2 years old and already getting 95%

Aaron at his 2 year old check up

Aaron had his 2 year check up today.  The Chubbas is 34 lbs, 6 oz and 33 1/2 inches (2 3/4 feet) tall.  No surprise he's in the 95th percentile for weight & head circumference but less than 50th percentile for height.  But with a mom who is 5' and a dad who is 5'7 we're not really surprised!  

The doctor appointment went well and besides his cold, he's a healthy, happy boy.  She also said he's on the fast track with his language skills so that was awesome to hear.  

Further stats: he's currently in between sizes sort of.  In Gymboree and Gap he can still wear 2T, but I think most other brands he's closer to getting into a 3T.  He's a size 6 in diapers.  We've got both a potty and a potty seat for the regular toilet, but he's not really telling us yet that he's got to go.  He wears a size 8 extra wide in shoes!  We've only had luck at Stride Rite so far!  

So now that we've got all the "turning 2" stuff out of the way, we can concentrate on Christmas.  Christmas Eve will be celebrated at tia Eva's with mom's yummy enchiladas and Christmas Day will be here at our home with a delicious Honey Baked Ham (courtesy of tia Diane). 

We hope you and your family have a wonderful and happy holiday!  Merry Christmas!

Happy 2nd Birthday Aaron!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Banana Slices

Aaron's Birthday Breakfast made with LOVE

My son turns two today.  Two years old.  He's not even a baby anymore.  He's so wonderful and so smart and so loving.  He says new words everyday.  He says "please" and "thank you" and "excuse me".  He says "I love you, momma".  He knows just as many words in Spanish as he does in English.  He can count and read letters and numbers.  He knows basic colors.  He talks and sings -- he loves to sing.  He is a happy boy.

It's so crazy to see how fast they develop and grow in such a short time.  Really, if you think about it in terms of the span of your human life, the amount we learn while we are young is incredible.  And he is just like a giant, chubba sponge.  

On Sunday we had a birthday party for him and he had his Grandpa & Grandma Coblentz, tia Eva, cousins and friends to celebrate with him.  The theme was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and because I have been sick with a cold for the past week, all the planning and purchasing of party supplies was left up to Josh.  The party was a great success.  And thankfully we saw not one bit of Christmas wrapping paper or Christmas themed gifts!  So glad because seriously, I didn't want to have to disown anyone!  He received plenty of gifts, had an awesome cake and wonderful company.  He is definitely loved!

Of course, I am one of those people that just love him to death and I couldn't keep my kisses away from him so the day after his party, he came down with my cold.  Last night he threw up and was up every few hours because he was so stuffy.  Originally, I had planned for Josh and I to take Aaron out for a special pancake birthday breakfast (something I wanted to do every year) this morning but under the circumstances, I ended up making him a pancake breakfast instead.  I think he's feeling a bit better tonight, but he's still sick.  How much does that suck?  Poor kid.  But we're all taking good care of him.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, perfect, angel babycakes.  We love you SO much!  

Raider..... Pirate...... Same Difference!

Happy Halloween!

Pirate Baby & Pirate Daddy

Happy Halloween from the notorious pirate family -- The Herrings!  AAARGH!

Happy October

This is my favorite photo of the day.

Well, we made it!  We made it to Sacramento and into our new apartment!  We've almost fully settled in.  Aaron has his own room!!  How exciting is that?!  (Trust me, it's exciting!)  We even got to enjoy almost 3 extra weeks of summer.  But I think Fall is finally moving in, and I'm a-ok with that.

We moved into my old neighborhood and we live 2 minutes from mom & dad in one direction and 5 minutes from Eva in another.  And Natalie lives just short car trip away in San Francisco.  Aaron is enjoying having so much time with family and he calls Eva "tia" (aunt) and he calls grandpa Howard "papa".  So far he's still calling grandma Yvette "momma" too, but I just think he doesn't have the GR down yet which is why he calls my dad "papa".  


