Ian sings!!!

Well, we hit a new milestone today! Background first: we were home today because yesterday the school called to say that he had a 101/102 fever. He had caught a bit of a cold over the weekend and he had a runny nose and a little cough. Monday morning his nose was really runny, but he didn't have a fever, but I guess it spiked after lunch (I suspect he may have been overheated because it got pretty warm and he was wearing long sleeves). Anyway, so he wasn't allowed to go back to school for 24 hours after the fever subsided (by the time I got there around 2:15, he didn't have a fever anymore). We had fun on Monday afternoon playing hooky and going to the park. I had scheduled a checkup for today anyway, so we went to the doctor this afternoon.

Back to the milestone: So we were in the house this morning because I had to be on a conference call for work that lasted from 9:00 til 11:30. In the meantime, Ian was being a little cranky, but then he settled down to coloring with his markers (one of his favorite activities) and playing with his xylophone that has keys. I played "Twinkle Twinkle/Alphabet Song" for him a couple of times. Then he was playing by himself and I could have sworn that I heard him singing the tune -- no words, just "ba ba, ba ba, ba ba ba". I didn't get too excited just yet, thinking it might just have been my imagination.

He fell asleep in the swing in the backyard and when I brought him back inside, he woke up and did nap any further. I put him in the car around 2:30 and went to the shopping center where the doctor's office is, thinking he might fall asleep in the car. Our appointment was at 3:45, and of course, he didn't fall asleep. So we did some shopping and then went to the doctor's. While we were waiting to see the doctor, I started singing the alphabet song. So I sang, "ABCDEFG, HIJK LMNO..." and paused. He looked up and said, "P!" OK, calm down, I thought, another fluke. So I sang it again and he said it again! We did it 3 or 4 times. It was definitely not a fluke.

After the appointment, he fell asleep on the way home, so he napped very late. We were online with Jeff and I told him about the singing. Ian did it again with the "P" and then he very clearly sang the tune of the alphabet song!

How great is that?!?

Other neat things that he does:
- Jeff drew an airplane and a bird on the bathroom wall. Ian points to the airplane and says, "Avi!" and to the bird and says, "Niao-niao!"
- Every time there's a noise at the door, he looks at me and says, "Daddy?" Or when we go upstairs, he points to our bedroom and says, "Daddy?" Or when I say (in Chinese), "Let's go home," he says, "Daddy?"
- The other day he all of a sudden put his fingers over his eyes, pulled them away and said, "Bi boo!" Which means "peek-a-boo!"
- He now points out babies and says, "Baby!"
- He waves and yells at the top of his lungs, "BYE!" to any passing car. The bad part is that he runs towards the car.

OK, I've bragged enough for one night!