A Life of Gratitude

Where'd Ian Go?

Ian has found first gear.  And second, and third, and fourth, and fifth.  Yes, make no mistake, he is a five speed.  It is amazing how fast you go from caddying boy to whoaa!  One minute you feel sorry for him and his inability to get his little knees scooting under him and taking him where his mind wants them to go, and the next minute you're feeling sorry for yourself because you can't afford to buy the 57 baby gates you need to stage throughout the house to contain him.

You'll also see in the two videos posted below that his appetite and food selection have adapted to the need for increased energy supplies for his travels.  Whether it's McDonald's pancakes or Cheerios, he can't get them down fast enough.  And he is officially a Cartwright boy, he loves his pancakes.  Now that Ian is crawling, Elliott spends a lot of time protecting his turf.  Be it his trains or his food, you'll find him holding on to them for dear life and shouting "he's coming to get them".  Elliott's voice would lead you to believe it's a scene out of Friday the 13th, but the ending is always lackluster when mama or I stroll to where Ian is, and with little more than a grunt we pick him up and relocate him. 

I have no doubt that in Elliott's mind this is more of a horror scene than we understand.  His imagination carries him away some days.  On a recent trip to grandma and grandpa's house he and mama saw an airplane.  This isn't unusual since grandma and grandpa live across the road from a small airport.  Elliott informed mama that the airplane was going to be landing in the water.  Mama was concerned where he was getting that notion from.  The news has been filled with its share of water crashes lately and she hated to think they had made an eerie impression on him. 

"What makes you think the airplane is going to land in the water?", mama asked him.

"Because it's wearing a swimming suit," he answered.  Of course mama, and you didn't notice the plane in the bikini?

We realize every day just how precious our two boys are.  There are days, though, that we realize it more than others.  Last week, a young lady who worked in our office for a year lost her 13 month old baby.  The circumstances were tragic.  Her baby boy was left on the van that had picked him up for daycare.  His absence went undetected until several hours had passed.  It was a hot day and he didn't survive such extreme elements.  There are many feelings and judgments that go with a story like this.  Mine were simple.

There used to be a day, before we had our own kids, when tragedies like this were unimaginable to me.  I could hear stories like this without understanding the kind of pain a parent experiences in these situations.  But when I heard this story last week, it was a story I could imagine quite well.  I could feel that mother's pain.  After giving thanks to God for the health and safety he has provided our boys, I prayed that he would provide strength to this mother.  These stories are often challenging to understand God's plan in them, but it is even more difficult to imagine someone going through them without the faith that he has one.  I do know part of that plan is that we all stop and pay attention to the things that are truly important in this world.   

Ian pancakes


Ian became quite forceful about getting his pancakes.

Ian cheerios


Oh the joys of eating Cheerios.

Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You

One day last week when Ian and Elliott were both at grandma and grandpa's house, I got an email from grandma informing me of a possible crime.  She wanted to make it clear that if indeed it was a crime, she was innocent.  It seems at some point Elliott told grandma and grandpa they needed to keep the noise down because they were going to "wake the neighbors".  Grandma wanted to assure me that he had not picked that phrase up from them.  As I read her account of what had happened, I couldn't help but smile as I realized he was using a phrase on them I had thrown his way once or twice in an effort to bring peace to our house.  My smile, however, was brief.

This past weekend Elliott was signing a song in the kitchen.  When Elliott sings, it often puts me in the mood to sing along, so I did.  The problem is, more often than not Elliott prefers a solo act over being just another singer in a band.  He has also learned that when he tells me to stop singing, it usually only provokes me to sing along louder than I was before.  This is in part teasing, but also letting him know that some stop signs were meant to be run.  Elliott, never one to give up though, experimented with a new tactic.

"Daddy, you need to stop singing, you're going to wake the neighbors."

I did stop, at least long enough to scan his mama's face to see if she had witnessed our exchange; her snicker said she had.  That was all the time Elliott needed to get back on the road with his solo act.  

Getting on the road in our house this week suddenly requires watching your step.  Whereas last week you could set Ian down in one spot and be sure you'd find him there when you returned, this week, you may find him in an entirely different room after the briefest of absences.  And I do wonder, with floors cluttered beyond recognition with toys, why does a baby spare no effort in navigating over, under, around, and through those very toys to get to the closest electric cord, even if closest happens to be the neighbor's garage (who is probably cleaning it after being suddenly awakened by my singing).

If history is any predictor of Ian's future, he won't spend much time crawling.  Elliott only crawled long enough to discover that by crawling, he could relocate himself near objects that would support him as he climbed to his feet.  And within a week of that discovery, he was taking his first steps.  I recalled that last night as Ian crawled over to me as I lay on the floor.   He put both hands on my knees and began a wobbly rise to his feet.  He didn't get very far, but then again, he didn't get very far last week as he struggled to get up on his knees.  

I am sure Ian is about to lead the way on several new adventures in our family.  

Be sure to check out the new videos below and the pictures in Ian and Elliott's photo albums. 

