Bedtime

We've been trying to keep Mr. Man up until 8pm and it's just not working. This man will NOT stay up past 7 without a REALLY good reason. I guess he is a morning person.

Overdue Update

I know it's been a while since I posted (6 days to be precise). I've been soooooo busy with school. I've hardly been able to keep up with everything. We had Open House last night and Adam had an event too so Aiden helped at school. The first few weeks of school are always totally exhausting but I think I'm through the worst of it.

Anyway, Aiden is doing well. He's been consistently taking naps at Lorna's. This afternoon he slept for 2 hours! He's also MOVING. I don't know if I would call it crawling because he's not really on all fours. He does more of an inchworm thing (have I already written about this?) but he manages to get around. We took a few videos and I'm going to see if I can upload a good one.

Aiden recently started making the raspberry sound and he's totally fascinated by it. We've tried capturing it on video but he's quite enchanted with the camera and doesn't usually let us catch him in the act. I think we have a good video of him doing it in the bathtub though and I will upload it tonight.

More Improvement

Aiden took a two hour nap at Lorna's house yesterday afternoon. He yells a little bit when she sees him holding the other baby but he's just going to have to get over it. Yesterday he woke up cranky from his morning nap (that's what happens when he only sleeps 45 minutes). Lorna brought him out to play (it wasn't even close to time for him to eat) but he was acting VERY cranky so she put him back in the crib and told him he'd have to stay there until he could be in a good mood. It's funny because that's probably EXACTLY what I would have done. I'm thrilled because it worked. I don't know if he slept or just had quiet time but he stayed in there about 30 minutes and came out in a good mood.

He also went to bed very easily last night. He took his bath and started getting cranky when I was dressing him in pajamas. I laid him down, he snuggled up in his (loosely knitted) blanket and I never heard another peep from him. I did peek at him a few times and every time, he was in a different position.

Small Improvement

Aiden had a better day today. He had an EXCELLENT morning and an OKAY afternoon. He took a pretty good PM nap and responded well to teething tablets.

After school we ran around town chasing my lost cell phone and buying stuff from Target. He was a good sport. I fed him his dinner of applesauce yogurt, cheerios and blueberries and then he took a bath. I'm always amazed by how much he loves baths. He now consistently stays in there for at least 20 minutes. He started rubbing his eyes in the tub so I put him straight to bed. It was cute though because I could hear him playing quietly in his crib for about 30 minutes. He never cried, just played himself to sleep.

School Update

Yesterday was the first day of school and it went pretty well. Aiden has been going to Lorna's house since Monday and that hasn't been going quite as well. He hasn't really been willing to take the naps he needs to take. He's been sleeping 45 minutes at the most and that just doesn't keep the crankies at bay. We're pretty sure he's got more teeth coming in and that would explain a lot. He drooled through three bibs the other day, he's chewing on EVERYTHING and he's just cranky. I'm hoping, for Lorna's sake, these teeth come in soon. This week he's also started waking around 3am and we've tried EVERYTHING but we've finally had to just feed him. We don't want him to get used to eating breakfast at that hour but we haven't been able to figure out another solution.

FW: sitter update

Aiden ate played & then went down 4 a nap but got mad but then fell asleep hes fascinated w Jacek both

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A Fresh Start

Yesterday was rough. Aiden woke up cranky and wouldn't really take any naps. I put him in the bath at 4:45 pm and he was in there until 5:15. Yep, 30 minutes. After that he went straight to bed and slept until 6:15 this morning. He woke up in a great mood. We just put him down for a nap. He's resisting but we're trying to stick to our guns.

Now...about that 30 minute bath. We had a lot of fun playing with the water. His bath toys consist of two rubber ducks, a rubber hippo and a big yellow cup. It's a simple group of toys but they entertain him.

His favorite thing to do in the tub is play "Bombs Away". I fill the big yellow cup and hold it above my head. He starts splashing and grinning when he sees me do this. Then I bring it down close to his body and pour the water on him. We do this about 10 times during each bath and it never gets old.

Tonight I think I'll grab a funnel from the kitchen and see what he thinks of it.

This Was a Shirt...

and now it's a diaper! If you know Adam you know his favorite color is plaid. He recently gave me on of these "Adam Ross shirts" to play with. Of course, I decided to make a diaper. I think I'm going to start selling them on my favorite site.

