Nice day?

For the last couple of weeks, Aidan has started taking the initiative on dinner conversations. When Mama sits down to the table with him, still a little frenetic from trying to make sure that there is food, warm milk, and serving items to go with them, he looks up beatifically and says: "Nice day, Mama?" It is so sweet! It immediately transports me out of my stress and into being able to recognize the joys of sharing a family meal: and we have a wonderful conversation about our day after that! It is really nice.


This week, Aidan went to daycare three times (Monday through Wednesday) and Mama and Daddy tag -teamed on Thursday and Friday while our babysitter, Laurie, was on vacation. We both managed to meet our respective deadlines, and then we all drove up to the Catskills on Friday night, where we spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Ruane and a flock of extended family and friends (Kevin & Sarah Ruane, Katie Ruane, Chris & Jim, and Joy & Judy, and Peg & Wilma & Chris even stopped by for Saturday afternoon).


Aidan had a blast playing with Grandpa and helping Grandma cook. With her help, he even made blueberry pancakes and Canadian bacon on Sunday morning: he stirred the batter, spooned it into the pan, dropped in the blueberries, flipped the pancakes and bacon, and gave plates of food to everybody! Mama and Daddy also started teaching him how to play pingpong (his version looks more like air-hockey), and, of course, visited the chickens, which he loved. And while Aidan played with Grandma and Grandpa, Mama and Daddy and most of the rest of the group did a 2 hour tubing adventure down the Esopus River. Mama got really cold, but it was otherwise a lot of fun, and everybody was safe and had a good time.

Cuddlebug

We spent this week recovering from jetlag from our Hawaii trip, and are finally getting back into a workable routine, with Aidan sleeping from 9 or 10PM until about 7:30AM. Hopefully we'll pull that one more hour back, but for now, it works!


On Thursday, Aidan and Mama were taking turns walking down the street towards home from the park (Aidan wanted to be carried, and Mama would carry him for a while, and then he would take a turn walking, and then Mama would pick him up again). While Mama was carrying Aidan and kissing his cute cheeks, he said:
"Cuddo-bug, Mama."
"Did you just call me a cuddle-bug?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he said, with a shy grin.
I felt on top of the world! Aidan got an extra long "Uppy" time after that: because, of course, after that, I had to keep kissing and cuddling him the whole rest of the block!


Another cute thing that Aidan is doing right now is that he seems like he is trying to impersonate the Italian mafia. He walks around, and when he notices things (his trains, trucks, buses, balls, or whatever), he says "Eh! Bus [/etc.], Mama!", or "Eh! Was dat, Mama?" - It's pretty funny!


Aidan is also clearly demonstrating that he is Daddy's, as well as Mama's, son. He has now, a couple of times, woken up Daddy in the morning by running into the room and saying: "Wake up, Dada! Sunny out!" This is pretty irresistable to Daddy, who, when he was little, would wake up his parents by saying "It's a sunny day!" :) It makes Mama happy to know that our whole family is so in love with sunshine!

Finally, I've been wanting to put down a note about this for a while, but I keep forgetting, so here it is now: when Aidan was littler, and Mama wanted to tell him that she loved him SO MUCH but was trying to put it into words that he could understand, we started a tradition, which we still continue: when we first started out, Mama would say, "Mama loves you SO MUCH, Aidan! Mama loves you big bits" [reaching as far up with her arms as she could] "AND little bits" [making a "little" sign with her thumb and pointer finger]. And then she would repeat it again over and over again, while giving him kisses and cuddles. Now, the routine has evolved a bit. Mama says,
"Aidan, how much does Mama love you?"
And he looks back, with a sparkle in his eye: "Big bits, Mama!"
"That's right!"
"Iddo bits, too!"
"That's right! I love you big bits AND little bits! I love you SO much!"
I love this game! :)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Aidan!

We spent a wonderful week in Hawaii celebrating Aidan's second birthday, last week. We snorkeled at Kahalu'u (Children's beach), splashed in hotel pools, and visited Kua Bay, Hapuna, Magic Sands. We filled up on strawberry papayas, liliquoi, li hing mui mango, dragonfruit, ahi in coconut milk over rice, poke, lau-lau, caramacs and chocolate coconut covered macnuts. Aidan warmed up to everyone quickly, decided to love the beach, and had a blast hanging out with cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and grandparents, having so much fun that he frequently fell asleep either in a car (on the way back from the beach), or on Daddy's shoulder. It was WONDERFUL!


