tableside guacamole

No tableside guac for Aiden. It could've been that it wasn't ripe enough, but Aiden haaated the sticky avocado we tried for the first time tonight. I then tried mixing it with more breast milk, then rice, then oats... each time making it worse and worse. I tasted it myself and it was pretty sweet but had a weird stick to it. I think next time we might make it more oaty right off the bat and he'll like it...or maybe at least tolerate it. He seems to like sweet potato and carrot (dreamy easy to make - dare I say fun to make, but I really like repetitive cutting projects if that explains my version of crazy fun), but they seem to stick in his system a bit longer. The pears can fix that, but they are kinda tart and he makes funny faces. Mix anything with oats and he just wants to devour it in one big bite. He tolerated green beans (which I steamed and chopped and pureed and sieved - crappy von crap to make!). Rice hardly gets a reaction out of him. I'm glad that we started him slowly on just a few foods, because as we approach the six month mark I realize how much work it is going to be to feed him solids on a regular basis!

Up to now we were just using the regular gerber rice and oats, but I heard about this happybellies brand that my friend swears by (they include probiotics which boost their digestion similar to acidophilis type stuff in yogurt for big kids). I cruised by whole foods to pick up a canister and ended up also getting some of their frozen organic foods. I plan to use these as backup when I'm in between homemade batches. I really think that frozen baby food is a smart idea because it makes sense to me that it locks in the nutrients and doesn't have to be processed as much. I can't watch an episode of that Unwrapped show without thinking about all the extra crap that goes into processed foods.

My normally even keel friend went ape over the plastics thing and after calling gerber was not reassured that their plastic containers aren't leaching like all those crazy baby bottles (really pissy). I try not to be alarmist and I really don't know much about this, but I guess the containers are unclassified plastic or something so they could be a concern especially because the foods are sitting in the plastic for quite a while and they could eat away at the composition of the plastics. Also, special note: if you break a compact fluorescent light bulb clean it up immediately, keep your kid away from that area, and try to scrub any fibers it touched - They leak hazardous amounts of mercury. Be sure to dispose of them at a place like Ikea or a recycling center. This will be the next big Today Show type news.

this just in

J just picked up our little schnooks and there weren't any digital proofs... boo, good old fashioned waiting for proofs. Oh, the suspense.

But in the meantime, this just in: Aiden was sitting in J's lap and he grabbed his shirt and pulled himself to standing without any help! He's been working out those chubsters with all that bouncing. He'll be running around before we know it.

toddler enrichment

J and I (or maybe it was just me and J went along with it) decided that we should shop around to be sure that Aiden will have the most "enriching" toddler school possible. Since there are ridiculous waitlists around here, we thought we should start looking now for the 15-18 month range classes. Our first stop was the University sponsored center, which my mom has me convinced would be the best because it's university affiliated. But...the university must not have a strong grasp on good childcare options OR we just have a really good thing going at the Workshop. Our current center is really A++ and deserves a super star compared to this place. We went to look at the university center yesterday (we originally showed up at the wrong location which was actually the affliate for 3 years and older and we had to turn around embarrassed to drive to the place we were supposed to be - eek, we just had to giggle). Now I can't quite explain our general impressions but we almost didn't want to go in. There was a play area shrewn with crap and the A frame building itself was only about 1,000 sq ft. It was small, smelly, and loooud! They only have 20 kids total, but they were running crazy. The director had us touch base with one of the teachers that had been there since 1989 (which seems like a plus, but he was so lax it almost scared me - he let a little mobile 18 month old get tangled up in a swinging swing twice! I thought she might lose an arm). The icing on the cake were the baby cages. Yes, the only word to describe these little wall bunks with full screen doors is C-A-G-E. There was no sitting or standing in those dingy wooden seinfeld-esque poor-replacements-for-a-crib. They might try drawers instead - might be easier to keep clean. When I asked how they work with the toddlers they said that they occasionally read them books...but we do try to potty train, let me show you the dingy gross bathroom. uh ok. I think it just reinforced that we are at a good place. I'm amazed when I see how well he interacts with the other kids, since just a few months ago he would've barely even noticed other kids. He really seems to like playing there and smiles at all his teachers. I'm glad he can learn from others and from us.

