Two years old...a tale in photos

So, I used to take your picture once a month, to see how big you're getting. Then, once you turned one, I slowed down a bit on these photo shoots. The last time we tried this, you had just turned 18 months.

I was feeling bold, and decided that you and I should give it a go once more. The following photos are evidence of what it's like to be two:

I first plopped you down in the usual setting and you popped right back up.
Then you cooperated perfectly...but, Daddy messed up the photo. So I needed to try again.
You seemed okay with that for a split second...But then, most definitely, not okay with it.
Then, while sort of laugh/crying, you decided you were calling the photo session quits. I was okay with that...the funny one in the corner was good enough for me!


You hid...We played...
And then, while I was in the kitchen, I heard you say "again" and spotted you climbing up in to the chair again.


Success!
I made you laugh ("sneezeguard" again proves to be hilarious!"
And...voila: The perfect 2-year picture! My set is now complete: two years of diaper-clad photos!

Two is fun already!

Birthday Party Animal- Two Years Young

Aidan, the day before you turned two, we spent a really awesome family day together celebrating, having fun and basically being major animals.

It was a gorgeous day in Dallas, so we went to the Dallas Zoo!

You had an absolute blast at the zoo.

You loved 'swimming' with the penguins:

The highlight of the day had to have been the camel. At the petting zoo, they were offering pony rides. You didn't seem the least bit interested. But when we saw the camels, I asked you if you wanted to ride them. You nodded yes excitedly. So, what the heck, we thought, it was your birthday! Your Mommy wanted to keep both feet on the ground, so you and I got to share this special moment.You and I mounted a camel named Mitchell and rode him around in a dirt circle for a few minutes. It may have only lasted a few minutes, but the moment will stick out for me as an eternally magical memory, and that's coming from a cynic! I had no idea how you'd react to riding this strange creature, but you loved every second of it.
You were pretty quiet during the ride, so I had to yell to your Mom and ask if you were having fun (I couldn't see your face!).

She yelled back "he's loving it!" ...and this photo proves it: Parting was such sweet sorrow, and you cried when we had to leave Mitchell, but there were more adventures to be had today and everyday. So, through your tears, you waved bye-bye to Mitchell. We'll always have Mitchell, Aidan. I wonder how (or if) you'll remember this magic camel ride..

Other hits at the zoo included: the water fountain!

Near the end of the day, we got to see the Giraffes. You were pretty excited by them, although you were pretty tired. But still, you decided that they were called "Talls." And, I can't blame you! We were pretty proud of you for making that connection. Plus, 'giraffe' is kind of hard to say.

You also got to play...a lot. This long bench/wall was a source of a LOT of fun after lunch. And you got to stick it to the man and his rules...and what two-year-old wouldn't love that?

After three visits to the zoo and a major 'no show' from the Bengal Tiger, we finally got to see him. I didn't get a picture, but you were pretty fascinated by the long orange and black tiger. You waved at him, you tried to climb the glass, you smushed your face into the glass and you even talked to the tiger, saying 'meow meow meow.'

You got to ride another animal, though this one wasn't as exciting as the camel:

And finally (although this was our first stop of the day), you made friends with the goats at the petting zoo.

You hugged on some goats:
You petted them:
You investiaged them:
And rejoiced at being in their presence. You chased them and tried to poke one in the eye. You 'mooed' at a black and white goat and 'baaed' and 'maaaed' at the rest. You even tried several times to ride one of the goats, but they didn't seem to thrilled about that.

The zoo wore you out so much that you napped from 12:30 until 3 pm, a near-record!

It's hard to believe you're two now, and capable of so much mischief, excitement, interest, emotion, happiness, sadness, learning, curiosity, association and triumph; especially when it seems to be just yesterday that you were nothing but a dream and a bump in your Mom's belly. But, then again, we don't remember life before you and it feels like you've been here forever. '2 years' seems like such a small number to quantify the impact you've had on our lives.

Happy Birthday, son. You're a real party animal, and we just love being in the same zoo as you.

