Senior Moments

Aidan, you have a lot of special people in your life. Most of them are older than you. Some of them are older than me and your mom. A lot of them are older than me and your Mom combined.

But age means nothing, unless you're trying to get senior discounts on movie tickets or yogurt or something, and then it totally counts. But, when it comes to playing with you, you actually are like the magic in the movie Cocoon. You de-age your grandparents, great grandparents and great aunts...greatly! (Not literally, but metaphorically...ya know?)

Of course, you always have a blast with Yaya and Baba and Mimi and Pops, and they have a blast with you too. You know all their names and get really excited when you get to see them and play with them.

(Remind me to get more pictures of you and Yaya, okay?)

But this past week, you got to finally meet one special relative, and finally warmed up to another.

Your famous Great Aunt Gerri, who is techincally your 1st cousin twice removed..right?) came to visit us from Tenessee. Though this was the first time you met her, she's been a part of your life since before you were born. The last time she visited, she told your Mom that the next time she visited, we would have a little baby. At that moment your Mom suspected she was pregnant with you, but hadn't told anyone yet. Kind of like an oracle, right? Aunt Gerri's always commenting on pictures of you and sending you gifts left and right, even though we tell her she's too kind and it's too much!

But you finally got to meet her, and you guys hit it off immediately. You love saying "Jerrrr-EEE! Jerr-EEE!" (although sometimes your refrain devolved into "Jeremy", but that's okay too!).

As I write this, Aunt Gerri has already headed home, but we had such a wonderful time with her. I don't think you'll be forgetting Aunt Gerri ever! (Who could?)

When Holly's grandparents, your great grandparents, are in town, you normally like to go check on Pa, your Great Grandfather Paul. You like to look at pictures of the family and point out Pa. Heck, you even liked to climb in his lap and give him hugs.

But recently, you've been pointing to someone else in the family photo, someone who you've met many times and -quite frankly- kinda ignored. But not any more. You love saying "Gigi" when you point to your Great Grandmother's picture, and then you started calling her "Grandma" ("GRAMMA!"). This weekend when she and Aunt Nessa ("Nesssss") came to town to spend more time with Aunt Gerri, you started calling her "Gramma Gigi!" and, with a little encouragement from your dear old Dad, got brave enough to go tickle her...and Gramma Gigi giggled! You loved this process so much that you repeated it dozens of times over the weekend.

I'd say that you two are now good friends, which is better than good for us!

I barely knew my grandparents and I wanted you to have a really good relationship with yours. Check! You love your Grandparents.

But as an added bonus, your Mom and I are so thankful that you're getting to know your Great Grandparents too! Not too many people get to spend an afternoon tickling their Gramma Gigis!

You're a really sweet little man, Aidan and I know you are destined for greatness. If you surround yourself with greatness, then it's only inevitable...and this weekend you got a great dose of greatness from your Great Aunt Gerri and your Great Grandma (Gramma Gigi).

So there's no need to point out the average age of some of the company you keep because calendar age doesn't matter...it only matters if you're young at heart, and as you prove again and again, you've got the magic touch in bringing out the kid in many an old person! (including me!)

22 weeks: Now Hear This

Little one,

You have now completed your 22nd week of growing into a fully formed baby Weinstein!

And your Mom continues to grow more and more beautiful.

 So, here we are: you are the size of a papaya. Pretty crazy to think that just 22 weeks ago you were smaller than a poppy seed.

Even crazier to think that about 2 and half years ago, your Mom was 22 weeks pregnant with your brother.

Week 22 with Aidan, October 2009

I'm not rushing things at all, but wait til you see how awesome things are here on the outside world. Your brother was pissed at us for just a few moments for taking him out of your Mom's belly, and you will be too...but so much can change in 2 years. Life happens, and it's beautiful. You're going to love it. But, you've still got 4.5 months or so to go, so, for now, keep on rocking life in the belly and keep on hitting those developmental milestones.