novices

Tomorrow is picture day at Aiden's school! I've had the note on the fridge for weeks and I've said it out loud over and over, but gosh darn it, we better not end up sending that kid in with one of his less desirable "man of leisure suits" (aka glorified pj jumpers) for photo day. The teachers all laugh when I joke about sending him in glorified pjs, but then they pause and thank me for making his diaper changes easy. Technically, he's the youngest munchkin of the bunch, so he doesn't need big kid clothes yet, right?! We have started moving towards onesie shirts and pants, but I think dad is resistent to the pants that have to be sorta wiggled on... but he'll eventually get the hang of it. We have started a sock wearing routine since most of his feety jumpers were getting too small... but gosh those were easy! I'm sure we'll think back as we're changing a squirmy two year old and laugh at our novice skills.

must haves

A friend was joking that she couldn't parent without batteries. It makes me laugh thinking that is kinda true. The mega batteries in the swing last forever, thank goodness. As Aiden gets older and we get out and about more often, I have started thinking that I can't live without those clippy rings that connect to each other and can hold toys onto the car seat or the activity bar above his gym. I also think that these no-slip socks my sister found for us are a must have...along with the schnazzy elastic backed robeez like shoes. We love the gentle glow of our tykelights...I have three now, even one at gran and pop's house in ohio. I can't imagine parenting without our big exercise ball, which is perfect for our bounce lover. The exersaucer with the bouncey springs is the new necessity for mom and dad bathroom breaks now that he gets bored in his swing pretty quickly. Aiden loves his mobiles although now when we stand him up after a diaper change he grabs and tries to munch the one over his change table...soon enough he will be jumping up on his own to grab the mobile over his crib, so it will have to go. The new bath seat that hooks to the side of the tub now seems like a necessity and allows for a one parent bath. Bath time has always been pretty easy and fun especially with the bath visor that have keeps water out of his ears. These are just a few of our must haves for Aiden's first half of a year...

my shoes!

I have many pairs of shoes, but there are some that are etched in my memory and make me think of happy moments. I am sure that Aiden's shoes will make me smile once he's grown out of them. Since Aiden is getting so big, so fast I hadn't realized that some of the little shoes I couldn't resist buying before he was born already fit! Now he can lift himself to sitting and then to standing positions when we hold his hands, but he technically doesn't really need shoes. The hoot owl british funky feet fashions are by far the most practical. The saddle shoes make his ankles twist, but they sure are cute. I went looking for something that would keep his feet cool but covered and this little generic crocs do the trick. The hightop baby gap denim numbers look like clown shoes, but I couldn't help myself and he'll eventually grow into them and then it will be debatable whether they still look like clown shoes. I'm missing photos of his monkey toed cool and these little slippers with crocodile heads, but here is the rundown of Aiden's shoes:

smile instigator

Spring sprung this week! Aiden kept up his cheery charm. His teachers even commented that he seemed to delight in making them laugh (even after being evacuated for what looks like was a smell wafting from a sess pool cleanup in a construction site - ick - still not sure why they didn't smell it outside?!). He's been figuring out new tricks to get us smiling - like sticking out his pointy tongue!




We're breaking out the summer gear and Aiden's beach chub is ready for some sand and chilly ocean water. We're equipped with baby sunglasses (with a elasticy strap to keep them comfy) and four sun hats (two with neck covers - yep I got carried away but they were soo cute, and I had trouble finding them, so once I did I snatched up a bunch of sizes)

Here is the start of a "where did Aiden get his genes?" photo review - Here he is this week at 5 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days old along with a photo of his PopPop:

stinky

The literally stinky daycare is closed today, so Aiden and I are playing happily at home. We're going to go visit daddy and say hi to his coworkers after lunch. We're excited to enjoy this beautiful day! They are doing air quality checks and I'm glad because that reassures me that everything will be double checked. The smell wasn't ever in Aiden's room, but who knows. Luckily I can get some work done in Flash for my RISD class because Aiden loves to watch the computer screen.

