oh boy, it's been awhile, hasn't it??

Pictures above.... Aria & Chanson swinging together - they love doing this! Next one is Chanson eating chocolate pudding batter. I had him in the high chair to be a part of our pudding pie making, and he snuck the whisk. I didn't give it to him! AND a piece of his birthday cake. I have to get some good 1st birthday pics up soon!

Well, I figured I should blog bc it's been WAY too long since the last time! I don't document anything anywhere except here, so this is my entire baby log and baby book!

I haven't written any notes to remember what to put on here like I usually do, so I'm just gonna write what comes to mind!!

First of all... Chanson did turn 1! :-) He had taken a few steps here and there before his birthday, but he started officially walking on his birthday :-) Went from a few steps, to walking across the room - and he hasn't stopped since. On his 1st birthday, he weighed 20 lbs 6 oz and was 29.5 inches. Low percentile for weight (prob 10%) and 50% for height. Hmmm... think he's gonna be like his daddy?

Let's see... milestones... he has 8 teeth (FINALLY!) He just got the bottom right one this week, and hadn't gotten a tooth before that in probably 4 months or more!

He has said several words, but he doesn't ever say them all in a day. He will say a word a LOT for a week, and then not say it again for a few weeks, and then go back to it again. A list from the top of my head.... mama, dada (& daddy), papa, more (says this a lot), thank you, all done, dog, ziggy, ball, this & that & there (dis & dat & der). Hmmm.... that is all I can think of now. He does lots of signs. He has started catching on very quickly to signs. I'll show him once and he'll do it. He says more, food (and more food together), thank you, please, help, milk (barely ever anymore), and drink (does this one a lot too).

He's recently started to really comprehend a lot. I always talk to him, and tell him to do things (always have, just don't expect him to actually do it). Well, now he's starting to do it. I've been having a little fun with it.. haha! I'll tell him to do something I absolutely don't think he will do - like "hey Chanson, go sit on the potty". Sure enough, he walked in the bathroom and sat on potty. He'll put stuff away if you tell him to or if he drops it all over and you ask him to put it back. I told him to spin in a circle and he did, told him to dance, and he did. Next I'm gonna ask him to go get my purse and keys before we walk out the door. I'll let you know how that goes :-) ha!

He's sleeping WAY BETTER! I just tell him it's nighty night time, and I lay him in crib and walk away. You don't even know how happy this makes me! Monumental for my children! He sleeps all night and goes to bed early. NICE! Now we have to work on Aria haha! He was doing badly again the last few months, but then he got that tooth and he's been great ever since! Sweet sleep!!! Ahhhh!!

Hmmm what else. He's still cracking me up.... he tries to make me laugh all the time doing silly things. Then he'll look at me with this look that you know he's thinking ... is she laughing at me yet? He's so funny... you'd have to see it to get it, I guess. I hope he's funny like my brother. My brother is the funniest person I've ever know.

He's also still a climber. He can climb up that swingset no problem now. Very fast. He's a monkey!!!

OH speaking of monkeys... he was up to 4 animal sounds. Monkey, elephant, dog, and lion. Now, they all sound like a lion. If I even start the sentence "Chanson, what does a...." I don't even get to the animal, and he's roaring like a lion. Then he laughs. So, I guess he knows lots of animals..... Lion, Bear, Jaguar, Cheetah, Tiger.... :-)

He wears 12 month size pants and shirts, and size 4 shoes. More like 4.5. He's almost in a 5. Unbelievable to me!! But, I'm in complete denial that he is even 14 months old :-)

Summer fun already!

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!

Dresses, dresses, and more dresses!

To say that Aria loves dresses is an understatement. She adores them! That, and shoes... oh dear we're in trouble in a few years! She loves (loves!) to roller skate. We were going to take her roller skating last Monday, but she didn't want to change into pants. We told her she had a choice - keep her dress on and stay home, or put on jeans and go skating. She chose the dress...

We watch Project Runway (which Aria thinks it's called Magic Runway). Aria critiques the outfits as they come down the runway. She says if she likes them, what about them she likes or dislikes. She is a big critic on the sleeves of each. Even if we say we like or don't like a dress, she doesn't just take our opinion, she keeps to her own opinion and has definite reasons. She also likes to play games on the computer where you dress the dolls in different outfits.

Aunt Ruth Ann made Aria LOTS of dresses! She loves them! Here are pictures of a few. I'll add more later from the other computer. We can't leave this post without a picture of the Bubble dress and the Butterfly dress!

This is an Aunt Ruth Ann original. It's Aria's fave. When she put it on the first time, she spun around, and said "oh mama it fits me so perfectly!"

Aunt Ruth Ann original romper! This is Mia & Aria at the pumpkin patch :-)

Another Aunt Ruth Ann original... The Thanksgiving/Christmas dress. My fave!

This is the dress up dress that used to be Alethea's dance dress when she was little. Aria wore it most of the time in PA!

Yet another another Aunt Ruth Ann original. It's the Autumn dress. Aria loves the butterflies and bear on the pocket!

About time... my kids are practically adults

OK, so here goes... I'm just going to start typing and see where this goes! Sorry it's been SO long!

First of all Chanson. He's 10 months old now, and a lot has happened since he was 6 months :-) (I know, I know!)

1st tooth - October 24th - The bottom right tooth (6 months... almost 7)

1st word - dada and soon after... mama! Beginning of November

1st crawl - November 3rd he began to army crawl

2nd tooth - November 5th - The bottom left tooth

1st sign - November 17th - Began saying more in sign language (also started clapping)

3rd tooth - November 21st - Top right SIDE tooth

4th tooth - November 24th - Top left SIDE tooth (yep, vampire...)

1st real crawl - December 8th (well, he walks on one foot, drags the other leg, which is bent underneath him, and crawls normally with his hands... it's funny! I'll put up a video)

He also says Hi and Ball and Dog, but pretty sporadically. Hi was his 3rd word (if dada and mama count). He started saying "hi dad" soon after he could say both words. He also says Daddy. He likes to mimic sounds. He'll mimic animal sounds, like the elephant, monkey, and dog (he pants). He also roars - it's funny! Matt will roar at him, and Chanson will roar back.

He has been cruising around on things since November, but has YET to stand on his own! Whenever I try to get him to stand, he just bends his knees. I don't think he's in any hurry to walk. He loves to crawl, and he's fast.

He's just got the sweetest little personality. He loves to play and has gotten really independent. He and Aria play together for hours!