Mr. Man Around the House

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Another Sewing Project

I made these overalls from a Merino wool sweater I bought at Goodwill. I also made 3 diaper covers!

Watch this page for a few photo essays illustrating Aiden's ability to move quickly.

Cheese!

Aiden started eating cheese this week. He loves it (as he does all food). I cut half a cheese stick into about 30 small chunks and put it on his highchair tray with cheerios. He is also starting to get pretty good at actually getting finger food in his mouth.

Yesterday we spent a lot of time at Costco because I was getting a new set of tires. Aiden did well despite not getting any good naps. Today we are going to stay home so he can take his naps. I want to make sure he's ready for Lorna's house and that means taking naps on demand.

We made a stop at Goodwill yesterday and found two fantastic wool sweaters for $5.99 each. I spent last night cutting one of the wool sweaters. So far I've made two wool soakers and a pair of pants from that one sweater. I have the pieces cut for a third soaker. The pants turned out to have a really long rise so I'm thinking about adding a bib and making them overalls. I'm hoping to experiment with that during Aiden's naps.

One more thing on the sewing front...watch for pictures of a new diaper we're working on. I'm taking an Adam Ross shirt and turning it in to a diaper. If you know Adam, you know what an Adam Ross shirt is.

Update

This has been a big week for us. Adam got a cool second job working on a political campaign for my former principal. I've been sewing and spending time with Aiden. We went swimming with friends on Thursday and Aiden loved it. Swimming really tired him out!

Aiden really kicked it up in the talking department this week. He's constantly talking (insert your own joke about him being like his mom). His talking is mostly dadadadadada and awwwwwwwww mixed with shrieks of joy.

He's getting more mobile every day. He can scoot almost anywhere, he rotates 360 degrees, he's starting to get up on his knees and he can launch himself in the direction of what he wants. Obviously, we need to get serious about babyproofing.

When I was trying to protect the AV receiver from tiny hands I realized the hallway would be a perfect place to play. I closed all the doors and put a huge pillow at the living room end. I set him up with his stacking toy and he had fun. I sat in the other part of the hallway and worked on cutting the fabric for some diapers I'm SELLING.

Mr. Man is asserting his independence more every day. He refuses the pacifier if we try to put it in his mouth but he delights in putting it in himself. He also likes to feed himself cheerios (see newest video) though they rarely end up in his mouth.

Is that the baby?

I was just on the phone with someone ordering flushable diaper liners. I was holding Aiden; he was in a playful mood so he was talking/shrieking up a storm. The woman said, "is that the baby? He sounds like a little cougar cub."

And you know what, he did!

Knock on Wood

Aiden is a GOOD napper now. Seriously. It's great because we can pretty much just put him down and walk away. We've discovered he gets pretty cranky when he needs a nap and he also has a certain point where there just isn't anything to do but put him down. He squirms and cries and then you put him down and...MAGIC. HE GOES TO SLEEP.

Yogurt!

Aiden tried whole milk yogurt today. I mixed it with mango chunks and he liked it...plenty of yum yum sounds were heard.

Picture Extravaganza

Diaper Sewing

My diaper sewing ability is improving.

Tooth Chart

Here's a tooth chart I found online and modified to show when Mr. Man's teeth come in. The blank teeth are the ones he already has. Next to that you will see the dates they arrived. The stuff at the bottom shows when we can expect each tooth.

Oh yeah...did I mention his other bottom tooth erupted?

Coconut Milk

I had a can of coconut milk in the cupboard and I thought it might be a yummy addition to Aiden's diet. I checked my favorite baby food website to verify that it would be okay to feed him. I made a puree of sweet potato, banana, mango and coconut milk. I'll probably give it to him tomorrow since he just barely started mangoes.

Ugh What a Mess

Today I let Aiden have half a banana and some mango chunks. He was in the high chair and I was trying to clean up. I'll have to hose down the high chair. Enough said.

Frustrated

Aiden is getting frustrated with crawling. He's really trying to do it but he gets mad because his legs aren't really doing what he wants them to do. He has his arms in the right position but he can't figure out how to get on his knees. I can see his little legs moving in a kind of crawling motion but he's not going anywhere. Poor guy!