The New Reality

Each day and each week we see fascinating new developments in Ian. Many of them make us say "oh, shit. Do you realize what this means??" as we hope that it takes Ian a little while to realize what he's capable of while we scramble to make it safer for him. He's growing up so fast. Here's what he's "up to."

1. Climbing. He can ascend and descend stairs. Safely most of the time. That means ONLY supervised stair climbing. I caught him a few steps down on a frightening fall (yes, the wood stairs. Bad mama was not immediately behind him). Fortunately, most of that fall was in the air, and little stair bouncing had happened. We really need a way to soften those stairs. He's going to fall down them eventually, and probably when he's older and has farther to fall.

Think I can get to the bookshelf from here?

2. Climbing. Suddenly, Ian has decided that nothing is outside of his grasp. He can climb up on a chair, his toys (and then to the windowsill), the rocker in his room. We won't mention in his company what this means. We'll just put him in a bubble wrap suit each day.

Aww Dad! I took that off for a reason!

3. Which he'll promptly take off. The rear-velcro g-diapers? Off in seconds. He's not getting the rest of his clothes off yet, but let's not mention that.

Ok, He's playing with Grandma here, not signing. But it's close!

4. Signing. Just this week he signed "milk" for the first time well, and he's been following up on it all week. His version of the milk sign is actually snapping his fingers! He can snap! With his little hand in the snapping position, moving it back and forth now means "potty!" Today after his nap, he signed potty and I asked him if he had to go potty. In response to that, he ran to the bathroom, I stripped him down, and he sat down and pooped (in the potty). Yay! Could we be moving toward him being able to tell us that he needs to potty? I sure hope so. We'll definitely follow up on those signs when he does them. We have to remember that our other cues are still more reliable, but it's a definite step. He did it again this afternoon (lots of poops today). His signs are: Down, All Done, Cheese, Milk, Potty, and "hot!"

5. Talking. When asked what a dog says, he says "Uh!" Meow is his official first word, though. He loves to "ooowaoow" at the cat. Also when asked if he wants down, he says "dow" in addition to doing the sign for down. He calls the dog "Dah-do" and says mama and dada, although he says dada constantly (and dat? as in "what is that?") and mama only when he's pretty upset.

In other news, I finished the top of his new quilt today. John took Ian to the garden this morning, brought him back asleep and he slept for over 2 hours here (close to 3), and Ian and I played after his nap for the rest of the afternoon while John ran errands in town. After dinner, John took Ian and Tango for a long walk. With all of that time, I layed out and sewed up the whole quilt top. The 9-patches and resulting quarters were already done when I started this morning. I'm so excited to see this quilt in finished form!! The top measures 37" x 61.5" and I plan to put a border around it in blue - we'll see what I've got material for. Probably 3-4". And a brown binding.

And, he fell out of bed tonight. That was a loud thump. There's a little mark on his forehead where he hit the rug. I took him into the our room to cuddle while John put the foam tiles under his rug. I don't know why we didn't think of it before. We'd considered the foam tiles, but Ian can't leave them alone, so decided against it. Under the rug, they're hidden from tempted fingers and the rug helps with more cushion. I feel a lot better having a better surface for him to fall to. I think what happened is he sat up at the edge of the bed and fell off. He sits up in the worst places sometimes!