More about my babes

Hello again! So soon since the last time we spoke! :-)

So, a few more things on the kiddos...

Today at breakfast I gave Chanson the spoon, and walked away. I came back, and he didn't have the spoon, so I asked him "where is the spoon?" He looked around on his high chair seat, and picked up the spoon, and handed to me. Does he know what I'm saying at this age?? I remember thinking that about Aria, too. As a baby we had so many one way conversations. I was always talking to her, as though she knew what I was saying and as though she would really answer... even though I knew she wouldn't. When she started to comprehend, I remember being surprised, too.

Today it's 75 and sunny. I love TX winter!!!!! Can't express that enough! Anyway, we were outside swinging, and I was telling Aria the story of the 3 bears. She said she wished she was there so she could try the porridge and the beds. Then she told me she also wished she was in Hollywood. OK... so I asked why? She told me because there are "lots of people to hug with". Made me laugh!

The other day, I did the worst Mama accident ever. Aria and I were walking out into the garage. I hadn't turned the light on bc I was going to open the garage door. So, Aria walks into the garage, and I walk in after her and slam the door shut. Aria instantly starts screaming but I think it is bc it's pitch black in there. So I'm reassuring her that I'm opening the garage now, and it will be light again. I open the garage door, and look over (bc she is still screaming!) and her FINGER was stuck in the door. I opened the door as fast as I could. I was so scared that I broke her little finger, and that her violin career was over. But, it didn't break the skin (there was padding on the door between the door and the wall). Later that night we pulled into the garage, and I told her daddy was home. She ran out of the van yelling "DADDY, Mama slammed my finger in the door today on purpose!" What on Earth!? Reminded me of a time when she told my dad "my daddy hurts me". WHAT?? We're going to have the CPS come over one of these days wondering what is up with us!

Aria has announced that she has 3 babies in her belly and they are all kicking around. I asked what she was going to name them, and she told me they would be called Chanson, Cockachoo, and Ringo. :-)

When I am practicing my violin, Aria started coming into the room, saying "I love you, Mama" and then running over, giving me a kiss and hug. She then gets a very serious look on her face, takes a perfect bow, and says "Thank you" and runs out of the room. Then she runs back in and says "mama! You forgot your cockachoo earrings!" and runs out again. The next time I hear from her, she starts the whole thing over again.

The other day, she took may (non Iphone) phone and asked if she could see the pictures. I opened the pictures section and gave her my phone. She started sliding her finger across the screen trying to get to the next picture. She told me my phone doesn't work. I had to break the news that I do not have an iphone. That kid - 2 and already into technology!

OH I forgot to tell you all about her first manicure. She had SO much fun! We took Emily to get a manicure for her birthday, and I asked them if they could paint her nails. Well, they filed her nails, put the cream on her cuticles, etc. She picked her toe nail color and finger nail color (blue and silver) and they painted her nails AND painted a flower on her thumbs and big toes. Such a sweet lady to take the time to make Aria feel so special! (She did a good job on Emily's nails, too.... Wyatt Urple Purple)

I always forget all the little things I was going to say once I get on here... so I'll be back with more once I remember!

More about sweetie pie Chanson

A few more things about Chanson...

He loves to feed himself. Even oatmeal.... which he eats every morning with blueberries. Mealtime is a very messy endeavor. Kat, I took the pic above for you :-) I knew you'd appreciate the mess! Chanson loves to make a mess. Unlike his sister, who hates her hands to be dirty.

So, he won't stand up (although I did trick him into standing the other day, and he stood for about 10 seconds before he realized and crawled away) but he will climb. He can climb the stairs faster than you can catch him, and he laughs as he does it. I was cleaning the fridge, and as I stood there, next to him, he climbed up to the shelf, trying to get the blueberries. He has climbed up on a kids chair toy, and up onto the desk part attached, and THEN up to the window sill! Monkey! He can climb off the couch successfully, too.

I met a woman at open gym last week who said her child also crawled like Chanson does, and it took forEVER for her kid to walk. She thought it was bc there was no reason to walk if you could crawl and hold onto things (he only needs one hand to crawl, since the one foot "walks" as he crawls). SHe'd never seen another baby crawl like that before... neither have I! Chanson seriously does NOT want to stand or walk. He just wiggles away and crawls away.

He's so funny... he doesn't talk so it's harder to tell you his funny stories, but his reactions to Aria, and his laugh and smile... he's going to be funny! For some reason I think his teeth are really cute! I love seeing his toothy lil smile!

