Updates and Updates

Where to start. So much has been going on over the last 10 days. I guess chronological order is best. Last Thursday was Aiden's first day at Parent's Day Out (They call it Mother's Day out, but since I am the one at home with Aiden I will call it what I like) all indications are that he had a great time with his first day, he even did well during nap time. We are able to walk to the school from home, it probably takes less time to walk over there with him than it does to get him packed into his car seat, drive over, get him out of the car seat and then inside. So as long as the weather cooperates walking will be the norm. Mommy took the day off so she could go drop Aiden off and pick him up with me for his first day. During the hours he was in school we got a lot of clean up done around the house. Lots to do with the school time. Long list of things that have been "neglected".

On Friday Aiden went up to Indiana to spend a couple of nights with his grand parents. Mommy and Daddy had a date with the local theatre Friday night, so Aiden's mimi and papaw agreed to watch the little one. He had a good time and I will try to post a couple of the videos from mimi's collection at some point.

When Aiden came home on Sunday he found his room rearranged. His crib wasn't there anymore. The book case now sits where his crib was, the desk has moved and in the corner there is a big boy bed. Mommy went out and bought a new bed for him on Friday and we got it put together and ready for him to come home to. Tonight is night 3 on the regular bed and so far so good. He's good at getting up into the bed using his little stairs, but so far seems a bit scared of getting down on his own. Doesn't seem like much of a problem to me, as that means that he won't be wandering around his room at 4am just yet.

Unfortunately, yesterday the little guy came down with a fever. He was not showing any other symptoms of illness, and Tylenol reduced the fever, but it stuck with him throughout yesterday and into this morning. The fever finally broke for good sometime this morning, but since he had been feverish all day yesterday we kept him out of school today. We really didn't want him to miss the second day, but it was safer for everyone, and he was a grumpus anyway most of the morning till he got his energy back this afternoon.

So that's a quick overview of what has been going on. Should have a few new pictures to add soon.

Videos and news

So we have some video to share with you tonight. I hope that blogger lets me load it all fairly quickly as we have several really cute videos to share.

But first... a bit of news! Tonight before bath time, Aiden peed in his potty for the firs time!! We're so proud! It was kind of unexpected, as we always have him sit on the potty when he is getting ready for a bath but he never does anything. tonight he just let it go. WooHoo for progress!

Now for some video entertainment!

Kicking the ball! We were watching pre-season Football, and Aiden decided kicking the ball looked like a lot of fun.

What's a Dinosaur Say?

This may take a parent to understand. But the Book we are looking at is "The Little Engine that Could" The first page of the book goes something like this "Chug Chug Puff Puff Ding Dong. The little train rolled down the track. She was a happy train." Now listen carefully.

New Pictures

Alright.. It is past time for some new pictures, so here we go. A few captured moments from the last couple of weeks.

We start with Aiden showing off his shiny new Lightning McQueen jammies. Yes he is Still obsessed with cars. We have managed thus far to get through the weekend without watching it (quick everyone knock on wood)

This picture was taken Approximately 30 seconds before Aiden ripped one of the sides right off the frame, permanently making a mess of daddy's glasses. I will say for him that he put them on by himself, and did so correctly. If only we had skipped the breaking things part.

Aiden loves the water. The first picture is from a pool party held at a friends house a couple of weekends ago. Aiden had a blast! Then we go to the pool at mommy's work and the pool party they had this week. Aiden was a bit skeptical of the water at first, but once he warmed up to it, he didn't want to leave!

This weekend work through a appreciation party, with all kinds of inflatables and bouncy things, games, food, and prizes. Again Aiden wasn't real sure about things at first, in fact we almost didn't stay because he was scared and crying. But eventually he found the balls. Basketballs and Footballs, and he LOVES anything that looks like a ball, so we spent a lot of time keeping other employees from being able to play basketball or football while Aiden monopolized the balls. Then we found the slide and obstacle course and Aiden had a good old time with those, daddy got worn out trying to keep up. But it was all a whole lot of fun!

No Pictures Please, I'm busy having fun!

innocent wonder and the breaking of stuff

Yesterday I took Aiden to the park. We spent a good hour wandering around and playing. For whatever reason I started thinking about the innocent wonder with which this child looks at everything around him. How much delight he takes in just pointing to a hole and shouting out "A HOOLE" over and over again. Everything is new, fun, and delightful. Then I started considering how early we lose that sense of wonder... 10? 13? Surely by our middle teens we have come to see things in a cynical fashion and that innocent wonder has burned away. For however long it lasts, I am going to cherish every moment of wonder I can with Aiden. It opens a daddy's eyes to think about how all of this is new and amazing to this little person. The mundane becomes incredibly interesting and must be explored.

