A question for the Moms and Dads out there

I'm fairly certain I have a couple of parents reading my blog out there, so I'd like to post this question to you-- where do you go online for to get parenting advice? Ideas for things to do with your kids? A place to commiserate/rant/share tips? :)

I'm participating in an exciting project with our Marketing Department at work that will be announced soon. As part of the launch, we're gathering a list of online parenting resources.

So please share by leaving the URL and a brief description in the comments. Thanks!

naughty or nice?

check out this video, courtesy of disney family. a little holiday fun at aidan's expense.

that's a big bow!

aidan and i went christmas shopping at target last saturday to pick up a few odds and ends. we found this in the gift wrap section. target has everything! so, if you're giving your sweetie a new car for christmas, go to target for your BIG bow.

i'm a good boy!

it appears that this will be the year that aidan "gets" christmas.

last year, he enjoyed ripping paper off presents. he was introduced to santa, which resulted in this adorable image of horror:



this year, he is already talking about being a "good boy so santa brings me presents under the tree. every day."

we are emphasizing the "good boy" aspect, pointing out that throwing his food, making raspberries with a full mouth of food and talking back are not "good boy" behaviours and santa "doesn't like that."

don't even think of praising good behavior with anything other than, "you're a good boy, aidan!" i forgot what "good" thing he did, but i praised him with a "you're awesome, aidan!" to which he replied, "no! i'm not awesome. i'm a good boy!"

he said wha?!?

the last two months have been a flurry of new aidanisms-- paul and i continue to be surprised by the words coming out of our son's mouth. there are some phrases i still don't get (like "mikojojoboyo"-- i've tried to repeat it back hoping to figure it out, but he just laughs. like it was a joke he made up with his day care buddies to see who could get their parents to say it first. 

here are the some of aidan's key aidanisms; at least the ones i can remember off the top of my head:

"i don't like that." or "i don't like it."

emphasis on the word "like." the first time he said it, he wasn't a fan of the freshly baked banana bread i had made. what made this funny was the fact that aidan didn't like that he didn't like it. he likes everything! eventually, he went back to the kitchen counter where he put the "offending" banana bread pieces, tried another taste, and triumphantly exclaimed, "i like it mama! i like it!"

"that's not funny."

he is now the judge of what is funny. what i say or what daddy says in conversation is "not funny."

"stop talking!"

this is accompanied by his little hand clamping down on your mouth while your lips are flapping.

"that's funny! HA!HA!HAAA!" (his toddler evil laugh)

usually, it's not funny. and he's doing something he's not supposed to.

"i'm sorry!"

he has gotten really good at apologizing when he's done ya wrong. but today, he was running into things with his little motorcycle and he ran into my bag, toppling over my daytimer. "i'm sorry. i made a little mess!" it was the cutest thing i'd ever heard.

he sings! he sings all the time. today, he started singing one of the imagination movers songs. here is a video of him singing happy birthday to his tito. so cute!

let me hear your body talk

for the past month or so, aidan's daycare has been helping him transition into the older toddler room. he would spend the mornings in the waddler room (read "not potty training") and spend the afternoons with the toddlers. three of the girls in that room were with aidan in the waddler room until about 5 months ago. (that whole girls potty train faster than boys thing, I suppose.)

today was his first entire day in the toddler room. it was touch and go for a minute there-- "i want to go upstairs!" he said, clinging to paul. (he wanted to go to the waddler room where he would see miss gerilynn (our favorite filipina) and get his morning hugs and kisses.) luckily aidan's little homeboy, CM., transitioned along with him. CM was sitting on the floor playing with toys and he was excited to see aidan when he arrived. actually, it was CM that offered a toy car to aidan, who then said "Hmm!" and let go of paul long enough to set him down next to CM for a little playtime.

we walked out of daycare with a conspiratorial "whew!"

picking him up after work, he was outside playing with the girls. he had a great day. apparently, all three girls brushed his hair. and, there was the following comment on his daily report card made by his teacher:

"i was standing with aidan while he was on the potty. while we were waiting, he said, 'come on pee-pee. it's time to come out!" his communication skills are awesome! LOL."

the boy and the sea

here is a video clip of aidan dipping his toes in the pacific upon our arrival in cannon beach. the kid has no fear of the water. 

i better get him swimming lessons. and fast!

and we're back

it is now week two after taking two whole weeks for our family vacation. it took that long to get back to normal. we've still have some kinks to work out. more on that later.

our annual trek to the oregon coast was extended to just shy of a two weeks, ending with a couple of days in portland, and ending with a visit to the oregon zoo and my long-awaited purchase of the iphone 3g. sigh.

i've posted a sampling of picture highlights here, but the main highlights of our trip were:

