Aidric's Jealous Streak

Wow, Aidric is a jealous little monkey! If anyone other than him tries to crawl up in my lap and snuggle with me, he gets very upset. For example, the other day Aidric was very involved playing across the room and Casden crawled into my lap. He was there for a full minute or two until Aidric noticed. Aidric dropped what he was playing with, threw himself to the ground, and started wailing. He then crawled over to me, still wailing, and proceeded to try with all his might to pull Casden off of me. He pushed at him, pulled at him, pulled some hair, and finally Casden had had enough. He got off. Aidric planted himself on my lap, in triumph, and was quiet as could be. The drama from Padget is not exempt in this one either. As I said, it doesn't have to be Padget or Casden in my lap. Any other child will cause him to throw a fit. I held my new baby niece, Breana, over the weekend, and you would have thought I cut off his arm, the way he carried on. My sister-in-law picked him up and carried him out of the room so maybe he would settle down. Tim took him from her and continued to carry on. He carried on until I gave Breana to someone else and picked him. And then, of course, he was perfectly fine. He is definitely mama's boy!

Padget explaining our wedding anniversary

So, today is our 9th wedding anniversary. Seems surreal to me that 9 years have gone by. As my friend Amy said, a few moves, a few jobs, and a few kiddos later! Anyway, I digress...

I set to work this morning making chocolate chip cookies for Tim. They are his favorite afterall, and we really aren't doing anything else to celebrate our anniversary (maybe dinner out this weekend). As I'm elbow deep in cookie prep, the doorbell rings, and a lady delivers a beautiful bouquet of fall flowers from Tim. Padget gets all excited as she didn't realize that today was our anniversary. I told her, yep, it's our 9 year anniversary. Casden didn't really understand that so I was telling him that 9 years ago today, his daddy and I got married. Padget pipes in, "Ya, it's been 9 years. If she was young, it would only be her first anniversary. But she's not, so it's her 9 year anniversary." Um, thanks?

Casden's new word

The kids love to use hand santizer in lieu of washing their hands. I don't usually let them do this, but let them use it in between washings, especially if one of them is sick. So Casden has been fighting a cold and has been using the sanitizer. In asking for it, he has managed to combine the words and now calls it "handitizer". Very creative, I think!

Casden's musings...

Grams came over today to pick up the invitations I made for Grandma and Grandpap's
65th wedding anniversary. Casden had been upstairs trying to go for a nap, but decided he wasn't tired and was milling around at the top of the stairs. I whispered upstairs that he could come down and say hi to Grams. He jumps up and down, does a Casden happy dance, and whispered, "Grams is here! Grams is here!" He slides on his belly all the way down the stairs, runs to Grams, gives her a great big hug, and declares, "Grams, you smell like toys!" huh? She was in a sort of raincoat so maybe it smelled a little like vinyl/plastic and thus, to him, toys!

Casden tends to spill his milk more often than we'd like him to. When he does it, we always ask him if he was goofin'. Today, he spilled an entire glass of milk so badly that it appeared to have exploded. I'm guessing he was swinging his arms and knocked into it. As soon as he realized what he had done and before I could say anything, he looks at me and says, "Sorry, mama. I was goofin'." It's hard to be mad at that. However, I did just stand there and stare at the mess because I didn't have any idea how to tackle it!

Casden's newest big word is "mysterious". He must have gotten it off of one of the shows he watches. But he still can't say "s" in combination with other letters so he says that things are "mit-teerious". He's taking swim lessons and the instructor has him lay on his back with his arms and legs spread out, which is of course a "tar-fish!"

Invisible Fence and other Padget musings...

Padget was sitting here, pretending to be a rock star while playing the Wii guitar. Aidric kept getting into her space. She declares "I wish there was an Invisible Fence for Aidric!" Oh my!


Padget came home from school yesterday and here is our conversation...

P: "Where's Casden?"
Me: "He's napping."
P: "But I need my Casden hug!"

Awe, how sweet is that?! She does give him a great big hug after school everyday. It's nice that they miss each other. Too bad I know that it's not going to last through the years!


Padget's Aunt Jenny is a 6th grade teacher at her elementary school. Aunt Jenny has talked to her about how, when Padget sees her at school, she has to call her Miss Mowry like all the other kids. So, Jenny sneaks down a week or so after school started to surprise Padget and say hi. Padget gives her a great big hug as she exclaims "Aunt Jenny! Miss Mowry!" I'm sure by the time she's in 6th grade, she'll get the hang of it! And of course, by then, it will not be so cool to have Aunt Jenny in school with her. She'll be anxious for Junior High where "Miss Mowry" can't spy on her anymore :-)

The baby!

