It was nice to have a whole week without any traveling this week. After my Montreal conference last week, I was inspired to really throw myself into pursuing a tenure-track job in the NYC area for at least a year to see if it seems like a good fit. So, this week we started experimenting with routine changes to get me some time to work on making myself an attractive candidate and pursuing the options.
On Tuesday, Alex took Kiana to playgroup at the Collegiate Church while I took my laptop back to Starbucks for the first time in a very long time. (! Ah, the memories!! Aidan still thinks that I used to "work at Starbucks"!) Friday, I went back again while he dropped of Aidan at playschool with Kiana, and then I walked her back home, worked during her nap, and then kept going while Laurie babysat and picked up Aidan from playschool. We're still experimenting with what will work best, but I am happy that I did get some work done!
This weekend, we were super-productive! Saturday, I got another work morning in while Daddy chilled with the kids at home for a while and then took a short trip on the trains for fun. Then we had TWO birthday parties! At 1:00PM, we went to Oscar's 4th birthday party (he was Aidan's friend from his old playschool, RenVillage). Afterward, Kiana caught a brief (1 hour) nap, while Daddy and Aidan took care of our annual NY car inspection. Then, at 4:30PM, we all went to Amelie's 3rd birthday party (she is Aidan's friend from his current playschool; she was Aidan's "Valentine", and he is currently smitten with her!). We had a great time at both! Aidan ended up basically surviving on sugar all day (donuts, cupcake icing, cupcakes, cake, juice!), but had a great time anyway. We enjoyed seeing friends and munching on goodies.
Sunday we caught up on basics: laundry, taxes, Costco, and a batch of teriyaki chicken. Aidan narrowly avoided falling asleep at 4:30PM, and was asleep by 7:30 (hooray!!!!!!!!!). Kiana is up to her usual shenanigans, thrilled to be on a playdate with us after Aidan goes to sleep. But I'm sure she'll cave into a never-ending-hallway-of-sleepiness or just normal tiredness sometime soon!
Highlights:
AIDAN:
- Daddy bought about $100 worth of new-to-us (used) "best early chapter books" this week, and the effect has been revolutionary! Aidan is enthralled with exploring these new worlds! He looks over the books by himself, trying to spell out the words and looking at the (much fewer) pictures; he has become incredibly excited about bed-time (more chapters!), and is turning into a (beloved) book-worm before my eyes. I love it! Our favorites so far are My Father's Dragon and Captain Underpants.
- Aidan has a new sleep routine! Alex reads him some chapters out of one of his new chapter books. Then he takes a sip of his milk, lies perfectly still with his eyes closed, and waits while Daddy turns out the light. Then, Daddy lies to him and scratches his back between 15 and 31 times (the max of either the day of the month or 15, whichever is higher). Finally, Daddy sits in the chair, checks his iphone, and rubs Aidan's back until he falls asleep (usually no more than 10-15minutes). Daddy loves it!
- Aidan has become more predictable for the moment: I find that if he gets enough sleep, and if he gets 10 minutes of solo Mama-time, he is wonderful. If he doesn't, it's a problem! It's nice at least to know where the trends are coming from, at least for now!
- Aidan continues to love making up his own language. He finds it hilarious to call me "Mama-bama" and Kiana "Kiana-biana" and spouts off in his own tongues just for fun to be silly.
KIANA
- Kiana continues to get closer and closer to walking! On Tuesday at playgroup, Daddy set her up with a walker push-toy, and she raced all the way across the fellowship hall! He came home determined to get her one of her own (Aidan's broke after much rough love quite a while ago). So, I put a call out to our local parent yahoo listserve, and someone gave us one on Thursday! She loves it!
- She continues to amaze us with how social she is. This week her thing is wandering around saying "Hi! Hey! Hi!" and waving her hand. (SO cute!)
- Kiana managed to turn the light switches on in our room! Working on those small muscle skills.
- On Sunday afternoon, Kiana asked directly for her big brother! They were playing together, and I stole her away to change her diaper. She - tired and ready for a nap - yelled in protest. Then, very clearly, she did the "more" sign repeatedly while saying "Ay-dah! Ay-dah! Ay-dah!" [Aidan! Aidan! Aidan!] As soon as I brought her back to her big brother, she was all smiles again! She TOTALLY missed him, asked for him, and was thrilled when she got what she wanted!
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