1. vacationing with your in-laws can be fun and a win-win. they get to spend time with their grandson and you and your hubby get to have time to yourselves. my in-laws are the best!
2. yes, you are on a vacation from work-- but vacationing with a toddler is, as my hubby put it, "a whole kind of different work!"
3. toddlers don't know about the whole sleeping in thing. 
4. cannon beach is beautiful. the sea air can do wonders for your peace of mind.
5. i went to cannon beach spa and had a volcanic spa treatment. now that's the way to start a vacation.
6. we discovered hug point and ventured out of cannon beach to visit manzanita (my new fave little sea town, especially for shopping!), nahalem, and other little towns i can't remember the names for.
7. oregon has the cleanest public bathrooms i've ever seen in a state park
8. we had one rainy day during our entire stay in cannon beach. it was a great opportunity to take a drive, check out the shops for tax free shopping and end up at tillamook for ice cream.
9. cannon beach bakery cinnamon bread makes the best french toast.
10. the only time i eat bacon more than two days in a row is during vacation and it accompanies the aforementioned french toast.
11. i read two books in seven days.
12. i turned off my blackberry. i brought my laptop to upload pics, but couldn't find free wifi anywhere in cannon beach. this was totally different in portland where you can find free wifi anywhere. i am wired 24/7 and the break from technology was a welcome break. 
13. i had close to 700 emails in my inbox while i was away. 
14. scott, susan and baby milo (as aidan refers to his little cousin) came down for a weekend and we spent some time as a big ole mcjannet family!

i could go on, but it's late. i'll let these pix speak for themselves.

the words every mama wants to hear first thing in the a.m.

first words out of aidan's mouth this morning when he woke up:

"My Oakleys! My Oakleys!"

i had to assure him for a few minutes that they were safe and sound in the car and he could wear them later when we went out.

sheesh. even paul doesn't do that!

our oakley lovin' boy

finally, aidan wants to wear his oakleys! if it's bright outside, he asks for them.

usually, he wears his half-pints which are designed for a kid's little face. in this picture, , he is wearing daddy's bottlecaps. and they stayed on while he ate his afternoon snack of apples in the car.

who said he could change the bedtime routine

once upon a time, we had a bedtime ritual that was like clockwork:

7:30 p.m. - the family watches mickey mouse clubhouse
8:00 p.m. - brush teeth with mama or daddy
8:05 p.m. - put on a fresh diaper and jammies
8:10 p.m. - kiss mama or daddy goodnight (depending on who was tucking him in that night); blow kisses as he goes upstairs. mama or daddy reads him a story. after the story, we turn off the light and aidan crawls into bed.after about five minutes, he's asleep.

8:35 p.m. mama or daddy comes back downstairs and the little tyke is down for the night.

mind you, the nights were not always this smooth. sometimes aidan didn't want to brush his teeth. sometimes the alternating mama/daddy taking turns didn't sit well with aidan. "mama's turn" he would decree, even it was daddy turn. and, sometimes aidan needed to cry it out for 15 seconds before settling down.

well, now it is more than a year later and aidan has decided to change up the routine. sigh.

7:30 p.m. - the family watches mickey mouse clubhouse
8:05 p.m. - mama and daddy tell aidan it's time to brush his teeth. he says, "no way."
8:10 p.m. - finally getting his teeth brushed, but he takes FOREVER. he decides to play with the water instead. when he's done he might dump water all over the sink. he then runs to daddy or mama (whoever isn't helping him) to "show off his shiny, white teeth."
8:20 p.m. - putting on a fresh diaper puts aidan into wrestling mode. he will not stay still. if you try to pin him down, he laughs his head off. if you try to take off his shirt, he either giggles incessantly or gets mad and cries because he doesn't want to take off his shirt. it takes 2 minutes to calm him down.
8:23 p.m. - kiss mama or daddy goodnight (depending on who was tucking him in that night); blow kisses as he goes upstairs. rather than sit on your lap and take in a story, aidan wants to sit in the chair. or play with a toy, ifyou go thru the list of books to find out what he wants to read, he says, "no." he will then take a book andtell you his own story. sometimes he says actual lines from the book. it is cute and makes for a moment
of pride, but when it's almost 9 a.m., it tries your patience!
8:45 p.m. - lights out-- but now he asks for the light to be on. you finally convince him it's night-night time and the light needs to be off. he will lie down, only to sit up in bed and make random announcements like,"boogies. boogies are in the nose." or "daddy at the hockey game. go,go, daddy go!"
8:46 p.m. - sleep time. or a good one minute cry before settling down.


maybe it's the longer summer days and the light nights. we'll ride out the summer and hope some semblance of the old routine makes a comeback.

wake up daddy!

holy crap-- it's been over a month since i last blogged

it's already june?!

i have been too busy to write-- bad for a blog, but great to know that i am spending time with family and friends. work has been busy and it promises to pick up now that i'm in the midst of building an online branch. 

ooh! intriguing!

aidan continues to regale us with his spunk and "where the hell did that come from" phrases. lately, my posts have been clips of video of managed to get on my little cannon s1000 (which, frankly, has enabled me to capture more aidan moments than i can ever remember.) i figured why attempt to describe his latest "thing" when i can just post the video and have you see it for yourself? 

so here's what's been going on with our lil stinker:

• he's sleeping in a toddler bed. a fairly smooth transition. he fusses for about 10-15 seconds when we leave the room and then he sleeps through the night. 
  
