From the very beginning…
Birthday
Ian Turns 3!
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For a second year in a row, I’m late with posting this, aren’t I. Thankfully, this year the three of us did not spend Ian’s birthday sick and he was able to have a grand ole birthday party (with a Spiderman and Batman theme) with the entire family. One of the things we got Ian for his birthday this year was his very own camera and boy does he love it. Within the first day, he had well over 200 pictures taken. Yes, we got him a real digital camera, but it’s made from Fisher Price and it does everything a cheap camera will do – take photos, preview photos taken, on camera deletion and a USB cord to upload them to the computer. He loves taking pictures and hasn’t asked to use mine since he got his. Score one for both of us.
But before I get to more of that, let’s get the well checkup out of the way first. At his 3 year check up, Iwan weighted in at 30.5 lbs, which puts him just over 3 lbs heavier than at his 2year check up (he was 27.25 lbs) and this puts him in the 50th percentile for his age group. In other words, my little man is perfectly fit, at least I think so. As for his height, Ian only gained 2 inches in the last year. He came in at 36.5 inches long and last year he was 34.5 (but at the time of this post, he’s eating like a weed so I wouldn’t be surprised if he shoots up soon). Either way, he’s only in the 25th percentile for his age group. The doctor asked how tall Jesse was and at 5ft 7in, Jesse is also in the 25th percentile for his age group, so its possible Ian is going to get his daddy’s height. However, the teenage years are still ahead of us (though thankfully not that close), so he still has plenty of time to get some more height on him. At this point, they stopped measuring his head, so I can’t tell you what it is, but his noggin is definitely getting bigger. Ian is one smart cookie and we’re constantly being told that, which means our retirement plan is in full affect. *grin* Ian was all caught up on his immunizations, so he didn’t get any dreaded shots this time around.
I know I’ve been terrible about reporting things over the last year, but let’s see if I can’t make up for some of that now. The two biggest things that have happened this past year are: Ian has became potty trained and he started preschool. Can I say that I’m thrilled that he took to potty training so easily? Considering he was one of those babies who didn’t care if his diaper was wet, I really thought we were going to have a rougher time with it. As for the preschool, it was great during the winter months for both of us. He got his socializing in and neither of us got cabin fever. That was my biggest fear and the reason he did end up going. This fall, however, is going to be a lot more interesting. I’ll actually have to worry about snow days and school delays.
So last year, once it started getting warm out, Jesse and I got Ian his first bike. Well, he got his first and second bike the same day. We found this really nifty Thomas the Train two-wheeler with training wheels that Ian loved in the store. According to the box, it said it was for 2 years and up, but the placement of the peddles were not in a good place. Ian started doing his favorite phrase at that time “fix it”, but alas, we were not able to do so. So we ended up trading it in for a good old fashion tricycle. Ian really hasn’t mastered it yet, but he’s getting there. During the winter, we brought it in the house and he was riding it around in the living room along with his scooter, so once we get it outside, I think he’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.
I am so proud of my monkey – he was able to sing his ABCs before his 2.5 birthday. So in the past year, he has not only learned all of his ABCs, but he can point them out and is already trying to figure out words. He is actually recognizing words which is awesome and knows how to spell his own name. He can’t write it, but he’s already trying that too. Honestly, if we can continue on this path, something tells me he’ll be reading by his next birthday – he already wants to, he takes books with him to bed every night and LOVES reading.
Another thing Ian has taken to this past year is art. He loves making projects. We started out small with painting $1 wooden items from JoAnns and Michaels to mastering the art of tye-dying and finally getting to the point where he wants to cut and glue things together. He loves painting and that’s been his gift-giving trend for the past year as I’m sure the grandparents and Aunt Lori has already noticed. The tye-dying was completely accidentally as I was doing it to get some more life out of old wash clothes, but he just latched onto the idea of painting his clothes. To date, he has painted his underwear, socks, shirts, bags and even one of my bras. One of the best things, I think, we did for him was to enroll him in preschool this past year. They make all sorts of projects at school and he loves it. Since he’s birthday, he’s really been into using scissors so I think I need to come up with some pretty basic cutting projects for him this summer – nothing too fancy since he really can’t cut a straight line.
