zoo in nov!

We headed over to the Roger Willams Park Zoo today for their Santa welcome. He was supposed to come in via helicopter, but it was too windy so they were bringing him on a fire truck. Aiden was excited by the fire truck when it first pulled in, but was not interested in waiting around for Santa's parade. We instead headed into the nearly empty zoo since everyone else was waiting for Santa. They were giving the animals special presents today (like a ball with a chain for the monkey which Aiden thought looked like a toy he'd want). We stayed nearly three hours and Aiden wanted to walk nearly the whole time. He looked like such a big boy in his puffy coat. He took a little tumble in his new cozy boots (you can see his rugged knees on his jeans), but I think the big padded coat kept him safe. He was all tuckered out when we left, but still nice and warm in his cozy layers.

decorating!

It seems like our house was transformed so quickly Friday afternoon into a festive Christmas mood. We ventured out shopping for a few presents in the afternoon (not really for any real deals, but just to get some stuff done). I picked up six little "guys" as Aiden calls them. They are wooden nutcrackers that you can paint yourself. My idea is to have a little six year tradition where he will create one a year. This year he started off strong and I made the right choice to have him use marker instead of actual paint. He enjoyed it just as much and it was pretty schnazzy in the end. I just love these little mini traditions.

more decorating! from LB on Vimeo.

Aiden's been talkative lately, and here are snippets from our tree decorating so you all can feel like you were right there with us ;) My favorite part is around 2:50 when he starts comparing his gigantic two year old foot to his itty bitty little 3 week old feet on the ornaments.

O Xmas Tree! from LB on Vimeo.

snapshots

hippos!

You may have noticed in my post on Thanksgiving that Aiden is perched on the couch with a bunch of hippo friends watching the parade. Well, in the midst of getting organized, I found a boatload of hippos that were ready to cuddle, and of course, have their photos taken.

I posted at 14 months that our hippo collection had nearly doubled! Well, we are up to 45 hippos that can be located and photographed (not including eight more toy hippos and countless ceramic others at Gran and Pop's house.) His lion friend count shimmied up there over the last few months since they were decorations at his party, so I think that explains the hippo growth rate stabilizing ;)

grateful

Aiden and I were watching, cuddling, marching, dancing, singing, and giggling this morning. The Macy's parade was egging us on... It was one of those moments that I'm so grateful to share with my son. I asked my son what he was grateful for - fully understanding that his cognitive reasoning may not really embrace the concept of gratefulness yet - but I just wanted to see what he would say. He immediately replied with animals! I told him I was grateful for him and he gave me a snuggle. I then asked him what animals he saw in the parade and he pointed at the turkey and yelled, "look peacock!"

I'm grateful for Rebecca too since she helps him color in a hand turkey. She had him add in yellow so it didn't just look like a bleeding turkey ;)

I'm so grateful that we can share this holiday with some of J's colleagues today. I hope that everyone that is hosting and celebrating has a rewarding day.

happy thanksgiving!

neutral santa

Aiden asked to go see Santa today. He literally said, "I so excited - let's see Santa" about 50 times between the point when we decided to hop in the car until we were at the Santa line. We thought he had lost his mind when he started asking to see him and telling us he was going to tell him he wanted "caaarses for ciisssmas!" Was this the same kid that for the last couple weeks if you even mention Santa he would say "I donot like that guy?" He would balk if we even walked that way in the mall and freeze up like we were leading him to Crazyville. Instead, today he practically raced down the hall in the mall to see Saaanta! It wasn't until after we'd checked out all the wintery animals and the lady was asking what photos we'd like that he said - "uh, all done, i don't wanna" and tried to run off.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we ran out of the house so quickly once he was asking to see Santa that I didn't have a camera, so I have no montage to share. Instead, I'll give you a rundown.
He was tempted back to check out the full scene around Santa and then let me hold him and walk up towards Santa as he looked off into the distance in silence. He stuck his lip out occasionally and tried to politely say "Bye, I walk away now" a couple times.

Here is the play by play:

Santa asked what toys he wanted, he gave no response = Santa minus one.

Santa guessed that he wanted cars and he glanced towards him quickly (wondering how he knew!) = Santa plus one.