• sometimes, he freaks me out. this is related to the sleeping in a toddler bed. he can climb down and walk over to our room. one time, he was standing quietly at the end of the bed and i looked up and saw his little shadowy figure. it kinda freaked me out.  usually, he will wake up around 5:30, pad over to our room, walk over to my face and gently pat my cheek to summon me from my sleep so i can lift him onto our bed. we can usually get another hour of sleep in. ahh...
• he's a talker. "no WAY, mama!" "no WAY, daddy" (with me, he uses a "get outta here" hand gesture. "no problem!" (sometimes used correctly; sometimes not!) "nice shirt, daddy." "pretty, mama!" 
• mr. manners. suddenly, he says "bless you, mama" "bless you, daddy" when you sneeze or even cough. he also says "thank you," after he gets what he asks for (saying "please," of course.) oh, and he finally says "sorry, mama" or "sorry, daddy" when he does something wrong.
• time out! speaking of doing something wrong, he's been in time out a lot recently. little infractions we are trying to nip in the bud now, like putting his feet on the table while we're eating (we lowered his high chair and now it's no longer an issue. only took us 5 days to figure that out. duh) he still likes to throw his food, especially when he is already full and doesn't want to eat anymore. nevermind that WE are still eating and trying to enjoy our meal.
• car games. one of his recent faves is to say, "daddy asleep again?" this is based on jeff, the the blue wiggle that has a penchant for falling asleep anywhere (isn't that narcolepsy?) in any case, he says "daddy asleep again,"  to which paul "falls" asleep. did i mention we are in the car when he plays this game? did i also mention that paul is driving?!? paul pretends to fall asleep and then aidan gets a kick out of yelling, "wake UP daddy!" and then laughs and laughs when daddy sputters awake. he's started to play "mama asleep again" and "aidan asleep again." aidan pretending to sleep is hilarious. he has the heavy breathing and the head to the side down, but he doesn't quite get that  you should close your eyes for the best effect. 

i think this post summarizes the latest happenings over the last of the month-- at least with aidan. this weekend will be busy. besides being father's day weekend (happy dad's day!), we will be going to the tiny tot's teddy bear picnic program at benaroya hall (thanks, storm, for the tickets!) with our friends the gruenders. and on sunday, we will welcome back scott, susan and their brand new baby, milo. aidan will get to play with his little cousin. (paul and i like to refer to milo as "aidan's little brother." :) it will be interesting to see how he interacts with an infant.

lather, rinse, repeat

...can find wonder and joy in the tedious task of washing cars.

sorry seems to be the hardest word

for the longest time, aidan has never been able to say "sorry." the funny thing is that he knows when you say it and why-- he just refused to say it. when prompted by me or paul for him to apologize, he'd instantly cover his eyes with his hands or arms as if to shield himself from the shame. it was his version of a wordless "sorry."

it has just been in the last week or so that he will now say, "sorry!" but, as the elton john song-inspired post title implies, it is still hard for him to say. the other day, aidan pinched me when i didn't pick him up. (you wouldn't think such little fingers would hurt, but he's a little crab, i tell ya!.) so i prompted him, "say sorry, mama." to which he replied:

"sorry daddy!" (paul got a laugh out of that)

prompted again, he then said:

"sorry, mickey!"

prompted again, he then said:

"sorry mower!" (that would be his plastic toy mower in our kitchen)

finally, he said "sorry mama" and then went on his merry way.

at least he now says "bless you" whenever you cough, sneeze or blow your nose. so there's hope yet of raising a well-mannered little boy!

hat trick

aidan went to his first major league baseball game april 19th. it was the mariners vs. the oakland a's. unfortunately we can't say that saw his first major league win since 1) we only stayed until the 3-4th inning and 2) the mariners lost.

he had people watching, eating garlic fries, and he allowed us to see the mariners up to bat while sitting in our seats before getting antsy and wanting to roam around. the nice thing about safeco is that you can wander around. aidan was too young (you have to be at least three years old) for the play area and the line was near epic proportions for the "moose lodge" where you could take pictures with the mariner moose. but, no matter. aidan had fun checking out the sights, learning about baseball (some) and hanging out with mama and daddy. you can see more pictures of aidan's baseball outing here.

below is a video of aidan doing one of his "i'm bored check out what i can do" antics. amazing how entertaining a toddler and a hat can be.

breakfast with aidan

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.