So, Aidric is nearing 14 months. He still isn't doing much, but that doesn't make him any less amusing. Some of his quirks are:

1. He can do the sign for "all done"...however, he also uses the same sign for "more" (um, pretty much the opposite of all done!), "help", and "milk". Sign language is supposed to help with the language process, but right now we are just all sorts of confused!

2. Aidric is learning how to walk. He can take a few steps, but it's hysterical--you stand him up and try to get him to get his balance and his feet are just stepping up and down, up and down, non-stop--and then you let him go and he takes off, for 2 steps and falls forward. He's like one of those wind-up toys!

3. Aidric has an obsession with baby dolls. Anytime he sees one that is not being tended to, he freaks out, verbally complaining, picks it up, and brings it to the nearest adult. Then you have to pick up the baby, rock it, pretend to feed or something, until he is satisfied that the baby is in good hands. As soon as you put the baby down, the process starts all over again. He just can't take it, that there is a baby who is not being taken care of! I guess maybe he will has a good nurturing instinct??!

4. Aidric crawls with a "peg leg". He drags his right leg behind him when he crawls. Not all the time, but a lot of the time!

5. Aidric is a ninja. Even when he was a baby. When he was learning to do something, he would always do it when you weren't watching. He was on his belly, you turn for a second, turn back to him, and he'd be on his back. Now, you're playing with him in the family room, you turn your attention to something else for a second, and all the sudden you are wondering who's playing in the dog water in the kitchen. Yep, Ninja Aidric. He's fast and stealth-like!

6. When Aidric points at something, he uses his whole hand. And usually he only points up so he looks like he is continuously praising the heavens. Not a bad thing, I guess!

7. Also, when Aidric waves (which is rare), he just puts his hand up. There's no waving motion, just one hand up, like he's saying "hey". He doesn't want you to think he's too excited to see you.

Padget!

Padget started kindergarten yesterday. She was SO excited! She is in the PM class so Tim was able to take a half-day so that he could see her get on the bus. Today is the second day of school. Tim called to check in and Padget wanted to talk to him. Their conversation went as follows:

Padget: Are you going to come home to watch me get on the bus today?
Tim/Daddy: No, honey.
Padget: That's okay, Daddy. I'll remember you anyway.
Tim/Daddy: ?!!

She's such a hoot!

Fashionistas...

Apparently, my clothing this past week has somewhat amazed and/or confused my big kids.

I put on a new black and white striped layered-look polo shirt and a pair of jean shorts the other day. Casden came downstairs, and I gave him a big good morning hug. He backs away from me, cocks his head, and looks at me quizzically. He finally asks me, "Mommy, why are you wearing a daddy shirt??" I guess Tim does wear a lot of polo shirts--pretty much one everyday!

Yesterday, there was a neighborhood ice cream social in the evening. I had to work afterwards so I took that all into consideration when I got dressed for the day and threw on a black knit skort and a printed top which was acceptable for both activities. Padget sees me and says, "Oh, I didn't know mommies wear skirts." It's funny because I've worn skirts for work, but I usually throw those on right before I head out the door so she has associated that with work-attire, not my "mommy-attire"!

It's amazing how quietly observant kids are, isn't it? You just have no idea what they are noticing until they come out with some random comments!

EWWWW!

Aidric is still big time spitting up. He's nearly 11 months old, eating "people" food, and spits up more now than he ever did. Thank goodness for our spit up colored carpet!

Anyway, he has a new trick. He spits up and holds it in mouth and gargles with it. He sounds like Chewbacca from Star Wars. It is beyond gross. Here's to hoping he outgrows this soon!!

Tim, the Peacock

While on vacation, Tim bought Padget a beautiful pettiskirt. He knew that she would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Twirling around, being the center of attention, that IS Padget. The day after he bought it, we all went to South Beach to eat outside, listen to the music, etc. Padget wore her new skirt. Tim pranced around like a peacock. He was such a proud papa as Padget was the center of attention, dancing front and center. Every compliment she got, he puffed his chest out more and more. People stopped to take pictures of her, an entire table of women got up to twirl her around. Tim was positively beaming! She is definitely his little princess.

Casden vs. the Ocean

We just returned from a week on Hilton Head Island. Casden is really not too much of a water bug. He's not big on pools and certainly does NOT like the ocean. However, by the middle of the week, I was able to hold his hand and walk through the water as it washed up on the shore. Caz and I had been walking for about 5 minutes when he started repeating the same phrase over and over again. "I know I'm not afraid. I know I'm not afraid. I know I'm not afraid." It was so cute and sad and sweet all in one!

