Ian Lately

Ian turned THREE about two months ago and is really quite a treasure.  Here is some Ian Lately.

While eating pizza, Brandon put a new piece on Ian's plate.  When Ian looked at it and saw it wasn't just cheese pizza, he exclaimed (exclaimed!):  "Oh!  I didn't realize this had bell pepper on it!"

Examples of his burgeoning imagination and apparent fascination with Chicago.
"When Ellen and I were little, we flew on a helicopter!"
"When we were babies, we went to Chicago in a helicopter."
"We had my birthday party in Chicago."
"We went fishing in Chicago, and I caught a red fish."
(I have NO IDEA what is up with Chicago.  I don't know if I have ever talked about Chicago for any reason, so I assume he heard something about it at school maybe.  He is currently very interested in all of the states, where people live, where we have traveled, etc.)

He very calmly went up to his 1.5 year old sister, put his hand lightly on her back, showed her a toy and very sweetly said: "Ellen, would you like to fight over this?"

Ian likes to "help" Ellen learn to talk.  Heard in the back seat one day:  "Ellen, say: guitar.  Ellen, say: iguana.  Ellen, say gazebo."

As I pull out a game (Richard Scary's Busy Town game) that he can only play when Ellen is asleep:  "I love to play Busy Town every DAY!"

Ian plays independently often and does quite well for up to an hour and a half at a time.  He sometimes reads books, but often he likes to work on puzzles.  He will also build with Legos or create a Little People village.  I like to spy on him from the hall way and listen to his narration.

Ian is getting more and more adventurous on the playground.  His balance is improving and he is able to climb extensively.  He will occassionally get himself in a tight or tricky spot, but he just pauses and thinks about how to reposition himself, sometimes talking himself through it.

Ian sings... a LOT.  He sometimes sings songs that he knows, but more often than not he makes up his own words.  He also thinks it is funny to replace the words of songs with words that don't belong (usually "Mama").  As in:  "A, B, C, D, E, F, mama (hahahahha)."

This is basically my fault, but Ian can pretty much sing the alphabet backwards.  Our favorite part is at the end:  "Now I know my Z Y X's... Won't you all come live in TEXAS!"