Ian has a huge curiosity level, which I love, but it makes him want to help all the time. It’s actually great because he’s learning so much, but he does take mama and daddy a little longer to do things. One of the things Ian loves helping with is the garden. He’s all about getting out there and helping daddy weed (which daddy loves and hates since Ian hasn’t figured out what are weeds yet) and spreading out the grass seed. We started reseeding the lawn last summer and that meant a lot of throwing of seeds – Ian loves helping with that. We have to watch him whenever we have an open bag of grass seed as he’ll start throwing it out when we’re not trying to do it. The boys have already started mapping out this years garden and have started an indoor greenhouse to get the seedlings ready. Ian has been all over watching them grow and checking on them daily.
Last year, Ian and I spent a lot of time at the zoo, but this past year, he wasn’t about to take naps near the lions exhibit like he did the previous year. He was more curious and wanted to see everything. The good thing was we purchased a zoo membership so going and then leaving after only a few short hours wasn’t so bad. The only thing I wished the Detroit Zoo had was a petting area, but Ian did get to pet his first goat when we went to the Binder Park Zoo. Ian was also able to get to feed the goats, but he wasn’t as crazy about that. Being mobbed by a bunch of little billy goats probably had a lot to do with that, but he still had a blast being in the pen with them and it was hard to get him out. The zoo was a favorite trip for Ian last year and we have plans to go as often as we can this year as well.
Over the last year, Ian has definitely begun to form his own opinions. He knows what he likes and he wants what he wants. To kind of commemorate his first “favorites”, I tried my hand at making a quilt using his fave characters and I have to say it came out pretty good. Okay, so maybe this isn’t such a milestone for him, but he got his first homemade quilt from mama last summer and that’s something to be remembered. It is still one of his favorite blankets to date.
Something I probably did forget to mention, Ian went down his first waterslide last summer. The Troy Aquatic Center has a great kiddie section which includes this small slide that is perfect for the younger ones. He loved LOVED the slide and I couldn’t keep him off of it (or waiting for his turn). He loves being in the water and he was actually at an age to enjoy more than the first time we had went. As for the slide, no, I didn’t have a problem with him going down it since there were lifeguards at the top and bottom of the slide. In fact, I actually took advantage of that. Ian had never been dunked in the water before and I figured with a lifeguard right there, what better time to do it. So, about 30 minutes before I planned on leaving, I asked the lifeguard if she wouldn’t catch him right away. She figured out what I was about and had no problem doing it. However, he so didn’t like that. I couldn’t get him near the slide after that, but I did manage to make him go down it two more times before we left and he started warming up to it again. In preparation for this summer, he’s currently taking some swim lessons, but I’ll get more into that later since it’s a 3 year thing.
Towards the end of summer, Jesse and I introduced Ian to the art of bumper bowling and boy did he take to it. He loves the idea of throwing a ball down a lane and hitting a bunch of pins. Granted, he’s not that good at it, but he has no problem getting help from daddy or mama. We’ve managed to take him a couple of times (including for his third birthday) and all you have to say is bumper bowling and he’s asking when are we going.
Another first for Ian this past year was his very own remote controlled vehicle. This one happened to be a helicopter and boy did he have a blast with it. Jesse and Ian each had one and they would disappear into the park out back for a good hour flying their helicopters until the batteries ran out (which did not make Ian happy as he wanted to continue flying them). Considering this helicopter was meant for the 6+ crowd, I have to say that Ian working it was quite impressive. He did a lot of dive bombing, but he kept it in the air for a bit each time. Alas, it wasn’t meant to hold up to a 2year old and it was soon retired to the trash heap after a month or two. However, Jesse still has his and the two continue to fly that one around the basement all the time.
For Halloween, Ian figured out the deal and was the cutest little dinosaur ever. It only took him one house to figure out to head up to the porch and he was given free candy. Oh, you should have seen his face when he realized this. By the third house, he was running to get to the next one. We did manage to get a little farther than we had the year before, but we didn’t get as far as daddy wanted.