big adventure

As if Aiden hasn't had enough excitement lately, but Daddy went to pick him up from daycare today and they had been evacuated and sent over to the neighboring Fantasyland business. They had a suspicious smell in the other part of the building (which they still aren't sure what it was - they said it wasn't a gas leak, but it could be a dead animal?!). Daddy arrived to find them all camped out on this little grassy knoll fenced in next to the putt putt course. We're talking all the kids from infants, toddlers, and kindergarten classes, probably something like 40-50 kids. The infants had changing pads handy and they wheeled them over in cribs... but no food! Aiden hadn't eaten since 11:20am because when they were evacuated (supposedly around 3pm) his bottle was in the warmer. They claimed that they'd called both J and I at work, but somehow we both missed the calls and there were no messages. This doesn't make me too happy because both of us are flexible enough that we could've come to get him right away, but no harm done I guess. He was really only out there for a little over an hour, and it is a bright sunny nice 70 degree day. He wasn't even fussing for food, so I guess it all works out. We'll see if the center is open tomorrow. Now he's in super good spirits and ready for some cuddles...

slideshow

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

inaugural fan club meeting

Oh boy, the stories... I hardly know where to start. I was really looking forward to taking Aiden home to meet his GREAT grandma, aunts, and uncles along with cousins and friends! I had no idea that this kid would have so many smiles to share with what I dubbed his fan club. He is one lucky kid! We are so grateful for all your loves and cuddles. Thank you, thank you! Your Fan Club cards are in the mail. Sign up now and get special updates and special photos signed by Aiden himself ;) teehee, I play, I promise this kid will understand a happy reality that doesn't revolve around only him ;)

The trip to Aiden's inaugural fan club meeting for the ohio chapter started with a really early drop off for our delayed flight. Aiden and I cruised back and forth in his favorite new stroller where he can recline and see all the flashy lights in the airport. I called home to let them know we were delayed a bit, and as I was hanging up Aiden had one of his classic pooplosions. Now some are worse than others, and this was a dooozey. I luckily was holding him and was able to carry him and push the stroller (with one hand! must have stroller feature) to the restroom. As I was walking in, two women looked at each other and started jabbering - "ohh good gracious, look at that, gross!" I thought, uh oh, this may be worse than I thought. I poked around looking for the pull down baby changing station - finding nothing - I determined that this space of counter without a mirror must be the only place. I throw down my changing pad and realize that my arm is wet. Let's just say that I had to give him a wipes bath. Both he and I got new outfits, and I really cleaned down that counter top for the next unsuspecting person (complete with anti-bac spray).

So I get on the plane without any more new outfits (dumb, trying to pack light in my carry-on) and I had picked a seat by myself on one side of the plane. They had to switch my seat because of oxygen masks or something annoying, so I ended up next to this poor guy that ended up being very nice. I had my nursing wrap but it is still very awkward being shoulder to shoulder with a stranger while nursing. But I had been given lotsa advice that on the ascent and descent it helps the little ear popping, etc. It really seemed to help him and he was asleep for about a half hour. Then the next hour and a half he spent bouncing on my lap laughing at this funny guy over my shoulder and pooed again just to scare me. I had visions of him wrapped in a blanket when I arrived off the plane because he'd pooed on everything else. Turns out there is a change station hidden in the wall of the bathroom that he just barely fit on and the diaper did it's job this time - phew! He didn't want to eat on the way down so he gnawed on his teething ring while babbling away. His babbling gets pretty loud sometimes, but he didn't seem to bother people or I'm just pleasantly oblivious... but really, what are you supposed to do!?

