Aidan says “bye” so well.
He’ll follow the bye-bye wave with a kiss on his hand that is meant for you (even though he doesn’t blow it your way).
Whether you are going to the bathroom or leaving the house or just putting him in his crib for the night, he’ll say “bye!”
It’s so cute, sometimes I walk back to him and give him a big kiss!
Aidan is a fan of music.
If a commercial comes on that has music in it and I am sitting on the couch, he will push my legs (his way of telling me to stand up) and then he will lift his arms in the air and say “up!” Once I pick him up, he will lay his head on my shoulder as we dance to the music. He likes all kinds of tunes as long as he has a dance partner. One night, after dinner at the country club, he wandered over to the live music and in the same fashion, asked a stranger (who was dancing) to pick him up so that they could dance together. He laid his head on her shoulder and she held him close. She told me she has a grandson that looks just like him and she was happy to get a baby hug. When the song was over he waved buh-bye and blew her a kiss.
One day, I walked down the stairs at our house to find Ryan holding Aidan so close with A’s arms draped over his shoulders as they swayed to a slow song. Made my heart melt.
When we tell Aidan to give us a hug, he does. He then follows the hug with a back pat.
CUTEST – THING – EVER!
If you want to feel loved, just ask Aidan for a hug, that will surely do the trick.
I trade favors with him for a “please” or a kiss or a high five. He goes along with this pretty well, I wonder how long that will last?!
Last night he wanted me to turn on the iPad for him, which has changed from mine to his in a matter of seconds once he realized how much fun it was. It has so many apps and YouTube (of course) so it is the perfect toy to bring to a restaurant to buy us time to eat while he reads a book or plays a game. Last night, as I changed from my work clothes into comfy clothes, he climbed up to our bed, sat up straight and pointed to the iPad and said “pad!” I look at him and he says “pease” – as if he already knew I was going to ask him to say it! So I give it to him and as we watch the glowing apple, waiting for it to start up, I ask him for a kiss and he lunges towards me and plants a wet one on my lips.
LOVE – THAT – KID!
Last week, the Big A figured out how to escape his crib. He’s only 20 months old so I’m not sure what to do. I thought he’d be in his crib for a whole lot longer. I certainly don’t want him to continue getting hurt so maybe turning the crib into a toddler bed is the right decision. But I just KNOW he will not stay in that bed once he has an easy out. I thought about turning the crib around so that the higher side was towards the room and the low side towards the wall, but this weekend, I watched him crawl out of the crib and he uses the corner so turning the crib around might make it worse. And I have to admit, Aidan’s pretty good at escaping. Ryan & I both stood close to him and watched, but we did not help him. We wanted him to do it himself and he was pretty crafty as he swung one leg over, straddled the bar on his chest in a laying-down position and then swung the other leg over and then as he held onto the bar with both hands, he lowered himself down until his feet touched the floor.
This weekend, he seemed hesitant to climb out (while we were watching at least). When it was just me watching, he tried to climb out, but was reaching for me to pick him up, he wasn’t confident he could escape without making a swan dive to the ground. I think he can go a little bit longer in the crib, honestly. At least until my Dad & Mom visit at the end of March and Dad can turn the bed into one fit for a crib-escaping toddler.
Saturday evening my little boy closed his little finger in the hinge-side of our closet door. I’ve never heard anyone cry so hard in all my life. All I could do was hold him, but he was delirious because he could not make the pain go away. He was screaming and waving his bloody finger in the air – the nail raised up off the top of it. We finally got him to calm down after some Tylenol, milk and mommy-love. Then he passed out and slept for 9 hours.
We started to get worried at 8:30am on Sunday morning when we still hadn’t heard from him. I was certain he’d be up all night after bumping the finger throughout the night, sleeping and rolling on it. It was so tender to the touch when he went to bed that I would have put money on him having a bad night. But thankfully he did not.
Sunday he was totally fine! I got back to the house with donuts, within minutes of him waking up to find him laughing and playing. He was certainly mindful of the new boo-boo, but it didn’t slow him down.
Looks like the nail might re-seat itself and heal, but only time will tell. Until then, you should buy stock in kid’s Band-Aids, we go through about 12 a day.
It’s finally February. I can’t believe my birthday month is over! I will miss you January…
Aidan is finally feeling better. His snotty nose showed signs of subsiding 2 days ago and now his cough is lessening every day since. I really couldn’t take his cold much longer. And I’m not squeamish when it comes to snot, it’s not about that. It’s about his inability to blow his own nose. He is still too young to understand how to hold the tissue (or even let me hold it) and push the snot out of his nose. Instead, he breathes it in – sometimes snorts it in – or waits for it to drip out so he can sleeve-clean it. Yum.
And because he is sucking in the snot through his nose, it goes into his throat and he does not know how to process it. He can’t swallow it so it catches in his throat and causes him to cough. He coughs so violently (because he just doesn’t know any other way to do it) that his face turns red and he will occasionally vomit. Double yum.
It took a dozen washes for me to remove the smell of puke from his blankie. Just when I thought it would never be the same again, I went hard core and got Wisk laundry detergent, which claims to remove sweat and body odor–perfect, right? I also splurged and got fabric softener, which I haven’t used since I was in college. I never saw a need to use it, but I was desperate to make his blankie smell like something other than puke. Well, one good long warm water wash with Wisk and fabric softener did the trick.