Ian Begins His Training in Self Defense

Having exhausted all efforts helping Elliott realize that he is just too big to be playing with Ian as roughly as he unintentionally does, we decided to go a different route. We've begun to train Ian in the art of self defense. So far, the project has only served to elevate the level of rough play - I have no idea why.

The Fourth of July Dance

We attended a Fourth of July party that may end up being Elliott's coming out party. When a group of party goers joined hands and began dancing in a circle, Elliott was not to be left out. In fact, he enjoyed the experience so much that he tried to circle up mama and me several more times over the weekend in an attempt to get in additional dance time.

The Chicken Slide

One of the most vivid memories I have of my great-grandmother is a scene of a 70+ year-old woman chasing a chicken around a large barnyard. When she caught it, she immediately pinned the chicken's head to the ground using an iron rod and two elderly, yet soon to be proven capable, feet. When she knew the chicken was positioned just right, she pulled on its hind legs and in an instant, a young boy would forever carry with him an illustration of the cliche' "running around like a chicken with its head cut off".

Bumpa Almond has recently decided to dabble in the chicken business. He has several young chicks and Elliott has taken a real interest in them. Last week, the two chicken famers created another chicken memory that may not supplant the image I have of my great grandmother Elliott, but it does provide a lighter piece to tuck away in my collection of chicken memories. I do wonder, how large is the average collection of chicken memories?

By all accounts, the video captures nothing more than a grandpa honoring the request of a 2 1/2 year-old grandson. A grandson that was anxious to share his sliding board with a baby chick. Now, the account of this video comes from a grandpa that understands the power of PETA, so it would make perfect sense to blame his grandson who doesn't yet know what the letters in his name stand for, let alone the four letters in the alphabet that heat up like 4th of July fireworks if a cockroach happens to find the wrong side of a tennis shoe.

I do hope PETA will overlook this innocent act of a toddler. But if not, I will just smile and thank God that they never hung out in the barnyard with my great-grandmother.

A Hired Gun

My family was very insistent that we make it to Ohio to wish Aunty Mo good luck on her move to Montana.  There was something fishy about the desperate tone in their daily calls to confirm our attendance.  It all makes so much sense now.  It seems Ian's reputation preceded his visit to Ohio months ago.  And when Aunt Kara caught wind of Ian's powers, well, she decided to exploit them.  Cousin Luke had been very hesitant to take the flow out of his fertile hair.  That is, until it flowed into the death grip of one hair loving baby.  See for yourself below.

Click here to view the video:

Within minutes of Ian's departure, the following picture shows the after effects of our trip.

 

Well done Sis - a masterful plan!

An Ohio Adventure

I write this to end the longest update drought I’ve experienced in some time.  As is usually the case with these dry spells, there is no shortage of material, only time. 

 

We just returned from a long weekend in Ohio.  It was Ian’s first trip north and Elliott’s second.  It was the first time much of my family had seen Ian, so he was flooded with attention.  In return, he broke into his signature smile when we arrived and carried it through the visit and much of the way home.  The drive up was not as bad as the trip I had scripted in my head.  But then again, I scripted a horror picture complete with blood curdling shrills and backseat fight scenes that would make Scarface look like a Hallmark holiday special.  Thanks to a portable DVD player purchased just for the occasion and a small library of Barney episodes, the scenes of our trip played out in G rated fashion for most of the 10 hour drive.

On the way back, the trip was more adventurous.  Papa Hoss had given Elliott a five dollar bill for helping him pick up golf balls that he had hit into the fields that surround their house.  Elliott wasn’t too impressed with the compensation until I helped him understand the money would buy him a new train from the train store back in Ashland.  Five minutes into our trip home, Elliott said “I want to go to the train store.”  Every five minutes he repeated the request, sounding more demanding the further we drove.  For you numbers people, that would be 120 times between Ohio and Virginia, which has to be some kind of record in persistence.  If he wasn’t asking to go to the train store, he was informing us that he didn’t want to go home.  That the answers to those requests were on the opposite ends of our journey  is completely in line with the logic of a tired 2 ½ year old.  That I was ready to put him on a train back to Papa Hoss’s house says that I might have lost something in the translation.

Little Ian alternated between crying, sleeping and giggling at Elliott.  At this age, he finds Elliott more entertaining than Barney.  Unfortunately, Elliott has a very short stage life when it comes to being the entertainer.  He can watch repeats of a single Barney episode to the point he knows Barney's lines better than Barney does, but will abandon his starring role in Ian's world before the first commercial break. 

 

The boys had a great time in Ohio.  They got to go to the zoo, which was entertaining and educational.  The cousins have all been to the zoo so they were experienced tour guides, and as a bonus, they were willing to hold Elliott's hand throughout the visit.   The main attraction at the Columbus zoo right now is a baby elephant.  I'm not sure how anything that weighs 500 pounds qualifies as a baby, but in comparison to mama elephant, the designation seemed acceptable.  The baby rolled over for us and behaved very much like a puppy.   Elliott took it all in and is still talking about it today.

