Milestones

Aidan is developing in leaps and bounds! This week he had fun exploring Grandma and Grandpa Ruane's house with Mommy while Daddy was at a conference in Vienna. Aidan has gotten so good at "cruising" (walking while assisted) that he has started dragging Mommy around the house by her fingers! His favorite place this week was to race around and around the island in Grandma and Grandpa Ruane's kitchen; he liked to pause for a couple of seconds as he rounds the last corner to grin at Grandma, and then lean full-tilt into racing around again!

He is also learning how to manipulate various things in the house. On Monday he figured out how to open and close the kitchen cabinet doors while standing next to them (he can do this either using the handle or the side of the cabinet door). This was exciting, because the cabinet he picked led to Grandma's pots and pans, which were an exciting (if sometimes loud and scary) set of new toys! On Thursday, he learned how to turn on and off a light switch: he stood on the changing table and pushed down with his thumb to turn the switch off; that was easier than pulling up with the side of his pointer finger to turn the light on, but he got that eventually too.

Aidan has also continued to be thrilled about buses. Because of this excitement, he has started to consistently clap with both hands open (before he would usually have one hand closed, and wouldn't clap as frequently - now both hands are open and he claps for joy all the time!). He also definitely understands the word "bus": he no longers says "hoo! hoo!" when he sees buses; instead he says "buh! buh!". The other morning when Mommy told Aidan he could go see buses with Grandma after breakfast, he immediately did the "all done" sign and insisted on not eating any more till he returned from visiting the buses! When he returned, he was still hungry and wanted more breakfast - so Mommy thinks that he stopped eating before he was done, just so he could see the buses! "Bus" (or "buh") seems like a good candidate for Aidan's first word! Grandma was able to distract Aidan for half an hour the last few mornings of the week so Mommy could get a shower, just because of this interest. Yeah for buses!

On Saturday Aidan attended his first one-year birthday party for his friend Dakota. He had fun cruising around Dakota's apartment with his friends and dancing with Mommy. We can't believe that his cohort is already into the first birthday parties!

Daddy came home Sunday evening, and Aidan gave him a full-body jig of excitement. Life is so wonderful when Daddy is home!