Getting back to normal

Things finally started to settle down this week after a lot of crazyness. Daddy got home from his 2-week Bangladesh/India trip on Tuesday night, and it was wonderful for Mommy to see how thrilled Daddy and Aidan were to see each other on Wednesday morning! We all spent a couple of days transitioning into normal life again (Daddy had to get over a 10 hour time change!), and we all loved being together again.

On Sunday, we co-hosted a "first birthday party" for Aidan and his friend Jake for all of our neighborhood friends, and Aidan chowed down on multiple slices of fresh juicy watermellon, - yum! - he liked them even better than birthday cupcakes! It is amazing to see the babies crawling and toddling all over the place - they are so much bigger and more developed than they were when our "new mom's group" first met last September!

Mommy's favorite thing that Aidan is doing this week is that he is starting to "babble" in sign language! He goes through rounds of evolving signs, like "hi- all done - more - hi" - he definitely understands that we understand signs (or some of them!) and is excited about using signs to communicate. Mommy is determined to learn more so that she can teach Aidan and we can have more developed conversations! This week, she's mastered "bus" and "truck" (thanks to Grandma Ross's tutelage last week!), and she wants to learn "window" and "light" next (Aidan points them out every single morning).

Random note: Mommy thinks it is absolutely adorable the way Aidan sleeps. He passes out and then turns on his side and puts his arms and feet up on whatever he can - pillows, blankets, Mommy or Daddy - and if he doesn't find something to put his arms and legs up on, he will creep or crawl in his sleep across the bed until he finds something that he can put his arms and legs up against! So precious!

Catskills to Canada & Dhaka to Delhi

This week ended much differently than it began. We started in the Catskills with Grandma Ruane, who was taking vacation time so she could hang out with us. Aidan continued to have fun being a "country bumpkin" (as his Daddy described), and Mommy was thrilled to have Grandma's help. She helped Mommy survive an all-night sleep strike on Tuesday (it turned out that Aidan was cutting his eighth tooth - a left molar!!!), and make a frame of Aidan's hand and footprints in clay. The weather was beautiful, the lilies and streams remained wonderful, and once Aidan started getting enough medicine to help his teething, our stay was rather idyllic. Mommy even had a massage on Wednesday!

Part way into the week, we revised our plans so that we could fly to Canada to be with Mommy's family, because her grandmother (Aidan's great-grandmother) Hazel Carlson ("Bestamor") was dying. Aidan's expedited passport arrived in time and we made it to Chilliwack B.C. in time to say goodbye before she passed away on Thursday, and then attend her funeral on Saturday. Mommy is really glad that we were able to be there with the rest of the (Carlson / Ross / Crawford / White) family.

We made it safe and sound back to NYC late Sunday night. Daddy will get back into NYC tonight (Tuesday) as well, after a stop through Delhi India and a visit to the Taj Mahal. We are all happy that we are going to be together again soon! This pictures is one of Daddy's photos from Dhaka, Bangladesh. More picts next time.

Catskills & Bangladesh

Our family is on opposite sides of the world this week. On Tuesday, Daddy flew off to Bangladesh to work on a World Bank climate change project, while Mommy and Aidan stayed in the Catskills. Grandma and Grandpa Ruane stayed in the Catskills till early Wednesday morning, drove back to Massachusetts to work Wednesday through Friday, and were back in time to hang out with us at Skylar's birthday party (Aidan's second cousin, Mommy thinks). Grandma and Grandpa were both here for the weekend, and Grandma is taking vacation from work this week to hang out with us!

At the beginning of the week, Aidan would run up and bite Mommy on the leg if she forgot to give him Infant Motrin or Tylonal, so his teeth must have really been bothering him! His top left one (next to the middle two) is taking *forever* to come through - it is gleaming white through the skin but still hasn't cut; and it is driving Mommy and Aidan crazy! Fortunately, medicine helps, so we have been using that. Aidan has been up at all hours of the night, even with medicine, and Mommy thinks that teething isn't helping their either. Maybe it will finally happen tonight!!!

Mommy took Wednesday through Friday "off" and she and Aidan had a wonderful time. We took long naps (2-3 hours!) each day in our king-sized bed, which gave Mommy a chance to both sleep and to read for fun (she finished Taking on the Big Boys: Why Feminism Is Good for Families, Business, and the Nation - two thumbs up! everyone should read this). We also ran through the sprinklers, played in the baby pool, threw rocks and sand into the stream, walked up to visit Marguerite & Nadir's chickens and dogs, and barely had to cook at all because of the delicious birthday leftovers from Aidan's birthday! It was wonderful.