 

Our boys are blessed to have so many folks interested in educating them.  A short time before we made our journey north, Elliott got to watch as a mama bluebird fed her baby bird worms on grandma's back deck.  Grandma had become so frustrated with the bluebirds flying around her windows and pooping on her car that she decided to start feeding them worms (hmmm???).  As I watched Elliott taking this in, I couldn't help but think how backward our leaders are in their efforts to solve the problems with education in this country.  They choose to throw more money at teachers, new tests at the students, and various achievement level standards at the states, somehow believing they are enhancing a child's education (That isn't to say teachers shouldn't be paid more, but that is a solution to a different problem).  But a child's education is never going to be greater than the interest of his parents and family and friends in that very process.  We've become a country that refuses to address problems where they begin, at the level where someone has to be responsible.  In contrast, we would rather throw money on solutions that enable just the opposite.   And I don't know if anyone else but me has noticed, but that philosophy seems to get more expensive each passing budget. 

 

Elliott and Ian will never have to worry about that.  Their education will be influenced by the wealth of experiences they are exposed to in our family.  Whether it be identifying the difference between the golfball plucked out of a cornfield and the one found in a soybean field, or watching bumpa turn baby chicks into omelet makers, or the study habits they'll have pressed on them by the endless line of teachers in our family (not the least of which is his MAMA), our boys will be educated with or without the wise leadership of our elected officials.

 

And oh yea, I'm also wondering if the cousins haven't contributed to Elliott's education a bit further than simple zoo animals.  I'm wondering if they haven't sparked Elliott's curiosity towards the world.  It would be one explanation for his sudden need to ask WHY in response to every request or comment his mama or I make.  He wasn't so curious before our trip to Ohio.  Just a thought. 

 

There will be pictures of our journey posted later today or tomorrow.  They will tell the story of our trip much better than I ever could.

In Ian's World, We're All Biter Bisquits

When I arrived at work this morning, I had an email from grandma informing me that Ian had been placed in time-out for pinching and biting.  Since discovering his teeth, Ian has been shark-like in his hunt for human flesh.  We successfully sidetrack him at meals, when he finds more fulfillment devouring his evening spread.  Poor Elliott, I think he would actually welcome the grip of Ian's teeth.  That might give him a few extra minutes to extract his curly strands from Ian's locked fingers, a process often more painful than moving a comb through his patternless and tangled mounds of hair.

Ian is finding this trouble while still relatively immobile.  It is no longer a challenge for him to hoist himself up on all fours, but he doesn't have a clue how to put his parked body in gear.  I was reading an old Elliott update yesterday and was reminded that at 7 1/2 months, Elliott was similarly up on all fours.  He would rock himself, butt high in the air, and then lunge forward.  I called it sprawling.  He was crawling soon afterward.  Ian will be 7 1/2 months old next week, so the race is on.  We're heading to Ohio next weekend, so the folks ahead of the storm might want to batten down the hatches.  

They may also want to have the potty prepared for a 2 1/2 year old experimenting with a new method of waste disposal.  Katie started working with Elliott last week, and already, he pees on the pot often enough to provide some real diaper savings, not that savings is the key issue here (but it won't hurt anything either).  He has been reluctant to do the two on the pot.  He went back the other night to give it a shot.  When he returned, I asked with hopes of an answer worthy of celebration "did you poop?"  He looked at me like I had lost my mind while he was gone and answered, indignant that he would even have to explain "no daddy, poopy is the brown stuff."  From this point forward, I'll just let him make the announcement when the milestone occurs.

I've read some materials, not many, but some, that talk about the many methods of potty training.  Dr. Rosemond, who I have come to hold in high regard, says you should let the child run around naked  dispose of their waste where they will.  He claims this is very undesirable to a child and they will come to long for the pot.  I'm not sure, but I believe we followed a similar principle when training our labs to use our yard instead of ourliving room for their potty breaks.  He also advises against making a big deal out of potty training successes, make them believe they just did something completely normal, and above all he instructs, do not offer rewards.  Now I hold my parents in high regard, but I can't say that I've always listened to them.

Elliott's little pot has some sort of mechanism that when he pees, triggers a celebratory song that ranks right up there with "He's a Jolly Good Fella."  And when the song plays, one of us is right there to clap and applaud the achievement.  And with the promise of a Kit Kat bar hanging over that toilet like a big chocolate cloud, I'm sure Elliott will be pooping in the pot real soon.  I really don't consider a candy bar to be a reward, it's more like a strategically timed snack.  After all, I remember a family vacation when my nephew came running out of the bathroom yelling with excitement, "I get a John Deere tracty."  Apparently, he built an impressive collection of toy tractors once he learned to fill the pot instead of diapers.  It's a shame he was a bit too young to have uncle Keith teach him about high fiber diets.  Anyways, I recommend reading Dr. Rosemond, he has some wonderful suggestions.

Ian has been battling eczema, which has gotten worst with the warm weather.  He went to the doctor yesterday and got some medicine which already seems to be helping.  But other than that, we have been extremely blessed lately with good health for both of the boys.  They continue to develop and learn and we couldn't be more grateful to God for his constant watch over them both.  And as they move into these various challenging phases like potty training, we are forever grateful for the patience and strength we are provided as parents.