mickey!

Happy Easter!

taking turns and other new things

this was a banner week for a 'what's aidan learned to do/say' lately.

taking turns. aidan is big on taking turns. aidan's turn, daddy's turn, mama's turn. for the first time, aidan exercised the freedom of choice and decided that it was mama's turn to read him a story before bedtime. "are you sure? don't you want daddy to read to you" i would ask him. "no, mama's turn,' he insisted. i have to admit it felt good to be the chosen one. it used to be that paul and i had a separation of duties-- i help him brush his teeth and paul changes his diaper, puts his pjs on and takes him upstairs for a bedtime story and 'night night.' there are drawbacks, like having it be mama's turn 2-3 nights in a row. even when i was out with girlfriends for dinner the other night, it was "mama's turn." sorry, paul.

birthday! aidan turned two on the 12th of march. we had a small get-together for him last weekend with family. there were a couple of presents from me and paul that he hadn't opened a day or two afterwards. after dinner on tuesday, i asked aidan if he wanted to unwrap the presents. he said, 'birthday! birthday presents!" that surprised me because at the actual gift opening at his party, he was a little cranky and wasn't totally into the opening presents thing.

easter eggs! we picked up aidan from school today and apparently they colored easter eggs as an art project because he had pink dots on his face, arms and a blue-green hand. obviously, more than eggs got dyed-- we have a human easter egg. we tried washing it off at home, but the dye is stubborn and we managed to only make it fade a few shades.

daaaddy! maaama! it used to be that aidan would wake up in the middle of the night or would be less than enthusiastic about going to sleep so he would cry it out a bit and then finally go to sleep. since then, his cries have turned into plaintive cries and screams of 'daaaddy!' and 'maaama!" the first time, it just melts your heart. it still pulls at the heart strings, but somehow your own exhaustion helps temper the guilt and you're able to let him cry it out (after about a minute or two, he finally goes to sleep) or you quickly go to his room, assure him it's okay, and rub his back for a bit to soothe him to sleep.

the mutha of all diaper changes

wednesday morning started like most-- at 5:30 a.m., aidan woke up. i went to go get him and was greeted with one of most nasty smells imaginable.

you would think that after two years of dirty diapers, i'd be used to it. but this time, it was B...A...D.

whatever he ate at school did not agree with him. he had so much watery poop his diaper couldn't hold it all. he was sleeping on his stomach, so the poop seeped out of his diaper, soaked his pj's, and he had poop up all over his torso. 

i called for daddy back-up. he peeled off his wet and poopy pjs while i ran a bath. try holding a naked baby, caked with poop, to carry him to the bathtub for a scrubdown. ick.

in the meantime, i had to strip his bed, open the windows, gather all his soiled clothes and put it in the laundry. 

somehow, aidan was in good spirits pretty much the whole time. 

and that was our wednesday morning. good times.

aidan turns two

click on the picture for more...

a seinfeld vocabulary

in the last two weeks, aidan has been picking up phrases, repeating them and using them randomly like mad. something flipped his language switch into overdrive. i have to be careful; he has already been exposed to mommy's litany of swear words. oops.

as responsible parents, paul and i are making sure to teach him 'please,' 'thank you' 'i'm sorry' and all the other polite phrases expected of a well-behaved child. but we're also having a bit of fun with him. hopefully he won't hold it against us.

we started with, "you're kiddin' me!" which sometimes comes out 'you're killin' me,' which is actually funnier.

yesterday, he learned "get out!" ala elaine on seinfeld, complete with the shove. (he doesn't shove very hard; we made it more of a hands on shoulders kind of thing."

perhaps "giddyap" or "salsa" will be next. stay tuned!

pitchin' a fit

wow. i'm still tired after what happened this afternoon.

aidan had his wellness checkup today. paul and i had to pick him up from daycare-- waking him up from his nap to take him to visit dr. wong. he was in pretty good spirits.

then, we got to the children's clinic waiting room. the last time he was here, he was pretty sick. maybe it he was still groggy. maybe memories of feeling bad came back. whatever it was made him cranky. he wanted to be picked up and then he wanted to be put down, only to ask to be picked up again. he wanted to sit on mommy's lap and then daddy's and then mommy's again. these were not good signs.

then his named was called and we went into the examination room. major fit pitchin' ensued. the nurse, a really nice lady with a three-year-old of her own, somehow got his measurements even though he was writhing and crying hysterically. we had to strip him down to his diaper and he was not liking that at all. once the nurse left, the wait for dr. wong was interminably long. aidan could not be comforted. he was crying so hard he was almost hyperventilating. in between sobs, he managed to tell us he wanted to get dressed and leave;

"shoe?? shoe on? shoe on??" (translation; 'get my shoes on and let's get the hell out of here!')

