Ian At Work

I've really been looking forward to the time when Ian can sit and play. He is really a serious little man when he gets into his playing "zone", but so far he has only been able to really concentrate on his "work" when he's in the megasaucer. Ian can play in the megasaucer for an entire half-hour stretch. What is the megasaucer, you ask?

Observe:

1. Ian is focused and on-task.	2. Watch carefully. Reaching for the "Tiny Ginger Clown", Ian executes a "no-look" maneuver. His gaze is still directed at the "Keys of Frustration". This is multitasking at its finest.
3. Without losing a precious moment, Ian turns toward the "Tiny Ginger Clown", giving it his full attention. If he bashes the clown's head just so, he is rewarded with a tinny electronic rendition of "Frere Jacques".	4. His objective achieved, Ian returns his full focus to the "Keys of Frustration". One day they will surrender their secrets to him.

In a rare moment of rest, Ian wonders: as awesome as the Megasaucer is, how great will the Gigasaucer be? As a math teacher, I can state with confidence that it will be 1000 times as great.

Ian's First Solid Food, Part 2

You will recall from the previous post that Ian was experimenting with new foods. His hands-down favorite is sweet potato. Ian recently went in for his six month checkup, and his pediatrician told us that it was very likely that Ian's digestive difficulties after that first week of solid food were due to a virus. We thought we were letting him try too many foods too soon. To make a long story short, Ian is once again eating solids and his appetite for them is increasing steadily. Last night he went through two jars of delicious sweet potato! Who's a good little eater?

Here are some photos from Ian's first week of solid food. These are dated November 21st, 2010.

Ian's First Solid Food

In mid-November, when Ian was right around five months old, we gave him his first taste of solid food. He had been very curious about everything we ate and drank for a couple of weeks, so he seemed eager to give it a go. Shannon had also just bought a super cool high chair for Ian, and we wanted to give him a chance to sit at the dinner table like a big boy. The pictures that follow actually show Ian's second taste of solid food: mashed bananas. His first taste had been mashed avocado on the previous day. I know. Not really that "solid". What did Ian think of it? Take a look.

I think this first image captures Ian's feelings best. Ian made his first yucky face. Well, his second actually. He made the same face after the avocado. After the first couple of photos, he just became distracted by the camera. Super cute though!

As the week progressed, we tried other foods: yams, squash, peas... We later learned that we were trying out too many new foods at once. It was all very new and a bit of a shock to his gears and tubes, which rejected the new and highly experimental fuel.

Anyone Have Photoshop?

Ian is super cool in sunglasses. I think Aunt Carol bought these for him. They're still a little big, but that just makes them cuter, right?

This photo is also a really sweet opportunity for someone with Photoshop. Ian's begging to have a cigarette pasted between his little fingers. Bonus points if you can add smoke.

Also, feel free to suggest captions.

Skyping With Grandma Penny

Grandma Penny captured these still pics while we were Skyping on Friday. Yes, Skyping is a word: stop underlining it in red!

The first of these might be the best picture yet of Ian laughing. Who's a happy boy?

Happy Halloween from Ian!

Happy Halloween!

Ian is a very frightening DRAGON for Halloween. His costume is WAY too big for him, but it's super cute!

Fast Forward Two Months

Look at those baby blues!

Shannon took this picture Friday, October 29, 2010. Ian is nearly 4 and a half months old. He's still a long and lean baby, probably 27 inches and 16 pounds. He can flip over (both tummy-to-back and back-to-tummy). Also, I can lift him up by his hands, so his arm strength has improved a lot.

Ian Then and Now

The weeks have taken their heavy toll on our poor lad. Oh, sure. Once he was young and full of promise. Take a look at Ian on June 21, 2010 (bottom left): he boasts "I'm number one! I'm king of the world!!!"

But then came the hard times. Times of tummy ache, days with no poopies, and nights with no-can-sleepy have reduced our little guy to a hollow shell of the baby he used to be. On July 28th, 2010 (bottom right), he is pale, gaunt, and careworn, but perhaps a little wiser. He's still number one, but sometimes he feels like number two.

More Pictures from Late August

How about a quick update? I have so many pictures that I haven't used, so here are a few from late August, starting on Tuesday, August 24th.


And a couple from Saturday, August 28th. Ian is around 10 weeks old in these pictures.

Our Boy in Blue

Everyone thinks their baby is the cutest, but they can't all be the cutest. That's just logic. Still, someone's baby IS actually the cutest, and I think we all secretly know who that baby is.

Owie!