He has started talking on the phone. He'll take anything that could be a phone, put it to his ear, and start talking away. I WILL get it on video and post it here!

He's learned to play the flute like Aria is doing in this video. Every time he makes a sound, he stops and starts laughing so hard! He such a music lover, and loves to listen to the music I listen to! (yay!) He loves to drum. On anything! He goes into the laundry room and stands up by the washing machine and starts drumming on it. (so if he can do that... why won't he stand on his own! Baby! :-) He takes anything that could be drum sticks and pounds on anything that could be a drum. He also likes to pluck the strings on my violin. He does it gently, too. He likes the sound it makes. At Thanksgiving in PA, Jake was playing the guitar, and Chanson went right up to him and just stared at him with his big eyes and his mouth open. Yep, music lover!

Food... oh.my.gosh this boy can EAT. Seriously I do NOT know where it all goes, and I cannot fathom he has a stomach big enough to hold it all! He is not picky, either. He'll eat anything. One of his faves is dog food. :-/ He is constantly trying to get dog food and just cries when I take it from him. I have to be careful not to leave dogfood in the bowl. Anyway - for breakfast he'll eat a whole banana, cheerios, and a bowl (about a full cup) of oatmeal with blueberries in it and yogurt. For lunch, he will eat an entire sandwich (I remove crust) and apples and goldfish and whatever veggie I give him. Some of his favorite things so far are tilapia and blueberries. He's not a big fan of cheese by itself. I'm still nursing him, but only 2 times a day. Otherwise he has formula, which he loves.

And after all that eating... he's a lightweight! Definitely has his daddy's metabolism. He is in the 10% for weight! I guess I need to give him more food! :-)

Chanson is not scared of anything - you can start the vacuum right next to him, and it wouldn't faze him. Tzigane has never scared him. Well, he has Matthew for his dad, so loud noises just do not scare him. But we found what he IS afraid of.... puppies! I felt bad cracking up when he started bawling when he was introduced to the sweet, gentle, beagle puppy named Maggie. She was 7 weeks old, and walked up to Chanson, and he just started bawling - the "OMGOSH is he going to take a breath soon!?" kind of cry. Poor guy!

OK I gotta publish this and jet bc my baby is being demanding! I have a LOT more to write, so check back soon!

Elephant :-)

OK OK OK I know... I said I'd stay on top of things now that I'm 36. Well, I guess that will have to happen when I'm 37 :-) Never too late, right?

So, I have a lot to say, but I had to get on here to tell you all that Chanson now does his 1st animal sound. I posted here when Aria did her 1st animal sound, so I must do the same for Chanson. He does the elephant sound, AND he puts his hand up in the air like an elephant while he does it. He's getting so big!

WOW!

I realllllly need to blog. I will have to have an "old news" section. Babies change too much too fast! Now that I'm 36, I figure I will start staying on top of things ;-) ha! So, it took 36 years, but better now than never, right ;-) Lotsa pics to share, too! Lotsa news lotsa pics .... get ready for a novel, my peeps.

Happy 6 month birthday Chanson!!

So, in other news… Chanson is sitting up now ;-) He’s been able to sit up for long periods since Sept 10th. I need to blog more ;-) He sticks his butt in the air when he lies on his tummy… I think that might mean that he’s gearing up to crawl. We’ll see! When I put toys beyond his reach, and put my hands on his feet, he’ll springboard off my hands to reach the toys.

He’s decided he doesn’t want to be a great sleeper anymore. Not sure what happened! Ever since we went to California, he’s been up almost every single night. Ugh… It was really bad, where he would cry and scream and be up for 2 hours at a time! I’d stay there with him, but he’d still cry in my arms. He was really stuffed up, and couldn’t breath from his nose, so couldn’t take the paci. Ends up he has an ear infection (but never had a fever, which was always my sign with Aria!). Since he’s been on antibiotics, he’s slept much better. He still gets up a few times a night, usually, but it’s pretty easy to get him back down. I want the old sleeping until 7 am Chanson back!

He has started to eat solids! I read that their digestive systems develop all together. So , when his mouth is ready to eat, his belly is ready to take food. In other words, when the tongue thrust reflex is gone, they’re ready. I would say his fave so far is bananas and carrots. He’ll eat peas and apples, but not crazy about it. He does NOT like cereal. I don’t even attempt that anymore.

He started using more consonants in his speech recently. He says babababa or dadadada. Matthew left the room the other day, and Chanson looked at me and said “dada”. It was a complete coincidence, but, it was pretty funny.

He can play with toys like he’s supposed to, which I think is so cool! Of course, they are baby toys, but he hits buttons to make them beep, and spins what is meant to spin. He can pick up a ball with one hand (since end of August when he started sitting up for short periods). Then it’s as though he throws it bc he swings his arm and lets go. I know he’s not actually throwing, but we like to think he is ;-) Matt always tries to get him to do it left handed – but it’s funny bc we’ll put the ball on his left side, and he’ll pick it up with his left hand, and hand it over to his right hand. Anyway… I love watching him play! He’s been playing with toys correctly since August, though, so I might’ve already mentioned it. I need to blog more…

He’s good at independent play. He’s especially good now that he sits up so solidly. Almost every morning he wakes up and plays and babbles in his crib. He doesn’t wake up in the morning crying. I LOVE that! That is when Aria and I go up to get him, and Aria gets in his crib, too. They cuddle and play

Games Aria and Chanson play… Aria sticks Chansons whole hand in her mouth and Chanson laughs really hard. Aria also likes to feed Chanson. She does a good job, actually, and is gentle (which she isn’t a lot of other times ;-) She even scoops the extra food off of his chin onto the spoon. Otherwise, Aria is pretty rough with him (in an overly zealous loving kind of way). I keep telling her that she can be rough with him when he gets a little bigger, but for now, we have to be gentle. When I told her that the other day, she waited about 3 seconds and said “he’s older now!” I think that she and her daddy can’t wait till he gets bigger so they can play rougher with him. Aria hugs him really tight, sometimes, or tries to get him to wrestle around with her. I love that he’s tough enough to endure her roughness, but can’t wait till he’s older and they can really wrestle. Sometimes, though, she’s really sweet, and offers him toys, and plays with him gently. When she’s like that, she talks to him with a really high voice – it’s cute!

Yesterday Aria put makeup on him… uh oh!!! (she pretended to with a makeup brush.)

