Spring time for Aidan, a story in pictures

Spring is in the air! And you're loving every second of it, and growing older and more adventurous with every day. You're really learning the ropes of this whole two-year-old experience.

This spring so far we've played a lot with Brady, communed with nature and the garden hose...buck naked, become very interested in bugs and garden snakes and other cool stuff in our backyard, and become quite taken with all things art.

You've even learned to say your favorite color and now, when asked, you tell us that your favorite color is "yell!"

So, here's an impromptu awful ode to spring:

The sun sets later, so it's evenings at the park.

The weather's nice, so you're naked in the yard.

The clean up's pretty easy...so it's finger painting if you're able.

And you're becoming a big boy now, so you take your meals at the table.

11 Week Picture

Here's your Mom at 11 weeks with Aidan:

And now with you!
We started shooting at 8 weeks with Aidan, but this pregnancy's been a bit rougher on your Mom than Aidan's. Which is another reason why I'm predicting you're a girl! So, Little one, I finally got your Mom to take a her first belly picture with you!

Actually, you helped too! Your Mom is finally starting to feel a little better, and was up for being photographed. In fact, today, she said she was upstairs painting for the first time in 6 weeks...the first tri-mester had previously made painting into a potential puking; but now she's up and at 'em!

So here you are, a little belly bump goes a long way toward showing how far we've all come in these 11 weeks!

Oh, that little ragamuffin by your Mommy's feet in both pictures is Toby. He'll be one of your dogs...and he'll always be by your side.

Cherry Pie, Being Seen, Toddler Beds, Feeling Green

Children,

Your mother's cravings continue to amaze. The other night she took a big breath in and said 'MMM...cherry pie!' I have no clue what she was smelling because I was making noodles. The good news is though, even though the first trimester blues has your Mom feeling a little green, she's feeling a little better.

She actually went to the store to get her own late-night craving. Also, the instructions were too complicated for me to follow: "cherry pie that is like flaky on top but not too thick and is ready instantly."

She found Mrs. Smith.

And Mrs. Smith treated your Mommy very well.
You might be wondering where your Mom is putting all this food...well, it's a lot of effort to build a new little Weinstein, so that's where it's headed.

And I do declare, your Mom is 'showing' already! Check it out: Here is the last picture of her - at week 10.5 - with her long hair.

This is going to be a rough summer. We're already in the high 80s and your Mom just couldn't take the heat anymore. So she chopped her hair off. I couldn't be a posed picture for the "after" view, but you'll notice in the following pictures that her hair is much shorter. I'm working on getting your Mom to pose for the belly pictures we did during Aidan's pregnancy. But every time I ask her to take a picture, she gets a little more green...you'll understand more later. But don't worry: we're starting tonight, with Week 11.



Okay, I'm going on the record here: I'm thinking that you, little one, are going to be Aidan's little SISTER. I'm officially thinking that you're going to be a girl. The cravings, the nausea, the way she's carrying you are all so much different that with you, Aidan.

Plus the Chinese Gender calculator predictor nonsense says you're a girl, little one. But it also predicted Aidan would be a girl. And he's definitely not. He's a boy.

And in fact, this weekend, Aidan, you got to take another big step toward being a big boy!

We did some re-arranging and bed trading and wound up with a toddler bed. You were super excited by this development and, after you got over being upset that we weren't going to let you just play on the wooden frame and that you couldn't lift the mattress off yourself (and no one was going to help you do it, despite your multiple requests for "halp...halp"), you really liked your bed. You stand on it to look out the window, you crawl up on it to sit. You brought some snacks up on it to eat while relaxing. And you called it "bed."

With this kind of reaction to the toddler bed, we thought we'd give napping in it a try.

So we tucked you in and sang to you as usual, and you were just really excited to be in the toddler bed.

I gotta be honest, I had my doubts that you, such an excited little boy, would fall asleep on the toddler bed. But, low and behold, you took a good, long 1.5 hour nap on your big boy bed.
Your Mom and I were so proud of you. But, of course, not being caged in a crib makes for an eventful time when you woke up. Your Mom was napping while I was outside doing yard work with Pops. Your Mom said she awoke with a start when she heard your familiar loud-stomping through the house. You just got up, crawled out of bed and decided to go to the living room and check out what was going on out the window. I guess you had places to go! You're getting so grown up, Aidan; but it's a good thing you've still go lots of room to grow.

And speaking of growth, little one, you are now 11 weeks along and you're the size of a LIME! (no wonder your Mom's feeling green!) I can hardly remember when it was lime time for you, Aidan!