It's been SO long!

I can't believe it's been since the end of March since I last posted. It's certainly not because my kids haven't done anything amusing. I guess things have just been really busy! I'll have to get caught up.

Target Practice

So, we've been on the potty training adventure with Casden. He's as hard-headed as they come, and he has really been digging his heels in about being anti-potty. Well, just in the last week or so, we've finally turned a corner on this adventure. He's getting it, he's interested. I haven't changed a poopy Casden pull-up/diaper in over a week. He hasn't had very many pee accidents either.

Up until this point, Casden pees sitting down on the potty seat. Tim has shown him a couple times how to pee standing up and has even thrown Cheerios in the potty to shoot at with his pee to entice Caz into some target practice. Casden was not interested.

I was home with the kids the other evening by myself (Tim had run out to Home Depot). Casden was yelling for me, so I came to see what he needed. He needed to go potty. Woo-hoo, because he told me--big step in and of itself as he doesn't usually do this, we usually just have to keep asking and reminding him. I get him into the bathroom and start getting the potty seat on, and he says, "No, mommy, I want to shoot Cheerios." So, I jump up and run for the Cheerios, toss a handful in the toilet, and do my best to assist him in his first stand-up pee. He finishes up and Padget meanders into the bathroom. "Why are there Cheerios in the potty?" she asks. "Casden peed standing up so he was shooting at them with his pee." She stands there for a minute, looking perplexed, and finally asks, "How did he make those come out?" (my laughter) "No, no, honey, they didn't come out of Casden, I threw them in the toilet!" "Oh, okay!" she says.

Aidric, the dog?

Aidric is now 8 months old. He doesn't have a lot of verbal activity unless you count the conversations that pretty much go like this:

Aidric: "Ah"
Mommy: "Ah"

Aidric: "Ahhahhh"
Mommy: "Ahhahhh"

Aidric: "Eh"
Mommy: "Eh"

(Repeat for minutes at a time!)

He also clicks (like Casden did at this age, too) and blows lots and lots of raspberries. However, Aidric does have a new laugh. He pretty much pants like a dog. I guess he spends too much time with Persy!

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Padget spent the afternoon at a friend's house, which happens to be in walking distance from our house. There is one busy stretch of road, but the rest is in neighborhoods. It was a beautiful day so I decided to take the boys for a stroll. I told Casden that I was taking the double-stroller and that he could walk until we hit the busy road and then he needed to jump on and ride. He asked, "Why mommy?" I said, "Because it's a busy road and I don't want you to get hit by a car." He looks at me and deadpans, "Thanks, mommy! I knew you liked me." Too funny--I couldn't make this stuff up!

Why can't you sleep, Casden?

As I've noted in previous posts, Casden has taken to getting out of his bed in the time after his bedtime, but before our bedtime. He goes to our bed, snuggles up under the covers, and goes to sleep. Well, Tim was getting sick of this so he instituted drastic measures--he started locking our bedroom door after we put Casden to bed.

Last night, Tim was downstairs in the basement on the treadmill, and I was camped out on the couch in the family room, surfing the web. BOTH Padget and Casden peek around the corner at me. I get up off the couch, Padget takes off for her bedroom, and Casden waits for me to walk with him up the stairs. We get to the top of the stairs, and I ask Casden, "Why are you awake?" Caz says, "Because I can't sleep." I ask him, "Why can't you sleep, Casden?" And he replies, "Because your door is locked." LOL! And you know it's the truth--he probably snuggles up in our bed and is out like a light. But not last night, he was thwarted. That's Casden for ya!

Baby Belly Laughs

Padget has a real knack for making Aidric laugh. I finally got him on video. Sorry for the poor quality--on the little digital camera--and it's not easy to hold Aidric one-armed and film with the other!

Padget was dressed in her hat and scarf (actually MY hat and scarf) as she was pretending to be scaling Mt. Everest. Of course!

The baby!

Aidric is currently under-represented in my blog, as he is only 6 months old and non-verbal! However, he did do something funny at his 6 month check-up. We walked into the doctor's office and the receptionist slid open the window for us to check in. As soon as he slid open the window, Aidric took one look at him, burped and then proceeded to blow raspberries. The receptionist laughed and said, "Yep, buddy, I know how you feel!" It was funny.

Aidric has learned to use rolling as a means of getting around...kindof. He can only roll left. So, he rolls left over and over and over until he gets stuck on something, screams until you move him back...and then he rolls left over and over and over until he gets stuck on something...etc., etc.!

