Singing about Squash

Here is a video I took several weeks ago. Ian demonstrates a few of his favorite words in it.

Outing to the museum

Our friend put together a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science yesterday. Scott was due home later than usual because he was helping with a youth trip to an LDS Temple so it was the ideal time for Ian and I to enjoy a Tuesday afternoon with free admission to the museum. We had a blast!

There were life-size dinosaur skeletons and fossils, lots of taxidermy African animals to study (Ian was enthralled by a sandy-colored beaver), an oil extraction exhibit, lots of gems and precious stones (some made into fancy tiaras and necklaces! Ooooo la la!), and lots of neat displays illustrating various laws of the universe. Though most of it was beyond Ian's vantage point from the stroller, he seemed to enjoy just being there with all the excitement and other children. He even had a 6 year old girl as his personal tour guide and she rolled him around the entire afternoon. She was very responsible about keeping him close and replacing his binkie whenever she saw necessary. She was wonderful! And although dinner time and eventually bedtime passed us by, he remained happy as long as she was nearby!

After the museum we ate a picnic at a nearby park and enjoyed a nice breeze and lots of space to run around. It was the perfect afternoon!

Us in the shadow of a T-Rex! We weren't even scared.

I really liked the African animal exhibit. Some of the scenes were downright frightening! Too bad we didn't get any pictures of Ian with the beaver.

Ditto

I loved what a good friend just posted on her blog today. I hope she doesn't mind me sending you all there too -- she is so clever and I have a feeling all those parents out there can relate.

New Words

I am usually surprised by the words Ian takes interest in. Recently he began saying clock, uh-oh and squash. Mom has still not entered his vocabulary, but all these other words must hold some special importance, even if it is known only to him. Here are my guesses about why he says certain words:

Clock: Each time I walk into his room to get him out of bed, Ian immediately scrambles to standing position on the side of the crib and points emphatically at objects in the room, asking "That?! That?!" So I introduce the picture frames, the ceiling fan, and recently, the digital clock on his dresser. Now when I walk in his room to get him up from his nap, he points to the clock and says "Cock!" and then points to everything else and asks "That?!" I think these things are so important to him because they are what surround him as he drifts off to sleep and as he awakens each day.

Uh-oh: This one is less of a mystery: it seems every child enjoys deliberately testing gravity by dropping sippy cups, French toast, and whatever else is handy off of the side of their high chair. Originally, I guess saying "uh-oh" was my nice way of expressing "if you splatter milk on the new paint ONE MORE TIME...!" It hasn't worked to teach him not to drop things, but he picked up "uh-oh" readily. And the tendency to drop things repeatedly just so he can practice saying it.

Squash: He pronounces it as "shash" or as "scotch" with emphasis on the "ch". This word entered his vocab when I was feeding Ian pureed squash several weeks ago and explaining what he was eating. He happily repeated the word, much to my surprise. These days, all types of pureed baby food = shash. And if he's being fed some solid food he doesn't particularly like, he'll point at the tub containing baby food containers and request "shash" instead.

I love catching Ian singing songs containing a muddle of his favorite words. He is such a cool kid.