And now that you're 22 weeks old, your beautiful face is fully formed and you're able to hear noises from outside the womb. The blurb says you'll find your Mother's voice most soothing, but you also have been getting quite an earful from me and your brother lately. As you saw, he's talking up a storm, and I'm rarely quiet. So, you should be sonically adjusted to all three of us pretty soon.

I held my phone up to your Mom's belly the other day and played you a song, the Paul Simon one about how there'd "never be a father loved his daughter more than I love you." I sang along with the chorus.

Tonight I'll play you another song:

And Aidan will probably shower you with kisses and say "baby!" and your name too! And "Beatles" (he just learned to say that the other day...I'm very proud). Or maybe you'll be treated to a lovely two-year-old fit (they DO happen). Or maybe you'll hear all the hammers and nails banging around outside as we expand our home to make extra room for our growing family.

No matter what you hear, little one, don't be alarmed. You're doing wonderfully. You're sleeping about 12-14 hours a day; you're growing all the time; and you can hear us whispering about how crazy excited we are to meet you.

Talk Like a Man

Aidan,

I used to keep a list of every word that you said, in the order in which they appeared in your vocabulary. I was preparing for the worst. At your 18 month check up the doctor wanted to know if you could say five words. Your Mom froze and said "I don't know...uh...yes...yes he does." She was asked to list those words. She blanked.

The doctor said that by 24 months, they wanted you to say 50 words and be able to string two of them together into a phrase.

So I kept a list.

By 2 years old, you had surpassed all our expectations and had a vocabulary of at least 50 words  (and noises). Okay, maybe you were just shy of 50 words, if you don't count onomatopoeia, and subsituting animal noises for animal names (like 'arf' for 'dog).

But we weren't worried any more about your language skills. So I stopped keeping the list. It's a good thing too, because I couldn't have kept up if I did.

It seems that recently your vocabulary is increasing incrementally. I can't even remember everything you said yesterday, all the new words you learned over the last week (we learned "heavy," "booger," "guys," sunny," "sorry" etc).

But it's incredible to watch and be innundated by the flood of words coming out of your brain.

It's lke watching your brain at work, especailly when we don't understand what you're saying and you come up with other ways to explain to us what your saying.

And of course, vocabulary enhances your attitude too.

The other day, our friend Bryan was telling Luke that the pig says "oink." You corrected them: "no...pig..."

You're a little smart alec...but you're a smarty pants too.

It's really a pleasure to talk to such a smarty pants, by the way.

Especially when he can say "Joe" and "Baba,"

"Yaya"

"Mommy"

"Mimi"

"Brady" (Bray-deeee)

"Smile" (and can smile when we ask him to)

"Baby!" (and can kiss the baby when we ask him to)

"Daddy"

(You just started calling us "mommy" and "daddy". previously we'd been mom, ma, da, mom dad and my dad)

"Eat" (or, "eat eat eat")

"Dog" and "Walk"

 "Me you" (which means either 'me and you' or just you, meaning Aidan)...okay, that one's confusing...

Photo by Aidan

 "Toby" (which you just learned last week. It started out as "Taboo" and then you finally got it...you were so excited to say "Toby" that every dog is now "Toby!" even...

Photo by Aidan

 "Toby"...okay, that's "Preston," but we're still working on that one.

Photo by Aidan

 "Pig," "Pink" and "Pinky (the finger!)

Photo by Aidan

"Friend" (we just learned that one this weekend!)

"Pops" (which currently sounds like "Poss")

 "Yellow" and some variation on the word "Bracelet"

 "Shaow" (Shadow-- you love making shadow puppets, a trick that Mimi started and Daddy continued...you love the "big wolf" shadow...and the 'baby wolf' shadow too)

"Frog"

"Color"

"Dark" and "Eyes"

"Train!"

"Haircut" and "Baby"

You say "set go set go" for chases and while playing with cars.

You also say "Green set go" when you're ready for the traffic light to change.

You love Yellow and point out yellow-ness everywhere: "yellow bus!" "yellow truck!" "yellow car","yellow block," "yellow crayon," "yellow chair."

