life with my boys: Two and a Half

Two and a half years old (plus one month)

I'm writing this at the urging of Lacey, and it's probably time I provided a solely Aidan update, so thanks for the nudge!

GROWTH Aidan hops onto my scale a lot, and he fluctuates somewhere between 39 and 40 lbs, depending on whether he has a real appetite and if he's wearing clothes. He is somewhere near 39" as measured at Stride Rite. Granted, I struggled to get Aidan to stand still long enough for an accurate measurement.

Depending on the brand, Aidan is wearing 4T/5T clothes and some 5 PJ's. I'm thinking he can wear last summer's shorts since Aidan isn't wearing a diaper anymore...sure would be a nice savings to get additional use out of his summer clothes.

Speaking of Stride Rite, Aidan is wearing a 8.5 to 9 shoe, depends on the fit. He still requires an Extra Wide shoe, so I find something cute only to be told that the shoe comes in medium and wide, not extra wide.

Aidan was a late teether (11.5 months before the first tooth popped through!), so it's no surprise to me that he does not have any of his 2 year molars. Side note, we did take him to the dentist a few weeks back for him to observe my dental cleaning. He has his own appointment scheduled for October!

Aidan's hair grows too fast. He needs a hair cut at least once a month, and now he regularly likes to tell me that he needs a haircut.

SLEEP
What is this mysterious sleep others speak of?

So Aidan transitioned to the toddler bed about a year ago, and it's been a struggle ever since. Sometimes we felt that everything was going well, other times, we were pulling our hair out wondering what we could do differently so Aidan would go to bed and SLEEP. We're still on the sleep roller coaster, only Aidan has been upgraded to a full size bed.

The full size beds allows so many more "friends" to join him. He has two Mickey's, a Jake, Bumble, a BIG DOG stuffed animal, mimi (his penguin lovey), 7 pillows (our couch lost 4), every blanket he can sneak into his room, and hundreds of plastic toys that hurt if you roll on them. I don't know how he sleeps without waking up with plastic toys embedded in his back.

We put Aidan to bed, and we are lucky if he doesn't get up and need something. I need a hug (how can I say no?!), I need to go pee (okay, let's go), monsters scare me, I need (spies another toy) - grabs and runs back to his room, and the list goes on....

We tried gating Aidan in his room until he falls asleep or locking the door from the outside, but it causes Aidan to be so upset that he throws up. That's not good, so we deal with the "I needs" and other bed time delays.

Naps are still apart of Aidan's routine. He sleeps well at daycare, but at home, we struggle to get Aidan to nap. He often naps two hours later than normal OR falls asleep on the way home from the grocery store, and I left him sleep in the car seat. Some days, I give up on naps.

MILESTONES

Since Thanksgiving, Aidan has been potty trained. We have had a few minor accidents, but not many. He did wet himself at the park, and while he was too busy to stop playing to pee, he was too embarrassed to keep playing. The poor guy was really upset about it.

Aidan's newest thing is to pull down his pants and go - WHEREVER he is. The park, the zoo, our backyard (the only acceptable place).

Speaking of the park, Aidan is GREAT at climbing and scaling objects. At first, I stood super close to him, but now I let him have his independence. Some times, I have to help him down from the top of equipment, but otherwise, he does well.

Aidan talks A LOT. I don't even know where he picks up phrases or words, but he absolutely surprises me or makes me laugh.

His imagination is out of control. We play games looking for pirates (Captain Hook), chasing monsters, and riding tigers.

FAVORITES

Aidan loves being outside - playing in water, throwing sticks in the creek, meeting up with friends at the park, or chasing after Bo. On nice days, we are outside all the time. In fact, by the time the boys are in bed, I have tons of toys to clean up everywhere, but we have fun. Now that it's nicer out, I fill up the pool so Aidan can splash around.

Aidan is also obsessed with Mickey and Jake (the Neverland Pirate). Elmo is old news.

THINGS TO DO

Aidan isn't involved in any specific activities. I wish our town had soccer for kids his age, but I think he will have to wait another year or so. Thanks to my mom, Aidan does regularly visit the zoo and has been to the aquarium several times. So according to Aidan, things to do would include the park, zoo, and aquarium.

At the zoo, Aidan is all about riding the train, riding the pony, and riding the carousel (gotta be the tiger).

Aidan loves to go shopping! In fact, he asks to go to Kroger, and he runs for the "car cart" every time. He'll say "Mommy, we go Krogering" with a high pitch excited "KroooGEEERiiing". He also knows Walgreens really well.

FOODS
Aidan eats well....some of the time. He was on a meat strike for quite a while, but now he really likes chicken, grilled (turkey) sausage, and turkey. He also loves "bean bean" (green beans) and peas. Aidan will also eat cheese until you tell him he can't have anymore.

Lately, his dessert is a Dum Dum sucker that he hardly ever finishes. He leaves it lying around on the table, the floor, the bookshelf, or wherever he was last standing.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Aidan is lucky to see his grandparents often, and he usually sees my mom once a week. He asks about them often, and sometimes he says he wants to spend the night with grammy.

Aidan will talk about his great grandparents and aunts & uncles when we are in the car. He is OBSESSED with his Uncle Mark; I think he loves that Mark makes music. But he also has a blast with Uncle Chris because he loves to play and run around, pick him up and hang him upside down.

Aidan talks about a lot of his friends - his daycare friends, my neighbor's kids, my work friend's kids, and my friend's kids. He is crazy for a girl named Charley - in fact, he calls a lot of other girl friends "Charley" instead of their name. I have to correct him fifty times before he finally calls them by their real name. Silly Aidan.