Ian did something this past year that I thought was a few years off yet. He went to his first stage show and boy did he surprise me. We ended up getting free tickets to Disney Live! Rockin’ Road Trip, and after spending a little to get out of the nosebleed seats, Ian and I had a really great time. He really shocked me by sitting quietly through the entire first half. The intermission kind of killed that has he figured out that he could get up and dance and move around a bit, but he still behaved a lot better than I thought he would. He definitely earned another trip to a stage show in the future.
So that’s it for this past year. Ian is learning more and more things, but they don’t seem as monumental as when he was a lot smaller. They seem more like natural occurrences, which is the main reason why I haven’t kept his site updated as much. I’ll try and do better this year. Although, that’s going to be a little trickier with two blogs to keep updated.
24 months aka 2 years!
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Okay, so I’m a little behind with this post. Granted, Ian is now officially 25 months and technically closer to 26 months, but it’s been a rough two months. Ian spent his second birthday with his head over a bowl and mama and daddy laid up in bed. Since his birthday fell on a Thursday this year, we were so looking forward to celebrating with our Mom’s Group, but that didn’t happen. I think we made it up to Ian though with the three various birthday parties and the ton of loot he got. He also had his first pool party with Gramps, Aunt Lori and Uncle Jayson and had a blast.
But now, on to the good stuff. Normally, I include a current picture along with the last birthday post, but I’m doing the one year vs two year shot. Hasn’t my little monkey changed a lot? At his 2 year well check up, Ian weighed in at 27.25 lbs, which puts Ian about 3 lbs heavier than he was this time last year. The monkey is now 34.5 inches inches long, which puts him 4 whole inches above last year. This all puts him in the 25-50 percentile for his weight and the 50 percentile for his height. His head is 19.5 inches, which is only about a half an inch bigger than last year and it puts him in the 75 percentile. Ian didn’t receive any immunizations this time around, which I am positive he was extremely thankful for.
So what has happened in the last year? Oh lots, but it really doesn’t seem like that. Not like it did the first year. Ian had mastered the walking by his first birthday, but he moved right into running as soon as summer started. It’s so cute watching him run. Some times he even prances a little.
We spent a lot of time at the zoo last year, well, more than I have in the past 10 years. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo with Aunt Lori and Adrian and we spent a couple of days at the Detroit Zoo. I’m so totally planning on taking him to the zoo more this year.
Ian is definitely talking up a storm now. It really doesn’t seem like it’s that big of a change, but considering this time last year he was just mastering mama and dada (while referring to us) as well as hi and bye and then compare that to what he’s doing now…it’s huge. We no longer have to guess what Ian wants and his vocabulary is growing every day. He’s already up to simple sentences. Plus he knows anatomy now too.
The other huge thing that I’m loving his is alphabet recognition. Ian can not only say his ABCs, but he recognizes them too. I can hold up a letter G and he’ll say “G”. He even sings his ABCs (although he’s not crazy about G-P). He’ll just randomly start singing and he’ll even do the “now I know”, but he’ll end it there waiting for us to join in. Jesse and I are ecstatic about this and I kind of hope that we’ll get him reading by his third birthday.
Over the past year, Ian has so totally fallen in love with books. He loves to read and will constantly bring books to us to read to him. Every night and before his nap, he gets read to and he gets mad if we can’t do it one night. He’s even gotten to the point where he’ll recognize the library and loves going there. We started going there when he was just 4 months old and have made bi-weekly, if not weekly, trips to the library ever since. Just in the past couple of months, he’s gotten to the point where he’ll pick out his own books to check out and wants to help me when I take them up to the counters. Seriously, he loves books and loves going to any kind of bookstore. We were just in Borders today and when I mentioned going there, he was all ready to go and took off without me.
Ian has also fallen in love with Sesame Street. We had introduced him to the Muppet Show when he was still crawling around, but we started showing him clips of classic Sesame Street skits and he fell for the Count! My god did he fall for the count. Then I started getting DVDs from the library and he fell for Oscar, although his name is Phooey. We were watching a Telly the Monster and Oscar the Grouch do Siskel & Ebert and all of Oscar’s remarks involved “phooey”. So he is forever going to be phooey for Ian. Ian is loving the other characters to, especially Cookie Monster, but Jesse and I are thankful he hasn’t fallen for Elmo. He does like Elmo, but he doesn’t keep Ian’s attention like the Count, Cookie Monster or Oscar does.
