and-seek with little animals. Hard to explain, but Ian really enjoyed it and I think it was as much a gift for Shawn as for Ian.

Having Rex here meant Ian was jacked up late into the evening and I finally put him down at 10:30pm. I didn't get to sleep until well after 1am, and I was hoping such a late lights-out time would mean Ian would sleep late...Thankfully I was able to be lazy until 9, which included a sneak out trip to Starbucks before anyone knew I was up.

I've avoided talking about it, but yesterday was also day 1 of potty training and I have to say it was a miserable failure. Ian tried every 30 minutes in the morning but didn't do anything... and then I put him in a diaper for the outing to the optical store. I was petrified to take him out "in the raw". After nap, uncle Rex had arrived but we put him back in undies... and had 2 accidents. He couldn't have cared less that he was wet. He was more than happy to keep playing while soaking wet. Well, there goes my theory that he won't like being wet and will ask to go. Sigh. As much as I thought he was ready, either he isn't or I'm still not. I don't know.

He's in a diaper now and I don't know if I'll be putting him in underpants today. I might just let his teachers get him started tomorrow and see what success they have before I decide whether or not we should wait. I might also get him a taller step stool so he can stand like daddy. Then, he can practice sinking cheerios or something... sitting is no fun for boys.

I also cancelled his trial class at Little Gym. After doing the math, it comes out to over $100 a month for an hour a week, which seems steep and not all together practical right now. Instead, I think we'll scope out more area Children's Museums and go to the pool at our gym more. After his birthday, I hope to start enrolling him in Mandarin classes, so I'll save for that vs. paying through the nose for organized play. We already pay for 8 hours a day of that!

Putting Grandma through her paces

He has amazing balance... His feet are almost as wide as they are long and he can usually balance on just about anything. I think he comes from Chinese Acrobat stock.

Unwrapping presents

Playing with Uncle Rex

Ian with Uncle Rex then and now.