Hello Again

It's been awhile since I've posted, and for that I apologize.  We've had quite a busy September - Jaden's Birthday Extravaganza, Mom's visit, illness, etc. etc. etc.  

Mom's visit was great - it went by way too fast but Jaden enjoyed it.  It was especially nice to have the extra help since Mike was sick almost the whole week!   He kept us busy... here's a video of Jaden pushing Lola's luggage on her arrival:

Jaden's party was a huge hit with the kids - they all loved it.  We held it at a place called Kidsville Playtown - it's a little town for kids to run around and play.  Most parents said that when they asked their kids if they had fun, they replied, "it was the bestest party I've ever been to in the whole world."  If kids walk away saying that, it's (a lot of) money well spent!

Jaden is getting more hilarious as the days go by - I guess when he gets loud in daycare his Mimi will "Shhh" him with her finger over her mouth, so the other day he came home and when I said "Shhhh" to him he put his finger over his mouth (and nose) and goes, "tttthhhhhhhhhh."  Lori and I also spent 10 minutes the other day looking for his lost left shoe in her garage which is jam-packed with toys, and Lori had the foresight to check the play kitchen, where it was conveniently stowed in the refrigerator.  Everything in it's right place, according to Jaden.

The boy had his one year checkup last week and it was a real treat to have Lola along.  I had his stats but I seem to have misplaced it.  Oops...I do know that he's 23.5 lbs.  He is on cow's milk now and seems to be doing great on it.  I hope that will save us a few bucks from the formula days but I feel very strongly about giving him organic milk so it is likely moot.  He's learning how to say the word "Milk";  for now he's saying "Mo."

Here's a funny video I'll call, "Salty Kiss."

Birch Aquarium

Today, while Mike worked in the office I decided to take Jaden to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla.   He seemed to have had a good time, although I think he's slightly young to really enjoy it.  He did check out the fish and sharks but really just wanted to walk around and scream with glee.  

After the aquarium, I took Jaden to lunch at Souplantation - a first date with just me and him!  It was really quite daunting and I had to walk in there with a plan - I would make our food with him confined to the stroller, a helper to help move my tray of food to the table that I already setup with high chair and chair cover.  I would then take him out of his stroller to grab the other goodies, which took a good two or three trips before we could actually start eating.  When we were finally ready, Jaden seemed really excited about sitting across the table from me with his own plate of food.  He was dancing and smiling and was well-behaved for a good ten minutes before he started getting antsy.  I made him a plate of sliced celery, peas, corn, plain pasta noodles and another dish of mac n' cheese and blueberry muffin.  He didn't want to have anything to do with the healthy stuff and instead stuck with the mac n' cheese.  A true product of his father!  

Mike and I bought Jaden a bunch of new toys for his playroom - we're introducing them one at a time to make them last.  So far, we've introduced a couple of bouncey balls, a giraffe bike and a big foamy monster truck.  He LOVES the balls and can say the word "ball" very clearly.   He can also say "kick" and will kick the ball when I ask him to.  There are some pictures on Picasa of him on his giraffe bike.

Twirling

Here's a video of Jaden "twirling." He just started doing this a couple of days ago. Hilarious!

PS...

....Oh goodness, I just watched the videos in Christy's previous post and I look horribly FAT.  Yes, family - I am quite thick, in fact, about 7 lbs. heavier than when you last saw me in Tennessee.  Don't worry - I am working on it.  I am hoping to complete a 5K in December with a friend so I purchased the Mercedes Benz of jogging strollers so I can take the boy with me on jogs.  

Jibber

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - after Christy left I got sick, among other things.   Christy's visit was fun, albeit short.   Jaden is still loving on his Elmo Live - I'll ask him to go find Elmo and he'll walk into his play area, sit down and talk to Elmo.  Then he'll knock him over and once he is asked to "help Elmo up please," as Elmo says, he'll try to stand him back up.  Then he'll roll on the floor with him, and I'll find them both laying on their backs, staring at the ceiling, hand-in-hand.  

Jaden is much more affectionate these days.   He kisses Daddy much more than he kisses me, but that's OK.  He'll even make kissing noises now during (and sometimes after) a kiss.  He'll go, "mmmmmmmwah!"  He even kisses his hand and throws it at you!   When he kisses me, he'll try to bite my nose and when he tries it, he laughs.    Mike made him laugh so hard in the shower last night when he was making funny spitting noises in the water.  He was going nuts!   I wish I had the camera for that one.

Speaking of cameras, I took some pictures today but my camera died on top of the memory card being full  (hmm....must have been all those videos Christy took).   I'll try to post some stuff tomorrow.

I've started to remind Jaden that Lola's coming into town very soon.  In fact, we've already prepared by painting the exterior of the house and updating landscaping!   Well, not really - that's the owner's doing but it looks very nice nonetheless.  Lola will be MUCH more comfortable staying with us this visit, unlike last time where we didn't have much room in our narrow "bowling alley" house.  We're ready for you, Lola!