Swearing

Aiden has managed to say his first swear word. We can thank his father for that one :) He's usually really good at watching his mouth around Aiden but one night we got home and Andy was trying to get Aiden in his room to change his diaper. Aiden kept running around and away from Andy. Andy said "come here you little shit" and Aiden says "little shit, little shit, little shit" and of course Andy and I are laughing. I wasn't in sight of Aiden but I told Andy to stop laughing and change the subject quick. Laughing will just encourage him to keep saying it. He said it a couple more times but we got him talking about something else and luckily he hasn't repeated it since. And we all thought his first swear word would be "god damn dog".

Puppy Potty

A few months back, we decided it was time to at least start looking at potty's so when he was ready for potty training we would have it. It's really amazing how many there are out there. Is there really a need for a potty to play music when the child goes? We debated on getting a potty or just getting a little kid toilet seat to put on the big potty. We asked his daycare provider what she used and said she has a little potty so that is the route we went with so it would be consistent when he started potty training. We definitely did not want one that played music, talked etc. I have friends who have these and the kids just play with them to make them make noise. That narrowed it down quite a bit. It was down to a plain blue potty or the potty that looks like a puppy. I pulled both off the shelf and let Aiden choose. If you know anything about him, he loves dogs, so of course he chose the puppy potty. He didn't want anything to do with it. So I put it in the bathroom and that's where it sat for a few weeks. Then he started sitting on it while brushing his teeth. At least he was touching it now. I tried one time to get him on it. I brought it in the living room, took off his diaper and proceded to put him on it. He screamed, stood back up, turned around to shut the lid and that's when I felt a wet plop on my foot. Well apparently he was already in the process of going when I took his diaper off. Might have explained the screaming. So now I have a turd on my foot and Porter is looking at me like why is he not getting yelled at? I'm not allowed to do that in the house. I cleaned evrything up and the potty went back in the bathroom. We this past Saturday I was getting him ready for bed and I asked him if he wanted to use the puppy potty like a big boy. He said "yeah". So I was taking off his clothes and of course he had done his stinky business in his diaper already so I had to clean then up. So after I got him cleaned up, I asked him again if he wanted to pee in the puppy potty and he again said "yeah". I put him on it and he sat there for a few minutes while we read some books (I brought the potty into his room by his bookcase). He did pee and I told him what a big boy he was and made a big deal about it. He was so proud. Ten the next morning he wanted nothing to do with it again. At least it was a start. He did make pee in it one time on Sunday as well but that was it. Now I ask him and he says "no". I try to just put him on when I change his diaper but he screams. I don't want to force him. He'll do it when he's ready and everyone says with a boy, 3 is norrmal for being potty trained. We'll keep trying and see what happens.

Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised I would upload when I had time at home. The most recent are on top.

Today he decided he did not want the tray on his high chair...I think it is going to be time to put it away soon. He rarely eats in it anymore.

Thursday, July 15th, Aiden got to go to his first concert. Common Ground in Lansing was this week and Bret Michaels was there. I really wanted to go and since Common ground is a family event, all 3 of us went (not Andy's favorite but he enjoyed himself and made me very happy) and had a good time. You can tell by his big eyes, he was a little unsure at first but he did well and even some how managed to fall asleep (notice the cute little wrist band I saved for his baby book).

Not a great picture because we were way back but this is the stage before the show.
Here is one of Bret's buses..

This is where Aiden eats more often then not or at his little table.


Sword fighting with Grandpa...well one of them has an actual sword anyway.


He liked to hold the sword the wrong way.

Having his first pear not out of a can and he loved it.



He likes to sit at his table and write, draw, scribble...whatever you want to call it.


We may have another Star Wars fan on our hands...




Today we are at home getting some stuff done around the house. Tomorrow we are going to Grandma and Grandpa Marple's for the day. Should be a good time. I'll try to post again soon! Until then...

