We had a very nice weekend. Ian had a birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon, so it was all about getting him to nap early on Saturday so we wouldn't miss it. We talked to Daddy in the morning, and then headed for the park. My goal was to get him to the barber shop for a hair cut, but it was such a beautiful day outside and I didn't have the energy to force him out of the park. He ran himself ragged. He likes to run across the soccer field, so he did that a couple of times. He was hanging out by himself at the far end for a while. The second time he did it, I could see him lying on the grass, kicking his feet up, picking grass and sticks up. He seemed pretty entertained. We drew lots of fire engines with his chalk, he climbed on all of the play equipment and stared shyly at a little boy and his older sister. It turns out he is 3 and lives on the next street over, so now maybe Ian will have someone to play with nearby.

We went to Natasha's birthday party in the afternoon and Ian was a little shy at first. It was at a children's gym, so the kids were participating in a game when we arrived. Ian just wanted to sit in my lap and watch. He slowly warmed up and participated in the dancing part. He still sat in my lap, but he shook the little egg-rattles that they passed around. When the music stop, he turned with concern and asked, "Is there another song?" He had pizza and played (and fought over toys) with his friends and at the end he said, "I wanna stay here." Natasha's mommy gave Ian a balloon. "Purple!" was the one he picked. Then he wanted another one and Natasha's mommy said it was ok, so he picked the red one. He played with the balloons non-stop all evening. Needless to say, he slept very well on Saturday night.

On Sunday, Tia and Dennis came over with bagels for brunch. Ian was so excited to see them. We sat outside and had bagels and enjoyed the beautiful weather until it got a bit too hot. Back inside, Ian showed Tia and Dennis his books and his balloons (which had lost most of their helium). While he was playing with the red one, it popped and he immediately held it out to me and said, "Mommy fix it." I told him I couldn't, so he gave it to Dennis. Dennis managed to blow it up a bit and Ian was just fascinated. He sang "Oh skin-i-ma-rink-i-dink" for them and Dennis knew all the words, too! There is a big emphasis on the "oh" when Ian sings it and sometimes he ends it with "and you and you and you!"

Finally, Tia and Dennis had to head back to the city and Ian had to go down for his nap. He wasn't happy about it, but he passed out pretty quickly and Mommy enjoyed a peaceful 2+ hours.

Yesterday, Ian was a very good boy about getting ready to go to school and not crying (which is the usual Monday routine). When I went to get him, he had a sticker on his daily sheet with an A+ and note saying that Ian had been a very good boy. He had tried to go on the potty twice (no success, but he really, really tried). YAY!