Hmmm what else? OH he weighs about 16 lbs (a little over that I think) and he’s in 6-9 month clothes now. He has his 6 month appt this Friday! He’s still got the sweetest personality, and he’s in that super cuddly stage. I am loving (!!!) this age!!! Besides the lack of sleep, that is…

Art unappreciation 101

So, I thought it was about time we started to learn about Art. I rented an art dvd for kids from the video store, and got out my book about the Louvre. I anticipated my daughter being spellbound with interest in learning all about the artists and seeing their works. Well, we started the dvd, and I opened the book so we could find the painting on the dvd in the book. I looked at Aria, and her eyebrows were together and eyes squinted as though she were saying “what the heck is THIS”. She said “mama, I wanna watch the Art movie” I told her “this IS the Art movie”. Now, this was a good dvd. I could watch it myself. It has great music, too. So, back to Aria… “Mama, I don’t like it” I said “take a look at the book!” she took a look, and closed it. “Mama, I don’t like it. I wanna watch Tinkerbell”. After each painting, all the animals would clap, and they’d go onto the next part. Each time this happened, Aria’s face lit up, and she said “It’s all over mama??!” Next, a part on the movie came on where cartoon characters were walking through a museum, and there was a guy who had a frown on his face. Aria said “mama, he’s sad. Why is he sad?” I said that he wasn’t sad, he was bored, and wanted to go home. Aria said “Mama, I wanna go home with him, OK?” I’m laughing at this point at my art unappreciative daughter. Then the Ballet at the Opera painting came on the screen, and I found it in the book to show Aria. She closed the book, again, and said “THE end… Mama, can we watch Tinkerbell?” I tried to convince her to just take a look at all the pictures in the book. I opened it (as she attempted to close it) and paged through, asking “do you like this one?” each time, the answer was “NO!” The look on her face the whole time was hilarious, I wish I had it on video. So much for my artistic daughter… hmmm…I guess I’ll work on Chanson ;-) She did get something from the video, however. Have you ever wondered what the guy is screaming about in the painting The Scream? Well, when Aria saw this painting, she put her hands to her cheeks, opened her mouth wide and screamed “I forgot my paints!” Who knew?

Aria is very polite. She says please and thank you almost always when she should. Today I asked her if she needed to go potty, and she said “no, thank you”. I asked if she was sure, and she said “no, thank you”.

OK, this girl can walk in heels like a pro. (Well, I guess “pro” is the wrong word when we’re talking about high heels, but you know what I mean!) She takes my highest of high heels, where I have to stand on my very tip toes to even wear, and she walks around in them like it’s nothing! Well, I guess she is getting a lot of practice. She does this almost daily.

I was talking to my sis in law, Kat, who has a 2 year old, too. Check our her cutie here. Anyway, she tells me that Diella wears what she puts on her. Really?? Kids do that? Doesn’t that make life just a little too easy? Aria insists on picking out her own outfit every day and night. She usually changes a few times throughout the day, too. She often times wears dresses to bed. What am I saying… she wears a dress to bed 98% of the time. But, really, I don’t mind that she wants to pick out her own outfits. I like to see her go through her options and to see which she’ll pick today. But… what are we going to do once the weather turns cold? Should we go cold turkey on the flip flops? Get toe tights? She also doesn’t like sleeves. In fact, she has forgotten what they are! I wore a long sleeved shirt the other day, and Aria asked “mama, why are you wearing a coat?” I told her it was just long sleeves, not a coat. She asked me again “mama, why are you wearing a coat”. I guess I have myself a summer baby!

Ever since Aria saw our friend, Jenn, getting her hair cut a few months ago, she has been obsessed with scissors and hair cuts. She pretends that everything is scissors, and pretends to cut her hair or my hair. A few things she’s pretended were scissors are the hands on a play clock, her hair clips, the letter U (it’s bendy). I can’t even remember all she’s used to pretend to cut hair. She’ll cut, and say clip clip. She was playing with playdough when we were in Cali, and there were playdough scissors. She handed them to me, and said “these are dangerous, mama”. I told her it was OK, that these ones weren’t dangerous, and that she could play with them. Her eyes lit up, and she instantly took those scissors to her hair and started trying to cut! Uh oh!! She also likes to “fix” my hair. She sprays my hair, brushes it, and then messes with it. She likes it when I braid her hair. I can get a French braid all the way down her head now that her hair is long enough. She calls it a “bride”. She likes braids especially bc then her hair is long, bc the braid stretches out her curls. She really wants long hair.

Aria keeps asking to go to preschool. I’m not sure why? We were out driving around, and she asked to go to preschool. I asked if she knew what preschool was? Of course, she said yes (even if she didn’t). I told her that when she went to preschool, she had to go there all by herself. She said “I can drive the car?!” I told her ummmm no! Mama would drive and you would go to preschool, and I would drive back home and come to get you later. She said “OK let’s go to preschool!” I told her I didn’t know where one was right now. She said “mama, I wanna talk about it!” Where did that come from. Oh yeah, time out ;-)

Ah! Aria can finally ride her tricycle all by herself! She got it for her 1st birthday from her Uncle Chris. She can finally pedal around! She swerves to the left always, though, and hasn’t gotten the steering down yet, but we’re getting there ;-)

We were driving home one day, and Aria wanted pizza, so I stopped at lil Caesar’s for some hot n ready pizza. I told her we would get a big pizza. She said “no, mama! I want a little pink one!” Lately she wants everything to be pink. Her water, her milk…. Her pizza. So we use a lot of food dye to pink-ify everything. Matthew was getting her a cheese sammy the other day, and Aria told him she wanted a blue sandwich. Matthew told her he couldn’t make her a blue sandwich. To this, Aria said “Mama can make me a blue sandwich”. So, Matthew’s competitive nature kicked in ;-), and out came the blue food dye. For some reason, when blue food dye is put on bread, it looks more green. I guess bread must be yellowy (is that a word?) Matthew handed her the sandwich, and she said (with an expression on her face like an annoyed teenager) “this is not blue! This is green!” I said “OK, Veruca” seriously!

She’s suddenly interested in sign language again. She watched her sign language video and now has all the signs memorized. Mommy, daddy, blanket, sleep, story, friend, ball, thank you, you’re welcome, please, milk, eat, bath, more, cereal, baby, help… I think that is all. I think bc she knew a lot of them when she was a baby, it was easy for her to remember again. She made up her own for “friend” though. Even when the video is doing the correct sign, she does her own. She hugs herself really tight. So tight she closes her eyes. I like that sign for friend better!

