Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!


We had another extra-busy week, this week. On Monday, Kiana and I flew to Knoxville, Tennessee to visit my dear friend Julia and her new baby, while her husband was away on a business trip. I was so glad that I could be there! I tried to help as much as possible by cooking, doing laundry, walking little Wayne to sleep, and just being there, and loved seeing my friend. Kiana was fascinated with little Wayne, and did her part by showing Julia how her house was going to need baby-proofing! In the process, Kiana also got "dog trained": at the beginning of the week, she was fascinated but terrified of Julia's friendly brown lab Guinness and skeptical of her little white Maltese Leroy; however, by the end of the week, she was totally comfortable with both of them, had learned to "pat" them, and had earned Guiness's devotion by being willing to play with him (while me and Julia focused more on baby Wayne)! Kiana survived all of the flights, despite me having to run to catch a couple of connections, and had strangers saying "hello" to her everywhere, because she was determined to say "hi! hey! hi!" to every single person that we passed in the airports!


Meanwhile, Daddy and Aidan changed schedules around a bit to make it work. Daddy picked up Aidan from daycare on Monday at 1pm, and they went to the parks and the library (they got more Dragon Slayers' Academy books). Aidan stayed late at playschool Tuesday through Thursday (though Laurie picked him up at 4PM on Tuesday for an unexpected playdate with Rowan!). Friday, Laurie picked him up at 1PM, and took him to the parks and let him watch extra Yo Gabba Gabba on TV. Daddy has been doing a new routine with him where when they make a deal, he gives him a "low five" to seal the deal; then later, Daddy can remind Aidan that he gave him "five" on it, and Aidan will make sure to keep his end of the deal! It's pretty amazing. Kiana and I got back at about 6PM on Friday night, and Aidan was just a giant bundle of joy to have us back: it was a wonderful welcome home!


This weekend was busy as well. Saturday Aidan and Daddy picked up the car from the shop, where it had been repaired after Daddy had been run into at a red light a few weeks ago. Then we did a Fairway grocery shopping trip.

Sunday was Easter! Kiana had been up for hours working on cutting her fifth tooth in the middle of the night, so Alex and I were pretty exhausted. However, we managed to eat a yummy breakfast (sausage, eggs & biscuits with cantaloupe) and go to the Easter service at our church. Aidan was great at Sunday School, and then found a pile of Easter eggs at the Easter Egg Hunt afterward. In the afternoon, Kiana had a short nap, Alex took the kids to the park while I took a short nap, and then we went to an Easter party at our friend Dorota's house for dinner. We also managed to Skype with all of the cousins and grandparents on both sides of the family. It has been a full day!

Walking!!!

Kiana took her first steps this week! Friday night, I was nursing her to sleep, when she stopped nursing abruptly, and started clapping, for the first time ever! So, I took her out to show off to Daddy, Aidan, and Grandma Ruane (who had stopped by for dinner, since she was in the city helping Marguerite deal with another hip surgery). Kiana was SO proud of herself, and kept clapping and clapping! While she was at it, I told Alex that we should see if she would walk. Kiana had spent the entire day on Thursday practicing standing up, very sturdily, and we knew it would have to be any day now. So, Alex and I sat across from each other on the rug in the living room and gave her a chance -- and she took her first steps! She spent about 10 minutes walking back and forth between us, up to six steps at a time, and each time clapping and clapping afterward in glee. Yay, Kiana!


I don't remember if I've said this before on the blog, so I wanted to say it this time just in case: Kiana has definitely already had her first word: it is, without a doubt "Aidan" ("Ay-dah"). After she wakes up from her morning naps, she asks for him, until we pick him up from playschool, and she calls for him all the time. It is very sweet! She also for quite a while was saying "Hi!" and "Hey!" while tracing a rainbow with a giant wave as a greeting to each of us! (Very cute!)

She is also getting stronger with sign language. She does "all done" and "hi/bye" waves regularly. On Thursday at the playground, she seemed to really get the hang of "more"! It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day, and we let her slide down the slide (with help, of course). She LOVED it, and signed "more" (it looked more like a "time out" sign, but it was definitely "more") about 20 times! So we kept having her slide down again, and again, and again!


In Aidan notes, he is recently determined to sit in the front car of the train so that he can wave "hello" to the train driver and "goodbye" to the train driver when he leaves. On Sunday while he was going on a train with Daddy this week, the train driver honked "goodbye" in response - he loved it! Aidan is also obsessed with chapter books. We are currently going through Roald Dahl books: we just finished James and the Giant Peach, The Enormous Crocodile, and got from the library Charlie and the Glass Elevator and The BFG). He continues to be an incredibly good breakdancer - every time we have family dance parties in the living room, he busts out moves straight out of the subway, and impress all of us with his spins and leaps on the floor!


This Saturday was Kiana's friend Maximillion's first birthday party. It was fun! It was Aidan's first time at a baby playdate, and he was a *wonderful* big brother: he was totally happy to play with the baby toys, and was especially happy to eat baby cookies, a GIGANTIC slice of birthday cake *and* a cupcake! Kiana missed her morning nap for the party and seemed a little overwhelmed with the festivities, but - with the other babies - was impressed with the unlimited cheerio bowl that they were allowed to dig into and scatter all over the floor! Here are some photos of Kiana's friends at the party: Maximillion, Henry, Hudson, Sylvie, and Lela.

