Soccer / Clay

Aidan stayed home from playschool Monday through Wednesday this week getting over this tummy bug. Poor baby! I don't remember him feeling this badly for this long in a long time. :( Happily, by Wednesday he was basically better, but we let him stay home one more day just to make sure (he wasn't quite ready to give up his sick/vacation days!). It was a little crazy for Mommy and Kiana, since we weren't used to having Aidan around in the mornings: Kiana got pretty cranky by the end of the week, because she usually sleeps when Aidan is at school (he's too exciting to be around!), so she didn't get as much sleep as she needed. However, we all survived more or less intact.


Saturday was busy and fun. In the morning, Aidan went to soccer school for the first time! We all went to watch him, and it was incredibly fun: he was doing a make-up class (since he missed his Monday class because he was sick) with "Coach Sponge Bob" and "Coach Strawberry", and they taught him to drive his soccer ball train around Penn Station (a circle of cones), dribble it back and forth between goals, and get it past a Coach defender into the goal. The class was held at Innwood Hill Park, and the two or three times that a train went by in the background, Aidan called out "Train!" to make sure that nobody missed it (after all, the Coach did seem pretty excited about trains!).



After soccer school, we all trained down to Family Clay Day at Tribeca Clayworks, where we worked with soft clay (not just painting glaze on like last time). It was great! We made four different pieces, including a hand/foot plate for Kiana, and a hand plate for the family that looks like a butterfly, with the hands of each of us facing a different cardinal direction, and a "3" in the middle. I've been wanting to do that one because for the next few days, all of us are "3" right now, and I'm not sure if that will ever happen again: Kiana is 3 months, Aidan is 3 years, and Alex and I are 3 decades old -- pretty neat! :)


When we got home, Daddy packed frantically and then left to catch a plane to Paris for a conference. We're going to miss him! Grandma and Grandpa Ruane drove down that night and then drove up with us on Sunday to the Catskills: we are going to stay here for the next week while Daddy is gone so I have backup, and Aidan is going to have belated summer (now officially fall) vacation. We're looking forward to Daddy meeting us up here Friday night!

Rolling over! / Sick

On Thursday this week, Kiana rolled over for the first time! Aidan and Mommy were playing a game where Aidan would tackle me, and then blow raspberries on my neck, and then we'd both lean over and blow raspberries on Kiana's tummy. One minute, Aidan was blowing raspberries, and the next minute, we looked over to see Kiana on her tummy! She had rolled over on her left side and caught her right arm underneath herself, but she had her head way up and had gotten all the way over!!! Wow. :) (We kind of saw this coming, since this week she has also really gotten the hang of grabbing her toes with her fingers -- Alex actually said two days earlier that he stopped trusting her alone on a bed! -- but it still felt amazing.)


Aidan has been battling being sick this week. He's had inklings of a tummy bug off and on over the last week, but then this weekend it got much worse. Saturday he started happy and we went to his friend, Emi's, birthday party. But then he came down with terrible diarrhea. Sunday morning he threw up, was exhausted, and took a 2.5 hour nap. When he got up, he wanted goldfish and asked me if I could help him vacuum the floor, but then he just lay around, and went to bed early. We hope he is feeling better, soon! Everyone will be happier when we are all healthier.


In other news:
We have been going to watch boats off of 187th street as they go down the Hudson and under the Big Gray Bridge (the GW Bridge) for something to do in the afternoons that gets us out of the house but doesn't take too much energy. It' has turned into a time for me to reaffirm to Aidan how special he is, and how even though Kiana is here now, *nobody* can replace him - each of them are their own precious selves. When we go, Aidan sits on the wall while I hold him tight, and Kiana watches everything from her stroller. Then I tell Aidan that I love big bits and little bits - SO so much. Since he is in the "why" stage of life at the moment, he'll ask me "Why?"
Me: "Because you are *my* boy, and because nobody can replace you, not even Kiana. You are both my precious kids!"
Aidan: "Why?"
Me: "Because there is only *one* of you in the whole world, and I love you more than any other 3-year old boy in the whole world!"
Aidan: "Why?"
Me: "Because you are my baby, no matter how big you are, and I love you."

This does go on for a while, because of the never-ending-ness of "why", but I don't mind. Sometimes, for other questions, I'll ask him "why do you think?" and he'll respond, "I don't know -- can you tell me about it?" But for this, I like having the chance to tell him again and again about how much I love him. I love both of my kids SO much! It's pretty amazing to discover that this kind of fierce love is possible. Our kids are such gifts! :)

Holding hands

This week we spent a lot of time enjoying connecting with friends.


On Tuesday, our friend Solomon (Mosissa's grandfather), who used to live in the neighborhood but moved away, stopped by for a visit. Aidan was *incredibly* friendly with him (not shy or grumpy with him at all!), and told him all about his cars, his other toys, his playschool and his friends. It was fun to catch up!


