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Heard around the house

It's hard to video Aaron these days. He's developed a bit of self consciousness and is very aware of cameras. Sometimes when he recounts bits of his day, he'll tell us, "I cried" with a big whimper. We tried to tape him doing this once and he actually started crying and yelling, I don't want you the video! So we don't record him as often anymore.

He talks A LOT though. It's fun to have conversations with him and he's really into pretend play. He'll pretend to be a construction worker, or more often, an actual truck.

"It's daytime! Time to wake up!"
- Said 2 inches from my face in the pale light of morning

"I'll do it...at night-time" (or "tomorrow")
"It's too...late" (or early)
"I forgot to brush my teeth/kick the ball/say thank you for the airplane/finish my dinner/cut my nails/clean up[insert any activity mentioned earlier in the day] "
- Anytime he doesn't want to do something, usually used when avoiding the potty or bedtime. He's all about excuses. Already.

"I need my Mommy"
"Mommy, I need my Daddy" (while Isaac is standing right next to me)
- Anytime

"What today is it?" ...followed by "What's [insert name of day] mean?"
- In the morning and at night as he reinforces his schedule


"I'm demolishing the house!"
"I drive this truck. You drive this truck!"
"We're going over there..there's a fire! Now the fire is out and now there's water on top. There's ANOTHER FIRE!"
"I'm a grab excavator. I'm a crane..lifting up the wood frames"
"The stabilizers are down!"
"You go first" or "You do it" or "I want YOU to do it"
"Here's some sugar..and some butter. Let's make pancakes!"
"I need you...I need you to fill up my dump truck [or front loader]!"
"Let's get rolling!"
- During playtime

"Milk and cookies go together PERFECTLY. That's what Puo-Puo says!"
- Cookie time

"I cleaned up! Where's my bitamin?"
- After cleanup time

"My little hands look like raisins!"
- After bath time

"I need a story" followed by "My turn to tell a story!" followed by something like this:
"Once upon a time..I went to get an egg, then we made pancakes...and [mumbles]..somethingelse...and then..[mumbles..something else..we did puzzles..THE END. Your turn!"
-During his bedtime routine

"Ok, Mommy [or Daddy] go work"
- Last thing he says before he falls asleep at night - It's his way of dismissing us and letting us know that he won't be doing his jack-in-the-box routine out of bed anymore.


Here's a video I did catch:

Catch Up

Aaron's 2nd birthday has come and gone. I wish I've been more diligent about blogging so that I would have something to look back on to remember when he hit milestones or started saying certain phrases or whatnot, but instead I have fuzzy memories. Sadly, I don't remember a lot of milestones. I don't know exactly when he said his first word, or when he got his first tooth. So I'd like to try and post more often to preserve our memories of what he's like right now, but we'll see how that goes.

So let's see..I can't believe I never posted about Halloween! I guess I have a lot of catching up to do. Aaron was a lion, and he HATED HATED HATED his costume. Or more precisely, he hated the hood because the mane felt funny around his face. So he basically looked like some kind of animal from the neck down, but we never got a picture of the full effect. He did enjoy the trick or treating though. And definitely the candy afterwards. He loves "chock-lit".

We spent Christmas in NJ with my family, followed by a vacation with Isaac's family in Portugal and Madrid, where I got sick again. I always seem to get sick on vacation - I don't think I travel well. Luckily, Aaron loooves his grandparents and his aunt and uncles, so he was happy to hang out with them while I laid in bed. Portugal was okay; Madrid was more fun. I wish we had been able to spend more time there - seems like the people there really know how to enjoy life. They had a huge celebration on the Eve of New Year's Eve and another on New Year's Eve. I gotta say, if you ever fly out there, don't fly TAP Portugal. We were on 4 flights, and every single flight had terrible turbulence. Like throw up inducing to I better pray right now turbulence. So anyway, it was a fun trip; it felt too short as always, but it was nice to come home too.

All this was soon followed by Aaron's 2nd birthday! Isaac and I took him to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, then Shake Shack for lunch, and then Curry-Ya for dinner. It's too bad Aaron's a picky eater - he only ate the fries at Shake Shack and dried onion flakes and white rice at Curry-Ya. He doesn't know what he's missing! The next day my family came over and we took his cousins to the Holiday Train Show at Grand Central. It's just a model train display in a room - nothing huge, but Aaron loved it. He's really into tunnels at the moment, so he loved seeing the trains go in and out of them. We had a lot of fun with his cousins, and he got lots and lots of trucks and toys from everyone. He still loves his trucks.