Your head is the same size as you body, and your fingers and toes are no longer webbed. You're working on growing hair follicles, tooth buds, and nail beds. That sounds like a lot of work indeed. No wonder your Mom's a bit soured on making lime-ade out of these limes. She's feeling better, but sometimes, Pregnant Mommy feels so green that she says hilarious things.

The best line of the pregnancy thus far happened in our kitchen. I'm trying to have a conversation with your Mom, asking her question after question...with no response. Finally I stop and realize I'm talking to myself and say..."hello?"

Your mom looks up at me, lookin' pretty green and says "answering questions makes me sick."

We eventually had a great laugh over that one, and a great weekend playing outside with you Aidan, and watching you grow inside, Little One.

So, a week of hair cuts, cherry pies, new beds, new aversions (questions...who knew?) were just what the doctor ordered.

We've got a big boy and a bitty baby bump on our hands; and we're loving every second of it. As long as pie or strawberries and nutella or mangos or almond milk are readily and as long as no body ends a sentence with a question mark.

Any questions?

Clever/Funny Boy: A Four-Part Expose

Aidan,

You are making some stellar associations and doing some great imaginative play as of late. Sometimes, they amaze us, sometimes they crack us up (because, c'mon, some of this stuff is funny to an adult); but all in all, they just show how fast your brain is working and continually learning and re-assessing the world around you.

Disappearing Act

A few weeks ago, when you had a double ear infection and bronchitis, we had to give you medicine via oral syringe three times a day. This stuff must taste horrible...because you hated it.

At first you fought us...that didn't work.

Then you thought you could cry your way out of it. That also didn't work.

Then you adapted and tried something more clever. You kept your raspberry motor running the whole time, so anything that entered your mouth would be immediately spit out. That also didn't work...babies gotta breathe.

So, you figured out the ultimate solution: if you could just disappear, then we wouldn't be able to see you and we couldn't give you your meds! But how to make oneself disappear...oh, that's an easy one!

When you saw your Mom or I approaching with the antibiotics in hand, you immediately covered your face with your hands! And, as an avid player of peekaboo, you know that when the hands go up, Aidan disappears!!! Cute, clever, funny and very smart of you. Unfortunately, that trick didn't work either. But, good news: the ear infections are gone (and so are the antibiotics).

Under The Sea

Back track a little: your vocabulary is growing day by day, but sometimes there are easier ways for you to talk to us than use your words. Most of this creativity comes out when you request a song for us to play on the iPod.






When your arm reaches to the sky dramatically and you say 'Mama', you want to hear the Muppets sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

When you used to say 'Ha Ha,' you wanted to hear "You've got a friend in me" from Toy Story (Because 'ha ha' meant Woody at that point.)

"B" means you want the Sesame Street classic Beatles spoof, "Letter B."

When you trumpet like an elephant, you want to hear the elephant march from the Jungle book.

Your song-du-jour for a while was this little ditty from "the Little Mermaid." (at this point you and your Mom had just watched the Little Mermaid, and you loved it!)



You request this song by conducting a bit with your hands and singing in a high voice "Hoo hoo ho ho." Under the sea entertainment at its finest

Okay, flash forward to last weekend. We took you to the Dallas Children's Aquarium, and we walk into the door into a magical world where we're seemingly underwater. Fish surround you in big tanks and your first reaction was to sing The Daughters of Triton, "Hoo hoo ho ho!" And they say that the seaweed's greener in somebody else's lake...

In the Bathroom, by the sink, on the toothbrush...

Another amazing feat of cleverness that has just been cracking us up is your budding skill set as a detective. You're finding clues everywhere!

Now, this post is really making us sound like parents of the year because I'm talking about all these movies and shows that you watch. But, give us a break! Your Mom's pretty much been sick 24/7 since week 4 of your baby sister or brother's journey! So, at any rate, lately you've been really in to Blues Clues. I'm really happy about this development, actually, because it's a pretty educational show and it does for attention spans what lying does for Pinnochio's nose..that is, makes it longer. I'm so ADD from my Sesame Street-riddled past that I could hardly watch the show at all. Plus Steve's pleated khakis are gross. But, the issue was that you didn't want to watch it either. It was either too slow, or too advanced or something. But, around when you turned two, you actually requested to watch this show. You saw Blue, the dog, and said 'arf arf arf!' So, we watched it, and you loved it.

In the show, the dog leaves her blue paw prints on items...these are clues. Then pleated-pant Steve solves a mystery based on these clues. Not a scary mystery like "who stole the mummy's emerald scepter?" But a more cool mystery like 'what song does Blue want to sing?'