Ian has also been going nuts for Thomas the Tank Engine and Disney’s Cars. We’re liking the idea that he’s going crazy for more than one icon at a time. Ian is constantly switching between the three, but it’s giving us a bit of variety. He has his Grover and Cookie Monster that he sleeps with at night, his Thomas train set that he plays with during the day and his movie of choice is Cars.
Ian finally made it into the snow for the first time this past winter. We really never took him in while we were at the apartment (stupid dogs), but he had the snow pants and the whole ensemble, so in he went. He had fun with it.
Remember when I said Ian had figured out the running idea? Well, he also figured out how to jump.
We did start potty training right after Thanksgiving, but it wasn’t really the time to do it since it tapered off during the Christmas travels. Ian was doing awesome for awhile there, but then he jumped off the band wagon and we’re just now getting back into it.
Jesse decided he didn’t want to have to mess with his hair anymore, so he went out and got a hair trimmer. Now we do both Ian’s and Jesse’s hair with it and all of Ian’s curls are gone. I tried growing them out again recently, but Ian decided he wanted his hair like daddy’s and went even shorter than the last time we did it.
Oh wait! I completely forgot, Ian graduated to a toddler bed right before his birthday. How could I forget that. He had been ready to go that route around Christmas, but we were holding off a bit, but by the end of January, we knew we had to do it. One weekend, we converted the crib to a toddler bed and Ian has been loving it. There was a while where he wouldn’t get out of bed until one of us came to him, but he soon learned that he could get out when he wanted. We’ve actually started putting the gate back up in the hallway and leaving his door open at night. This way, if he does need to get up, he can run into our room instead of crying until one of us gets in there. It’s been working out well. By the time he makes it to my side of the bed, I’m awake and will usually carry him back to his room, where we’ll rock for a bit. We have had barely any problems with him getting out of bed instead of going to sleep at either his naptime or bedtime. There are occasions, but I was expecting that.
I know both Jesse and I have been slacking quite a bit when it comes to adding posts to Ian’s site, but hopefully we’ll start getting better about it. I feel like I’m forgetting something, so I’ll leave you with links to his 18th month and 15th month posts. If I have missed anything, it’ll appear in those.
Happy Birthday Ian!
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Ian turns 2 today and boy did we celebrate it in a way none of us wanted. All three of us came down with some kind of bug today and I think Ian is the only one really bouncing around. Granted, he wasn’t this morning…at least not until he threw up all over me. That is not a pleasant sensation first thing in the morning, especially when it happens in your bed. However, after that episode, he seemed to have bounced back. He wasn’t as cuddly as he normally gets when he is sick, but he was a lot more subdued. Jesse and I have been hit the worse – why are we always both sick at the same time?
Either way, we still celebrated Ian’s birthday today (with his party on Saturday) and he received Clarabel and Annie from the Thomas the Tank Engine train set (trackmaster style). He really enjoyed them since he wanted to go play with them instead of having any birthday cake (which I think shows he’s still not feeling 100% better).
Ian has his 2 year check up next week, so I’ll do one of my more detailed posts then.
18 Months!
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Ian had his 18 month checkup this past week (I know, I’m late posting this). He weighed in at 25.5 lbs, which is good since he didn’t lose any weight this time. He has grown, he’s now 32.75 inches long. This all puts him in the 25-50 percentile for his weight and the 50-75 percentile for his height; the doc noticed he’s starting to slim down and that’s not really surprising considering how much he likes to move. I swear, if you can get Ian to sit still for 5 minutes, I will be shocked. His head is 19 inches, which is in the 5-75 percentile. There’s actually some questions about this number since it would mean he lost .75 inches since his 15 month check up. The nurse thinks the previous nurse meant 18 inches, but everything in his chart says 19. However, unless someone invents a time machine, we’ll never know the truth.
