July 08

--the first week of july we were in philadelphia. our friends, mike and leslie, (finally) got married. billy was a groomsman and aidan was the ring-bearer. they were too adorable in their tuxes. aidan’s little counterpart was hannah, the (older) flower girl. they just looked too cute together. we took the kids out (from the babysitter) at the reception and let them dance. aidan had a ball dancing with hannah, and sierra didn’t need a partner! :)







--july has been a pretty normal month, not much company and not much traveling. (we do have company coming this weekend so i’ll update the blog with anything that happens and pictures afterward.)
--i got sierra a booster seat, and now she sits at the table with us. she seems to like it a lot, i think she likes being next to her favorite person, aidan, the most. also, i spent nearly three days playing musical-rooms upstairs. i put all our office stuff in billy’s office, separated the bunk beds and put aidan’s bed and dresser in sierra’s room, and put almost all of the toys upstairs in what is now the “U.S.S. Playroom.” they like sharing a room, and it sure does help to keep all the toys off the floor of the downstairs living spaces!

--sierra’s milestones for july are mostly vocabulary. she has several distinguishable words now. though she has also started the gibberish of whatever sounds she can make all jumbled together, which is too cute. her words are:
* “ma-ma” = mama
* “da-da” or “da-deeee” = daddy
* “bobby” = baby
* “uh-hhhh” (uh split into two syllables) = uh-oh
* “hi” = hi
* “ahh-boo” = peek-a-boo
* “ahh-zaah” = what’s that?
* “buh” (bull minus the l’s) = ball
* “nee-nee-nee” = no no no (she tells me that when i do something she doesn’t like, and herself when she’s doing something she’s not supposed to.)

* "shhhh" = shhhh

* "ooosh" = shoe

* "ahh-ee" = aidan

* "oh-oh" = uh-oh

* she's also started shaking her head no...and yes, though that's harder.

--sierra has started the grab-and-run lately. she takes something she isn’t supposed to have and takes off running. she also has started pulling out her hair ties/barrettes anytime she remembers they’re there. she shakes her head ‘no’ when i tell her “no.” and she scoots backwards to go down a step, sometimes starting two feet away and crawling backwards to the step. she’s also become quite a mimic. she repeats sounds she hears, trying to say what we say…even the voice inflections. she also barks at a picture of a dog, makes any other toy animal/dinosaur growl, and growls back at billy when he makes his scary-monster-noises. she really likes to copy aidan. if aidan bangs on the table with a spoon, sierra bangs her spoon on the table. if aidan runs to look out the glass door, sierra sticks her face against the glass too. if aidan (and daddy) hang a toy ring from their noses like a bull, she tries to do it too. if aidan stands up on the big popcorn tin (holding pecans) and jumps off like buzz lightyear, sierra tries to climb up on top of the tin but is quickly taken down…with aidan getting the lecture about what he “teaches” her, and sierra getting her first lessons on AVOIDING peer pressure! :)

--i gave her a little haircut the other day. her hair has grown tons the last couple months, and the longest pieces (from birth that never fell out) were looking a little scraggly. so i trimmed it into a little bob. it’ll be long again in no time, and this time thicker and neater.

--aidan’s update-ables are phrases he’s saying these days. i sent him to vacation bible study for a week. he had a good time. the first day he came back saying he learned about "Jesus and turtle life" (Jesus and eternal life.) the next day he told me that "Jesus gives me power!" how cute is that! when he can’t find something, he says, “i look anywhere,” (no matter that it’s in plain sight right where he left it…must be a man thing.) when it’s time to clean up, one of two things happens. he either tells me, “there’s no mess everywhere,” or sings the clean-up song and puts things away, saying “tah-dah” when he’s (nearly) done. he also tells me “i hear’d you” when i tell him something. i know he gets that from me, but i’m trying to teach him he isn’t supposed to say it when i tell him something once…it’s for when someone says something over and over and over (like he does a lot these days.) his favorite one week was, “paw-paw is coming saturday.” i heard that AT LEAST twice an hour for nearly a week. one concept he's having a bit of trouble with is the past. anything that has happened before, he says he "did that yesterday." i've corrected him so much that if i tell him, "no, you didn't do that yesterday," he then says, "i did it 'before'?" he's also been watching dvd's to help him learn letters/numbers/"sight words." after the second time he watched the sight word dvd, he could look at the words and knew at least eight of the 20+ words. he didn't remember them all later on, but with more practice, we'll get there.

