good list

Tippy Top of the Good List this month: We look forward to welcoming a new nephew in the Spring - Lucas Michael! Congratulations to M, J, and big sister K!

Xmas cards - I just love getting big batches of xmas cards to open when I get home. This beauty was painted by my mommu!
Yo-yos as xmas decorations - I strung these together to make garland strands - So easy! Best part is that you can buy them off etsy to save time.

My sweet husband bought me this xmas cactus on one of his many shopping trips to help Aiden find me a present...still don't know what they found, but I hope it's better than the Cars stuff that Aiden wanted to pick out for his dad when I took him to the store and asked him what he wanted to get his dad ;) wink.
When we whipped out this early xmas present, I wasn't sure if he'd be into it, but he now asks for "stretching on tv." He has favorite parts of the yoga abcs like the hot air balloon and the moo/meow. He likes to say hi to the yoga kids and the teacher, which makes me smile. My favorite part is that it stretches out all my tired muscles from carrying this 30 lb baby.
Birthday shout outs on ohdeedoh: "Happy 2nd Birthday to our little lion fan! It is hard to beleive it was two years ago that you were our dark haired baby full of blinks and wiggles. Now you're our little blondie boy full of cuddles and stomps and lotsa lion roars! We loved celebrating how much that little lion roar has grown over the last year at your Lion Party."
Bogs boots! A woman in my RISD class had these schnazzy boots (hers were a really cool pattern that I wasn't brave enough to own, since J would like to make fun of them probably). She swore that they were the warmest, most comfortable boots she'd ever owned. I was sold when I realized the top was this really comfy neoprene type stuff - and totally waterproof. She was iffy on where you could find them outside of going to the Berkshires, but thanks to zappos.com I ordered my very own pair (for about half the price too!).

cookies!

We made some cutout sugar cookies yesterday. I think that Aiden may have added his special "ingredient" (aka. boogers) to some of them so we don't plan to share them, don't worry. It was mainly just a big mess for fun ;)

jumping santa giggles!

Jumping Santa! from LB on Vimeo.

dance party

Friday was our Engin Winter Party. Despite it really feeling like winter around here, we had quite the turnout. The best part was that a group of our professors put together a band over the last year and they really made the party. The kids were in full on dance party mode most of the night. The other half they were running in circles around the huge room and playing at the craft table.

tgif video

Here's a little flashback to fall - aka. A video I forgot to post in November ;)

Flashback to Fall from LB on Vimeo.

risd final

I'm almost done with my RISD semester. Phew, four more classes for my degree, two of which I plan to fast track and take during the winter session. Then I will only have two more including my big final project. Yay, then I will celebrate the second degree I've earned while working full time. I'm thinking this one may have actually been just as challenging as that Master's degree because we added the baby into the mix ;)

This semester I did a ton of new lens work. I learned to use some manual lens functions that I've always been curious about. I was especially excited by the Lensbaby. My project scope included taking photos from the perspective of a baby. Human eyesight develops over the first three months. I was fascinated by how eyesight develops and I tried to translate the focal range and color acquisition into my images. Here is the final video that I presented to my class and all of our special guests last night:
http://vimeo.com/8084310

A Child's Viewpoint from LB on Vimeo.
My final print presentation was in the shape of an eyechart printed on clear plastic. You can click on this image to see it larger. This is one of my favorite images from the blueish series.
Another fun tidbit: I am part of this email group that discusses different types of play. It is fun to examine play from the angle of Registered Play Therapists (aka. people who work for places like Children's Museums and take the science of play very, very seriously). Here is a link from the group about the game Tag: http://www.thinfilms.net/


Tag from Chad Calease on Vimeo.

snowman

It snowed big time today which was a surprise to all of us. Luckily it was that nice fluffy snow to push off the cars, and as the day warmed up it was great snowman packing snow! So here is a little snippet of snowman making fun:

First Snowman! from LB on Vimeo.

