Aidan ice skates!

Potty fun

Isabella has peed on the potty before but recently she's been "asking" to sit on the potty a lot.  Just now she came running to me carrying the potty seat saying "pa"!  Went to put her on it and sure enough, warm diaper.  She certainly shows us she knows what's going on.  Now to get her to tell us before she goes!

Woot!!!  Isabella came to me and signed for /cracker/!  This is her first functional communication of a want and is so excited.  Aidan's communication was so much more advanced than hers that it's hard to watch her struggle but she seems like she's starting to get it.

18 Months Old Today!

Isabella is 18 months old.  She is a master climber and scales everything she can.  The other day she got into her high chair on her own, she climbs onto the couches and climbs into the window behind the couch.  So far she hasn't figured out how to climb out of bed and we hope she doesn't!  When Isabella got into her chair on her own we asked Aidan how she got in there and he said, "with her A-mazing muscles!"  He's always so genuinely proud of his sister!

She is an amazing little eater!  She eats more than Aidan does most meals.  She loves meat and veggies, especially corn.  She is not really fond of sweets though and will take a bite out of a cookie but never finishes one.  She also doesn't like fruits at this time.  She's always interested because Aidan easts lots of fruits, especially oranges and strawberries.  She has only ever eaten a bite of strawberry one time.  Mostly she just touches it to her tongue and then spits it back out.

Isabella is not talking at this time.  She is starting to babble a little bit and has a couple of words and a couple of sounds.  She still spends most of her day in silence although laughing and squealing in joy are sounds she makes often.  She does say:  "Mama" although more often "Ma", very rarely "Dada" "Oof oof", "Hi", "Bye", "Cha Cha" for Thomas or Chuggington, "Ish" for fish, and "Shz" for shoes, "Uh oh", "Uh" while she's thinking, and "wow" every time she sees Christmas lights!


Aidan quote of the day:  "Mom-mom, that's the Vegetable of Lights Zoo!"
(Aidan saw a commercial for the Festival of Lights at the zoo!  lol)

Preschool Christmas Program

Aidan had his very first Christmas program this morning.  He was so excited to wear his tie and he looked very handsome and grown up!  None of the kids sang very loudly but they all looked cute.  Santa visited and Aidan was very excited to go talk to him.  He added to his wish list this time adding Angry Birds.  He told Santa he wanted, "Angry Birds, a cool roller coaster and a cool race track!" 

Fun day for the whole family!

Angry Birds

So Aidan spotted an Angry Birds game in the Kroger ad today.  He doesn't know he's getting it from Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Harry.  He said, "maybe we can go to Kroger today and buy this game."  When I told him it was getting close to Christmas and maybe we should wait to see what kind of toys he gets he said, "you mean Santa can bring it to me?"  I told him I didn't know what Santa would bring him but that we should wait.  Later Isabella was crying and Aidan said, "Mom-mom, I think she wants Angry Birds."

"Ainan"

Isabella is trying very hard to say Aidan and it almost comes out as "Ainan" or "Aian", but that /n/ sound is still pretty tricky for her.  Aidan is so excited that she is saying his name.

Aidan quote of the day:  "She said my name!  I never heard that before."

Head, shoulders, knees and toes...

Well she doesn't talk but she doesn't miss a beat!  Isabella showed us tonight that she knows where her belly is, then we asked her other parts.  She's got: belly, head, toes, fingers, ears and mouth.  She needed some prompting for nose and eyes.  Not too shabby for 18 months old and not talking!

98, 99, 100!

A couple weeks ago Aidan showed us that he knows his numbers, expressively in random rotation, up to 99.  So I taught him 100.  Today in the car he was counting and wanted to count to 100 so we counted together.  He did almost all of them himself but got confused with fifty, "fivety" and then got lost around 70 as well so I helped him along the way.  When I got home I got out our 100 chart and showed him for the first time.  He was so excited and went to counting them right away.  Got it!  Then we played a game of "find the number ___".  He did great. 

Favorite words

I love how Aidan talks and always have.  I've always had a thing about not correcting the words he says wrong because it will be all too soon that he says them correctly.  Over the years he has changed the way he says many thing but I do have some favorites that I'd like to remember so I'm making a list.