Our new apartment complex has a pool, a mini golf area, a playground for kids, an exercise room and a billiard table.  Aaron has been to the playground a few times (he loves the slide) and to the pool with his dadda twice, which he loves!  He's gonna be one of those fearless kids that just walks right off the step - I can just tell!  Gotta keep our eyes on that kid!


Today, we all went to a pumpkin patch and Aaron had so much fun!  He got to see farm animals, ride a pony, go through a maze, pick a pumpkin and go in a bouncy pen.  He was in heaven.  Josh and I are still trying to figure out what we're gonna dress him as for Halloween, but we're leaning toward something from Yo Gabba Gabba!, Dora the Explorer, or Go, Diego, Go!  Those are the 3 cartoons he's really into now.  Josh wants Aaron to go as Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba! just so he can dress as DJ Lance Rock!  Haha!

Josh is still on the hunt for a job and I'm not looking for one myself, but if it comes down to it, I will probably look for something in the State.  I am trying to get used to being back in California.  I'm so glad we moved at the beginning of Fall so that I didn't have to last a whole summer here, not that I'll be able to skip it next year!  And I'm getting my barrings back - getting to know Sacramento again.  It's strange because some of it is exactly the same.  Exactly.  Yet plenty has changed.  Once we get to know the city better, we'll probably decide which area we like best and try to move there.  You never know what the future holds!


The important thing is that Aaron is wonderful, healthy, smart and has plenty of people who love him.  We are all lucky for that.  Next week is his grandma Yvette's birthday and it ends in a ZERO.  We will all be celebrating with her.  

So happy October, happy birthdays, happy National Coming Out Day, happy Breast Cancer Awareness month, happy Fall and any other occasion that deserves a "happy" in front of it!

I hope you're all happy!  We are!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Aaron, Adriane & Rocky

Well folks, it's official.  The three of us little fishies (plus dog) are moving out of Washington.  We will miss it here.  I will particularly miss the green, the water, the mountains, the clean, the living GREEN, the temperature, the 24 hour supermarkets, the huge seagulls, the sea otters, the ferries, Pike's Market, the farmer's markets, the shopping, the metropolitan yet small city feel, hearing the boats and trains from my condo. I'll miss most of it in fact.

But we're trading it in for other things.  Things that we feel like we need.  Things to help keep us SANE.  Mostly, it's a change we hope will do us some good.


So we just got back from a trip to California to see my family and came back with an apartment leased and waiting for us at the end of this month.  I'm busy with all the details and will have to pack and hope Aaron doesn't pull everything right back out of the box!  

But during our trip Aaron had fun with his grandparents and his tia (aunt) Eva.  For the first day after we go back he went around the house saying "TIA!  Where are you?".  So cute!  He likes his tia's little backyard because it has grass and flowers and cement for chalk and a hose!  


Eva and I took Aaron to South Land Park to see if he'd actually let us put him on the pony rides and he did!  And his pony was named Rocky!  It must have been fate.  (Rocky - Adriane, get it?)  He also went to Funderland which has a bunch of small rides for little kids.  He went on the CHOO-CHOO train and the cars.  He was kind of small for everything else.  The one other ride he could have gone on was a solo ride and he wasn't up for that just yet!  


He's talking so much more now and says new words everyday.  He can count to 10 in both English and Spanish now and he can almost count to 20 in English.  He loves to sing!  He sings to himself all the time.  He also loves to point out buses.  If you're in the car and he sees one he yells at the top of his lungs "BUS! BUS! BUS! BUS! BUS! BUUUUUSSSS!" and doesn't quit!  Somehow he's learned to dance like he's at a hoedown.  I blame that Dance-a-lot Robot on the Disney Channel!  


He still loves to eat but has become a little more picky than he used to be.  Well actually, he used to eat pretty much anything!  Now it changes from day to day, but I can always count on diary and carbs!  If it has bread, pasta or cheese he's gonna eat it!  


He changes and grows everyday.  I still look at him and see part baby, but now it's becoming more little boy.  I love my boy.  


