15 months!

Oh 15 months - what a fun age!  But it's challenging too.  Aaden is learning so much right now - and along with that he's testing the waters quite a bit.  So far he seems to be a pretty good listener but he is starting to throw minor tantrums - he gets upset when we pull him away from something.  We're trying to figure out our best discipline strategies and that's definitely hard.  I don't want my child to be a brat but I don't want to be overly strict either - finding the balance is tough and letting him be a kid is really important to me.

Here are some things that are going on with our little boy ~

He eats just about anything under the sun - but we avoid things that are choking hazards such as peanuts and now we are avoiding mango because it gives him a rash on his face.  He goes through phases where he doesn't like a certain vegetable or meat but if we try it again at another time, he likes it.  He seems to like a lot of the same things I like, pastas and casserole dishes (you know, the good fattening stuff) and he dances in his seat or happily kicks his feet or hums/sings when he is eating something good - just like Mommy.  As snacks, he loves grapes, blueberries, pears, goldfish, cheerios, graham crackers and especially cheese sticks.

He has 4 teeth on top, 3 on the bottom, his 4th on the bottom is finally coming in and he has 3 molars coming in and possibly one of his eye teeth.  I can't tell for sure because he won't let me look in his mouth for very long.  But these teeth are giving us some trouble - he's been whiny, tired, clingy, his sleep is all out of whack and they are causing some pickiness when it comes to food..  Plus they are causing him to be majorly attached to the pacifier!  I'm dreading taking it away but I know it needs to be done sooner rather than later!

Knows where his tongue, belly, hair, eyes, nose and ears are - but rarely will he point to his nose or ears.  He likes pointing out his tongue and hair the most.  He knows how to show us "gentle" by rubbing our faces softly with his hand - something he was taught after trying to hit Mommy in the face :-/

He now runs and it's just about the cutest thing ever - seriously, this is probably my favorite thing to watch!  He hops when he's naked just out of the bath because he's a goofball like that.

His vocabulary consists of hi (that sounds like "aye"), mama, dadda, bah (for ball), nana (for food or pacifier), app (for apple), up, OoooOOhh when he sees something that he likes or is pretty, and also says "moo" when we ask what a cow says.  Well, actually it's more like "booooo" but he's getting it.  And I know he understands a lot more than he can say.  He will pick things up if asked and throw things away - he threw his diaper away in his diaper genie (on his own without prompting and without us even teaching him)!  And he will run to the bathroom when we say it's time for a bath or run to his room when we say it's time to put pajama's on.  I never know what he pays attention to or picks up on until he does things like this out of no where.

His favorite book is Moo by Matthew Van Fleet.  He has torn the book apart!  We may need to get some similar ones for Christmas.  He loves the dish washer and will come running when he hears it open.  He loves dancing and going outside.  He has fun throwing things up in the air - usually it's his Lovie that he throws up and backwards, especially when he's showing off.  And of course he loves playing peek-a-boo with his Lovie, especially with Pappy.  He likes riding on his little sit and go cars.  And climbing - oh the climbing.  I honestly see a trip to the ER in our future :-/

He is obsessed with my keys.  We have to hide the keys now because he'll cry and whine until we hand them to him - and now he knows that if he pushes the top button on the Pilot key that it will honk in the driveway.  I'm sure the neighbors love us.

At his 15 month appointment he was 26.5 lbs (75th %) and 31.5" (30th%).  And it seems he's on track with everything!

This ottoman is behind the couch and he knows how to climb up on it now. 

He likes to pop his head up over the couch and surprise us.

Lights On Parade!

Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Hollister Downtown Association holds the Annual Lights On Parade.  It's a fun tradition and we were excited to take Aaden this year.  We didn't go last year because he was only 3 months old and it was really cold and it was my 10 year high school reunion that night anyway so we skipped it.

Aaden was such a good boy!  He sat on my lap or my mom's lap the entire time watching the floats go by and hardly making a peep.  The parade was a good hour long and it was great.  Very entertaining, in my opinion.  I thought Aaden would be excited about the lights and the music on the floats but nope, the only thing he was excited about was the horses!

Sitting with Mommy watching the parade
 
 

  
 A family shot - Aaden still watching the parade go by

Still watching the tail end of the parade

Hangin' out in the middle of Main St after the parade!

