Happy 15 month birthday really belated

Dear Ian,
It occured to me the other day that I forgot to write you a birthday letter for this month. Life has been super crazy, but you probably know that already. You are growing up to be the smartest and cutest little boy. You're finally getting hair, and I'm acutally thinking that we might have to get it trimmed soon. You're also getting teeth! You have one and a half molars at the bottom. You're not really happy about the teeth. They are bothering you a lot :(. I hope they come in soon so you'll be feeling better.

Your favorite things to do are go on car rides, watch Moose and Zee songs on the computer, play with puzzles and read books. You make me read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and My Daddy Loves Me a lot. You love your Melissa and Doug puzzles and you're getting really good at them. You learned to drink from a straw. You love to play in the water from the sink. You say "ot" when you touch your food at dinner (it means hot). You've also started saying mama again. You learned how to pant like a dog and make a horse sound.

Being a toddler must be tough! It's hard for you to let us know what you need sometimes, so I know you get frustrated a lot. Just know that we love you and we'll keep working with you to figure it out. You're the best boy a mom could ever want. I love you SO much.

Love you always,
Mama

What Would You Do?

Ian has been an early to bed kinda guy since he was born. It's no surprise, since I've never seen the end of Clue, made it through an entire episode of David Letterman, or been able to play pinochle past 10:00pm. At one point his bedtime had creeped all the way back to 6:30. As he got a little older it approached 7, and has stayed there for the last several months. For the last several nights, it has taken him over an hour to go to sleep. He lays in his crib and reads books or plays with the fish. He seems tired when we put him to sleep, and he's not laying up there crying. Usually at this point if I don't put him to sleep he's sort of crying/tantruming a lot, acting like he's tired. So should we keep putting him to bed at 7:00 or should we try to move it later, even though he seems tired?

Schools Out for Summer!

Yesterday was my official last day of school for the year and today was my first day home with Ian. In the afternoon we went to the park. Of course, we swang and swang and swang, but we also played in the sandbox (which did not smell very good) and in the red car. It was a nice time and the weather was awesome. Tomorrow I'm hoping for my first trip to the boardwalk of the summer! :)

A Scary Thing...

Today we had Ian evaluated for Autism. This may be a surprise to you, or you might have been thinking what the hell is wrong with this kid for a long time. I haven't really blogged about it, or talked about it because it's been such a hard thing for me to deal with. Someone from the Wawa house, which is part of the Eden Institute came out today and did his evaluation. She said, what I expected. He has some red flags for autism (lack of imitation and pretend play, loss of language, extreme frustration, obsession with lights/fans/wheels) but he has some great things too (pointing, good eye contact, strong bond with people, interest in other kids). She didn't think that she could say he was or wasn't autistic at this point, but she thinks he has a social and communication delay. He is going to get developmental intervention three times a week and an evaluation for speech. We will reassess him in three months and see were we are at.

I feel ok with this. It's essentially what I thought that she would say. I hope that with the increased therapy he will learn to communicate and his frustration level (and the tantrums) will lessen.

Aw Crap x 2

1. I forgot to bring the sippy cup to dinner last night, but somehow Ian magically learned how to drink out of a straw.

2. Ian's on to me, he now realizes that donuts, as well as coffee, come from Dunkin Donuts.

Just to compare

If you read the post below about my new lens, here's a picture taken with the kit lens. The difference was totally worth the 71.95 I spent on the lens.

Wow.

I try not to bore you all with my enthusiasm for photography, because I figure you just come here for the cute kid, but my new lens finally came (curse you super saver shipping!!!) and I am IN LOVE. There are two just fooling around pictures. They're a little soft (blurry) but overall, I am amazed by the color. These were taken indoors with no flash. I can't WAIT to take it outdoors and do some real shooting, who wants their pictures taken?? :)

Ethan

Babies got back? :)

I wish I were in eight grade...

I did lots of picture taking this weekend. This shot is of Shannon's eight grade social. I went to her house to do pictures. She looked so pretty in her dress. I'll post a few more pictures if she gives the OK. :)

Where are we going? To the pool!

We took Ian to the pool today. :) As predicted, he loved it. It was a little chilly though and by the time we were able to drag him out, he was shaking so hard! Then his day was further improved when Titi Missy brought out a HUGE bowl of fruit! Yum. He was so busy eating grapes that he actually left the hat on his head for about 1 minute. Ian really liked walking along the fence and swimming in his floaty thing.

Two interesting things to note:

1. Ian learned how to flush the toilet today, and he thinks it's really really fun. (Edited to add: Apparently he's been doing this for two weeks with my mom... I had no idea)
2. Ian actually has a TOOTH coming through in the back. I feel like he's been teething for MONTHS and MONTHS but he acutally has one coming through. Whew! We're not totally crazy!

I'm Fixing a Hole Where the Rain Gets In...

I'm not sure what's up with the title of this entry, but whatever, it was stuck in my head. Tonight was music. It went pretty well tonight, only two tantrums, both of which were calmed with water. We did have to leave for the lullaby song because those darn lights being out where just way to much for the little booger. :) Ian really enjoyed the shakey eggs and our substitiute teacher was VERY peppy.

Only 8 more days of school. Just to let you know how ready I am to be done, I'd like you to close your eyes and picture this. Picture a lovely morning, with bright sun shining. Picture a mother carrying a 3 foot long board and perched atop of this board is a lovely log cabin (pioneer studies). Picture a fight erupting on this morning that involves one student throwing another student's quarter into the field. Picture 5 or 6 students stampedeing to the field to find the quarter. Picture me, with 14 other kids and the large board with the log cabin trying to get these kids to come back without screaming and look like a total jack*** in front of the parents. Picture this lasting for 10 minutes. Yeah. So ready to be done. :)

I knew those blocks would be trouble...

A few days ago, we went to Toys R Us and bought Ian some blocks. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It turns out, Ian loves the blocks. He loves to go around the house holding one in each hand. Once I saw that, I knew that someone was going to step on one of those pointy hard blocks and say words that Ian should not be hearing.

Well, I was right, sort of. Ian learned a new game the other day, climb on the back of the chair and try to fling yourself onto the brink hearth of the fire place. In my effort to fling myself forward so he would not crack open his head, my left knee landed squarely on one of those freaking blocks. Of course, bad words that Ian should not be hearing came out of my mouth. Apparently f*** is a funny word. If anyone hears him saying that, I'm SO blaming it on the blocks! :)