The Anti-Valentine’s Day

I meant to post this yesterday, but forgot to queue it up...oops! I'm a day behind, so my next cute post of pictures from the weekend will have to wait a day or two. Hopefully I'll be able to add a few from Ian's day off with Daddy tomorrow, President's Day.

Well, We decided to unofficially boycott Valentine's Day this year. I'm sure I took the pressure off Shawn by making this decision all by myself. He unceremoniously dropped a Hershey's Kiss on my couch while I watched TV last night. Happy "Val-Times" (as he calls it).

Whether or not it "stimulates" the economy, it seems like an unnecessary way to spend money these days, so we skipped it. Grandma brought a nice gift of Dr. Seuss books and cash (!!!) for Ian, but we did absolutely nothing for anyone. I bought a box of Valentines for Ian's friends at school, but since he doesn't go on Fridays, he missed the party and I didn't partake in the supplying of garbage food for the little monsters. It's OK. He wasn't feeling well and I'm sure that every kid in his class will be hopped up on sugar and a mess by the end of the day. Ian is fighting a cold (me too) and would have probably stayed home even if it weren't already a scheduled day off. He was making excuses to lay down with his blanket all morning and was crying when I left for work. Grandma's so used to an easy breezy Ian, I'm not sure she has seen this side of him! (Update: Upon arriving home, I learned that he was his perky self within minutes of my departure...and stayed that way and then some all weekend).

Shawn proposed to me on Valentine's Day 14 years ago, but it has never been a major holiday for me. I'm not a flowers and candy girl and the idea of a crowded restaurant for the sake of a day made up by retailers…well I'm just not that into it. So, it's a normal day for us. Not pomp & circumstance and no pink/red hearts around the house. I much prefer to save the excitement and celebrate our Anniversary at the end of the month or my birthday in July, which are really my special days...that I don't have to share with the rest of the world.

I did find a picture of Shawn and me right around the time we were engaged. I suppose it could be considered our Engagement Photo since it was actually taken as we were scouting out possible wedding locations. It was after the headache of this research that we decided to go to St. Thomas and get married on the beach instead. It seems a million years ago. In fact, the bench we're sitting on was at a restaurant and nursery called The Herb Farm when it was located in Fall City, Washington… not far from where we live now. The restaurant was destroyed by fire not long after this and the nursery closed. It was a vacant lot the last time I drove by, with no sign of its former charming self. The Herb Farm was re-established elsewhere, but this was still one of my favorite places. I'm sad that it's gone.

Note our cute matchy matchy outfits. Do kids in love still do this? Green jeans (remember colored denim?) with almost matching boots (remember cowboy boots?) and white shirts. Weren't we so adorable back then? I'm pretty sure we had matching tan leather bomber jackets with us that day, too. Mine had huge shoulder pads. I remember them vividly. Ah, those were the days (like, totally).

Side note: I'm so excited to see a deaf player on The Amazing Race this season...and coming in first in the beginning leg, to boot! Many forget that Ian is technically considered Hard of Hearing since he only has partial hearing in his right ear, to what extent we still don't know. It was good to be reminded that a deaf or Hard of Hearing person can do the same things that hearing folks can do... just without the acoustics. No matter the future outcome for Ian's ear or hearing, he can and will do whatever he sets his mind to. If he has proven anything to us and those who know him, it's that he doesn't let anything get in his way!

Speech Therapy Ups and Haircut Downs

This week has been fairly routine and not a lot of photo ops. Today was Ian's next to-next to last speech visit with Mona. He only has 2 left! It would be a major step in the wrong direction to lose her at this point. It frustrates me SO much that the school district picks up at age 3. It seems so young. He has a ton of momentum with her right now and, even if he qualifies for speech therapy through the school district, it won't be the same. They won't get the same out of him in an office as Mona gets from him at our house.

