Amazing Aidan and the pre-toddler triumphs!

You are a constant source of amazement, my beautiful boy!

Yesterday evening for me, you had pulled yourself to standing on the book shelf in your room and proceeded to toss all of the books and DVDs over your shoulder like usual. But then, something amazing happened...you held on to one of the DVDs with both hands...which means you weren't holding on to anything. You stood there for what seemed like a really long time, although it was probably under a second. But, you've done as much in your crib...in fact you love to play the "let go fall down" game every night. But, last night, standing at your bookshelf, you started to lose your balance and play the "fall down" part of the game. But you corrected your balance. You shifted your torso weight forward, and balanced out, giving you like at least a half a second (or was it a mili-second) more of standing-up-all-by-yourself time.

This little amazing feat, albeit brief, was the longest you've stood up on your own two feet! And that little balancing move was even more incredible.

I had to call your mother immediately!

Then today, your Mom called me with an equally amazing tale of your pre-toddler triumphs!

One of your favorite books that you love to read, or have read to you, or play with is this funy pop-up activity book based on the old tune "The Wheels on the Bus"...you know..."round and round, up and down, swish swish swish." Well, you seem to know where that book is always placed in your shelves. You go and climb up to standing and grab the book at least once a day for your Mom to read to you.

Today, though, you were playing with a soft toy truck. You were playing with the wheels. And your Mommy said "wheels! Those are Wheels, like the wheels on the bus!" And she started singing the tune.

Then, guess what you did? You dropped the soft toy truck, did an about-face and high tailed it over to the book shelf where you immediately pulled up to standing and grabbed your "Wheels on the Bus" book!

I know you can kind of understand some things we say, and I know you understand things we do (like laugh or smile), but I didn't know that you could understand us THAT well and make major connections like that! Or maybe it was just a coincidence...who knows?

But, I know that you, sir, will continue amazing us all around town!

And speaking of amazing....remind me to tell you the story of how you amazingly pretty much saved your own life the other day!

What a Playful Boy!

From the moment you started to develop a personality, you've been a fun baby to be around. As you've gotten older, you've become even more of a fun and playful little boy!

You mimick us with clicking sounds, blow raspberries for 25 minute periods (leaving Baba's arm chair soaking wet) and you even laugh at the dogs when they're getting bathed. (I tell them you're lauging with them!)



You have really developed a great sense of humor! Even back in early December you were a funny kiddo, blowing bubbles for fun...



...and loving (and laughing while) playing with balloons:



And, as you get older, you've only become more fun! You love to play games...even when you're in your crib!




Of course I'm not biased, but playing this type of game with your Daddy shows that you are a really hyper-clever and super cool baby dude!

As you grow with each day (this video is already 20 days old), you become more clever and fun and funny. You had me cracking up last night: as I was trying to sing you to sleep, you crawled to standing, scootched next to me and attempted to eat my nose!

Heck, you're so funny and advanced now that you've grasped the most basic nuance of being smart and funny: sticking your tongue out.

Here's a brief sighting of your new favorite "toy":




You love laughing and playing and screaming (fun screaming...I guess it's called screeching)...even in public places! While we were in our favorite Book store, I had you on my shoulders and you were screeching and giggling and making passerbys laugh. Not only do you bring joy to our lives, but you bring joy into the lives of (most) customers at Half Price Books!

Here's the tail end of that fun game...just before you decided you were done playing.



And back at home, you certainly know how to entertain yourself too. Some of your favorite toys have to travel with you wherever you go...which also makes us laugh. When you carry your bat with you wherever you go, you sound like a peg legged pirate stomping around: click SLAP click SLAP click SLAP.



But, of course, life isn't all about laughing, playing, screeching and more playing. You still do cry and pout and protest and scream get snot nose and urinate all over yourself when Daddy's too slow with the diaper and not sleep through the night. But, like I said before, even one smile, one knowing look, one cuddle...ever...would make being a parent 100% worth the hard times.

We're just super lucky, and super happy, that we have such a super happy baby boy...who loves laughing and screeching with delight whenever he gets the chance.

Old News, but Good news: Your First Christmas and New Years!

We wondered how long it would take you to notice, but a few days before Christmas you finally got curious about those packages under that indoor tree. You even unwrapped a very heavy present!We spent Christmas eve with your Aunt Sham, Uncle Joe and Grandma and Baba and you got to watch in amazement as people opened their gifts...

And rejoice with amazement with each cool gift that your family were kind and generous enough to give you! You love your chew-toy giraffe... And your new Porcupine!

Christmas morning was a blast! And although it was a modest haul, Santa visted you and left some really cool gifts... which you and your Giraffe didn't seem to notice at first.

"That blue monster is for ME?"

"Oh, I LOVE Christmas!" And, I gotta say, your Mom and I love Christmas like a million times more now that we get to celebrate it with you! You may have had more interest in eating wrapping paper than most of the presents, and you certainly had no interest in leaving milk or cookies out for Santa, but your exuberance and smile lit up Christmas time for everyone more than a Christmas tree ever could have!

The lights are all down now, and the tree and ornaments are all packed away, but you continue to light up our lives every day! And that's the best Christmas present a Dad could ever ask for!

p.s. Your first New Year's Eve was pretty fun too! You had two friends over, Caitlin, who really liked playing in your jeep, and Brady, who slept a lot.

You didn't quite make it to midnight...or 9 pm, for that matter. But that's good. You were in good company, and even had your first kinda-sleep over. Caitlin took the pack-n-play in our bedroom, while you and Brady shacked up in your room. Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Michelle finally got Brady to fall asleep...on your floor! This is very reminiscent of when Uncle Jeremy would spend the night with me when we were kids. Me in a bed...him on (a mattress on) the floor.