Any way, so you've been a fan of Blue's Clues for a few weeks. You even request the show by name" "bloo cloo." And then, all of a sudden, while your Mommy and you were brushing your teeth one morning with your Snoopy Tooth brush you started saying "cloo! cloo! cloo!" It took your Mom a minute, but then she saw what you saw: right there on your toothbrush were Snoopy's paw prints! And of course, paw prints are clues!

Then you started seeing 'clues' everywhere: on paw printed washcloths, and towels and t-shirts. And you'd tell us: cloo! cloo! Cloo!

You even started pointing out semi-clues. The apple logo on the back of someone's iPhone? Close enough! It's a cloo too!

We are tickled pink by this development. You're so smart and clever, and unintentionally funny too; and we couldn't be more proud of our budding detective. You even like to try to draw a clue on your MagnaDoodle with Mommy's and Daddy's help! We even play a little "Blue's Clues" ourselves from time to time, involving a crudely crafted clue on a piece of construction paper that materializes from time to time!

Do Eat the Pictures

Okay, okay, final bit of bragging about my clever, funny, creative boy.

We've been encouraging you to stop and smell the flowers for a long time. You do this quite well with real flowers all the time.

A while ago, I can't quite remember when, you started smelling flowers in books. I think it must've been that interactive sensation, "Pat the Bunny," that originally encouraged this type of imaginative engagement with literature. Now you smell the flowers whenever the appear in books, even if they don't actually smell.

For Valentine's Day, your Aunt Sham gave you a cute Valentine shaped like an ice cream cone. What's a kid to do but lick it? We know you're pretending because, after the first lick, the jig is up that it's not really a sugary treat. But you kept on licking.

Now, to be honest, I can't remember which came first the Valentine or the about-to-be-described behavior, but they go hand in hand...or tongue in mouth.

When reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," you used to name all the foods. Now, in addition, you help yourself to tasting all the foods too!

When you come to this page, which is now pretty much the first page you flip to and the only page worth eating... I mean reading, you take your time and lick, pretend eat (nom nom nom) and chew up all of the foods.

Did you try the watermelon today?

"Pop!" you say, before trying the lovely lolly.

Mmm...pickle.

This, as you can imagine, is hilarious, endearing and just plain awesome.

I just hope you don't get a paper cut on your tongue.

One of your other favorite books has no edibles in it, but you also started to interact with that one too. In "Hello, Van Gogh," the other night you decided to greet Van Gogh's Landlady in a very romantic way:

You planted kiss after kiss after kiss on this painting, while your Mom and I beamed with pride.

You truly are a book lover.

Between the books and the clues, the singing and the hiding, you are just wowing us around every turn. You're creative, you're making connections, you're hilarious and you're aware of so much. You're melting our hearts...and our faces!

You're Aidan at almost 25 months...and we couldn't be more proud!

The Newest Gummy Bear Weinstein

Little one, today we got to see you again! Your brother was at school, but I skipped out of work -with permission, of course- and met your Mom at the Doctor's office. Dr. Bertrand said this would be one of our best photo sessions, and he wasn't lying!

First he found you, and your mother commented on how much you've grown in two weeks. It truly is incredible how much shape you've taken. Last we saw, you were a smudge in an equally smudgy sonogram. But when we looked at you today, we saw a little gummy bear person!


First, Dr. Bertrand listened to your heart beat: a whopping 181 beats per minute! Your heart beat was far faster than last time, and sounded good and strong. That made your mother and I very happy. It's gotta be one of the best sounds in the world. Some people say that a fast heart beat indicates a female gender, but we'll just have to see if they're right!

Then we took a closer look at the beautiful you!

Can you see yourself? You're growing arms and legs...they're just little buds at this point, but soon they'll be long enough to help you crawl and reach and hug and hold. But, since they're little buds, they make you look a bit like a gummy bear. See?

Still not seeing, it, huh? Well, don't worry. I wasn't quite figuring it out either. But, the Doctor drew us a diagram that illuminated you in all your gummy glory. I've crudely recreated it here.Seeing your little face turned toward us and your little arms and legs growing along was very awe inspiring. It's hard when you've been through this already to feel like an old pro...but, I must admit, seeing you taking human form and growing your human legs and arms was pretty awesome. I don't want to be too mushy or over-sweet, but I think I'm in love with a gummy bear.

The Doctor measured you from crown to rump. The result: 2.78 cm! Which somehow translates into us gaining two days on you. We estimated that you were 9 weeks and 2 days old, but, no, you're 9 weeks and 4 days. Which scoots your due date back to 10/14/2012...which is awfully close to the awesomely cool 10/11/12 birthday.

