Preschool!

As further evidence that my little boys are growing up, here are some pictures of Ian today, his first day of preschool.

Four moms will take turns teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for two hours each morning.

Ian was excited to wear a backpack, but got a little nervous when we arrived today. He told me he didn't want to go in, but then marched right up to the door and walked in. He did watch me leave though. I bet he is having a great time right now!

When Joseph and I got home after dropping Ian off, Joseph leaned way out of his carseat to look into Ian's carseat. Then he looked at me and made noises like he was asking why Ian wasn't there. I said "Uh-oh! Did we lose Ian?" And until I put Joseph down for his nap, he kept saying "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!"

Ian's Latest

Ian likes music while he eats. He often says, "Should we listen to primary music while we eat (fill in the blank)" When he first spit that sentence out it was the most complex thing I had ever heard him say.

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Out of the blue: "My mom is a junior in high school."

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After Joseph had eaten and spit out another bug he found on the floor, Ian said the following in a sing-songy voice: "JoSEPH! Do not spit up the most delicious bug! Yum!" Is there some song that goes like that?

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"Joseph! Don't come in my room! Go back to heaven."
Ian went through a period where he would say this whenever he was annoyed with Joseph -- which was whenever Joseph was in sight. Ian told me Joseph would sing songs in heaven when I asked him what his brother would do there.

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When Sarah and Ryan watched the boys for us, Sarah wrote down some funny stuff Ian said as he ate dinner and 'talked on his phone', which was actually a fist held to his ear. Some of these are a little embarrassing...

I know...
That's a bad choice
We're just catching up
I'm talking to my dad
I talked to you last night
We're going on an airplane
Do you have any more questions
oh ya!
Hi Ryan
no no no no no no no
You got to be quiet Joe, I'm talking on the phone
I'm talking to Ryan
I'm wondering if you have a....
I was talking to adults
Hello, this is Lesley
Hi hott stuff
Want to play some basketball?

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When we were driving to Michael's wedding rehearsal dinner, the boys were tired and cranky and already starting to lose it. We noticed things suddenly go quiet in the backseat and then heard Ian say sweetly, "Joseph, I like your pretty pink fingers. Yeah. I really like your pretty pink fingers!" He was holding Joseph's hand! I melted.

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When he talks to Scott, especially when Scott first arrives home from work, he uses a deep voice.

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You know that colorful truck that comes around the neighborhood after school playing music? We call it the Music Truck. And if you ever tell my kids it's anything more than a truck that drives around playing music for our enjoyment, you are in big, big trouble.

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Scott is the scoutmaster for a troop of 12-14 year olds. Occasionally they meet at our house and Ian has become really fond of several of them and knows them all by name. Once, after they left, Ian asked "Where did all the little daddies go? I miss them."

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Ian was jealous of all the Pedialite Joseph was drinking during a recent illness. When I explained Ian couldn't have any because he didn't have any 'ouchies in his stomach' Ian bit down hard on his thumb and said "Ooohhh! Look! I have an ouchie on my fumb! I need some special juice too!" He tried it repeatedly and I am sorry to say it eventually worked on me.

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Last night we asked Ian what time he goes to bed. His response: "Um, like, around eleven-ish."

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Joseph Walks!

Joseph began taking steps when he was about 9.5 months old. But Scott wouldn't let me call it walking until last Wednesday, when Joseph really took off.

Here are our attempts at a video of it. In the second half of the video Ian stubs his toe and you can hear Scott do some silly tricks to get Ian to feel better....because no video or picture will ever be just about Joseph. It's pretty cute to see Joseph marching along through all of it though.

Even just a few days later Joseph is much more steady and confident. He still uses objects to stand up and if he falls he will often crawl to his destination because crawling is still quicker for him. But now he can walk across entire rooms and make turns too.

It is fun to see the way this new skill is changing how the boys play with each other. Ian seems to respect Joseph a bit more and he likes how Joseph follows him around on foot. Ian also likes to count Joseph' steps as he goes.

Ian's Cougar Den

While the boys and I were finishing up our vacation in CA, Scott was busy planning and carrying out a huge surprise!

I have always wanted to design Ian's room around a BYU Cougars theme, but somehow it just never happened. I was so thrilled to see that Scott had taken the task upon himself, especially since he far exceeded my own imaginations for the room. I love how the "Y" logo appears on a Y Mountain, just as it does in real life! Plus, the horizontal stripes on the wall are just like the white stripes on the BYU football jerseys, with the center stripe slightly thicker. My husband is a creative genius.

I loved it so much I cried when I saw it. We arrived home from the airport and were busily preparing the boys for bed when I walked in the dark room, flipped on the light and saw what Scott had done. After flying home to Houston for four hours with a toddler on my lap and an infant by my side, such a thoughtful act was such a wonderful surprise. I absolutely love how it turned out. And so does our little Cougar fan, Ian!

Here is a video of the room:

Another fun surprise came the following day -- our good friend Susan, Sarah Kearns mom, had finished a beautiful quilt for Ian that she had been working on since his birth. It has adorable illustrations of each letter of the alphabet on one side....

...and BYU Cougar logos on the other! Ian adores the quilt and insists on sleeping with it. And the timing of when the gift arrived was so fun! It looks like it was made for his new room.

Scott just returned from a business trip to Utah and brought back some fun accessories from the BYU Bookstore. I can't wait to see how it all looks up on the walls.