And "yellow candy" (sounds like "yellow canny"). You bargain for your yellow candy (a Reece's Pieces) after your medicine. But now all the yellows are gone, so you bargain for "brown canny" and "orange canny" too.

When people ask you "How old are you?" You dutifully respond "two!"

You learned to say "Ernie" "Mo's Ducks" and "sunny days" for your favorite Sesame Street character, songs and books.


You love numbers, including "two," "five!" and whenever any one is counting, you conclude with "nine ten nine ten nine ten", no matter where we actually are in the chronology.

You know our neighbors, Bryan, Tammy and Luke and discuss their comings and goings. "Bran gone." "Hi Tammy" "Yuke!"

You love your "Buzz car!" And love "wood-dee" too.

You say "you me swim"...but the jury's still out if you want to swim alone or with me.

One day we read a book about Winnie the Pooh. In the very end, Winnie the Pooh O.D.s on a lot of honey and goes to sleep, dreaming of "honey pots and pots of honey." You started saying "honey!" I asked you if you wanted some honey. You said "honey!" So I gave you a little spoonful. And you said "honey" again. So I gave you a second, third, fourth helping of honey. "Honey, honey, honey!" you said! So we went to go tell your Mommy. "Aidan, tell Mommy, what did you just eat?" I asked. You thought about it awful hard and then repiled "Pooh!"

Oy vey. That's right. You're speaking Yiddish too. Mimi taught you to say "Oy vey," and you use it when we read a book about "Sunny Days" (aka Sesame Street")


You also are learning some great words about gross-out stuff. Some Mother who shall remain namless taught you "Pee-Yew" for stinkiness or yuckiness. You LOVE reading about the garbage truck and saying "Pee-Yew." We ask you what you think of the garbage truck, and you'll reply "Pee-yew!"


Sometimes you join us in the bathroom. One particular day after I had stood up from the toilet, you peered in and said "Pee-Yew Poo Poo!" Great, now you're shaming me.

But, it's good for you to feel natural in the bathroom. Everybody poops. And now you can say "potty." The other day you barged in on me, sw what I was doing and said "Pee Pee Potty!" Unfortunately, you've also joined your dear old dad and had reason to say "Poo Poo Potty."

You love cars and trucks, and love riding the "Buzz Car" Brady let you borrow; you saw a "Big Truck" outside your school, and saw a "big Black Truck" outside our house.

Your new words aren't just limited to defecation and transportation, though. We had dinner with Aunt Sham and Scott last week, and you learned Scott's name. You thought long and hard and dubbed him "Sock!" And the whole night you kept calling him, "Sock! Sock! Sock!"

Then you saw a picture of the tow of them and said "Shammy! Sock!"

I've been compiling this posting for a week now to try to remember all the hilarious, amazing, new things you've been saying and I just can't keep up. You're talking so much now...and I'm just happy to be part of the conversation!

21 weeks: Kicks, Pomegranites, Brother and Grandchildren

Little one,

You are nearing the end of your 21st week inside your Mom's tummy. Your Brother grows more and more excited to meet you every day. He say 'baby!' whenever he sees a baby, and kisses your Mom's belly without even being prompted. He's getting pretty good at your name too. We say 'what's your sister's name?" And he responds with something very similar to your name!

You're an active little girl. Your Mom feels you kicking all the time, mostly when she's inactive. And I can feel you kicking every night now...a far cry from a few days ago when I first felt you kick.

Your mother's belly continues to grow largery and larger, but she's really taking it like a champ.

I tell her how beautiful she looks, but she refuses to believe me. But, c'mon!


21 weeks

 At 21 weeks old, you are "gulp[ing] down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for hydration and nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies are most interested in tastes they've already experienced through amniotic fluid."

So last night you got to taste fajitas for the first time. And tortillas. Between your Mom and Brother, we were running the watiress ragged getting fresh, hot flour tortillas. The two of them must have consumed 8 or 10 tortillas for the night.

But, from Tex-Mex to the produce aisle, this week you are the size of one of your Mom's favorite foods (which will be in season just in time for your birth): the pomegranite.