Case of the Summer Icks

Our poor little man is just getting over a case of the summer icks. It started on Thursday when I picked him up from daycare. He was really whiny on the ride home. We decided we were going to go to Fazoli's for dinner since we didn't have anymore leftovers and didn't feel like cooking. When we got there, Aiden wanted me to pick him up and he was shaking with goose bumps. I felt his head and he felt a little warm to me. He ate a little but not like normal. He just wanted to go so we boxed up our food and headed home. Once we got there, he just wanted to sit on my lap the rest of the night so then I knew he didn't feel good. We took his temp. and it was right about 100. So the Tylenol started. He drank plenty and slept good that night. He seemed better when he woke up. He was playing and doing his normal morning routine. So we took him to daycare and warned them about the previous night. I waited for a call on Friday but never got one. When I picked him up after work, he was laying on the floor with a blanket and stuffed dog. Connie said he didn't eat all of his breakfast or lunch which wasn't like him and he played but by himself, not with the other kids. He was a little more active Friday night but still wasn't quite himself. He went to bed like normal but then at 11:30ish he woke up screaming. He was wet so I changed him but he was still screaming. It probably took him at least 20 minutes to stop screaming and then another 40 or so to get him back to sleep. He wasn't warm or anything so I'm not sure if he had a nightmare or what, but it was pretty scary. He then woke up 2 hours later but not screaming, luckily. So I just slept with him on the chair until he woke up at 5 and wanted to watch Mickey. I let him watch one episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then put him back to bed and he slept until 8:30. He was a little whiny when he woke up but got much better throughout the day. He was playing like normal, eating more and drinking like a fish. He seemed back to himself Sunday but he had a little episode of diarrhea. It only lasted a little bit so we're hoping it was the last of the "icks" getting out of his system. We'll see what happens tonight when I pick him up.

I decided I will try and write posts on my lunch hour at work so maybe I will get them up more often. The pictures will have to wait until I have time at home, but at least this way you know what we are up to. To catch you up on our summer so far:

We had a busy 4th of July weekend. We went to grandpa and busha's house to celebrate with friends and family. We celebrated great-grandma's 84th birthday, had yummy food (hot dogs, brats, turkey and stuffing and everything in between) and a water fight which is always fun. Aiden loved the water balloons and liked being squirted by the squirt guns. Aiden got to play with Bella (our friend Ruth's Shih Tzu) and he was pretty excited about that. We got to see my friend Laura and her boys, Colson and Ryan. Aiden was a bit jealous when I was holding baby Ryan. He had to be right on top of me. It was pretty cute. Grandpa made him a sand box so he played in that a lot. He took a couple hikes through the field where mom and dad had to chase after him because he was getting pretty far out. We even found out Porter is a smart dog. The first hike Aiden took in the field, Porter saw him take off and his ears went back and his tail was straight. He looked at us and then ran after Aiden. He wasn't letting his buddy get too far alone. Aidrn had a few late nights and busy days but he loved it. We didn't make it to any fireworks, but there's always next year or a Lugnuts game :)

We met up with the Bezemek side of the family in St. John's the 26th of June for my aunt Marie's 50th birthday. We had a nice lunch and visit. I rang in my 31st birthday with my 2 favorite guys. We went out for dinner and had a nice relaxing evening. We went to grandpa and grandma's the 19th of June for Father's Day. It's always fun to visit and Aiden likes to run, play and explore. And of course play with Stout.