She likes to teach Chanson to do things. She likes to get him to repeat after her, and so she looks at him and says bababababa or gagagagaga. She tried to teach him to jump the other day. That was pretty funny to watch! He was in his Johnny jump up, and he wasn’t jumping, so Aria tried to show him how. She also wants to put him in dresses. She claims he likes dresses. I told her that only girls wear dresses. She told me “but mama! He is a girl” ;-)

Lately Aria wants to pretend we’re other people. For awhile, I was Amy and she was Lauren. I mean, she went 3 days calling me Amy. Then, she decided my name is LaLa (no, she’s never seen TellyTubbies… and that is intentional! I can’t watch that psychedelic show and remain sane… or semi-sane…) so I told her that her name was Bing Bing. So, that was our names for 2 days. Then yesterday, she decided my name was Mama pig. What? Thanks Aria!

She has connected that her Mina is mama’s mama. She asked me the other day “Is Mina your mama?” She sometimes calls Mina “mom” bc I call her that. She’ll say it with emphasis, and then look at us with a look that says “did you just hear I called her mom?” like she’s doing something risky or something. She does the same thing when she calls Grampa, Dad.

She still gets treats for going potty (not every time… she does have some teeth left). I got these Welch’s fruit snacks so that she was at least getting some fruit in her sugar. She would take the orange ones and talk into them like they were phones (just like she does with Cashews). She always talks to Auntie Janice on the orange phone for some reason. She’d have a whole convo with her on her orange slice phone, and when she said “bye” I’d ask her “what did she say” and Aria would respond every time “pleeeeease”. (since we always say “what do you say” and she knows she’s supposed to say please).

Speaking of potty… she’s still doing great! She doesn’t have accidents at all. Well, I shouldn’t say at all. She did pee the bed the other night… but it’s very rare. She was going potty today, and I asked her “do you want some privacy?” and her face lit up and she said “yeah!” So I walked out. She called out from the bathroom “mama! I wanna eat it” so I ran back in, knowing that whatever she had she could not eat. I asked her what she wanted to eat!? She said “privacy!” It took me a second… but since I asked if she wanted some privacy… she thought I was going to go get it, and it was her potty treat. So, I had to further explain ;-)

We were sitting at her table on a beautiful morning, eating breakfast, and Aria looks at me and says “mama, you’re old”. I promptly put her up for adoption.

We sure have had a fun August... and Sept so far! I still can't believe it's Sept! The 2 weeks we spent with my brother, Adam, and Sarah and my cutie pie nieces made August FLY by.I don't even know where to start with the FUN we had!

When we got to their house, Adam took Aria up to Sydney and Christina’s rooms, and at each thing he showed her, she said, in an airy and drawn out voice “wow!” And you should’ve seen her when the DVD came down from the ceiling in the van! It was like she entered paradise or something! Needless to say, she had an absolute blast playing with Sydney and Christina. From morning to night! She misses them now. She wants big sisters ;-) She also loved (loves) Adam and Sarah. She keeps asking where they are now. She kept calling Adam “my uncle” Where is my uncle?

Aria is on her 1st amusement park ride here. She had so much fun!! This ride goes around and up and down at the same time. I was really nervous for her to go on the ride all by herself, and thought she might cry. Ummm... I was slightly wrong ;-)

We went to the Aquarium, too! It was fun! Aria got to pet a starfish ;-)

We went to the beach at Monterey. The tide came up and surprised Aria. It came up over her knees and she started bawling! Poor girl! But she had a great time playing in the sand. This was the 1st time she saw the ocean ;-)

Aria got sick right before we left and sick again as we left. Not sure if allergies or cold, but she was very stuffed up. After Aria asked me a question, Sydney asked her “why are you calling your mommy, Bobby?” Bc of her stuffed nose, mommy sounded like Bobby.

She had several “1sts” in Cali. 1st time seeing ocean, 1st trip to McDonalds. 1st French fries. Saw her 1st real rainbow, 1st hairclips (that she didn’t rip out within seconds of putting in). 1st time she pulled someone’s hair. 1st time hitting.

OK so the last 2 aren’t so good… but we dealt with it, and she stopped ;-) I was shocked at the hairpulling! I thought to myself she has never done that before! Then I remembered… only 1 of her friends at home has long enough hair to pull. ;-)

Chanson had a few firsts too…. Like his 1st food, lemon meringue pie. Yes I said lemon meringue pie. A neighbor came over and gave him a taste. Me and Sarah almost fainted, I think. He’d never had anything but milk until then. The neighbor was a super sweet woman, who meant no harm, so I couldn’t be mad!

Then, the other day, Aria stuck her sucker in his mouth! He is not going to like it when he gets rice cereal!

Chanson had a great ol’ time in Cali, too! It was funny bc Haley (the German Shepherd) kept bringing the ball to Chanson. Wherever Chanson was laying, sitting, hanging out, Haley would drop the ball on him. Then she’d wait there, like Chanson was going to throw it! Haley must have intuition that Chanson will be a good ball player ;-)

Like I mentioned before, while we were there, Aria was surprisingly potty trained! Aria saw Sydney say she needed to go potty, and went into the bathroom to go... and I guess it just clicked for Aria! After that, she wanted to go on potty and wear undies. SO we went and bought her undies and Sydney kept taking her to the potty (at 1st Sydney got a treat when Aria did.. talk about motivation!) Aria got to eat mnm's if she went potty. I asked Aria if she wanted an mnm, and she said "edamame?" haha!! She didn't even know what an mnm was! NOW when she asks for Edamame, she sometimes asks for mnms by mistake.

A few other things she is doing since coming home… she says “nuh huh” where the “huh” part is sung with 3 syllables. Cracks me up. And when she says no, she adds an ah sound to the end. Noahhh. Valley girl! Haha!

So, some Aria funnies ;-) Can't go without those, right?

It was Itzhak Perlman’s birthday on 8/31. If you don’t know, he’s the most amazing violinist that has ever been. Plus, he returned the letters I wrote to him when I was little (or young, I should say ;-) He is my childhood hero. Here is Itzhak playing what I dreamed of playing my whole childhood. I finally got to play in in HS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR8ABKpwm7w. Haha ok I went on a tangent there… back to Aria. I told her it was Itzhak Perlman’s birthday and she said, with squinty eyes, and high, questioning voice “Pizza Perlman”??

We were looking at one of her fav books which is pictures of all sorts of animals. She kept going to the Hippopotamus and she’d stress each syllable. Now that I write it, it’s not that funny haha! But, I guess you had to be there.

