Artsy, Parksy, Family Weekend

We had a fantastic weekend. The weather was beautiful, you kids were awesome, we were together as family on a weekend when it was extra important to have a fun, memorable time with family. And the results were beautiful. Instantly cherished. I'm nostalgic for this last weekend already, and it's only Wednesday.

On Saturday Mimi and Pops took us to an Opera! It was your first, Julia, and your second, Aidan. Mimi and  Pops took you the previous weekend to see "Jack and the Beanstalk." You loved it and told us of "beanstalks" for the rest of the week. We went to see a movie about Jack Frost and whenever they said "Jack" you said "Anna Beanstalk!" After it. You were extra "fee-fi-fo-fummy" that week, though you always like to pretend to be a giant.

So, you were psyched when we told you we got to go again. This production was more a sample platter of different songs from different operas: Barber of Seville, Carmen, Marriage of Figaro. And you liked it! You clapped at the end, were excited to see the orchestra instruments before hand (and told us during the show that a "trombone says Wah wahhhh."  You liked seeing the "violet" and the "bass" and were pretty engaged in the music. Occasionally you started talking, and I'd remind you to whisper. You, recalling your favorite book of opposites, said "whisper....AND SHOUT!" That cracked me up, but was pretty loud. You even investigated the sleeping guy next to us...by getting in his face and seeing why he was sleeping.

Julia, you did very well! You kinda just wanted to see some of the action and and even tried to sing along.

It was a lot of fun, and very cool to expose you kids to awesome operatic music so early on. And even better to see the positive results. Thanks Mimi and Pops for taking us!

As a return favor, we then took Mimi and Pops to the Deck Park which you love so much. Julia slept while you, Aidan, played in every fountain the park had to offer. 

You even figured out how to become a fountain yourself!

The next day, we took a family trip to the arboretum, much to your delight. And with no place to go and no time table to meet, we just let you lead the way...and you had a blast! Running, checking out the little houses, flirting with little girls, trying to wrestle with some older boys and basically being a very good boy.\

Jules, you enjoyed the Arboretum too, facing the world and even getting to get down and roll around in the grass too!

I think it made you pretty happy.

Then the two of you met up, and we headed out back into the real world as a family.

Tales from the Crib: Julia Needs Kiss

Julia, you are 16 weeks old now! And you sure do have a lot to say on the subject.

You'll talk to anyone who will listen!

Preston:

Pops:

Your Dear Parents:

You just have an awful lot to say for yourself, young lady! We get the general idea, but we don't fully know what you're talking about.

It's a shame too, because I bet you'd have a great story to tell about your latest adventure in growing up. A few weeks ago...wow has it already been weeks?...you spent your first nap and night in your crib!

We decided to try it again, and institute it as a more regular type thing, now that you're officially in the can-be-spoiled-and-pick-up-bad-habits-age-and-no-offense-but-we-don't-want-you-to-sleep-in-bed-with-us-forever phase. So, we're two nights in, and it's a little rough on everyone.

When you start crying in the middle of the night, we're at the point now where you're not hungry. You're just crying because you're awake. So we either let you cry it out and go back to bed (which works pretty well) or we come comfort you.

Aidan copes by sometimes waking up and trying to crawl in bed with us.

Or we find him with his blanket, hands and pillow up over his ears.

Now, for the most part, you're sleeping great! We're talking like maybe one or two crying bits a night, so we couldn't be more pleased with how you're doing in your own crib in your own (shared) room!

And someone else was pleased this morning too...which made someone else very pleased!

This morning at around 7:30 am, your Mom heard a bit of crying. Then some Aidan talking. Then some Julia giggles.

She ran into yours and Aidan's room and found Aidan in your crib, right next to you, giving you a kiss. You were giggling and laughing and talking to him. Generally excited to see him!

Everyone was very happy with this situation, except for me and your Mom!

Of course, we trust that Aidan would never intentionally hurt you, but he's only (almost) 3, and can't really be trusted to provide infant care. That reminds me...are you still an infant? Or are you now officially a baby? I'll have to look into this later. Plus, how did he even manage to climb into your crib...must have been some serious acrobatics and climbing and risk-taking to get in there...so who knows how he landed safely without hurting you. But, it's clear that he did it well, and that you weren't hurt.

Your Mom lifted him out of the crib. And Aidan told her why he had decided to get in the crib with you in the first place. Three simple words:

"Julia Needs Kiss."

And he knew he was the man for the job.

Now, that line is very close to my favorite part of the story, but my absolute favorite part is your reaction to the whole thing.

According to your Mom, who witnessed the whole thing, you were happy as a clam to have your brother in the crib with you. You were giggling and smiling and just all-around happy to see him.

Just imagine the story, though, if we could only understand your language. What a story that would be!

Needless to say, Week 16 was the week you began to sleep in your shared room. In your crib. With your brother (in his own bed). Week 16 is also the week that we rearranged your shared room to try to discourage climbing and kissing.

Week 16 is off to a good start. I can't wait to hear what you have to say today!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Aidan,

As your vocabulary grows and your thought processes advance, you're becoming downright garrulous. And some of the things you say are priceless, hilarious, touching, sweet and so so smart.

Here's a few that I've managed to remember.

