16 months!

Dear Aiden,

Oh, it's so, so hard to believe what a big boy you are. I can still see Baby AB peek out in your personality. Those giggle moments on the changing pad are now in the big boy wagon you love to bounce in... or in the tub as you splash around and blow bubbles... I got most of your old stuff organized recently and that little bitty tub with the hammock in it seemed like it must have shrunk. You used to fit on that little wet hammock and you didn't even have to curl a toe. Now you might be able to fit one leg on it.
It's amazing to both your dad and I that you now have favorite things to do. Not just simple preferences, but favorite activities. Your favorite this month was color, color?, color! peese, puhleese, colooor - You will ask politely with every inflection in your voice possible until we are able to dig up a marker or a crayon. We prefer the washable markers to the waxy crayon mess, but both are a bit of a mess by the time you are finished.
Your favorite part about coloring with markers is the caps! Oh, putting the cap on and off again, creates the super giggles. Then just recently you figured out how to create a "suuuper marker" - which is a bunch of markers (usually three is your max and then you get just way too excited to balance them) stuck together end to end. Sometimes you will get really determined to get the matching ends together and I have a really hard time trying to explain to you that those ends won't go together. You also figured out how to carefully balance the markers on your tray and say taa-daa!
Your high chair continues to be a popular crafting zone, and luckily it has this cool double tray that can be popped in when it's time to eat. You continue to be a pretty good eater although sometimes you only want one thing we offer. (I read some good advice about how to think of kid's eating habits on a weekly basis instead of meal-by-meal. Since the portions of what you eat are so much less, it's better to arrange a well-balanced diet over a longer period of time rather than just a meal or a day of meals.) You seem to be more and more into dipping lately. Your current favorite is dipping banana bread in yogurt - I made five loaves of banana bread even in this short month (you know we shared). Your double spoon feeding fun went to triple spoon feeding because you want one in each hand and one available for us to step in and help with that 10% that gets dribbled on your superbib.
You are attempting to dress and undress yourself more often lately. You do a great job of helping get your shoes on and you will sometimes pick out which you'd prefer. You prefer wearing the shirt bib or no bib at all lately, instead of the little bibs - and you sure do know how to take that bib off if you want. We're lucky that you're still in cooperative baby mode most of the time. Your least cooperative time led me to wear a bib with you which you thought was pretty funny. We started a new dress up bin (complete with old costumes of a kung fu fighter, mouse, dino, hippo, giraffe, etc) which you generally like to drag all over the room and ask us to put on ourselves.  We've had some great giggle moments as you begin to learn to pretend.
You like to imitate us. You will look up at daddy shaving and you will pull your little bath foamies over your face like it's a razor. You tap your foot with dad when you are rocking out. You want to help push the vacuum, so we ended up getting you your own. It rumbles just like the big one and you will play with it for a little while and then usually you try to trade up for the bigger one.
You are our little monkey man. You've taken to not only trying to step on our feet to walk around, but you will just full on grab our leg and hold on. You want us to stomp around with you latched on to our leg like a little monkey.  You will frequently latch on like this or keep your knees bent to prevent us from putting you down.  You also discovered how fun it is to pound your chest and pretend to be a gorilla. I think your path of destruction compares to that of a baby gorilla too. Especially when we open up the table of the fat legos, it looks like a gorilla has tromped through the room and strewn them everywhere.
You also have quiet-less-destructo-baby-moments. Most of the moments not spent reading are spent kissing, licking, nuzzling, hugging, carrying, petting elmo.... Elmo and his friend Cookie are by far your favorites. You really don't want much to do with any other characters...except for maybe the Count - uhha, uhha. You think that our laptops are elmo game machines and you kept asking to see elmo on the doctor's laptop. You're even starting to learn how to push the buttons (nicely) when elmo asks... blows my mind how computer literate you will be. Our first Apple didn't even have a mouse, and I don't think we had one with a mouse until I was in high school.
You are really into picture books lately. I searched out new good ones that I thought you would really like. Your flap books are big favorites now too, and you are definitely old enough to not try to rip them. You sometimes want to read more than one book at once. You pick out the pictures you know and either sign or attempt to say what it is. Oor you will point and ask "wah?" for the new pictures you want to learn.
This month has been a little bit challenging for us, but you have brightened it up with your roars, giggles, and zurberts. We look forward to another cozy month as this roaring winter continues into March. We will sneak out for wagon rides every chance we get.