Since it's been raining like Seattle out here, we've been stuck indoors a lot more often than we expected this summer, so we finally broke down and got Aaron his own mini Thomas set. He's sick of all the toys he has and just wants to read the same 8 books about trucks 10 times a day. It's not mind numbingly repetitive AT ALL. (Ok, it is kinda cute to see him light up when he sees the ZAMBONI or STREET SWEEPER in the "Big Trucks with Little Jobs" book that we borrowed from the library. But still.)

Anyway, Aaron loved the train set. He was so happy with it. See for yourself. Please excuse the pantslessness. It was really hot in here.

bedtime meltdown

Last month we took a family trip to San Francisco where we got to spend time with Isaac's extended family as well as some old friends. Isaac's aunt and uncle generously opened up their home to all 8 of us, and their kids kindly shared their old Thomas trains with Aaron. He had a fabulous time running the trains around the track.



Problem is, he was having so much fun that he didn't want to stop. He flipped out when we told him it was bedtime. It was one of those instances as a parent when I know I need to be firm, but I can barely contain myself. It was also hard not to provoke him. (I only did it once!)

GUK! Guk! Guk!

Aaron has been walking for a month now. He never really went through that stage of wanting to walk and needing us to help support him. He just kind went straight from crawling to cruising to walking. His personality is starting to reveal itself. He seems to be a fairly easygoing, independent and curious toddler (already?!). His favorite toys are our phones, remotes, thermometers, and empty bottles. He's a very busy, busy, baby. He had a sleepover with his grandparents recently and they kept remarking on how busy he was the whole time. He doesn't enjoy sitting still..which worries me because we have a long plane ride coming up as we head to Asia to visit extended family. But we'll see.

Lately he's gotten really into trucks. We think it's his first word, because he consistently identifies them correctly as "GUK! guk! guk!" everytime he sees a picture or hears a siren. His second and third words may be "ma-ma-ma" or "da-da-da" or possibly, "cop-cop-cop" for helicopter. It's kinda hard to differentiate between "gukgukguk" and "copcopcop". Anyway, here are two videos - one where he's really enjoying his trucks and the other is a little slice of what he does when he's home during the day.


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so much happens in one day (kinda)

2:00am - "WAAAAAAAHHHHH"...Isaac changes a diaper and I feed him.
5:00am - "ba-ba-da-da-ma-ma"...same as 2:00am, but I take more time rocking him back to sleep because he's not as tired, and it's too early for him to get up.
7:00am - "da-da-da-da-da"... Isaac pulls himself out of bed to change a diaper and goes back to sleep
7:15am - "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma"... I pull myself out of bed to play with him and feed him breakfast.
9:00am - Nap #1 - supposedly for baby, definitely for me, Isaac is still sleeping.
9:40am - Isaac wakes up; Aaron is up, so they play together while Isaac gets up for work. Aaron likes our Sonicare.
10:30am - Isaac wakes me up and puts Aaron back in his crib. He pulls himself from a crouching position to a kneeling position in his crib for the first time. Isaac goes to work. It's playtime and we're reading.
11:00am - On our second time through "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?", he turns a page and bursts out sobbing. I switch to "Freight Train," and he's fine for the first few pages, but bursts out sobbing again. Apparently Nap #1 either a)didn't happen or b) was too short - back to sleep.
11:30am - I hear babbling and check on him - he's awake, and has pulled himself to his knees again. More playing, reading, and then lunch for him followed by more playing.
1:30pm - I put him in his crib for a nap; Make lunch for myself.
1:45pm - When I peek in to the room, he's pulled himself to a kneeling position again. I lie him back down.
Repeat every 15 minutes until 2:45 pm when I finally get him to fall asleep.
3:00pm - IM to Isaac: I think we need to lower the crib soon. Aaron's been practicing pulling himself to his knees for the past hour.
4:30pm - Aaron awakes, CRANKY. I try to comfort him, but he's unhappy being left to play by himself, so I carry him around with me, feeding him cheese while I make his dinner. The few times I leave him to himself today, he ends up gnawing on some wires or just as bad, exploring the area around the toilet (because I forgot to close the bathroom door).
5:30pm - Pop out to Gristedes for some last minute shopping for dinner.
6:00pm - Dinner followed by a bath for Aaron.
7:15pm - Isaac comes home and Aaron goes to bed.
7:45pm - Aaron is complaining in his crib, Isaac goes to check on him. I'm making dinner for us. Isaac comes out - Aaron was kneeling, and we discuss whether or not to push back Aaron's bedtime to lower his crib or to wait until later in the week since he's not standing yet. Isaac decides to lower the crib just in case. This way I can have peace of mind during his naps tomorrow.
8:00pm - "He's standing up!!" I dash from the kitchen to find Aaron proudly standing in his crib opposite Isaac. Multiple attempts to get him to repeat this prove fruitless. I return to the kitchen.
8:05pm - "He's doing it again!" Isaac decides to tape this feat before he lowers the crib.
8:30pm - I finish cooking, come in to see for myself and to watch Aaron while Isaac finishes lowering the crib.
8:45pm - Crib is lowered, Aaron is asleep. We eat dinner and watch the debate.


