Good Enough

For last week's camping excursion near Pocatello, we finally decided upon:
Goodenough Creek Campground

Is a beautiful place to be this time of year. The weather is bordering on too hot. The stream is way too cold. Together, it's perfect. Note to the wise: Do Not attempt to nap in a tent that is in the sun. Not in this place. You end up all sweaty and won't sleep well. Hot!! Not even at 8am.

Ian loved tasting all of the new (to him) rocks and dirt clods and twigs and grass.

He found some peace with a good book.

We went on a hike, as well.

The perfect little get-away for a few days. All of the campsites are streamside, quite private, and have shade.

Some have more of these things than others, and the way primo campsites were taken when we got there. That's three of 13, though, and we snagged a really cool campsite. The stream winds back away from the road and "main area" where the fire pit and picnic table are located. Back there, we found two great clearings, one perfect for our tent (and a place it could go for daytime naps in the shade). The stream was very cold, and that was perfect for chilling beer. However, one has to make sure that the beer is in a location of relatively slow water flow. The two minutes it took to retrieve beer #2 from the downed branch area were excruciatingly cold.

There is a charming day-use area that has horseshoe pits (and horseshoes even!), picnic tables, grills, etc. Trails abound in every direction. We definitely would like to go back when we have more time to spend, during the week, snag one of the very shady campsites, and explore more and lounge much more.

Four steps

Ian's coming to get you!
He's frequently taking 4-5 steps in a row, and not even for anything special, or so we think. He can also stand up in the middle of the floor! Go go go!

Coming soon, a report on our camping trip. Great fun!

Four Months Old

Some of the best pics from Ian's fourth month.

Ian's First Halloween

Lounging in his high chair

Ready for winter

Visit with Grandma and Uncle Jay

At four months, he's getting into 12 month clothes, his hair is starting to grow more quickly, and he's fun to play with!

Three Steps

Sunday night was beautiful. Ian slept for a 7 hour stretch (and so did we). Yesterday was great, we got a lot done, and formulated a plan for this week that includes a camping trip and getting our work done. We hope! Last night was a little tougher - Ian wouldn't stay asleep in his crib. It's normally a fairly easy task to take a sleeping boy and put him in his crib. But now he wakes up and if we rub his back for long enough, will fall asleep enough that we can walk away. Now we can see why he's so fussy. He's working on this walking thing!

For the last few days, Ian far prefers to hold onto your hand and walk with you than crawl to get to any destination. And he likes his walker on the deck for trucking back and forth.

He cries when he gets to the end of the deck, though. He's figured out how to turn the walker around, however, and that's helpful, sometimes. He'll do better after his nap this afternoon.

Without the walker, he's trying a few steps whenever the opportunity arises. This will be an exciting week!

Da-da-da Day

Father's Day was fun. John chose a hike as his activity for the day.

It was windy and chillier than we'd anticipated, but it was fine. We then went for a burger and came home to veg a bit.

Pow Wow

Today we went to the garden

and then to the Heber Valley Pow Wow. It was really amazing to see the dancers in their regalia.

So fun to see the dances and participate too! We sat on the lowest bench of the bleachers, and Ian cruised around on the grass, meeting new people.

He laughed at the kids exhibition, with the small kids in regalia dancing. He jumped to the dances as well. It was truly a fun family event - kids were everywhere, and cherished so often by the emcee and others.

The program said, "Americans have little league baseball and pee wee football to keep their kids active and out of trouble. Native Americans have pow-wow." Those kids put so many hours into their dances. The adults were amazing, as well. During the dinner break, they had contest dancers and some special dances. Toward the end, the emcee said "Someone told me there's a little hoop dancer out there. Is he here?" It was a ~12 year old boy that was a local and someone locally had taken time with him to teach him this particular dance. He told the story behind the dance: A tribe was feeling low, a visitor came and cheered them with this dance. After a time, the tribe morale began to sink again and they sought out the visitor. He came and performed the dance again, but taught them the dance so they could be happy when they needed to. The dance shows many different animal forms with the hoops. It's somewhat similar to this dance.  The little guy did an amazing job. We had a fun time. We were there a lot longer than we thought we'd be, and all are tired after a full day outside.

