Budding sense of humor

Aaron continues to amaze and amuse us. He is learning new words all the time now. We'll just suddenly realize he is saying something new, like "knee" or "neck" or "bib". And colors! Kim noticed him wanting her to name colors when they were out two weeks ago and although he doesn't always get them right, he is definitely learning. He requests his pacifiers by color now. Purple is his favorite, with orange and green close behind. I love to hear him say "purple". It's one of his few 2 syllable words.

He's really noticing letters lately, too. We have this book from the library called "One Bear, One Dog" that has really large letters. One day, he just started pointing to the letters in the words on each page to get us to name them. Since each page starts with the word "One", he picked up on the letter 'O' pretty quick. Now, in the middle of the book, he'll get up off my lap to go to his magnetic letters in the kitchen and he'll look until he finds the 'O' and bring it back.

And I'm loving his sense of humor. Today, he was looking through his lift-the-flaps farm book and on the food page, he pointed to the honey, and when I said "honey", he laughed and gave me a hug. He got up to point at it again and repeated this a dozen times. I don't know where it came from, but it was adorable. I must call him honey and not realize it.

Earlier this week, when my niece Larissa (he calls her LaLa) was over, he was just sitting on the floor with her looking towards his book case and said "babu" and then laughed. Then he seemed to think about it and said "babu" again and laughed some more. It seemed like he was trying to say something specific, something he found funny. Like "belly button" "blueberry". So then Larissa started saying "babu" and laughing back because it was so ridiculous. The rest of the time she was here, they were saying "babu" and cracking up. Now, if you ask him "What does LaLa say?", he'll answer "Babu!"

I also watched him play with his nesting castle blocks today and he made me laugh. There are 10 boxes made to look like a castle that you can stack up, or nest. He will often put a tiny one in the biggest one and then try putting the other bigger ones inside the big one, but they don't fit because the little one is in the way. We correct him and tell him it won't work, trying to explain that they need to go in a certain order. Sometimes he seems to get it. So today, I watched him put the smallest one inside the biggest one and tell himself "No, no, no" (only it sounds like "nyo, nyo, nyo"). So he knows it doesn't go that way, but he doesn't stop himself from doing it. This is the first time I've noticed him saying "no" like that. He's said it a few times here and there, although usually he just shakes his head if he doesn't want something you are offereing. Now he is saying it in more situations.

And a few days ago he made me laugh when I went to get him from his nap. He was sitting in his crib with his pacifier. He usually likes to sit in there for a bit before getting up. Sometimes he'll play with his animals in his crib, or give them to me. The other day, though, he was taking his pacifier and holding it to the heads of his stuffed animals and making a little suck suck sound. That was new. Not only was he offering them his pacifier, he was pretending they were sucking on it.

December is passing us by

Happy Holidays! I don't know where this month has gone, or even the entire year! Since I got back from my business trip, I've been so busy I haven't had time to post anything. But I have a few minutes while Thom and Aaron are at Lowe's and I'm a little under the weather, so instead of doing the million things I need to do before Christmas, I'm going to sit down with a cup of tea and give you an update.

The trip to Las Vegas was as productive as I'd hoped. I met a lot of good contacts, including many people I've talked to or e-mailed but had never met in person. The hotel (Tropicana) had lousy beds and I barely slept the first night so I was not my best the next day, but I managed to make the best of the short time I had at the conference. I also got to see my friend Lisa who was also there on business and play some nickel slots. My parents got to see Circ du Soleil and also took a friend of theirs out to lunch the full day we were in town. The drive out and back with my folks was pleasant - not too much traffic and we made good time, stopping in Barstow at In-n-Out both ways for lunch.

But best of all, Aaron was fine while I was gone. Kim sent pictures and video to me on the phone so I could see him. He did look for me in the mornings, but seemed OK when I couldn't be found. Thom didn't have any trouble with him in the mornings or at night. I am so thankful for Kim. I don't think I could have done the trip without her. And it was great not having to worry about him while I was gone. They went out in the mornings and again after his naps and he had a great time. He was napping when I got home and when I went in after his nap, I got a lot of hugs. The next day he was clingier than usual, with both Thom and I, but soon returned to normal.

The Saturday after I got back, he got his second flu shot and his Chicken Pox vaccine. He didn't seem to get fussy from them as he has from other shots.

And then Sunday, we had our Order Fusion friends over, including Crystal and Eric and their new 5 day old boy Enzo! I have pictures from that night (including the 2 of us that I've posted here), but there was so much red eye, I need to doctor nearly all the photos (and consider getting a new camera!) I don't have time for that now, but I hope to post more pictures later.

I've been busy with work, and also with trying to get gifts wrapped for Christmas, make Christmas cookies and make gifts for my secret Santa. I'm the one who suggested we make gifts again after a several year hiatus, but I'm starting to wonder if it was the best idea. Thom is taking 2 weeks off, though, so on Monday, while Kim is here, we can work on our gifts. We got a couple of things made today, but there is more to be done. We are coordinating on the gift making since I have some skills he can use for his secret Santa.

December Update

Is it really December already? It's hard to believe how fast this year is flying by. Last week, we had Thanksgiving at my parents' house. It was such a small gathering, everyone fit at one table, which is rare for my family. Dinner was delicious and Aaron tried a little of almost everything. His favorite by far was my sister's cranberry dish, which she makes from fresh cranberries. (As she pointed out, the are mostly sugar).

He also liked my dad's glace (I'm not sure if that is the right spelling but I'm sure my dad will comment with the correct spelling if it's not.) They are a German potato dumpling and his mother always made them for her family and for as long as I can remember, he has made them for Thanksgiving and Christmas for our family. They start 10 days before Thanksgiving when he sets out 10 slices of bread on a cookie sheet to dry out. I'm not sure that they really get any more dried out after about the 3rd day, but that is the tradition. Later they are ground up into bread crumbs and mixed with potatoes that have been through the food processor (although in recent years he has started using a hand cranked meat grinder that give the potatoes a little more texture.) I'm not sure what else goes into them, but the resulting dumplings are then cooked in the turkey pan in gravey for 20 minutes after the turkey comes out.

Glace are very dense dumplings. When Lia saw Aaron eating some, she joked that we wouldn't be able to pick him up afterwards. We have a lot of family jokes about glace. Some members of the family won't eat it at all and others look forward to it. Eating glace is a rite of passage for potential in-laws as well.

Although I worked a little over the weekend, mostly I enjoyed a little extra time with Thom (who had Friday off) and Aaron. This week, I am preparing to go to a business conference in Las Vegas. It will be the first time I'm away from Aaron overnight. I'll be gone two nights. Kim is working 2 long days to cover while I'm gone and Thom is going to work from home on Thursday (with Kim working 1/2 a day that day), the day I return. I don't like to fly and since it is a 6 hour drive, my parents and I are driving out together. They want to go for a visit - my dad knows someone out there - and they offered to keep me company on the drive.

I'm nervous about being away from Aaron, but I know he will be fine with Thom and Kim. I just think it will be confusing for him. But I'm also excited about the trip which will be a great networking opportunity for me. I've lined up a few meetings already.

I will leave you with a few more pictures of Aaron with his books. I realized the other morning that we probably spend more than an hour each day reading books to Aaron. All on his initiative except the 3 we read at bedtime. He's a little book junkie. In fact, on Thanksgiving, we turned on the parade thinking he might like to watch it, especially since he rarely watches TV. He watched for a minute or so, but then wanted to get back to his books.

Reading with Bear. This is how our mornings are spent - taking turns reading books to Aaron.

Last week when Larissa was babysitting, I found Aaron reclined on her lap with one of his favorite books - Is Your Mama a Llama. Besides the llama, he also likes to point out the sun on each page.

Time out baby

We recently began doing time-outs with Aaron. I had read somewhere that kids can understand the concept around 18 months. I had put him in his play pen for time outs a couple of times before 18 months when he had hit me, but hadn't used it on a regular basis.

We decided to use the rug by the back door for time-outs. One morning, Aaron threw a Duplo. I told him "no throwing" and he went to pick it up, and then threw it again. So I put him in time-out. I also read somewhere that time-outs should last about 1 minute per year of age, so I started with 1 minute. He doesn't stay put, so I have to keep putting him back in place until his time is up.

Later that day, or maybe the next day, Thom was with him in the dining room and he threw a Duplo. Thom didn't react, but Aaron crawled over and put himself in time-out.

Since then, he has put himself in time-out on several occasions. So he understands that time-out is where you go after doing something you aren't supposed to do. But so far, time-out doesn't seem to be a deterrent.

Time-outs aren't the only form of discipline we use. We have logical consequences for some activities. If he crashes his wagon into the wall, it gets put away. Throwing books gets them taken away. Spraying food from his mouth ends a meal. But for things that don't have easy, swift consequences we can impose, he goes to time-out. I hope it is effective. Kim claims it is. But I'm worried he already thinks it is OK to misbehave if he goes and puts himself in time-out afterwards.

Book Monkey

Aaron is really, really, really into books lately. More so than his Duplos anymore. I have reserved an entire shelf on his bookcase that holds toys in the dining room. We get some from the library and I am constantly looking for new ones.

In the morning, when Thom and I are still trying to wake up, Aaron will bring books over to us at the dining room table. In this picture, Thom is reading Ten Apples Up on Top which involves a lion, dog and tiger balancing apples on their heads. Aaron is pointing to the lion and saying "Aaaahhhhh" which is his version of "Rooooaaaar". The tiger gets a "Grrrrrrrrrrrr" and the dog gets something like "Woof Woof". He makes their sounds on every page.

He loves interactive books. This book is interactive because it has animals whose sounds he knows. His other favorite book is Caps for Sale because he likes to follow along with the peddler in the book (and us) and shake his finger at the monkeys, then shake his firsts at the monkeys, then stomp his feet as the monkeys. If he can't find the book on the shelf, he shakes his finger to say "I want the Caps for Sale book."

The other book we are reading over and over these days is Is Your Mama a Llama. He can't quite say "llama" yet, but he tries. Sometimes it is "ya-ma", other times "na-ma". As we read each page, he points emphatically (his body tenses up and he grunts) to the llama until either I say "That's the llama" or I ask him what it is. As soon as I say llama or he says "nya-ma", his whole body relaxes and he lets me read the page. But as soon as the page is turned, it starts over. Fortunately, it is such a cute book with great illustrations, I don't mind reading it over and over again.

Some other favorites that are not as interactive are:

The Carrot Seed - an old book with simple drawings, but for some reason he enjoys it.

I Love You Stinky Face - a great book I discovered at the library. A little boy asks his mama if she would still love him if he was a smelly skunk or a swamp monster and she reassures him she would love him no matter what. Aaron never picks this one out to read, but when I do read it, he doesn't rush through it, but lets me read each page and he seems to study the illustrations. It's so adorable, I had to order our own copy.

Dr. Seuss' ABC - a classic alphabet book that my mother memorized when her kids were young. And now I can recite it by heart as well. Aaron has already shown an interest in the alphabet and especially this book. No interest in the Sandra Boynton A to Z book, but he wants to read this ABC book every day. Beware - the board book version is a much abbreviated version of the classic I grew up with and even Aaron realizes it is inferior.

I love reading him books and having his sit in my lap. It is so cozy and sweet. But when I am eating breakfast or trying to read a little of the newspaper with my coffee in the morning, I am much happier if he can sit and page through his book of animals or his lift-the-flap farm book. But I know in a few short years, he'll be reading on his own and won't need to crawl into my lap to have me read about the apples and the caps and the llama who wants to know if your mama is a llama.

So if you need any ideas for a gift for Aaron for Christmas or his birthday next year - he would love a book. And we would too. You can only read the same books over and over so many times before you start to go a little nuts.

More walking videos

These videos were taken later the same day as the ones of Aaron in his PJs. Kim was taking video of him with her phone to show her family and I decided to take some more of him since he was practicing over and over and starting to act silly. In the two weeks since these videos were taken, he has improved tremendously.


In this first one, he started clapping for himself, which caused him to fall down. Within a week, he could walk and clap at the same time.

This next video shows how when he fell down, he would crawl back to his starting place next to the piano by the wall. Within a week, he started getting up onto his feet in the middle of the room - just once or twice. Mostly he would still return to his spot at the wall to get started. But last Friday, he practiced over and over again and now he can get onto his feet from the middle of the floor with just a little effort. You can also see in this next video how silly he was being. He couldn't decide where to walk and thought it was funny to change direction until he fell down.

Polling Place Problems

As I mentioned back on election day, I ran into a problem with the poll worker saying he couldn't find my name on the roster. Afterwards, I e-mailed the Registrar of Voters for my county describing the incident and asking several questions to help me in the future. I wanted to share her response since others might find this useful. (For privacy reasons, I have censored the part of her response that identifies the county in which I live.)

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Thank you for sharing your voting experience and for your patience and persistence to find your name in the roster at your precinct, even after going home to retrieve your sample ballot. In training we review and practice how poll workers should check the blue, white and then pink pages thoroughly for a voter’s name before providing them with a provisional ballot, but sometimes it proves to be a difficult task.

Let me respond to each of your questions below.

Q: Am I required to show my voter pamphlet at the polls?
A: No, it is not a requirement, but it does help poll workers find your name on the roster more quickly and to confirm that a voter is at the correct precinct.

Q: What options do I legally have if this were to happen again?
A: I do not know what legal options you have, but you can certainly ask to review the roster names with the poll worker as another set of eyes can be helpful.

Q: Can I ask for someone else to check for my name?
A: Certainly. You can also ask the poll workers to call the hotline for assistance.

Q: Is there anywhere else I can cast a ballot in if I have a problem with my polling location?
A: You are always welcome to vote here in our office in . We have permanent and temporary staff available to assist you.
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I think next time I would ask to see the roster myself and/or ask another poll worker to look for it. It is also good to know I can ask them to call the hotline or I can go to the office of the Registrar of Voters for help.

Say No to Violence Against Women

I recently learned about a UNIFEM campaign called Say No to Violence. According to UNIFEM, 1 in 3 women will be beaten, abused or worse in their lifetime. I remember before the war in Afghanistan, there was a lot of press about how the Taliban treated women and efforts to address it. But the subject seemed to drop off the radar.

Fortunately, UNIFEM is helping fight the abuse of women around the globe. You can help too, by signing the petition (in the widget at the end of this post). Their goal is 1,000,000 signatures by November 24.

For more information, take the following quiz and visit http://www.unifem.org/:

1. According to a United Nations report, how many women worldwide have experienced violence in their lives?
a. 1 out of every 3 women
b. 1 out of every 5 women
c. 1 out of every 10 women
ANSWER: (a) 1 out of every 3 women -- At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime - with the abuser usually someone known to her. Perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today, it devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development.

2. What percentage of women who die by homicide are killed by a former or current husband or partner?
a. 20%
b. 50%
c. 70%
ANSWER: (b) 50% -- Based on several surveys from around the world, half of the women who die from homicides are killed by their current or former husbands or partners. Women are killed by people they know and die from gun violence, beatings and burns, among numerous other forms of abuse

3. In the United States, a 2003 report estimated that the direct costs of intimate partner violence were:
a. $900 million
b. $1.6 billion
c. $5.8 billion
ANSWER: (c) $5.8 billion -- A 2003 report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the costs of intimate partner violence in the United States alone exceed US$5.8 billion per year: US$4.1 billion are for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly US$1.8 billion. Violence against women impoverishes individuals, families and communities, reducing the economic development of each nation

4. Which of these risk factors, for women aged 15 to 44 years, rates higher than rape and domestic violence?
a. Cancer
b. War
c. None rated higher
ANSWER: (c) None rated higher -- For women aged 15 to 44 years, violence is a major cause of death and disability. In a 1994 study based on World Bank data about ten selected risk factors facing women in this age group, rape and domestic violence rated higher than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria

5. In a clinic in Zambia, how many HIV-positive women opt out of treatment due to fears of violence?
a. 20%
b. 30%
c. 60%
ANSWER: (c) 60% -- For many women, the fear of violence prevents them from declaring their HIV-positive status and seeking help and treatment. A clinic in Zambia reported that 60 percent of eligible women opt out of treatment due to fears of violence and abandonment. In 1998 Gugu Dhlamini was stoned to death by men in her community in South Africa after she declared her HIV-positive status on radio and television on World AIDS Day.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 7th anniversary. 7 is the wool or copper anniversary.

After we got married, we decided we didn't need to give each other elaborate anniversary gifts, but we liked the idea of following the traditional anniversary gift ideas.

Year 1 is paper. I got Thom a book of poems. He made me a gift certificate to take me to Disneyland on a day of my choosing. (I had wanted to go for a long time and he wasn't thrilled about going, so this was a gift to me. We went the spring after our anniversary on a day it wasn't busy and got to ride Space Mountain 7 times - lines were 10 minutes or shorter.)

Year 2 is cotton. I got Thom pajamas and he got me a custom made sweatshirt that says "Humboldt Mathematics".

Year 3 is leather. I got Thom a leather picture frame and put in a picture he had taken of a tree on one of our vacations. He got me a leather bound book.

After three years of marriage, we bought a house. At that point, rather than surprising each other with gifts, we started picking something out together that we would keep long term.

Year 4 is fruit/flowers. We went to a nursery and got a flowering (silk floss) tree and 2 guava trees. The silk floss didn't survive, but we just started getting guava on both guava trees in the last year. Yum!

Year 5 is wood. We finally got a bedroom furniture set. From Costco.com. Setup and delivery included. Very happy about this one.

Year 6 is candy/iron. This was the first anniversary with a baby. We were lucky to get out to dinner (thanks to Lia and George). I looked around online for something wrought iron, but we never bought anything.

Which brings us to copper. One of our favorite metals. Thom has been wanting a wind sculpture ever since we saw them on a road trip in the southwest. And since they are made from stainless steel and copper, this seems like the perfect time to finally splurge and buy one. I think Aaron will like watching it. (That link shows how they look in the wind.) We get some nice breezes coming up off the lake so I think we should see a fair amount of motion.

Now I am waiting for my husband to come home with gourmet cheese, salami and bread - a treat for our anniversary. Last year, at the restaurant we went to, we had an appetizer with gourmet meats that was wonderful. We are trying to recreate it at home until we can get out to dinner again.

Guess who's walking?

Out little boy is all growed up. For the past week or so, he's been playing this game where he stands up against the wall by his electric keyboard, back to the wall, then tries to walk to one of us. Once we knew the game, we'd go sit just a few feet away. He'd take a few steps and then fall into our arms.

Yesterday, when Jan the PT was here, I told her about it and she wanted to see. So I tried putting him against a wall in the living room where we were working. And he walked to me. At least 5 steps. She was very impressed with him. And she was glad because at 18 months, he is at the outer limits of what is considered normal for learning to walk. She admitted she'd been getting worried. I hadn't been worried since he's shown so much progress and I didn't even realize she was worried.

After she left, we took the video below. I couldn't back up fast enough to see how far he could walk. He was so proud of himself and wanted to do it over and over.

So of course now all he wants to do is walk. Yesterday, after his nap we went out to run some errands. We went to the bank where he very reluctantly rode in his stroller. The next stop was to see Kim at Starbucks (where she also works) and to get a snack there. He really, really did not want to ride in the stroller, so I carried him across the parking lot (he wasn't too happy about that, either) and then let him walk with me. It's hard to stand in line with a baby that wants to constantly move. Three nice women offered to let him stand at their table with them while I got my coffee, but he just wanted to keep walking.

It's definitely a challenge now since he isn't just content to walk - he also wants to chart our course. Which is often counter to where we need to go. After Starbucks, we went to the library and when he wasn't going in the direction we needed to go, he screamed when I picked him up. That gets some stares - especially when you are in the library. I see a lot of that in our future. I've seen that mother with the child throwing a tantrum in public and now I am her.

This morning, Aaron wanted to practice his new skill. Over and over and over. He crawls over the the spot by the keyboard, uses the black cube to stand up, gets his balance against the wall, and then goes for it. And he tends to laugh most of the way.

He's getting very good at it, although he still wants one of us to hold his hand and walk around the house with him. My mom says now I'll wonder why I was in such a hurry for him to walk. But I really wasn't. I didn't mind that he wasn't walking when he was younger, but since the professionals told me he needed some encouragement, I did what I thought was in his best interests. And really, considering he is approaching 19 months, we've had a lot longer than most parents to enjoy the non-walking part of his life.

Voting

Despite the misting rain, we decided to walk to our polling place as we do every election. We vote in the garage of a house that is a 5-10 minute walk from here. We get there and Thom stays with Aaron while I go to vote. I tell the guy my last name, saying the first two letters several times. He looks at the white sheets in his rolls and says he doesn't see it. From where I'm standing, it looks like he wasn't on the right page - maybe a page or two before my last name would appear. I asked if he was sure, but by then, he was checking the blue pages and then the pink pages, and still doesn't find it.

I'm getting annoyed because I'm a registered voter and I've voted every election since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago, including the primary, so there is no reason for me not to be on the rolls. I asked him to check again, which he does, but he still holds the pages so I cannot see where he is looking. Usually, the poll worker has the sheets flat on the table and scans down the list where I can see.

Finally, without suggesting any of the other poll workers double-check, he offers me a provisional ballot. I refuse because a) provisional ballots are not counted tonight, they are counted after the fact, after they verify that you are a registered voter and b) I shouldn't have to cast a provisional ballot when I am a valid registered voter. I stepped aside to let the few other people in line vote while I talked to Thom. One of the poll workers asked if we had our voter pamphlets that list our precinct. We had left them at home since we've never needed them and knew how we were voting.

So we walk home in the misting rain to get our voter pamphlets. We drive back (at this point Thom is going to be really late for work - and it's raining harder) and this time, with the spelling in front of him, the guy finds our names on the rolls. On the white sheets, where I suspected they were. He doesn't apologize, but mumbles something about how he must have been looking under the wrong spelling.

When we got to the polls the first time, the guy in front of me was signing an orange sheet for a provisional ballot. I noticed maybe 8-10 signatures on that page. At 9:30 in the morning. I was surprised there were so many provisional ballots, but figured a lot of people must have registered late in the process. Now I suspect this half-wit polling worker just didn't search diligently through the rolls. I wouldn't be so annoyed with him if a provisional ballot was the same as a regular ballot. I think if you are going to work the polls, you should care enough to really verify that someone isn't on the rolls before offering a provisional ballot.

On the plus side, Aaron seemed to entertain the poll workers while I was voting. I heard laughter and when I came out, he had an "I voted" sticker upside down on his overalls. Only it was in Vietnamese. Which actually makes sense - I can't understand half of what he says, so I'm not surprised he knows Vietnamese.

Kissing and Talking

Aaron just started making kisses a couple weeks ago. One day, he was making lots of kisses while he was playing, so I tried to catch it on video. In this first video, he does one kiss, but the rest he is just playing with his Duplos (you can see how serious he is about it).

In the next video, we gave up on the kisses, and tried to get him to say a few words since we haven't been recording his voice. And the way he says words is so cute right now. At the end of this next video, he says Papa, which he always whispers for some reason. Also, for some reason, when I try to take video, he will often come over and hug me, as you'll see at the end of this clip.

Playing with Dolls and Bear

Aaron plays with one of my old Cabbage Patch dolls (shown above), my doll "My Friend Mandy" (a popular doll back in the day), and his bear that Grandma made him. Mandy isn't in any of the pictures here, but she was around. Kim took these pictures one day when she was watching him.

After lunch, if it is warm, Kim will take off Aaron's pants. They seem to end up on Bear.

I'm not sure what is going on above. But Aaron obviously loves playing with Bear.

Although the dolls and Bear "live" over with the rest of his toys, I often find them sitting on one of the dining room chairs after Kim has been here.

Aaron the Builder

When Aaron was about 15 months old, he was getting bored with the toys he had, so I went to Target in seach of something to buy that day (usually I will order toys online when I can, but I wanted something he could play with immediately). I found a set of 70 Duplos and even though it said they were for 18 months and older, I didn't think he'd choke on them, so I decided to try them out on him.

They were a big hit. It didn't take him long to figure out how they connect. At first he couldn't always get them lined up, but he knew which way was right-side up and we would help him line them up and attach them to the square blue 8x8 base that came with the set.