As for the next few weeks, we are going to grandma and grandpa's again this coming weekend so that will be fun. Then it is staying home and doing stuff around the house. We will also be planning a birthday party for Aiden. We still can't believe he is going to be 2. He's such a little ham. He's starting to talk in sentences which is so amazing to us. He knows his colors (or at least red, blue, green, brown, yellow and orange) and when we read books, I have to stop when he points so he can tell me what color things are. We have a Sesame street book and he says Melmo...Red, Cookie...Blue...Bert...yellow, and for the characters he really doesn't know he has me say their name and then he says the color. He can count to 2 and sometimes 3, depending on the day. If he has 2 of something he'll go one-two shoes, one-two rocks, etc. It's really cute. He's kicking a soccer ball around, loves bubbles (in the bath, kitchen sink while doing dishes or the kind you blow), relates a shovel to picking up puppy poop because that's what daddy does with a shovel (we are going to have a little helper soon), likes playing in his pool and likes it better when Porter joins him, likes cars, trucks, tractors and trains, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny are still his favorite tv shows. He's all in all a great kid and we love every minute of teaching him and watching him learn and grow into an amazing little boy.

Spring

Well it's been awhile again. Not too much has been going on. Probably the biggest thing is we converted the crib into a toddler bed yesterday. Aiden has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor at both sets of grandparents and has done really well with it (at least at bed time), so we figured it was time. When Aiden came into his room after Andy got the crib converted, he jumped right up on it and was super excited. He continued to run into his room and play on his bed the rest of the evening. Bed time came and once I put him down, we sat out in the living room waiting. Was he going to get out because he could or would he go to sleep? He ended up going to sleep and slept all night. We put a sleeping bag on the floor next to the bed just in case he might fall out, but he didn't. We'll see how tonight goes...


He had his first visit to the Potter Park Zoo yesterday as well. He loved it! He knew what a lot of the animals were and was excited to see these animals from his books in person. When we got to the Tigers, one was sleeping when we first got there. However, while we were staring at it, he woke up and moved around. Aiden went crazy and was roaring. As you can see in the above picture, he has a stuffed monkey who's name is Floyd. So when we got to the spider monkey exhibit, he was saying there's Floyd. It was pretty cute. The last exhibit we went to was the Birds down under. We could have skipped the rest of the zoo and he would have still been happy. He loves watching birds in our yard, at grandma and grandpa's feeders, up in the sky and he got to walk in to the birds down under and be up close to them. We bought him a seed stick and of course I was helping him hold it out to get a bird and one of the bigger ones landed on him. He freaked out a little and grabbed my leg, but still never cried. Andy took the stick and got a bird and he thought it was pretty cool. After we were in there a few minutes, he started going crazy laughing and talking. It was great. We have to thank our family friend Kayla (who volunteers at the zoo) for getting us in and giving us a great tour!




Friday, Busha and Grandpa got to watch him. Day care was closed and Andy and I had to work. They had a fun, busy day and then Andy and I got to go see a movie that night which we haven't done in awhile. Thanks mom and dad!

Last weekend Aiden and I went to Ubly to get his haircut. He had a busy time up there playing with friends and visiting at great grandma's. He learned what rhubarb was and was pretty impressed he got to bring it in the house and show everyone.


Two weekends ago we were in Midland for Andy's basketball tournament. Aiden wasn't too keen on dirt at this point but after playing in grandma's garden, he enjoys it now.


At the end of April, we got to use our Christmas present which was a weekend away and grandma and grandpa Marple would watch thing 1 and thing 2. We went to an B&B in Oscoda and had a wonderful time! I hate leaving Aiden but we needed the time away and grandma and grandpa enjoy having Aiden. And he has a good time as well! Thank you mom and dad!

Well that was the highlights of the last month or so. Hopefully you enjoy the pics and I'll try to be better about posting, but I make no promises! :)

Long overdue

So I have been told multiple times that "there are no new pics on the blog"..."where are the Christmas pics?" etc. So I figure it's probably time to make a new post. The holidays are here and gone and I'm still wondering how it's possible that Aiden is 19 months old. Here are a few Christmas pics:

We spent Christmas Eve night/Christmas morning with Grandma and Grandpa Marple. We had a good time and Aiden enjoyed being able to tear into all the presents and not get in trouble for ripping the paper. He even enjoyed cleaning up all the paper.

We spent Christmas night with Busha and Grandpa Bezemek and again he had fun unwrapping all the presents. He definitely is not lacking in the toy department.


