Appreciate the Adventure

Ahhh!

Posted on 01/16/2013 by ashleekiser

Oh my. Ian is up and about and into everything now. His newest obsession has become the dogs’ water bucket. We discontinued using a dish to water the dogs and instead brought inside one of the horses’ feed buckets because it seemed like every time we turned around the dish was empty again. Ian discovered a few weeks ago that the bucket holds a lot of water. 2 gallons, in fact. And this little boy loves water. We had at least 3 isolated incidents involving a little boy tipping the water bucket over into his face and flooding the kitchen with water. You would think that he would freak out over being doused with cold water, but he actually loves it. (picture me shaking my head in exasperation.) The last time he dumped the water bucket, he flipped over in the puddle and waved his arms as if her were making snow angels. Did I mention he giggles the entire time he completes this process?

Now that we’re adjusting to Ian’s activities, we’re picking up on his cues before he gets into trouble. When he gets really excited about something, he crawls more rapidly to it and you can hear the thud of his little knees banging against the hard wood as he scrambles forward, but the surest giveaway is in his breathing. He gets so excited that as he tries to giggle, he starts snorting! So when you hear banging and snorting, look out!

Two days ago, Brinn heard no banging and no snorting. Now we have truly learned the old adage of “silence is only golden until you have children. Then you should worry.” After realizing that all was silent in the living room, Brinn turned around in the kitchen to regain visual confirmation that Ian was okay. Here is what he found:

Posted in Ian | 2 Comments

Welcome to today’s SAA meeting…

Posted on 01/14/2013 by ashleekiser

I am Mogwai, and I am a sweater addict. I would like to welcome you to the Monday morning Sweater Addicts Annonymous meeting. It’s been two weeks, four days, and twelve hours since my last fashion faux pas.

I think my dress confusion stems from my hound-dog lineage that prevents me from growing a thick winter fur coat. It can’t possibly derive from my current living situation, which involves central heat and air in my climate controled house. These items are necessities in my life, as my humans would suffer greatly without and I always make their comfort my first concern even when it inconveniences my own needs, because I’m a good caregiver like that.

For example, a few months ago, one of the humans felt the need to rearrange the living room, and moved my throne from its prime position by the front window. This position had allowed me to maintain my command post and view any squirrels who might trespass in my yard. From my post, I could easily spring into action and erradicate the trespassers before they could bring harm to the family whose protection I am charged with. True, it is more difficult to monitor squirrel insurgents now, but in retrospect, I admit there is a chance that I may have become lax while working from an overstuffed leather recliner. But I digress…

I fear that my primary addiction, fabric softener, may be the root cause of my sweater addiction. One cannout expect the head of security to lay in a bed smelling of unwashed dog. Since I have convinced my humans to properly launder my linens, they have enlightened me to the delights of fabric softener. One time won’t hurt anything, I naively thought, but then I had to tell myself that the second time couldn’t cause any harm either. But then I found myself becoming irratible when I went more than a few days between my fabric softener fixes. Often times I even grew itchy and moody waiting for the freshly laundered materials to emerge from the clothes dryer. It wasn’t until several weeks later that I finally realized an addiction had formed.

I have been strong these last few weeks, while this abnormally warm January has made it uncomfortable for sweater wearing, but I fear that a cold front will weaken my resolve. Through these SAA meetings, and my FSA meetings I have been able to keep both addictions in check, but cold weather will take every ounce of inner strength I have to fight my cravings. In an effort to fortify my will to resist, I will now begin chasing tennis balls compulsively to distract myself from sweater cravings.

Posted in My Critters | Leave a comment

Rain Hitting a Tin Roof

Posted on 01/13/2013 by ashleekiser

5:30 am this morning found Ian wide awake and ready to play. His cheery mood and steady stream of chatter pulled me out of bed much earlier than I’d intended. So by 6:00 am I hunkered down in the living room floor with an assortment of toys and books, ready to begin our Sunday. At 7:00, a hungry little boy polished off half a banana, then after getting dressed for the day and chasing Mogwai around the floor for a while, Ian was ready for a bottle and a nap. About the time that he drifted off to sleep, Netflix employed that aggravating little policy that pauses your show after you’ve watched a few episodes, and threw up the message prompting you to hit play to resume your show.

