Twenty-two months

What a busy month this has been! Lots of traveling, seeing new people (new to Aiden...or people he hadn't seen in a long time!) and places. And Aiden is growing by leaps and bounds! (Maybe not so much physically...but in all the other ways!) ;)

He looks like he's so over pictures...and this was the first one!

Favorites

• "Where'd go??" in the cutest voice ever. He says this about things he can't find, but he also likes to "hide" things (sometimes under his leg or a blanket or whatever is nearby) and then asking. Then he'll pull it back out and act surprised....THERE it is!
• Taking his shirt off. And he may get mad if you keep putting it back on.
• Foods - oranges, avocado, bread. If he hears the word "orange," you'd better deliver. We started Aiden back on gluten at the beginning of the month. So far so good, but we'll see. Oh, and mommy's salad dressing! He loves it. I'll put it on his salad or he'll even dip his apples in it. He just eats it up. (Here's the recipe. This is some good stuff!) And yes, he eats salad. It's mostly the fruit we have in our salad (apples, cranberries, etc), cheese, and then I cut up some lettuce or spinach into very small pieces - so it basically sticks to the fruit and he doesn't have big chunks of lettuce, which is a strange texture for him still. But he's eating more and more of the salad part these days - almost the same amount as the fruit, or close. Yay! He also likes stir fry. The other night we had some, and he loved it. I made a veggie version with (homemade) sweet & sour sauce, so I threw in some fresh pineapple. He was tearing it up...until Camden said "pineapple" out loud. Then he wouldn't eat anything more b/c he wanted pineapple by itself.

"I see you, Mommy!"

• Any type of vehicle. Not sure this will change for a while.
• Telling everyTHING "Hi!" Not only does he tell everyone we see, but he tells every little thing "hi" and "bye" these days. Bunny, his toys, various body parts, colors he sees, vehicles. He even says "Hi mommy's milk!" when nursing sometimes.
• Showers. While traveling, we just put him in the shower with us. Sorry...not going to give him a BATH in a hotel tub. Blech. Since we've been home, he's ended up in there a couple more times, and apparently he is back in love with showers! Now, he'll even move up to stand in the water and get it all over him. I let him play some while I dry off when he's in with me, and he does not like getting out when his time is up. He does, however, say "Bye water!" when he does get out.
• Spiderman. I think this is mostly b/c it's Camden's and kind of off-limits. He's pretty crazy about Camden's Spiderman figures, though. He calls them "Spiders!!" (though it sounds more like "piders!").
• Sharing with Bunny. He pretty much tries to share everything with him. He kisses him all the time, puts him up to our faces for us to kiss him. When nursing, he'll unlatch and hold Bunny up so he can have some milk.... The other day he was caught trying to give Bunny some milk (well, he actually DID give Bunny some milk.) And while at a friend's canning party (yes, you can be jealous b/c it was tons of fun!), Aiden slipped Bunny some guacamole. I'm glad he's sharing with his best buddy (actually, when he says Bunny, it comes out "Buddy"), but sometimes it's a little too literal.
• Song - "Rock-a-Bye Baby." I'm not sure how he decides he's changing favorite songs, but it seems like each month, it's a new one. He takes it so far that he pretty much won't allow another song. Even when he's awake and playing, if I try to sing something else, he might get really mad. Sometimes, if I start to sing another song, he'll actually get so upset he tears up! (No, I don't keep singing it - I'm not going to make him cry on purpose!) Whenever he wants me to sing this song, he says "Rock."
• Mommy's water. He'll ask for water...you give him his water bottle. No. He wants "Mommy's water." Sometimes it's Daddy's, but mostly Mommy's.

Drinking Mommy's water. He looks sooo old in this picture, too!

• Putting things where they don't really belong and then laughing about how silly he is for doing it. Mostly he'll do it with his cars. He'll either stack the cars, will put some other little toys on the cars, or will put something IN the larger cars that open up. After he does it, he bursts out laughing at himself for being so clever and humorous!

He looks so serious when he's focused on putting things JUST where he wants them. Afterward he laughs and laughs (didn't get a picture of that, though).

• Pinching/kicking someone else and then loudly squealing "OWWWW!" (and laughing about it). He hasn't really grasped the understanding that the "oww" means it HURTS. We think he just likes how it sounds and knows that the pinching will usually get it from Camden. Lately I've been trying to put the sound "oww" in there whenever he gets hurt himself and explain the meaning, so he can start to put the sound and feeling together and get what it really means. It's just like him thinking it's funny when you get angry and make angry sounds (or when you say "that's not funny"). He doesn't completely get it and thinks it IS funny.
• Book - Are You My Mother is a new favorite for me to read; Cat in the Hat for Daddy.
• He's getting particular about certain things, one being his blankets. Through the winter, we would put a light fleece blanket on him and then his quilt. He's gotten so used to that being what he uses that he insists on having them, even though it's quite warm now. I'll even try putting one to the side, maybe a bit of it over him near his chest...but he knows the difference and will move it all the way on top himself! No matter how hot it is in his room (and he has the warmest room in the summer, for some reason)!! He likes me to say which blanket I'm putting on, too (here's the soft blue one...and now the quilt that Mammaw made you). I think it's to make sure I'm doing it right. Hmmmm...
• His attachment to Bunny is growing stronger and stronger. A couple nights recently, he's woken up in the middle of the night asking for Bunny. I've had to go in and put Bunny in his hands because it was too dark for him to find him. Then he goes right back to sleep. Bunny goes just about everywhere with him and gets to participate in all sorts of things these days! (And as I said before, Aiden tries to share everything with him, as well.)
• Saying "see _____." This started after going to the zoo with some friends. See the zebra? See it? Since then, he's always pointing out things...See car. See this...see that. (You know, "see" is one of those words that looks totally wrong after you've written it so many times.)
  