So, you're 9 (almost 10) weeks along, and you're the size of a green olive. Congrats: you're no longer technically an embryo; you're now a fetus! It's a bit creepy, but I think it's actually pretty cute...you look a bit like this:
It's not a big stretch to jump to this conclusion: Continue growing, my little gummy one. You and your mother are almost out of the sickies and cravies and yuckies of the first trimester; hang in there...with your little gummy arms and legs!

Love, your Proud Papa

Nasty Nausea and Late Night Cravings

What do Arby's, Chocolate Milk, Pumpkin Seeds, Pistachio Ice Cream, Jolly Ranchers, Almond M&Ms, Ginger Ale, Bagels and Matzah Pizza have in common?

These are your mother's recent cravings, some of which represent late-night-in-pajamas Kroger visits or early-morning in-pajamas Einstein's trips or cold-and-rainy-grocery visits.

Some of them are also, purportedly, homeopathic/sweet tooth nausea remedies.

But, really, your brother, mother and I are just hoping that once the first trimester passes that the nausea will too. Because, for the love of all that's holy, we need our Holly back!

She's laid up on the couch like she's got some 18th century epidemic, and the only thing that can save her is...pumpkin seeds...the David brand...at 9:30 at night. Oh, but those only work for a bit, and by the next day, the pumpkin seeds might as well be poison.

So, I've been eating them. I assume I'll eat the M&Ms and other items too. Sympathize with me for future sympathy weight.

You are 8 weeks old and 2 days. You are the size of a raspberry!My sources tell me that your fingers and toes are now only slightly webbed and your cute little tail is now gone altogether. The source also says that you're moving your tiny arms and legs like crazy, but that your mother can't feel it yet.

I beg to differ: from the amount of seasickness we've got in this house, I'd say something's making a wave pool in your Mom's belly! But, that's okay- that's what you're supposed to be doing!

As for me? Well, I'm moving my arms and legs like crazy too: walking through the grocery store and waving my arms at the aisles until everything your mother's craving is in the basket!

update: as the weekend progressed I went back to Kroger's for Almond Milk, Mangoes, Fruit Leather, Plums (which I forgot), more Almond Milk, Almond Butter and Rice Cakes.

And then the other night you mother asks me "would it be too much trouble to make an apple crumble?" So, I baked.

At least I didn't have to go to the store!

Aidan's Two Story (aka, the Second Birthday Party)

We had your Second Birthday party last Saturday, and it couldn't have been a more perfect day. Actually, the day leading up to the party was quite hectic. But once the party started, it was on like Donkey Kong.

There was a ball pit (your mother's brilliant idea! that was a smashing success):





There were cupcakes (meticulously designed to look like Toy Story Aliens by your talented mother):

There were neighbors, friends and family...



and your friends Luke...

and Brady: ...and they teamed up to help you with your gifts:

Oh yeah, and there were gifts!

Your Mommy and I got you a house! (you now live in the backyard!)

and we got you a brand new car too, which you were kind enough to let Luke and Brady take for a spin around the block.


And, your family and friends were very kind and got you a lot of fabulous Toy Story Swag (which you loved, and thanked them for!) And some other excellent gifts as well!

There was also a very special song, candle and cake trifecta, which went MUCH better than last year's attempt:


It was a wonderful birthday party for a great kid (that's you). We're so happy that you're happy; and so thankful to everyone who joined us in person and in spirit to help you ring in your second year in style!

We are not just lucky to have you in our lives, but to have so many supportive grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors and friends who are parts of your life and gathered together on a Saturday afternoon to help us celebrate...you! We couldn't have gotten the party together sanely without your Mimi, Pops, Yaya and Aunt Shamsy. (Pops gets the award for the grossest, yet sweetest, task performed: he combed the backyard picking up Preston and Toby muffins that me and the lawn mower had missed. I reflected on the situation as I put together your new house..."we never stop cleaning up poop for our sons, do we, dad?" I asked.

We wouldn't have had such a rich photographic record of the day without your Aunt Kari's, Mimi's, Pops' pictures and Scott's videography (okay, so I took a few pictures and videos too).

So, this party was for all of them too!

I almost forget the highlight moment of the party! When we showed you your new outdoor house, you really weren't all that taken with it at first, which is fine. But there were some ravenous photographers there who wanted to get your picture with the new abode. So, your Aunt Kari started calling to you: "Aidan, go to your house! Go to your house!"

You got all excited and started running.

Cameras were ready.

And then you ran right past the camera, and up to the deck stairs to go inside your actual home!

What a funny boy!

Happy Birthday, son! And as old as you get, never forget to go to your house.