He says "all done" and "down" and "that" now. He does the same thing as Aria did, where he stands up (holding onto something, of course... ha) and then bends at the knee, and says "down". Then he stands up. He doesn't say "up" yet. I always do the "all done" sign after he eats, or after he'd done with diaper change, or whatever he's all done with. I do the sign and say "are you all done?" so, now he says "all done" but doesn't sign it. He points to things he wants and says "that". He'd point at something and grunt, and I'd point at things I thought he was pointing at, and asked "that?" "that?" so I'm sure that is why he started saying it.

He picks up the phone and says "hi" into it now.

Hmmm.... what else? OH, he still isn't sleeping at night. I'm about insane with tiredness. He's had an ear infection (double) and has been up several hours the last 2 nights. Espresso is my good friend!

OH he plays with cars. He makes anything a car, and makes a "vroom" sound, and drags it around. He was just doing that to his bottle. He'll do it to a flash light - or really anything. Aria never did this... funny how boys do different things so young! Although he does play with Aria's kitchen by far more than Aria does. Hmmm... maybe he'll be a chef. Great! Live in chef! (I told him he can live with me forever).

I think he's grown a lot lately. He can only fit in 12 or 18 month clothes. He's a size 3 in shoes, but they are pretty tight. His hair is growing, that is for sure. Still a dark red (maybe will be auburn like my mom and grampa!) and curly just like Aria's. They both grew hair right above their ears that started to curl. I think Chanson actually has LESS than Aria did at a year, though! If that is possible...

He likes to dance, loves to swing, loves bathtime (water in the face - even if poured over his head - doesn't bother him a bit! Aria has put that to the test :-) he LOVES to drum on things - on anything, with anything. He loves to mimic - sounds or actions. I think I need to get more video to share on here!

I'm sure there's more... I'll post more as I think of it :-)

My baby girl :-)

Aria at the computer

Aria and Daddy before the "Daddy/ Daughter Dance"

So I didn't update you all much on Aria. I know you already know she loves dresses :-) Let's see, since my last actual update, a LOT has happened, of course (being that it was 4 months...) I think she's grown up a lot in the last 4 months. Such a little lady!

I did forget to mention that she is able to ride her tricycle all by herself as of 4 months ago. She got her bike for her 1st birthday from Uncle Chris, and is now just able to ride it around by herself.

She can also roller skate! My friend, Liz (hi Liz :-) and I started going to roller blading with strollers at the roller rink on Thursday mornings. After we're done with our work out, Aria gets to get on skates and give it a whirl. She does a great job! Last time we went, she was even doing tricks and jumping. Now that I'm typing this, I believe I already posted it. I am going on zero sleep, so excuse my (extra) forgetfulness :)

She went to a dance with Daddy. OMGOSH she had so much fun! I wish I could've gone so I could have seen her face when the horse drawn carriage pulled up! She had to have been in Heaven! It was being pulled by white horses, too. Aria is in love with Cinderella and so I'm sure she was just so excited. She got to ride in it and everything. There were princesses there, and wands, and wings, and princess hats. They just made the night soooo special. It was at Life Time Fitness.

Her latest fun has been learning how to use the computer. We play games on www.fisherprice.com. She and I sit at the computer, and she tells me what she wants me to do. Well, one day, we were playing the "dress up the doll" game at breakfast. I had walked away to get something, and she says "Mama, I did it!" I asked what she did. She dressed the doll all by herself... which means... she learned how to click on the object and drag it to the correct location. I couldn't believe it!! So, since she could figure that out all by herself, I taught her how to do the rest. Now she can type, scroll, choose games, etc. All I have to do is go to www.fisherprice.com and go the the page of games, and she can pick the game and play whichever she wants to.

She is also learning to read! She knows most of the sounds each letter makes, and words that start with that letter. She's learning how to sound out words. This is so much fun to work on with her!

We started doing Math class too :-) She can add any combination of numbers on each hand. I ask her "what is 2 (put up 2 fingers on one hand) plus 3 (put up 3 fingers on the other hand)" and then I move both hands together, and she tells me that it's 5. She can do any combination.