Tooth #8

Tooth #8 made an appearance yesterday. The last of the lower lateral incisor. The last of the typical first 8 teeth! Ian wasn't quite as fussy as he was with previous teeth, but the drooly and snotty times happened just after cutting tooth #7. We'll see. Last night was pretty good - only wakeups were at 1 and 5. Teething tabs at bedtime and at 1, but no need for the major painkillers.

We've been emphasizing finger foods that he can feed himself, and it's helped quite a lot - he eats more now! So, a good night sleep and Ian eating more during the day? What does that equal? You bet! Blocked duct. I hope this one goes away quickly. We're working at it.

Uncle Jay stopped by last night to see Ian and have some dinner. He brought chicken and ice cream! If Jay has some pics, I'll add them to this post.

3 Months Old

A visit to Las Vegas and visitors from Minnesota! That last one is a favorite. I love the expression on his face! Ian is definitely more aware at this point, and still adding to his layer of baby fat quickly!

Clouds

Ian has been nursing a lot lately. Now that he can ask for it, he does so all the time. He's often asking for food as well. I think we'll see if our little guy has an independent streak and give him more food that he can feed himself. He's been nursing for a longer time lately, something we haven't seen since he was 3 months old.

During one of our longer nursing sessions today, we sat outside in the lounger in the shade. It was a beautiful afternoon. Have you noticed how you can sometimes see the shape of the windows in his eyes? Today I watched the clouds float by in his eyes. It was beautiful. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but this one will have to do. At that point, he was tired, and I was hoping we could take an outside snuggle nap. That would have been perfect. But no. Someone has too much to do and too much to see. A 20 minute relaxing nurse and he's recharged and ready to go. I was willing to ignore my work for a little nap. But not Ian.

Random

Ian likes to cruise around holding on with one hand (to my hand, a pantleg, etc). He's stable at it (much of the time) and fast, too! No more solo steps today, but lots of signs. Lots of signs for "milk," actually. Not the milk sign, but water sign, and I ask if he really wants milk, and yes, yes he does. There may be a growth spurt in the works.

Today's fun food: bean quesadillas. Black beans, cheese, and salsa in fresh tortillas. Really tasty. Daddy is quite the chef! Ian ate almost 1/4 of a quesadilla.

Soon we need to get Ian's Birthday Present out of the car and make sure it's clean and in good order. We'll try not to spoil the surprise for him.

Two Steps

Ian is certainly interested in

1. stacking his little stacker and

2. walking! He wants to work on it, suddenly. We officially have first steps! Only two at a time, and only once or twice. Otherwise, he'll walk us around, with just one hand holding onto a pant leg or finger and he's just about running. He wants to move so fast!!

I asked John to help take a look around the house through the eyes of the mother of a toddler. We have so much to do. Ian's just going to be able to get into more and more trouble and fast!

Another funny regarding the stacking. I tried to get video but haven't been able to yet. First, I showed him and helped him to stack the rings. Now, when he goes about doing it himself, he gets so frustrated. He knows he can do it, but it takes several tries, and sometimes the little peg moves out of the way, often the ring isn't the right position, a hand in the way, etc. So we're making dinner and hear a fussing, then crying Ian in the living room. Come to find out he's just so frustrated at the rings. I helped him some, and then provided encouragement and it helped. I hope he doesn't have the same low tolerance for frustration that his mommy has. He did eventually stack all of them with no assistance (other than a reverse stack sitting right next to it - helped him grab them in the right order).