Grandma week

Daddy went to Amsterdam Wednesday through Sunday this week, and Grandma Ruane came to stay with us for backup during that time. Aidan was incredibly happy to have all the Grandma time, and so was I! Rather than just surviving the week, we all had a good time.


On Thursday, we had our first picnic of the year outside (I made terriyaki salmon, stir fry veggies, salad & rice - YUM!). On Friday, Grandma made her home-made mac 'n cheese, and Aidan actually ate and liked it (even the crunchy top part!). On Saturday, we went to the library in the morning and then went to the Central Park Zoo and Five Guys in the afternoon (Aidan was in heaven!). Finally, on Sunday, Aidan and I went to Noah's 4th birthday party while Grandma let Kiana nap at home; then Grandpa came, and Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to the park; and when they got back, Daddy got home!! We all celebrated with Thai food (Aidan LOVES pad see ew, and Kiana liked its noodles, too), and cupcakes (a belated birthday celebration, which Aidan has been intent on for the last week). (Kiana tried cupcakes for the first time, and was immediately an intent fan looking for more!)


Aidan loved having Grandma read him tons and tons of books (they got about half way through James and the Giant Peach after picking it up on Saturday). & I loved having someone to hand off Kiana too in the middle of the nights when she got up, and being able to catch up on naps and wake up to have laundry and dishes magically done. (THANKS Grandma!) We were all happy to have Daddy back, Sunday, but Aidan was sad to see Grandma go!

10 months and Cruising / 37,000

Kiana turned 10 months old this Saturday! We have already gotten an invitation to one of her friends' first birthday parties - we can't believe that we are going to have to plan hers soon, too!


To celebrate, Kiana has been doing lots of new things this week! First, she started cruising! Saturday she took a step from the baby kitchen to the footstool next to it, and today she took a couple of steps from the train boxes to the parking garage toy. Second, she has gotten better about walking with only holding one of our hands for a few steps, and has been doing squats (while holding our hands) like crazy. Third, Kiana has became adept at climbing UP the two stairs from our living room to our foyer, and started practicing trying to go DOWN those stairs as well. Up is easy, but down she hasn't figured out yet: she wanted to slide down face first, and is confused that we keep turning her around and trying to get her to slide down backwards on her tummy. She has started to get the idea, but tries to sit down on the stair (aaaaak!) which is giving me a heart attack every few minutes because it means she almost falls down the stairs repeatedly. I'm sure she'll figure it out soon, though! She's determined. And finally, she is officially wearing 12-18 or 18 month sized clothes! I took all of her (skin tight) 12 month clothes out of her drawers this weekend, and put in the new stuff. She's getting big!


The funniest thing Kiana is doing right now is growling: when she concentrates on something, she makes a grunting, growling sound that sounds like a cross between a bear and a pirate. It's really funny to listen to at first, but it often means that she is starting to stress out a bit and need sleep or milk or cuddles. Another funny thing she is doing is blowing "raspberries" on our tummies! She sees Aidan doing it to me, or me to him, and she jumps right in. She leans down, places her mouth on my tummy, and then looks up again with a hugely proud-of-herself grin! She does it again and again, and every once in a while she actually blows out and makes a real raspberry - it makes me laugh and laugh! I love it.


In Aidan highlights, for the last few weeks, his favorite number has become "37,000". I can't remember if I've noted this in previous posts, so I'm going to just say it again, now. The reason it is is favorite, according to him, is that he is 3 and his cousin Miya is 7, thus, 37,000 is the most awesome number ever. (!) At school, he has been reviewing musical notes, rhythm and tonal patterns, playing Candyland, doing puzzle maps of Central America, and reading lots of books (The Big Game, The Joke, The Cake, and The Goat). At home, we've been playing a lot with a huge marble racing/slide toy that Daddy found at our church's monthly thrift sale, which has been a ton of fun. I've also been reading him chapters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the first time I remember reading the book, not just seeing the movie, as well), and we are both loving it!


Unfortunately, our weekend didn't start out on a good foot. On Friday, someone behind Daddy drove into him while he was waiting in our car at a red light on his way home from work. (!) Daddy was fine, but the back of the car is all warped. So, on Saturday, Aidan and Daddy drove the car to a shop to get repaired. It will be there for a while: so a silver lining is that we won't have to move the car for street cleaning this week! We'll have to see what they say about damages, but it should be totally covered by the other person's insurance. We're hoping the hassle is as little as possible!


However, the rest of the weekend was nice. On Saturday afternoon, we stopped by a free cooking class that our friend Karah (Oscar and Leo's mom) was having at Aidan's old school. Aidan made his own parfait with granola (he just wanted slivered almonds in his), Greek yogurt, and strawberries and grapes that he cut up himself. We enjoyed visiting with some of the other parents (Jeanie, Lori, Marcella and Daniel, Trish, Lance, Michiku) and checking out the book fair.

On Sunday, Aidan watched Superman (the movie) for the first time ever (he loved it!), and Daddy took the kids on the trains to get fresh frozen coconut milk from Bangkok Center Grocery (the only place in Manhattan where I've been able to find fresh frozen coconut milk - it's FANTASTIC!). Meanwhile, I finally started getting somewhere on a course syllabus I am putting together, which was great!

This week was also TWO grandparents' birthdays, so we wanted to send a special shout-out to Grandma Ruane and Pop-pop: Happy Birthday to both of you! We love you!