"shirt-shirt-shirt?? shirt on? pants?" (translation; 'get me dressed and let's get the hell out of here!)

"open door?" (let's get the hell out of here already!)

paul and i were pretty much in a sweat, each taking turns holding and comforting mr. grumpy pants.

i finally ran to the car and got binky and mickey mouse. (we are trying to wean aidan from the binky, limiting it to the car and bedtime, but this was a frickin' emergency!) apparently while i was out doing that, paul found that stroking aidan's face and talking to him softly started to calm him down. 

by the time dr. wong got to us, aidan was the perfect patient. apparently, better behaved than the 10-year-old she had seen before aidan.

by the time we got him dressed and out the door, he was back to his agreeable self. of course, ol' mom and dad were pretty much wiped for the rest of the afternoon. thank god we didn't have to go back to work. and that we won't have to go through this until his next check-up-- when he's three!

and then he was TWO

that's right. my baby is now two. 

it's amazing how fast the 2nd year goes. when your baby is born, it is such a monumental effort to get to that 1-year mark. every week is a milestone. you get through hundreds of diaper changes, feeding sessions, pumping sessions,  worry that he's going to roll over on his stomach when he sleeps, go to doctor's visits every three months, hoping to get past that official milestone where your baby is safe from the dangers of SIDS. you take lots of pictures of every smile and smirk-- real or 'just gas.' the first word, the first crawl, the first piece of solid food, the first steps, the first of many plastic outlet covers that will inevitable break your manicured nail.

you get the picture.

in year two, you're no longer worried about keeping your precious child alive-- you're trying to keep up with them! aidan is a talking, walking, running, jumping, climbing bundle of energy. every day he surprises us with a newly picked-up phrase of facial expression. he is learning free will and choice-- and he's starting to exercise it. it's an amazing and sometimes trying time, but i wouldn't miss it for the world.

i was out of town for work and got back in time to give aidan special birthday hugs, snuggles and bedtime story time. at daycare, they posted his birthday sign on the door and had cookies with the other kids. his lola and lolo picked him up from daycare and had lunch with him and daddy. before picking me up at the airport, dinner was had with nana and papa for more birthday grandparent celebrating. by the time he saw me, you could tell he was a little tired from the day's festivities, but within minutes, he smiled and screamed 'mamaaaaaa!' as if he finally realized i was really home and here to stay! 

we'll be celebrating his birthday this sunday with family. the theme; mickey mouse clubhouse. stay tuned for pictures1

brushing teeth

for several months now, aidan will only brush his teeth with mama.

i can't remember exactly how that happened. paul usually does the night-night routine, which included the teeth brushing , diaper changing, and tickling into pajamas. for some reason, aidan pulled the mother of all tantrums because paul wouldn't "let" him do something. so i stepped in and now i am his co-brusher of choice.

here is the routine:

i pick aidan up and go the foot of the stairs.

"is this where we brush our teeth?"

"Noooo..." aidan says.

we then go to the closet, the fridge, the kitchen sink, the laundry room and the garage door before finally stopping at the bathroom. (lately, he'll say "noooo" even if it is the right room, with a sly look on his face as if to test me.)

"do we need this?" (i point to the step stool)

"we need this.: (aidan agrees)

he then climbs the steps and i hand him his cup, toothbrush and toothpaste. he likes to squeeze the toothpaste on his tigger brush, which he does pretty well. he always says, "there you go!" then he asks me to turn on the water.

now since he is only almost two, he isn't the most prolific of tooth brushers, so i give him a chance to do it himself. he's pretty good with the front back and forth routine, but that's about it. so about a minute into it, aidan will hand over the brush and then i get to finish the job while he plays with the water, filling the cup that holds his brush and then taking sips. somehow, i brush his teeth between the sips and the water pouring. he's much better about opening his mouth lately, but it used to be quite a game for him. i found that if i start with brushing his tongue, the rest of the mouth follows.

then, he pours the last of the water and we put the brush and toothpaste back in the cup. sometimes he'll make faces in the mirror or play with the water left in the sink. then, finally, he runs to daddy for his goodnight story-- but not without blowing kisses to mama.

for the next few days, paul will have to do toothbrushing duty while i'm attending a conference. i hope aidan doesn't put up too much of a fight!

it really should be called the Sucky Six

i'm reading "the happiest toddler on the block" right now because i was such a fan of "the happiest baby on the block" and the swaddling techniques we learned. learning to swaddle aidan helped to calm aidan and helped us keep our sanity in those first three months of parenthood.

