Tuesday, February 16, 2010

11 months old

Ian is just four weeks away from his first birthday! Here's an update. He can wave, give you five, point, and he just learned this week how to stand alone. He loves music and will bop to the beat. He has an unhealthy relationship with crayons. He is obsessed with them, and looks for any opportunity to put one in his mouth and one in each hand. When you take them away, he screams like a banshee. Yesterday the whole box of crayons fell, dumping crayons everywhere. Ian went into a frenzied state, trying to grab as many as possible. When I had them all cleaned up, I closed the lid and he started howling! And he still had some in his hands and mouth. I opened the lid, he calmed down. Closed it, howling. Opened it, calm. Then I took the crayons in his possession and he had a nervous breakdown. It's very bizarre; he's not like this with anything else.
He is destructive. He loves to pull all the folded laundry off the couch. I don't even leave it there; this happens while I'm trying to fold, trying to stay ahead of him, moving it out of his reach. It's hard to build block towers with him; he knocks them down after about 2-3 blocks. He's very aggressive, loves to bite, loves to play chase, loves to destroy things. So far he hasn't destroyed anything precious, but he started to rip Audrey's alphabet off the wall. I taught him the word "No" as a result; he seems to understand. He bangs everything together, trying to make the loudest noise possible. He can holler so loud that I can't hear Mr. B talking to me from a foot away. This usually happens at dinnertime when we're not feeding him fast enough.
He's FINALLY sleeping through the night. It's been about two weeks now. He'll wake up between 5 and 6 for a bottle, and one night he was up at 1:00, but he's generally asleep all night. Today he didn't wake up until 6:30. I am a much happier mom and am finally feeling the balance in life that I've been seeking for the past 11 months.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Snow

We had quite a snowfall while Grandma and Ben were here. Look, Dad, I can make a snowball!
And throw it in your face!
I love the joy on her face.
Not sure if this tastes good...
Look at all that snow--it's a lot for Atlanta!
Becoming a snowball throwing pro.
Obligatory snow angel.
Obligatory snowman. Such fun!

Grandma and Ben come to visit

We have enjoyed Grandma and Uncle Ben (my mom and brother) visiting us this past week.
Grandma was full of love, stories, snuggles and gifts.
I miss her already.
Ian charmed them completely.
Ben was so good to these kids--even indulged Audrey by playing her games.
And dressing up.
But he spent as much time as possible outside (it was cold!)
We spent most of our time just hanging out, but one day we went to the GA Aquarium, where we had a really great time. It is such a neat place. Audrey wanted to meet the mascot, Deepo.
Thanks for coming Grandma and Ben! We love you!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Making improvements

Audrey found some gold colored stickers in her sticker box and decided to improve my face with them. I think I look a little sci-fi. She was very intent on her project and jerked my head around to her convenience. What do you think of my new look?

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Preschool

Audrey and I have just joined a co-op preschool with four other moms and kids. The preschool meets twice a week for two hours, and each mom teaches every five weeks. So far it's been great. I taught last week about transportation, and we went on a field trip to the fire station, where we had an excellent tour. The kids got some great souvenirs, and then we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and one of the employees brought our group balloons and little stuffed cows. It was a fun week!
Sydney, Wills, Clark, Audrey ( and Jane not pictured)