We land in Cleveland in their regional concourse which means they let you out on the tarmac. It was blustery and pretty cold, so Aiden and I snuggled close as I hopped down the stairs to snag his stroller off the big cart. I get it down and the agent tells me that I'll probably want to keep it folded since there are "a few" stairs inside. Turns out to be a huge flight of stairs and everyone is rushing around me to make their connections... so without any help to be found and a cold baby in my arms I take a deep breath to make it up those darn stairs. About half the way up my arms are shaking and the flight attendant came to my rescue snatching up my stroller so we could make it to the top. I really don't understand how they can get away with not having an elevator (because the wheelchair lift was in the cold! and cleveland ain't tucson!), but we survived. I then cruised with Aiden in his stroller across the half mile long walk across two concourses (I'm really not exaggerating) pretty excited to see some warm smiles.

We had a whole schlew of Aiden welcome events (thanks to Gran Gran especially! and thanks for the shepherd's pie from Great Aunt Hev and awesome peanut butter pudding pie from Great Aunt Pam) A highlight was meeting Great Grandma Oviatt who is just full of cheek snuggles. We had a requisite trip to Babies-r-us to get presents for one of my best friend's twin's shower! (Thanks to Hev for the cute outfits we couldn't resist - Aiden's new leisure suit for the summer is bound to be these tshirt jumpers. And while I'm at it: Thanks to Aunt Pam for Aiden's new favorite vibrating singing hippo and fuzzy book. Thanks to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Roger for the barn yard animals that match his bouncey chair and especially for the OBall - for some Oviatt spirit! and especially for my parents for creating a home away from home nursery for Aiden complete with the magic crib mattress!)

The shower was the original reason for my trip. We used a whole big bunch of diapers to make a double layer diaper cake for two! The nursery rhyme themed shower (complete with nursery rhyme bingo and a chance for us to be videotaped reading a nursery rhyme to the twins) was a good chance to catch up more with friends and get Aiden some lap bouncing time. He konked out just in time for presents, so I could cradle mr. sleepy and enjoy the present passing. It was great to see how excited everyone is to welcome the twins! Aiden can't wait to meet his new buddies!

Here is a link to more photos from Anna's shower:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/94324507@N00/15j0uV

We left Ohio with snow flurries, which better not be around during the next Ohio fan club chapter meeting on mother's day - Can't wait!

rested baby!

Yeah! He slept well last night only waking at 2am for just a bit. I think Aiden was just trying to get up early for his fan club in Ohio. You'd think he'd be tired from all that bouncing and laughing in so many laps. The sleep is touch and go, but I'm glad that he is starting to get on track more and more. If he can really get in a groove before his 6 month mark I will be satisfied! Sleep is the new topic of the month for J and I, but the gist is that we are taking the flexible, no rules approach. We aren't ready for the long drawn out crying, so we are trying some other approaches first. So far Tracy Hogg, Baby Whisperer seems to be my favorite idea. The trick is you pick them up over and over again, but you don't bounce them until they are asleep you just put them back down as soon as they are comforted. I think our gurgle puss will have no trouble comforting himself, but I just worry that he'll not go to sleep but instead kick and play with his feet for hours... so we'll see. I promise a big Ohio trip update complete with photos soon! I'm cheating posting other snippets before the fan club trip update. Oh, the suspense...

since the 7 hours

The night before we left for our big trip to Ohio (more to come on all that fun!) we found a routine that somehow worked for Aiden. He slept nearly seven hours, which breaks his 5ish hour record and creeps closer to what an adult human would say is a full night's sleep. Versus the APA saying that sleeping through the night for an infant is five hours of sleep. Now I did not sleep 7 hours straight, but a good chunk of it. I woke up with mild pain and let's just say that it felt like there was tissue expanding out under my arm pit. Regardless it was a nice treat before our big trip, but I knew we'd be breaking his routine. Since Tuesday night his sleeping grade has slowly declined and he's become a 3am party animal (which is better than 4:30am because it gives me hope of getting him back to sleep with a considerable chunk left in the night)...buuut he stayed in his crib and would eventually fall back to sleep. I think my success getting him back to sleep without too much fussiness was the mattress my folks had for him in his new ohio nursery, so we went and got him the same mattress here in mass. We're off to go see if it works tonight! More stories on Aiden's first big trip tomorrow.... Thanks to everyone - We miss you already!

