Blog Ian

Turns out we were a bit premature in our celebration of Ian's sleeping patterns (see May 29, 2004 entry). As we approach his ninth birthday, he's fallen into a habit of waking at least twice during the night--often around midnight and then around 4:00 or 5:00.

So, we're consulting books and Parenting magazine in search of a strategy to encourage more extended sleeping.

Sigh.

8.75 months of disrupted sleep is beginning to take its toll on Mom and Dad.

Ian has become quite adept at what we call the "commando crawl." He doesn't use his legs for propulsion. Instead, he crawls forward on his elbows. Mostly, he uses his right arm for power and his left arm as a rudder.

On his eight-month birthday, he demonstrated the commando crawl for us, while wearing a new outfit (above) that his mom bought him. Here's a QuickTime movie of him in action!

http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Jeremy/Commando.htm

Ian just made his first (of many, we're sure) appearance in the Tuscaloosa News.


Elizabeth Alter is a local architect and the woman responsible for us finding our home in Bellwood. We went to see her while we were trying to decide if we should expand Dream Home I in order to accommodate both Marysia and me. During our initial conversation with her, it became apparent that expanding Dream Home I was not a good option for us.

While we were chatting, however, we mentioned how Marysia had tried to buy a home in Bellwood and how much she loved the neighborhood. As it turned out, Elizabeth and her husband, Torin, lived there already.

A couple of months of house hunting passed and we had not found something suitable. Suddenly, to our surprise, Elizabeth called us with a tip that a Bellwood home was about to be offered for "sale by owner."

Well sir, that tip led to our purchase of 1527 Bellwood Lane. Thank you, Elizabeth!