Railroad Days, Etc.

Ian has had a fairly routine August with school, swimming, and Grandma Trish Fridays. Weekends are usually split with me and Shawn. I am always off on a hike one day and Shawn on a dive the other. This past weekend, I did not schedule a hike, but Shawn had a dive, then we laid low Sunday with a much needed at home day.

Saturday, he and I walked down to Snoqualmie Railroad Days, which is our town's big festival to celebrate it's rail history. There is a nice Railroad Museum that runs year round and dozens of retired trains line the roadway into town. This is one of the few times, aside from Christmas or the "Day out with Thomas" that they actually run one of the "people cars", as Ian calls it, but he was definitely not interested in that feature of the festival. He announced that he "likes them better when they're still". More than anything, the whistle is too loud, and the train seems unpredictable. I'm not sure he trusts that it's going to stay on the track (after all, his little ones don't, so why should the huge one).

The highlight of the day was the model train exhibit. He could have spent the entire day watching and studying that thing. I think I know what to collect for him. Now just to figure out what "class", as that is a very pivotal part of train collecting. Time to go talk to the people at the hobby shop, I guess! While other kids would watch for a few seconds and move on, he was riveted. He was concentrating on the fine details. He is so much more detail oriented than your average 3 year old.

We stopped at the gift shop, where I was fully prepared to cave in to a selection from the wall of Thomas gear, but he picked 2 very small manual operating trains that were $2.75 each. Added a book about trains and we were out of there for under $12. We walked back and, because it was warmer than I had dressed him for, I carried him most of the 1/2 mile or so to the car. Thank goodness all my hiking has me conditioned for this kind of thing. He is 36 pounds now and much too awkward to carry for long distances.

We also made a trip to the dog park, and since those pictures all tend to look the same, I'll spare most. He did discover blackberries (blueberries, he calls them) and we ate our fill along one of the many park trails. Great way to spend an afternoon.

This week is his last week in his Early Preschool class. He moves with the rest of his classmates on Sept. 1st to the Preschool class. I am so glad I fought a good fight and encouraged his teachers to let him come in underpants. He had one accident all week last week. ONE!

He has had zero accidents at home for several weeks now, which brings me a little closer to admitting that I might just have a pottytrained little boy. Six months ago, this seemed such a distant hope, but it really did happen. Saturday was our last sticker chart day. I give it most of the credit. Now, M&M's are reserved for when he pulls his pants up after potty. Once that is mastered, we'll have to include pulling his pants down...then snaps & zippers. Wow. The challenges of being 3!

Tomorrow, he is going on a hike with me! I bought him his very own hydration pack and as long as the weather holds, we'll be going to Twin Falls State Park in North Bend for a short 1.5 mile hike (round trip) to two waterfalls. I've coached him that he can only come if he walks like a big boy. He agreed, but we'll see. Regardless, it should be a fun afternoon. I'm sure there will be great pics!

We are less than 2 weeks away from our trip to Maui. Only a few posts away from saying Aloha!

Polli likes the dog park any day, but LOVES to go with Ian.

Karate Kid or Tip Toe-ing thru the Tulips?

Too tired to go on!

He's getting pretty good at walking Polli... and she is really good about not pulling. I think she knows she's stronger than he is.

Trying out his new swimming goggles

He looks just like daddy!

Walking the tracks to Snoqualmie Railroad Days

He looks so small next to this train

His favorite engine. He had a hard time with the fact that the engine was "connected" in the front to a box car. That seemed ridiculous to him.

Another cool car

Trains are serious business

Explaining locomotives

Still a long way to the station

Watching the model train exhibit. He was glued to the glass.

He noticed some small details I missed, including one train that had small lights inside and another carrying animals. He said "Mommy, that's a stock car!"

Reinacting Railroad Days

It's Been a Long Time!

I can't believe how much time I let pass. I find it hard to believe I've neglected for almost 3 weeks! Truthfully, it's because things are going along just fine and we're counting the days until we leave for Maui on Sept. 6th. For a while, it was so hot I just couldn't sit long enough to write something. We then had record cold temps right after that and our trees started turning. Now, we're back to hot (80's & 90's) for the next week or so.

I have been spending most of my free time hiking and hitting the gym. On the days Shawn is out and about, Ian and I have been going to the pool after school. Monday becomes Friday and is Monday again before we know it... one week after another. I'm glad for life to be routine after such a long time of milestone after milestone. It's quite relaxing to have the routine we have down to a science... and it makes for such an easy little guy.

After months of feeling like it was never going to happen, Ian is finally *mostly* accident free at home. He still has his occasional moment and still wears a pull up to bed, but he is in underpants full time now. Unfortuntately, his school is a pull up school and he was required to be pull up free by the time his class moved up from Early Pre to Preschool...on Sept. 8th! He has consistently been horrible at school with pretty much no potty success whatsoever. Every day, it was a progress report of frowns in the potty section. I was so frustrated. I felt like it was the pull ups sabatoging things. He knows they're glorified diapers and he doesn't *have* to stop playing if he doesn't want to, because there will be no mess and only a small amount of disappointment.

I told his teacher last week that we're going to try it my way for a while and she reluctantly agreed to let me bring him in underwear. Well, we're 2 days into MY WAY and he has had exactly ZERO accidents. Today, she said to me "wow, he really is ready". Umm, yeah. Great observation! I love his teachers and his school, but she was being lazy and just didn't have a good system for pottytraining. I am so glad I put my foot down!

It's lame, but below are a handful of recent pictures. Not much, but I haven't been behind the camera as much as I should. That will change soon with the upcoming Maui trip, followed closely by Halloween and Ian's 2nd Family day. I'm already thinking ahead halfway to Christmas! My, how time flies!

Ian with my brother Rex over an 18 month period... Jan 08 thru July 2009.

Ian sleeping on his first day with us and now. He has grown so much. I wish his first pic showed just how short his legs were compared to now.

Polli trying to wake up Ian. I could not get him to wake up. When he finally did, he sat up and said "The yellow train forgot to pick up the kids!" and then laid back down and closed his eyes again. It was SO hilarious!

Once he was finally awake...

Still attached to his blanket. He sometimes says "I need my blanket. It calms me down". Sniff away, kid!

Arriving to Tom & Trish's from a long hike, I reached the porch and in unison, all 3 raised their glasses and said "We're having Happy Hour!". He's definitely a Mrzena!

His favorite thing to do after swimming is to watch the tennis players at our gym's restaurant.

Oh crap, he's already interested in video games. This is in the Red Robin lobby.