This time around, Ian left the doctors office with only one vaccination – Hep A. From what was implied at the visit, Ian is done with his vaccinations until he gets ready for kindergarten, so he’ll have a few years reprieve from the needle. Although, this time, he handled it a lot better. I think a lot of it was because he received it from his favorite nurse and she was so not wanting to give it to him when she came in either. She had Ian sit on the edge of the table, and while holding my hands, he took it in his thigh and started crying. It was actually amusing. He didn’t cry for very long; in fact he was pretty much done by the time I picked him up. However, the look on his face when the needle went in, it was priceless. Kind of like “what the hell woman!” I did get a giggle out of it.
Overall, his appointment went really well and the Doc seemed happy with his progress. He made sure to ask me if Ian had started saying any words yet and I drew a complete blank. I couldn’t believe I did that, but I did get out enough words that Ian has been saying that seemed to work for the Doc.
Now, the highlights for the past three months…first off, Ian is teething like crazy. He’s had a couple of molars come in as well as a new canine. I also want to say that another molar will be popping up soon too. Ian pretty much has a mouth full of teeth now.
Ian’s comprehension level is very high. He so knows what you’re saying even if he can’t say it yet. We’ve been able to tell him to “go put daddy’s socks in the basket” and he does exactly that. Not only that, but we can even say “can you put this where you put daddy’s socks?” and whether there’s a basket there or not, he’ll put whatever we gave him exactly where we want it. I’ve even been able to ask him to bring me the plate from the living room, while I’m standing in the kitchen and can’t see the plate, and he goes and gets it. Our little man is starting to become freakishly smart and it’s amazing. Today he helped me pick up the living room and was actually a help rather than a hindrance. He knows where the shoes go and there have been times when he has put Jesse’s shoes in their correct place when daddy didn’t. Today, I was able to tell him to go get his cup, which he then looked at me and I told him “it’s in your room”, and he went right to his room and got his cup. First try.
Ian has finally called me mama and has done it without laughing. However, now it’s “mama MAMA!” everything. There are times I think he’s just saying it because he can. Once he got that done, Ian has been saying all sorts of things. His favorite word is the obvious…NO! Everything is NO. It doesn’t matter what it is, Ian’s answer to everything is no. We really need to get him to learn yes and understand the difference. :) Jesse has even gotten him to say the colors while they were reading What Makes a Rainbow. Ian is really starting to talk now and as long as you listen to what he is trying to say, it’s not that hard to figure out what he wants. He also says “thank you”, “please”, “ellow” (yellow and can point it out occasionally). He also gets a kick out of say “bye bye” or “hi” and will wave on command or whenever he feels like it.
Ian is starting to want to be more and more independent. He knows what he wants and he makes sure you know it as well and that he will get it soon. He’s starting to figure out how to put his shoes on, even putting the right foot into the right she. Also, he’s been helping me get himself dressed in the mornings. He can get his arms through the shirt holes all on his own, plus he knows to put his feet in his pants, I just have to hold them up. I no longer have to lift him into the tub; he gets his toys and throws them in the tub and then climbs in after them. There are times when we’ll find him in the tub even when it isn’t bath time, but that’s what he wants, so he does it.
Speaking of bath time, we’ve started a new routine at night. Ian now brushes his teeth and gets read to each night. It’s all apart of the plan. He takes his bath and then he brushes his teeth (and he does it himself after a little help from mama) and then Daddy reads him a story before bed. He has really adjusted to this new routine well and we’re even thinking we might be able to move him to his big boy bed after Christmas. Once we get done brushing his teeth, I’ll tell him to find daddy and off he goes; then when we say “ready for bed”, he’ll yell “READ” and races off to his room so he can climb into daddy’s chair before him. He even knows which book it is that Jesse reads from. Of course, there are times that Jesse lets him sit in the chair at the beginning, but only when Ian is reading to him. Then Jesse sits on the floor, but when it’s Jesse’s turn, then they switch seats.
Ian is really loving his books and we’re thinking we have another bookworm on our hands. Ian knows and understands the word read and loves going through his books on his own. Of course, he loves it even more when Jesse or I read to him. There was one afternoon that we literally spent 45 minutes reading in his room. I have never been prouder to get a headache than that time. We went through a good dozen books and he picked them all out.
