Visit with Grandma & Bucka

Had a great visit with Grandma and Bucka (Helen's parents). We went hiking in a nearby forest. They also brought up a tricycle that some friends were passing onto Aiden (he loves it!). Bucka also had his first chance to meet baby Zander.

Zander at 4 weeks

Zander is growing and becoming more awake...meaning, he seems to be either asleep, eating, or crying. We're beginning to think that we do not have the "laid back" baby that we thought we had.

We do have some very nice times, but things have gotten tougher. People keep asking if Zander has "colic." How do you answer that??? Isn't colic simply unexplained crying? I have yet to understand how the term "colic" is used. Someone want to explain this to me????

Zander has baby acne with vengeance and he is getting all peely. It is hard to be a baby!!! I'm amazed that you can't really see it in the pictures!

(Video watchers: That's not Zander, it's Erik's pager)

Independence Day

We had a fun Independence Day. Although Erik had to work the first half of the day, Aiden and Helen went with some friends/neighbors to a bicycle parade. Aiden sat in a decorated wagon with his friend Luke. Basically the parade involved a bunch of kids (mostly) who decorated their bikes/wagons/strollers and all walked down the street at the same time. The people who sat and watched the parade (there were few of these as almost everyone participated) somestimes threw candy to the kids. Thus, it was kind of a parade, in reverse. Afterwards, there were bounce houses, slides, cotton candy and such. Although Zander is in the third picture from the top, it is hard to see him in the baby carrier. He had a cute "Little Firecracker" sleeper on. The sleeper's feet bottoms were blue with white stars. He was the most patriotic of all of us!

Erik is excited that fireworks are legal where we live. He bought a box with different fireworks and he did them for Aiden, Zander, and I. Aiden has been adamant that he does not like "noisy" fireworks so Erik was very careful to show him quiet ones. A couple mistakes were made though and pretty much from then on, Aiden put his fingers in his ears for each firework.

Mall Potty

On a recent trip to the mall restroom, I happened into a "family" restroom. This restroom had to toilets, one regular size toilet and one miniature one. When I wheeled Aiden into this bathroom, his eyes immediately widened and he told me that he needed to use the "that potty." Now, Aiden uses the potty infrequently. We try to have him go potty each night before we get him ready for bed; sometimes he will go, but other times he won't. Aiden used this potty as if he was a potty-going pro. Also, about 10 minutes after leaving the restroom he announced he needed to go again. We didn't go back for about an hour, but he did it again, just like a pro (and a dry diaper to boot!).

(note: This experience did not alter his infrequent potty use at home.)