I've decided to check Shawn's insurance benefits to see if Speech Therapy can be covered to some extent, and if so, we might just stick with Mona "off the grid". I'll even take Ian's old therapist Maura... but I'm feeling really sick about losing that group's support right now. They've done so much good for Ian and he just LOVES Mona...and I mean loves her. He talks about her, asks about her, and responds so well to her when she's here. He listens and interacts with her in a way that he doesn't do with most family and especially his teachers (I sometimes wonder if he talks at all at school). As a parent, she gives me good feedback and provides wonderful suggestions for improvement. She is creative and sweet... and I'll miss her.

I don't have pictures, but I took Ian for a haircut yesterday and he had a major MAJOR meltdown. He did great during his last haircut and sat well for the stylist. This time, I'm not sure what the trigger was, but he went into full meltdown mode and kept saying she was hurting him. She wasn't...I was right there. I think she might have poked him with the scissors once and it set him off. She was also nervous, which doesn't help. For crying out loud, it's Great Clips. They cut 2 kinds of hair: Men and kids. You'd think they'd have a system down. Anyway, it was similar to when he has blood drawn. In order to get to a point where it was even and he didn't have a mullet, I had to put him in my lap and hold his legs, arms and head. Yeah. It was as difficult as it sounds. He's getting really strong! In the end, he ended up with a bowl cut... when he didn't even really need his bangs cut at all and the sides and back are almost the same length....and it was $15 plus my guilt-laden $5 tip. $20 bucks. Next time I might take Grandpa Tom up on his offer to borrow the dog clippers.

Before she rang us up, she went to the back of the salon for a minute and I thought I could hear crying. I felt really bad for her, but come on... That can't be the first dramatic 2 year old she's ever seen. I assured her that she did fine and that I should be sorry. I wasn't really (I mean, I just pinned my child down while a stranger came at him with sharp objects) but felt like I had to be nice about it.

Within minutes of leaving, he was just fine. We went next door to the toy store and his sucker of a mom bought a tiny little train piece for $20. I don't know what's worse, the fact that toy makers exploit parents by putting these things in irresistible packaging and at the front of the store, or that there are people like me that fall for it. Regardless, he was thrilled and the haircut fiasco was long forgotten. So, I was down $40 for a toddler haircut and a consolation prize. C'est La Vie!

Tomorrow is another exciting Grandma Trish day. Ian asked out of the blue yesterday to go to Grandma's house and see Spirit. I asked if he wanted to take Polli... He said "No, Polli stay home. Only Ian play with Spirit". Once the weather gets nicer, Spirit can come on Fridays and they can all lounge on the patio... sounds nice!

For those wondering, he is doing great with his glasses. When he's at home, he never takes them off and usually asks for help if they come off or get off kilter. Odd that most of the pictures I saw of him at grandma's house, there were no glasses on! They're also usually around his neck or just getting put back on when I pick him up from school. What would kids do without their moms around to be the police?

Below are a measly few pictures from the past few days. I've been a slacker with the camera. Ian also doesn't love it when I have it out, possibly because of the flash. He's always saying "Mommy, camera down!". He's getting more like his daddy every day!

When I ask him to smile at the camera, this is what I get. A quick flash of cheezy overdone grin. Sorry about the mouth full of apple.

Getting REALLY good at "no lid" drinking. Niced moo-stache, Ian!

Roadkill

You Are My Sunshine, Ian!

I finally got this to upload in Blogger! What a chore. This is from Ian's latest sleepover.

Ian and Grandpa Tom singing Ian's favorite song and playing the mandolin. Grandpa Tom sounds cranky at the end, but the video cut out before the laughter... dadburnit!

Another Overnight with Grandma & Grandpa

Our weekend started with Ian packing up and heading to Grandma & Grandpa T's house for yet another overnighter. A mere 6 months ago, I had to be begged and bribed into letting them take Ian overnight, but I'm over it now in a big way and am glad to let them take him for that ONE night every once in a while. A big part of what eases my mind is that Ian loves it at their house and is 100% comfortable to sleep alone in his room there with zero issues. It's another day in the life for him when he's there.

