Sweet boy

Aidan is being incredibly sweet this week. He is walking around the house saying "Tay-goo, Mama!" (Thank you, Mama!), or "Tay-goo, Dada!" (Thank you, Dada!") and generally being incredibly polite. He says thank you when we read books that he likes, fix his train set, or give him juice. It is so cute!

On Thursday night, Mama was cuddling with Aidan while we were reading books before bedtime, and he gave me a complement (for the first time)! We were both lying on a pillow, and he was petting my hair gently. Then he looked over, with glowing eyes and a gentle smile, and said: "Petty, dat air, Mama" [Pretty, that hair, Mama]. It was so sweet! I asked him if he had just said that my hair was pretty, and he grinned, looked sheepish, and said "yeah". Aidan loves my hair, like it were his security blanket, so it makes sense that it would get his first complement. But it was SO cute! I loved it.


This week, Aidan went to daycare ("work") on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Mama and Daddy worked hard to get through upcoming deadlines. In the evenings, we eat dinner, and afterward, when he is ready to wipe off his hands and face, he tells us that he is a mess by identifying himself, for example, as a "wice monder" [rice monster] or "pada monster" [pasta monster] (sometimes he get's the "st" and sometimes he doesn't). That's because Mama always asks him, "are you a [fill in the messy food item] monster?" after dinner. Now that Aidan participates in the ritual, it makes us laugh!


This weekend, we had one busy day, and one relaxed day. First, on Friday night, Aidan happily stayed with our babysitter Laurie, while Mama and Daddy had a date to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Aidan went to bed almost 2 hours earlier than he has been for us (he's been trying to switch to California time), and Mama and Daddy enjoyed drinks, sushi / glazed beef, and chocolate and apricot gelato at various places in Greenwich Village.




On Saturday, we did a Target run, Mama had lunch with a friend, and then we all went to celebrate Jack's 2nd birthday party in the park. Aidan loved playing basketball by throwing a soccer ball and a volleyball into a tent with a hole in the roof!




On Sunday, we did some window shopping, had a long nap, and went to the pool for the first time this summer. Aidan was skeptical about the cool water and wanted to cuddle with a warm Daddy (not a soaking wet Mama), but he finally was willing to sit in the water on Daddy's lap, splash Mama, and walk between Daddy and Mama a couple of times in the wading pool!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

There are lots of things going on right now, but one thing that Mommy has been thinking about recently is how proud I am of us as close to equally-sharing parents. Both of us contribute about equally to parenting Aidan: of course we don't do everything identically or half-half, but overall, it feels pretty fair. One of the benefits of this split is that Aidan can rely on both of us and enjoy being with both of us pretty equally. Of course, there are some things which he would rather pick one of us than the other (only Daddy let's him do "Daddy ladders", where Aidan climbs from Daddy's toes up his chest, onto his head! And Aidan usually wants Mommy to put him to sleep). However, for many things, he treats us like we are almost interchangeable. In fact, he frequently even refers to us interchangeably as "Mama-Dada" or "Dada-Mama", asking for either us to "Yook! [Look!]", "Hep! [Help]", "Pay choo [play with trains]" and so on. Mama thinks that this is quite a complement to our partnership in parenting!



This weekend was Father's Day, and we drove to Boston to celebrate. We drove to Hopedale on Friday night, visited the Southwick Zoo with Grandma on Saturday, and then drove to Boston Sunday morning to visit Chris & Jim and see a Red Sox game. Despite a gloomy forcast, the game didn't get rained out, and despite it being in the middle of Aidan's nap time, Aidan had a very nice nap cuddled up with Mama in the Ergo carrier. And, on top of that, the Red Sox played a fun game and ended up winning, 6-5 on a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning! We had a great Father's Day.

Big Boy

We had a good week this week. Aidan started off asking Mama to nurse a lot, but by the end of the week, he stopped asking, almost completely. We definitely can say that we've survived the hardest part of weaning! Mama is really proud of us. We've been trying to do new "big boy" things whenever possible (climbing up a curved ladder at the park, eating ice cream, etc.), to celebrate!


