13 months tomorrow

Hi everyone. Christianne shamed me about not updating Aidan's blog in a LONG time. So, here we go:

It has been a busy time since Aidan's birthday. First, there was the birthday celebration. Then, a week later, there was a week-long trip to Eugene to see family and friends (who are like family). Then back to work with things getting crazy busy for me. In the meantime, Aidan's started walking on her own some (took 11 steps on her own for the first time on Sept. 22nd), but prefers to have a finger to hold on to. Christianne and I spend a lot of time escorting her around the house. She is also learning to climb onto furniture and into and out of the bathtub - the latter not so gracefully, but no permanent injuries. This morning saw the opening and closing of dresser drawers - and the closing of fingers in the drawer. A mommy just can't be every where at once, can she? Aidan's trying to cut another tooth and it is a VERY slow process. On top of that, she has a cold. This week has been the week of bedtime refusal, screaming, crying, and walking across her mattress. I was pleased that it only took me 45 minutes to get her down last night. It was an hour the night before. Christianne's giving it a try tonight. :-) There are not promising sounds coming from the nursery. We are still working on eating with a spoon. She's getting the idea with soft things that stick to the spoon. We have a long way to go to make peas happen. ;-) She has her first skinned knee from falling down while walking. Today, Aidan and I fingerpainted while Christianne was at church. We now have Aidan's first artwork. I'll have to post pictures of that after we get them uploaded. Our little girl is growing up! Here are a bunch of pictures:

Birthday party day:



Two of her favorite toys:


(Some children will do anything to avoid bed, including urping on their brand new clean sheet - blog update was interrupted by sheet, Steve, PJ change.)

Outside at Gomma's house in Eugene


Opening and closing the door with Mama supervising


Two new experiences: eating a peach just picked off the tree and the Oregon Coast


Hanging out with Ted and Penny


That's all for now!

One year and one week later

Aidan had a great one year celebration. Thank you to everyone who made it so special! She smooshed cake and played and generally had a good time. Aidan is busy walking with assistance and attempting to climb on furnature and playing with all her new toys. She's also using the word "Gawk!" to mean "go!" I think. It clearly means something to her. :-) Her obsession with hats continues and she's getting very good at stacking large objects (like rolls of toilet paper). She's loving bath time in the big bathtub and hates bed time. She had a great time playing with Grandma, who was here for a quick birthday visit. Aidan also started wearing shoes. That was an adventure the first time, but she seems to have adjusted.

Today was her one year check-up. I can't believe how big she is! Here are her stats:

Weight 21.7 pounds (70%)
Height 30.5 inches (90%)
Head 18.25 inches (70%)

The doctor said she looks great and is thriving. He also noted that kids who are early in their motor development tend to be a little slower in their language development, which matches what I've seen in Aidan. Some of her classmates have more than "mama" down and Aidan doesn't but she's going gang-busters on her motor development and problem solving. Maybe we'll have an engineer... :-)

Those are the major updates for now. Aidan's sleeping off her shots (4 this morning). She's good to go for another 3 months. I'll post pictures later.

Updates

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. Life has been in full swing with the end of summer approaching and the new year beginning. I've actually had to do a little work at work - the nerve!

Aidan is busy growing and changing. She is now standing unsupported for brief periods of time and even taking a few unsupported steps...if she isn't thinking about it. A friend took a picture of her standing. I'll post it once she emails it to me. Aidan is getting very good at pointing to indicate things she wants. Sometimes I wish she could point just a little more clearly, as we sometimes play 20 questions to figure out what it is she wants, but mostly she's pretty clear.

Today was a big day with Aidan getting her 1 year pictures taken. Unfortunately, she wouldn't nap when she was supposed to and fell asleep right before we arrived at the picture studio. Needless to say, Aidan wasn't totally her happy self. We did get some good pictures, however.

In other news, we are tranisition from bottle sippy cup. Most of the time is going fairly easily. We are down to just 2 bottles a day and we plan to phase those out after our vacation in Oregon. We are also transitioning to cow's milk and hoping Aidan isn't allergic. So far, some snot but not a ton. We are also trying to introduce a spoon. She's not always clear on the concept. We've started brushing teeth and she loves this!

Aidan's latest obsession is hats. She must have all the hats she can see and and put them on her head and we must wear them as well. Very cute!

Here are some pictures....

"Eating" with a spoon:


Her swimming pool:



Ad for Whole Foods:


Hats, hats, hats!

Pictures from San Antonio

Here are a couple of slideshows of pictures from San Antonio.

Its Mommies. Plural.

We are back from San Antonio and Aidan now legally has two mommies. Of course, she's always had two mommies, but now the court says she does too. There were two other lesbian couples doing adoptions that day too, so we got to hang out with them and get to know them as well. One couple had faternal twin girls and the other couple had two boys. Everyone was really great. The actual adoption took probably 3 minutes. Christianne and I had to answer some questions and then Aidan's attorney said she recommended the adoption and the judge said "the adoption is granted." Boom. Done. We took a picture with the judge and that was it.

We had a great time in San Antonio. Aidan did really well on the trip. She woke up the first night, but then did a great job of sleeping through the night even though her teeth are giving her fits. We toured the Alamo. We walked along the River Walk. We went SWIMMING! This was Aidan's first time in the pool and she loved it. That was lots of fun and it made her sleep really well! Our last night we went to the Rain Forest Cafe and had dinner. We sat right next to the aquarium and Aidan had a BLAST! Oh, and our first night we went to a place called Zuni's Grill. It was good food and Aidan made so many eyes at our server that, when I asked for a small guacamole, he gave it to us for free! He was just smitten with her. I'm noticing, however, how difficult it can be to find healthy food for kids while on the road. Aidan ate a bunch of chicken nuggets that Christianne and I dutifully pealed all the breading off in an attempt to make them healthier. And I had packed veggies, but it is difficult to pack protein on a trip. And most of the applesauce had high frutose corn syrup in it (although, the Rain Forst Cafe served unsweetened applesauce, just fyi...). Aidan's most triumphant moment was on the way home at a Dairy Queen in the middle of nowhere. She engaged a teenaged boy enough that he actually smiled at her. She was so excited. This has been the one group of people upon whom her charms seem not to work and it actually frustrates her. You should see her work it. She'll stare at them. She'll tilt her head. She'll smile. She'll make cute noises. She'll keep this up for a long time, trying to get them to engage her. Doesn't matter that everyone else in the place is fawning over her, she gets offended that there are a few people who won't engage. It is really funny.

That's the sum of the trip. I'll post pictures when we get them uploaded.

Good doctor report

We had Aidan's follow-up with the ENT and audiologist and everything is great. Her hearing is normal and her ears look great. Aidan thought the hearing tests were OK, but didn't want anything to do with the doctor. We go back in 6 months for another follow-up to check the tubes and make sure they are still working OK. That's about all that's exciting right now in the world of Aidan.

One little girl standing up in bed...

...fell out of bed and bumped her head. Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said, "Can you come in at 9:00?"

Yes, Aidan fell out of her crib this morning about 4:00. She woke up about 3:30 and I went in settled her down and left her to go to sleep. It appears that she decided to come find me and leaned too far over the rail (even though we had the mattress dropped) and fell. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that she really hurt herself - so signs of head injury, broken things, or soft tissue injuries and she's acting like herself once she got calmed down from the scare of it. There's one more level we can drop the mattress, which we think it really for the toddler bed conversion, but we are going to use it! It scared all of us a lot. We are just thankful Aidan's OK.