Day Out With Thomas...Ian Style

Today was a wonderful day with my Ian.  It's rare that Neil or I take the twins out by themselves other than to run errands, so today I took Ian to Day Out With Thomas at the Railroad museum.
He seemed a little confused when we left without the others and drove longer than usual.  He was so quiet in the back seat I thought he had fallen asleep.  All that changed as soon as we drove past the train museum to the parking area.  From that moment on, he barely stopped babbling the entire time.

Ian doesn't have a lot of words that I understand, but today he got to use a few that he does have.  I think he said "choo train" about a thousand times, there were Thomas "balloons" everywhere for him to point out, and there was even a "duck" in the petting zoo.

Seeing his excitement all day literally made me want to cry.  I have seen Tristan like this so many times.  We take him everywhere and he has done everything. The twins have been a lot of places, but mostly from the view of the stroller.  I guess that's the story for most kids other than the first born, at least for the first few years.  Now that the twin's personalities are really coming out, it's neat to know what activities they would really enjoy.  Finn and Ian are so different and it was nice to do something that Ian would love so much today.  Could all of the boys have come and had a good time?  Sure.  Would the others have loved it like Ian?  No way.  This way he got to soak it up just how he wanted to and just at his pace.

He played to nicely with the other kids in the train table tent, but you could tell me his the youngest child at home.  No other kids were hoarding trains under one arm while playing with the other.  He has learned to keep a stash handy because more than likely his first toy will be taken away.  That Ian... always prepared. 












I love learning more about my kids and what things interest them.  I can't wait to do more of these days with Ian, and of course with Finn as well ;)

Ian with his new train.  He didn't put it down for hours

While we were on the bus pulling out of the train museum, Ian said the longest phrase he has said to date, "Bye Choo.  Miss you."  This mama's heart was happy to hear a complete thought out of that sweet little mind!

Just Another Birthday

Another year, another birthday.  This past year has been so wonderful and with many great things to come this next year I was not dreading my birthday at all.  In fact, I have never given any weight to the number birthday even when it was a "big one" like 21 or 30.  In my mind, 33 would be no different. 

Neil took me out on Saturday night because that's when our babysitter was free and I didn't mind celebrating two days early.  The night started out with us test driving a mini van... something that was on my "I will never" list would not be a welcome change to our current ride.  After the drive, we headed to Hopa on Pearl Street Mall for some sushi.  While sitting at the sushi bar and chatting while waiting for our food, I said to Neil,
"If you had told me 10 years ago on my 23rd birthday that for my 33rd birthday I would be happily test driving a mini van and eating sushi..."
Neil: "Ha, you mean your 24th birthday"
Andy: "What do you mean?"
Neil: "10 years ago was your 24th birthday.  You are turning 34."
Andy: "Haha, very funny.  I'm turning 33."
Neil: "You were born in '78, right?"

At that moment I knew he was right.  I have never been so blind sighted in my life.  I had absolutely no idea that I was turning 34!!  I did what any reasonable adult would do in the moment;  I cried.  However, as I started to cry, and I mean real tears down my cheeks, I had an outer body experience and could see how funny this would be if I was watching this happen to someone else.  So now I am crying tears of shock and laughing at the same time.  Neil didn't know what to do.  He ordered me a birthday cocktail and things calmed down a bit.  We went ahead and had an amazing dinner with some of the best desserts I have EVER had!

It turned out that my babysitter was also free on my birthday, so Neil took me out for a nice dinner on Monday as well.  After two days to come to grips with my age, I was able to sit back, relax, and enjoy a glass of champagne that just happened to be the special of the night... did they know it was my birthday?!

It wasn't the actual number of my age that bothered me, it was that I felt I had lost a year, which in fact I had not.  Life is going just as it was supposed to and is sweeter than I ever imagined it could be, so does the magical number 34 actually bother me, no.  Was the surprise of a number bigger than I was expecting  a shock, yes.  Maybe this past year was just so sweet that I wanted to live it all over again, or maybe I just feel younger than my age.  Either way, bring on 34!  I can't wait to see all the fabulous blessings this year has to offer. 

Me being sad after finding out I was turning 34