Our Firstborn (A long-overdue update)

I'm not sure if you knew this already, but we are just crazy about this little dude. In three weeks, give or take two weeks, he will be a big brother. We are soaking up as much of him as we can, savoring the moments, and I wanted to get one more post in of his latest goings-ons before our baby comes. It's been a while since I've shared his latest sayings and developments.

This age is so, so unbelievably fun!! His language abilities astound us daily. He continues to love to help in any way, be it emptying/unloading the dishwasher, loading or unloading the washer & dryer, bringing new hay to the chicken coop, feeding the chickens, putting his toys away, putting his laundry in the hamper, and many other things.

That said, he has also become quite emphatic with his use of the word, "No." He has become more opinionated and is able express exactly what he wants or needs. In some ways this has made life much easier, while in other ways it's certainly been a challenge.

His feelings get hurt, he gets frustrated, he doesn't like correction, and he'll separate himself or hide. While it appears that he's pushing us away, normally it's a cry for some one-on-one time with either myself for Jim. We go to him, or he comes to us, and have a conversation acknowledging his feelings and ask if he'd like some time by himself, a hug, or for us to stay with him. Normally he requests a hug, which turns into a little cuddle.

Ian is growing more and more independent with his play and for longer stretches of time. Today I cleaned for most of the morning while he played contentedly by himself, checking in every now and then. During Jim's commute from the clinic to the VA hospital, we chatted on the phone about noticing the direct correlation between how much time he's had one-on-one focused attention to how much time he'll play on his own, with his own motivation.

Lately, his favorite toys are his animals and the barn, his trains, and the castle blocks from Christine and he's also wild about puzzles these days!! We love watching his imagination run with these open-ended toys. In the pictures below he created a lion (left) and PMO (right). PMO meets in a church that looks almost exactly like his interpretation!!

 SLEEP! Glorious sleep. Ian is sleeping through the night!! It's wonderful and amazing. And soon we'll have a newborn and we'll be deprived of sleep again. For now, it's absolutely wonderful. He goes to bed easily around 7:30 and gets up between 6:30-7:15, usually. He consistently naps around 1 PM for about an hour and a half.

We have a solid routine of reading two books, turning on the sound machine and turning off the light, singing songs, hugs & kisses, turning on his music, and then blowing three kisses before walking out the door.

Normally Jim gives him the bath (if he's home) and then we all read books together, Jim leaves while I sing songs, and then we have some time to ourselves. It's been a huge blessing these last few months. Last night I was out and Jim was able to put him down without any trouble. This is a great age.

 The first snow we had only proved to be a light dusting, but I just love this little family photo of us. Currently we have about a foot of snow on the ground, so this pales in comparison.

 These animals travel to the bath and back out. He's crazy about them. They almost always end up in a line like this around the tub.

Baby Dale & Ian

 Ian continues to love to play with Leif in the backyard and to observe our chickens and rabbits. Leif is certainly the most interactive and accessible. He will throw the ball for Leif and then walk up to him and hug him until he drops the ball again. Then repeats the process. It's sweet.

Leif also is very patient with Ian when he's inside the house, too. Ian can climb all over him while he's lying down and he doesn't seem to mind. What a relief to have such a gentle dog.

 Due to the imminent arrival of our baby, we've been having lots of conversations about him/her. We've talked about how mama and papa will go to the hospital and how Ian will stay home with Äma to sleep, play and eat food.... "But Mama & Papa come right back." Yes, we always come back because we love you so much.

We've talked about how the baby might cry and how we'll have to figure out if he/she is hungry, tired, or needs a diaper change. We've talked about where the baby will sleep and set-up the bassinet in the pack-n-play. We've unpacked the baby's clothes, blankets, and toys.

One day he asked me what our baby will eat and we discussed that it would eat Mama's milk. He was holding his baby doll at the time and I asked him what his baby would eat and he stopped and said, "Hmmm, my baby eat sweet potato." Very nutritious!!

