Last Two Months of Mr. Meh -- where to start!

It's been really stupid of me not to write about Ivan and our life for the last two months. So much has happened with his development, but I've been too lazy to turn on the computer and record it all. It's so easy to fall of the wagon.

Anyway, I'll try to recap the last two months as separate but I'm not even sure where to start.

Daycare
Two months into it, it seems that Ivan has adjusted to daycare rather well. He no longer cries when we drop him off, although he's still a bit clingy. He seems to like Ms. Yvonne and Ms. Azi. They also say he's an easy quiet kid. A few times when we picked him up, we've even managed to spy him at play unaware of our presence. He was happy and smiling, playing with other kids.

Whereas he used to cry at the sight of his lunch bag, he now likes it. When we leave the house in the morning, he insists on carrying it. He holds it in his lap in the car and then walks into daycare with it. The same thing on the way back home. This past week, he refused to walk into the house but opened the porch door to go back to the car----because Andy left the lunch bag in the car. This past week, he must have been really hungry when he came home from daycare (I assume they feed him) because he immediately sat at the table and opened his lunch bag to see what's left in it to eat.

He also learned a few things in daycare, the most noticable one being holding onto the railing to walk up and down the stairs. (I'm sure he learned other things as well, but none come to mind right now.)

Ivan's Dinner Variety Show
We've been trying to eat dinner together when we get home from work. Andy and I end up eating our dinner food, while Ivan ends up entertaining us but not eating anything. He likes to stand up on the bench and babble an move up and down the lenght of the bench, ocassionaly stomping his right foot. Finally, it occured to me that he may be trying to dance. So this past week, I asked Ms. Yvonne whether she tap-dances with them in the class. I wasn't off the mark. They do dance in class--the Hokey Pokey and the Electric Slide. She demonstrated for us. It was exactly what Ivan tries to execute on the bench instead of eating dinner. It's really cute.

Birthday
Ivan turned two earlier this month. We held a big birthday party for him. Almost all the people invited to the party came. I was afraid it was going to be a zoo, but the weather cooperated and it was an unusually warm February day, so we were able to open the porch door where many people ended up sitting. We invited his playgroup friends, some friends from my work and our other friends with kids. And of course, our families.

I was surprised that Ivan really nicely played with everyone. He actually had a great time. I was afraid that he would be shy and cranky (as he was the weekend before at Emir's party)...but nope, he had a blast.

Both my mom and Andy say that they think he was aware and understood that the party was for him.
My mom had been telling him that he was about to have a birthday party (Ivan stayed with them on Friday, and they all came on Saturday in time for the party).

Andy said that when we all gathered to sign happy birthday and blow out the candles that he knew it was for him! I'm glad.

He got lots of cool gifts, which took us two days to open. Now I just need to send thank you notes. (I probably should've done that tonight).

Another One Bites the Dust

(written yesterday; posted today)

This time it wasn't death by excessive slobber but rather death by repetitive dropping and poking of the "bup."

Yes, my cell phone suffered an irreparable trauma at the hands of the Toddler.

Poking of the "bup" is Ivan's fascination to plug the charger into the phone. A "bup" is his word for "hole."

And now I have been cell phone-less for last 72 hours. After getting over the initial "Oh my God, What If Someone is Trying to Reach Me But They Can't!" anxiety, I've been finding the cell phone-less life rather liberating. It's a throw back to simpler times, way back to 10 years ago. My God, how did we survive!

I could've gotten a new cell phone today, yesterday or Tuesday. There are at least three ATT stores in the walking distance from work. But I've been paralyzed with choice. Which phone to get? Just a simple cell phone? Or should I go important and get a Blackberry? Or should I go cool and spring for an iPhone? Dilemmas, dilemmas....

But the real underlying question is how much technology intrusion do I want to allow to seep into my life?. Because if I get a savvy cell phone, will this mean that I will actually be inclined to Facebook, Twitter, or what ever else more?

But now that I've written this post, I realize that I really regularly communicate with most people over e-mail anyway....So my cell phone talk has really become just an emergency communications tool!