In other news

1. It was another big food day for Ian. Split pea soup was a huge hit! Breakfast was yogurt, cheese, granola, hashbrowns. Lunch: smoothie (lots of fruit and veg), crackers, cereal, cheese. Dinner: Split pea soup, grilled cheese. He's so good at signing water, and signs it whenever he wants anything to drink, whether it be milk, smoothie, tea, water. He's really excited about being able to communicate his food wants. Hence all of the cheese. He really likes cheese.
2. Ian is getting sign language. He doesn't always use the sign he intends, but we get it and help him. Today we introduced: Cereal, Moose (he loves the moose bottle opener. He wants to go see it all the time. Now he can ask for it by name. He hasn't replicated the sign yet, but soon). Tomorrow: Soup, Dog, and reinforce the already introduced signs including Mom and Dad. His best signs now: water, all done, down, more. 
3. It's chilly here. The heat is on. It's not snowing, though, and for that we are thankful. Ian is thoroughly bummed to be in long sleeves and (more importantly) not able to cruise the deck. It's just too chilly and often raining lately.
   
   

New Skills

No wonder our guy has been so fussy lately. He's working on some new skills!
Today he showed us that he can stack the plastic rings instead of just take them apart! Of course, taking them apart is still really fun. But it's fun to stack them, too.

And today he's got a new sign. "Water." Now, our version looks like this. But his looks more like his hands on his face. We've been working with this sign in particular for a few days, and it seems like he's got it. Sometimes he uses this sign for "all done" or "down" but when we don't know what he means, we figure it out soon enough. He's thrilled when we say "oh, do you want some water?" after he signs it.

Some days he eats a lot and most days he doesn't. Today: big food day. Lots of cheese. We're learning the "cheese" sign too!

And, yes, when Ian sees the camera, he smiles. All the time. He doesn't smile quite this often in real life. He makes faces when he talks to things and has all kinds of expressions. I just can't get them very often. I finally got a less-flattering pic. Sorry, Ian. Had to share.

Two Months Old

At two months, Ian is showing his personality a bit more, and smiling for us!

The acne is largely gone, he's got a nice layer of peach fuzz on his head, and this boy is growing so fast! He's in 6 month clothes in these pics! This is about when I started laying him on the floor on a blanket next to my desk for work. He's really just getting to be more expressive and fun.

Kitchen Toys

We finally rearranged the kitchen just a bit for Ian. It made no sense to have all of the plastic ware far out of Ian's reach, and dangerous toys within his reach. So, we made a cupboard that's just his flavor.

Everything in there is relatively safe. We've also got a latch on the garbage and one other cabinet that has heavy items in it. So now Ian is easier to have in the kitchen.

We're still wondering when he'll venture onto those first steps.
He seems ready!

The Deck

The deck is Ian's new favorite place to be. If I'm going out there to get laundry, he'll turn away from even the dog, cat, or an open cabinet to join me. Socks don't stay on of course, and shorts are the norm, so he has roughed up knees and feet from crawling. I think there are a couple of splinters in there, too. They don't seem to bother him, though. I wonder when/if this will get old for him?

The weather has been fantastic for living on the deck. Most of the afternoon, there's a fair bit of shade, and in the evenings, it's cool and a slight breeze. Perfect!

Ian at 1 month old

Know what? I'm kind of hungry.

I wonder if milk comes from my fists.

It Doesn't!!!

MOM! FEED ME!

It's amazing to look at these now that we've got a very mobile boy. It seems like he couldn't do much back then, but that's the way a one-month-old is! At a month old, he's getting chubbier, has a bunch of acne (this cleared up on its own and may have been helped when we changed soaps), lost hair on the top of his head, and is outgrowing his newborn clothes.



Who'd have guessed that by this time he'd be trying to climb out of the bathtub on his own? Today we had a great walk, and Ian slept the whole way. Daddy sacrificed his farmer tan and provided a t-shirt for sun protection for our sleepy boy.

Outside time

We got lots of outside time today. Ian really enjoys being outside. Whenever we open the door to the deck, he smiles and races toward it. We spent hours at the garden and running around our little valley here. We ran errands while Ian took his 2 hour afternoon nap (1 hour of that, I knitted in the car while John watered some of the garden). Ian loved crawling around in the grass, eating untold numbers of strange items found in the grass, and had a lovely time. Sunscreen was applied to all.