My friend Christy was home from Florida for Christmas so we got to spend some time with her the day after Christmas. She of course brought Aiden a present and of all things....it was a little drum set. Just what mom and dad wanted him to have :) We enjoyed seeing her and can't wait for her next visit.

Aiden had his 18 month checkup on Feb. 2nd and all was well. He only had to get one shot (his second dose of the flu shot) which wasn't too bad. He weighed just about 28 pounds and was 34 inches long. He not off the charts (except for head circumference) but still pretty high up.

He is becoming quite the little chatterbox. He tries really hard to say a lot of words. His newest one is "butt". We always tell him when it's time to change his diaper "lets go change your butt" so now when we tell him to go to his room so we can change his butt, he says "butt". It's pretty humorous.

He never used to be interested in TV unless he saw a dog on it. Then he got the Handy Manny tool box for Christmas, so we wanted to see what he would do if he saw the show. He got really excited when the tools came on. So now when we turn the TV on, he says "Handy Manny". Thank goodness for DVR. The plus side is he only pays attention to it for a couple of minutes until he hears the song and sees the tools, then he continues playing or wanting us to read to him. He absolutely loves books. We read him at least 10 books a day (that being a slow day). He got a book titled DOG for Christmas from Santa and it's his absolute favorite. It's a touch and feel type book and he could have us read it 20 times in a row and not have enough of it. It really is a cute book though.

He's still having lots of fun at daycare. He has a lot of little friends their that he loves playing with. He got his 4th haircut a couple weeks ago. He looks like such a little boy again.


Last weekend we let him play out in the snow for a little while and he had so much fun. Porter loved it too that we were all outside. Andy made a really big snowball and let Aiden stand on it. He was a little afraid but thought it was pretty cool. We helped him make snowballs that he would throw for Porter and every time he would touch the snow, he would say Brrrrrrr.


This weekend my mom and dad came over. They had to get their Aiden fix before they leave on their cruise next weekend. The poor little guy is under the weather though. He has a nasty cough and low grade fever but at least the wheeze he had yesterday is gone today. It's not really slowing him down much though which makes me feel a little better.

Aiden has a fun new thing to do with daddy. Andy has a racing game and he gives Aiden an old controller and they sit and race. Aiden thinks he's actually playing and just sits and stares at the tv. I'm sure by next year he'll have his own games to play.

The last two pictures are from today so they are the most current we have. I think I have highlighted the majority of what we've been up to the last few months. Until next time.

Fall

Today was a perfect fall day. It was 70 degrees out, sunny and not too windy. A perfect day to be outside raking leaves. We made our front porch a little jail so Porter could be outside too but not able to run and chase the other neighborhood dogs and cats.


Aiden was napping when we first came out but after he woke up and ate lunch, he was out there with us. Porter didn't think it was very nice that Aiden could run free but he was in jail so he whined quite a bit. We thought Aiden might like to play in the leaves but we were wrong. Instead of going straight to the pile of leaves, he went to play with the rocks.

He would pick up one rock, then another. He would then bang the two together to make noise.


Then he would put those two down someplace and go get two more.


He did this for probably 15 minutes before he decided he wanted to taste the rocks. (Probably learned that from Porter too) Then he had to be put in the little jail on the front porch with Porter in fear that he might actually get a small enough rock he could swallow and choke on while we were finishing the raking and bagging. He loved it though. And so did Porter. We had to throw Aiden in the pile of leaves to get a picture and even then he didn't want to stay in them.


He did find a rake and had to play with it to try and figure out what it was.




We got the front yard done, the garage cleaned out so we could move the patio table and chairs and swing in there, and cleaned the deck off. We'll have to get the backyard next weekend and hopefully more of the leaves will fall off that tree. The one in the front is bare, but the one in the back still has1/3 of its leaves. Now we're all tired and ready for bed. It'll be an early night for at least two of us. Until next time...