Archive for June, 2008

Detroit Zoo

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Today Ian and I went to the Detroit Zoo. We actually went with a couple of moms and their kids from our Mother’s Group and we had a really good time. We didn’t go for long, only about 2.5 hours, but we still saw a lot of animals. We went through the Butterfly Room and got to see lots of pretty butterflies all flying around. Ian really liked this room and didn’t want to continue on, but I think he was happy we did since we went to the Reptile House next. There we saw turtles and snakes and a bunch of different lizards. They had some creepy turtles there too. Snake-neck Turtles and Matamata Turtles. They look funny and they are just unexpected. I had Ian in his stroller, but once we got into the building, I let him out and he had some fun running to all of the exhibits. He had fun watching all of the other kids as well as checking out each animal. Although when he wanted to leave, he tried and he wasn’t happy when I wouldn’t let him go without me.

We also got to see some capaberas and bald eagles. Not only did we see bald eagles, but they weren’t in a cage. Usually, when zoos have the eagles, they are in some kind of wired mesh so they can’t fly off, but the Detroit Zoo clips their wings so they don’t have to be penned in. I’m not sure if that’s any better for them, but it was kind of neat to be able to see them without having to look through anything.

After the eagles, we were ready to cool off since it was starting to get a little warm, so we made our way to the polar bear exhibit. Let me tell you, they make you work for that room of cold air. The path to the polar bear house is really long and you wind through what looks like an African safari. It’s not all that exciting either; I mean, they do have some animals exhibits along the path, but it was warm and all of the animals were trying to keep cool so they were out of sight. Once we got to the polar bear house, it was awesome. It’s actually and underground building that goes right underneath the bears area, so you get to look up through a glass tunnel and can watch them swim. Two of the three bears were right around the tunnel, so no matter where you were sitting, you could see them. Ian had a blast looking up at them.

By the time we were done with the polar bears, it was getting close to Ian’s nap, so we headed back to the entrance. Like I said, we weren’t there for long, but I think Ian handled it well. Since we’re in the process of moving, he really hasn’t realized what that meant and he did a couple of days ago, so I think this was a good treat for him. He seemed to have fun. If you want to see all of the pictures we took today (not many, but there are some), and I do mean we, Ian helped take some of them, click here. We’re definitely going to go back to the zoo and next time, Jesse says he wants to go with us so he can see the monkey’s too.

So Not Looking Forward to This

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Thanks to my mother for sharing this…

No Nap

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So it’s been awhile since I wrote an update, so let’s see what has happened.

Ian now has a couple new teeth. The teeth on either side of his bottom two popped through over the last week and they are obviously there now. I caught him tearing into some cheese at lunch today, so he’s getting adapting to them really well.

He has also figured out that “naptime” is not a word he is fond of. Over the last couple of months, we’ve really been pushing the one nap, even if others are not helping us with that, since he naturally adjusted his sleep schedule. Now that he’s sleeping completely through the night, he hasn’t needed the morning and afternoon naps and is now taking one nap in the afternoon. It’s been really nice since he changed since he sleeps for 2-3 hours at once instead of two naps that equal that. It gives me more of a chance to do things that need to be doing (or simple to just relax). While the new schedule isn’t all that new (he’s been doing this for about 2-3 months now), he still has his days where he wants a nap early in the morning. Usually, as long as I distract him with something, he gets past the need pretty easily. He’s now at the point where he gets through the morning in a happy mood until he realize that it’s naptime. I can say “it’s naptime…naptime” and he looks at me and says “no”.

That’s another new development. Ian has picked up the word NO. He likes to say it all the time and in response to anything. We can ask him if he’s okay, if he’s hungry, or anything and he’ll respond with NO. It’s kind of amusing actually. That’s pretty much the only word he’s saying right now, but he understands a lot. We can say it’s lunch time, dinner, breakfast, pretty much anything relating to sitting down and eating and he’ll understand us. He’ll run into the kitchen and go straight to his chair. He has also learned to communicate by showing us what he wants. He’ll hold onto our fingers/hands and drag us to whatever it is he wants. It’s not the greatest communication eeforts, but it’s better than having to guess. He knows if he takes us to the refrigerator, than we’ll figure out he’s hungry; if he takes out to the door, than we know he wants to go outside; he’ll bring us the Wii wheel if he wants to play Mario Kart (although he prefers to watch us); and he’s even figured out that if he takes us to the TV or hands us the remote, we’ll know he wants to watch TV. Granted, that’s not going to work for long since the house won’t have cable and the TV will be in the basement. Even though he isn’t really talking yet, we’re not worried. I’ve been asking around and it’s kid is different, but the one thing I’ve found is that when they are ready to talk, you won’t be able to shut them up.

