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!

Happy Birthday Aaron!!

One year ago, on December 21 at 10:15 pm Aaron Howard Herring was born. Yes, my Chubbs is a year old!

My sweet little angel babycakes! (sigh) I can't believe it.

Well, Aaron had his birthday party on Saturday at his great aunt & uncle's house. The entire Herring clan was there and a few close friends who were kind enough to sit through a 1 year old's birthday party! Aaron had an Elmo themed birthday party and got his own mini birthday cake. He opened up a few of his own gifts and mostly liked the wrapping (LOL) but loved the Mickey Mouse card he got from my friends Sara & Tom and he loved Grandpa & Grandma's rocker/tricycle toy they got him. When he got home, we took out a few more toys and he really likes the puppy on a string that his aunties Calena & Melanie got him too! He pulls it towards him and laughs!

Aaron will have his 1 year doctor's appointment sometime next week, so I can only guess his weight is around 28 lbs. He has 8 full teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom) and his bottom 2 molars are halfway out and they top eye teeth are just starting to poke out. He always seems to get several teeth at once! Lucky us!!

He fully crawls now, pulls himself up on his own, walks from one piece of furniture to the next on his own by holding on to them, and he still loves foooooood. Right now he's drinking about 3 bottles a day and 2 solid meals. He loves Cheerios and has recently been introduced to Ritz Crackers (which bring a smile to his face) and plain pasta noodles. He still LOVES his YoBaby yogurt too.

Right now we're not buying anything smaller than 18 months in clothing for him and the Nowali moccasins are still the best things for his feet!

We saved a few gifts from his birthday party to open on his actual birthday so tonight, while watching Chicka on Sprout wish happy birthday to the viewers (we sent his name in!) we're going to open a few more gifts.

A few days ago he got his first professional haircut at this place that specializes in infant/kid hair and he did great! But now with his new haircut he looks even more like a little boy and less and less like little baby! I can't believe he's ONE!

The next celebration is obviously Christmas. That will be a post (or two) on it's own!

But here's my little angel babycakes today-- ONE YEAR OLD. Happy Birthday Sweetness. Mommy and daddy love you more than anything, ever. :)

(That his chocolate frosting all over his face and harms and MY hands from his birthday cake!)