Of course then there are the things that SHOULDN'T be explored. Like Daddy's glasses. He has always liked to grab them and play with them if he can. I got out of the shower today and came out to the bedroom to see what he was into, he had my glasses on (correctly) and was playing with the computer mouse. I snapped a quick picture (which I will upload soon) and went to finish up in the bathroom. 30 seconds later when I came back out the glasses were no longer on his head. He has taken them off and somehow managed to break off one of the earpieces at the frame. Like REALLY broken, twisted metal broken, no repair. No idea how this happened, but there you go. this is what happens when you leave a inquisitive child unattended for two seconds. On the upside, these glasses lasted me probably 7 years, so they were probably due for retirement. And insurance will pay for most of the new frames & lenses, so while there will be an expense, it won't be horrible. Just an "ungh" experience, and trying to superglue the old glasses back together enough to use until I can get some new ones.

Aiden tells a story

So. Aiden's favorite story at the moment is Cars. We watch the movie, read the book, and he has several Cars toys. Tonight instead of us reading the story, he read it for us. Here's a little video of Cars, as told by Aiden.

2nd Birthday Party

So they are a little late, but here are the pictures and a video from Aiden's 2 year birthday party. Thanks to everyone who was here, and those who couldn't be here but sent birthday wishes along to the little man. He had a great time, and the party was a bigger success than last year, since everyone got their nap and had more energy this time around. Not to mention the whole being a year older and having a better understanding of what was going on. All of the presents have been a big hit, the t-ball set quite literally a big hit. He took to baseball immediately. Looks like we have a lot of sports to keep up with in our future.

Aiden was a little under the weather yesterday, running a little fever, but his mood was much improved today. We went to the Zoo and he had a blast pointing at all the birds and fish.

We're working on left and right, amazingly. I don't know if kids at 2 are supposed to get left and right yet, but when I ask him to give me a certain foot to put his shoe on he has a better than 50% chance of giving me the correct foot, and it is improving with each time we repeat the exercise. Also working on having him repeat the alphabet to us, with admittedly limited success.

More soon!

2 year Photos

Today was the day of Aiden's 2 year photo shoot. Mommy scheduled the appointment for 1:30 this afternoon. Aiden, of course, fell asleep on the way to the studio, and was a massive grump when we arrived. It took all we could do to get him to be interested in golfing (his favorite thing and thus the theme for the first round of pictures. Once we changed his shirt for the second outfit, he LOST IT. There was no way he was going to get photos taken. Fortunately, the studio was having a slowish day, so we were able to leave for a little bit and come knack and try again. After getting some Chick-Fil-A into him he seemed to cheer up, and the second round of photos went much smoother.

Thankfully Dan, our Photographer was very patient with us. I am sure they get bad kids all the time, but it just sucks when it is your kid who is bawling. All of the Staff at Portrait Innovations were really nice about it, and at least outwardly smiling, though they may have been inwardly gritting their teeth. The second time out when it was time to pick out the pictures we wanted, he thought that was high time to be running all over the place, which was probably almost as bad for the staff, as they watch a 2 year old zooming around everything, but again, all smiles.

Once again we purchased enough pictures to give one to the entire world. And we got the CD with all of the "proofs", so I can share some of those with you now. They are in reverse order as to when they were taken. Fortunately, even though he was upset in the beginning, the photos in the orange outfit came out just fine!

ENJOY!

The New Swingset

Gallons of water, liters of sweat, eight hours and two exhausted guys later a swing set emerges in Aiden's back yard for him to play on. Saturday was rough as the temperature topped 95 degrees. Humidity was stupid. I started inventorying parts at about 7am, and just taking the parts out of the boxes and checking them off on the parts list I was sweating. At 3pm when the swing set was finally finished, Aiden was ready to have a blast, daddy and papaw Danny were ready for some Air Conditioning and a nap.

But the smile on Aiden's face when he tested out his new slide and swing were well worth all the effort. Word to the wise, if you are going to build your kids a swing set, do it in March or September when the temperature isn't quite so bad. Sheesh.

Ultimately we are well pleased with the swing set, it looks great, and Aiden seems to love it. Thank you to all of the family who have contributed to Aiden's birthday money so we could purchase this for him, it will provide years of entertainment for all of us!

Couple of pictures and a video tonight. The first picture is from Father's Day, with all the kiddos. Aiden was having a really hard time sitting still for pictures, but this big giggle was worth sharing. Then of course on to the exploration of the swing set! And of course proud daddy when the little man grabs his Ohio State ball cap and puts it on his head! Woohoo!