Love you, Mama

groovin

Grooving with Elmo:

roarrrr

Aiden watching and imitating gorillas (teething pain suspected around :45) and roaring like a baby lion (our favorite pick me up lately):

bubbles!

We burst the bummer bubble here. Yay! Here are some bubble blowing/bursting photos from earlier in February - If they had audio, you'd hear Aiden going pop, pop, pop - uuubles!:

family firsts

Aiden had his first visit to our basement this week. Oh goodness me, our boiler broke. kaput, kapluweee. Apparantly, these heating guys really know that you need heat so they can help you decide whether you want a new boiler or whether you want to send your kid to college. Seriously, they cost that much. I'm not exaggerating - it's depressing how much they cost. I think it is the most expensive, least glamourous item I've ever spent so much money purchasing. While Aiden was visiting the basement, he clapped and giggled at the new boiler - I think just to help us laugh through our money hemoragging pain and he really thought the plumber guy was funny.

Here are the few good things associated with the boiler bust 2009: Obama just signed a bill last week that gives us $1,500 back on our taxes next year (which is great because we always owe so much on taxes it will be nice to offset it). The gas company likes it if you replace insanely inefficient systems so they are going to send us a $1,050 check in a couple months. You know if your rebates are that much we are talking boat loads of mula. Yep, I'll break the suspense - It is an unexpected cost of nearly $10,000! Aiden, if you are reading this in 30 years and that doesn't seem like that much money because inflation is all screwy - it is A LOT OF MONEY for today's terms!

Yep, I'd planted this little seed in my head of a summer cruise to celebrate our 30th birthdays and 5th anniversary, but instead we'll maybe have a romantic dinner next to the boiler. I'd even researched whether Aiden was old enough for the cruise ship daycares, and on some he wasn't quite old enough to enjoy it... so we'll just have to plan that cruise to celebrate later.

The boiler blues were extended when the brand spanking new system did not function correctly the night they put it in and Aiden's room, our office, and the bathroom were still cold. They did fix it first thing the next morning after insuring for me the night before that nothing would explode, implode, leak, or dribble on anything. I would've had them come out immediately, but Baby AB had some trouble getting to bed that particular evening - I think he just too excited by the new boiler. ha.

Well, so just when I thought, ok money is just money, we can handle it and at least we are all healthy and warm again. It was all settling down and I was on my way to my yearly gyno appt. I've had some minor issues lately that I won't really get into, but the gist of my exam ended in a referral to see a surgeon for what could be (you can sense my denial with the word could) a "revisional episitomy". Yep, let's just say there are bunches of skin where they are not supposedly to be because they gave me a face lift down there that was too tight after giving birth. I asked how invasive it might be, and the doctor (that I will never see again if I have my way), answered with, "it will be like you just gave birth again, but you will probably be getting more sleep." Seriously, not what anyone wants to hear.

______________________________

We're just going to cut off that depressing train of thought, for some more fun reports:

- We kicked off last weekend with our late valentine's celebration to see Stomp. It was fun babysitter time for Aiden. Stomp was also sorta a comedy routine and I expected it to be more like the show Blast. We both really liked it.

- Aiden had his first visit to the Children's Museum on Tuesday. They have a new play area that it really popular for littler kids. We are members now, so we will definitely be back there again soon. I'm hoping we can get over to their Suessational event this weekend.

- Aiden took his first forward facing ride in his car seat this week. In his nanny's car, his seat was more upright and his little legs were just getting too long. With me sitting in it we finally got it good and snug. Reading online that over 80 percent of car seats are installed incorrectly, I decided to sign up for this car seat check event to double check today.