His new silly face, making an "O" with his mouth open.

Least Favorites

• Ocean. The kid is terrified of it. He did fine with the sand this year, but the ocean...each time we saw it, he hated it more than the time before. I think it's the sound and the fact that it seems endless...and moves toward you! Maybe next year?
• Singing a song other than "Rock-a-Bye Baby" - Already explained above. He really doesn't like it.
• Camden getting in his face or trying to make him do things his (Camden's) way. He may be crazy for his big brother, but he usually does want him to back off! He'll start with a grunt for a warning (or a gentle push when Camden gets in his space). When Camden ignores that, he screams. When Camden ignores that, he might pinch him. You would think he would learn to listen to the first warning... (Rolling my eyes. It's an everyday battle in regards to this.)
• Meat that isn't IN something. I think this is more a texture and chewing issue. He knows what burgers are, what chicken is, etc. Put beef/chicken/fish IN something, and he eats it up! Put it by itself on a plate, even cut up...not a chance. He probably won't even try it and will most likely ignore it completely.
• This is something *I* don't like... If Aiden poops in his diaper, he'll often put his finger in his diaper and then come to me, finger sticking out to show me (sometimes there is something on it, sometimes not - I just know what it means at this point and don't touch it!), saying "Poop. Yuck!"...and then, he'll say "uggghhhh!" because that's what Mommy says. Haha! But really, I could do without him putting his finger in his diaper. Yuck is right!
  

Lining his cars up on the arm of the chair. He is so focused!

New Developments

• He climbed onto the ottoman (he can also get on the couch and bed sometimes, too). He was pretty proud of himself the first time...and most times still.
• 2 Naps still. We're pretty much not having any social life lately, but he needs the sleep! I put him down as soon as Camden leaves for school, and he's out sometime between 9 and 9:20. He can sleep anywhere from an hour to two, and he still takes an afternoon nap. Some days it seems like he's only up around lunchtime! We don't get out much these days, but...his needs come first.
• Time-Out. He's learning there are consequences when you knowingly break the rules. At first, he thought it was funny. And sometimes when you ask, "Do you need to go to time-out?" he still says "Yes" and smiles. But he doesn't always love sitting through that minute. (I keep warning him, he's about to turn two..which means two minutes!) After time out, he has to say he's sorry, show "gentle hands" (he nicely touches your face to show he can be gentle and says "nice" while he does it), and then he'll give me a kiss (just b/c he's sweet!). Sometimes he goes right back to doing what he did that landed him in time-out (which means time-out again!), but he's learning!
• Saying two words together (sometimes three). Not sure if I said this last month, but he did start this around then. It's so wonderful hearing his vocabulary grow!
• Possession (actually was last month). I know I forgot to put this last month. He's not only picked up that certain things belong to certain people, but he talks about it. He'll point to our milks at dinner and name everyone's "Daddy's milk. Camden's milk. Mommy's milk. Aiden's milk." He does it with body parts, food/drinks, everything.
• Changing his voice on purpose. He'll do this when saying "Hi." He'll be sitting there and will start out with his normal cute voice and will gradually deepen his "Hi"s until it's as low as he can go. Very funny.
• Saying "Yes." I wish I could explain how cute his "yes" really is. I love hearing it. I'll sometimes ask him something just to hear him say it. It's very properly pronounced, if such a small word can be. The "e" almost sounds like an "a" in a way (like the a in "cat") but not quite so much. More like a cross between that and the way the "e" should sound in "yes." Not sure if that makes sense... But it is beyond adorable. And I'm really hoping to avoid him saying "yeah" for quite a while. Camden wasn't allowed to say "yeah"...until he started school and heard everyone else saying it (that was frustrating!). Hopefully we can keep up the "yes"es and avoid "yeah"s for a while with Aiden, as well. Nothing better than a child who speaks properly. (Well, there are many things better, but that's also a very nice thing.) :)
• Speaking of manners...Remember last time I mentioned he was into pushing people out of his way? He's getting it. The other day, he wanted Ryan to move, and I overheard him say, "Move, please." Usually he'll say "move," you say "what do you say?"...and he'll say "please." But this time, he totally got the whole thing himself. I was mighty proud. We're also working on saying "excuse me" when he burps. He'll even say "burp" and when we do the "what do you say?" routine, he'll often say something that is supposed to resemble "excuse me."
• Movin' on up... Aiden is finally moving up to size large in his gdiapers. He has the tiniest waist, so he can still fit the mediums just fine in that regard. We don't have to tighten them hardly at all. But his rise is finally at a place that puts him starting to fit into the larges. So, we'll be doing some diaper shopping soon!
• Colors - he rarely, if ever, misses and says the wrong one. :)
• We're working on those two-year molars big time right now. You can feel them under the gums. There have been a number of days over the last week where Aiden wanted nobody but Mommy touching him.
  

Aannndd...picture time is over.

LOVE this guy.

Ok, I think that's enough for now, right? ;)