His baby has needed much more care and attention during the last couple weeks. She needs to be fed, drink water or milk, changed, and, most of the time, she needs to sleep in the baby's bed. One day she came outside with us to take care of the chickens and he stated that she needed a hood. Considering that it was about 14 degrees F outside, she certainly did require a hood. What a good little Papa/big brother.

 Ian's been very affectionate lately, with many "I love yous" and hugs and kisses. Sometimes he requests that he'd like to "Hold Mama." This means that he wants to give me a hug from behind. Normally he wants to sit behind me on a chair or on the couch and wrap his arms around my shoulders. It's just the sweetest.

 This past weekend we got a foot of snow and Jim didn't have to go to work for three WHOLE days. It was wonderful. The snow was just a little too high for Ian to truly enjoy because he had to hold my hand to get anywhere without falling multiple times, but he was a trooper. My favorite thing was when he'd fall down in the snow and then assure us with an, "I'm okay!!!" Haha! Glad to hear it, little man.

Post-snow fun snuggles.

 Here, Ian had just played in the snow again and was sipping his first hot cocoa while watching Papa dig both of our cars out of the snow.

Here are some of my favorite things that Ian's said recently. I'm sure there are many more that I haven't written down, but at least I've captured a few here:

One day we were heading somewhere in the morning and the sun was shining brightly in both of our eyes. From the backseat of the car I heard a soft, sweet suggestive voice say, "Maybe we need to get our glasses on?" Haha!! I laughed out loud. Yes, that's certainly something that would help!!

Another one of my favorite things he says happens in the car. He says, "Oh hey! You see it!!!" and it's normally followed quickly by a "It's right dere, dis way" with a point of his finger and extension of his whole arm. It's so fun to talk about things that we are seeing while we are driving and I love that he has things he'd like to share with me, too. When we see a cement truck he says, "Dere's a truck. It go round and round!" Adorable.

A common phrase is "I need...." Most of the time it's very sweet and innocent, but occasionally it can come off as quite demanding. We've been working on changing the phrasing and adding please, when applicable. It is probably most used when he wants to play with Papa. He says, "I need Papa fall down!" This means that he wants Papa to come down to the floor and wrestle with him. Oh, the jovial brawls those two get into....!

He also really likes to say, "I need Papa run. Papa run!" They do laps around the house and Ian is getting really skilled at changing directions and "faking" Jim out. If it weren't for Ian's loud stomps and constant giggling, Jim might have a bit more of a challenge on his hands. Ian is so fast around the corners in our house! It's impressive.

Or, this weekend we heard this a lot: "I need Mama and Papa play in the snow." Don't mind if we do! And he kept telling us, "It's snowy everywhere!" It sure is :)

Since he played so well independently today, I took advantage of it and got a lot of cleaning done around the house (nesting much???). After his nap I knew I wanted/needed to get him outside for a bit to enjoy the snow.

I asked, "Do you want to go outside?"
"Soon. I play with my animals."
A while later, "Now are you ready to go outside and play in the snow?"
"No, I want to play with my animals. One minute."

Waiting longer, "Do you want to play in the snow now and take food to the chickens?"
No, one minute. I will play with my animals one minute."

And then finally it was time to go outside and play in the snow. Time to get dressed in his full get-up. I never realized that he was understanding these concepts of time, but apparently he has figured them out.

We ended up having a lovely time outside. We walked down to the playground where he enjoyed clamoring up the steps in his bulky, warm boots, going down the slide, landing in the snow, and then doing it all over again.

__________________________________________________

Life's about to change drastically for our family and, in some ways, I've had to mourn the fact that Ian won't get my full attention. But I have moved through those emotions and am just getting so excited to meet and hold our dear baby, learn if it's a boy or a girl, and watch Ian become a big brother!!

I can't imagine growing up and life without my own siblings. Life would have been entirely different without them. They were/are my constant playmates, challengers, biggest fans, and biggest critics. We had to learn to be best buddies for entire summers at The Pinery, with no other kids to play with day in and day out.