This time, Polli went too, so we truly had an empty house. Before Polli came along in Dec. of 2005, it was what our house was like all the time. I don't remember the quiet being so quiet then or the hollow feeling I get now, that something important is missing...like a limb that is suddenly unusable or diminished eyesight. I missed them both terribly, even for just that one night, but I especially missed Polli. Yes, I know that's horrible. I admit it here (and expect the backlash) that I missed my dog more than my son Friday night. Normally when Ian goes to Grandma's house, I have Polli to fill the gap... She warms my lap and is my ever present best friend when Ian is asleep or gone. She makes me feel necessary and valuable in a way that no human ever could. For this reason, having her gone too was a big letdown. I make it sound like Shawn and I were on other ends of the planet this weekend, and we were a bit of the time. We each had our own reasons for wanting the night off Friday, and it wasn't for a date night this time.

Friday night, I had arranged a "IT Girls Night" for my department. There are only 9 of us ladies on site compared to 3 dozen guys, so I got the OK to arrange a round of drinks and dinner. Six of us were able to attend and we had a great time learning how each of us got our start in IT and at SanMar. It was a ton of fun. I haven't been out with gals for...well almost never... so this was a treat for me. By 8pm, we were ready to break off and get back to our lives, many of us moms and wives with long to-do lists waiting to be completed...and I'm sad to say we didn't get a single picture although I had a camera in my purse.

I decided to go see "He's Not That Into You", but it was sold out in the 3 closest theaters for most of the evening's showings...so I walked around the mall for an hour and then closed down Target. I can't say that I've ever heard "Target will be closing in 10 minutes". It was a new milestone for me but a sad one, right? I mean, it was Friday night and I was loitering in Target. I walked out with a windbreaker for Ian and a bag of dog snacks... Is it obvious who I was thinking about the whole time?

Why was I doing this, you ask? Well, while I was having my girls' night, Shawn was hosting a guys poker party at our house. I couldn't very well go home and be the wife who ruined everyone's dude fun. I did eventually go home to sneak upstairs and watch TV while the party raged, and yes it raged... I heard lots of swear words and "between hands" arm wrestling tournament. Oh, the fun I was missing, right? And although they didn't smoke in the house, there was a lot of cigar smoke finding it's way back in from the garage somehow, and it smelled like a bachelor pad throughout the house.

It started disbanding at about 1AM and Shawn came to bed silly on beers and thankfully had already cleaned up after himself; my kitchen sink was actually empty! I was pretty impressed. It sounded like fun though, and I like poker, so the next time, I'm hoping it can be a co-ed event...I guess that means I'll have to invite my department guys to the next girls' night! Hmmm. We'll have to think this through a little more.

So, I woke early Saturday and went to the gym while Shawn slept. We went and had a nice lunch at Panera, my favorite lunch spot, and then headed to see our kiddos. We stayed the night, drank wine, and watched movies...and then headed back home in time for Ian's nap today. It was great to be reunited with my kids. I missed them so much, eventhough it is truly nice to have a break every once in a while...even if the highlight is simply a break from tiptoe-ing the halls after 7pm.

While Ian napped today, Shawn and I watched my beloved Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins... YAY!, and ate too much junk food. Now Ian and I are playing while Shawn is off playing hockey with his Sunday league.

Probably the most important event of the whole weekend is that today, Ian told Shawn "uh-oh daddy, toots" and asked to go to the potty. We sat for a while and low & behold, there was pee pee & poo poo in the potty when he stood up. It was a big celebration, with the big finale being that Ian FINALLY got M&M's for going. He got 2 for #1 and 2 for #2... and couldn't have been more thrilled about his 4 M&M's. He savored each like it was caviar and obviously doesn't take that luxury for granted.

Below are several pics from Ian's overnight stay including a few with cousin Ashleigh during his last stay, 2 weeks ago. She's so great with him.

I've also been trying to upload a great video of Ian singing with Grandpa Tom, but Blogger's video upload is terrible and I need to figure out what's wrong. Stay tuned for that soon.

Reading with Cousin Ashleigh

Bonding with their blankets...

...Someone understands his need for a good sniff

Checking out one of Grandpa Tom's carvings...I'm pretty sure he thought it was real

Isn't this a cool book? He loved playing pretend with Masie. Here, he's feeding her oatmeal.