She calls sunscreen, “sunscream” and swimsuit “swimsoup”

She found a long dress in her closet. It was all the way in the back, and I’d forgotten about it. It was in the “doesn’t yet fit” part of her closet. Well, she wanted to put it on, and guess what? It fits. And she won’t take it off. Ever. She actually has been asking for long dresses like her princesses for a long time now. Now that she has one, there’s no going back. Funny thing is, I was the same way. I refused to wear pants all of kindergarten. My Aunt Ruth Ann (and mom? Did you make some too, mom?) made me long dresses. I still have one of mine, and I tried to put it on Aria but it is a few inches too long. Funny thing is… it’s a dress I wore in Kindergarten when I was 5 & 6, and will fit Aria before she is 3 ;-)

Aria is funny with her excuses. It always starts with “Hold on! I was just ____” insert excuse. Example. Aria sticks her sucker into Chanson’s mouth. I tell her she can’t do that! Babies can’t eat suckers! Aria says “but Mama, I was just pretending. See?” (sticks sucker back in his mouth).

When we were at the airport, Aria saw a skeleton sitting on a chair, with a menu and some food. She says to me "mama, those are bones!" I told her, yes they were. Then she said, questioningly "the bones are eating food??"

I think I’ve mentioned before that Chanson is quite the tooter. LOUD! You can’t believe that these come from a baby! So, we’re at the store the other day, and I’m holding Chanson, and Aria is walking. Chanson toots loud, and Aria pipes up “Mama! You TOOTied!” oh my gosh, how do I get out of that one!

Chanson is doing a lot these days! He’s getting better at sitting up on his own. You can’t just plop him down, and he’ll sit there. He’s still wobbly, but can hold himself up for enough time to take a picture ;-) He’s getting there ;-)

We got Chanson an exersaucer while we were in Cali, so he’d have somewhere to play. He has gotten really good at playing with toys the way they’re supposed to be played with. He’d spin the spinning rattle, and even move the beads from one end to the other. He holds and shakes rattles. He has a toy where you press the lever, and the lights and music play. He presses the lever to make that happen. Today he was playing with a toy with a book on top, with a page that is able to be turned. He can turn the page ;-) He loves loves to kick. He kicks a hanging ball from one of his toys – that is one of his fav toys (Thanks Liz – you were right!)

He moves around a lot on the ground. He’ll start out under the toy where he kicks the hanging ball, and he ends up completely off the mat, facing the other direction, a few feet away from where he started.

Let's see what else? He's just generally the happiest baby alive ;-) He laughs and smiles a lot. He's still really easy going.. I hope that never changes ;-) I just love them both sooooooooooooo much!

Potty Trained!

I have soooo much to write, but have barely been on my computer over the last month. I will write a big long blog soon (I know... you will all wait with bated breath!)

BUT

I had to share! Aria is officially 100% potty trained! Woo hoo! And... thank you Sydney ;-) (I'll write more about that in the long blog ;-)

She's gone over 2 weeks now with very few accidents. We had one evening with lots of accidents, and since then, an occasional one here and there. Over the last week, though, she's only had 1 accident, and is diaper-free even at night and during naps!

BUT

she may have several cavities from all the treats she's getting. When does one stop giving treats to their little angles for going on the potty? Should I still be giving myself treats? Oh yeah, I get treats when she goes ... ;-) Potty training is fun!

My New Yawk-uh

So, it seems we have a lil' New Yawk-uh. Aria always leaves off the "r" sound at the ends of words. My favorite one is Peanut Bud-ah. Whenever she asks for it, I ask her to repeat herself several times (for my entertainment). It makes me laugh ;-) She had just been asking for peanut butter directly before taking the above video... but I end up having to ask her to say peanut butter bc, of course, as soon as I start taping, she decides she only wants peanuts, not peanut butter. Was the word (words...) peanut butter mentioned enough times in this paragraph??

It's been awhile... so I have quite a few stories.... so make some popcorn and enjoy ;-)

Well, it seems Aria is a bit curious about Uncle Chris and Emily. Emily came to babysit Aria on a day Aria didn't (wouldn't) take a nap (one of those days that she fell asleep in the car, and felt that the all of 10 mins of slumber in the car was a sufficient nap. I disagree... so did Emily as she saw the non-nap monster appear later in the day, but we won't talk about that ;-) Anyway, Emily told Aria that she liked to take naps, to which Aria asks "do you like to take naps with Uncle Chris?" hmmm..... so, Emily?

Speaking of Uncle Chris... Emily, Aria and I were in the car playing the guess the gender game. Aria has gotten very good at it! Sometimes we name people and Aria says whether they are boys or girls, and other times, we list people and she says whether they are princes or princesses (bc one day she called Chanson a princess, and I told her that Chanson was a prince, bc boys are princes). So, we'd start the statement and let Aria finish. We'd say "Mama is a...." and she'd say prince or princess. So, Mama is a princess, Emily is a princess, Zig is a prince, etc. Then we said "Daddy is a...." Aria says "prince" We said "Uncle Chris is a..." and she said "KING". Haha!

My mom and Aria were watching Sesame Street while I was cleaning today. During the Murray had a Little Lamb part (where you try to guess what kind of school they are going to go to that day) they said one of the clues was Zapato. My mom asks Aria what that means, and Aria says "shoe". Sure enough, it's the word Shoe in Spanish. Matthew says Aria officially knows more Spanish than he does ;-)

Ok I'll try not to be so wordy this is getting long already!

We met my mom for lunch last week. She works for a doctor, and so we met at the cafe in the hospital. As we were leaving, Aria saw several babies. She'd point them out each time. The last baby we saw was completely covered with a blanket (well, actually, a hooter hider... one of my favorite discoveries of all time). I am walking pretty fast and Aria is skipping along to keep up, and so I'm about 4 feet ahead of her, so in order for me to hear her (apparently) she had to yell very loudly "Mama! that baby (points) is eating the booby" and then repeats it several times. The woman who was nursing was laughing and said something about Aria being smart to know that (but Aria sees me with my HH nursing Chanson).

(so much for not being wordy)

She says elevator "allivator" (like alligator with a v instead of g).

She loves to go to Petco and see the kitties! She gets to pet their lil paws and play with them. If you haven't taken your kids to the pet store, you should try it. It's like the zoo for Aria - she loves it!