I can’t really think what else has been going on. There have been a bunch of things, but this is what I can think about for now.

Book Recommendations for Hospital Visits

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No, nothing has happened to Ian and we haven’t had to take him to the hospital. However, I saw this post over at Maw Books and it made me think of our time at Beaumont last spring. Thankfully, Ian wasn’t that old so we didn’t have to worry about keeping him entertained or making sure he knew he was fine in the hospital, but that’s not the case anymore. I might want to get a couple of these books at some point. Especially since Ian hasn’t been liking the doctors office visits lately.

MSNBC Article: Dry Drowning

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I did not know this. It was a very good thing that I read this article by MSNBC. I never knew you could drown as early as an hour after being out of the water.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, some 3,600 people drowned in 2005, the most recent year for which there are statistics. Some 10 to 15 percent of those deaths was classified as “dry drowning,” which can occur up to 24 hours after a small amount of water gets into the lungs. In children, that can happen during a bath.

That’s actually scary to know that he could drown after being in his bath. Ian gets a bath right before bedtime, so if this were to happen, we would never know because he goes to bed soon after. Although, the bath tends to energize him if we don’t put him straight to bed, so we may have to change his routine a little. A bath and then bed maybe at least 30 minutes afterwards.

The three signs that could indicate dry drowning:

  1. difficulty breathing
  2. extreme tiredness
  3. changes in behavior

All three symptoms come from a loss of oxygen flow to the brain, which would make sense since it means there is water in the lungs. I know I’m going to be very careful around water with Ian now.

My Smart Boy

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Okay, there are times when Ian is freaky smart. He’s done a couple of things that last couple of day that were kind of unexpected.

Wednesday, he made a puzzle for Jesse. He took a role of toilet paper and took out the cardboard roll. He left the rest of the paper completely in tact, but the roll was not on the outside and not buried in the paper. I’m really not sure how he managed that. If you look at it, you really can’t tell there is something missing until you actually examine it.

Yesterday, we were at the park and he was playing in a sandbox with some toys one of the other moms brought. The other kid he was playing with got out with the buckets and Ian went to follow with the shovels. However, getting out of the box was a little harder than it seems since he would have to climb over it to get out. So what does he do….he tosses the shovels outside of the sand box, climbs over the barrier and then picks them up. No one was around to tell him this, he just did it on his own. The other kids mom saw this and commented that it was a little advance for Ian’s age.

My little man is so S-M-A-R-T.

Not the Momma

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So Ian still hasn’t called Jackie “momma” yet. He’ll babble “momomomom” for 10 minutes, but he won’t call her that. Today during dinner, I asked Ian, “Point to momma.”

He turns his head and looks up, then waves to her.

I ask “Ian, say ‘Hi Momma.'”

His reaction? “AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”

He just laughs this little machine gun laugh. Each time you ask him while Jackie is standing there, he does the same laugh. I feel sorta bad- his vocabulary keeps growing and growing, but he won’t say the one thing Jackie wants to hear.

Sunday’s Storms

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Yesterday, the three of us learned a very valuable lesson…always check the weather report before going swimming. We were down at the pool testing out a new float for Ian (he wasn’t amused by it, but there were a lot of kids in the pool too) when someone noticed the sky getting dark in the west. Since we didn’t like what we saw, we decided to get out of the pool and head home. Before we left the area, someone noticed lightening in the distance, so we made a mad dash out of the area. We just started back when the rain hit. Another 100 yards and the torrential downpour began. We sought cover up by another apartment, but after a few minutes, when it didn’t look like it was going to let up, Jesse ran for the car.

During the entire time, Ian didn’t make a sound. He was such a champ. We had him wrapped in a towel, since we had just gotten out of the pool, and he was sitting in his stroller (not strapped in), and he was just enjoying the ride. Once the rain start, I threw one of the towels over the stroller to try and cover him a little, but the wind wasn’t helping and that’s when we decided to seek cover. Ian faced the building for most of it, but he didn’t complain once. He was such a good boy.