You've reached a milestone in your development this week. Your reproductive organs and your womb are developing quickly. That means you've already got a lifetime supply of eggs in your womb...about six million of them.

We stumbled across this factoid when we were pregnant with your brother: a mother pregnant with her daughter also contains the eggs that will one day be her grandchildren. Mind blown, right? So when GiGi was pregnant with Yaya, Yaya already had the egg in her womb that would become your Mommy.

So when I feel you kicking tonight, I'll  envision myself extra spoiling our eventual grandhildren (if you choose to have any...which, and here comes the parental guilt, you'd better ;) ).

But don't worry, I'll spoil you first.

Take Us Out to the Ball Game!

When your Pops turned 72 years old, this was our present to him (pay close attention to the requisite respect and reverence a son must give to his father at all times):

Unfortunately, Pops' birthday is February 15, and there is no baseball in February. So it was a voucher until baseball officially started.


And scheduling just wasn't working out for the Rangers, so a few weeks ago, you, me and Mimi took Pops out to the ball park to see the Frisco Roughriders play ball.


In the first through fourth innings we foraged for food and then ate said food. Except for you. Apparently we're raising you so healthily that you scoffed at ballpark chicken nuggets.

 Although, you did help yourself to many a french fry and ketchup.

By the top of the fourth, we were ready to find our seats, but decided to pose by the foul post first.

Then we found our seats at the bottom of the fourth. Roughriders had just struck out, so you were sad.

Okay, maybe you just didn't want to sit down. But your genius Mommy brought your favorite new toy: a spray bottle. This kept you interested for a long time. And worked well to keep us cool. You sprayed Mommy's hands...

Fed yourself some water...

And fed me some water too!

 

The rest of the game was a lot of fun too.

Pops took some great pictures of you.

And you and I took some pictures of them!

We sang "Take me out to the ballgame" in the 7th inning stretch. After it was over, you said "AGAIN!"

We followed instructions and rooted, root-rooted for the Home team.

Pops even taught you to yell "CHARGE!"

"CHARGE!!!!!"

In the end, the Roughriders won, we saw some fireworks, got free hats, Pops got hit in the shoulder by a foul ball and no one was in a foul mood!

We didn't buy you peanuts or cracker jacks, but we do know that we'll go back soon to the Old! Ball! Game!

Feel the Kicks

Little one,

I finally was at the right place at the right time.

We were relaxing on the couch when your Mom reached over and grabbed my hand.

She placed it on her belly.

I felt you kick!

Again and again and again.

I couldn't help but smile.

I'd forgotten what an amazing feeling it is, and you, little lady, have some very strong kicks!

Half Way There: Week 20...and kicking

Little One,

You are 20 weeks old...and kicking.

That's right! Your mother feels you kicking many times every day...mostly at night.

She says it feels "like little bones kicking"...which isn't as poetic as I would have hoped. Despite the 'day of the dead' mood that conjures, I am extremely jealous! I still haven't been able to feel your little kicks. Every time your Mom announces that she feels a kick, I put my hand on the belly and wait patiently...and the kicks never come.

Last night, your Mom woke me up and said "give me your hand." I was confused since I had just come out of a slumber, but I was compliant enough and gave her my hand. She placed it on her belly, since you were being very active.

Alas, I still couldn't feel the kicks. I guess they're still only feel-able from the inside. But when they're feel-able  from the outside, you know I'll be first in line.

Even though I couldn't feel you kick, I was content with my hand hovering somewhere near your little foot, and I dozed off holding your Mom's belly.

And even though you're not yet big enough for me to feel from the outside, you're certainly getting bigger. And this week I have proof! Your Mom begrudgingly agreed to take her week 19 and week 20 photos!

Week 19

Week 20

Week 11..WOW!

See, you're waaaay bigger than you were back on week 11!

In fact, now that you're at week 20 and you're half-way here, you're the size of a banana!

Good work! Keep on growing and hopefully soon you'll be doing the banana splits...and I can feel you kick!