"Octover"
"smooky" = spooky
"retember" = pretend

Things he has said correctly for a while but fun to remember:
"tynastics" = gymnastics
"tops" = Triceratops
"rocketshit" = rocketship and brachiosaurus, lol  (he was 18 months and those were the two big words he knew)
"plates on its back" = Stegosaurus (18 months)
"kegosaurus" = Stegosaurus around 2 - 2.5 years old
"f*ck" = black - we have no idea where that came from, eventually it turned into "flack"
"God" = dog - seeing a black dog was not a good thing when he was around 16 months old 

/sh/

Last week Thursday I was online looking for new shoes for Aidan and Isabella was all about the shoes.  She does love them but this time she was making the same sound over and over.  /shz/  I realized she was trying to say shoes.  She is trying very hard!

Today we went to Petsmart to get out of the house and do something.  Both kids loved watching the dogs get haircuts and there was the sweetest cat that they enjoyed watching.  I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the cat or the kids but it was a good time.  Isabella barks at all animals, "oof oof".  But today, she barked at most and then said, "sh" as she pointed to the fish.  So she officially has mastered a new sound and is using it appropriately.  Very exciting that the "mute baby" is starting to make meaningful sounds. 

One year later...

I can't believe a year ago we were sitting in Children's Hospital after a long long surgery.  Isabella's PSARP procedure went as expected, taking just over 4 hours.  That waiting room was torture, watching all the other parents come and go while we just sat, waiting for doctors to come out, waiting for phone calls, waiting to see her number move to the recovery slot.  The following nine days were long.  Some longer than others.  Isabella was such a trooper!  Especially when they couldn't use her PICC line to do blood draws and they had to stick her.  Thanks to an amazing VAT team, she never even cried.  Smiled at them while they took blood and then would fall back asleep.  Amazing little girl!

And here she is one year later:

Bless You

Aidan sneezed and said, "whoa, that was loud.  I think I need to have a quiet bless you."
Me:  "Well, it's kind of hard to have a quiet bless you."
Aidan:  "But Mom-mom, loud bless yous don't let baby sister keep sleeping."
(he was concerned he was going to wake his baby sister up by sneezing, sweet little boy I have)

Sneak peak for Halloween

Aidan's costume came today - so cool!  He's very excited.  He said, "I think this came from a real astronaut!"  We tried it on quick to make sure it fits and got a really quick snapshot.  He can't wait for Dad to get home to show him.

Woot! Guess who peed the potty?!

Isabella!  That's right.  Mark found her trying to climb onto the potty so he put her on it.  She sat for about a minute and then peed!  We had a party and she was very happy!

1 year, 3 months, and 6 days old and peeing on the potty!  Such a big girl!

Done

We are finally done cleaning the house and getting it ready to show.  We also put an offer on the new house today.  On pins and needles waiting until noon tomorrow. 

Aidan quote of the day:  "Mom-mom, I will be downstairs if you need me."

Preschool

Aidan quote of the day:  "I think they are waiting for one more boy.  Me."
(On our way to preschool Aidan decided that all the kids are probably there already and they're just waiting for him.)

No longer a Mama's boy

Aidan:  "Mom-mom, is Dad going to be at home?"
Me:  "No, he's at work."
Aidan:  "But I want Dad."
Me:  "Why?"
Aidan:  "Because you're a mom and you're a girl."

Sniff, sniff....my little boy is growing up.

First Homework Assignment - done!

Preschool orientation was today and we were given our first homework assignment.  To make any kind of bee and bring it to school on the first day, next Tuesday.  I cut out the bee and had Aidan cut strips for his stripes and antennae.  Three stripes of course because, he's three.  He glued them on and made two eyes and a mouth.  He loved it!

Aidan quote of the day:  "That's for Dada to use his weird whacker."

Back to Soccer!!!

Hooray!  Today was back to soccer day.  Aidan did so well in soccer this summer, we decided to keep him in it for the fall.  He loves it.  Today he had a new coach in addition to one of his old coaches.  He's so excited to now have "two Coach Brians".  He thinks it's great!

Soccer is a little earlier than the kids are used to waking up.  I went in to find Isabella sleeping in a cute pose and had to take a picture.

Go Packers!

It stopped raining for about 3 minutes so we got a better shot outside!