When Jesse pulled the car around, I had Ian in my arms (so we could run easier) and the two of us slide into the front seat. Since we weren’t leaving the parking lot, I kept him up front so we wouldn’t be stuck in the rain any longer. I know, it wasn’t exactly smart to ride like that, but we weren’t in the car that long. When we got back to the apartment, we made another mad dash and got inside.

I should also mention that while Ian and I were camping up by the building, the sirens went off. The owner of the apartment heard them and came out to investigate and found us at his door. We talked for a moment and found out that the sirens were for a tornado warning. Perfect, just what we needed. As soon as we got home, we shut ourselves in the laundry room (after grabbing clothes for me and the laptop) to ascertain how long the warning was for. Thankfully, it wasn’t for that long and we were able to come out after a few minutes. This was when Ian decided complain a little. We wouldn’t let him play with the furnace and he wasn’t crazy about being shut in such a small area. I have to agree with him though. It wasn’t fun since I was wet and wanted to get out of my swimsuit.

Today, Jesse heard some interesting horror stories at work today and even out realtor, Frank, had some trouble – he had a tree in his pool and another neighbor’s tree in his front yard. All in all, the three of us survived the experience and we’re going to make sure we check the weather report next time before we go to the pool.

Weekly Geeks #7 – Photo Week

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2008.05.15-IanPark.02.jpgWeekly Geeks is something I’ve been doing on my other sites, but this weeks topic I wrote on Ian, so I thought I would share it here.

This weeks Weekly Geeks is Photo Week. I guess last weeks task was a little hard, so they are going easy this week. They say they are going easy, but I have no idea which picture to use. See, here are the instructions:

Decide what to illustrate and start taking photos: Most of you are book bloggers, so you may want to post photos of your favorite reading spot, your TBR pile(s), your local book store, your favorite librarian, your child reading, etc. You may want to post several photos of a certain topic (like all nine of your kids reading!) or a mixed bag of photos that are unrelated except that they’re bookish. Or you may want to post just one photo, it’s up to you. If you have a different type of blog, post photos of whatever you think is suitable.

First off, I should probably say I really don’t have a favorite reading spot. The one place I tend to read a lot is on the floor since I can get away with it with Ian. He’s not a fan of me sitting on the couch or in a chair where he can’t get to me. Yeah, he’s a little spoiled, but his an only child at the moment. I could take a photo of my TBR shelf, but there really isn’t anything special about it and it’s getting packed up tomorrow anyway (plus I can’t find my camera cable, so any pictures I do take won’t get on the computer in time to post this). I really don’t have any pictures that have anything to do with books. Well, I do have a couple from the LKH and Kim Harrison appearances, but they are not that special.

This topic is actually harder for me than last weeks. Afterall, catching up was easy for me; trying to decide on a couple of pictures to talk about when I literally have hundreds from this year alone is crazy hard. Of course I’m going to pick a recent one, but still, I go nuts when I get the camera out. I think what I will decide to do is talk about Ians’ favorite hobby….being outside. I know that really isn’t a hobby, but he loves being outside and he will drag me to the door so we can go outside any chance he gets. He lead Jesse there last night while it was raining and that didn’t even stop him.

At the moment, we live in an apartment complex, so letting Ian outside isn’t always feasible. We try to hit the parks at least once a week, and sometimes we’re lucky enough to hit it more often. This past weekend, Ian spent the weekend with his grandmother and she spoiled him rotten when it came to being outdoors. The grandparents live out in the country, so there was a lot of open space for Ian to run and play in. From the pictures I’ve seen, he had a blast.

We’re in the process of getting a house and I can’t wait until we get it. The backyard is a nice size considering we’re going to be in the city and Ian is going to have plenty of room to run around. I’ll be able to let him out more because I know what is on the ground. Plus I’m on the hunt for outside toys for him, so he should have plenty to keep him occupied.

I think that’s all I’m going to right for now about Ian and being outdoors.

Terrible Twos

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I think Ian finally hit the terrible twos… he’s starting to repeat “no nononono” and screech when he doesn’t get his way. I think I’m enjoying this a bit more than Jackie because I have no problem telling him no.

Jackie seems to be unable to scold him at times- especially when he slams the laptop lid closed. She requires continual prodding to get after him when he misbehaves. I’m sure she’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

Right now he’s screaming in the kitchen because Jackie won’t pick him up while she’s cutting strawberries.

Fun times.

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