I found myself in a conundrum: do I lay Ian down, and risk him waking up as I stand to restart my show, or do I stand with him, and risk waking him up? Then the skies opened and the deluge ensued. This is when I looked down at my no longer as little boy and recalled all the advice I’ve received about enjoying the brief time I have him while he’s small. I studied on Ian’s features, a combination of Brinn, myself, and some that are all Ian, and tried to wrap my brain around the idea that fifteen years from right now, I will be remembering back to a rainy morning, thankful that I left the television off and instead passed the morning quietly holding my constantly growing and changing son.

I thought back to a conversation from just this past Thursday. Edith, an advisor for Arts and Science and mother to two college-age boys , explained that while hugs are great, nothing can ever compare to holding your little boy. Another friend, Greg tells this great story about how on his daughter’s first day of kindergarten, he sat her down and asked her to remember this moment, because as quick as they could blink, she would be starting her senior year of high school. Paige is now a senior in high school and Greg swears that it felt like yesterday that he prepared his little girl for her first day of kindergarten.

I’ve said before, but am still astounded, at how quickly Ian progresses. Today marks the eighth month that Ian’s been here, and already tooth number five is cutting through. Just three weeks ago he lacked the core strength and balance to sit unaided. He’s gone from scooting and army crawling to honest-to-God up on his knees crawling, sitting up, and now standing! Since his crawling improved so much, Brinn and I finally put baby gates up yesterday, just in the nick of time. Now he’s pulling himself up with every surface he can find: chairs, the sofa, the ottoman, the windowsill…and even the dishwasher. We can’t hardly turn our backs for even half a second before Ian is climbing into something else or crashing. He wouldn’t fall half so much, except he keeps letting go in his hurry to walk.

A basket of laundry needs folding, Ian’s breakfast things still clutter the table, muddy paw prints mark the floor, and dirty dishes still sit in the sink. And these chores will need repeating tomorrow, and the next day, and the next on up until Ian has left me to go to college. I think they can wait while I type a quick entry here to preserve an account of Ian’s development to jog my memory 20 years from now when I struggle to recall these details as quickly as I do now.

I hope everyone else is enjoying this soggy Sunday as much as Ian and I. I must now depart to read The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar for the fifteenth time.

Posted in Family, Ian | Leave a comment

Mommy’s Little Helper

Posted on 01/11/2013 by ashleekiser

On top of Ian’s newfound mobility, he has taken an interest in helping Brinn and I complete all of our chores. We’ve found that it’s impossible to convince Ian to eat if one of us is vacuuming. The distraction of the roaring appliance prevents him from concentrating on the spoon or the food. He whips his head around and stares, openmouthed, the entire time the vacuum runs. If we put him in the floor while we vacuum, he chases the appliance around the floor. Yesterday Brinn handed the end of the vacuum to him, and he had a big time trying to push it around the floor.

Ian’s also been helping out with feeding the animals. It would be so much simpler to run outside and feed quickly by myself, but Ian loves going outside, and he enjoys being around the critters. He giggles when the chickens cluck and crow at him, and he pulls on Dominick’s ears and Bear’s mane. While Ian doesn’t complicate matters too much, carrying grain and a wiggly little boy can be a little difficult. Now, however, once we mix grain and supplements in the bucket Ian grabs the handle and carries it for us. Just holding a little boy is simpler than juggling him and the bucket. By the time Ian starts walking, I should have a fully trained barn manager on my hands.

Posted in Ian, My Critters | Leave a comment

Crawling Through January

Posted on 01/10/2013 by ashleekiser

Is he not the cutest little boy you’ve ever seen? We’re still waiting to get back all of his Christmas pictures (especially the ones with Santa), but I love his expression in this one as he thinks that he finally gets to chew on a power cord, but nope, it gets yanked away the second the camera snaps the shot…

This picture wasn’t quite as stressful to take, but Ian wasn’t as interested in posing for this one, either. He couldn’t understand why we should just sit around doing nothing.

Since the holidays have ended, Ian’s been up to quite a bit. He attended his first UT basketball game with his grandpa and watched the Vols beat Xavier. He had a blast the first half of the game, particularly when the band would play “Rocky Top.” Ian has been clapping his hands together for a few weeks, but was utterly fascinated with everyone around him clapping their hands together all at the same time. My son is more of a joiner at 7 months old than I ever have been.

Before going into the game, we stopped by “the rock” for a quick photo-op. Now we have documentation that Ian has truly begun enjoying campus traditions. By the time he’s old enough to attend college, he’s going to be so steeped in traditions that it’s going to be hard for him to choose between UT and TTU.