The biggest change for Ian this summer was the new house. He finally got his own backyard which means we’ve been outside a lot this summer. There is also a park pretty nearby that we try and go to as often as we can. Plus, Ian has his very own room. He is no longer sharing a room with mama and daddy and all three of us are happy about that.
We took Ian to the fireworks display in Clawson for Independence Day and I don’t think enjoyed them as much as he did last year. Mainly because he wanted to be very curious and check everything out and we wanted to keep our seats for the show. He did get a new treat while we were waiting and that was cotton candy. So not that greatest thing in the world for him to have, but he really enjoyed it. I think Jesse had fun giving him some and watching his reactions.
There was a small drama event this summer, Ian twisted his ankle for the first time. He was doing what he shouldn’t have been and playing in Toby’s water and slipped. At first I thought he had hit his head with the way he was carrying on (he cried for a good 30 minutes), but I realized later that it was because I kept trying to put him down so I could distract him with something and everytime I did that, the pressure on his ankle hurt. It didn’t become obvious what had happened until Jesse got home and had Ian walk to him. I should say attempt to walk to him since Ian couldn’t stand up. Has anyone ever tried to keep a 16 month old off his feet? It’s not easy, I can tell you that.
Ian is definitely getting taller and more active. He has started climbing ladders and has also realized he can use these skills to get pretty much anywhere. I don’t think I’m ready for this (in fact I know I wasn’t ready for it), but Jesse was urging him on. Men! Ian has also figured out he can reach the counters now. We’ve been having to watch what we put where because if Ian is interested, then he’ll pull it down…which happened to the banana cream pie we had. Nothing is safe anymore and it’s making me thankful that I really don’t have much in the area of decorations (although Jesse would disagree with me on this).
Ian has a thing for puppies and dogs right now. He loves going up to dogs and wanting to pet them. Which makes me really nervous since he has no fear of dogs and has no problems running up to strange dogs in the park. Thankfully, we’ve been really lucky to date, but I’m really hoping our luck holds. The other day, we were out in the church yard and there were a couple of dogs in another backyard and Ian ran straight to them. They were barking their heads off and that gave Ian enough of a pause that I was able to get to him before he made it to the fence, but thankfully he seemed to catch the idea that maybe he didn’t want to meet them.
Okay, I just noticed how long this post actually is, so I’ll stop for now. One last thought though…Ian sure is growing and his personality is definitely coming out.
15 Months Baby!!
216 years
Ian had his fifteen month check up on Thursday. I know I’m a little late posting about it, but I’ve been busy the last couple of days. Ian is off with Nana this weekend, so I have a little more time to play on the internet before going to pack.
Anyway, he had is doc appointment. He weighed in at 24 lbs which is actually less than what he was at his 12 month checkout, but only by 3 oz, so it’s not bad. My guess, his diaper was a little fuller than it was this time. He has grown, he’s now 31.5 inches long. This all puts him in the 50-75 percentile for his weight and the 50 percentile for his height; the doc said he’s more proportionate regarding his height:weight ratio. His head is 19.75 inches, which is in the 95 percentile. My little man’s brain grew by an inch!! I’m hoping that is good. He received more vaccinations during this visit, but I was told that after his 18th month checkup, he’ll be done with vaccinations for awhile. He received the Haemophilus Influenzae (type b HIB vaccine), DTap (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis), and Pneumococcal (PCV). Just a side note, I found these handy vaccination schedules over at the CDC. Overall, the doctor said Ian was developing well. He had Ian do a running test; well, I think it was more of a test to see how well Ian walked, but Ian kinda ran to me instead. Everything looked good, and since we’re worried about Ian developing Asthma since both of us had it, the doc checked and there isn’t any sign of it at the moment. The one thing the Doc did want to mention is to make sure we use suntan lotion on Ian when he’s outside. Even if he’s out for 15 minutes, we need to hit the exposed areas. He’s pale right now, so he’ll burn easier.
