21st Month Birthday!

The Marlers had a very busy and productive day today. We met up with the Burnettes for Brunch so the kiddos could play together. He and Zoe were pushing cars back and forth with each other. Then we went to the Phoenix Zoo since it was such a nice day today and we signed up for membership there. Ian got to ride the Merry-Go-Round for the first time today. He loved it and we were so surprised he wasn't even scared. He held on to the pole the whole time and loved going up and down. The picture above was from the ride and it's one of the best pictures we've caught of him lately. We walked around a bit and saw some fish, birds and reptiles. There was a snake that was moving right up against it's wall. Ian touched the snake's wall without hesitation. What a brave boy. Mommy on the other hand wanted to get out of there as fast as she could. He saw some a lot of kids but when he saw kids around Cousin Brandon's age, he started looking around and saying "Brandon". We had to keep telling him "Brandon's not here" or "Brandon is at home". After seeing some of the exhibits, we headed over to the Zoo's Leaping Lagoon. It's an area with a bunch of holes where water shoots up. It's very popular with the kids. Ian loved this as well. We took a few shots and videos and posted them, so go check it out. Ian really enjoys playing with water, he's going to love going in our pool as soon as it gets warm. Mommy was smart and stayed on the side, but Ian started pushing daddy toward the water so he got wet too. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed out because it was Ian's nap time. The great thing about the membership is we could leave without Mommy feeling like she needs her money's worth. For those that know Mommy, that's a big thing. On most days, that would be the end of our day, but no, we were having such a good day, we went shopping after the zoo and bought Ian a Full Size Mattress so he can stop sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed, and a new washer and dryer. The Marlers still didn't stop after that, we then went to Snip It's again and Ian got his second haircut. The same patient lady was there and we were so happy she was available. Ian was hesitant in the beginning about the haircut and then he gave us about 15 minutes before he said he was 'All Done'. He just got a trim again and some of his curls and waves are still there. We finally finished the day with dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ. Ian was very good at dinner and ate 3/4 of his Mac & Cheese, some cornbread, and half of his corn on the cob. Got a very cute picture of him with the corn on the cob. This was great for Ian because lately he hasn't eaten much with us.

Ian's really starting to talk a lot more. There's too much for me to name, but today he said "pizza" for the first time and his favorite question now is "Go?" with his hands out for "where did it go". He loves to point out birds, buses, and airplanes. He still absolutely loves Elmo and watches Elmo videos daily. He's getting very good at animal sounds. He says "meow" for cat, "woof" for dog, "baa" for sheep, "roar" for lion and tiger, and "roooarr with his claws out" for bears. He's also enjoying being outside and jumping around. His favorite food is still mac and cheese and now Chinese haw flakes.

New pictures added from the past week

Mommy's tired, but I had enough energy to post the pictures we've taken this past week. I'll update the blog tomorrow with Ian at 21 months and what's he's up to now.

Ian at 20 months

Ian is starting to get his own personality and wants. He loves his new sandals that we bought him. They're basic velcro over sandals, but he prefers to wear them then his tennis shoes. Any time we put his tennis shoes on, he says "ouee". We know they're not too tight, but he takes them off and then goes and gets his sandals. Lately, Ian's been very good. He'll walk and hold our hands. He helps clean the table, his hands, and his face. He loves playing with water. He still continues to drink his bath and shower water. This weekend, he's been having a lot of fun playing with the water hose. So much fun, that when we take it away from him or turn off the water, he has a fit. Not just alittle fit, a big huge crying fit. We think that's the early signs of the terrible twos. We're trying to get Ian introduced to the idea of baby. He points to Mommy's tummy and says "baby". He'll also kiss Mommy's tummy which is really cute. We'll try to catch a picture or video of it soon. As we mentioned in another post, he loves Elmo or as he says it "Melmo". He also loves to sing, dance, run around, and be outside. He seems to be liking daycare more these days. He'll walk on his own in to the center and then in to the class. He sits right down at the table for snack time and gives us a kiss and wave good-bye without any issues. While Mommy and Daddy love the ease of dropping him off now, we're getting sad at how he's becoming a big boy now. The teachers say he's a pretty good kid. He helps clean and put his dishes away after lunch. We have noticed that Ian is very shy though. It takes him awhile to get comfortable in new surroundings and warm up to people...even people he's seen before. We took him to his first SoccerTots class this saturday. It's a program held in the gym to help promote a child's physical development through fun games and such. As soon as he saw all of the other kids, adults, and new location, he wanted to leave. It was a bit hard to get him to participate, but he did a few of the exercises. The Coach said it usually takes a child two or three sessions to get comfortable. We'll see in the next few weeks. His favorite foods lately has been rich and mac & cheese. His favorite song for us to sing is "The Wheels On the Bus".

Some of the new words Ian uses or words we didn't mention before:
Go (with hands out for "where did it go")
Nothing
Green
Yellow
E-I-E-I-O
round town (for around town)
shooes
outside
bed
weeeee
cleaan

Ian can now point to his neck and shoulders when asked. When you ask him what a tiger does, he says "rooaar". If you say sheep, he says "baaa". We're working on "moo" for cow. He also is starting to identify some pictures. He gets excited and pointed to pictures of Brandon on the fridge and in his room. He did this all on his own, completely surprised us with that. He also identified Kristi in a picture. We are working on the rest of the family too.

Ian LOVES Elmo

The inevitable has happened, Ian loves Elmo. We would have preferred him liking a different cartoon like Blues Clues, but he managed to fall in love with Elmo. It could be worse, he could love Barney or Teletubbies so I guess we're grateful for that. Here's a few shots of him being mesmerized by Elmo. He asks for Elmo when he wakes up, when he gets home from school, and through dinner. You know us, we couldn't deny Ian, so we've purchased every Elmo's World video at Target so far for him. He likes to dance to the Elmo intro. We will admit it has been educational for him. He really likes seeing animals on there and makes the "rooooarrr" sound when he sees lions and tigers. In one of his videos, Elmo's counting, so we're hoping Ian picks up on that. We're also trying to help him identify monkeys, elephants, sheep, cows, fish, Big Bird, and Oscar.