So now on to a new chapter in our lives!  Next time I post it will be from Cali.


Hello Sunshine!


 

I'm hungry and tired but I'm doing this post, dammit.

So we finally took Aaron to the Woodland Park Zoo.  We had been talking about it and talking about it and we finally found a sunny, warm day with nothing else planned to visit the zoo.  Aaron loved it and he was in total awe of both the giraffe and the elephant but the elephant was definitely his favorite.  He cried when we left the elephants to visit another animal!  And yes, he can now say elephant. :)  We want to visit the aquarium next.


It seems since I posted that last entry with his vocabulary it's grown almost double!  It's like one day they knew a handful of words and the next day there babbling away!  A lot of new animal words and sounds and definitely more compression in general.  I just did a video yesterday but I'm to lazy to upload it here so you can see my YouTube channel and see it there.  


Recently, Aaron's taken to "playing" with the dog Ulrich, though I'm not sure Ulrich has any idea what's going on.  Aaron runs around chasing him and Ulrich just runs around in circles trying to get away from him!  If Aaron catches up to him, he kind of lightly grabs his back or smacks him gently and then laughs and laughs and runs away!  It's pretty adorable and so far there has been no negative reaction from Sir Ulrich!  

I'm also trying to teach Aaron his first chore!!  (Haha!!  It's really more for the dog and Aaron to build a relationship).  When Ulrich's food bowl is empty, I'll say "Oh-uh!  The doggie's food is all gone!  Do you want to feed the doggie more food?" and Aaron will usually answer "YES!".  So I ask him to get the bowl for me and he picks it up, brings it to me where I'm waiting by the bag of dog food, I fill it up and give it back to Aaron.  I taught Aaron to grab it with both hands and he does, then walks it over to the placemat on the floor, squats and places it in the floor.  Then I tell him what a great job he did and I call the dog over and we both show Ulrich his full food bowl.  So far it's working out well.  I figure this will teach both Aaron and Ulrich a few things.  Now if only I could teach Aaron how to vacuum!  Haha!


Now if you'll excuse me, I've got about 20 minutes of nap time I'm guessing so I'm going to make good use of it!  

Aaron should totally model

Aaron's Zoolander!  (Thanks for the idea, Maya!)                                                                             

Brought to you by your future graffiti artist

Today it was hot in the Northwest.  Like, 95 degrees in some spots.  And for those of you who say that 95 isn't that bad -- Seattleites do not have air conditioning so SHUT IT!  Moving on.....

Since I knew this week was going to be warm I had been thinking of activities Aaron and I could do outside - even if it was on our little "stoop".  I had been actually thinking of sidewalk chalk for awhile and yesterday I went to Safeway and lo and behold -- there was sidewalk chalk for sale right in the front of the store in a summer display.  So today I swept our stairs and little entrance area, put the baby gate up at the end of the stairs and introduced Aaron to sidewalk chalk!  Hooray!!!  

Aaron loved it.  Ulrich loved keeping Aaron company.  And I loved being outside for a change without having to restrain Aaron in one way or another (hand holding, stroller, babe in arms).  He spent a little over an hour outside coloring on the walls and ground.  It's like he's a baby Picasso.  I sent a photo to my mom's phone and she said "He is going to become a graffiti person now!".  Yeah, I'm pretty sure sidewalk chalk does not lead to a life of crime, but I guess you never know.  Of course she thought it was totally adorable anyway.

Recently Aaron, Josh and I went to The Hi-Life (for their awesome $5 breakfast) and Aaron dropped his cup on the floor when a nice woman who was waiting for a table picked it up for him.  I said thank you to the lady and Aaron turned around and looked at her and said "thank you!" and the woman just started cracking up.  She thought it was the cutest thing.  And it was.  Score one for teaching baby good manners!