- Aiden went to visit the duck pond down the street with his nanny yesterday. It wasn't his first time, but the first of the season. When I got home

(from my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day - I might try to read that children's book to make myself feel better - looks like the same author has another one called, Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday - I need that one too - good coping strategy right), Rebecca starts to explain how when they arrived all the ducks/geese were swimming nicely and as Aiden called at them, they started to "swarm." I sorta froze as she said that word, and started bracing myself if she showed me his duck bite. But, phew, no duck bite drama, they managed to get away and Aiden shooed the duckies away from Rebecca's arms.

In the mean time, I've spent some time listening to cheer me up ukulele music - which doesn't a ukelele just cheer ya up. This Danielle Ate The Sandwich chick cracks me up. She can raise her eyebrow and I giggle. If Aiden continues to sleep this morning, I might even be able to squeeze in some baby video therapy. I'll be sure to share my edits in case you are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. If you have any other fun cheer me ups, do share.

devil

My ode to the red money eating devil. Good energy efficiency so at least it won't continue to eat money. Photo montages are good therapy.

happy mardi gras!

balancing the love

Don't ya just love when kids...

- run into your arms after a long day at work to give a big hug complete with a back pat and a squeal

- try to put on their own shoes but they mix up the left and the right

- bump their head and then tell the wall that it's been bad

- scribble and then hold up their art for you to see with a big smile

- bring a book over, hand it to you, turn around, and plop in your lap

- giggle in anticipation of the tickle attack when you walk your fingers towards them on the table

- eat something for the first time, make a yum yum yum, and then want to pile in as much as possible into their chipmunk cheeks until you suggest that they take a second to swallow - then
they say yes yes yes

- your husband (aka super dad) doesn't even flinch when your last saturday class runs two hours late and you have a sunday dinner meeting for work

And just because life is realistic after all, don't ya just hate:

- when the high chair gets all crumby in all the little crevices that are hard to clean, and especially hard when you are chasing a baby

- your kid tries to eat his crayons (not like a little baby that just likes to innocently gnaw, but like a molar teething toddler that tries to sneak a bite when you look away or pop up to answer the phone) and laughs at you if you ask him why

- your kid's old school buddy joins Gymboree classes and then bites him!  (Aiden's response was telling him no, no, no, no while running away shaking his naughty finger)

- dad accidently knocks mom's nursing vitamin container out of the cabinet, gets in the shower while Aiden plays in the bathroom, and you see it coming don't ya - yep, Aiden managed to get the kid proof container open (I can barely get the dang thing open sometimes)!  Daddy gets out of his quick shower thinking how good Aiden's been, so quiet and happily playing with his toys, looks down and see him surrounded by pills!  The poison control line helped ease our worry and we are fairly sure that he didn't even get any in his mouth.  I can't imagine he would be able to swallow the horse pills anyway.  He'd need to take at least 15 of them to do any real harm according to poison control.  Sheesh.

- they take down one of your kids favorite online sesame street playlist videos because it has Chris Brown in it singing with Elmo - I don't care about who that awful singer is, I just know that Aiden likes singing about signs.  

- you get so many parenting magazines (for free from some slip of address at some point) and even the ones you find interesting you aren't able to read... although occasionally Aiden will want me to read one to him. 

- TMI alert - stop reading if you want - you wean your baby just enough to get your period again after 25 months without.

bruncha bruncha

This winter I've had the urge to host many, many brunches.  I think we had four brunches in five weeks at our place, and that's not all of them.  I used it as an excuse to bore J with another attempt to fine tune my favorite french toast casserole.  Having a good incentive to get the house cleaned up each week was a refresher, but we are all brunched out for a while.  I knew it was time to admit we had enough brunches when J woke up on Sunday morning and didn't even open his eyes before asking who was coming over for brunch...

Aiden's favorite brunches include batches of little people friends.  At this particular sunny Sunday brunch at our place, there were many kid pile ups and hug sandwiches.   The soundtrack to Aiden's life lately should be named "Gentle, careful, calm"... He's really learned what those words mean lately.  

froggie boots

Aiden's been growing by leaps and bounds lately. It is most obvious as he quickly grows out of all the cute shoes I had on rotation during the holidays. You can still get some of them on with the thin skinny socks, but forget it if you have thick warm socks especially if they have anti-slip stickies.  The other tennies I have for him sorta fit, but he sometimes kicks them off.  We were on a big shoe search in the bookstore this past weekend and I learned my lesson to check for his shoes more often.  