Aiden eventually agreed to make a snow angel - or he accidentally fell in the snow and I pushed his legs back and forth for him. ;) Here are our miserable looking snow angels:

burtday party

We always enjoy seeing family and especially to celebrate. Little cousin Matthew just turned one and he was bouncing all around at his truck party. We drove through the pretty snow covered trees to just north of Boston. Aiden took a decent nap, but almost didn't want to fall asleep in the car because he was so excited for the "burtday party" - He eventually konked out muttering "buuuurtday" under his breath. Aiden was in heaven at the train table surrounded by balloons all afternoon. My highlight was when all the kids couldn't quite get the noise makers to work so they were mooing into them. Tara was also sweet enough to let him blow out one of the candles and help open presents. It was almost as much fun as his own party ;)

"Burtday Party" from LB on Vimeo.

first snow

I knew the shovel would come out soon. The forecast forced my grumpy husband to dig it out of the shed and make sure it was ready by the door (like we were going to need to shovel ourselves out of the door). It's no fun that snow makes him grumpy because it does have potential to be fun and pretty. This first snow of the season delivered on the fun and the pretty. It stuck to all the trees, but nothing stayed long on the warm streets. It was the perfect hassle-free snow. We were trying not to giggle at Aiden's (and Dad's) mischievous snow ball throwing. Aiden traded up on the rake and fine tuned his shovel maneuvers. It was a bit icy and pretty cold though so we went out in two short trips. I think I had the most fun hoisting his snow pants on him for the first time. I have a feeling those snow pants are going to be well used this season.

First Snow 09 from LB on Vimeo.

lights!

Lights at Edaville! from LB on Vimeo.

more merry

Here is ghost Aiden counting the candle lights setup behind his new friend Polar Bear. J brought this guy home as a surprise for me when he took Aiden shopping for my xmas present. (I still can't get Aiden to tell me what it is!) This guy makes me happy as do the twinkly lights inside. The balmy weather around here also makes me happy. Yesterday it almost hit 70 degrees! Then there was a huge storm, and I woke up worried that it was so windy Polar Bear may have blown away. But all was well with the little merry setup. Even though they had to shut the hurricane barrier in Providence the night before it turned into a beautiful day. Today it has cooled off, but it's still bright and sunny....back to that crisp fall air I love. They claim that snow may be on it's way, but I'll believe it when I see it since I didn't even really need a jacket yesterday. Tonight is our Weight-Bearing Gingerbread Event - last year's graham cracker and icing houses exceeded the 250 lb weight limit!

tgif video

just turned two! aka. 25mo

Hey Aiden,
November just packed in the excitement. I'm going to write this letter in a series of conversations just to mix things up (and it's very representative of this very talkative month for you):
L: "Let's put on your pants. Oh, these pants are getting too small because you are growing up so fast"
A: "I donot want to grow up. I want to run fast."
And you take off in circles through the kitchen.
A: "More meatmalls pleaseee"
A: 7:20am - "I want lunch" 8:20pm (not wanting to sleep) - "I want bekfast"
A: "I want crackers, pease in dat bowl"
A: "The apple juice is spicy"
Mom: "What do you want for dinner" A: "ice cream!"
You definitely know which foods are your favorites lately and how you'd like them. The other day we asked you what you wanted for dinner and you said bar, milk, AND water. I think those berry fruit bars are your favorite food.
Mom: "Bye, I have to go to work."
A: "Peese stay in house."
Mom: "I'll be home soon."
A: "Ok, have fun in da car."
You still think we work in the car. Makes sense since we leave for the car when we say we are going to work. I guess you also realize that sometimes I work at home.
Dad: "Are you clumsy Aiden?"

A: "Nope, I happy!" giggle giggle

You might take a little tumble but you keep on moving. Your shoes are tricky and sometimes pop off or the boots you wore to the zoo this month that you just tipped out of when you were bending down. Hazards.
A: "Where is my sock?"
Dad: "On your foot"
A: "Good Dada"
You were congratulating your dad in the same way that he praises you when you get a question right. Your dad loves to play little quizzing games and it seems you like it just as much because you like to create your own for us.
A: "It's eally daark"
Mom: "Let's turn on the light"
A: 'Where's the moon and owls. They out in dark?"