The kids are ready for the Packer game tonight!  Aidan decided he wanted to wear his Packer shirt this morning and he wanted baby sister to wear hers too!

Aidan quote of the day:  "Mom-mom can you move your cold?"
Me:  "My what?" 
Aidan:  "Your cold."
Me:  "My chili?"
Aidan:  "Mom-mom it's not chilly it's cold."
(we ate chili for dinner)

Eating with a fork is fun

Isabella is having a blast feeding herself.  She really does quite well with a fork.  As long as I cut the ravioli in half, she does really well getting it on her own and eating it all by herself.  She's so proud!

Maybe tomorrow I can...

My sweet boy is obsessed with "tomorrow I can be bigger". Today's topic: being an astronaut.

"Mom-mom, some day I will be an astronaut. I will. Maybe tomorrow I can be a new astronaut and go in the space shuttle and fly up high into the sky and then come back to planet Earth."

I hope it's not tomorrow, but I hope his dream comes true some day. :)

Happy 1st Birthday Party, Isabella!

Isabella had her first birthday party and it was so much fun!  It was a Very Hungry Caterpillar party with friends.  Isabella wasn't loving the attention but we had fun anyway. 

I used her fingerprints for the body and her big toe print for the head on the invitations.  I took some creative license on spelling so it looked uniform. 

We had a summer barbeque and had chicken and steak on the grill, corn on the cob, strawberries and orange drink.  Chocolate cake to look like the Very Hungry Caterpillar and some colorful balloons.  Pretty much all one needs for a perfect first birthday party!

Rain, rain go away!

It has been raining every day and when it's not raining, it's cold!  Isabella has been watching outside a lot lately and if you open a door but she doesn't get to go out, she lets you know she wants to play outside. 

We have independent steps forward!

Last Sunday Isabella started standing on her own, and she's been obsessed lately with walking holding onto our hands.  She can walk holding onto one hand but prefers to have an object in each hand.  She also loves to walk holding onto a hula hoop.  Aidan likes to help with this task but it's not really "helping".  Tonight, we decided to see if we could get her to walk in between us.  Last night failed miserably, but tonight, we put a ball in each hand, and with a lot of encouragement, and some visual reassurance by holding our hands around, but not touching, her belly, she took steps.  She would take 3 steps at a time in between us, back and forth.  She was so happy!

Picture is from next day, and her hands are blurry, but too cute!

 

Go baby girl, go!

Aidan quote of the day:  "I did play the farm game with Max.  He was red and I was yellow.  Tomorrow we can play again and I can be red and Max have to be yellow."

(Aidan's favorite color is red and apparently, so is Max's, his friend at school)

Tasty!

Aidan quote of the day:  "That was a great dinner!  That new food is tasty!" 
(after eating tater tots for the first time)

Happy Mother's Day

Today was Mother's Day.  I got breakfast in bed, flowers, cards and cast handprints of the kids.  I love it!  Isabella's has a hole in it - apparently she wasn't a fan.  We went to Red Robin for a late lunch and both kids had a great time.

My lilac started to bloom and it smells so fragrant!  Took some photos of the lilac and the tree today!

Aidan quote of the day:  "Mom-mom, this is Happy Mother's Day."

Dinosaurs, Volcanoes and Fossils!!! Birthday party time!

Aidan's 3rd Birthday party started with a request in January for a "volcano birthday cake with a brown and green T-rex".  I thought about it for a while and then started looking for different things I could use to make this an amazing little birthday party for him.  I found ice cube molds to make T-rex and Triceratops fossils.  I made both chocolate fossils and ice cube fossils for everyone's drinks.  I also found some cute mini dinosaur chocolate molds and had fun making little chocolate dinosaurs.

 

Decorated the hall with 3 dinosaurs for the 3 year old birthday boy!

I found some plastic dinosaur fossils for a fossil dig in our fire pit filled with sand.  We also made a volcano and used the old vinegar and baking soda trick to show the boys a volcanic explosion!  Found some dinosaur bean bags for dino toss.  Overall we had a great time and this dinosaur party was a great memory made!

 

Sadly, during the party we didn't have time to enjoy our dinosaur toss but we played as a family later that night!

Girls and "guys"

Aidan quote of the day:  "Mom-mom, you are a girl because you have very floppy hair."