7 weeks and 2 days- Heart Beat, Baby

We went to the Doctor today and, though we couldn't see you too well (perhaps because you're the size of a blueberry), but we did get to HEAR you!

That's right, we heard your heartbeat. 149 beats per minute, which is, as the doctor said, 'perfect.


You can even see a graphic representation of the heartbeat in the first image.
The second image shows...you! From crown to rump, you were measuring at 7 weeks, 2 days! Which puts you at an estimated due date of October 16, 2012.


You'll be joining your Mommy and Aunt Rebekka as an October baby. How cool!


It was chilling to hear your heartbeat for the first time. I had forgotten how cool that sound is.


A little from the books about you at week 7:

• He/She's generating about one hundred new brain cells each minute!


• Not only is his/her brain becoming more complex, but his/her heart is too.


• Also important: He/She's developing a permanent set of kidneys


• His/Her arm and leg joints are now forming.

No wonder your Mommy is so tired (and nauseous): look at all you and her are building together!

Emergency Cravings: The Golden Chick-et

Yesterday, your mother and I arrived in the driveway at the same time.

She needed fried chicken and mashed potatoes in her system immediately.

I told her I could look up a recipe really quickly and go to the store.

But she told me she didn't want real food. She wanted, in her words, 'crap.'

You know, the mashed potatoes made by adding water.

So I quickly rescued Aidan from her car while she sped off to the nearest Golden Chick.



About 25 minutes later, after your brother and I had started making our dinner and played outside, your Mother returned home, with an empty bag of Golden Chick remnants and crumbs.

She said she drove almost like a maniac (without breaking any speed laws) to Golden Chick, ordered in a daze and then began devouring the food the second they handed it to her. I can only imagine her shoving handfuls of mashed potatoes and gravy in her mouth while driving. Or perhaps she used the chicken fingers as some sort of utensil.

We'll never know.

She felt human again, and swiftly fell asleep on the couch.

This pregnancy is awesome!

Pickles, Cravings (and Ravings of a Super-Powered Olfactory)

Your Mom's pregnancy continues to go swimmingly- all signs point to a strong, healthy pregnancy.

Unfortunately, this means a bit of an irrational, weak, odd Mommy!

I came home from work on Friday and your Mom was starving. She wanted burgers. And only burgers. So, we went off to burgers.

(Aidan, you did really well at the burger place- chowing down on some free Sweet Potato chips while we stood in line (so much so, that the cashier gave you your own basket of them to enjoy!); you ate almost a whole 1/2 pound patty, vegetables and pickles, pickles, pickles!! But, you're not the only one in the family who loves pickles. Your brother or sister (and your mom)love pickles too. I like them as well, but this ain't about me.)

Your Mom notified me that for lunch on Friday she literally craved and ate the ultimate in cliche pregnancy dishes: pickles and ice cream. Pistachio ice cream. And cottage cheese. And then bagel bites.


2/26/2012:



The cravings are coming fast and furious. One minute she's chowing down on some Long John Silvers, the next she's got the shiver-me-timbers. "As long as I'm eating, " your mommy said, "the nausea goes away." So eat she does.

On Saturday your Mom craved again. This time it was for...wait for it...dill pickle flavored ice cream from this store at the mall. So, we wound up at the mall, and until she got said popcorn, the only word she could say was "popcorn."

A sample conversation went like this:

Aaron: Ooh, this color suit looks good. What do you think?
Holly: Popcorn.
Aidan: Mama?
Holly: Popcorn.
Aaron: Where are we going?
Holly: Popcorn.
Aaron: Can we stop at H&M on the w--
Holly: Popcorn.

So, luckily, before our conversations got any better, the got a large bag of the stuff. It's quite gross. It tastes like 'scratch and sniff pickle' flavoring was dumped all over a bag of popcorn. Your brother loved it, though. Your mom loved it, and ate piece after piece for a few hours. But, the next day, she couldn't even look at the stuff.