Old News, but Good news: Visitors!

On New Years Day in the wee hours of the morning, we got some visitors from the West Coast! You've met Jen before, but this time you got to meet and play with Buck AND Jen! Your Mommy and I went to college with Buck (kind of), and we met Jen through him in Dallas. No matter how you slice it, they are "old friends" and it was great of them to come visit us from Seattle!

They were really enamored with you and had a great time playing with you! And you enjoyed it too!

It's fun to make new friends, even if they really are just old friends!

Catching up- Eating, Playing and the ER

Okay, so I'm terribly behind on this journal. But, I have a good reason: you have been growing up so fast recently.

And the time has long since passed when one can just sit back and watch you grow. It is now 100% necessary to chase you, follow you, wrestle with you, teach you, sing to you, play with you and just try to keep up as you grow.

As we blasted past Christmas, your 10 month birthday and New Year's you've been growing up so quickly. It seems like ever since Thanksgiving, you keep meeting new milestones and blowing on past them to the next one.

It seems just like yesterday we were marveling that you had begun to crawl. And pulling to standing was a Thanksgiving miracle. But now you are 10 months old!


You can feed yourself and chew!

(well, you're working on it...but you're also getting good at feeding Preston and Toby)

You can lead a game of Peak A Boo all by yourself!

And you an play the spoons... (these spoons have been some of your favorite toys for a long time now, actually...but that day you played DOUBLE spoons!)

And you crawl super fast, pull yourself to standing like a pro, mimic us, converse, blow bubbles, laugh, cry, make your opinions known, stick your tongue out and all that good stuff. We are catching our breath just to keep up with you. And every minute of it is a pure joy.

Your Mother and I don't know what we would do without you.

You even gave us a little scare to that effect.

A few days ago, one day before my birthday, you managed to pull a samovar down onto your face and give yourself a little black eye. That was very scary indeed.

Don't worry, the samovar is now banished to a place where no human can reach it and all shelves previous thought to be out of your quick little reach have now been cleared.

So, you had a nice little shiner and two worried parents. You didn't seem to mind at all, after the initial shock wore off. But, being as we're first timers, we were a lot phased by this incident, so we were on edge a little.

So, later that night when you woke up with a fever of 101.7, we were a little more concerned indeed. You have run fevers that high before...and even a little bit higher. Those temperatures aren't bad, and aren't a cause for concern unless they last for a few days. So we were both there treating your fever, trying to cool and calm you down ... and take your temperature (with a thermometer sticking out of your armpit) and all of a sudden, you shook...a single large shake as if you were scared out of your mind or a current ran through your body. You started screaming and crying like crazy.

We held you close, sang to you and calmed you back down. We thought maybe I pinched your armpit with the thermometer. Our hearts were racing, we were both scared, but we tried to stay calm.

We calmed you down, got you back to being a happy camper. And then you shook again. And screamed again. We feared the worst: some kind of neurological damage was caused by getting clunked in the head with a silver teapot. It was 11:45 pm and we needed answers immediately.

So your Mom and I got dressed, loaded up and drove to the Children's Emergency Room at Medical City. This was a totally well-reasoned, calmly-made decision...we weren't panicking. But you've never seen me get dressed so fast. Don't worry, I still drove within the speed limit..mostly.


By the time we checked in at the emergency room, you were still running a fever, but seemed to be feeling much better. You were flirting with the check-in nurse and playing with Mommy and Daddy.

Things took a turn for the worse for you when they checked your temperature through the back door. You didn't seem to like that one bit.

But a few hours, one triage nurse, one PA, one radiologist and one ER doc later we knew you were okay. They explained that the fever was a beneficial one (which we knew) and that the shakes were an acceptable way for baby's bodies to deal with a high temperature. Even small seizures are okay. Or, they said, you could have been hallucinating (a result of a high temperature) and actually been as scared of something as you appeared to be. Near the end of our ER visit you finally fell asleep on your mother's shoulder.

By this point it was 2:30, and my 29th birthday. Your mom wished me a 'happy birthday.' And it really was...we knew you were safe and healthy (except for a little bit of tonsillitis that caused the temperature in the first place), we were together and we were ready to go home. There was no place else I'd rather have been.

I was reminded of the last time your mom and I rushed to the hospital late at night. That emergency visit wound up being your birthday. The morning of this most recent ER trip was the anniversary of my birth, but I relived the feelings of the day of yours: fear and adrenaline eventually overcome by happiness and joy. You were safe, you were happy and you were healthy.


The next morning I was able to go to work late, and since you and your mother had a rough night (we got home at 3, you slept til 4, then woke up at 6 and then 8), I took you at 8 and you slept on my chest until 10:45. You slept so hard that your ear left an imprint on my shoulder...it's almost as symbolic as you leaving an imprint on my heart, but a little sillier (and very silly looking).


It was a scary evening/morning, but it turned out great. By the end of the morning you were no longer running a fever, you shook no more and you were back to being your happy go lucky self (albeit a little tired). Scary indeed, we both thought the worst and didn't like what we saw.

So we are still holding you a little tighter and kissing you a little longer after that ER visit. But we can't stop you from growing, and can't shield you from all danger...so, we're not gonna try: you're going to continue growing in leaps and bounds, and keep amazing us with the new milestones you reach every day. And we'll just try to catch up. And catch you when you fall. And remove all Samovars from the house.