When Aria is eating slices of fruit (like apples or peaches) she eats the middle and then puts it up to her mouth bc it looks like a smiley face and says "look mama! Cheeeeeeeze"

We went to the aquarium with Jessica. I should write an entire post about that! It was so much fun! Aria's favorite animals were the tiny monkeys, the turtles (really? I know! What 2 yr old likes the turtles haha!), and her most favorite were the sting rays! When we went into the tunnel that is a glass aquarium with sharks swimming around, she got a little scared. She kept saying she was scared, but then didn't want to leave bc she really liked it too.

Aria likes to "fix" her hair. She takes her hands and pulls them through her hair. She starts right above her ears and fluffs her hair up all the way to the top of her head. It's hilarious bc when she is done, she is very serious and says "look Mama!" and she has a blonde fro. I HAVE to get a pic of it. She usually does it in the car, though, when she's looking in her mirror.

Things she says that I think is cute is "that's perfect!" or "that's a great idea!" She usually says this in response to things like "do you want to go to the park?" or "want to watch sesame street?" But, one day she woke up from sleep crying really really hard. So hard she couldn't talk, but she was trying to, and kept getting frustrated and crying harder. I felt so awful! So I said "baby don't talk! it's ok - we'll just go downstairs!" and she said, between sobs "perfect" (per-fick) awwww ;-(

She says "some more" like this "some moh". She just said it, so I thought I'd blog it ;-)

She's been doing way better on the potty! Last weekend she went on the potty 5 times! Since then she's gone almost every day at least once. I guess she is getting ready! YAY! I told her "great job going pee pee on the potty, Aria!". Her response... "I like candy" haha! Me too! Now Matt keeps eating her suckers, and when she asks for one, he says "I went on the potty, so I get a sucker." I guess it is true.

Aria likes to wear her big girl undies.... but prefers them on her head ;-) Although, she did take off her diaper, and go get and put on her undies (on her butt, that is) all by herself the other day!

I got my hair done last week (same day Emily came to babysit - she ended up coming with instead of staying home bc of the no-nap situation). We had a great time, actually - ended up being really fun! (The melt down happened after the hair appt!) Chanson kept laughing at Aria. He'd just look at her and start laughing really hard. Aria kept calling Stephanie (the hair stylist) Babe. "whatcha doing, babe?" Stephanie looked at her and asked "did she just call me babe??!" Yep... and she continued to refer to her that way. Hmm..

Well, Aria got her 1st job offer. We were at the tailor getting my jeans hemmed, and Aria was being her sweet self that day. She was well behaved and very polite. The lady there asked her if she wanted to have a job working in customer service. Yes, I've submitted her resume! My Great Gramma always told me she got her 1st job in a shoe making store when she was 4, so, hey, Aria can have a job at 2, right?

Instead of saying oh my gosh, Aria says "oh me gosh". I call her my lil' leprachaun.

The other day she was walking around chanting "big fat head" (click click click with her tongue) "big fat head" (click click click) I asked if she was saying big fat hen. She said no, head. Not sure where this came from!

Aria loves cashews (me too!). The 1st time I gave her one, she picked it up, put it to her ear, and started talking into it. I guess they do look like phones. She does that every time she eats them... cracks me up! She actually calls phones "telephones". I think it's funny that she's never actually ever talked on an actual telephone (only cell phones).

When Aria says something in the car, I sometimes can't hear her bc the music is on and AC is on high. When I turn off the AC, turn down the music, and ask her to repeat herself, she whispers what she just said. If I ask her to repeat herself again, and tell her I can't hear her, she repeats herself in an even softer whisper. Not sure why she does this...

At about this age, I think it's pretty normal for kids to use the word NO a lot. Aria has her own variation to the word NO. Instead, she says "that's OK". Example convo:

Mama - "Aria, will you please go pick up your toys?"

Aria - (head tilts, and nods) That's OK, that's OK

She says it like she means "no really, that's OK, you can do it, I don't mind".

She sometimes gets the responses "I am" "I do" "I did" mixed up. It is hard for me not to laugh when she does it, bc she says the response with so much emphasis (stress is always on 2nd word). For instance "Aria, are you going to have fun in Sunday School today?" Aria says "I did!" Mostly she mixes I did and I do, though.

Speaking of Sunday School - she's been going, and staying in Sunday School (picture me jumping up and down with joy!) We never gave up trying to drop her off at Sunday School while we went to Church. She is hesitant at first, but then jumps right in and has a great time. Last week when she went, she came back and told us all about it. She colored a picture (currently hanging on the fridge ;-) Had a snack of Goldfish, and sang songs. I asked her which song, and she sang "Jesus Loves me". Aria loves to sing, and she's really good at learning the words. I think this was sewn into her dna, being that her name is Aria. Hopefully she gets a voice like Aunt Kat and Aunt Sonia!

Her hair.. oh my gosh I love her hair! I want to just bring her to the salon and tell them to make my hair like hers. Her hair has really filled in over the last few months (I don't need to spray her head with sunscreen anymore ;) Her ringlets are getting longer. She is starting to get Shirley Temple comments when we're out. She's got the curls, she loves to sing... now we just gotta get her tap dancing ;-) (Molly! Dance lessons!)

I have a 3 yr old student, and Aria loves to listen in on our lesson. Now, she asks to practice violin a lot. At least once a day. She takes her little (cracker jack and ruler) violin and holds it (perfectly, might I add ;) and her "bow" and makes sure she has a pointy pinky and pointy thumb, and plays her violin and sings twinkle twinkle little star. She also does little exercises that I give the students to do. She does a finger exercise, and bow exercises. She will take anything and make it a bow, and do up bows, and down bows, and stir the soup, and Mississippi Hotdog. Today, she took a straw wrapper and was using it as a bow. You can see a little video of her playing below. She is running away bc I am taping her... silly girl! She is standing on a wash cloth. She put it there bc with my 3 yr old student, I traced her feet in the correct standing position on a piece of cardboard, so that she could stand on it, and always have correct foot position. Aria improvised with the wash cloth. (none of the above has been prompted by me... not that I don't love it!) I've been waiting to actually teach her until she has a real violin (soon!)

Chanson is 4 months!

His eyes are looking green to me lately - what do you think?

I can hardly believe it's been 4 months. The time is going faster now than it did with Aria - and I thought that time was flying then! Chanson is staying true to his average stature, and was again 50% for both height and weight!

Height - 25 inches

Weight - 14 lbs 6 oz

He had to get more shots ;-( I do believe I will be requesting that they split up any remaining shots so that he isn't overloaded with vaccines. I think that 4 shots and an oral vaccine is an awful lot for a lil guy to handle. Aria is so very sweet when he gets his shots. She holds his hand and kisses his head and tells him it will be all right. (Although, she did hit him in the head directly before the nurse came in to give the shots... nice...)