rolling rrrrs

Our little guy is ready to learn spanish and roll some Rs (better than his tongue tied mom):

consumer

I am now tagged as a consumer of baby products by email spam especially. My amazon account thinks that is all I care about too. I do feel like my indecisiveness buying baby products is partially due to the conflicting reviews on all these products posted online. I end up reading a bizzilion of them and I come up with a list of features I would like that becomes impossible to find all in one product. For instance, a couple weeks back I realized that carrying Aiden through the airport in his bjorn carrier wasn't going to cut it. So I knew I needed some sort of light weight, collapsible stroller. My hope was that it would be light enough for me to easily carry, sturdy enough to last, easy to collapse with one hand, big accessible under carriage storage, good recline function, five point harness, nice canopy, tall handles, sturdy easy turn wheels, light color to reflect the hot sun, and something that would carry him when he's bigger too. (Now you can see why I ended up crazy trying to find what I want)

I ended up with the Graco IPO which carries kids up to 50 pounds and is super sturdy. It is only 18 pounds and very easy to carry collapsed. The reason I ended up with this one is I was actually able to try it in the store. We broke it out to by sure we had the straps good to go and zoomed Aiden around the house. We'll be giving it a good test drive this week when we head to Ohio! P.S. Stacey's baby Ben has another stroller favorite - Chicco C5 - which looks like a goodie too. Blog roll topic of the week = strollers!

belated april fools?

or is this our new test cover?

slow transit

This week was a transition week for Aiden's digestive system. Twice he went almost exactly 48 hours between movements. And oh boy, they were movements - both right around 12pm - lunchtime! He broke in the new teacher at his school and brought home two ickified outfits. This kid is usually quite regular, but I think all the rice cereal, carrot, and sweet potato had caught up with him. When I told my sister I think she said something very nutritionisty, "hmmm, i wonder, that doesn't seem like it should lead to a slow transit time..." That made this sleep deprived mama laugh. We added oat cereal earlier in the week and then just yesterday some fibrous pears. And as of this morning, he broke his cycle and seems to be back on his normal track. He was never off track according to the doctor, because some babies can go up to a week without any movements?! So far, so good on the homemade baby food repertoire: carrots, sweet potato, pears....avocado and banana sometime this month.

mirror mirror

Our boy and mirrors.... He either plays that he's shy or he tries to play. Here he is thinking that his clone is super duper cool:

food diary

For the record:

March 11, 2008 - 4 months, 1 week, and 1 day old - rice cereal
through March 24 - once a day (some days skipped)

March 24 - 4 months, 2 weeks, 6 days old - added carrot puree
through March 29 - carrot on its own and mixed with breast milk and rice cereal
(Coded tracking: Same, None at night - It is a mystery so you won't be disgusted by TMI)

March 30 - 4 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days old - added sweet potato puree
through April 3 - sweet potato mixed with breast milk, rice and oat cereal
(Coded tracking: Skip 1st and 3rd, 1 on 2nd)

April 2 - 4 months, 3 weeks, and 8 days old - added oat cereal

5 months!

Hey Baby AB,

One of my mommy friends said that 4 months was her favorite age. She only has a 7 month old though, so there may be more fun on the way for her and for us ;) You started trying to really communicate with us this month. Your talky gurgles changed to right-on raspberries to smacky kissy lips within the span of three weeks. You seemed to revel in making us laugh at you and you would laugh back. My favorite thing is how excited you get when we pick you up from daycare or we haven’t seen you in a while. When you giggle as I smooch your cheek it makes my day.