Hanging out in Spirit's kennel

He loves Grandma's window seat

Taking a break on the stairs

Anniversary of Ian’s First Day of School

Today marks ONE YEAR since Ian started school. This time last year, I was sitting in the Starbucks down the street from his daycare wringing my hands for three hours before going back to pick him up. I was nervous about how he reacted when I left. I was sad that I couldn't somehow stay and watch without him knowing. I felt guilty for putting him in another scary unknown situation so soon after the traumatic process of coming home. More than anything, I was torn. Torn between my desire to go back to work and my wish to stay home with him. I always said I would go back, but in theory, I haven't met a single mom who doesn't wish they could be with their kids more, especially in those first few years.

So, when I went back for him on that first day after 3 hours, he was sitting happily at the table eating lunch. Spoon. Plate. Chair. I couldn't believe it. By the end of that week, he was head first into a routine and he didn't show a single sign of distress from the separation. I can't lie. That was hard. Something in me wanted him to struggle with the transition more, eventhough I know that would have been worse.

Now, a year later, he is a bona fide school kid. Monday through Thursday, he gets up at 5:30, goes to school from 6:30-3:30, and goes to sleep at about 7. Although we decided early on that the daycare he's in is not our choice for nutrition and curriculum reasons, he has flourished in the past year. Flourished in ways I never imagined possible. I won't give his center too much credit since it's more or less an expensive babysitting service there. Much of his progress is based on the success of speech therapy, his "down day" with Grandma Trish on Fridays, and our "every waking minute" attitude toward learning.

I read back over my post a year ago and can't believe how far he has come. He was a brand new walker, was afraid of outside, and had zero vocabulary past "dah" and the occasional "mama". He was barely eating with utensils and had never (at least since home) eaten out of his highchair. Now, he talks like any other almost-three year old, is completely fearless, and is BUSY. Just how many laps around the living room and kitchen can one kid do?

Here we are passing year one and getting ready to start a new daycare, or "Early Learning Center" as they prefer to be called. We're hoping to come up on the waiting list in the next month, making a transition to their Preschool class in March. I will have to go through that above hand wringing process again as we move him to yet another strange new place. All you parents out there who've had to move for jobs, military, etc… My heart goes out to you. I don't know how you do it!

We are also adding in the use of a keyboard and mouse with an old laptop of mine. There is some great toddler software out there that teaches the general key clicking and cursor moving skills, and he seems to love it. It's incredibly annoying to us adults, but quite engaging for him. As silly as that might seem to some, I think all the time about how important these skills will be by the time he is an adult. Chances are, he'll need to have a keyboard mastered and be capable of handling electronics by the 1^st grade, if not earlier.

I also posted a few pictures of Ian at the park yesterday. LESS than a year ago, he actually figured out that outside was not the enemy. Watching him climb, jump, run, and slide with ease yesterday made me realize just how much he has accomplished this year. He amazes me on a daily basis! As we speak, I'm probably taking for granted something that will blow my mind a year from now!

So, I think it's evident that I've done away with such luxuries as hair combing or even pants in some cases, but it's easy to see much has changed in a year. He's definitely not the baby he was then. Why does it have to go so fast?

Learning his new computer software

Already mastering the mouse

Playing at the park. This time last year he was still unsure about the park...and would have never been able to manage the stairs alone.

Pretending to drive "the bus". Everything is either a train or a bus with this kid!

Finishing off January

What a lame week. I had so many great plans for Chinese New Year, but didn't follow through with a thing past the initial Hong Bao and giving Ian a Chinese Dragon train piece. I also bought him a traditional shirt (that I probably could have bought for pennies in China) that won't fit him next year. Well, it sits in his closet with the tags still attached. Sigh.

On the flip side of things, I joined a Yahoo group for families with kids from China in our area (the Eastside Seattle suburbs). Unfortunately, it's called "Eastside Little Ladybugs", but he'll have to deal with that a lot with the local "Born in China" community. Good thing he likes the ladies! I may just regret this some day!