Chanson is doing very well! He sleeps wonderfully (except last night ;-) and his demeanor just gets sweeter by the day. I believe we have been blessed with what the baby whisperer calls an Angel baby. He has sparkly, happy, sweet eyes. When he looks at me, I can almost see how sweet his lil soul is. I guess the eyes are the windows to the soul. Blessed is what we are with this little boy. I cannot wait to see how his personality emerges as he grows older.

And... he loves piano music. I more than love classical piano... Chopin, Greig, Rachmaninov, Liszt... I'm not sure how to put into words how much I love to listen to this music. That Chanson shares this with me, makes my heart smile. When he is fussy, all I have to do is put on some classical piano, and he is instantly happy... just like me ;-)

Daddy can now hold up Chanson on his hand... see pic ;-) Chanson loves it! He also loves to be roughed up by Aria. Sometimes she gets a little too rough, and as I'm trying to get her to be more gentle, Chanson is laughing! The rougher she is, the harder he laughs. I cannot wait for them to be able to wrestle around!

And lastly... here is Chanson's new talent and hobby - enjoy ;-)

This is for papa ... 1st one done!

This is for PaPa! He put a challenge up for me (dada) and Uncle Chris. SO, of course I decided that this was MUCH more important to master than to actually work today. SO ... Uncle Chris ... I WIN ... how you like that office job now!

Big girl bed!

So, I think I figured out Aria's sleeping issues! Today at naptime she got up twice. She never gets up like that at naptime. She was crying a very frustrated cry, like she didn't actually want to be up. I asked what was wrong and she pointed at the crib railings. It hit me (and I'm not sure why it took so long) she was hitting up against the crib rails and waking up. I should've figured this out sooner bc she is a crazy girl when she sleeps. She flails (sp??) around all over the place, and whacks Matthew or (and) I on the face several times. I am not sure why I didn't assume this was the case in her crib, too. So... tonight I put a queen sized mattress in her room (just the mattress on the floor, not a box spring). She was soooo excited. I surrounded the mattress with her stuffed animals in case she fell off. We did our routine - books, cuddle time, and bed - and I told her that she has to stay in her bed. I told her good night and left and haven't heard a peep out of her since. ahhhhh...

so why is it 12:15 and I'm still up... hmmm...

I love bof ah um!

I think it's hilarious how Aria says "both of them", and "lots of them"... Bof ah um and lots ah um. I crack up every time.

Last week, Aria kept getting up in the middle of the night (yes, we are back to that...). When she used to get up in the night before, she'd start crying, but last week when she'd get up, she'd scream at the top of her lungs the highest pitched scream and scare the living crap out of me! I am not sure how I escaped having a heart attack. When I went into her room (or when Matthew did) she was not scared, she was just up, and wanted to go downstairs and play. BABY!! She's hasn't gotten up in the night this week, though (knock on wood) but it's been hard to actually get her to go to sleep at night lately. Ugh!

Speaking of screaming... she does the same loud, high pitched scream whenever she sees Mia & Jenn and Mina. She thinks they're like the Beatles, I guess. Her hands go to her face, and her eyes open up wide, and she screams like a teenager at a Jonas Bros concert. It's sweet she gets so excited to see them!

We went to the bounce house for little kids twice last week. Aria had SO much fun! - and guess what else? So did Chanson! I never thought he'd have as much fun as he did! I'd lift and lower him like he was jumping, and he'd LAUGH and laugh. There are also obstacle type courses that you (errr... the kids) run through, and Chanson thought that was really fun, too. He's just the happiest, laughing-est baby in the world!

When it is time to go to bed (at night or nap) I always say "Aria, guess what time it is" and she used to respond that it was naptime. Last week I asked her and she answered TV time! Since then, she's responded with food time and shoe time (she wanted to put on my shoes).

Aria was looking closely at my face the other day and she said "Mama! your eyebrows have HAIR on them!" haha she didn't realize that eyebrows are hair.

I need to upload some pics... sorry no pic!

s'more funnies

So, a few more funnies from our clown, Aria ;-)

On Sunday Matthew made us breakfast - YUM!! He's good at making breakfast food, and I am not. But, I won't use butter, and I pretend like Matthew doesn't either ;-) And, he lovingly places each choco chip on the top of the pancakes as they cook. True pancake dedication. Anyway... as we were eating our yummy food, Matthew asked Aria if she liked her OJ. Aria looked at him like DUH and said "daddy, it's not OJ, it's orange juice!"

Later that day she asked us for an artichoke. Um... where did that come from?

Today in the store, I was looking for Maple Syrup that was actually maple and not sugar water mixed with high fructose corn syrup (which I didn't find at Walmart...) and Aria was playing pretend, and she handed me "something" and so I pretended to eat it. Aria says (very dramatically) "Mama!! Don't eat the baby!" oops... I suppose I should listen more carefully to what she is saying when she hands me imaginary things.

Something I think is really cool is that Aria draws faces - and you can recognize them as a face. The 1st time she did it, I drew just a big circle for a head. She drew curly hair, circles for eyes and nose and a curved line for a smile - all in the right places. I couldn't believe it! So, yesterday I told Matthew she could do this, so he took her to her drawing board, and asked her to draw a picture of herself. She did even better, (except that the nose was on the forehead ;-) but, still between the eyes ;-) ) She even drew the circle for the head herself, and curly hair again, and eyes a nose and a mouth. She also writes letters. I really don't think she intends to draw what she does (it just ends up looking like a letter). But, she does say she is going to draw M's and then she does little loops like a lot of m's together. Yesterday she drew a W (and just a W) and said "Mama look - a W" She's done that with M, W, and V - so always the same motion. Oh and O, but that's just a circle.

Rolling!

Can you open your eyes a little bit bigger?

Isn't it sad that the pic above is the closest picture I have to both of them smiling at the same time ;-) ha! It's hard enough to get Aria to smile nicely for the camera for more than a split second, after which I miss the shot.

Well, it's official - Chanson is rolling over ;-) he's done it several times in the last week. He'd done it before, but not consistently. Now he's doing it more. He's so much more solid lately. I think it's from all the muscles he uses to keep his body straight as an arrow. When he's on his belly, he is almost U shaped bc his legs curve up he is flexing them so much.

He's laughing even more now than he was before. He will look at someone new, and just start laughing and smiling. (not everyone new, but it's happened a few times).