This week, Aidan's language has continued to jump. This week, Aidan has talked about the "dino-saur" that the Wonderpets rescued, noticed that it was "sunny out", made sure Mama and Dada noticed that he was "upside down," and asked for "nice, wam mack" [nice warm milk] and a "nice, die dypah" [nice, dry diaper]. Laurie bought Aidan an amazing "All Aboard Trains" book, which Aidan picked out at Borders on Friday, and it is his new favorite book! When we get to the page with the monorail, he points, and says "upside down!" and turns the book around, so that he can see the train right-side-up! Aidan is also even singing - he is starting to modulate his voice when he mimicks train beeping, or singing the "E I E I O" song!


Something that Mama finds funny right now is Aidan's efforts to negotiate the rules. When we tell him that he can't do something (play with the water in the sink, eat more goldfish...), he often tells us: "Mama! Dada! Go 'WAY!" And if we ask him if he wants us to go away so that he can do the disallowed activity, he looks up, perfectly honestly, and says "uh, huh! yes!". (!!) It's pretty funny.

Weaning

For the last week and a half, Mommy and Aidan have been working hard on weaning. We have been working in that direction for a while, slowly reducing the number of nursings each day, and for the last few weeks only nursing before bathtime. However, a couple of weeks ago, Mommy made Aidan a "growing up" photo-book for Aidan to help finish the process. It is a little book that shows Aidan's major life milestones so far: being born, drinking from a bottle, rolling over, eating solid food, crawling, walking, using a fork, drinking from a sippy cup, playing with his babysitter Laurie, staying at daycare ("work"), and starting to use the toilet. At the end, it says "Congratulations, Aidan! You are a big boy, now!" and tells him that big boys don't need Mama's milk, just lots of cuddles. I made it because I wanted to help him understand what was happening, and it has been really helpful. But it has also been tough to use, because it makes Aidan sad! He really understands it, and he doesn't like the message that he has to give up milk with Mama.


On Friday (May 29th), Mama read Aidan the book before bathtime (when we usually would nurse), and afterward, he got up seriously, said "baf?" (bath?), and went straight to the bath, without asking for milk with Mama ("Mack! Mama!"). So, he definitely understood it!


On Saturday, he asked for milk, so Mama nursed him. On Sunday, he didn't ask again, so we didn't. On Monday, he asked again, so we did. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, Mama tried to distract him, and he didn't ask, so we didn't.


Finally, on Thursday, we nursed for the last time. He asked, and Mama said yes, but expained to him that we were not going to keep having milk with Mama. He understood, but looked sad. Mama asked him how he was feeling, was he sad? And he said "uh, huh". And Mama told him that she was sad too, but that we could always cuddle as much as he wanted to, and that big boys got to do wonderful things, and that it was okay to feel sad now, but we should remember that we would be really happy about all the wonderful big boy things that he could do, now. He was very subdued, and Mama was sad. I will miss these sweet times together! But it is definitely time. And we can do it. So, I am proud of us.


Since then, it's been a battle. Aidan has been asking for milk with Mama much more often than usual, and Mama keeps saying no, and trying to distract him. I'm glad we have the book to read, and I'm glad that I am resolved, but it is still tough. It helped that this weekend we went up to the Catskills with Grandma and Grandpa Ruane, who Aidan love! They were a good distraction. It also helped that we recently got Aidan an "emotions" book, so he understands what "sad" (as well as "happy", "mad" and other emotions) mean.


Aidan really is getting to be a big boy. Today he turned 23 months - almost 2 years old! And at dinner tonight, when Grandpa made a joke ("Aidan, are you going to take a bath in the stream?"), Aidan laughed! ("No! Baf!" - big grin) It is amazing to see him not only getting bigger every day, but even understanding humor! He is amazing.