While at the doctors office, we did find out something troublesome….Ian can open doors now. The exam room door had a latch handle (the type where you push down to open) and Ian figured out how that works. While we waited for his vaccinations, Ian decided it would be a fun game to escape the room and have mama run after him.
In the past three months, Ian has started clapping his hands on demand or when he knows something is good. His balance has also been improving remarkably. He’s even started trying to run, but he’s not quite there yet. If he gets going too fast, his head gets farther than his body and he ends up falling. Plus, he’s climbing anything and everything. He can easily get on any piece of furniture (end tables, chairs, couches, dinner tables, etc) and he has no problem getting down. Although, there are times he doesn’t realize he can’t simply walk off the furniture. He still has his four teeth, bu the has been teething something fierce, so we’re hoping for some more soon. The doc did say he saw them, but they weren’t broken through yet.
We’ve also started a new sleep habit for Ian. Well, he didn’t have much choice in the matter, so he didn’t take to it right away. Basically, Ian hadn’t learned how to fall asleep on his own since I was always rocking him to sleep, so we started the Ferber Method. It means we stick Ian in his bed and let him cry himself to sleep. The first night was a little rough, but it’s going fine now. Ian cries when I go to put him in his bed, but once I get him in, he generally goes right to sleep. He may talk or whimper for a bit, but he doesn’t do it for long. We’ve even started doing this for his naps and it generally takes him a little longer to go to sleep, but that’s mainly because he doesn’t want to and he wants to stay up and play. Overall, it’s going good.
Speaking of sleeping, Ian’s nap habits have changed. He’s now officially down to one nap a day. He started skipping naps around his 1 year birthday, but I really wasn’t enforcing it since he wasn’t doing it every day. Now, it’s uncommon if he wants two naps, so we’re doing one naps only now. Ian’s been fine with it. He gets his nap around noon and he sleeps for about 2 hours, depending on the day. There are times he sleeps for only an hour and other times he out for 3, but it depends a lot on how he’s feeling. While he’s teething, he doesn’t normally sleep for very long, but I don’t really give him Motrin before his naps, so he gets woken up by the pain sometimes. He gets teething tablets, but they only work for so long it seems like. There are times when it seems like he’s getting tired at night, even though he had his afternoon nap, but he really doesn’t want to go to sleep. This just makes it easier to get him to bed at night, so we’re not really worried about it.
Ian did make his first trip to the Zoo in April and he loved the petting area. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time there, but I know that I’m going to have to find some in the area to take him to. We’ve also been spending as much time outside as we can. It’s been a little hard since the ground outside our apartment building has become a doggy toilet (the complex is working to correct that or so they say), but we’ve been going to different parks whenever we’re able. Ian is really loving the chance to be outside, so I know he’s going to love the backyard when we get a house. Now we just need to get our own toys for out there.
That’s pretty much what has been happening the last couple of months. We’re starting to get into the summer months and this year it’s going to be a lot different with Ian. This time last year, Ian was barely sitting up and moving on his own, so it was pretty much quiet. Now he’s running around and wanting to get into everything, so I have a feeling we’ll be a little busier this year (getting a house notwithstanding). Our Mom’s Group has plans to spend our meetings at different parks and at the zoo this year since we can’t have them at our usually meeting place, so Ian will definitely get his time outside in.
Ian’s First Birthday Party!
3Today we had Ian’s first birthday party. All the grandparents, Aunt Lori & Uncle Jayson, and Adrian all showed up to help celebrate the day with us. We met for some good food at Eastside Marios, Ian opened up all his presents and then he dug into his cake. And I do mean he literally dug in. He had his own little cake just for the occasion (so he didn’t ruin the one the rest of us ate) and he just had a ball. It was all over his face, shirt, socks, and pants. At one point, he decided he didn’t like all the people laughing at him or taking his pictures (or something), so he had to go to mama who also enjoyed getting cake on herself. It was fun cleaning him up in the restroom. He wasn’t crazy about it, but once he saw himself in the mirror, he started having fun.