Well, I know you will all be very surprised at another obsession of Aria's.... her WEDDING! I swear I didn't encourage it - I swear! If you knew me as a child/adolescent/young adult.. OK right up until the time I actually GOT married - I was always planning my wedding. I think I subscribed to Bride's magazine at age 10. ANYway... Aria asked me a few months ago if I ever got married (we were watching Cinderella where Cinderella marries the prince) and I told her that Yes I was married. She asked who I married, and I told her I married daddy. Her face lit up and she said "I want to marry Daddy!" ... and from there she started planning. I don't know how she knew about wedding cakes, or wedding flowers, etc. etc. but she kept telling me (and everyone else) details about her wedding. We'd be at the mall, and she started telling one of the ladies at a makeup counter that we were passing about her wedding. It starts "I'm getting Married" and people just smile and ask, "oh really? To who?" or "when". She tells the cashiers at the grocery store, the people in the aisles at the grocery store. It really cracks me up! Here are the details.

Dress will be blue, with a blue and white necklace, and loooong earrings. She will wear glass slippers with HIGH heels (she stresses that every time). Her flowers will be pink. Her cake will be blue and white. Her bridesmaids (I did tell her about Bridesmaids and flower girls - she didn't know that on her own) are going to be Liz, Hannah, Mia, and Lauren. Her flower girl is going to be Emily. Daddy is going to wear green shoes.

Daddy and Aria went through a Bride's magazine (Mina brought it for her one day, a few months after she started talking about it all the time) and they made a box of Aria's favorite dress, cake, ring, shoes, etc. She actually found a blue and white cake in there and picked it! Matthew didn't even know that she'd been telling me she was going to get a blue and white cake. She asked Daddy for a wedding ring yesterday.

I asked her who I was going to marry since she was going to marry Daddy. She says I'm marrying Cockachoo. Which leads me to another funny Aria-ism. I showed her a Cockatiel at Petsmart months ago... probably close to a year ago. Since then, she names everything Cockachooo. That, or Ringo. She told me yesterday that she has 3 babies in her belly that are kicking around. I said "oh yeah? What are their names?" she said they were Cockachoo, Chanson, and Ringo.

She just gets more and more thoughtful every day. She thinks about Chanson or me before herself. I was changing his diaper, and she had to go potty. She said "Mama, I have to go potty but you stay here and make sure Chanson doesn't fall (off the diaper changing table)." I knew she didn't want to go herself, but, she wanted to make sure Chanson was OK. She just loves him, and is always looking out for him. SO sweet! Yesterday morning, she woke up and brought me my water, said "here mama, just wait right here and I'll get my sparkly shoes". Now, if you know Aria, she lives for her sparkly shoes. She isn't allowed to sleep with them on (nightly struggle...), so she sleeps with them next to her (seriously...) The first thing she does when she wakes up is put them on. So, to give me my water 1st was a big deal :-) There are a million different examples of how thoughtful she is. I just love that about her!

Today at the grocery store, she expressed her love for the old man who carried our groceries to the car. She was all smiley to him, and putting her chin on her arms as she looked behind her as he loaded the groceries into the van, and she said to him in a loud voice "I love you!" It was so funny bc the poor old man was caught off guard.... but he told her "I love you, too!" After he left, and the van doors were closed, Aria kept saying "I love him. I just love him" I laughed for the whole way home I think.

Another funny things she does.... when I'm practicing the violin, she will come in and say "mama, I LOVE you!" I love it, of course. Then she comes up and gives me a big hug and kiss, and then runs out. Well, just yesterday after she hugged and kissed me, she got very serious, took bow very slowly and said Thank You, and walked out. Cracked me up.

She'll do funny things like, want to take a nap on the stairs. She'll get a pillow and blanket, and sit on the stair and say she's going to take a nap. She must get these things from her dad. haha

Her doctor thinks she's going to be a fashion designer. Every time we go to the doctor (which is unfortunately too often since every time they get a cold, it leads to an ear or sinus infection... UGH!) Aria comments on the doctor's outfit as soon as she walks in the door. It cracks her up every time. Aria will comment on her jewelry, and say "ohhhhh I looooove your necklace! It's sooo cute". She loves to watch Project Runway (Magic Runway) and loves to dress the doll on the computer. She comes up with really good combos, too. She has a magnet paper doll with dresses she loves, also.

She told me she thinks she is going to call me Vienna from now on. She asked "that's a nice name, right?" Ummm.... I don't think so! Of course she heard the name from Kim and I talking about the Bachelor...

That is all I can think of right now (I know... it was so short haha!) but I know there is more. I need to start writing down notes again so I can remember what to post!

Talk to you all again real soon!