I somehow can't find the size 4 shoes that he really needs in anything versatile - although I can find plenty of 3s and 5s and 4s in sandals (unfortunately we aren't quite there weather wise yet). I realize I already have a few size 5s and 6s already in the mix including these adorable froggy boots that I just couldn't resist. They are 6s and clearly too big but he loves tromping around in them. I think they give him a little bounce in his step.

good list vday edition

Yum, simple pie crust cookies - easy, fun, and low in sugar! Just like Kix, kid tested mother approved. Sorta tastes like Kix too...
Yep, top of Aiden's good list this week was a a bigger bite of chocolate than mom expected. He had a very animated yuuum response. Made up for all that sugar missing from the cookies.

Card scribbling! New cuddly Kiss Me More Elmo because every Elmo needs a friend:
Kiss Me More Elmo makes big smooches when you put his hand to his mouth and says all sorts of cute things.
Good bread - perfect consistency - with high iron and protein. LOVE Trader Joes.  If you do too, you will want to watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk
Tulips arrived at work on Thursday from my sweet husband - poof and the day was refreshed. They are still blossoming on our mantle now. Aiden loves sniffing them.

happy valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!
Hope you get a smooch and a hug from your favorite monkey friend...

And we combined a bunch of semi-decent-eh shots since it's hard to get this kid to take photos lately - Most are using the zoom from across the room.  Hoppy hopping!  (I think the easter bunny is on his way too....)

i dooo

This week Aiden's really been making words with a big kid voice. He started with "oh, yay!" whenever we would ask him if he was "ready" - It didn't matter if he was ready for a diaper change or a trip to Gymboree he was equally excited. The fun part for us was that his little kid voice peeked through. Just this week if you ask him, would you like some more cheese? He responds with "i do" - clear as day in the cutest little kid voice. I just wish I could get it on tape (and play it back as part of his wedding video or something :-> )

Last weekend I got a call from the nicest sounding telemarketer, and even though I usually politely ask to be taken off their list before they spit out what they are calling about, there was something soothing about this woman's voice. Aiden was competing for the phone, but he was quickly distracted by his clipo hippo. Turns out it was a phone survey from University of Pennsylvania researchers. They don't quite explain what they are researching, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with whether you read to your children. It took over 45 minutes, but I got paid $25 so I think it was worth it.

They charted out Aiden's typical day hour by hour, asked about over a 100 words (whether he understood, understood and spoke, or didn't understand), and asked general questions about family life. They asked a lot about which books where his favorites and why, how often we read, and what other media we might use at the same time. Some of the words on the list were simple words he loves, but others were more abstract (like away, how, and break - yep I wrote them all down as she was asking them because I knew I'd be curious later and J might be interested). The survey didn't include anything about signing which surprised me. I just couldn't be more convinced that signing is so beneficial. I think I'll spend my $25 on more books.

And, I've recently been tidyin up my photo archives and I didn't want you to miss this! Here is Art by Aiden favorites - the fall in review:

lincoln's 200th

We measure presidents by how they represent ourselves, and how we wish to be. Abraham Lincoln, the rail-splitter raised to destiny by war and near-perfection by assassination, embodies both. More than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln is our sage and aspiration, the ordinary and unexpected man of greatness, the victor and martyr of the great American narrative, the Civil War. (from Detroit Free Press website while googling for photos)

Today, in ceremonies around the country, we will mark his 200th birthday.
Happy Birthday Abe! They say imitation is the best form of flattery, eh?  

It's Aidbraham Brincoln:

waa doc

Aiden's 15 month visit was earlier this week. We left to get there right on time because I didn't want to spend much time waiting in the germy lobby. Well, it turns out there were tons of sick kids and they were running behind, so we had plenty of time to practice our kid wrangling skills in the lobby. Aiden was super excited by the spinning knex ferris wheel this time. It wasn't working when he was a little baby, but it's in full effect with its big red push button (full of germs I'm sure - I'm usually do not have an extreme germ-a-crazy phobia, but there is just something icky about the lobby of a doctor's office. I think they should have a healthy lobby and a sick lobby. Luckily, they do have seperate exam rooms for healthy kids and well visit kids.) Aiden called out to the elephant pictures on the wall and pointed at all the books with bunnies... and then oh, chooo choo, there's a book with trains! Hey Mom, let me scream in a really loud toddler voice how excited I am to see that choo choo book! The hushed lobby was overtaken by Aiden's excitement. I just wish they would've called us back quicker.