Unfortunately, with most groups, the playdates are all in the morning on weekdays. I'm waiting for the day working mom's are recognized. It's pretty frustrating that I can't even get a decent magazine devoted to the subject. I get the feeling that once more moms are forced back into the workplace from our spiriling economy, that will change. As sad as that is for those who've dreamed and worked hard to stay home... It's probably a stark reality!

We did have one milestone this weekend... Ian had his first time out! Yep. I made him sit on the naughty step for one minute. He was upset that I told him to pick up his toys before getting a snack and proceeded to take all 25 letter magnets off the fridge (we're missing the X) and throw them at me. I was emptying the dishwasher and pretended I didn't notice, so he said "mommy, see this?" and when I turned, he threw one right at me. Sassy sucker. I picked him up and took him to the step, put him down and sat next to him. I told him "you never throw toys and especially at mommy. That hurt my feelings and could have given me owies. You're going to sit here and stay sitting for one minute because you didn't pick up your toys like I asked you to."

He cried. I hated to see it. But, he sat there for the whole minute saying "where's daddy?" Of course. Go to the other parent! After a minute, I went over and said "I want you to say you're sorry for throwing toys at me". He said "I sorry mommy". It could have melted my heart. I then gave him a hug and said "Thank you, now what are you going to do next?" He said "pick up letters and get a snack". So, we went over and he picked up every letter (we sounded it out as they went on the fridge and made it a game), and after, he got a snack. Thank you, Super Nanny!

Since we skipped the Chinese New Year Festival put on by our local chapter of Families with Children from China (FCC), we stayed in jammies most of this morning and then went to lunch at Qdoba after nap. Ian was so excited for a Naked Burrito. In the end, anything with beans and rice are his version of heaven. He ate almost an entire adult Naked Burrito. You go, kid.

This is poised to be a boring week for Ian but a busy week for mom and dad. Shawn will be at Microsoft's Tech Ready all week and I'm on fulltime mom/dad duty from sun up to sun down. I also have lots of training going on this week and will be giving classes every day this week to new hires in my department. Now that we're pretty much done hiring for a while, I have no idea what that means for me. Hopefully more writing projects. There's always something for me to do, so I'm not too terribly worried. Yet.

I will be stopping at Ian's future preschool tomorrow to see how much longer we'll be waiting. It's been 10 months since we put him on the waiting list. Ridiculous, but it means lower student/teacher ratios and a better school overall (and walking distance from our house). I was reviewing their curriculum again tonight and couldn't be more excited. I also get to provide his lunches, meaning they'll be healthier than the current chicken nugget/spagetti from a can diet he gets now and I'll be able to send things I know he'll eat. I feel much better about what's in his tummy in the afternoon when I packed it myself.

At the end of this week, Ian and Polli get to hang out at grandma Trish and grandpa Tom's overnight again. Shawn is hosting a poker party at our house and I am attempting to put together a first ever girls' night for my department. Shawn has about 30 RSVP's while I have a measly 4... Looks like I'll be finding a quiet place to read a book and have a cocktail for the wee hours that boys will be going crazy over a $20 buy in. They're lucky girls aren't invited. I'd shark the table for sure.

Below are a random hodgepodge of pictures from the week. Once I get grandma's memory card, I'll have some pics from Ian's last sleepover.

P.S. Mom & Dad: Sorry the Cardinals lost! I was rooting for them in your honor, but had to also root for Pittsburgh for a few other friends... But it was still hard to see them lose. Hope you're recovering OK!

Checking out the Yuan that was in his Hong Bao, the envelopes of money given during Chinese New Year for wealth and prosperity. Give a little of that over here, Ian!

He liked the chocolate money...and even the real stuff, but there was NO WAY he was letting me put it in the piggy bank... A golden OX, since this is the Year of the Ox. We'll deposit what goes in there at the end of the year (or use if for groceries the way things are going).

His favorite cartoon is Little Einsteins, this is Leo, the main character... Who also wears glasses. He has been the driving motivator in getting Ian to put on and keep on his specs.

Our little musician shows that he's not a one trick pony. Getting into a Jerry Lee Lewis groove here...

On his way to time out. Yep, I had to get a picture of that moment.