the funny thing about the toddler on the block book is that dr. karp, the author, compares toddlers to chimps. mainly, because human babies and baby chimps follow the same development up until 18 months and then human babies start to out-develop the chimps with their language skills and whatnot. 

every time i read these kinds of books, i'm struck by how aidan is a textbook example of whatever i'm reading. for instance, dr. karp talks about how there really isn't a "terrible twos." really, the tantrums and behavior associated with the "TT's" begin six months earlier, at age 18 months. (thus the title of this post.) at 18 months, aidan would fall to the floor and cry, go the the stairs and rest his head on a stair to cry, or run off a corner of the house howling and then, as quickly as it blew up, the tantrum disappeared and he was sweet ol' aidan again. 

of course, dr. karp says that while tantrums may taper off, they will rear their ugly heads again, though not nearly as much.

tonight was a good example. we had a late start for dinner because we had to pick up paul's car from the dealership for some routine maintenance. aidan was grumpy. he wasn't hungry. he wanted mickey. NOW. (we watch the mickey mouse clubhouse before he goes to bed.) even after paul walked him over to the couch to get the recording started, aidan was still upset. "yes, i want to watch mickey. wah-wah-wah." complete with tears and sobs. he was getting what he wanted, but he was tired. it was a meltdown, a little one, but a meltdown all the same.

i haven't gotten to the tactics yet of how to "deal" with toddlers and their tantrums yet. i was tempted to skip the beginning pages where dr. karp attempts to explain his theories behind his methods, but i keep thinking i'm going to miss something if i do that.

i'll be sure to post what i've read and whether it's worked. stay tuned!

 

nit picking part iii

we brought aidan to daycare today a little earlier than usual, prepared for a long line of kiddies and parents waiting to have their heads examined, so to speak.

nothing. we dropped him off as usual after playing 'push the cars across the round table' with a few of the kids. i guess the waddlers are safe from the nit picking. 

i hope they're able to keep those little buggers at bay. (i'm referring to the nits, not the kids.)

nit picking part ii

when we picked up aidan this afternoon, there was a letter to parents. 10 kids had cases of lice. for the next 7-10 days, they are going to check the kids' heads for nits before you drop them off. eek.

nit picking

oh, man. did we dodge a bullet today.

we dropped off aidan at daycare a little later than usual. we were getting into our good-bye routine when one of the daycare staff came in with rubber gloves on. apparently, a child was found with nits/lice so now all the kids had to be examined.

"since you're both here, i'll do aidan first so that if he has 'em, you can bring him home."

great.

so while she was very gentle about the whole process, aidan (who was already fussy for some reason) did not enjoy having his hair lifted from his scalp in search of the offending nits. we got a quick lesson in nits-- if you see white stuff and you can blow it away, it's dandruff. if the stuff doesn't move, its nits.

lucky for us, aidan has a little dandruff. i've never been so happy to have a child with dry scalp.

i did it!

we picked up aidan as usual on tuesday and he was in the older toddler room. occasionally, they will put aidan there if there are too few teachers to the ratio of kids in the younger toddler (known as the "waddler" room) or if they are short staffed. aidan is one of the older 'waddlers' and since he is turning two next month, i think they are slowing transitioning him into the toddler room. he appears to like the teacher and kids in that room.

anyway, when we picked him up the teacher said he used the potty today. that's why he has the sticker on his hand-- it says "i did it."

we were so surprised we forgot to ask how they got him to "do it!" we've had a potty in our bathroom for a while, but he mostly is interested in standing on it and sitting on it as a chair. he seems to be teetering on the edge of embarking on the potty training journey, but we haven't pushed it. it may be starting now-- i can hardly wait. can we allow ourselves to start imagining life without diapers and wipes?

rock of ages

well,more like pebble, really.

the weekend before i had to go out of town for work, we visited nana and papa for dinner. it was a nice time and we were towards the end of our visit when we suddenly caught aidan grinning mischieviously as he had something in his mouth. we didn't think anything of it since he had been helping himself to peanuts earlier. a quick sweep of his mouth with a finger didn't reveal anything was in there, but his binky was found near a scattered pile of decorative glass pebbles on one of the low tables.

naw, he couldn't have? could he?

it wasn't until monday, when i was in washington d.c./virginia that i got a text from paul around 10 p.m. "mom just called. aidan passed it-- all is well."

what a relief-- you think you can watch your kid's every move and then something like this happens. according to my mom, i swallowed a nickel at his age. luckily for both of us, we got through our experiences unscathed. you can bet that the counters are clear whenever aidan visits papa and nana's house from now on.

when i got home from my business trip, my mom (and aidan) gave me a present. here it is:

i knew that someday i would be a recipient of gifts made by aidan, but nothing that was actually "made" in aidan. ick.