Then Santa started talking about Playdoh and Aiden actually cracked a smile = Santa plus one.

Then Santa asked if he wanted to eat turkey and celebrate, Aiden says "no like" under his breath = Santa minus one.

Santa asks when was your birthday, Aiden perks up and makes eye contact with Santa = Santa plus one.

Santa brought out some jingle bells and Aiden stuck out his lip trying to ignore the temptation = Santa minus one.

Santa asked me what day it was, starts muttering about it being Nov 22 and that he only gets the date from reading the newspaper (um, crazy drugged Santa, it is the 25th?), Aiden is bored = Santa minus one.

Santa brings out a coloring book, Aiden promptly grabs it and says thank you = Santa plus one.

If you're keeping track, Santa comes out even = 0 score. All in all a neutral Santa experience.

Aiden wouldn't let me put him down to even stand next to Santa, so we ended up with our stone cold baby face boy and mildly amused parents in our 2009 Santa shot.

Same Santa from 2008 - more tanning, less red rouge in '09:

thankful

I'm thankful that Aiden is still young enough that when he puts a ribbon around his face, he giggles at me when I bring out the camera. He lets me chase after him for a few shots then he's "all done"... but here are six expressions I'm thankful for ;) You can click on it to see it larger.

montessori

On Sunday we went to an open house for the montessori program I have heard such good things about that we want Aiden to start in the fall. We were so impressed. I felt like it was so easy to talk to the teachers and everything they said was music to my ears. I literally felt like they were taking words out of my mouth in terms of what I want for Aiden. I could get even more cliche about it, but it was definitely a match.

Typically the montessori model does not start until kids turn three, but they have a selective program for kids with fall birthdays that Aiden could enter in September. There are only 8 kids in the class, so we are really hopeful for a spot. After his application is in, we wait for his assessment in January. J jokes that it feels like we're in that documentary about kids trying to get a spot in a nursery school in NYC. I have yet to see that and maybe I shouldn't until after Aiden gets a spot ;) For now I just need to figure out how to answer this question on the application, "As a member of a parent cooperative school, what talents, interests, or resources can you share to enhance the Ocean State Montessori School community?"

J wasn't that familiar with the structure of montessori, but I think he could immediately see how engaged Aiden was in the classroom. We know that his colleague loves it for their daughter. Here was their vote of confidence for the school: "we really love it. the wee three's teacher is truly fantastic and you can see sophie getting interested in learning and just loving the whole thing. we went and observed it recently and it was remarkable how calm the classroom was and how engaged the kids were with their "works." we'd be happy to talk more too if you have any questions."

"Works" is the way that montessori organizes the learning process. Every kids learns at their own pace and picks what they are most engaged with at that particular time. I was a montessori kid, and honestly some of the processes that they discussed reminded me of how I like to organize my time. Now that explains it ;) I'm sure everyone that knows me well understands now ;)

your dad

Aiden,

Most of this blog is written from your mom's perspective. I give you a few updates on your mom's life nowadays, so I wanted to give you a perspective on your dad's life lately. He has a lot of good stuff going on right now.

If you flashback to right after election time last year, where your dad's most recent top journal publication got some attention. It was mostly international attention, but the best part of all was that he was approached to write a book about the topic! Yep, he banged out that book all summer long. Just this past Friday he had a big book workshop where they flew in people to give their commentary on the book manuscript.

It's like getting an in person book review. Overall, the commentators said it was an excellent book. They pick and prod all day long and despite that pressure, your dad came home glowing. I can't come up with a better word than glowing - like you know, what you might do when you win a prize or get married. He came home in such a good mood and I have to say I was so relieved and pleased for him.

He turns in the final Ethics of Voting manuscript to the publishers on Jan 15th, so he has some work to fine tune everything before then. It will be turned in around the same time the first book he wrote with his advisor comes out. It's already posted on amazon and here is the carefully chosen cover (I had fun with that decision making process):I had this post hidden in my drafts and I never actually published it (probably to avoid getting political during those really charged times):

11/04/08

It's election day and they are expecting 150 million voters! J and I were voters number 291 and 292 at our local precinct and we literally walked in and out within five minutes supporting the school bake sale along the way. Other people I know voted early over a week ago and waited in line for over an hour. J recently published a major article about the ethics of voting, was interviewed on the New York Times bloggingheads, which led to an interview with the UK Guardian, an interview with Netherlands Radio, and a request to be on Canadian TV. The most exciting part is it led to a book deal with Princeton University Press.