We finally got back there and the first stop was the scale. With a wet diaper, he was exactly 25.5 pounds which I think is somewhere in the 60th percentile. His head is now 50 cm (room for lotsa brains according to his doc) and his height is right above 32 inches. I can't remember the exact percentiles but they fit with his overall growth chart. She started asking the typical questions, what is he eating, does he feed himself, etc, etc, and Aiden quickly got bored. He was clearly irritated that Mommy's attention wasn't on him and Daddy was just trying to hold him back from toddling naked back and forth across the room whining at the door to get out. Then he started to ramp up the volume, and showed off his worse wriggly-screamy-whiney behavior for the doctor. I think she was worried he wasn't going to settle down to actually be examined, but in typical Aiden fashion he flipped the switch off as quickly as he turned it on... He was way past his normal napping time and we've been trying to move him toward one big nap... but it just wasn't working out. He was so calm as she examined him with the cold stethoscope and poked around in his mouth and ears. He was all the while examining her face with his big tired blues.

I had felt like the weaning report was going to be a sore subject because I'd gotten this impression from her last time that she thought I should "work" on weaning him. I think I had actually misinterpretted her attempts to "let me off the hook" if I was interested in weaning. The impression I got from her was that she was all for me breast feeding as long as I want, but she just wanted me to know that it was ok if I was overwhelmed by it and wanted to stop. I explained to her that I don't mind it at all in the mornings and evenings, and that I think he shows signs of self weaning anyway. She also said that we can try integrating some regular milk into his diet to see if he tolerates it better.

He got two booster shots, and this time he was sitting in my lap with his legs wedged between mine with enough space for his chubster to get poked. He hardly squirmed, but that delayed howl (where he opens his mouth and doesn't let out the scream for a good ten seconds) just kills mama's heart. I just kept repeating ouch, i know that hurts, it's okay... teaching him as many words for ouchy as possible - even shots are a teachable moment, right? ;) He did perk up quickly and it didn't seem to bother him much. So all in all, everything was hunky dorey and with any luck we won't need to see her again for a while (fingers crossed to avoid this nasty flu bug going around).

uh oh and videos!

J was running a little bit late getting home last night and I had that mild paranoia I always have because he has to park on these dark little side streets right on the edge of downtown. Brown publishes the crime report monthly and I always see that area listed. Well, it was bound to happen at some point, and J was completely safe... but our car window was bashed. They rummaged through J's cds and determined that they didn't share music tastes and took NOTHING! There was really nothing for them to steal, but I think they thought there might be a GPS for the taking or something. It will all be resolved soon after the window is replaced (conveniently in our driveway sometime this afternoon), but it's just one of those annoyances.

So to distract myself I was diggin through old fun video snippets last night. Nothing like a little baby video therapy.

Rocking out with Dad in late December:

Hanging out in the zebra tent, showing how old he is, and bouncing with dad:

makin valentines

We had quite "a time" trying to make valentine's hearts with Aiden this past weekend. He would waiver between being really intent on carefully scribbling on each one and wanting to eat the markers (thank goodness for these super washable markers!). Mostly he just wanted to pull the cap off and put it back on again..and again...and again. We did manage to get a little scribble heart cut out in everyone's valentine this year. Next up: valentine's pie crust cookies ;)