We want these gifts for Ian and this baby, too. It's not always easy having a sibling, but it shapes us for life and they are the only ones who know who you were and truly are, and where you came from.

Call us crazy, but we're ready for the next adventure ;)

Life's a Blur!

Since my last weekly post, so much has happened in our lives and in Ian's development.

We came back to Lebanon, PA to visit with Jim's parents for a few days after the memorial service in New York. Grammee took off some time to be with us for a day and read Ian lots of books! Ian has started to enjoy interacting with books that have flaps to lift up and peek behind. In this picture there's an animal on each page and when you pull down the flap, you discover the sound that the animal makes.

To stay cool, we went to a few parks and enjoyed the shade. We also got to see Carla, Jim's aunt, and Alex and Logan, his cousins. (Congratulations to Alex, who recently graduated from high school and is now heading to University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown!!).

Ian, Alex, & Jim

Logan, Carla, and Ian

Aunt Carla & Ian

Ian has decided that sticks make great teethers!! Here he is munching on one at Long Park, where John & Kim had their wedding reception.

Thank you for meeting us there, Carla!! It was great to see you and the boys. Hope to see Sam next time! A few uninvited guests also made an appearance at the end of our visit. Ian crawled around after the mallards for a while, never quite catching up to them.

As we were departing Lebanon, we ran across this pair of Canada Geese and their goslings.

Since leaving Lebanon, life has been a blur. Well, it already was... but you know what I mean. Life got super busy with packing, last-minute projects, completing final residency requirements, moving to a new home, baby-proofing our disheveled packing home and analyzing how to baby-proof our new place, and trying to keep up with Ian's many new skills and abilities. 

There are many more pictures of Ian as a blur now that he's moving SO quickly.

Most importantly, we have been trying to do all of those things while still savoring Ian's infanthood and Jim's time off. Boy, does this little boy LOVE his papa. He cannot get enough playing time with him. They wrestle, they roll, they crawl, they flip, they do whatever comes into Papa's head... well, or Ian's, too.

Ian has started cuddling more, showing his affection more readily. He does this by leaning in close or, occasionally, coming in for an open-mouthed kiss. The open-mouthed kiss is new and so sweet. When it's not your child, it's not very pleasant... but it's very sweet coming from Ian! He shows his affection readily to me and Jim, but it does take some time to warm up to new people. After a few hours, he's willing to excitedly "talk" with other friends and family and to crawl around the floor, play with toys, or read books.

Someone's getting tired...

Ian shows he's tired by rubbing his eyes, frowning &whimpering a bit, and then crawling toward his mama. The final step is precious to me. Another honest picture here to show that he's not always so happy. There normally is a reason for his discontentment and once we figure it out, he's quickly back to being our happy boy. Over the past few months we have really been able to predict and identify his wants and needs much better than before.

There's the frown.

And because we need to have some honest pictures... here's a snotty-nosed one of our sweet boy. He was not feeling well again with a bad cough, so I took him into the doctor. As we suspected, they put him on a nebulizer to help with his breathing. After two days he was much better and after five days he was completely off of it. We were grateful to be done!! He'd cooperate so well and sit with me while the machine was going, listening to me sing and talk and read to him. That was not the problem. The problem was that he'd turn into the energizer bunny in the evening, especially, and wouldn't go to sleep! Part of the reason might have been for the crazy, stressful packing frenzy of his parents, but the doctors say that it's a side-effect of the nebulizer.

Selfie!

During these weeks Ian started crawling, as seen in a short previous post. It didn't take him long to figure out how to move more quickly to his next destination.

He also started climbing stairs! Only a few at first, and then it was four and then seven. In the beginning he'd show his excited desire to start climbing the stairs but would end up crying, as if he was forcing himself to do it against his will. (NOW we can't stop the boy... he LOVES stairs!)

Those curls!