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crawling

As promised, a video of Aaron crawling.

Look Ma, No Hands!

As you can see from the previous video, Aaron can sit up on his own now.


He's been able to do this for over a month now, and just a few weeks ago, he started crawling. At first it was more of an army style crawl, where he used his arms to pull the rest of his body along, but now he's graduated to using his legs to help his movement. I haven't gotten a good video of it yet, but I'll work on it and post one later.

It's really fun to watch him explore and discover new things on his own, but we recently moved, so now we're rushing to finish unpacking and cleaning up so we can babyproof. He's displayed a knack for getting into everything we don't want him to and he's also putting everything in his mouth right now, so he requires near constant vigilance. Sometimes I'll step into the bathroom to wash my hands and when I come out, he'll be on the other side of the room where he's managed to rummage through some piles of papers and boxes to find a plastic bag(!) to stick in his mouth.

Here he is playing with a catalog for the first time.

San Francisco recap

We're back from San Francisco! It wasn't exactly a vacation - Isaac was out there to work, but we really did a lot while we were there. During the days, Isaac would work while I explored the city with Aaron, and at night, we met up with friends or family for dinner. Over the weekend, my family joined us from NJ and we celebrated my cousin's wedding with my extended family - most of whom I hadn't seen in 14 years.

Here are some highlights from our trip:

father's day brunch

relaxing and zoning out with US Weekly

Just after having his first solid meal

Enjoying the king bed - much roomier than his crib!


An example of one of the many hills I unnecessarily pushed the stroller up. After the trip where I pushed Aaron up three hills like this and then down one very steep hill to get where I needed to go, I wised up and consulted Google Maps (in Terrain view).




This was helpful, but could've used more detail. Maybe hills don't look very steep according to this map, but try pushing a stroller up them in 90-something degree weather! (It was unusually hot while we were there)

Cable car ride

The view from the Golden Gate Bridge

I think Aaron enjoys being out, but he's way too young to appreciate most of the touristy things we did. He definitely enjoyed playing in our hotel room though.

it's been a year now

I found out I was pregnant exactly one year ago today. It was a shock, to say the least, and I couldn't fathom and didn't want to imagine how my life was going to change. But now that Aaron is here and our little family is settling into its own sort of routine, I can wholeheartedly say that he was a good surprise. I do still miss the flexibility and freedom that we used to have, and the way my body used to feel young and not old and creaky the way it does now (although that has been improving), but I'm very thankful that God chose to bless us with this surprise.

No new pictures today - instead, a short video of Aaron playing with the mobile.

Definitely in the Top 3

HBO is genius. Something to whet your appetite:

bears galore!

Animals are so cute in the baby stage..except for insects. Insects are disgusting at all stages in their lifecycles. Back to the cute though...

i saw this one on 30 Rock (focus on the baby).


Knut!

He's so cute, right? It's crazy that some animal rights people wanted him killed. You'd think that animal rights campaigners would be all about keeping animals alive, especially a threatened species like the polar bears.


..and this is not related to bears, or baby animals, but it's also cute...it's repetitive for most of the clip, but one of the otters does something really cute near the end.

Seven Minute Sopranos

Here's a recap, before the final half-season begins:

Just a bunch of links

Nothing really insightful here.


The 25 Funniest Analogies (Collected by High School English Teachers)

http://writingenglish.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/the-25-funniest-analogies-collected-by-high-school-english-teachers/


Waves in a Large Free Sphere of Water (In Space!)



This quiz really works.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."

What American accent do you have?

This Sundance winning documentary is available free on bittorrent.

Filmmaker Mark Achbar just released an updated “official” torrent of it. Everyone is free to download, watch, discuss, and share it.

http://torrentfreak.com/sundance-winner-the-corporation-released-for-free-on-bittorrent/