We're also trying to get Aaron to say "help" when he needs it instead of screaming (loudly) in frustration.  When Aaron can't get a toy out of his toy box he screams.  When he's sitting on something and doesn't realize it and can't pull it out from under him, he screams.  When he traps himself behind a piece of furniture and the wall, he screams.  So we tell him that it's inappropriate to scream and then we ask him to ask for help.  So far he still yells at first mostly, but when I look at him and say "Aaron, what do we say when we need help?" he says "heeelp".  On rare occasion he uses it all on his own.  Like when he's screaming his head off because I'm changing his diaper and he hates it and is trying to roll over and yelling "HEEEELLP" at the same time.  Yeah.  Awesome.  I'm just picturing having to change his diaper in public when he starts that up.  Score one for baby on this one.  (sigh)  You win one, you lose one I guess.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stick my head in the refrigerator.  And if you happen to see some sidewalk chalk tags in your neighborhood, I swear -- it's not my boy!

18 months - My baby is a toddler!

My Aaronito is 18 months old! Today we had his 18 month check up with the doctor and he's doing great. Aaron weighs 30 lbs exactly and is 32 inches long. We went over diet & nutrition and development.

Aaron pretty much eats everything we eat and now that I've cleared it with doctor that includes shellfish, raw fish and smoked fish/meats. AWESOME! Today we tried real sushi -- he's had a cucumber roll before and he loved it! -- but he wasn't too keen on the texture of the raw fish I think. But then again, it takes most adults awhile to get used to sushi!

He does a lot of baby babble and even likes to sit and "read" his books out loud to himself but he does have a small vocabulary. Aarons' current words are:

Truck (sounds like cock)
Car (Caa -think Boston)
Yes (yesssss)
No (NO no no no no; nonono!; nnno and other various forms)
Mama (usually Mmaaama!)
Dada (DaDa!)
Gaga (we have no idea where he got this word. He uses it for binkie. WE say binkie and he knows what we're referring to, but he says gaga.)
Nina (Neena! -She does the Goodnight Show on the Sprout Network)
Hot (ot - like the H is silent)
Chicka (Caca! -- A bird that does birthdays of the day for The Sprout Network)
Juice (jewwwz)
Cracker (cacker)
Agua (wawa or a-wah. Agua=water en espanol)
Block (again, cock)
Ball (ba-al)
All done or All gone (aah gah)
Elmo (emmo)
Banana (nanana)
Apple (app)

There are a ton of other phrases Aaron uses that Josh and I can understand but aren't really clear to others and has other words that he's just starting to say. Today he said "house" just once while I was reading him a book! His vocabulary is picking up more and more. I really want to get him some flashcards!

We also let him walk a lot more on his own (he hates being in the stroller anyway of course) and today we took him in the stroller from our house to Sam's Sushi which is about 7 blocks away and on the way back he walked the entire way home!

He's definitely developing quickly now. I can't believe he'll be 2 in December! Crazy! :)

Crazy good.

What IS that that I'm feeling???

This is the box. The box full of bottles that is sitting in my living room ready to go to storage. The transition of moving from 3 bottles to 2 went just fine. He never asked for a bottle and I was still giving him the one before he went to bed (mostly to make me feel better). I was planning on continuing the bedtime bottle for awhile longer when I packed this box. But then.......

PEE-PEEEEEEEEEEE. Wet sheets, wet pajamas, wet baby at 3 am. For 2 days in a row he peed through his diaper for his naps and bedtime. I washed sheets 4 times in 48 hours. (And if you know my washer/dryer machine combo, you know how insane that is). So I went to the store and bought the night time diapers. On the 3rd night for bedtime, he still peed through his pajamas. And that is when I decided to stop the bottles all together. Tonight he went to bed without a bottle and tomorrow morning I will know if that was the issue. If the kid is dry tomorrow, ALL the bottles are going into that box and into storage.

My only real concern with ending all the bottles is that he's not getting enough milk. He won't really drink milk out of a sippy cup yet. I give him yogurt and cheese but I'm worried that's not enough. Hopefully, if I keep trying with the milk in the sippy cup he'll get used to it.