Aside from grabbing for power cords and watching basketball games, Ian spends his time mastering independent mobility. He army crawls quicker than any soldier possibly could, and tries repeatedly to get his feet up underneath him. Now, he can dart behind furniture and hide if he thinks a mean grown-up is coming to take him away from his fun. Sometimes when Brinn’s reaching down to pick Ian up, Ian will start trying so hard to beat a hasty retreat that he gets a bit ahead of himself and he ends up going nowhere as he frantically moves his little legs. It’s a little like watching car tires spin in the mud.

As efficiently as Ian’s crawling gets him around, he would still prefer to walk. When he’s not after something, he puts a lot of effort into his attempts to stand. He does his Yoga poses 10 and 12 times a day while working on walking. With all this extra strength and mobility, Ian has also welcomed mayhem and chaos into the house. One of his favorite rituals is to scuttle over to the dogs’ water bucket and dump it out over himself. Then he likes to splash and roll around in the puddles. The water bucket has spent a lot of time on the counter lately…

Since we’ve made the water bucket less accessible lately, Ian’s taken an interest in mastering cabinet doors. After a week of failed attempts, this morning he finally opened the door to the fish tank’s cabinet. I guess cabinet locks will be installed this evening.

Ian’s adventurous explorations are forcing Brinn and I to keep a close eye lately, but it’s so enjoyable to view his delight as he encounters all these new experiences.

Posing for the camera is becoming second nature for this happy little boy.

Posted in Family, Holidays, Ian | Leave a comment

Educating Everyone Takes Everyone…

Posted on 01/08/2013 by ashleekiser

My dad spent his Christmas break organizing his house (a long overdue project), and uncovered this artistic gem while going through some old papers:

I designed this in first grade. Even back then I recognized the importance of all the players involved in educating children. I guess first grade marks the turning point when I began developing for a future career in academia. Even as a child, I showed awareness that so many more than just faculty contribute major roles in the educational process.

That’s the serious and philosophical interpretation of my early artwork. The humorous interpretation probably provides evidence of my compromised mental state.

You see, it’s very odd that I would have recognized the importance of my bus driver in my own education as my bus driver hated me. ME –The perfectly well-behaved little people pleaser teacher’s pet! I was the only student on the entire bus run who had an assigned seat, right behind the bus driver as a matter of fact. Maybe possibly I created this poster before my fall from grace in the bus driver’s eyes?

Here’s how the fall happened…

When I began first grade, way back in August if 1990, Preston entered kindergarten, and we rode the bus home from school together every afternoon. Preston and I rarely sat together, of course, because he was a kindergartener and I was a big first grader; I already had established friends to sit with so Preston was left to sit with other kindergarteners. After a few weeks he started sporting a bloody nose as we would walk up our long driveway together after the bus dropped us off. When this happened for the third or fourth time, my parents demanded that I begin sitting with Preston to investigate and see what (or who)was causing the bloody noses. Ten minutes into the bus ride, I found out exactly what caused the bloody nose as my head bounced off of the back of the seat in front of me and I saw stars.

Let me interject here with the information that I honestly had an almost perfect reputation for behavior all through school (minus some small infractions, but those stories are for another day). So the fact that I reacted, er, shall we say “strongly” to this incident was a bit out of character for me. I honestly don’t remember my reaction (it was 23 years ago, after all), but apparently it was bad. I do remember getting off the bus and smarting off to my parents (not an unknown occurence for me, but definitely not a frequent event). I marched in the door and announced “I hope your happy because now I’m in trouble for fighting and you have to meet with my principal!” I also remember the other kid involved. Shane. Just his name causes my eyes to narrow and my temper to flare. Dumbass punk kid. He always caused mayhem and discord wherever he traveled. I’m not sure if Shane was his middle name, but later on in middle school he began going by “Derrick.” Funny how I can remember what a pain in the ass he was all through school, but I can’t remember him getting in any trouble over our altercation. I clearly remember that I was the only kid on the entire bus with an assigned seat, however.

So indigent self righteousness aside, I still appreciate the contribution that bus drivers made to my education, and I still believe strongly that educating everyone takes everyone. So now I’m doing my part in athletics administration and English composition to educate everyone. What are you doing?

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Fa la la la la…

Posted on 01/03/2013 by ashleekiser

Christmas has finally come, and more quickly, gone. This year found us making several pit stops leading up to Christmas as we went to visit some of our close friends as well as Brinn’s family.