The craving was leaving. On top of the cravings, we also have some ravings. She's not mad, your mother; just nauseus and trying to cope...by buying and wearing special nausea-lessening black wrist bands. Fashion statement aside...she's wearing wrist bands! I was 'uncool' when I wore my awesome wristbands that came with my long-gone Scion XD. But your Mom makes them look...cool...crazy cool. But, apparently, the pressure points on the bottom of the wrist DO help relive nausea...or at least the placebo works. Because, she's not as sick!

But, the pregnancy has continued to heighten her sense of smell. Which isn't good because your brother's been sick, and been on these super sweet-tasting antibiotics which do wonders to...well...doo. Luckily, I was able to change most of these not-so-good-nappies over the weekend...but she might just have to pull her shirt up over her nose if it happens while I'm at work.

But that might not help either. All day yesterday she was going crazy, and actually a bit upset, because Aidan had lost his 'smell.' "He smells like daycare, doesn't he? And it's making me sick! Smell him! Smell Aidan!" Between diapers and daycare, you might think your brother stinks- but he most certainly does not (okay, well, diapers don't smell great, but that's universal). While folding towels later that evening, your mom's super sleuthing nose later discovered that it was, in fact, the laundry detergent that was upsetting the sensitive smeller.

So, between shielding a direct line between my outward breaths while talking, thinking Aidan lost his smell and telling me that the dogs need baths badly (which they do), noone in the Weinstein household is safe from the ravings of the super-powered smeller!

Hopefully you're enojying your accomodations though-- from the way your mom is nauseating and smelling, it seems that you've settled in quite nicely to your womb room and made yourself quite at home.

You are about 6 weeks along now, and about the size of a sweet pea.



Although things aren't smelling so sweet out here (to some of us), we just can't stop thinking about you.

Growing Every Day: cookies, colors, blues and paints

Aidan, every day you continue to amaze your mother and me. These little looks, or actions, or connections you make are just a testament to how wonderfully you are learning about the world around you.

You are doing so much better at being left at school now, and you even have been spotted by Miss Jessica interacting and 'talking' to the other kids.

Yesterday you made a birdfeeder. It was basically a bagel, spread with peanut butter and then dipped in bird seed. You were so proud of your 'cookie' and for some reason kept trying to eat it. You were a bit upset when your Mom hung it in a tree in our backyard.

But, you did get a real cookie anyway. It's Girl Scout season and we have a box of the chocolatey, coconutty, ringed goodness that we call Samoas. I left the box within your reach and you brought it to your Mom, saying 'cookie,' in your convincing manner. So she let you have one. And you LOVED it.

You're making pretty advanced connections. On Tuesday morning, after an awesome three-day weekend together (and pretty much a full Monday of Daddy and me time), your Mom brought you into our bed. You saw a lump of comforters and covers and pillows where I usually sleep and you excitedly said "Dada? Dada!" Your mom pulled back the covers to reveal that I wasn't there and you were sad. This story hurt a little...but it also made me proud that you knew to look for me...and knew that I resemble I pile of linens!

You've been sick recently (double ear infection and bronchitis), so we've been having to give you some nasty medicine. After two days of fighting us with the medicine, you realized that that tactic wasn't working. And without prompting, you figured out what you thought would be a better way to avoid the medicine. I came in with the oral syringe and, upon seeing me, you hid your face behind your hands. If you were hiding, and therefore 'gone', how could we give you the medicine? Luckily, we still found a way (and you adapted again, by spitting most of it out); but I give you an A for effort. Your Mom and I were in awe of your cleverness!

Your vocabulary continues to grow too... you went up to Miss Jessica yesterday and said 'hug!' because you wanted a hug.

On Monday, you and I were playing with cars and you said "Blue" (although it's more like "booo") when holding a blue car. I tested you with some more blue cars, which you correctly identified. But then I held up a red car and you were stumped. So, I knew that you knew blue!

Yesterday at dinner, you got crayons to play with, and you picked up the blue one and said 'blue!'

Then you through the blue one to the ground and held on to the yellow one really tight. Yellow seems to be your favorite color (you also held a yellow crayon for a few hours the other day as well). But you're just at the beginning stages of being able to say 'yellow.' But, at the restaurant, you did say "green" for the green crayon, with some encouragment.

