Sept 5 - Ian has been watching YouTube tutorials on how to build certain things in Minecraft. He makes a list of materials as the video plays and then goes back to his game to build it, list by his side. He starts 1st grade tomorrow and I'm so stinking proud of this kid. He's awesome.

Sept 8 - Ian swam in the pool while I did some cleaning. We're running out of days it will be warm enough to use it. We decided to take the giant set of steps out today. It has about 60lb of weights attached to it to help keep it in place against the swirl of water. I couldn't get the wires untwisted that held them on so I decided to she hulk the whole thing out.
The steps themselves fill with water plus the weights made it damn heavy. Pulling it out of water where it wanted to stay was not easy. Ian really wanted to help me so once I was under the ladder I told him to climb out of the pool to the deck and help drag it out.
He got out onto the deck and as I strained under the weight of the ladder he kept saying, "I'm worried about your safety, Mommy!" But between his pulling and my stubborn strength we got it out. Ian was a legit help in the whole thing.
I love being big and strong and I want my half giant kid to appreciate his own size and strength too.

Sept 12 - Tonight's reading with Ian featured these words thanks to "Three Ninja Pigs":
"aikido", "sayanara", "techniques", "persisted", "earnest", "certified", "outrivaled", and "mincemeat".
We also learned that "lodged" means to get stuck in certain contexts.

Sept 14 - This morning's 15 minutes of reading was "Focus On Outer Space", which Ian struggled to hold open and read over his omelet. He actually read silently to himself and would occasionally tell me random facts like the sun is 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
How do they measure that? Like why 27 million and not 24 or 32? I remember trying to understand what Farhenheit temperatures meant in "real feel" as a kid and that was just 0-100 or so. Telling him it's 70F outside doesn't really give him a frame for 27,000,000F.
I can't help with the space facts, but I did buy him a book stand from Amazon.

Sept 15 - Tonight's reading was "Junie B Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus". I'm not so sure I like this broad. Plus she uses adjectives when she should use adverbs ("And so I quick sat down ...") which is weird.
I was happy we moved onto "Hacks for Minecrafters". My kid knows what an ocelot is and was all "NBD, they're like cats but not tame." Fair enough.

Sept 18 - Ian is playing hide and seek with a tiny little girl who only knows how to count to ten, so he has to be *really* fast.

Sept 25 - "Bird on the Wire" came on the radio and Ian is yawning and singing along from the back seat. 
"I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch ..."
He'll be asleep any second now.
#leonardcohenlullabies

Sept 25 - We sorta forgot to eat lunch. I introduced Ian to Southland's all you can eat buffet and they are going to regret the $3.99 price for kids six and under as he's descended on it like a biblical plague.
He ate two giant plates of everything. He then stuck his whole face in a little cup of chocolate pudding that most likely came from a #10 can and exclaimed, "This is delicious!"
He finished the last bite and murmured to himself, "I could just go into heaven right now." I think he may be drunk.

Sept 25 - I love it when Ian sings. He's currently belting out "Wagon Wheel" from the back seat. If he harmonizes, I may die from delight. 
#heymamarockme

Sept 30 - Me: "If you sit on the right you can see the deer."
Ian: "Actually, Mommy, I have to sit here. They say smaller riders have to sit on the *inside*."
He was scared to ride the first time. We're on ride number six and he's chosen the front car.