One more thing that Aidric does that makes me laugh...he manages to blow raspberries into his bottles so he is actually blowing bubbles. He loves to do it. Neither Padget nor Casden did this--of course, they do it now in their cups with straws. So, this is new to me. But he ends up re-inflating the Playtex drop-in with all the air he's blowing into it. Kindof defeating the point of the drop-in, but oh well, he enjoys it!

Casden's Newest Funny Words

Padget got the game Uno Moo for Christmas. It's a cute version of Uno that comes with a barn and, instead of cards, it has little animals in different colors. The wild card is a farmer and the draw two card is a skunk. Well, Casden, with his inability to say the "s" for the start of words has a tough time with "skunk". He calls it a "kunk"...and it's even funnier when he calls it a "tinky kunk". (stinky skunk). However, the first time I heard him say it, I was appalled, thinking he had said something terribly vulgar (the dreaded "c" word--and if you don't know what that is, I'm not going to tell you!). I was very relieved when I figured out what he was really saying!

Oh that Padget!

We were downstairs in the basement exercising last night--me, Tim, Padget, and Casden. The hockey game was on the T.V. Padget was watching it and asks, "Why are they hugging?" The players were having a huge typical hockey brawl--all out fight. Padget innocently thought they were hugging! Too cute!

I cooked Spaghetti Pie for dinner tonight. I'm trying very hard to have the kids eat what is cooked, instead of short ordering cooking for them. Anyway, Padget is pushing it around the plate, taking a bite here and there, complaining that she doesn't like it. She says to me, "Mommy, it's just so...so...bland." Thanks. How does she even know what bland means?!

American Idol

The kids were up later than usual last night. Apparently, they are growing and ravenous as they were having a snack of apples, dry cereal, and cheesesticks. Anyway, Tim had American Idol on the TV. Padget has seen parts of it in passing before, as I will occassionally have it on in the morning, if I had DVR'd it. She was watching intently as this one girl started singing. Padget listens, looks at us, and declares very seriously, "She's NOT going to Hollywood!" She was right!

Grandma's Wisdom

Tim and I were lucky enough to take a trip to Disney last weekend (without the kiddos) so that he could run his first marathon. It was our first trip there, and we did not have a lot of time. We spend Friday afternoon into the night at Epcot, got back to our hotel around midnight, got up at 6:00 a.m. Saturday, spend the day at Magic Kingdom, the evening at Epcot, got up at 3:00 a.m. Sunday for Tim's race, then spent the afternoon between Disney Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, with a late dinner in Downtown Disney. We got back, utterly exhausted, crashed, and had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to pack up and catch our bus to the airport at 5:00 a.m. It was a whirlwind exhausting weekend, with lots of new experiences. Upon our return, I was talking to my mother who informed me that my grandmother's comment on everything we had done, seen, Tim's first marathon, etc., was "Well, thank goodness Tim is fixed so that she didn't have to worry about coming home pregnant!" Apparently, the only time married couples manage to have sex is when they are away trying to cram everything they possibly can into the short amount of time they are away from the kids. Ha ha! Gotta love my grandma's point-of-view!

Poor snowman!

We had a great snowstorm come through the other day. It brought with it the really great sticky packing snow. The kids were so excited to build their first snowmen of the year. We headed out and proceeded to roll the balls and build the snowman. I sent the kids out back to get some sticks for the arms while I ran inside to get the carrot for the nose and something for the eyes. I couldn't find any big dark buttons or any dark rocks or anything. Suddenly, I remembered that I had the mini peppermint patties in the freezer. "Those would be the perfect size!" I thought. So, we put all the accoutrements on the snowman, packed in nice and tight so they weren't going to fall out or anything. Then we all headed back inside.

Later on in the day, Tim came home and Padget wanted to build "the biggest snowman ever" so they embarked together on that mission. In the meantime, Persy is outside playing in the snow, too. Out of the corner of his eye, Tim sees Persy walking on his hind legs and he's wondering what on earth the dog is doing. Persy is standing next to the snowman, eating it's eyes out. Yep, he sniffed out those peppermint patties and managed to bite them out of the snowman, while balancing on his hindlegs, because had he leaned on the snowman, he would have knocked it down. For anyone who knows Persy, this is not at all surprising!

Wine please!

My mom invited us over for New Year's dinner. Pork and sauerkraut, of course, for the German good luck tradition. We were all sitting at dinner, the adults drinking wine and the kids drinking milk.

Tim jokingly offered Casden a sip of his red wine, and Casden looked at him levelly and said, "No, Daddy, I want my own glass." The whole table lost it. He is one funny boy.