It's done!

Our basement bathroom was the last thing to be finished and it's finally done.  We ordered the mirror from a furniture store b/c bathroom vanity mirrors looked too small.  This coloring and size is just perfect - we love it!  It's the best bathroom in the house.

Aidan and the "packpack"

Aidan quote of the day:  "Mom-mom I am your best friend."

Happy Birthday, Aidan!

Aidan quote of the day:  "It's everybody's firpday today!"

Tree - Week 3

Carnivores and Herbivores

Aidan:  "Mom-mom you want to be a carnivore so you can eat meat."
Me:  "Really?"
Aidan:  "yeah.  Herbivore eats the leaves."
Me:  "Okay."

"Dada is my very special guy."

Great day for the zoo? Head to the Museum!

Today turned out to be a beautiful day to go to the zoo.  So we headed to the Children's museum.  It's a Monday, so no field trips and the sun was shining.  It was pretty empty.  We headed to the caves and tree house climb first and Aidan did okay.  I put Isabella on her butt and pushed her through since she wouldn't crawl and Aidan was going fast.  Aidan also did the "wiggly bridge" but we ran into many children who wouldn't wait their turn and that made the good time turn bad.  Next we headed to the ball area where Aidan played and Isabella crawled around.  Went to the infant / toddler area to play and Aidan played the music and the ball ramps while Isabella climbed up the steps and around to the slide.  Aidan was not into the water today so we headed over to the construction area to shovel up rocks and use the hammer and "nails" on the buildings.  It was a great time - both kids had a ton of fun and no one complained.  Isabella made it all the way home awake! 

Today I decided to scramble up an egg for Isabella.  She loved it!  Ate it right up.  This will be a great way to get some protein into her diet.

Our tree - one week later...

WOW!  What a difference one week makes in the life of a tree!

Sounds all around

Aidan has always been sensitive to sounds.  When he was born, he was born so quickly that he didn't spend enough time in the birth canal and was born with fluid in his ears, failing his newborn hearing screenings.  At some point, the fluid cleared up and he could hear.  He hated noises.  Hated water running, squeaky doors, doors slamming, velcro, etc.  While Aidan has gotten so much better about noises, he's definitely still very sensitive to sound.  We can be on a walk and he'll tell us the train is coming, a good 10 minutes before it gets to us.  Sometimes we think he's wrong, but every time the little guy proves us wrong. 

We've gotten so used to Aidan's sound sensitivity that sometimes we forget.  This weekend was a big reminder that while he can cope most of the time, sometimes noises affect him.  We knew the air compressor would be a big deal so we talked to him about it and closed doors between him and the air compressor.  At night, we took a trip out and on the way home it was raining.  Aidan kept asking "what's that?".  We couldn't figure it out.  Eventually he demonstrated the sound and we realized he was hearing the sound of the water on the road under the car.  Sensitive little guy!

Aidan quote of the day:  "Dada you better get out of there.  It's gonna be so loud, Dada."
(Mark was using the air compressor and finishing nails to finish the baseboards in the basement bathroom)

Our tree is blooming!

Aidan quote of the day:  "Thanks for smiling at me."
(We were at Outback and the ladie at a table next to us was smiling at him and waving.  When they left they said goodbye and that was Aidan's response)

Milestones

Aidan quote of the day: "Look Mom-mom, I did it all by myself.  This is a by myself day."  (Aidan had just done the whole bathroom thing by himself and was excited because today he will be going to gymnastics by himself in the 3 year old class.)

And then there were five

We've made it down to the last 5 containers of milk frozen from Isabella's surgery.  I have more frozen from after that, but it's a little crazy to think we made it through all that milk!  We had so much, we had to buy a new freezer for it all!

Aidan quotes of the day:  "And now the Mister Bunny could go on Dada's side and go to Kroger to get the red new car for my basket."  (Aidan really wants a red car at Kroger and I told him that maybe the Easter Bunny would bring it for him)

"But but but look.  That guy did build a fence and now no friends can come in my house today."

Last day in 2 year old gymnastics

Aidan is growing up so fast.  Today was his last class in 2 year old gymnastics.  He's such a wonderful listener and rule follower that he's moving up one term early.  Got some great shots of his last class today.