Ian and Grandpa Tom's Hoedown

I've posted a couple of video clips on Facebook of Ian playing harmonica with Grandpa Tom. Normally, I just don't even try posting here because I usually have nothing but problems, but these are really too cute to keep to ourselves.

Turns out these loaded pretty quickly, so without further adieu, please enjoy a few minutes of good 'ol harmonica jammin'!

Another Date Night

Ian stayed at Grandma Trish & Grandpa Tom's house Friday night so Shawn and I could have another date night. I know what you're thinking...That's 2 date nights in 6 months. Isn't that a little selfish? Well, it's only the second since Ian came home in November of 07, so I'm willing to risk offending that growing segment of the parenting public who are quick to jump in and say they've never been away from their kids overnight.

It was worth it, although Shawn wore jeans again, just like our last date night. He dresses really nice for work (for no good reason) yet jeans for our night out. He said it was because I was behind on laundry. OOOOHHHH. Probably not the right thing to say a month before our Anniversary.

So we went to Palomino, an upscale grill, and in true romantic fashion used a 2 for 1 dinner coupon. If we were newly married, this would be a major problem... but after 13 years, even just ordering something off the menu over $10 is a fancy night out... so I'm not complaining.

The dinner was great and I had 2 martinis (Tirimisu and Lychee...as a homage to Chinese New Year)and crab stuffed cod. It was awesome. It was worth the jeans and coupon. That's how good it was.

After, we went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was very good. I expected it to be good considering the hype, but it was better than I expected. The story is moving, it has just enough love story but wasn't over the top lovey dovey... and Brad Pitt was nice to look at in his younger (older) years. It reminded me a lot of Forest Gump and will probably do well at the Oscars. The cinematography and special effects were great. It was also very long...almost 3 hours. It moved at a good enough pace to support that length though, and made me feel like I got my money's worth considering it may be a while before I see another movie in the theater again. Who wants to pay $10 and spare their only night out for a 90 minute slapstick comedy? Not me.

We were home and asleep by midnight and I was up by 8 the next morning feeling like I wanted to go get Ian right then. I missed him and felt like if I was going to sit around and do nothing, he might as well be doing nothing with me (yeah right). We ended up going to lunch, which we rarely do because of the circus that ensues, and it was nice to eat uninterrupted. Of course, there were Chinese twin girls eating lunch next to us and they were so adorable. I thought of Ian the whole time and counted the hours until we would drive to pick him up.

As I knew he would, he had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. His cousin Ashleigh stayed the night also and they had a ton of fun playing, sharing blankets, and being silly. She is great with kids and he loves her, so it was nice that they had that time together.

Ian and Grandpa Tom jammed together on their harmonicas and it was a total laugh riot. Videos are hard to post in Blogger, so I won't even try, but there are some good pics below of those two gettin' their blues on. It was too cute.

Ian did OK with his glasses, but I'm nervous about school tomorrow. I know for a fact that those things won't stay on for long periods of time and who knows what will happen to them. They plan to use "glasses" as their conversation at circle time and discuss why Ian needs glasses, and why they should not be touched, taken off, or pulled on. Hopefully he'll only be the center of attention with them for a while and then life will go back to normal. It will be interesting to see how it goes. He doesn't like them on when he's looking at a book or things close up, but he's learning how to lift them to his forehead and then bring them back down again when he's done. Again, not sure how that will translate to school.

Below are a few pics from yesterday. There are more cute shots trapped on grandma's camera...But there's even one of me with Ian. So very rare! Too bad I was having a bad hair day. Can't we schedule these things better? :-)

Tomorrow marks the start of Chinese New Year and Ian already knows he wants lots of Hong Baos (red envelopes of money) to symbolize weath and prosperity in the new year. I have one for him each day of Chinese New Year, and he can put the money in the Golden Ox piggy bank I bought him. We are planning to go to our Families with Children from China chapter's CNY celebration next Saturday in Seattle, and sometime during the week, Ian and I will make fortune cookies and paper lanterns. I would love to take him down to the China Town in Seattle for Dim Sum, but I'm afraid we won't have time during the CNY period. Maybe after when it won't be so crazy.

