Growing

Today on a whim I took Ian to the park. My initial motivation was just for me to get a little exercise, and since I think Yorba Regional Park is one of the most beautiful places around, it seemed like an ideal spot. I thought I was pushing it a bit. After all, I'm too cheap to pay for parking, so we left the car at the softball fields and walked in. In spite of the fact that Ian was close to his lunchtime (which is usually followed immediately by a nap), I decided to walk pretty far in. I realized this could be a bad move. My point was to force myself to get a little extra distance, but of course that also meant if he had a meltdown it would take me that much longer to get back to the car.

But shoving all common sense aside, I threw Ian in the stroller, grabbed the diaper bag, and took off. Eventually I decided to stop at one of the playgrounds. Granted, it was for much older kids, but since there was no one else there, I figured we'd see what we could get out of it. Ian surprised me. He took off climbing up the stairs quite happily, and when I helped him on the slide, he got the hugest grin on his face. By the time we left about half and hour later, he had totally conquered the stairs and knew exactly want he wanted to do when he got to the slide. He needed a little help getting turned around so he could go down on his tummy (feet first), but he sure tried to do it all on his own. A couple more trips to the park and I have a feeling he'll be a master.

He had so much fun, he didn't even seem to realize what time it was. Luckily I had some food in the diaper bag, so I just pulled it out for a little picnic before we headed back to the car. He even managed to stay away for the five minutes it took us to get home. Now he's sleeping soundly.

I can't believe that it was only 9 months ago he was just a little scrunchy newborn. It has been so much fun watching him grow and learn. I never realized how many little skills we have to master to get to even simple things like going down a slide. Everyone keeps saying, "Oh, just wait until he's walking; then your life will never be the same!" Like that's a bad thing. I'm chasing after him all the time as it is; how nice if he could actually go outside and walk on his own! I'm looking forward to little walks around our complex. And when we go to the park in a couple months, who knows what he'll be doing?

It's amazing how much you can look forward to silly little things. Tonight I was supposed to be getting together with friends, but then we ended up cancelling. Even though I was planning to take Ian with me, I was still anticipating "night out." Eric's headed out to Glamis for the weekend (at least I think that's where they are... I suppose I should have verified that!) and so now we're sitting home alone. I'm writing this, and Ian is enjoying tearing up a phone book that I hope I'll never need. That's what the internet's for, right?

I hadn't realized how much I needed a break in routine until our plans got cancelled. My first thought was to try to find a babysitter and treat myself to a night out... but then I looked at the chubby little face and felt guilty. I need to change my attitude and just enjoy some time with a sweet little boy who will never be 2 days shy of 9 months again.

Before he went down for his evening nap, I was sitting in his room, just watching him play. All I really wanted was a nap myself, so I lay down on the carpet next to him. He turned to me with the biggest grin and leaned over to give me a big wet open mouthed baby kiss. Why is it so charming to wipe slobber off your face when it's your own little one who did it? No idea. Anyway, over the next 15 minutes, he just kept coming back to smother me with more and more kisses. That's when I had the aforementioned moment of guilt.

Okay, so I guess that means I need to get off the computer, salvage what I can of the yellow pages, and enjoy my baby for while!

To write or not to write

Okay, so I didn't start out tonight planning to start a blog. But a search for a long lost friend led me to her blog, and then I ended up creating an account. So here I am. I attempted a blog once before, when I got a MySpace account to connect with some friends. But I wasn't terribly inspired, and MySpace drove me nuts, so it sort of died. We'll see if this one has a longer life. But tonight is not the night to get started. It's almost 11:00, and while that's not terribly late for Eric and me, Ian had a rough night last night, and an even rougher day, so I'm feeling pretty spent. Eric already crashed on the couch about an hour ago, so I think it's time to wake him up so he can come to bed. And maybe this blog thing can get started another day.