Open Door Policy

I've figured out a new and important concept: doorknobs. In my house, our doorknobs have long horizontal handles (so why are they called door-KNOBS, anyway?). Here's my key discovery: If you pull down on the handle, the door opens. This opens vast new possibilities for exploration. For instance, this morning my Daddy was in the office talking with a co-author about a paper he is writing. I wanted to visit and help him with my suggestions for the paper. So I opened the door to the office, let myself in, and started right in having a conversation with him.

Dreading Water

My Mommy put up a new pool for me yesterday. I had a pool last summer, which I sort of liked, but the weather took its toll on it, so we got a new one. This one is big and white and has lots of fishies on the outside of it. I haven't made up my mind about whether I like it or not yet. One fun thing is about it is that I can bring one of my many containers for pouring stuff and put water inside it. While putting water in is fun, dumping the water out is even more fun. I dumped some water on Mommy and Nainnie yesterday. They laughed and laughed at my zany antics. On the other hand, actually getting in the pool is not something I'm keen to do. My Daddy waded into the pool last night and hoisted me up and in. I didn't like the cold water on my feet. It also made walking really difficult, which scared me. I think for now I prefer getting in a nice bathtub (which I did today) rather than going into the scary pool.

Gotta dance

While I've always loved dancing, lately I've been adding new and funkier movements to my inimitable dancing style. When I'm particularly enjoying the beat, I'll bob my head back and forth, jutting my chin out, sort of like a pigeon. I also now like to flap my arms from side to side as I rock back and forth. I'm a dancin' fool as they say.

Lawnmower Lady

My Nainnie came to visit me on Saturday. I hadn't seen her for 4 whole days, so I was really happy to see her. I think she should come to California more often. Anyway, I discovered a great game to play with her---Lawnmower Lady! This game involves hauling my big toy lawnmower over to her and then having her chase me around the house and the yard. The best part comes when we play "lawnmower accident". I inch my toes up to the mower and then she lightly runs over them; thus simulating the accident. Hee hee hee.

I have a new favorite phrase, "Uh ohhhhh". I say this when anything falls on the ground, whether by accident or because I've thrown it there. The best part of this phrase is the "ohhh" part. I like to purse my lips and make the "oh" last really long. I've also found a new expression of happiness. While I used to like to laugh gleefully when pleased (I still do this) now I also like to say "eeeeeeeeee" when I'm really pleased with something. Today we went to a park and I got to play on the jungle gym and slide down the slide. I said "eeeeee" a lot.

Flying Away

Today I'm flying back to the east coast with my Mommy to see all my relatives back in "old country". Mommy's hoping that I do better on the plane ride than I did last night at dinner. Mommy decided that we should all go out to a fancy place, Il Fornaio, for a last dinner before flying off. I was enjoying myself for awhile, but the stately pace of the dinner became too much for me and by the time we got to the main course, I really wanted to go home. I cried and cried until Mommy and Daddy saw the wisdom of a "to go" version of the main course. We went home, I had some milk, and went straight to sleep. I was tired.

Train of Thought

I've notived something interesting about my clothing as well as Daddy's clothing. My clothing often has pictures of various objects on it. For instance, yesterday my shirt was covered with lots of little trains. Since I really like trains, when I notied this I pointed to the images on my clothing and said "Tuh Tuh Tuh." Daddy was wearing his Red Barons sweatshirt over the weekend. This short has a picture of another favorite, a ball, on it. I pointed to it and said "Buh Buh". Of course, these images are so small they're sometimes confusing. This morning my jammies had pictures of firetrucks on them. Firetrucks look awfully similar to trains, so I generalized. "Tuh Tuh Tuh" I said. Mommy and Daddy looked doubtful about this.

Gooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always loved to play with balls of various sorts. This weekend my Mommy got me a new collection of perfect Aidan-sized balls. One is a baseball, one a basketball, one a soccer ball, and one a little football. All of them are soft so they're easy to grip and won't break anything when I fling them around wildly. Daddy and I played lots of different ball games over the course of the weekend, and I ended up learning a new skill. When Markus came to visit, he started "dribbling" a soccer ball with his feet. It surprised me that you could manipulate balls with your feet as well as by picking them up and throwing them. I made a few tentative attempts to step on the ball with my feet too, but without much luck. Daddy showed me the same thing over the weekend and I finally got it. The key is to kick the ball. I started doing this and it was great fun. Sometimes when you kick the ball hard it goes further and faster than when you throw it. I made one kick that went clear across the room and into Licorice's cage. When I did that, Daddy cried out "Gooooooaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!!!!!" in his best Latin accent. I laughed and laughed. Kicking is great.

Hopping on by with Easter Photos

I have just posted lots of Easter photos here.

If you click through to the photos, you will be able to see me and my friend, Sophia (...One of them, that is. I have at least 2 friends named Sophia!), at the Easter Egg Hunt that took place after church in Oakland as well as Daddy, Mommy, and me in our house and in our yard on Easter. I had 2 Easter Egg Hunts-- one at church and one at home. As you'll see in some of the photos, I not only found lots of eggs, I also found a neat soccer ball!

Zahnrade

For the last two days, a very nice (and very tall) man named Markus has been visiting with us. He's one of my Daddy's co-authors who happened to be in town. He also happens to be German, so he taught me some new words while he played with me. One of my favorite things to play with during his visit was my gear toy. I really love this toy under normal circumstances and liked it even better in German. I've discovered that my gears are called Zahnrade in German. The German actually makes more sense to me since it means "tooth wheel" which perfectly describes my gears. I also learned the word Reißverschluß, which makes a lot less sense to me. Markus tells me it translates to zipper, but it literally means "tear catch". Markus is lots of fun and full of new ideas.

Turning 'Round and 'Round

Yesterday, I discovered that I can turn around and around like a fan or a falling leaf. I slowly spin around and watch the world go 'round. Sometimes I even make my hand-sign for "fan" or look up at the ceiling fan before beginning this endeavor. While I did this only once yesterday, today I have turned 'round and 'round a number of times. I tend to lose my balance and fall down after a few turns though. Mommy says this is called getting dizzy!

Rocks

My Daddy was mostly in charge of me this weekend as Mommy was not feeling all that well. That can only mean one thing---lots and lots of outdoor play. Mommy was mildly complaining that after eash of my expeditions with Daddy, I always come home smelling like a dirty, sweaty little boy. Oh, but it's worth it. On Saturday, I got to meet lots and lots of dogs. Some dogs run really fast while others move slower. I like all dogs, and I'm getting better at figuring out how to pet them gently. I think their tails are interesting too. I like to chase back and forth after a wagging tail. I wonder why I don't have a tail?

I also got to play with a bunch of rounded rocks which were near the dogs. Rocks are almost as fun as dogs. You can bang them together and make a satisfying noise. You can move them into separate piles and then rearrange them back into a larger pile. They also have nice heft for short throws. Rocks are good too.

When I came home, Mommy insisted that Daddy and I have a bath. Baths are good too.

On Sunday, my Daddy took me to a big park where I could run around. I liked riding on the horsey with springs under him. I also liked climbing up the play equipment. My climbing skills are increasing by leaps and bounds. I managed to get myself up to the top of the play structure and then slid down the sliding board. Wheee. This park also has many steps, which I enjoyed exploring. I find that crawling is the best way to get up and down steps. To get up steps, I face my body toward the top and crawl. Th get down, I do the same thing but in reverse. I still face my body toward the top of the steps and then crawl backwards to get down. I like the symmetry of my solution. I found many lovely sticks to pick up and give to Daddy as presents in the park. I also encountered many interesting trees. With my newfound mobility, I can walk right up to the trunk of a tree and bang on it to let the tree know that I'm visiting.