On Thursday, Kiana had a playdate with Dash (& Kat), who live in our building. It was perfect! Aidan had unexpectedly passed out for a late nap, so their visit made it so that instead of being marooned inside, Kiana and I actually really enjoyed ourselves! Kiana shared her playmat with Dash very nicely, and they both stared at each other (awake at the same time for the first time!).


On Saturday, Cira, Mary and Badu came over for brunch (apple pancakes, strawberries and scrambled eggs), and then we all went to the park together. Kiana loved Badu, and the rest of us loved playing soccer at the PS 187 blacktop, munching on rice crackers at Javits park, and chilling out in the beautiful weather. After a little downtime at home, we all then walked over to Johnny/Oliver/Christa/Mark's house for an adult happy hour (! first of its kind ever!). Aidan loved Johnny's Hotwheels (we've got to get one of those! I used to LOVE them!), and Kiana got lots of extra cuddles, even from Oliver (age 1!).







In other news: On Friday, for the first time ever, most of the kids at Aidan's daycare (or those there on Fridays) all walked out of playschool together, and all basically posed like the Von Trapp Family on the stairs of a nearby building. I had my camera in the diaper bag and caught some pictures! From left to right, the kids are: Olivia, Kiana (not ours! the other one), Kira, Rowan, Eme, and Aidan. So cute!



AIDAN:
Aidan is being very existential this week. Building off of the "how do babies get into your tummy?" question of last week, this week he told us all over breakfast that, "I wish ALL of us could be in someone else's tummy!" Another day, very affectionately, he told me that "I LOVE Daddy! and I LOVE Mama! and I LOVE Kiana!" and finally "I LOVE my love!"


KIANA:
On Thursday, while Daddy was holding her so that she could (for the first time) sit on the table and see the rest of us, Kiana laughed! Daddy was saying "Kikkoman Soysauce" in a silly way, and she said "Ha!" as it if was the most hilarious thing in the world! We're looking forward to more of this, and there's plenty more silliness from Daddy to start it!
This week, Kiana also has been finding her toes! It's super cute, especially when Aidan is next to her, and she switches from holding her own toes to holding his!!!


BOTH:
It is now a tradition that when Kiana and I pick up Aidan from playschool, Aidan holds Kiana's hand almost all the way home! (Such sweet kids!)

Happy Labor Day!

This weekend was Labor Day, and we had a wonderful super-extra long weekend! We all drove up to the Catskills on Thursday night, and Daddy worked from home on Friday. That made it so that the rest of us could hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Ruane in their mountain house, and made it so that we had three full days of weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) without driving! It was great.


Aidan helped Grandpa drive fertilizer pellets into the ground for the trees in the orchard with a heavy hammer, helped Grandma make Beignets, helped feed Marguerite & Nadir's chickens, played with Cooper (& Kevin & Sarah), threw more rocks in the stream (I think he is, with Grandpa's help, changing the course of that stream!), watched Finding Nemo, gave a few piano concerts with Daddy, played on the Boiceville playground, and generally had a grand old time. :)


Kiana cuddled and "talked" with everyone, started her own piano playing adventures, soaked up the different and wonderful place to be, and fell in love with Kevin & Sarah's dog, Cooper (she didn't even mind when he licked her hand!).


All of us were happy to get away from the City for a while, relax in the green mountains, and enjoy some down time. We especially loved Grandma's home-made blackberry pies that she made from her own blackberries! :) On Monday, we drove home during the morning nap time slot, and both kids slept all the way home (hooray!). Then, we had a relaxing afternoon at the parks, and had a fun dinner with our friends Christa/Mark/John/Oliver - a wonderful way to end the weekend!


In other news this week:


AIDAN:
On Tuesday, while Aidan and Mommy and Kiana were cuddling after school, Aidan snuggled up with both of us with an endearing smile and asked, first, to Kiana: "How is this little munch doing?" Then he pointed at himself: "How is this big 3 year old munch doing?" Then he looked at me: "How is this 30 year old much doing?" :) (!)


On Monday, he also asked me about how a baby got "in" and "out" of my tummy! I wasn't quite prepared for that conversation, so I told him that Mommy and Daddy had a "special hug" to put the baby in my tummy. Then I told him more specifically about how the baby came out, and told him all about Kiana's birth story: how he went to sleep and Dorota came over to stay with him while Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital; and how the doctors there helped Kiana come out, and how Laurie and Dorota were home when he woke up in the morning, and they took him to playschool; and then Daddy picked him up from playschool and took him on the train to the hospital to meet Kiana the next day. :)


KIANA:
This week, Mommy took Kiana to playgroup for the first time! She had been taking a wonderful 2-3 hour nap every morning until this week, but last weekend, we ran into Troy, who asked us to come. I told him that we would certainly come once her nap schedule changed, but until then, I had to take advantage of the free time at home! She must have heard me, because she changed up her schedule all week and was awake in the mornings. So, we went to playgroup! I haven't gone since Aidan was really little, so it was fun to go again. At least it's something to look forward to, even if the morning nap doesn't always happen anymore!