Showing off his blue glasses

Rare pic of the two of us... and I have hair issues. Oh well.

Silly

He couldn't get enough of this placemat for some reason. With his short nose bridge, it's almost impossible to get his glasses to stay on straight.

Jammin with Grandpa

Finding a good rhythm. He is actually pretty good at this...and bobs back and forth to the tune. It's so adorable. It just can't be described with pictures.

Getting a goodbye snuggle from Aunt Shannon

Breaking News: Ian's New Glasses

I received the call yesterday that Ian's glasses were ready to be picked up. I raced to the Optical store to get them and couldn't wait to try them on him.

I asked the woman there if there was a way to simulate the way he sees without his glasses... I really wanted to know what Ian sees now. She said putting his prescription on would give me a good idea of how he sees things without a prescription. Wow. My kid is blind. His prescription is one of the strongest I've seen. I asked her how he sees such detail and can identify things, even at a distance. She said kids are masters at faking it and don't analyze or quantify what they can and cannot see at that age. If I had known he was so limited all this time, I would have had him to the doctor our first day back in the states. I'm interested to see if these new glasses translate into a jump in any specific area of development. I have my suspicions that the amount of sleep he currently requires will drop. His eyes are probably so tired by the end of the day that he can't even keep them open. Poor Ian!

So, he was asleep by the time I got home last night, meaning I needed to test them out in the AM. I had them on him within minutes of waking up and he did AWESOME! It helps that his favorite Little Einsteins character, Leo, wears glasses. I told him that Leo needs his glasses to see better when he goes on missions. He was all about wearing them after that.

He lasted about 10 minutes before asking for them off, but he kept lifting them and putting them back down. It obviously made a big difference right away. I put them on again to eat breakfast and to feed Polli, telling him he had to wear them for these things. He didn't argue and wore them all the way up to leaving for school.

I want to take baby steps with how long he wears them until the weekend, when we'll work on lengthening those times, before sending him to school with them. I frankly don't trust his teachers to work with us on it and they'll end up missing. I just know it.

Below are a few pictures first thing this morning with his glasses. I'm disappointed about the glare, but I'd rather have that than scratched up or broken lenses, so it's a fair trade off. They're thick and clunky, but they are also unbreakable, so they'll make perfect "training" glasses. A year in these should get him ready for a lighter metal frame... and then he'll really be ready for the Ivy Leagues!

Charles Nelson Riley? Is that you?

He already likes them and he's not even out of his crib yet.

Getting the hang of actually seeing me clearly from across the room.

His new serious look

He had them on for a good 15 minutes at this point with no problem. I completely underestimated how well he would do. No bribes needed yet!

I've Been Tagged

My friend Tracy at A Red Thread To China tagged me for this fun game... The idea is to go to the 4th picture folder on my computer, pick the 4th picture and explain it. Here goes:

So, the fourth folder in "My Pictures" happens to be a folder of Ian's first day with us. That folder didn't make it in my city specific "China" folders somehow and was out of order. Lucky for me that this happened to be the 4th picture in that folder. It's the very first picture I took of Ian at the Civil Affairs office in Hangzhou.

Love at first sight for me. I instantly went into mom mode. Not so much for Shawn. It was exciting, but it took a while for it to sink in for him, and ultimately his month off work with Ian to really get in a groove.

He is still such a peaceful sleeper and good at it, too. He sleeps an easy 12 hours plus typically a long nap, and I can count on one hand the number of night's he's woke up crying since his initally recovery from jet lag. I should count myself lucky and quit bragging so much. He's guaranteed to be a holy terror as a teenager. Isn't that how karma works?

Below are a few more of him snoozing away.

I'm not on my normal computer, so I can't tag the people I would like to. I'll have to do that later.

Thanks for tagging me, Tracy and letting me take that little trip down memory lane!

Looks just like his little frog there. June, 2008

Sleeping past 10am at Grandma's house... Without that music player next to him, all things might not be possible. Best $20 I've ever spent...Seriously. August, 2008

Sweet dreams big boy. Definitely not that baby in the first picture! January, 2009