--we had some visitors at the end of the month. aunt emily and jordan came from blacksburg for a weekend when paw-paw and joy came down from new york. we had a good time, though it was a short visit. we went to the beach one day, and aidan and sierra had a blast. sierra went straight for the water, we really had to watch her. she wasn't skittish at all. aidan is more of a sand kid, and likes to dig with daddy. sierra tried to "help" too, and ended up as a mermaid in the sand. (billy fashioned her a tail of sand...really cute.) a few days later, our friends jesse and shannon, with children, jarah and isaac, in tow came to stay on their way to their new duty station in rhode island. kids really enjoyed seeing each other again after a couple months apart. they had a "slumber party" of sorts that night...all four slept in aidan and sierra's room. shannon and i spent nearly an hour eavesdropping on their night-time conversation via the baby monitor. it was interesting listening to their kid-logic, explanations with limited language abilities...all mixed with drowsiness. i should have grabbed the computer right away and got everything they said, but we didn't think it'd last that long, and when it was all over we both tried to remember what they had said. they talked about how they're big kids. "i'm a big girl." "i'm a big boy." it was almost like they were arguing, but more like they wanted to make sure they were both heard and acknowledged. an airplane flew overhead and then they started talking about airplanes. aidan said he went on an airplane to mexico...and jarah said they had to take "a good nap" so they could go on an airplane (to california to visit shannon's parents.) they started planning a camping trip (because aidan was in a sleeping bag on the floor and it reminded jarah of camping...i don't even think aidan knows what camping is.) apparently, they're going camping and will stay in "a sleeping tent" and use a fishing pole. i can't remember how it started, but they were talking about the disney-pixar movie cars. they both love the movie, but i think jarah has the dvd. she said she has "a fast car movie." aidan said he had seen that one, but only has "a slow car movie." (we really cracked up at that point...it was like charlie brown's announcement of "i got a rock...") they talked (again) about how big they are, and that their siblings are smaller...but will grow up. aidan said he "will get big...just like daddy." jarah said "your daddy is as big as the ceiling." aidan then tried to tell her that his daddy was a grown-up, and he will be too. however, he has trouble with the "gr" sound...it's more of an "fr." (any double-consonant sound at the beginning of a word (diphthong??) gives him trouble...gr/tr comes out as fr: grammy is frammy, truck is fruck...which sometimes sounds really bad.) anyway, jarah couldn't figure out what he was saying. he said "i'll be a frow-nup." jarah said, "a donut???" aidan said, "no, frow-nup!!" and jarah said, "i cannot say that word," which ended that conversation...aidan had no response. at some point in the dialogue, jarah yelled out "goodnight!" and all was quiet for a bit, then the airplane came by and started the plane conversation. when they finally did quiet down, it was more like the pauses in between responses got longer and longer...until they finally just stopped talking. it was too cute, and i wish i had it on tape!

June 2008

--june started out with a bang! we drove to jersey and then flew to cancun, mexico with billy’s mom and stepdad. met his sister leah and stepbrother ryan there. then took a taxi to playa del carmen to the resort. the rooms were nice, the food was awesome, and the scenery was beautiful. we spent the week having a blast. we went swimming in the lagoon and pool, played lots of beach volleyball, got some not-so-fun sunburns, toured an ancient mayan village at talum, went floating down a river at xel-ha, and went to the nature/animal park (i guess that’s what you call it) at xcaret. aidan and sierra had tons of fun. i’d say aidan’s favorite part was either the beach (with iguanas roaming freely) or the animals at xcaret. sierra’s favorite part was definitely the food…and uncle ryan was impressed at how she down’d the refried beans! she ate a ton over that week…i don’t know how she didn’t gain a few pounds! billy and i made some friends playing volleyball, and one night he and i and leah went dancing at the “discoteca,” and had lots of fun.

--after mexico, our next trip was to annapolis to visit my stepbrother and his wife. the kids and i met my mom and sister there for a catch-up weekend. while nick and stephanie worked friday, we all went to d.c. for some sightseeing. we went to the zoo and on a d.c. ducks tour around the city. it was lots of fun, but really hot! aidan loved the animals and was very excited for the boat section of the duck tour. however he was so pooped by that time, that he fell asleep immediately and was REALLY upset that he didn’t go (or remember going) in the water! actually both of them fell asleep on me during the tour, so i really didn’t get to move for about 90 minutes…such is the life of a mommy though, right?? :) anyhow, the next day we walked around downtown annapolis with nick and steph. we toured the naval academy, which was pretty cool. then we went to a festival in the park and let sierra run around in the grass while aidan jumped and slid and tumbled. then went to a yummy dinner.

--we drove home from annapolis on father’s day and met billy and his dad, stepmom, sister devlin, and her boyfriend jeremy at brunch. they stayed for a week and we spent it at the pool and beach mostly. we went miniature golfing one day. aidan managed to lose his ball through the fence, where it rolled into the middle of the street…after first (intentionally) tossing it into the “stream” that acts as an obstacle on the course! however, he did get two holes-in-one that day, so his ability to possibly fund our retirement plan overcame his little delinquencies of the day. tiger woods started golfing at age three, right??? haha! we also went on a dolphin-watch. the boat took us out for about a 90minute tour. we saw lots of dolphins, and aidan absolutely loved it.