Meanwhile in Mommyland......... Something strange is going on. I don't know how to explain it. I mean, the other day we all went out to breakfast for Josh's birthday and we walked past a pet supply store and they had some cats there for adoption and I stopped to show Aaron the cat (Aaron, look! A cat! What does a cat say?) and I saw it's long white fur and big blue eyes and I couldn't stop staring. We went inside and I looked around a bit at the dog stuff but really I was just headed towards the back to look at that cat. And I read the card .... it's an older cat - seriously, like 12 or something - and it's missing teeth so you have to feed it soft food only and I just keep thinking Why would someone abandon a cat that is so old?. And then... I stuck my fingers in the cage and I Touched The Cat. ME. Um, hello! Dog person here! Cats are strange creatures that are better viewed from a distance. Just ask my allergies. My lungs appreciate that I am definitely a dog person. But I petted it, and felt sorry for it and almost wanted to take it home. If you could it's seen it's blue eyes...... But we left empty handed and for the next 24 hours I thought about that cat.

Then there's the desperate feeling I have to purge. Get all of this junk out of here! We need more room! Why? What's different now?

The other night I had a dream that my mom was pregnant and giving birth. But the baby was mine. Strange. All dreams are I suppose. But still.....

A few days ago I was looking on Craigslist for a new place to move into (mostly) and after a short while I realized I was really looking through the pets section for dogs. WTH?!

Something is going on here. Something. But I can't explain it. All I can say is that I think my brain is getting ready for something but my body has got a long way to go before it catches up with that silly, little brain of mine.

Stay tuned..................

The Beginning of the End of BOTTLES

So, yeah ... Aaron still drinks 3 bottles a day. Don't get me wrong - he has his full 3 meals, but he has a morning bottle, one in the late afternoon and another before bedtime. I know what you're thinking. Oh yes... if you're of an older generation you're thinking So what? I didn't take my babies off their bottles until they were 2 years old. And if you're of a younger generation you're thinking Seriously? He's still on the bottle?

But as I had been feeling for months like I should be weaning him off the bottle, and the fact that he no longer really finishes one (instead he turns it upside down so it can drip all over my carpet, tile, couch), and I found the hand out the pediatrician gave us at his one year check up which said to start weaning him off back then, I decided to start today.

I actually kind of did it all gung-ho like and wasn't going to give him any bottles, anymore, period. He didn't have his morning bottle or afternoon bottle. But I did end up giving him one before bedtime. He never asked for it but anything I can do to make bedtime easier, I'm all for it. I'll probably only do it for a few more weeks until he gets used to drinking cold milk with out of a sippy with meals.

And that is the beginning of the end of bottles. At least for this kid. Hooray for future cupboard space!

We're walking and we're talking

My Chubbas - 15 months old now. He's walking all on his own, just like I predicted in my last post. Aaron weighs around 28 lbs, wears sizes 18 months - 2T and we had his feet measured again and he's a 5 WIDE! We'll be visiting Stride Rite soon to get some proper walking shoes for the little guy!

Aaron also drank from a straw for the first time today! :)

Aaron has also added a few more words to his vocabulary besides "No no no!". LOL! Aaron pretty much refers to all vehicles as "trucks". He's been calling his grandma Yvette "mama", he says "agua" (water), "nanana" (banana), "app" (apple), and he makes animal noises!! I can ask "What does a lion say?" and he says "RAWR"! It's the cutest thing ever! He also does a rooster, cow, duck and is just learning monkey.

Right now Aaron and I are in California visiting Grandma Yvette and tia Eva and so we get to enjoy the sunshine and the outdoors. He played in the sprinkler for the first time and *loved* it! He also walked on the sidewalk for the first time just holding my hand and he was so enthralled with everything around him!

Aaron is also off jar food for the most part (unless I get really lazy) and he just eats whatever we are eating. There isn't really much he won't eat. I still have him on 2-3 bottles a day but I think when I get home I'm going to switch to sippys totally. I know we're probably behind on the sippy thing but I don't have anyone to tell me these things in Seattle! :P

We are all enjoying him and I'll try and update more often!!

