- Aaron has been changing his speech patterns lately. On his own, he's been concentrating on making the "r" sound correctly (instead of "w" as a substitute...so he's now saying "Aaron" instead of "Aawon"). It's impressive to hear him working this out on his own. But also bittersweet that he's losing his cute little boy lisp.
- This kid reminds me so much of myself, it's scary. He likes routine, familiarity, and fairness. He wants everything in its place, and he's hesitant to try new things. He also craves affirmation and glows visibly when he receives praise for a job well done. He is incredibly focused and excels at completing assigned tasks. And he likes rules and gets frustrated when others don't follow them. Yep, pretty sure he's mine!
- Aaron and Jill have been at each other's throats lately. They really know how to get under each other's skin. And some of the things they fight over are so ridiculous, I feel like I'm going crazy. For example, they each get half of a Flintstones vitamin every day, and they fought like cats and dogs over who got "the head and the eyes" portion of the vitamin. I'm not kidding. At first I made them take turns. But then there were constant fights over who's turn it was to get the head and the eyes. So finally I remembered that I was a grown adult, and I announced that I couldn't tell which end was which, nor did I care, and they were getting whatever I gave them and just deal with it. That seemed to work.
- He got pretty spoiled this month -- with Christmas followed closely by his birthday, he has been absolutely inundated with toys and gifts. Chris and I are a little worried that it might have gone to his head, but I guess he's got 11 months to come back down to earth...
Jill
- Jill still loves to role play. She's into several of the Disney princess movies right now,including and especially Frozen (even though she's never seen the movie) so I'm constantly being enlisted to play Anna, or Olaf, or Sven. One afternoon she scowled at me and shouted, "I'm locking you up, witch!" I was a little taken aback at first. Then I realized she'd switched over to Tangled, and now she was Rapunzel and I was the witch who'd stolen her away. Sometimes it's tough to keep up.
- As I said above, she really knows how to push Aaron's buttons. Her favorite move is to snatch a toy he's playing with and run off with it or hold it out of his reach. If he asks for it back (as opposed to just decking her), she barks, "When I'm done!" and then taunts him with it until (usually) I'm forced to intervene.
- She just recently started responding with "fine" whenever I tell her to do something. "Jill, come sit at the table for dinner." "Ugh, fine." "Jill, it's time to get in the bath." "Fine mom."
- She is a tough little nugget. The other day at the Chicago Children's Museum, she climbed up this vertical rope tunnel that that goes up through the ceiling and comes out on the floor above. It's intended for children 5 years and older. Many kids get stuck or scared halfway up and have to be rescued. She made it all the way up on her own with no hesitation...three times!
Daniel
- So many milestones this month! Danny can sit up on his own, crawl across a room, and pull himself up to a standing position! He has also started clapping his hands (can't get him to do it on camera yet though). And he's got two new teeth pushing through!
- The only milestone that we can't seem to master is good sleep. Our current battle is trying to get Danny to understand that 4am is not an acceptable time to start the day. Mama's tired!
- He is getting to be quite assertive, which is a valuable trait in this family. When Aaron or Jill snatch a toy away from him, he does not take it lying down. I've heard him actually growl at them for stealing something he wants. Another time, he crawled over to them and snatched the toy right back. You go, Danny boy!
- We've started referring to him as our "little meatball" because he is just so physical. He never sits still, grabs everything within reach, pulls himself up on anything he can grab onto, crawls, twists, reaches, grabs, rolls, wrestles.... Once I was pushing him through a store in his stroller and when we passed an abandoned shopping basket his little hand shot out and grabbed onto it. His grip was so strong that we dragged it all the way into the next aisle before he finally let go!
- He loves storytime. It's pretty much the only time I can get him to sit still. Right now his favorite is Peek-A-Who. When we get to the last page that has a mirror, he pushes his face into his own reflection and tries to eat his own face. See what I mean? Such a meatball!
12/11: Playground zen
12/12: I took this picture right after he pushed himself up into a sitting position from lying down. That's a milestone, right?
12/12: Couch potatoes
12/13: Apparently, Daddy is not in on the joke
12/13: When did he get so big??
12/13: Playing or fighting? We're never quite sure either.
12/13: See, they do love each other!
12/13: Squished in for storytime
12/17: This year, Santa brought us croup (Aaron), Hand Foot & Mouth Disease (Jill and Danny), two ear infections (both Danny's), laryngitis (me), and lots of coughing and runny noses. Somehow Chris avoided getting sick. Guess he was the only one on the "nice" list.
12/18: Rehearsal for the Christmas play
12/20: Pulling out the old, offensive Chinatown outfit, for nostalgia's sake
12/23: Hide and seek in Home Depot
12/24: Showing off the new art installation that he created on our glass doors. He calls it "Faces."
12/24: Daddy gives the best manicures
12/24: A quick Christmas Eve trip to the park
12/25: Nate introduces Aaron to the wonderful world of video games
12/30: Family wrestling time
12/30: I want what I want!
12/31: Indoor swimming park with friends
12/31: Sparkling cider for the kiddos on New Year's Eve!
12/31: Mmm, I like this stuff
1/1: Daddy found her a clip-on Elsa braid. She loves it so much she insists on putting it in the doll cradle next to her bed at night. Told you she loves hair.
1/3: Danny's first concert, at Beat Kitchen
1/4: Who likes Cheerios?? Meeee!
1/4: Singing showtunes with my child is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me!
1/5: Waterplay
1/8: Old enough to babysit?
1/9: Aaron Kong and Godjilla, climbing the Sears (yes, Sears) tower made of Legos at the Children's Museum
1/9: Baby got back
1/10: She loves her little bro
1/10: First basketball game with Daddy!
1/10: Wait, did you just say I'm nine months old today??! Get outta here!
-Me: "Aaron, what are you favorite things?"
-Aaron: "I like watching cartoons and eating LOTS of candy and pizza and cookies!"
Jill (to Santa): I want a vegetable for my birthday!"
Jill: "Don't touch me, I will hurt you!"
Me: "Jillian, that's not a nice thing to say."
Jill: "No, I'm Elsa and I will turn you into ice if you touch me! Save yourself!"
Me: "Oh. Right."
Jill: "Mom, you don't sleep."
Me: "Well, I do. But not as much as I'd like."
Jill: "Yeah. Because I'm a waker-upper."
Jill: "Don't touch me, I will hurt you!"
Me: "Jillian, that's not a nice thing to say."
Jill: "No, I'm Elsa and I will turn you into ice if you touch me! Save yourself!"
Me: "Oh. Right."
Jill: "Mom, you don't sleep."
Me: "Well, I do. But not as much as I'd like."
Jill: "Yeah. Because I'm a waker-upper."
No comments:
Post a Comment