Y-M-C-A

It's fun to stay at the y-m-c-a...
It's fun to stay at the y-m-c-a...
We had a blast yesterday at the YMCA open house event.  I think Aiden thought it was a gigantic Gymboree.  They were showcasing all of their fun.  The fitness room had a disco dance party and a juice machine pumping.  Aiden wasn't so keen on the carrot and apple juice (which mom loved), but he was beebopping to the lights and music (by far his favorite song was Superfreak by Rick James). Then they had big soft structures to climb and slide set up in the gym, and he managed to avoid getting trampled by the big kids.  Oh, and then don't forget the baaaallls - He was so excited to hold his own basketball and if we had let him he would've toddled right out onto that basketball court.  Then they had their little daycare center open and he wanted to sit in all the little chairs and click together some plastic snowflakes.  THEN, it was family fun in the pool!  I braved the slightly chilly water with him (luckily he still fit in his little swim diapers from summer swim class).  He squirmed in the chilled water for a second and then he was kicking and splashing up a storm. He liked riding the noodle like a horsey and playing spinning motorboat.  He literally couldn't stop squealing, he was so excited.  He made some friends with some nice people that shared their balls and squirty fish.  Then once his toes were all pruney and mom's arms felt like they were going to give out, it was time to warm up.  They had a sample birthday party set up complete with cake.  It was definitely a nice way to break up a winter routine weekend.  

wacky weather

Um, it's February already?! Where did January go? I guess I spent it somewhat in denial that the holidays were over.  Goal: Relax as much as possible, get used to a new routine, and ignore work (I can't write about work stuff, but it's "in transition" AAA-Gain.)  This winter we have tripled our average snow fall and oh boy, yes we've noticed.  It hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected (I owe a lot of that to Gymboree I think).  

Monday A and his nanny went on a walk around the block with his wagon!  Yep, last monday it was nearly 50 degrees, but our snow cover remained, and then another storm hit on Wednesday.  Now as I type this we are seeing nearly 50 degrees again!  wooopee! Aiden and I cruised around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes this morning and he quickly fell asleep to the rumble.  During this first stroller ride since November, we were still rumbling over puddles and slush, and I don't expect our snow cover will disappear immediately, but it sure was nice to be out getting some fresh air.  I am typing this as A continues to snooze in his stroller.  I just wheeled it in the door with wet tires and all.  So worth it.

Aiden was a good little party guest down in Southern RI yesterday. A friend that was pregnant at the same time I was was celebrating her son's first birthday.  She knows how to throw a good party.  She had "kite krafts" and two matching awesome kite cakes, since they spent so much time flying kites on the beach waiting for her little one's arrival.  Aw, perfect blend of sentimental and sweet.  She was the one that gave me the first year soundtrack idea....and they had a great Volume One (complete with Editorial comments on why they picked each song - love it!)

Let's see, I feel like I have some extra time to keep writing with Aiden snoozing over there. What other random blog thoughts do I have?...  I was thinking while Aiden and I cruised, that I have five pregnant friends right now (plus so many more with new little ones).  I think that most mom's have this secret pact to not tell the first time mom's how crazy life will be...or at least how dramatically it will change.  Maybe it's not so much an intentional withholding of information, but you just can't really explain it.  I have friends here that I tried to milk for information while I was pregnant.  I'd ask about something specific and they would give me a vague, "oh, yeah, that...you get used to it".  That is true, but sheesh can you fill me in.  I come to find out that one of my friend's that has three kids was all vague about her labors because she "didn't want to scare me" - yea, she had all this meconium-related-really-scary stuff happen with her first.  There is also this weird condition where you forget a lot.  You really do adapt and get used to a lot of things you never would expect you'd be able to handle.  Parenting is something millions have written about, millions more will read about, yet it is still nearly impossible to fully describe.  

elmo's back!

Elmo's back and Aiden was so excited to see him again! He loves to hug him, help back up when he falls over (which is the apparent novelty of this toy), and beep his nose. He now understands that Elmo will tell him a story if he pushes his foot. He arrived along with a mystery gift in an unmarked box with no packing slip! The box contained an awesome chompy hippo piano! So, we were on a mission to find out where and what wonderful person sent it. I called the number listed on the fedex label, they had me read every number off the box, and eventually found the order which was placed through toy-r-us and that's all they could tell us...although this super nice customer service lady really wanted to figure out the 'mystery' for us. So, I called toys-r-us directly and they revealed that it was sent from the Brennans in AZ! Oooh, thanks-a-bunch - it felt like xmas all over again around here today. Here's Aiden sharing the love: