New milestone.

Ian is in full Bar/Bat Mitzvah partying mode.  On average he is going to one every other weekend.  The majority of them Jeff and I are not invited to and we do a drop-off and pick-up for Ian.  Each party has its own uniqueness to it. 

This past weekend he attended one that was kids only and they turned the community center into a big dance environment, complete with DJ, loud music, and neon, strobe lights.  The DJ has an assistant or two and they orchestrate games, dancing, and lots of activities to keep the kids entertained. 

I picked Ian up and asked him if they played any slow songs for the kids to dance to.  Ian said "Yes."  Of course my next question was "Did you dance with anyone?"  Ian said "Yes" again.  You can see where this is going...I had to ask "Who did you dance with?".  Ian said it was with the Bat Mitzvah girl herself.  From the information Ian shared with me, all her friends came running to Ian and said, "You are going to dance with Andie, right?"  So Ian said yes. While Ian was dancing with her (only one other boy was dancing with a girl), all Andie's friends were circling around them taking video with their cellphones. 

Oh my gosh.  How cute is this??  One can only assume that Andie must really like Ian.  Aw.  I asked Ian if this was the first time he had ever danced with a girl and he said yes.  This was a milestone moment for Ian. 

I am begging Ian for someone to text the video they took of Ian and Andie dancing  Which by the way, went on for 3 songs!!!  Ian isn't going to any great trouble to get it to me.  Of course not, but I can hope.  I am just impressed that Ian even told me as much information as he did.

More milestones than you can shake a stick at.

This has been an incredible week!  Who would've thought that Jeff starting his job on Monday, would've quickly got overshadowed by a few MAJOR milestones by Sam?  Wow is all we can say.

Sam is growing up!  We've been working on her being able to take a shower on her own.  She does pretty well, but always needed a little assistance getting her hair rinsed completely free of the shampoo and conditioner.  Something magically clicked on Tuesday, when we returned from her gymnastics class. We walked in the door and she asked if she could take a shower.  I said, "Yes, I will come help you."  She went in the bathroom and as she was slamming the door yelling, "NO, I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!!", she took the shower completely on her own, unassisted.  Setting aside the fact that I got treated with disrespect, it was pretty awesome that she did it.  When she came out of the bathroom in her pajamas and a big smile on her face, I told her I was very proud of her but didn't deserve to be yelled at.  She said she was "Sorry".  Then I explained how I was only trying to help her and she yelled back at me, "I TOLD YOU I WAS SORRY!!".  Lovely, right?  Anyway, I try to focus on the good in this story.  Sam is now showering on her own and she is doing a great job.  Woo-hoo!!

But the milestones just keep coming.  Each morning Sam has been working on tying her shoes.  This is a full year before Ian was able to master this skill at his age.  Something just magically clicked on Thursday morning and the next thing you know, Sam is now tying her shoes.  She can actually tie each sneaker in under 20 seconds.  It's very impressive. 

Sam is getting to be a big girl.  Jeff and I have noticed that her behavior is starting to get better.  I still notice many episodes of her yelling/demanding/whining/exploding at us for no reason, but it appears to be a little less frequent.  I've observed the more she is able to do on her own, the better behaved she is. She likes her independence and to be able to make decisions on her own.

I got your digits

Ian has made a new friend in school.  His name is Michael and is new this year to Fairview.  Ian came home and said he wanted to call Michael.  Since we don't have the directory yet, I told Ian he'd have to get Michael's number at school the next day.  Ian comes home with Michael's number written on a post-it note.  Ian walked around the house carrying it from room to room, not quite sure the best place to keep this important square piece of paper.  I believe Ian settled putting it on the desk in his room as the final resting place.

After dinner, Ian made THE phone call:

Phone rings and the answering machine picks up -

IAN (with an incredibly shaky voice, in a low tone):  Um, this is Ian.  Could Michael call me back as soon as possible?  This is Ian.  Thank you.

No return phone call that evening.  We come to find out that Michael was in the shower at the time.  No return phone call the next day or the next.  The weekend goes by, still no call from Michael.

It should be noted that Ian and Michael are in class together and see each other all day, every day of the week.

Monday, I drop Ian off at gymnastics and come back home.  The message light is blinking.  I play the message.

MICHAEL (with an equally incredibly shaky, nervous voice):  Um, this is me.  Please call me back.  It's Michael.  Ian, call me.

Because Ian wasn't going to be home until 8:15pm, I called Michael's house right away to find out how late it would be ok for Ian to call back that night.  Michael answered the phone and found out from his mom that 8:00pm is the latest to get a return phone call in.  I asked to speak to the mom and introduced myself.  I said that Ian would love to have a playdate with Michael and set something up for later in the month.   Michael's mom said it would be ok for Ian to call Michael at 8:15pm.  I ended up speaking to her for 10 minutes. Super nice mom!

Ian comes home from gymnastics.  I let him listen to Michael's message and told him it was ok to call back.  Here is the conversation when Michael picked up the phone:

IAN:  Hi Michael.  This is Ian.

MICHEAL (I am assuming Michael replied with):  Hi Ian.

IAN:  Um, I just got back from gymnastics. I'll see you tomorrow at school.  Bye.

The whole conversation lasted 20 seconds.  It was super cute how they had nothing to say to each other, but it was SOOOO important they told each other in their messages to call each other back immediately. 

This was Ian's very first phone call to a friend.  He did it all on his own; got the phone number, dialed it on his own and left his own message.  It was very adorable to watch the whole thing play out.

Ian is growing up.  It's fun to watch these new milestones. 

Tie shoes? Check!

We did it!  Or more specifically Ian did it, with lots of Jeff's help!  As previously reported in Taking the plunge in buying shoes with laces, I am proud to report that Ian can tie his shoes!  Woo-hoo!! 

Tie a kid's shoes and they stay tied for a day.  Teach a kid to tie them and he can do it for a lifetime.

Needless to say, I am so incredibly proud of Ian.  I sometimes feel that Ian gets a raw deal when it comes to my time and attention.  And because he is so good-natured, it's easy to let some stuff slide, like having to teach shoe tying instead of doing the easy thing and keep buying velcro shoes. Jeff took this shoe tying teaching lesson very seriously and within (3) 10 minute sessions each night, Ian got it.  And now, there is no stopping him.  This is very exciting.  Go Ian!!!!!!!!!

This is the big-time, baby!

Since Ian was 5 years old, I told him every time we went to buy him sneakers, we were going to take the plunge and get shoes with laces.  No more going for what is the easiest for both of us and having velcro at your fingertips.  I figured the only was he going to learn how to tie his shoes is if he had to in order to wear them. 

It only took me 2 years to make good on my threat. The time finally came to buy shoes again and we didn't take the easy way out.  Score one for mommy!  We headed into Stride Rite and I told Ian he could pick any pair of sneakers he wanted, as long as they had laces.  To my surprise, Ian picked these sneakers in the photo.  Ian chose a pair of Nike's.  Wow!  How old school!  I remember wearing Nike's growing up.  With a big smile on my face, I said, "Yes!".

So Jeff is in charge of teaching Ian how to tie his shoes.  Jeff wanted to start right away, but Ian requested he hold off learning until the weekend.  At least we've got the shoes purchased, right?  Baby steps.  But these baby steps come in a size 12.5  :)