--grandma and grandpa stayed for sierra’s birthday. we had a little family party for her. she had a ball. she got to open presents (instructed by aidan, of course), play with new toys, and dig in in her birthday cake!

--accomplishments of the month for sierra include pushing toys around the room, playing the drums, riding the toy car, pointing at what she wants or in response to “where’s mommy?” she also started standing without pulling up, is “running” all over, and has stopped crying at the gym. she was great for a while, then wouldn’t let me go for longer than 40minutes (25minutes being the shortest amount of time i got before the lady came to get me because she was screaming her head off). she still has an internal clock that won’t let me go much past an hour, but hey, it’s an hour now, so i won’t complain!
--some more things she’s started doing are giving hi-fives, dancing alternating between the head-banging motion and the squat-and-bounce. she dances when she hears someone say the word ‘dance’ or hears music. she claps when she hears someone say either ‘clap’ or ‘yea’ or when she hears others clapping. we taught her to throw too. the only interest she had on balls thus far was to try to eat them…as opposed to aidan who LOVED balls (throwing, bouncing, rolling) so much his first word was actually ball. anyway, she now throws the ball and claps for herself after each throw!

--we went to the doctor for sierra’s 12month check up. she was 30inches long, and 18pounds, 14ounces. she’s still up there in height at 75%, but has dropped in weight to 15%. doctor said “she’s getting skinny on us.” she doesn’t actually look skinny, and to see her eat, there’s no way she’s not getting enough calories (she eats as much as aidan these days…seriously.) she’s just thinning out, i guess. she had to get four shots and have blood drawn that day too…BAAAAAAD day. she screamed and cried, and just gives you that look, like “how could you?” terrible! and the guy who drew her blood…you’d think they’d require it to be done by someone less shaky…especially on such tiny veins. she had a nasty bruise after that, poor thing.
--aidan is learning about red lights and green lights. the arrow lights confused him at first…he wondered why we had to stop when there was a green light. he’s also started a lot of pretend play. he wants his animals to talk, which means he wants me (or whoever) to make them make conversation. when he has to do it by himself, it’s fun to listen to the things he says. sometimes he repeats things we’ve said to him: “you understand me” and “wait a second.” and sometimes he comes up with some weird stuff: “of course i want my cheese!” one day when he was eating raisins, he was telling them, “you’re going in the monster…you’re going in the monster too…” he’s started telling me what to say to him. when i’m teaching him appropriate responses, i’ll tell him to “say thank you” or “say yes” or whatever. now he’ll tell me something and then tell me to “say okay,” after asking “you understand me?”

--he and sierra still get along really well. sometimes they play together, sometimes they play against each other…meaning she wants to play with what he’s playing with, and he doesn’t want her to. i taught him that instead of just taking what he wants away from her, he needs to trade her for it. so, even if it’s not something he had first, but it’s something he wants, he’ll bring her some random toy. one time, she had one of his (seven) frogs, and he totally freaked out. he went running to the toy box saying, “here, sierra. here, sierra,” and gave her a jumprope handle. what a good big brother he is, right?? and by the way, she didn’t mind the trade at all!

April & May 2008

--we’ve had a busy time since our last post. we’ve had visitors, traveled, friends moved away and others moved nearby, and more milestones for both aidan and sierra. aidan’s were more vocabulary-related and concepts he’s trying to grasp. sierra’s were more physical.
--first of all, aidan now LOOKS like the big boy that he is. even older, maybe. i finally gave him a big-boy haircut, and gave up the bowl-cut. he looked instantly two years older. “instantly” might be a strong word though…it took nearly an hour to have him sit still while i got rid of all that (beautiful) hair.

--he still loves to be an animal, although it’s not always a daily occurrence. first question out of his mouth in the morning is usually, “what kind animal i am today??” then we figure out what animal he’ll be for the rest of the day. when i make the mistake of calling him “my big boy,” he’ll instantly correct me with the animal of the day: “no, i’m just a little ostrich/leopard/meerkat/turtle” (see below.) he has a great imagination. the only problem is when he tries to eat his food without using his hand…then we have issues, and he has to be a boy for a while.