The fact that he never stops moving or exploring also means that he gets himself into lots of pickles. If there's a nook or cranny, then he's in it! Every day he gets more daring and every day he's more adept at getting himself out of these close spots. Crannies include under the bed, under the table, behind sofas, over folding chair bars, under coffee tables... and more. This is such a fun age, let me tell you!


He's figured out that he needs to duck his head low below the furniture or obstacles above him in order to make it through unscathed. It's amazing how quickly he figured that out, in order to protect his head!!

Jim and I try very hard not to save him from some of these tight spots. We try to let him work his way out by himself, allowing some frustration. It normally means that when he does get out, he is PROUD! Sometimes we do need to go to his rescue, but he's normally able to figure it out. We have to quench the desire to "save" and "respond" immediately, allowing him to problem-solve. The result is that he's pretty independent, resilient, and beaming from his latest endeavor.

One of his favorite things to do before the move was to push the stroller around. We'd keep it just inside the door and he started using it as his walker. On one occasion Jim was sitting and reading and noticed the stroller going by out of the corner of his eye. At first he thought nothing of it, but then he had to do a double take... Ian was walking the stroller, as if pushing his own baby, across the floor in front of him. When he saw his papa watching, he smiled proudly and kept on his way. I love picturing this.

He also enjoys pushing the ottoman, the wooden play gym, and small, light coffee tables around the room as his walkers. He's quite good at steering them where he'd like to go, turning, and getting out of tight places.

Ian's also started playing peek-a-boo under and over the furniture! What a fun game. He played it a lot with Gramee in Lebanon around their coffee table.

His tactile ability is getting better and better, too. He can pick him almost anything... something that made moving more and more difficult.

Since everything needed to be packed, Ian ended up getting pretty creative with his toys while moving. Boxes were, of course, one of his favorites. They were everywhere. And those flaps proved to be quite interesting! He'd play with ropes, stroller tires, tape rolls, Fage containers, ratchet straps, you name it. He also started flipping things to watch them spin, especially baskets and recycling containers.

The word "Mama" certainly means Mama, now. Nevermind that it normally comes when he's tired, hurt, or uncertain about new people, but it means Mama. And I've never been called anything sweeter. I love it.

FOOOD! He's eating almost anything and everything these days. We don't feed him anything with salt, nuts, honey, or dairy, but other than that it's free game! We still are careful about trying to give him only one new food at a time, but it's getting easier because he's tried so many things by now. It's still somewhat difficult for him to get tiny pieces of food to his mouth, so he resorts to putting his head straight down on the tray of his high chair or it ends up in his lap. We do feed him some things by hand or by spoon, breaking some of the rules of baby-led weaning.

Here are a few of him eating couscous. It's everywhere...

Leif continues to be very popular, but second to Papa.

Since it's summertime and we are outside a lot, Ian has been drinking more water than before. It's important to stay hydrated. He loves to drink out of his water cups or from my Camelbak water bottle.

For a break during the packing, we took Ian to the pool. What a great way to relax and enjoy time with him! He loves, loves, loves it. This contraption gave us some piece of mind, too. He enjoyed watching the fountains in the big pool and swimming and laughing with us in the therapy pool. Then, we treated ourselves to Sweet Frog for a nice, cool frozen yogurt. Ian enjoyed sampling some of our fresh mango pieces.

Here are some pictures from our last day on the farm. What a beautiful place it was to welcome our little guy into the world. This view will always hold a special place in my heart. 

See, anything can be a toy!!

During this time Ian also learned how to stand up without pulling up on something. Instead, now he can also push against things to stand up!

Ripped little guy. He's on a tough regimen. He's his own fitness guru.

Happy 37, 38, & 39 weeks, Ian Forrester!!!

Thank you for keeping us grounded and sane during our busy weeks.

You remind us daily to appreciate the little things and to laugh at ourselves...

So much can happen in three weeks.

Sorry for the delay! Some of these things have happened more recently and some earlier, 

but at least they are documented! :)