january 08

happy new year to all,
--our trip home from mobile was a good trip, just like the trip down. it took two days this time though, because we took a detour to visit my dad’s sister in athens, alabama. we had fun with aunt carroll and uncle larry. aidan loved trying to find eddie the cat, playing the piano, riding on the golf cart, crawling all over carroll, strolling on the treadmill, and playing with cat toys. sierra had fun just being cute.
--our trip went through blacksburg, and so we stopped for dinner with my sister, and got back to billy after two weeks away. the next day we met my cousin lisa for breakfast since she was in town for a conference.
--sierra turned seven months this month, and her accomplishments for the month include: the high-speed-creep (she’s all over the place), she pulls up on anything that stands still…or anything that she thinks stands still (like the rocking chair or a toy that tips over) until she falls down, she sits really well (though she’ll forget and throw herself backwards), sits on her knees, reaches up when she wants you to pick her up, “walks” in her walker, says “da-da-da,” and gives kisses. also, her first tooth cut through on the 31st!
--aidan turned three this month…hard to believe. he had two birthday parties. we had a small family birthday party for him in mobile. i drew a dinosaur on his cake, he opened presents, and played with my little cousin matthew. at other times during our visit south, he played with some of my other younger cousins. he called matthew “maff-few,” scott was “spot” and then “stott,” and joseph was “dough-sef.” he had to blow out his candles twice. he was so excited about blowing them out that they were doused even before we could sing the first word!!
--grammy and poppy came to visit us, and while they were here we had aidan’s second birthday party. we did a combo party with his friends jarah (3) and isaac (1) at chuck e. cheese. everyone had a good time. we played games, watched the shows, ate pizza and cupcakes, and opened presents. aidan had fun with his friends ella, málie (molly-AY), and kala’i (ka-LA-ee), and jarah and isaac, and some friends of theirs. and we enjoyed the grown up company (nani, sandra, jesse and shannon and their friends.)
--some of aidan’s accomplishments of the month include: dressing himself (granted, everything ended up on backwards), going “stand pee-pee” by himself, lots of pretend-play (usually as some sort of animal), getting two shots in the arm at the doctor’s office like a big boy (and getting a milkshake afterwards for being so good and brave), and falling down the stairs (while was trying to be an monkey on all fours, on the way DOWN the stairs…yeah, that didn’t quite work!)
--his imagination is going wild these days. and he’s pretty creative. he wants to be some kind of animal most of the day. over the last few weeks, some of animals that he’s told us he was include: a buffalo, a wildebeest, a monkey, a lion, an elephant, and a dinosaur. when he’s in character, he gets mad when we call him by name. he’ll correct us, saying, “no, i’m a dinosaur (or whatever).” he also gets pretty involved with it. he makes us talk to the animal, so i ask him questions about how old he is, what color he is, and what his name is. he gives me different information according to what animal he is. he was a wildebeest named “snee,” who was white with orange hair, blue eyes and gray tail, was three years old, and ate dinosaurs. it’s fun to see him play like that, but it also gets kind-of annoying having a four-legged son running around the house. he runs into things because he has his head down, (falls down the stairs,) flips around, and refuses to answer to “aidan’ when he’s an animal. so, we have to limit his time as animals, and tell him we want our boy back.
--also this month, aidan discovered the differences in the anatomy of girls and boys. he told me that my penis was broken. so we had the discussion that you have to be a boy to have a penis. so he says, “mommy has no penis…daddy has a penis…aidan has a penis… sierra has no penis.”
--aidan is speaking really well these days. he can always get his point across, though his pronunciation isn’t perfect. he answers questions, and repeats EVERYTHING. some of the phrases that came out this month are: “mommy, where are you?” “awww, pleeeease,” “it’s my favorite,” “i love it,” “mommy, what you doing?” “let me in,” “put me down,” “i not aidan. i’m a wildebeest,” “lion sleepy,” “stop please,” “sierra has a hiney,” and my all-time favorite: “mommy, i love you. i love you too,” (he answered himself for me!)
--at the doctor, aside from his shots he had to get, he was pronounced a healthy (large) three-year-old. he is 40.5” tall (97th percentile) and 40pounds (95th percentile). when i went to put his info in his babybook, i wrote down his past measurements to compare to sierra. here are the comparisons:
___________height_____________weight
_________aidan__sierra______aidan_____sierra
birth______21”___20.5”_______8# 13oz__8# 15oz
2weeks____22”___21.5”_______9# 2oz___9# 4.5oz
2months___24”___23.5”______12# 8oz___12# 11oz
4months___26”___26.25”_____15# 8oz___15# 2.5oz
6months___28”___27.5”______17# 9oz___16# 14oz