Tuesday was Aidan's birthday, and it was great! In the morning, we all went to Kua Bay. There, Jon-Michael, Frances, Nana and Mama built an octopus sand castle with drip-drop turrets with a tunnel for sand balls to roll through; Miya, Gabe, Pop-Pop and Grandpa Ruane built an Incan walled city next door; and later Daddy led an expedition across a lava path to a point where Frances found a lobster head! The water was crystal turquoise, the water was calm and warm, and Aidan (and everyone else) blissfully soaked up the sun and floated in the waves.


After a nice afternoon nap for Aidan, the Ruanes, Rosses, and Mama's Aunt Helen and Uncle Bill all came over to Nana and Pop-pop's house for a birthday party! Aidan was thrilled with his pile of presents, and Miya, Rae, and Elsey did a great job helping him open them and try them out, leaving a trail of trains, dollhouse bridges, dinosaurs, trucks, cars, and truck books. After presents, we ate ahi and coconut milk, terriaki chicken, Maui onion chips, and more delicious food, drank banana daquaris (courtesy of Jon-Michael), and finished up with a "trash truck" ice-cream birthday cake (made by Mama, Jon-Michael, Frances, and Nana)! (Aidan actually asked for this: Mama asked him what he wanted to eat at his birthday party, and he said "cake!"; when she asked him "what kind? bus? truck? train?" he said "trash truck!" - so that's what we made!) Everybody had a great time. Mama and Daddy are so amazed that Aidan is really two years old!


After a wonderful week, we flew back to New York on a red-eye on Saturday night. Aidan was wonderful on the plane, sleeping during the Kona-Denver leg, and happily watching the Wonderpets on the DVD-player, reading truck books, and walking up and down the aisles during the Denver-NYC leg. Since then, we've been working on overcoming jet-lag, starting out going to bed at 1:30AM on Sunday, and slowly improving those numbers since then. Since Mama usually writes the blog at night time, that is why this post is so late! But the transition is worth it. We had a wonderful time in Hawaii! We hope it is not too long until our next trip back.

Going to Hawaii

This week, we got ready to go to Hawaii. We have been planning this trip since Aidan was just a bump in Mama's tummy, when Grandma suggested celebrating his second birthday as a kind of family reunion in Hawaii! Everyone loved the idea of an excuse to congregate in such a beautiful place, so that is what we decided to do. Except for Uncle Chris and Aunt Lauren (who were disappointed that they were unable to come), everyone is going: Nana and Pop-pop, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Jon-Michael, Aunt Frances, Uncle Gabe, Aunt Karen, cousin Miya, Uncle Matt, Aunt Devon, and cousins Rae and Elsey - it's going to be quite a party!


Since we are planning on going to the beach a lot in Hawaii, we spent this week preparing to go by visiting the newly opened outdoor pools in Van Cortlandt Park almost every day. Aidan is not used to being in water, except for the bathtub, so we had to take baby steps. On Sunday, he skeptically watched Mama drench herself, and eventually was willing to get his toes wet and eventually walk in the water in between Mama and Daddy. On Monday, Mama took him up after daycare while Daddy was at work, and he warmed up to the (chilly) water a bit faster, but was not thrillled about being there. On Tuesday, there were thunderstorms, so we didn't go. Finally, on Wednesday, we went up again: this time the wading pool was closed, and they let us go into the big kid pool. Aidan had fun kicking for a while, but eventually Mama jumped into the water with him, and had him do "circles", where he put his hand into the water, grazing his fingers and arms with spray while Mama swung him around and around - and he LOVED it! He laughed and laughed, and Mama was so happy that he finally had a good time in the water!



On Thursday, we flew from New York to San Francisco and stayed the night in an airport hotel, to help us split up the long trip. Friday morning we flew the rest of the way to Kona, and Aidan was awake but mostly happy the whole trip. The scheduling ended up working out great, because Aidan then went down for a nap at about 1PM Hawaii time (pretty normal), and woke up at 5AM on Saturday morning (not 3:30AM like the last time we were here) - when Mama and Daddy were wide awake anyway! Overall, we had a very good trip.


Since we got here, we have been having a wonderful time. Aidan warmed up to everyone extremely quickly, and has had a wonderful time playing with everyone. On Saturday, we saw some Hawaiian green sea turtles released into the ocean, and then had a fantastic beach day at beautiful hapuna beach. On Sunday, we visited old friends at Mokuaikaua Church, and then had a wonderful time at the water-park-like pools of the Hilton Waikaloa hotel. Despite short naps and late nights, Aidan has been a great sport, and Mama and Daddy have been having a ton of fun enjoying playing in the water and soaking up the sun with him. We are so happy to be here!