A Good Day

I confess, on the not quite so good days I don't necessarily always post.
Suffice it to say, the last week we've had about the opposite of today's good day.

Today:

• Ian ate well (we’re going to put all of his food in quesadillas until this phase is over. He luuuurves them.) Thank goodness. He also had chicken and pear for dinner (in non-quesadilla form).
• John has taken over the naptime routine and is excelling at it. It's getting easier every day, for all of us.
• I got to go on a long walk with a neighbor and in that: set up some childcare for this week and set up more walks for this week. Thank goodness school started this week. I need adults to talk to!
• We got a bunch of work done, easing the workload this week to the point where maybe, just maybe, we’ll have time for a zoo trip.
• John was so helpful with Ian and with work. It hasn't been the opposite of that for the last week, but the dear guy has put the afterburners on. 
• We got to go to the park. We brought dinner and hung out there for 2 hours, letting Ian soak in the other kids, try new things, show off his mad signing skillz and mad lion rocking skillz (totally should have gotten even a crappy cell pic of that and didn’t) and make new friends.
• Ian made a little friend (probably not quite 2 years old?). The little guy very bravely walked up and slid down the big tornado slide, babbled at Ian some, and gratefully accepted Ian’s gift of a little piece of grass. It was sooo cute. The little boy promptly buried it in the sand! It's so precious what kids will do when they can't talk yet. They communicate in other ways, and it's just so sweet.
• When eating said chicken in the park, I asked Ian, “would you like some more chicken?” and he smiled and said “bawk bawk!”
• We went to the library and saw more kids, and Ian got to pick out two neat books. We got excited about doing a story time this week maybe. And one little boy (5 years old or so?) had a ball entertaining Ian by doing laps around the kids section while acting like a chicken. So freaking cute.
• I have the energy to stay up for another hour and accomplish more work.
• There was money in the mailbox.

That, gentle readers, is what constitutes a good day.

This helps too.

This Moment - Bedtime Giggles

No photo for you, so I'll have to paint you a mental image.

The night-time routine. Ian is clad in jammies and doing laps around his room. John is reading a story from the rocking chair. I am laying on the rug on the floor, relaxing, listening to the story, and obliging when Ian comes over to ask to nurse. Which is about once every three minutes, and lasts 45 seconds each. Give or take. I've got a cold, so am trying not to get Ian sick as well. Somehow he gets the idea, and I'm not sure how it started, but he's now coming over and trying really hard to plant his neck on my face. Because then I make some noise and he's tickled and giggles. He does that until he can't stand it, then goes away and comes back for more. Such a very very silly boy. And all of this is enough to make John look up from the book in an "I'm reading. Is anyone here paying attention!?" sort of way which quickly turns to a "What on earth is that boy doing!?" sort of way.

Ian moves to giving me raspberries to the tummy, which are hilarious as well, and then it's time to nurse down.

He was down at 10 or so, fell out of bed about midnight, and then slept until 6am! This is the second big night in a row. We have high hopes for more sleep to come, but are just thankful for these few nights in a row, and feeling productive and on the mend (cold-wise-speaking).

I know you like to see pictures. Here's a picture. Ignore the messy office, if you would please.

County Fair Parade

This is the best pic I got. I really didn't try very hard, though. We had a good time sitting in the grass, watching various things go by! There were horses, cops, fire trucks, local businesses, and some wacky guys in drag riding motorcycles. Ian had a great time. The parade was the end of the county fair, Saturday August 7th. The local grocery store handed out popsicles and managed to get them back to the people sitting down, not just the kids lining the streets looking for candy! For the record, Ian is a fan of popsicles. And candy.

We watched from the park, and before and after the parade, had some fun on the slide!
This was not one of his best trips down it, but it was the best we caught on camera. It's hard to film and catch!!

It's a Cecret

A great trip to Cecret Lake. We saw 4 moose (we're pretty sure they were two sets of cow and calf). The second photo shows the first set. They are in the middle of the photo. The second encounter we didn't get pictures of. They were on the path and it was getting dark. We were much more interested in safely circumventing the animals and being on our way! Fun times, and next time we'll get there earlier!

Breakthroughs

I guess last weeks' fussiness (which has largely dissipated, thankfully!!) can be attributed to teeth moving (but not yet cutting) and major developments. Ian is now signing well, talking more, and using the potty well! He signs potty and many days this week he's been signing potty frequently during the afternoons and evenings and he has had a dry diaper from 2-4pm until bedtime a few days this week. And twice this week he's awakened with a dry or almost dry diaper and then had a lot of urine in the morning. Knowing this will likely regress at some point, it's really nice for now and we'll try to help him learn more!!

I'd like to show you new teeth. But I won't.

Playground Fun

Today we went to a "party in the park" in conjunction with the county fair. There were was a huge crowd. Ian loved watching people. But the fun part: he gets the slide now! He wanted to walk up to the stairs up to the slide, we helped him climb up (the first few times we helped. Otherwise, he loved doing it on his own!) helped him sit down, and after the first few times, he was pushing himself off the slide and giggling the whole way down. We should have taken pictures. But we didn't. I bet he can't wait to get back to a playground to do it again!

Today's Fussies...

Today's fussies are brought to you by:

1. The number 9 (9th tooth? We don't see anything aside from white bumps on the sides of the gums and lots of drooling, but there has to be something going on with those teeth!)
2. The letter V (New vocabulary! When I ask if Ian wants "down," he says "dooooww" and today I asked him if he wanted cheese, and he said "cheethe!")
3. Bubble Wrap (TM) (Our new sponsor. See previous post regarding climbing!!)
4. The Morning Walk (Everyone appreciates it.)
5. The Late Morning Nap (Please sleep well!)

Last night, twice Ian needed to ride in the sling (for dinner prep and cleanup). Poor guy just hurts. Here's hoping it's over soon!