A Fall

Well, it happened- and sooner rather than later. I was climbing up on the couch to sit next to Mommy this morning and fell backward and banged my head hard on the coffee table. It happened so fast that Mommy couldn't catch me in time even though she was right next to me. It really hurt. It hurt so much that I actually sat still and let mommy put a bag of frozen carrots on my head for a while. (With lesser bumps, I just try to eat the ice or walk away with it.) I have been acting normally since my accident though, so I think that I'll be fine. (The coffee table only reappeared about 2 weeks ago. It had been stored in the garage for months since it was the cause of many injuries once I started crawling. It may have to disappear again due to my climbing.)

My Mommy's Lap is Just for Me!

In other news, I went to Music Together today and then went to lunch with 2 other Mommies and their babies. We made quite a mess ar Nordstrom's Cafe! After lunch, we retired to the Mother's Room for diaper changes and a bit of walking/crawling around. The two other babies, Sam (10 mths.) and Joey (12 months), were very friendly with mommy-- a bit too friendly in my opinion. Each boy invaded my mommy territory at a different time-- daring to climb onto her lap and look deeply into her eyes. Sam even kissed her on the chin! These incursions made me quite upset. I cried and made it quite clear that my mommy's lap is only for me. I am happy that I was able to repel the invaders from my mommy's lap.

Outside

I love to play outside. In fact, one of the biggest frustrations in my life is when the patio door is opened and I don't get to go out. I let Mommy and Daddy know my displeasure at that situation in strong terms. Yesterday (and today) it was raining off and on so it looked like an indoor day. Happily, the rain stopped by the evening so that I was able to go outside after coming home from the supermarket with Mommy. One thing I like to do is push my Cozy Coupe car around. I actually prefer to push it than ride in it. Every time I hit an obstacle (which is often), I like to say "boom" and laugh. Daddy hopes that by the time I'm sixteen my attitutes toward running cars into things have changed a bit. I also like to go on my little sliding board. I love the thrill of sliding down. Plus, I've discovered that we have a big sliding board in our yard. I try to walk up the sliding board, but it's really hard to do this. Instead, Daddy boosts me up toward the top and I go sliding down---really fast. I love this. Daddy makes a little sound effect as he boosts me. To indicate that I want another go, I climb back onto the sliding board and start making the sound effect back at him. Up I go...and then down. Yay.

We also like to run around the yard. Daddy can run really fast, but I'm starting to catch up. He'll usually toss or kick a ball around as he runs and then "pass" it to me. Daddy seems to love playing with footballs and baseballs almost as much (maybe even more) than I do. Yesterday, he was trying to teach me how to "dribble" a ball with my feet, like in soccer. I found this pretty difficult to get, but I did have the idea that putting my foot on the ball was a way to make it move. I love being outside.

I'm all Ears

I've discovered a new trick that I like to do with Mommy and Daddy. They ask me where my ear is, and then I point to my ear. Sometimes they'll ask me where my nose is. Often, I'll point to me nose, but sometimes I'll point to my ear. Then they ask me where my eye is. Very often, I point to my ear in response to this question. Daddy says I'm all ears.

Climbing

This past weekend, I figured out how to scale the couch. I stretch my leg up as far as I can until my heel or toes are about couch seat height and then scramble up. While I get very frustrated sometimes since I don't always succeed at the first try, I work at it until I make it. Then I like to stand up and stake my claim to the couch territory. Unfortunately, my parents are less happy about my newfound ability since they are worried that I will pitch myself off the couch by accident. They are going to work on teaching me that I can only be on the couch if I sit or lie down. This will be an uphill battle, I think.

This weekend I also managed to climb into the bathtub by myself-- and it wasn't even bathtime! Again, I stretched my leg up and then fell (gently) into the empty tub. Mommy and Daddy keep the bathroom door closed to keep me out unless it's bathtime, but this time I had accompanied Mommy into the bathroom while she was hanging some things to dry. She immediately snatched me out of the tub and seemed very unhappy about my latest climbing activity.