The Big A was more than ecstatic to hold his fresh-smelling blankie again. He did his ritual of balling it up and burying his face in it. Love that kid.
You’re sick & don’t feel like yourself – I’m sorry.
I wish I could make you feel better.
I want to hold you close and feel your heart beat.
I want to curl up with you on the couch and rub your back.
I want to feel your soft hair on my face as you drift off to sleep.
I want the warmth and weight of you in my arms.
I wish I could be with you right now, but I will be there soon.
I love you baby.
XOXOX
Mommy
Aidan is not the best at eating in restaurants. You would think a little guy like him would enjoy being out and about with adults, eating big boy food and (usually) watching TV because we are in some kind of sports bar & grill.
But sometimes he can be a real terror.
As a method of distraction, I slowly transition from toys, cars, trucks, buses – to books – to the iPad. I try to wait as long as possible to break out the iPad because even with that his attention span is quite short. I’ll usually wait until my food comes so that there is new-ness with the device and it buys me time to wolf down my food.
I’ve made the mistake early on of letting him have a sip of my water from the straw. He’s a cool customer for the first sip, leading you down the path to thinking you can look away and let him enjoy holding the cup on his own. Then he decides to throw the straw away and take a big boy sip with ice crashing all over his face.
I may have let him have a couple sips of my caffeine-free diet coke. The look on his face was priceless. Not only was he a fan of the sugary sweet taste, but the bubbles made him laugh so hard.
As far as I’m concerned, he can do whatever he wants as long as he sits still!
My parents have started retreating to Aruba during the last two weeks of January. And you know what, they should. They don’t have any more kids living at the house with them (just a crazy puppy named Riley) and who wouldn’t want to escape the cold once a year? I love Aruba – or any beach vacation – that is my favorite thing to do…
That’s my idea of a good time.
Ryan hates a beach vacation, so it’s going to be hard to convince him that our next destination (or any destination for that matter) is sea-side. He prefers to vaca in Europe, staying somewhere that’s near to (or in the heart of) a city. Don’t get me wrong, I love European vacations. You won’t catch me complaining about that. But a week in Hawaii wouldn’t be bad either.
Aidan is almost 19 months old and he still hasn’t been to the beach – isn’t that a crying shame? I will definitely have to plan an outing to the beach one day this summer. It’s so hard to do that in southern California without being accompanied by a million other people who want to do the same thing. But for the A-man, I’ll do anything!
Ryan is the assistant coach for the Simi Valley boys varsity soccer team. Last night was the very first game that Aidan & I went to watch. By the time I got home from work, bundled up the Big A and headed to the field, we caught the last 30 minutes of the game. The weather was pretty frigid, so I didn’t mind braving it for half an hour.
Aidan thought the bleachers were so fun. He had a truck in one hand and a school bus in the other – I kept feeding him cheeze-its throughout the game – he was happy as a clam!
When someone scored a goal and everyone cheered, Aidan got a huge smile on his face and clapped his hands as well. I kept telling him Dad was on the field and he’d say “Dadda! Dadda!”
After the game, we walked down to the field where Aidan ran into Ryan’s arms and laid is head on his shoulder. It was such a great night.
Our 7th wedding anniversary was Monday, October 1st. I can’t believe I’ve been married for that long! It’s even more unbelievable that I have known Ryan for 10 years. Insane!
To celebrate our anniversary on Monday night, the three of us when to Five Guys for a cheeseburger (Aidan had a hot dog). It was a nice outing, sharing the special occasion with our son. We didn’t need a fancy meal, just one another.
Tonight, the Big A will spend some quality time with his Grammy & Pop Pop while we go out to dinner and a movie – a true date night – just the two of us. We haven’t enjoyed something like that in quite some time.
As much as I enjoy getting away for a few hours of adult time, I still look forward to returning to our family dynamic.
Looking back on all the other ways we celebrated our anniversary in the past, I don’t know how we felt complete returning to an empty home. Even after a long, expensive dinner at Ruth’s Chris or Mastros or the Melting Pot – how did we survive without having the A-man toddling around the living room? It’s like life before Cali…how did we ever do it? I could never be truly happy without the monster and our sweet baby boy.
This is the last way I want to go out
A scream that’s a whisper
The haunting sensation
That I may never hold your hand again
There’s always the chance – a second guess
Over 12 hours of flight
That all the memories I’ve been re-living
Will remain just that – a whisper
An inaudible voice inside my head
It’s another 8 hours
Before I get off this plane and pick you up
Hug & squeeze you longer than you’d like
I never had these thoughts before
Didn’t worry about a water landing
Now that you’re in the world
I can’t even listen to 3eb’s ballad while boarding
Gotta go to that happy place while we wait for take off
I’ve been on this vacation for a long time
16 days is a lifetime to a 14 month old
Will you remember my face?
Will you call for me by name?
Will you lift up your arms to be picked up?
Will my biggest fear be realized as you shy away?
I just have to wait
Wait for the flight to safely land
Wait to see your face
Just wait