And you've started to identify crayons as "colors" (although it's more like "curr")...but we know what you're saying. And more importantly, you know what you're saying!

Color me proud!

More into the world of colors, back on Valentine's Day, I decided that we needed to do the inaugural dip into the non-toxic finger paints we got while back so you could make your Mommy a V-Day present. You've finger painted before with this colorless stuff that doesn't appear until it's placed on the special paper. That's pretty fun, but mostly you like opening and closing the paint container.

But this finger paint....you loved it...all 2 minutes of the finger painting experience (until it quickly turned into a disaster). I gave you a little squirt of each color: green, blue, red and yellow.

As you can see from the finished result, you really aren't a fan of using blue, although you're a fan of saying it.

So you started sheepishly touching the paint dollops. I showed you how to paint it on the paper.

You were intrigued. You did it a little more by yourself. A little green...a lot of red...

Then you started piling the paint on the paper and smushing it around. I pushed your hand down to make a handprint.

Then you started smearing the pallette's paints altogether into a lovely brown.

This was fun...and messy...good thing I got us both down to our undergarments only for the painting experience.

I momentarily thought, "he'll be fine...I'll just go grab my camera and take a few pictures."

Good thing I didn't! Because in a split second the following happened:

You decided to start just rubbing your hands together.

Then you began clapping.

Then the paint started flying everywhere (I'm still finding it in the kitchen).

Then it got on your face, to which you logically and immediately responded by rubbing your eyes with your hands, which were covered in paint. You immediately responded by crying and screaming loudly...having paint all over your eyes.

Emergency eye wash in the kitchen sink, and the crying subsided a little.

Then straight to the bath, where I managed to get all the paint off your eyes, face, hands and arms. And off of me too.

But you know what? You were fine in a few minutes and your Mom loved the painting.

We're even going to frame it.

With all your connecting and learning and experimenting, you are truly an amazing almost-two year old. You are a work of art (and a piece of work) and we're just constantly amazed at how much you are growing every day.

Sometimes it's all we can do to keep up!

Just like Starting Over

Little One, remember when I said this might be a Potbelly Pregnancy?

Well, what they say about parents forgetting all about pregnancy being the only way they would do it over again may have a grain of truth to it.

Your Mom has remembered the basics and is mastering them: the nausea is back with a vengeance, the cravings are coming fast and furious, but causing more nausea and she has to pee quite frequently.

But, we forgot some of the finer details like: deli meat bad for pregnant ladies!

Oops! Don't worry, you'll be perfectly fine. Only 3 delicious Wreck sandwiches before we recalled that deli meat rule. But, it's better safe than sorry.

So, on Sunday, your mother, brother and I ventured back to our old stomping grounds, where we hadn't been for at least 2 weeks: Freebirds, home of the pregnant woman's favorite chicken quesa-ritto. Oh, and Long John Silver's too.

And today your Mom craved and at Deep-fried God-knows-what at Long John Silvers.

So, we forgot about the deli meat. But, we forgot how triumphant the minor victories and news updates along the way make us feel.

Your Mom got blood work done at your first sonogram, and then again 5 days later. We got the results yesterday: the hormone levels rose from 5,000 to 18,000! I don't really know exactly what that means, but it feels like cause for celebration because, generally, it means we're right on track, you're growing like crazy and week 6 is a good week. (Edit: Dr. Bertrand later told us that those numbers showed 'every indication of a healthy pregnancy'...so...pretty much exactly what I said!)

Even with the nausea. And the dead-end cravings ("I'm starving, but nothing sounds good!). And the near vomiting. And the soreness. And the exhaustion. And the nausea...and that's just how I'M feeling!

These are all signs, along with the bloodwork, that you've left the starting blocks and are right on track for your 9-month marathon.

And for all the little milestones along the way, we'll be there, cheering you along and cheering for ourselves too.

Who knew that starting over could be the greatest thing since sliced bread (hold the meat).