Our first holiday stop took us to the Allens’. Jack and Connie are an amazing couple who inspire me every day, and their daughter, Betsy, is a close friend from undergrad. She and I were fellow English majors, and survived the horrors of upper division Spanish together. The Allens are one of my favorite families on the planet. In fact, this year Jack and Connie shared some valuable marital advice with Brinn and I, which we appreciate greatly.

While we were busy chatting and catching up on life events, Ian had a great time scooting around Connie’s living room. We don’t have one stitch of carpet in our house, so when Ian gets a chance to play on carpet or rug, he takes full advantage of the gripiness.

Fortunately Ian seems to be as fond of the Allens as Brinn and I, so I believe stopping by their home will forever be one of our family Christmas traditions.After leaving the Allens’, we continued traveling south to visit the Andersons. David and Ann are practically Brinn’s second parents. He grew up in the house across the street from their house, and is the same age as their son, Paul. Brinn and Paul were thick as thieves as children, and spent as much time in each others’ houses as they did in their own. The Andersons included Brinn in family trips, and also taught him how to kayak. Even though everyone’s all grown up now, and no one lives on Forest Lane now, Brinn is still just as close with the Andersons and we still kayak with them often. The Andersons’ daughter, Amy, also had a baby boy this year. Charlie was born in March, so he’s about 2 months older than Ian.

While we visited with David, Ann, and Ami, Charlie and Ian got to know each other. I didn’t think that such little boys would interact much with one another, but Ian paid close attention to everything Charlie did, and was soon banging wooden spoons on pots right along with Charlie. Later on in the evening, Ian even attempted to pull himself up to a standing position like he’d seen Charlie doing. Ian, of course, couldn’t make it up all the way, but he understands the concept now. I see lots of summer weekends for Ian and Charlie playing together.

Our last stop the Saturday before Christmas was by Brinn’s sister’s house. Copper is a doctor in Chattanooga, and lives just outside. Brinn’s Aunt Sharon and Uncle Charlie came up from Atlanta to have dinner with the family. Ian got to play with his older cousins, Hannah-Kate and Jackson, and never went without a pair of arms reaching to cuddle him. His Grand Bobbie and Aunt Copper gave him all kind of fun new presents, including books, toys, and even clothes.

While we were visiting at Copper’s, Chaco made herself right at home as well 😉

On Sunday, we had a short day to get caught up on a few things at home, and had a visit from my cousin, Benjamin. In the south, cousins are like siblings, and we don’t differentiate between first cousins, second cousins, etc. I think Benjamin’s my third cousin but all that math involved with first removed and so on confuses the heck out of me. Ultimately none of that matters, because the bottom line is Benjamin is family and we’re close. We spent a ton of our childhoods in each others’ homes, and stayed in touch after moving away to college. Now we’re all grown up with real jobs and we still talk regularly.

Ian and I had another visit from my extended family over the break as well. Kristine stopped by for an evening on her drive back to Chicago land to visit her parents and siblings for Christmas. While she was here, she went through Ian’s entire evening routine:

1. Lots of playing

1.A. Unwrapping Christmas presents

2. A bath

3. A bottle

4. Bed

Kristine also made Mogwai and Chaco scarves for Christmas.

then Monday we were back on the road again to visit Grandma and Aunt Connie.

Tuesday we were up before dawn to get over to the ranch to celebrate Christmas with the kids. While we were there, Ian had a huge milestone and took his first scoots forward as a crawling baby! I now have a mobile man on my hands.

After breakfast with the boys, Brinn, Ian, and I came home to open presents together and get ready for Daddy and Preston to come up for the day.

What a whirlwind of a season!

Posted in Family, Friends, Holidays, Ian | Leave a comment

A Blustery Day!