Guardian UK 23 October 2008 Don't get out the vote? Jason Brennan, assistant professor of philosophy, raises the controversial notion that not all citizens have enough information to cast a vote on election day. His recent paper, published in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, theorizes that just because one has the right to vote does not mean just any vote is right.

Full report online: www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2008/oct/23/political-philosophy

gin-ja-bed boy

We made our first gingerbread boy house as a family last night. Aiden would like to make it very, very clear that it is the house that the Gin-ja-bed boy lives in.... if you watch until 2:50 you'll find out what he likes to do in his house (my favorite part). We had the radio on to some little xmas jingles and spent quite a bit of time making the house - or watching Aiden pour the candies from bowl to bowl and stick them on so that they would roll off and all around the floor. We had lotsa runaway candies... but so far no runaway gingerbread boy ;) My mom will get that joke.

Gin-ja-bed Boy House! from LB on Vimeo.

Last Saturday it was rainy and we had a $12 off coupon for Build A Bear. They know we are suckers and we are definitely going to give in if you make it nearly free ;) It was also National Teddy Bear Day, so we had lotsa excuses to celebrate at Build A Bear. Aiden picked out a new owl friend, and here he is helping create it in a snippet (wha, no video production? - i tried but the flip was misbehaving and I gave up so you miss owl's first bath)

700th post

Waaat, can you believe that this is my 700th post to this blog!? That includes nearly 200 video tidbits, 158 whiney pregnancy posts, and lotsa pictures. I find it hard to believe and I am intimately familiar with the effort it takes to keep up with this blogging stuff. I mainly do it so that we have a rough record our memories. I want to give Aiden some memories of his early childhood that he wouldn't have without it.

Some people ask how long I will keep this up? I wonder that myself. I find it to be such a valuable record of our family time. It picks me up when I'm feeling stuck in a rut or gives me a good break from the boring bits of life. It sometimes makes me baby crazy and sometimes reinforces that it isn't time for another baby. It helps me remember what I'm so grateful for and helps me appreciate it even more. It also, most importantly, helps me keep up with family and friends that we wish we could make more memories with in person. It's 700 tidbits of our life that I will never lose.

To celebrate here are some of my favorite flashback memories (each photo links to a different part of the blog if you really have tons of time to flashback):

silhouette

I was on the prowl for a new ornament for our tree this year, and I just couldn't resist this custom silhouette out of metal that I found on etsy. It's made out of polished metal. I feel like it will be a great keepsake and I hope I can pass it down. Even though I feel like we are waiting forever to put the tree up since Thanksgiving is so late this year, I can still prowl around for ornaments, eh? The artist can be found here.

This became a project because getting an image against a white wall with no shadows without Aiden's huge head at a weird angle is a challenge. I had J helping try to get his attention at the right level and he was sitting in his red chair so he wouldn't squirm around. I got a bunch where his eyes are kinda out of focus or blinking, but the profile looked good. I ended up putting it into photoshop myself to take out the slight shadows so I could really get a feel for it. Here is the image I sent the very polite, delightful artist and her rough proof. I can't wait to have the shiny metal version in my hand.

height

Click Go and here was the result:

Your boy will likely be 6 ft. 2 in. at age 18.

Young men often continue to grow a little past 18 until they reach 21, but their height at age 18 is very close to their final adult height. This prediction is a "best guess" but it's still just that -- a guess. Based on the formula we used there is a 50 percent chance that your boy's full-grown height will be within 0.8 inches (above or below) of this prediction, and a 90 percent chance that it will be within 2.1 inches.

So given this and the fact that he definitely has some PopPop genes, I would expect that our boy will be taller than both of us. How strange to think that someday he will be taller than me and he won't want to snuggle or even call me mommy. I've been reading too many short stories about being a mom of a boy.

