A pic or two

I figure, who really wants to read a long blog post anyway? Since this month has been a rough one for the blog, I'll just post what everyone really wants to see....a few pictures!

One side story that I haven't captured on video yet....Aiden just learned to play peek-a-boo with us. He will hold something up in front of his face and then peek around the side or top, at which time I'll respond with "peek-a-boo." (Aiden is still working on his vocabulary.) It is SO sweet and SO fun. :)

Oh - and the kid finally learned to clap. A mere five months after we started trying to teach him, he learned clapping is a noise with your hands and not your mouth.

Now on to the pictures!

Aiden has enjoyed the pool twice this month! And, if you couldn't tell, he particularly enjoys his boat Auntie M got for him.

We went up to NY for cousin Lee's wedding, and Aiden helped Grandpa mow the yard.

While staying in NY, and therefore in another crib, we learned the importance of bumpers in Aiden's life. Yes, that IS his head wedged in the corner.

 

Mr. A decided he wanted to dress like Daddy for rehearsal dinner.

 

He also decided he wanted to drive us home one night. Did we get very strange looks from the four cars we passed? Perhaps....

This morning Aiden would not drink his milk, like he does every morning when he wakes up. He didn't much want the Cheerios I offered him either. He did, however, decide that he wanted to eat his book on the drive to daycare. Literally eat it. He did not just chew a hole...because there were not any leftover pieces to be found. He ate it.

 

A bit hard to see, but Aiden is taking a small break from gnawing (not chewing) on the rubber sole of his shoe on the way home from daycare (after eating his book on the way to daycare). I know the warning signs were few, but it turns out teeth 7 & 8 are on their way on.

Ready, Set, Grow

May is a busy, busy month around here. Lots happening at work and at home, leading to a lack of posts. Opps.

Aiden is off and running....pretty literally. Two weeks ago he was steady on his feet, but last weekend he officially converted to a walker. Funny thing is, Aiden's been walking while holding our hands since he was 7 or 8 months old, with his hands over his head in order to hold on to our hands. So, when he first got up and going on his own, he was pretty sure he was supposed to hold his hands over his head in order to walk.

Other big changes include Aiden's lack of spitting and drooling. I really shouldn't say lack of drooling...there's still plenty of it, but since there are dry spots on his shirt at the end of the day, I count it as a lifestyle improvement. And I can't even tell you how the lack of spitting is an improvement. I was convinced at least 87 times that Aiden had semi-serious tummy trouble because he spit.so.much. For.so.long. Turns out the darn pediatrician knew just what he was talking about when he said A would outgrow it. It's actually been good for nearly a month, but I didn't want to broadcast that information, only to jinx myself. Guess we'll see what tomorrow holds....

Little man graduated to his big boy car seat right after his birthday, but he stayed rear facing since he didn't hit the 20lb weight limit. Today was a big day in his little life though because he got to turn around! He laughed pretty much the entire time we were in the car, just taking in his new view.

One more fun story about A....We started trying to teach him to drink from a sippy around 9 months, with zero success. I had multiple people suggest trying a straw, which was even less successful than a sippy because he thought the straw was a chew toy. So we gave up on the straw and mastered the sippy. We hadn't tried straws again until the other week when Ryan brought Sonic malts home. Anytime anyone has food, Aiden is sure he is also supposed to have some...and he gets upset when he doesn't. He did his get upset routine while we drank our malts so we offered his a straw full of thick, hard-to-get-out ice cream...and he drank it! Should have known my boy would master a straw for ice cream. :) On today's Sonic stop (don't judge the quantity of Sonic trips), Aiden got his very own shake.

Weekend Fun

Hope you had an enjoyable weekend that included some of your favorite things!

Maybe some good drinks,

 

Fun times with friends and family (perhaps while cheering for your favorite team),

Celebrating Cooper's first birthday, baseball style!

Relaxing with your hair-back (and possibly tongue-out),

 

And, of course, looking and feeling great while you were out on the town!

Who Needs Toys....

...when you have a rocking chair and a door to the world? (otherwise known as the front yard)

Aiden's most favorite place is outside. Anywhere outside. We just sat on the lawn the last few evenings and the kid was happy as can be. Sometimes we'll put his rocking chair in front of the open door and let him be. As you'll notice, he really likes it when cars drive by.

Chores, Round 2

Maybe the focus of this blog should be the chores Aiden likes to do....but then it might be short lived, huh? One of his favorite objects in the house is the dishwasher - whether it's opened or closed. Last month I noted that he likes helping with laundry. These days he's a huge fan of the vacuum. I mentioned this once before, but this time I actually got some footage. In good mother fashion, I was too slow to capture the best part - Aiden actually pushing the vacuum across the floor - so this will have to do.

Confusion

Little bit of misunderstanding going on....Pretty sure he thought I said 'I'm going to feed you some food' not 'I'm going to take a picture of the food your just flung in your hair.' That or he was trying to show me his mouth was empty so that I would give him more food. (We have a small problem with shoveling every piece of everything into our mouth all at once so we've taught Aiden to say 'ahhhhh' and show us that his mouth is empty before giving him more food.) Regardless, I can assure you that Aiden had no concern for the food atop his head.

Walkin' & Talkin'

Aiden started saying understandable words around 10 1/2 months. He may have let a word slip before then, but you really have to listen for those first words....and, like any good mother, I wasn't listening. First words I noticed were "kick" and "up." This was quickly followed by "truck", "duck", and "quack" (do noises count as words? I mean, it's an intentional noise so I put it down...). And then....."that." Yes, Aiden says the word 'that.' It's actually probably his most frequently used word. You can tell we talk in a lot of specifics and promote an extensive vocabulary around our house....
The day after his birthday, Aiden decided to take some steps. My sister managed to have the camera rolling at the exact right moment! Fortunately, no one got very excited so there's no shrieks of background noise...

The doc said Aiden would walk before a year, but we've got a cautious kid on our hands. Even though he's tottering around, it'll be awhile before he actually uses walking as a mode of transportation...which is completely acceptable to me. He's growing up too fast anyway. Plus, I can catch up to a crawling kiddo much faster than I can wrangle down a running toddler.