The other day you were holding Julia and just having a lovely time kissing on her.

You say:  "Where Julia comes from?"
I say: "Julia came from Mommy's tummy, remember?"
You just crack up with laughter and laugh and laugh and laugh.
And say: "That SO WEIRD!"

That's gotta be my favorite.

Speaking of favorites, you're really into telling us your favorites lately.

You climbed up on the counter to ask for some challah bread.
"Bread please!"
"Aidan, that's called 'challah bread.'"
"Challah bread. Oh yes. Favorites! Food!"


You sat on the stairs looking at my guitar stand, which is orange.
You: "Red! Red! Red thing!"
Me: "That's orange..."
You: "Red...favorites color!"
Me: "What about yellow?"
You: "Oh yeah!!!!"

You were hanging out with your puppies and just blurted out: "Toby! Favorites dog!"

But I think you secretly love both dogs the same. They provide you with a lot of inspiration.

You know you're not supposed to feed the dogs people food. You also know you're not supposed to eat dog food. These rules get broken regularly.

While sitting at the table, you seemed to be eating your lunch. You picked up a piece of food. Maybe you knew you were tricking me, or maybe I'm just thick as a brick- but either way, you fooled me. You held the food in your hands and said, "Food for boys!"

I said, "Yes! That's food for boys! Go ahead."

And you threw it down to the dogs, who we routinely call "the boys."

But, you are learning the difference between boy and girl too. Mommy taught you well. "Mommy's girl. Julia's girl. Aidan boy."


We took you to a new bounce house called "Going Bonkers." After initial trepidation, you really got comfortable with the place and had SO much fun.

On the drive home you told us your thoughts: "Bounce house. That so fun! Good boy."

You tell us lots of things in the car, and you surprise us too. Two times last weekend on kinda-long car rides, without prompting you looked to Julia and kindly, reassuringly said "Almost there, Julia!" Good boy, indeed.

You also like to talk like a car. All of a sudden you started telling us that "car says 'beep beep honk honk'."

At home, one of your new favorite games is "hide and seek." But all of a sudden you surprised us: "Hide and Seek. You hide first!"

It's not that you're parroting our phrases and words anymore. You truly understand what the word 'first' means and have started using it everywhere. "Read this book first." Now, the rules of hide and seek and who does what when are still a little bit cloudy, but you're really understanding now, and it's really amazing.

Language is such a useful tool for imagination. You've been many different animals lately. When on top of my shoulders, you announced "I am baby elephant!" At the zoo, you climbed on a rock and said "I am lion!" And then...

Language is also such a useful tool for playing with friends and making new ones. After a weekend of play, you told us "Share Brady! Share Luke!"

While wrestling with Brady (good natured wrestling, of course) you said "That Fun!"

After playing at Luke's house you've been telling us "Luke screaming. Fun! Screaming Luke!" I wonder why!

And at the zoo, you asked to get down off my shoulders to see the warthogs. There was a much younger boy-on-a-leash next to you. Both of you stared at the warthogs. The boy started babbling excited to you, standard 17-month-old excited babbling stuff. Nonsense. To us any way.

You let him finish talking to him and replied  "...oh, yes."

And that's the crux of it. Your language is showing your true self. You're growing and figuring stuff out. Sometimes it's a bit...rude. You tell us "Go away!" when you want to get into some sort of trouble that you know we'll object to. 

But mostly, it's funny, informative and often sweet. For instance, yesterday you told your Mommy, "I need kisses."

Either way, it's enlightening. You found your voice a while ago, but it seems that lately it's becoming louder, clearer...and distinctly you!

They say you say the darndest things. I think that some of the material is 'darndest', but all of it is amazing..and really shines the light on the wonderment you see in the world.

Big Weekend for Julia- 15 weeks and growing

Last weekend you may have been 14 weeks or you may have been 15 weeks. I think it was 15. I've kinda lost count. But that's only because there's so much more to keep track of now, like all of your accomplishments.

You're 15 weeks old, and you had a HUGE weekend for awesomeness.


All of a sudden, you're almost rolling over all by yourself! You can get to your hip, but just can't get it to tip over. (almost there!)

You're smiling, positively glowing with happiness.

You're Laughing...like seriously Laughing!

You're Holding Head Up Better than Ever!

But, you're not all grown up yet. You still have time to cuddle and curl up on your Mom and Me for a good long nap. Face-in...

Or Face-out: 

Or on-ward...

You're a beautiful dreamer, that's for sure. You're also a strong gripper. You're grasping things so well now, including my hand!

So, you're really getting a hold on us, and you're really getting a handle on big girl activities. For instance, you napped and spent the night in your big-girl crib for the first time!

And, you've started taking your baths with some company!

This next one isn't so awesome, but it was a first: you got sick for the first time. We went to the doctor and found out that you- at week 15- almost way 14 pounds ! (13 lbs, 15 ounces).

We also found out that you were fooling all of us- you weren't sick at all! Maybe you just weren't feeling good. But, no medicines, no ear infection, no nothing. So, by that point you were all smiles again, and back to your regular 15-week routine of smiling, eating, playing and sleeping.

Life's good when you're a gorgeous 15 week old princess.

And we're so proud of you and in love with you...even if we can't totally remember how many weeks old you are!