Here ya go if you want to calculate your own:

http://www.babycenter.com/child-height-predictor

edaville!

We headed over to the Winter Lights Festival at Edaville Railroad! Aiden was so excited to get there he hardly napped, but he was happy the whole visit and jibber jabbering away most of the time. I have way too much video as always, but I tried to snippet together fun little Aiden phrases from our TWO rides on the Choo Choo, peeking at all the winter window scenes, riding all the other rides, and just plain having fun! It was a balmy day there was a fog in the air that made the lights even prettier. My favorite is a few seconds in when J put him up to saying he is a hobo ;)

Edaville Bits from LB on Vimeo.

My highlight was watching Aiden plop into a ball pit for the first time. He wasn't too sure how to actually get around in them, but he thought it was pretty cool. I have so many fun memories of the big ball pit at Sea World Ohio - Guess that season pass to Sea World has its bonuses, eh Pop and Gran?!

Edaville Balls! from LB on Vimeo.

good list

I've been spending my extra bits of time writing out all our thanks for everyone that sent Aiden some birthday cheer. But I thought that all that generosity should be at the top of the good list. It's just a thanks-o-rama ;)

Hasbro's Fun Lab, where they test out new toys/concepts, had Aiden as a test kid for this british tv series they might bring here called WotWots. It was a language development nightmare, but he was hooked. We turned our survey and dvd back in, but luckily he can still peek at snippets on youtube. It shocks me that he asks for it, but I guess there is some method to their madness for these popular shows. I think it's just Aiden being a little tv show deprived and he knew we were letting him watch that one whenever. As a good test subject, he earned a big bag of toys - a Phil the Drill, and a huge batch of Mr. Potato Head stuff. He's pretty funny about Mr. Potato and really only wants to dress him as traditionally as possible ;)
I'm working on my big final project for my RISD class where I decided to do some serious lenswork. The concept is taking a series of photos as baby eyesight develops (first all black and white with 12-15 inches of focus, then red comes in, then yellows/oranges, then finally blues and more focus). I've been pretty fascinated by how we know about eyesight development and how little babies can see for the first couple months. To really play with focus my instructor let me borrow her lensbaby. It's a really cool lens where you can push and pull on the lens itself to get cool effects.
One of the coolest puzzles I've ever seen ;) Thanks K, M, and J!
Awesome birthday shirt for the 2 year old guitar lover - Thanks S and L! (matches his fun first bib from R!)
Mom's birthday cuddle blanket from A! Thanks! I wish I had a photo of all the 30 year old birthday blankets since I think they all captured not only our favorite colors but our personality ;)

tnks rebecca!

Rebecca bought Aiden's a bike for his birthday! And it sure is a big boy bike - it even has some shocks ;) He'll be tall enough eventually or we'll get some pedal blocks or we'll just push him ;) Thanks Ba-ca!

She also asked to put together a video sequence of him talking for her language development class. J was good at getting Aiden to talk to the camera about all the science he likes to teach him at 1:23 ;) Even though he gets shy/rambunctious/distracted when the red light is on, he gave her some good "samples" for her class.

Talking at 24 months from LB on Vimeo.

juicing

I'm really juicing every last bit of excitement out of all the birthday fun, eh? Well, I can't help it. Videos make me happy and I hope they make you smile too. Here are three more birthday videos from Gymboree ;)

Play and Eat from LB on Vimeo.

Parade and Parachute from LB on Vimeo.

My favorite is the hug for Stella at the end:

Thanks! from LB on Vimeo.

gran and pop

We are so lucky that my folks are able to come visit so often and give Aiden a good ol spoil fest. He was showered with toys and books and clothes and all around love this visit... I think my mom was actually trying to convince my dad that Aiden needed more toys as a Thanksgiving present...but then my dad protested that there isn't such a thing - ha! ;) We had so much fun with them this week and I miss them already... still trying to figure out our next visit, but until then we'll have plenty of opportunities to read all the good books you left for us. Thanks, Thanks, Thanks. Here's the One Hungry Monster:

thanks

We feel lucky to have some family in the area that are so supportive and fun! It was great to see all of the extended Brennan clan at Aiden's party. Thanks for coming down!