Growing Up

Sometimes things happen which make me realize that Ian is growing up right in front of me. I was making supper this evening when I saw Ian go crawling down the hall to his room. A minute or so later, he came crawling back to the living room dragging something. When I reached a stopping point in my work, I went into the living room to see what he was up to. The first thing I saw was this:
Ian had arranged these pieces from his toolbox in a symmetrical pattern. This is actually quite impressive given that there are two of each color. I haven't sat down to figure out the probability of randomly generating a sequence like this, but the odds aren't actually that good.

Second, I looked up to see him sitting in one of the living room chairs with his face buried in a book, and he was talking to himself. It turns out that the thing he drug back to the living room was one of his books. The kid had gone to his room, picked out a book, brought it back to the living room, climbed into a chair, and started "reading" to himself. I just quietly walked back into the kitchen and resumed working...he didn't need me to entertain him.

P.S. Look how old he looks in this picture of him and Lisa...and how much he looks like Rob.