Posted on 12/21/2012 by ashleekiser

I feel like I should prepare for dreams of huffleumps and woozles tonight. Today’s terribly blustery wind has us all a bit chilled, but the sunshine teased and beckoned me to come outside despite the cold chill. I took Reggie for a quick jaunt around the field, then Brinn brought Ian out so that he could ride one quick lap around our partially completed barn. Ian’s multiple layers seemed to keep him pretty warm, but he refused to keep his little fingers covered up; instead he clutched the reins the entire time!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Joy Filled Day…

Posted on 12/20/2012 by ashleekiser

Ian’s had a great week, particularly Tuesday when his Aunt Joy came up and spent the whole day with him. Ian’s Aunt Joy happens to be one of my closest friends in the world. We’ve known each other since 1998, when my family started attending Joy’s church. We’d attended one Sunday service, met David Tapp (the Sunday School teacher for my age group), and then came to attend a Wednesday service. Typically Lee Village Baptist has a separate youth service on Wednesday nights, but this particular night featured a guest speaker, so all ages sat in the sanctuary that night. David came up to greet my family that night, then exclaimed, “You need a friend,” and disappeared without another word. Five minutes later he returned and said, “this is Joy.” We’ve been friends ever since!

Joy and I kept in touch when I moved away to college, and still spent time together when we could. After college, she was crucial in helping plan my wedding, hosted a beautiful wedding shower for me, and let me tag along on trips to D.C. and Myrtle Beach.

From the moment I let Joy know that Ian was on his way, she’s been a devoted Auntie, starting with the most incredible baby shower I’ve ever attended. She decided to go with a farm theme that matched Ian’s bedroom perfectly. There were farm animal decorations, bandanas, a punch bowl with rubber ducks swimming in the punch, and some amazing food. If anyone ever needs an event planner, Joy is the person to call. Her rates are reasonable, and she does an amazing job! She even brought door prizes for my guests who won drawings and the games that she planned!

Since Ian’s birth, Joy’s been an important figure in his life. This week, she and Ian completed some Pinterest projects together. She covered his feet in brown paint and mashed them on a canvas to create a reindeer painting. He seemed to enjoy the process pretty well 🙂

Joy baked Christmas teething biscuits for Ian while she was here. I’d never even heard of such a thing for babies, but Joy knows all the cool stuff for babies. Ian loves these biscuits. he chews on them until they start to get a little soggy, then happily throws them in the floor for Mogwai and Chaco. My theory is that he sucks out the cinnamon flavor, then has no more use for them.

During Joy’s visit, she took Ian out for a stroller ride. This is still one of his favorite activities on any day. Fortunately the winter has been fairly mild, so he’s been able to get in plenty of outdoor time. I’m not sure what we’re going to do when winter truly does decide to set in for the season.

As much as I love having Joy as my friend, I’m more thankful to have her as a presence in Ian’s life. I feel so fortunate to have so many wonderful people who care about him. I’ll never have to worry about Ian lacking for love!

Posted in Friends, Ian | Leave a comment

Rub a dub dub

Posted on 12/18/2012 by ashleekiser

Ian graduated from his baby bath tub to the big people bath tub last night. Ian loves taking a bath every night, but since he’s grown so much in the last few weeks, he’s made bath time…interesting, to say the least. Ian’s arms have grown long enough to reach everything around the sink: soap bottles, the dish drainer, nearby dishes, window blinds… The most interesting object he focuses on of late is the hand sprayer. I don’t think he’s made the connection that pushing the button results in a spray of water, but he sure doesn’t mind when he happens to mash the button and sprays the adult giving him a bath. Sometimes when Brinn or I try to lift him out of his tub, he grabs the tub itself and refuses to break his strong little grip, taking the tub with him and splashing water all over the kitchen.

Since I was on my own last night for bathtime, I decided that it’s time to see how Ian fares in our tub. Ian had a fantastic experience. Bigger bath tub=room for more bath toys. I finally had a reason to break out all the bath toys we received as shower gifts back in March. Ian’s a huge fan of the rubber blocks, but he’s pretty happy with the ducks as well.

Letting Ian play on his tummy stresses me a little bit, but it made him such a happy baby. The nurses from the hospital worked hard to instill such a strong sense of fear of infants drowning in bathtubs, that I’m afraid to even take my hands off of Ian while he’s in the tub. I had to sit right beside the tub ready to spring into action if he put his head down in the water. It turns out that Ian really didn’t need me holding him up too much as he kept his head up the whole time so that he could meet my gaze and grin big. Not only is he a happy baby, but he also enjoys showing off.

I think for Christmas I’m going to have to get Ian a new bathrobe. His white one barely clears his waist, and he outgrew his blue one from Aunt Joy weeks ago. I love love love his hooded towels, but I like being able to put Ian’s arms through the sleeves of a robe. It keeps him a bit warmer as we move from the tub to his room to get dressed in fleece footie pajamas, which concludes our bathtime ritual.

Posted in Ian | Leave a comment