Stomp, stomp like a dinosaur

See this boy right here? This boy took his first steps yesterday - All. On. His. Own. :)

Aaron was at his toy chest, trying to walk over to Josh who was sitting on the couch. He reached out for Josh's leg and simultaneously let go of the toy chest but Josh quickly moved his leg out of reach and Aaron sized up the situation, and took 3 steps over to the couch without holding on to anything! It was awesome! Josh and I both clapped and yelled "YAY!!" and Aaron just smiled.

He already walks behind his fire truck (it has wheels and a handle so he can push it and walk behind it). He will walk holding our hands and recently I've been able to grab just one of his hands and start walking and he'll come along with me. Soon enough, he'll be doing it all on his own!

One year olds are nuts. And by nuts, I mean........

Greetings and apologies first of all. It's been way too long since I've graced you all with an Aaron update. But as I've said in the title, one year olds are nuts! Aaron is so busy moving and getting into everything and pointing and asking "Dat?" (what's that?) and saying "nOOOoooo". He also shakes his finger at the dog and says "Nooo" when the dog barks. I might have taught him that. Perhaps. On purpose.

AnyWHO.... Aaron is not walking yet, but he sure does move. He's quick and he loves getting into any cabinet or drawer. The newest drawer is the spice drawer. Lots of little bottles for him to play with. And I can't tell you how many dented cans of food we have. He also loves to sit very very close to the dog food and stick his foot out so that he's almost touching it with his toe and then look up at me so I can tell him "No toque! That's for the doggie!" and so he can do it anyway. He also loves the vacuum and I assured him that as soon as he's able, he can use the vacuum as much as he wants!

He's doing very well though and thankfully is on whole milk (goodbye formula!) and will eat regular food. I still keep a small stock of jar food but I'm trying to move more towards regular food. It's harder to get our schedules the same because I don't eat as many times as he does but I'll just have to figure it out. He loves pasta with butter and cheese. He also loves bananas and yogurt (still). And he LOVES peanut butter and jelly. Man, I'm making myself hungry. Moving on...

Aaron also likes to say "DADA!" when he sees Josh. No "momma" yet though he still refers to me as "linda" occasionally. And when Josh goes to work, we go to the door and wave goodbye and Aaron waves and smiles. It's pretty cute. Also, there is the network called Sprout on cable and they have this puppet bird named Chicka (she's a chicken) and Aaron loves her. He squeals when she comes on and says "CACA!" -- I guess he hasn't gotten the "ch" sound down yet!

I don't know how much he weighs right now but I'm sure it's close to 30 lbs. He's so heavy. And unfortunately, he is SO hard to put to sleep for me. He's a year old and I'm still rocking him to bed, sometimes for an hour. It's insane - bad for me and bad for him. And since Josh is still working nights, I'm the one doing it every night. My wrists are killing me! Aaron's doctor and a few other mom's have told me that I just have to let him cry in his crib. At first the idea just stabbed my little heart and it still does, but holy Zeus I don't know what to do anymore. So a few nights ago I rocked him for 15 minutes and put him down still awake. I turned on his night light (with music) and left him in there (saying goodnight first of course). He cried on and off for about 15 minutes before he fell quiet. He had had a long day so it was luck the first night. The second night he had only had one nap and so he fell asleep in less than 10 minutes of me rocking him. But the third night and tonight, I've rocked him for 10 minutes and put him down and he's cried longer than 20 minutes. Last night Josh had off and he went in and rocked him to sleep. Tonight I just laid him back down in the crib and turn the night light on and rubbed his back until he fell asleep. (sigh) I guess it's supposed to get easier every night..... we'll see.

But other than that, we are all doing well and enjoying each other. You might know that I'm at home now with Aaron (SAHM) and Josh is looking for a 2nd job. We are also looking to move out of our tiny condo and into a home with a yard but haven't had any luck yet. Plus, it'd be awesome if Aaron had his own room. It'd be SO AWESOME.

Wish us luck! I'll keep you all updated!