You grew out of your bath tub sling a long time ago, and since then we’ve been awkwardly sitting you in the big tub end on a foamy pad. You don’t quite seem to mind but you sit there with your feet in the air listing from side to side trying to avoid dipping your toes in the water. I thought your mini acrobatics might be because of the shape of the tub, so I scrubbed out the sink to give that a try and you held onto the sides of the sink like a big boy, but weren't quite sure of that super sprayer. It's too bad that your hippo wand doesn't work anymore. We did find a good way to prevent that pesky water from getting into your ears – your penguin visor! Oh you can peek at me with that on and get a huge smile every time. It’s just too darn cute.
We had a pretty healthy month full of fun holidays. You are our little good luck charm. You celebrated St. Patrick’s day by wearing your only green suit that fit even though it was on the verge of not fitting anymore. You were such a good sport wearing bunny ears without even really noticing.
Your hair color is still a mystery. Your baby mullet/party in the back is still in full effect, but the patches that have been rubbed away are coming back in blonder. There are also some streaks of auburn red hair. For now we like the identity crisis that your funny little wisp hair is going through, but I'm sure it will make up its mind soon.
The biggest change this month was adding the solid foods. I don’t know who would really call them solid foods, but the runny purees and cereals really seemed to make you feel more satisfied. Even though carrots look the same going in as they do coming out, you really seem to like them and gobble them right up. Lately when we get that spoon ready you open your mouth wide and make the cutest num noises, and then the race is on. I have to get the spoon ready for big bites one right after the next.
You went from a “man of leisure” in your sleep-n-play jumpers to big boy cargo pants and hoodies. Your jumpers make for easy diaper changes and snuggled tootsies in the chilly weather. Although the hoodies weren't always your favorite they were cute and we always ended up distracting you and getting some smiley giggles.
We've tried a bedtime routine where we go around the room saying good night to things. Thanks to my hippo mural painting friend (you'll get to meet her soon!), it goes something like this: goodnight blue hippo hanging upside down from the ceiling... good night purple hippo falling from the cloud... good night yellow hippo dancing on the lightswitch. You do look calm and content but it doesn't make you sleepy - ohwell, good try ;) We'll have to retry that when you get a little older.
You seem to really like day care and I am happy with the center despite the fact that Miss Maria had to move. Your daily record includes a highlights of your day and it usually goes something like, "Today I enjoyed playing with the monkey in the exersaucer while listening to songs." At least three times, three different teachers have written on your highlights something like, "Today I enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror!" It is always followed by a little smiley face because it must amuse your teachers. We know you don't know that you're actually looking at yourself, but we're glad that you're able to entertain yourself.
This morning you decided that 5 months was time to feed yourself the bottle. You grabbed it with both hands and when daddy decided to find out what would happen if he let go, you took charge and raised it up to drink up. We're amazed at how independent you've become- holding your own books and bouncing around:

We're thinking you may just jump out and run around the room, oh let's say, tomorrow. Here you are reading your favorite new big kid book (now that the soft fluffy chick book is out) = The Belly Button Book. Look at those cascading cheeks - It's hard to hold up all the kissable sweetness and concentrate on reading about bee-bos:
We can't wait for a whole new month of discovery and we're thinking the first thing you'll find after studying your belly button book is your bee-bo! Now that winter's gone we can go find belly button beach! Oh, you'll have to reread that story when you're older and get the same warm fuzzies I get when I read Teddy Beddy Bear Goes to Bed. I'll keep it for you as long as it doesn't get too munched from all your teething.

Keep talking, Love, Your smile loving mama

Aiden's catch ya later:

150 days old

J pointed out that Aiden is over half a pregnancy old already. I remember reaching the 20 weeks mark and jumping for joy. I could still jump then because Aiden's head wasn't wedged under my pelvic bone. He is actually exactly 150 days old today, 21 weeks and 3 days (calculated thanks to online calculators). It makes sense to count months now instead of weeks, but I'm still keeping a ridiculous photo log with at least 100 photos from each week of his life. Now that we've started counting months it's harder to keep track of my downloads, so I'm glad I didn't start cataloging them by day. Aiden was ready to snuggle when I got home from class tonight and he was giggling when I kissed him... which is the best after class treat.