Everyone should be duly warned to watch what they say in front of the little sponge. This weekend, I distinctly heard Ian say, "Wait a minute." Which is what I always say when he gets all whiny and antsy.

We had a visit on Saturday afternoon from Auntie Gillian, newlywed and officially a part of the family. We went to the park and Gillian was very impressed by Ian's throwing arm. He was throwing lefty the whole time, so I thought that he might officially be declared a lefty (he was also eating with his left hand at lunch). We found a baseball the other day on the playground and he was throwing it to me and Gillian. He was standing under the basket on the basketball court and Gillian and I were sitting at the foul line (forgive me if I am mislabeling it, but it's been a while since I tried out for the Murphy JHS girls' basketball team). He threw the ball at me and it came straight to me (Jeff asked hopefully whether or not the ball bounced before getting to me -- Ian's good, but let's not get crazy here). He was running all over the basketball court after the baseball, the basketball and his medium-sized bouncy ball. Gillian asked for a besito and he went right over to her. She closed her eyes and offered a cheek and I'm watching Ian crane his neck around so he can land one right on her lips! Gillian was so surprised, her eyes popped open. Ah, the little Casanova! We won't tell MIT Jiu-jiu (aka, Uncle Wes). I think that convinced Gillian to stay for dinner! (We had Ian's favorite pork chops and, of course, white rice).

Yesterday, we went to the backyard to play after going to the supermarket. He was singing and in a great mood in the car. The weather wasn't that great, but it was really humid and hot. He was throwing a little rubber ball, kind of like a racquetball, that Gillian found at the park. He threw exclusively with his right hand. So I watched him while he was eating to see whether there was any further indication. He seemed to use both. The one thing he did was adjust his hand so that he held the fork at the very end, never in the middle. And when he draws, it seems to depend on his mood.

He ate really well this weekend. I realize that he likes a particular type of chicken nuggets because he'll nibble at the Dino-nuggets and only eat the appendages. It's like a dino-graveyard on his plate afterwards, with dino-torsos scattered about. And he doesn't always eat the round ones. But yesterday I gave him the ones I used to buy when he first started eating nuggets and he ate EIGHT nuggets at lunch. He asked for more, but then he wasn't interested. And he wouldn't stop eating the grapes at the supermarket. I think we got a good deal on those since he ate quite a few before we got to the register...

I also discovered that he sings A LOT of songs. Friday night after his bath, he started singing to himself as he was playing in his room, and after a while, I realized he wasn't just making sounds, he was actually singing the words to "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Yesterday, he finished the words to "10 Little Monkeys". I played him this singing toy ("Hi, I'm Tad, and you can count on me...") and he sang that song, too, after listening to it a few times.

Plus, we were watching "Daddy Day Care" and somebody said something about shoes, and Ian looked up and said, "Shoes." So he's getting what's being said on TV.

And lest you think we are not hip and happening and limited to Sesame Street and nursery rhymes, Ian started dancing when he heard the Black-Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started". Also seems to enjoy Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". Not as into the recent Madonna stuff. Of course, what really got him grooving was his LeapFrog bus that sings the ABC song. He was playing with it while I was getting dinner ready and I look over and he's stepping from side to side and grinning from ear to ear.