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!