On Friday, Aidan was a trooper and partied at Skylar's 4th birthday cook-out celebration until 9PM, when we finally came home and let him pass out. It was one giant "jail break" for him, and he loved it! He was friendly with all of the hollow-folk, fascinated with the dogs, and determined to toddle and slide down the grassy tufted lawn wherever Mommy or Grandpa or Grandma would follow him.

This weekend we switched gears, and Mommy started getting back into work mode for the first time in a long time. Aidan has been totally happy with Grandpa and Grandma (yeah for the end of separation anxiety and stranger anxiety!), so Mommy passed him off to them and locked herself in a room to read and take notes on how women's rights have evolved in history. Aidan got a sweet deal! Grandma and Grandpa took him outside whenever he wanted to, visited chickens and dogs, played in the stream, and even took him to pick fresh raspberries! By the end of the weekend, Aidan would clap when he saw Grandpa in anticipation of sillyness, and regulalry leap into Grandma's arms knowing adventures would be sure to follow! He liked the raspberries so much that Grandma and Grandpa could only save two for Mommy to try; but they were delicious!

Aidan's big developmental things this week are waving and patience. He has waved for a while, but he is now doing it regularly, always abouta minute after you would expect. Mommy says to "say hi" or "say bye-bye", and waves, and Aidan thinks about it, and just when you think he has moved onto the next thing, he waves! It's a big, circular wave - not a finger-grasping or miss-America or side-to-side one - totally his own reinterpretation, and very cute! On Saturday and Sunday, he also started showing some first signs of patience: unlike ever before, he was willing to hang out in his high chair while the grown-ups ate lunch and dinner, even after he was doen eating! Aidan usually is adamant about leaving his high chair the minute he is done eating himself, which makes it difficult for Mommy to eat her own food. So, she is thrilled that meal-times might become more relaxing! One last thing: Aidan now knows exactly what he wants, and has reverted to a primarily one-word vocabulary: he goes everywhere with a pointed index finger in the air, demanding "da! da! da!". This usually means that he wants "that" or is asking what "that" is, and is absolutely and completely focused on it! Mommy is looking forward to a re-expansion of his vocabulary!

Daddy made it safely to Dhaka, Bangladesh, started to turn his clock around, and has started working 12+ hour days. He will be back in New York on late on the July 22nd. We miss him, but we are happy that we can hang out with Grandma and Grandpa.

Happy First Birthday, Aidan!!!

Aidan turned one year old today! Mommy and Daddy cannot believe it. It has been an amazing year! Our lives have forever changed, in sometimes cataclysmic ways. But we have also been enriched beyond what we could ever have understood by loving and being loved by our beautiful baby boy. We are such proud parents!!!
This past week was another crazy one. Aidan came down with a moderate fever on Tuesday night, and fluctuated between 101 and 102 on Wednesday and Thursday. He alternated between being cool and happy, then hot and lethargic and miserable. On Thursday night, we all drove up to the Catskills to celebrate the 4th of July and Aidan's birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Ruane. Fortunately, by Friday, Aidan's fever went down, and Saturday he was well on the way to recovery.

On Saturday we had Aidan's first birthday party! Grandma Ruane organized an amazing birthday feast (two kinds of grilled chicken, potato salad, green salad with nasturtiums, sausage bread, fruit soup, feta with cayenne pitas, goat cheese with endive and thyme, and more) and over 20 friends and family drove up for the celebration. Aidan had fun playing with Sebastian (Brooke & Gerald's son), Shane and Skylar (Nadir's grandchildren), and John (his friend from next door in Manhattan). The kids helped Aidan open his presents and play with them, and enjoyed playing in the baby pool and eating lots of vanilla cake from Bread Alone. Aidan had two gigantic (over 2 hour) naps, and we actually had to wake him up to have birthday cake! He was a little groggy and was not thrilled about being woken up, but he was a good sport and ate some cake anyway. :)

Sunday was a day to relax and recuperate after the busy day before. Daddy slept in, Mommy finished reading her book (The Other Boleyn Girl), and Aidan had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa and exploring.

Monday was Aidan's real birthday, and it was wonderful. Aidan ate blueberry pancakes and cantaloupe for breakfast, and went on a walk with Grandma and Grandpa to visit Marguerite and Nadir's chickens and dogs. Then he took a nice long nap, and afterwards, Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy all drove to Pine Hill lake and played at Belleayre Mountain Beach. It rained a couple of times briefly, but Aidan still enjoyed digging with a shovel in the gravelly white imported sand, getting dipped by Daddy in the lake, stealing Grandpa's hat, and playing on the playground next to the beach. Aidan skipped his afternoon nap but ate lots of Grandma's curried couscous and applesauce for dinner, and, of course, more birthday cake! Tomorrow he will celebrate the first of many unbirthdays, but today was a wonderful first birthday.