--he’s grasping more and more concepts these days. he knows that girls grow into ladies, and boys grow into men. (verbatim per aidan: “i’m a boy. you’re a girl. you’re a big girl. you’re a lady. sierra’s a little girl. daddy’s a man.”) he knows about red and green traffic lights. (“our light is red…now it’s their turn to go. we wait our turn.”) he knows that girls and boys/ladies and men are people, and that he’s a person. he knows both mine and billy’s step-parents. and though he doesn’t know how to count past ten, except throwing out “twenty-six, twenty-eight,” he asks people their age. (“what old you are?”) a concept we don’t really like him to talk about is other people's weight. (“mama, those ladies are fat.” and in the store…horrible!)
--we have started praying at night, in addition to before meals…meaning, aidan is praying. he knows the blessing (before meals)…as long as the tv isn’t distracting him or he’s not embarrassed with company present. at night we pray the politically un-correct version of “now i lay me” and then we bless people. he’ll “god bless” so-and-so and so-and-so. we go through our enormous family, our friends, and then he blesses all his animals. i try to use it as practice naming family members, but many times he has to ask me “who else?” because our family is so big.
--we had a couple visitors and some friends come and go these two months. aunt leah came to visit for a weekend. we had a good time with her, though a short visit, and had a party with some of our friends. grammy (billy’s mom) came for a week. we went to williamsburg for a weekend. we had some great food, did some shopping at the outlets, and went to busch gardens. aidan was tall enough (in his shoes) to make the mark for some of the bigger rides. he rode one rollercoaster, that didn’t go upside down. still it was really fast, and throws you around. we think it kind of freaked him out a bit because he wasn’t too responsive during or just after. though if you ask him if he had fun he gave an enthusiastic “yes!” (we told him we were going to williamsburg and later on we asked where we were going. he said, “daddysburg!” how cute is that??? i didn’t even know he knew billy’s name was william.)
--our great friends shannon and jesse (with jarah and issac) left in may. we had a great time, since july 06, getting to know them and watching our kids grow up soooo much! but as one door closes (we’ll see them again), another opens. two other sets of friends (with kids) we had made in japan are now living in the area. so, now we can get together with them. we have seen mariah and sameer (with asha and yogi) and also ferna and eric (with quinten) a few times, together and separately…and looking forward to more. --aidan’s latest cute phrases i’ve jotted down (besides the ones already quoted) include: “yes!” “awesome!” “that’s cool!” “holy cow!” “awww, man!” “woo-hoo!” and “sometimes i just have to laugh,” a quote from the wonder-pets show.
--on to sierra…she’s gone from taking no steps, to taking two, to reaching and going across from the chair to the couch, to taking six steps, to walking across the room, to navigating around the house. she still falls and she still crawls, but she’s definitely a walker now!! --she plays peek-a-boo a lot these days. she’ll do it with her hands, with her shirt, with furniture. one of her favorite games to play with aidan, where they really get to cackling, is what i call dynamic peek-a-boo. she squats down on the side of the couch and aidan’s on the couch. she stands up and aidan looks down over at her. they both think it’s hilarious…and seeing them laugh like that is hilarious to me! sometimes they’ll both squat down and play with me. though, she likes to peek through the slats on the couch…it’s cute! --her words are: “ma-ma,” “da-da,” and “bye-bye.” sometimes i think i hear “baa” when we’re talking about a bath. and she says “night-night” silently…she moves her lips but no sounds come out, like she’s practicing. when she’s calling me, she says mama over and over, and the tone is pleading.
--she loves to look at books. she’ll still try to eat those made of paper, but the board books are great. she thinks it’s awesome to lift flaps or touch the different textures. she reaches for a book every time we get in the car. --some other things she does now are walk on her knees and brush her hair. she steals aidan’s sippy cups, so that i constantly have to have a cup for her if he has one. she copies sounds she hears. when aidan’s a leopard or lion or whatever and growls at her, she growls right back! if he razzes, she razzes. she will point at what she wants, and also in response to “where’s aidan/mama?” she pushes toy cars around, rides the ride-on car, and plays the toy drum and kazoo. she puts things in buckets/pots/baskets/boxes…takes them out and puts them back in. she “shares.” she’ll hand over something that you ask for…usually. she’ll give you something that she thinks you should have, like a piece of her cracker or something. she’s an awesome climber…i see her on the first step or two, and when i come near her, she goes as fast as she can up the stairs before i can get to her. she has also started climbing bookshelves or into the walker. another thing she loves to do is dance. she rocks back and forth when she hears music or sees someone else dancing. too funny. she'll also sit down on a box or rocking chair, or my knee when i’m on the floor, or the toy drum. --aidan and sierra have started playing well together. most of the time it consists of him tolerating it when she grabs what he’s playing with or knocks down what he’s building, or her tackling him with hugs. but they also play chase and peek-a-boo, or “share” the toys.

--by the way, billy got me the BEST-EST mother’s day gift ever…tickets to james taylor. we had an awesome time. we had lawn seats, packed a picnic and took the kids. they had fun dancing around and listening and clapping and watching everyone. it was a great time!!!