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.)

Caring for Elvis

For those who don't know, Aiden decided that he wanted to name his baby brother Elvis. He told us this in January and we had a hard time finding a name, other than Elvis, that he would accept. Helen's mom gave Aiden one of Helen's old dolls and he immediately named the doll Elvis. Although Aiden loves his "baby," he is not fanatic about holding and caring for his doll (many friends have a hard time getting their kids to put down their "babies"). He has, however, taken up breastfeeding his doll. He gets out his "nursing pillow" and sits with Elvis. It is hard catching him the act though...as soon as a camera comes out, everything gets thrown down.

Sprinkler Fun

Aiden just learned the joys of running through the sprinklers. After an outing with Mama grocery shopping, Aiden came home to find that Papa was running the sprinklers. He immediately began running through them (clothes and shoes and all!). The screams of delight were heard a block away. He kept running back and forth across the yard screaming and having the best time.

(note: We tried running the sprinklers again and Aiden would hardly have anything to do with them. He would fill a bucket at one of the nozzles if accompanied.)

Helmet at Lunch

Aiden recently acquired a helmet. We got it for his rip-roaring tricycle rides (not really rip-roaring...more like moving by pushing his feet on the ground). Anyway, the kids around our neighborhood wear their helmets a lot...Aiden has decided he likes his as well. He likes his helmet so much that he won't take it off for lunches (sometimes). Also note his shoes in the picture. These are his rain boots. He likes to wear these all the time...probably because they're the only shoes he can put on himself.