Today he discovered his feet. Never paid a bit of attention to them before (his legs are usually not bent in a way he would even see his feet bc he keeps them so straight so much of the time). I even got to see it when he saw them and realized he could grab them.

He's sleeping a LOT less lately during the day and sleeping more at night. I love it! He sleeps until 8 am, eats, and goes back to sleep until Aria wakes him up with a bazillion kisses. Today, he was sound asleep and she came up to him saying "awwww baby it is ok, stop crying" and then proceeded to kiss and hug him - which woke him up.

He doesn't fit in his 3-6 month Gerber onesies anymore. They are way too small. Do they run small? His other 3-6 month clothes fit.

It's a good thing for Aria... yesterday we were eating, and she said "the baby's crying!" and both Matthew and I told her, no, he's sleeping. Then, I thought I better go check on him (he was in the pack n play in our room taking a nap, and we were at the kitchen table eating - so not too far away) and sure enough - he was softly wimpering. Good ears, Aria! Then, later, he was fussing a bit, and Aria said "mama, he needs to eat the boobie" and I said no, not time yet. Then I looked at the clock...oooops yes it was time. Thanks again, Aria. THEN in the car yesterday, Aria says "Mama, sun is too bright in baby's eyes". Oops... better put the sun visor up. She also told us when his head lopped down in his carseat, but I couldn't have done anything about that, anyway. He'd fallen asleep and I couldn't reach him. But, still, it was nice of her to let us know ;-)

I love bananas

Aria decided to swing in the big girl swing today. She used to sit in it, but wanted to get off right away and go into her other swing to actually swing. Today she was going pretty high on the big swing, and she did great!

I almost forgot to include a good Grampa story from Aria's birthday (or maybe I already posted it... you know the whole memory thing). I was getting things ready for Aria's party, and I hear Chanson start to cry from the other room where he had been sleeping. I asked my dad to go get him. My dad came back with this awful look on his face, a baby in one arm, and his other arm stretched out ... I came over to see what happened and found my dad's entire hand was covered in poop, as was Chanson. You have to know that my dad is completely grossed out by poopy diapers, so it was especially awful (aka funny) to see him covered in it ;-) Initiation complete, Grampa! Good job ;-)

When Aria and I are playing, or when we are sitting at the table eating, she will get up and say "oh I forgot something" and then she'll point at me, look at me with a very stern face, point her finger at me and say (with a pause between each statement and a finger wave to emphasis her point) "Don't move. Don't fall down. I'll be right back". It's her newest thing bc she says this to me multiple times a day. Well, I also say this multiple times a day... like the 30 or so trips back and forth from the house to the car before I go anywhere.

Another thing she says (asks) multiple times a day is "whatcha doing?" I mean, she asks this a trazillion times a day. We'll be driving, and she'll say "daddy, whatcha doing?" he'll answer "driving"... 2 seconds later "daddy, whatcha doing". This goes on pretty much the whole trip. But it's not just us she asks this to - she asks everyone.

Every day she says she is going to go poo poo on the potty. She says "I'm gonna go poo poo on the potty and get choc-o-late chips and a lollipop!" We have told her that she will get chocolate chips and a lollipop if she goes in the potty many times. Well, the other day she said she was going to go on the potty and get chocolate chips, and a lollipop and a hello kitty cake. Hmmm... now you're stretching it. But, hey, if it works... ;-)

I love cuddle time at night before bed. I've mentioned our routine is brushing teeth, reading books, cuddle time, and then crib. We talk and sing a lot during cuddle time. She asked me to sing a song the other day, and so I sang "Aria is going to go to sleep in her crib, and tomorrow she is going to do something fun" and Aria took the song from there without missing a beat and sang in a very high voice "because Molly has blue water". I think she meant Molly & Jeff's pool water.

During cuddle time today, she tiltled my head to the side and said "mama, close your eyes and say I love bananas". I cracked up a little, and shut my eyes and said I love bananas. I opened my eyes and she just had a big grin on her face. Later she asked me to say it again, and so I did. She said "no no no, Mama! Like this" and she tilted her head and closed her eyes to show me. I have NO idea where this came from, but I guess the tilting your head part is important.

Another fav song she likes me to sing (why I'm doing all this singing, I don't know... she makes up what she wants me to sing and then wants me to sing it... have you heard me sing??) is the song about "Mia is at home, sleeping in her Elmo bed..."

Something she's said for awhile, and that I've never figured out where she got it from is "bop it". When she wants me to push a button, or hit something she says "mama, bop it!" Not sure on that one, but I love when she says that for some reason.

Oh and she is back to calling me Mama. I'm happy ;-) Mom is much too grown up. Although, for a day she called me "mother". Mother? What on Earth!? She got it from "the Land Before Time". She also likes to call me different names, and then I have to answer to it for the next few hours. This week so far I've been Molly, Emily, & Uncle Chris.

Aria has a good memory. She does not inherit that trait from her father or me, that is for certain! She really memorizes her books. I just start a sentence and she'll finish it. It amazes me how much she has memorized!

Every night she goes to bed listening to Norah Jones. Tonight, when she was listening to the 1st song, there was a line that said "wish that I could fly away". Aria got her concerned face and said "don't fly away, Jones!" She always calls Norah Jones "Jones".

The other day we were playing and Aria says "in the snow you wear a hat and you wear shoes! Mama, it's fun!" then she got up, and said "op! forgot shoes!" sits back down and pretends to put on shoes and says "ok mama, all set!" and stands up... and says "op! forgot hat" pretends to put on a hat and says "ok NOW I'm set!" Then she wanted me to do the same, and then Chanson to, also. Where does she learn this stuff? Sesame Street or Yo Gabba Gabba bc she's only been in snow as a little baby.

She was eating guacamole today, and called it "pock-eh-MO-nee". Not sure how that translates to Guacamole, but...

See the princess PJs and green flip flops in the pic above? Aria doesn't want to take either of these off ... ever. I put clothes on her to leave the house, but as soon as we're home, she takes off her clothes and wants her dancing PJs back on.

When I ask her what she wants to eat she says "Choc-o-late food". Ever since watching Willy Wonka that one time, she's been asking for choc-o-late.

Speaking of Willy... Aria noticed Chanson's boy parts today. Aria and Chanson had just taken a bath, and afterwards Aria was jumping on the bed. I then started to lift Chanson up and down like he was also jumping. He was laughing a LOT! Then when we stopped jumping, Aria noticed his boy parts, and she got this look on her face like "WHAT is THAT!" (I'm trying not to laugh) and she looks at me and says "Mama! It's BLUE!"