P.s. I added one new food to my short list of acceptable foods last week-- raisins. I enjoy feeding them to Mommy too.

Dancing

I've always liked to dance to music, but now with my walking skills I've discovered a new pleasure---dancing with another person. When my Daddy came home I grabbed him by the hand and tugged him out of the kitchen into the family room where the music was playing. Along the way, I demonstrated to him my ability to walk backward. (I like backward---it's full of surprises!) We got to the family room and I started to bounce around to the music while holding his hand. Then I took his other hand so that he couuld be more bouncy. We danced together for awhile.

Easter Egg Hunt

I went to my first Easter egg hunt yesterday. Mommy and Daddy took me to a church in Oakland with them. It was a big Presbyterian church with lots of interesting lights. I also really enjoyed the music too. They had a brass quartet and a giant pipe organ and played several really good songs. When one of the songs ended, I found myself still signing along to it. For most of the time, I was happy to stand in the pew and lokk around though my patience wore thin towards the end. Mommy kept me plied with raisins and bagels for much of the time.

After church, there was a big Easter egg hunt. While many of the other kids tried to grab as many of the eggs as they could and would eat the candy inside, I preferred to receive only two eggs (one for each hand) and found that the candy was much more enjoyable for the shaking noise it makes in the egg than for eating. Mommy repeated the Easter egg hunt at home (where I faced no competition from other children). She also replaced the candy with equally shakable goldfish crackers inside the eggs. Unfortunately, they were yucky parmesan cheese goldfish instead of the cheddar ones I like. I tasted a few and did not like them. When I don't like something, I find it best to spit it out. We had a nice Easter but I was really tired from all the running around. I went to bed at 7:15 (way early for me) and didn't get up until around 8 the following morning.

Yeeeah (baby)

I like to celebrate all my accomplishments and I've found a really effective way to do it is to give a throaty "yeeeeaaahhh" when I succeed at something. Yesterday, I was playing with my shapes puzzle. While some of the shapes, like the diamond, are quite tricky to put back into their slots, others, like the circle, are less so. Every time I'd put the circle in its slot in the puzzle, I'd say "yeeaahhh". Daddy would then reply "yeeeaaah" too. I'd take the circle out, then put it back in.

"Yeeaahh," I'd say
"Yeeeaah," Daddy would reply.

Yeah.

Doing the Wave

I know when I want to go outside, but it takes some doing to convince Mommy that we should go when I want to. The other day, I put on a hat, walked over to the back door, looked directly at Mommy and started waving bye-bye. She understood and told me that I was very clever, but she did not immediately fling open the door for me. She seems to operate on something other than toddler time. Why can't adults live only in the now like me?

I find that the bye-bye wave is adaptable to many situations. When I don't want to eat something, I drop it on the floor and wave bye-bye to it. When I want Mommy to get up and go to the kitchen to get me some milk, I say "MMM" and then wave bye-bye at her to hasten her departure. Of course, waving is effective in the traditional taking leave of friends or toys usage too. Then there is the always exciting wave hello-- and the even friendlier double wave hello-- and the more emphatic double wave accompanied by a string of enthusiastic "Hi!" greetings. Waving is good stuff.

15 Month Checkup

On Monday, I went to the doctor for my 15-month checkup. My latest stats follow: Height: 30 1/2 inches; Weight: 23 lbs. 14 oz. After stalling at the 10th percentile for the last few well baby visits, my height has now lept to the 25th percentile for boys my age. I'm just skying over those 10th percentile guys now! My percentile for weight has dropped slightly, but is still around the 50th percentile, and my head-- always a prize-winning specimen-- is in the 90th percentile. Mommy often has to buy me hats in size 3T-4T!

I had to endure two shots while at the doctor's office, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and Hib (influenza type b). This is my least favorite part of visiting the doctor, but Mommy told me that I was very brave.