 

Thanksgiving 2011

We spent Thanksgiving at Mom and Kenny's this year.  Aaden got to sit at the table like a big boy (in a booster seat). He was so excited and proud of himself! 

Emmy, Me and Aaden



He was obsessed with my mom's fruit bowl that was on the coffee table

(aka within reach) for the day. 

 He pulled out a few pears and apples and took some bites out of them. 

 He was nice enough to put them back in the bowl after he was finished with them ;) 

(I'm sure my parents found partially eaten fruit in there for a week afterwards!)

This is his new favorite thing to do at Emmy and Papa's -

pull up on this bar and also crawl under and sit in the little space. 

You can see the front of his shirt is soaked with pear and slobber. 

Complete with chunks of pear from his fruit stealing excursion

Eating Thanksgiving Dinner

Sweet Boy...at Aunt Krissie and Uncle Danny's later.

More eating...

Still hungry?  Going after gourds the next morning...

Oh and the turkey hat he made at daycare!

(I about died at how cute he was with this on!)

Bear - The Protector

Who knew when we got this little ball of fur that he would become our protector?  Here we always thought Kona was the above average one and Bear was just the big, clumsy brother.  Poor guy, we didn't give him enough credit.

We quickly learned that Bear is quite extraordinary.  Bear was the one that would follow me around while I was pregnant and just stand by me and stare.  He knew there was another life growing inside of me and that I should be protected.  He also started sleeping by the front door when I was pregnant, I suppose to ward off any intruders that might hurt his master(ette) and the new little life that was about to be.

The other day, Aaron's Dad came by to introduce his new dog, Mattie, to our dogs.  They were very friendly and playful, as they are with any other dog.  I was holding Aaden and Mattie was interested in seeing him, so she stood up with her front legs on me to sniff him out.  As soon as Bear saw this, he came over and growled at Mattie and jumped in between her and I and pinned her to the ground.  He was worried about Aaden and did not like what he was seeing (even though Mattie was not posing any threat).  Aaron and I both looked at each other amazed.  We knew he was protective we just hadn't seen it in action.  Good dog.

Buds

Storytime at Emmy's...

Daddy's Birthday!

Aaron wanted to go to sushi for his birthday - so a few family and friends joined us at Miyako's to celebrate his 31st.

Aaden, of course, was the center of attention rather than the birthday boy - but we're used to that now :)

Aaden & Eddie

 Aaden and Emmy

(I love this picture!)

 Aaden and Grandma

 Eddie singing "I love you, you love me" to Aaden

(yes, the Barney theme song! Haha!)

 
 Aaden & David - one of the sushi chefs

 
 I think he's practicing to become the next host

 "Hello, Miyako Japanese - may I help you?"

 


First Haircut!!

I've been putting this off.  I was worried about what he would look like after he got his haircut, plus I was a little worried his ear might accidentally get snipped off.  My worries were put to rest after all was said and done.  Aaden did ok during the haircut although he didn't hold as still as we would have liked - but no injuries or crazy snippets of hair missing, so all in all, good.  And he looks as cute as ever with his new 'do - such a little boy now, not so much baby.

Getting ready...

Does NOT like the water spraying on his neck

 Grandpa helping to hold Aaden still

 The finished product

 Thanks, Grandma, for my first haircut!

Jeopardy?

Yep. Jeopardy. Aaden won't watch tv but he was glued to it when we were watching Jeopardy. He would even clap when the audience would clap. Silly boy!

Copy Cat

I love how Aaden is starting to copy every.single.thing we do. 

He sees me turn the lotion bottle upside down to squirt some lotion out to put on him and then he turns the bottle upside down and starts shaking it.

He pretends to put chapstick on and use the make-up brush just like Mommy.

He pretends to talk on the phone and says "hi".  If something resembles a phone, he'll put it up to his ear - usually it's the remote.

He does a fake laugh if he hears us laughing while watching tv.

There really is truth to the saying, "Monkey See, Monkey Do"  But I need to be careful about what this little booger sees.  Earlier tonight he pushed a kitchen chair against the cabinets today and was going to try to climb on it.  He sees me do that to reach stuff on the top shelves.  Yikes!

Blurry but here he is pretending to talk on the "phone"