Who's a very brave boy? My little guy, that's who! Ian recently had his two month doctor's appointment. We learned that he is 25 inches long and nearly 14 pounds. That's a full one stone! Ian's not only over the 90% percentile in height, he's over the 90% percentile in bravery! Check out our plucky little guy as he toughs out his first inoculations. ============================>		Round one: Look how stoically Ian takes his yucky medicine!
Round Two: Needles? I hate those things! Round Three: MORE needles? At least Mommy is there for comfort. I don't know what Daddy is doing, but it's not helping.		Not long afterward, we're on our way home. Maybe it was all a bad dream.

Grandpa Norm and Grandma Bev Visit

This weekend, Ian met Grandpa Norm and Grandma Bev. Dad and Bev stayed at the Hotel Shattuck, which is also where Shannon and I stayed the night of our wedding. I wish I had taken more photos of Dad and Bev with Ian, but I did manage to get a couple of cute pictures.



Today (Sunday, August 29, 2010) we went to Barney's Gourmet Burgers. This was Ian's second visit to Barney's, and once again Ian was a very good boy! I wish I had some pictures of that, but I forgot my camera. Sorry!

P. S. The picture at right was taken today! That's pretty much what our little guy looks like right now. Well, he's asleep right now, but if he were awake he might look just like that.

Ian's New Rattle

Mommy bought Ian a new rattle. Watch Ian enjoy his first toy! I divided the video into two parts:

Part One:


Part Two:


This video is from August 16th, 2010. Ian was exactly two months old! Chronology alert! This video was taken exactly one week before the one in the previous post.

Ian's Anatomy Lesson

I'm teaching Ian what the different parts of his body are called! He seems to really like this game...or maybe he just likes the silly voice I always use when we play it. By the way, this was taken on Monday...just three days ago. The baby blog is nearly up-to-date! Ian was nearly ten weeks old.

Interview with an IMP

I have no idea why these big spaces appear before tables. Anyone familiar with HTML?

Here's another video in which I try to get Ian to talk. This was taken on August 14th, when Ian was 8 and a half weeks old. You'll see that he's pretty good at sitting up by himself (propped up on a pillow). Watch those kicking and punching limbs! Shannon's probably still got bruises from when this guy was beating on her from the inside.

What does Ian dream about?

Ian has a one track mind. Well, maybe two tracks. Possibly three. But certainly not more than four. Watch Ian's mouth closely as he sleeps. What is it, you ask? It's the stuff that dreams are made of.



Now that's a nice swaddle!

Nice Try

Sometimes the photo you want just won't happen. That's okay because who doesn't like bloopers? Here are several tries at a nice portrait of Mommy and Ian.

Take one: Mommy and Ian are a little blurry. Little did I know, this was the best I was going to get.

Take two: Mommy pretends to eat baby Ian. Ian uses his blurring defense.

Take three: Mommy unblurs herself and Ian's head starts to spin like a top.

Next, Mommy and Daddy want to show off how well Ian can stand up. He's such a strong boy!

Take one: Ian's head is vibrating or something.

Take two: Whoops! Ian's face is crystal clear, but his head's not in the game. Consequently, he is ever so slightly off balance.

Take three: Oh, no! Mommy and Daddy are drunk with the glorious notion of Ian standing or even walking at age seven weeks. Tragically, we push him too hard and our poor little guy buckles under the pressure.

All these photos are from August 3rd, 2010.

Who's had a long night?

This sleep configuration seemed to work once.

July 31, 2010. Ian is nearly seven weeks old.

Long Time No Blog

As you may have heard, I've been working on some home improvement projects, and so I've fallen way behind in my baby-blogging. I'm sorry! I just get so absorbed in my projects.

Right now, I'm uploading videos to YouTube. I think I've got too many videos and not enough photos. I just can't keep up with all the video material.

Here are some photos of Ian from July 28th. Ian is a tad over six weeks old here.

More photos from the same day:


Ah, the videos are finished uploading! Enjoy these precious moments. Here's one where I'm trying to get Ian to talk. I experimented with uploading it in a higher-definition format. It takes a lot longer to upload, but it will be worth it if the quality is good. I'll only post pretty short videos in this format.

Here's a video of Shannon and Ian playing. Shannon is trying to get Ian to laugh on camera.

Grandma Penny's Visit

Grandma Penny stayed with us from July 5th until July 11th. She took lots of photos, some of which are shown below. Chronology Alert! All of these photos are dated July 6th, 2010, ten days before the photos of the previous post.