Dad: "How do we make day and night"
A: "Earth spin, spin, spin"

You especially like searching for the moon and the stars. Your dad calls it "astronomy" with Aiden when you explain to us what the moon/stars/sun are made of... You like to block light to make shadows and help make Gran and Pop spin by twirling your arms (esp fun on the skype).
Mom: "how do you ask nicely?" A: "peese"
Dad: "how do you say it nicely?" A: "nice-ey"
You are used to using the same phrases so when your dad asked you to be polite in a different way you repeated him. You've been pretty polite this month saying please and thank you without prompting.
Rebecca: "Do you need to use the potty?"
A: "I do not want to poo at this point"
Sometimes we laugh at the phrases that you pick up - really, "at this point" ;)
A: "Please give to me"
Rebecca: "Here ya go"
A: "You gave it to me, thanks"
Rebecca pays really close attention to your language acquisition since that is what she learns about in school. She reported that you've been using the past tense to her class a little while back. She calculated your MLU (mean length of utterance) and it was 4.6 (which Brown says is beyond 4 years). That is a technical way of saying that you like to talk.
A: "That's mine. Look Aiden made that"
You get proud when you make something you think we might like and pretty possessive too. Here you are telling us that this is Aiden's spider:
A: "My nose is stuck"
You've been pretty lucky without any major colds or illnesses for a looong time (so long that I know it's inevitable any day now). You've been really good about blowing your nose when we hold a tissue over it. You had a little sniffle after your bath the other day and before I got the tissue for you, you made me giggle by telling me your nose was stuck.
A: "I wanna hug too."
Mom and Dad: "Squeeze, awww"
A: "Big three way hug"
I have memories of 4-way family hugs and I think Aiden must have picked up that phrase from me.
A: "I take my other sock off"
You prefer barefeet to slippery socks, except for maybe the elmo socks.
A: "It hot, I blow"
You cool off your food on your own because you love to blow. Your other favorite daddy game is pretending to "blow out" the finger candles.
A: "More swing"
A: "Where am I? I making a puppet fort"
You can play for a long time just with a sheet. Swinging in the sheet is one of your favorite games. Pretending to have a puppet show with the sheet stage is second favorite. Although you inevitable you end up under the sheet playing hide and seek.
A: "You march with Aiden"
A: "Hel-lo Daaada" with a very distinctive scratchy monster voice
A: "Where are my carzis?"
A: What's that? Ginjabedboy house!"
A: "I so xcited"
There are certain phrases you say over and over again that I will have etched into my memory for quite a while.

A: "What's that Guinea Pig's Name?"

You like to ask us questions and you think anything that looks like a mouse is a guinea pig named Chuckie (a la Chuck E. Cheese from your visit to the "singing guinea pig Chuckie" for your birthday). You like to ask specifically for that birthday video (along with the Halloween parade and Presents Thank You video as your other two favorites).

A: "I a moose" while you put diapers over your ears.

A: "Moose eat muffins"

The book of the month was probably the If You Give a Moose a Muffin - but you got so, so many new books this month it's hard to say for sure. But you do like cuddling the moose friend and reading that every night - Thank G and P!

A: "I no like that santa guy"

Mom: "He brings toys to your house on Christmas"

A: "He no come to my house - no presents please"

We now tell you that the elves will deliver you toys on xmas if you are good because you are not interested in even talking about Santa. Not sure what he ever did to you, but I think you're pretty curious about him despite yourself. Gran explained to you that if you are good he will deliver toys to her house too. She also told you that Santa flies up in the sky and that you get to chase him in the airplane on xmas. We are looking forward to more celebrating this month!

We really packed in the fall fun this month. Pretty soon we will exchange that rake for a shovel. I'm betting you're going to like playing in the snow again too.

Love, Mommy

P.S. There are some parents that get all worked up about counting kid's ages in months. I guess I wouldn't tell someone that I'm 363 months old, so I guess I understand. I usually say that you "just turned two" when someone is actually talking to me. But I guess if I'm writing a letter each month, I'll count your age in months. Each month is different and I want to sum up each month for you as best I can.