Overall, the whole party was a success. All the grandparents had fun with him. He got some really good toys – Thanks Nana & Grandpa Jerry for the shoes, Aunt Lori & Uncle Jay for the nifty flashlight and bath toys, Grandma & Grandpa Morgan for all the books (they play music too), Gramps for the DVD player (so we can watch the Muppets ALL the time), and Adrian for the monkey and bath toys. He also received the Muppet Show season 2 from us a couple of weeks ago and today he got to open up some clothes and a Muppet CD.
After the party and the cake, the three of us went over to the hotel where Aunt Lori & Uncle Jay were staying so Ian could go swimming. He was originally going to take a nap before going over there, but the sugar high kind of prevented that. :) He had a blast swimming in the pool and even had fun dunking with Gramps.
I’ll include some of the pictures from his party here (after I get them all, which might be a couple of days), but for all of them, just out the photo gallery. There are just too many to put up. Oh yeah, don’t forget to check out the video of Ian and his cake.
Wowie….has it already been 12 months!
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Ian had his twelve month check up today and he is now a total of 24lbs 3oz and is 30.25 inches long. That puts him in the 50-75 percentile for his weight and the 50-75 percentile for his height; his head is 18.75 inches, which is in the 75-90 percentile. He received more vaccinations during this visit. He received the standard MMR (Measles, Mumps, & Rubella), Chicken Pox, and the Hepatitis A vaccines. Mama even got a shot this time around since she’s never had the Chicken Pox (can you believe that no one in the area would give it to me??). The visit didn’t go as well as previous ones since Ian has a slight head cold and cough right now. Between his nose running, the hacking cough, getting stuck with needles, and having the Doc hold him down so he could look into his ears, Ian was not a happy camper. However, as always, he was smiling by the time we checked out.
What has he done this past month. Well, he started walking during January, so that’s not entirely new, but he is getting a lot faster at it and it seems like he’s trying to run now. Thankfully he can’t yet, but it’s only a matter of time. We did get a first year photos done by Kristian again, but we didn’t get as many as last time. The whole sitting still idea wasn’t a part of Ian’s plans, so it didn’t happen. :) We did manage to get a couple of good ones and this is the one we’re using as his first year photo (yes grandparents, you’ll have your copy this weekend).
Ian also received his big boy seat. He’s been fighting us with the bucket seat so we broke down and got him his forward facing toddler seat. He can now see out the front window and see what’s in front of us instead of watching it zoom by backwards. He’s been a lot easier to get into the seat now, but it does take him a little longer to fall asleep since he’s so fascinated by what’s going on outside. The box came with even more fun surprises when Jesse converted it into a tunnel and Ian had a blast crawling through it. Jesse even made a hole in the top so Ian could pop up through it.
Another major breakthrough – Ian had his first hair cut! He had fun with it and even got some playtime in with Gramps. I’m not sure we’ll go back to the place (they were kind of expensive), but it was well worth a trip for his first visit. We did find out that he’s going to have my hair, poor boy. His hair was definitely getting curly the longer it got and even after it was cut you could still see the swirls. It appears that he’ll have my thickness too, so that’s a good thing, but the curls are going to be a problem, maybe. I’m thinking he’s going to be needing another haircut soon, but we’ll wait until daddy starts complaining again. :)
11 Months!
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This past month was a little slow with new discoveries, but a HUGE one was made. Ian figured out how to cruise around. He took his first step at Christmas and starting going for jaunts around the living room soon after the first of the year. Since he started walking, he hasn’t kept as still. He’s still crawling a little, but he’s walking everywhere he can.
Ian’s fourth tooth will be popping through soon. You can see it in his gums and he’s feeling the teething pain, which has been messing with his sleep. He still isn’t sleeping through the night, but he is sleeping longer. We’ve started up his bedtime routines again and he’s generally asleep and in his crib by 8:30 every night. When he isn’t in pain, he’ll generally sleep until 3am before getting up to assure himself we’re still in the room. He doesn’t get a bottle or a changing at night, so it doesn’t take too long to get him back asleep. That’s a plus. Even though I’m still getting up with him at night, I’m sleeping better and so is he. When he’s teething, then everything is tossed up into the air.
We’re starting to plan his first birthday and I think I know what we’re going to do. So for those who are coming, look for the invites.