Within a moth or two, he would use up all the Duplos in his "buildings". Since the set of 70 had cost over $20, I decided to look on eBay. I'd had some success in getting him gently used clothing at great prices, and since Duplos hold up well, I thought it would be a good way to get a lot of Duplos at a good price.

And I was right. I found an auction by a woman who was getting rid of her son's Duplos from 1979. There were 175+ pieces, including a red barn, animals, cars, a tow truck, lots of little people, doors and windows, and a few other special pieces from a school-themed, town-themed and farm-themed sets. (You can see the red barn in the pictures above. Aaron builds on the roof of it.) With shipping, the total was just under $33. Some of the pieces aren't in perfect shape - the barn is missing one of it's handles, but most of the pieces which are just 2x4 and 2x2 bricks are almost indistinguishable from the newer ones. And the lot included a lot of special pieces that you can't buy new today.

He spends a good part of his day playing with his Duplos. Maybe we have an engineer in the making. When my sister found out he likes Duplos, she gave me a container full from her twins who have moved on to Legos, so we have plenty of building materials now.

Dress Up

Aaron got a plastic construction hat from his friend Gabe's Bob the Builder themed 2nd birthday party. And we had a set of kid's sunglasses from a goody bag we got at an Oscar party (they are supposed to be movie-star glasses, I think.) Anyway, Aaron enjoys "dressing up" in the hat and/or glasses.The problem is, he takes the glasses off almost immediately - before handing them back to me to put them back on. I put the glasses on, then the hat, then grabbed the camera, but by the time I got a shot, he was removing the glasses. So I have several pictures of him in the hat, with the sunglasses in his hand.

Finally, I skipped the hat, just put on the glasses and got this shot.

Again with the hat on, glasses in hand. Want to know what he's looking at?

Himself in the mirror. One of his favorite pastimes. I don't think I thought the mirror would stay in his play area for so long, but he loves to look at himself with the glasses and/or hat on. And sometimes, he seems to just like to look at himself, as if to confirm that he is still adorable. He'll just crawl over by the mirror and act silly in front of it.

Notice how the mirror is on the other side of the railing between the dining and living rooms? It didn't start off that way, but once he got grabby, we had to move it. He is now big enough to reach through and pull on the mirror, but we discourage that.

His construction hat has a sticker under the brim. It says that it is a toy. It does not offer protection. Because the thin plastic material that dents with the touch of a finger might lead you to believe it does offer protection.

Halloween

I didn't dress Aaron up this year, either, but I did put this monster shirt on him for the day. (He's outgrowing it as you can tell from the sleeves.) He also has an orange shirt with a jack-o-lantern that was a hand-me-down and he wore that on Thursday to his sing-along in the park which had a little Halloween party.
I think he'll be ready for Halloween next year. I think before he goes trick or treating he should at least be able to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you", should be able to walk, and should be able to hold his own candy bag. Plus I think next year he will actually enjoy wearing a costume. Although he does like putting on his construction had and sun glasses and seeing how he looks, he doesn't like to keep them on.

I was hoping he would at least get to pass out Halloween candy, but we only had 2 kids come this year, a brother and sister, and they came after Aaron went to bed. Usually we get a handful of kids, so this was a lower turn out than usual. Surprising for a Friday night, but we do live on a street with no sidewalks or street lights and with mostly elderly neighbors without kids.

But our Trader Joe's shopping center also offers Trick or Treating for kids, which is where we will probably take Aaron next year. As we were finishing up our regular Friday grocery store trip, we ran into our friends Bill and Heidi in the parking lot, unloading their 3 girls for some trick or treating. We'll have to ask them how it was.

Wedding

We went to a wedding this morning for Thom's friend Ann. He worked with Ann and another woman, Carolyn, when I first met him. They were the entire staff of the local office of a national company, so they were pretty close.

Not long after Thom and I started dating, he changed companies, and shortly after that, Ann and Carolyn also went their own ways. But the three of them stayed in touch and still meet for lunch a couple times a year. Ann and Allex and Carolyn came to our wedding 7 years ago, and a couple years ago, we all went to Carolyn's wedding. Ann and Allex have been together longer than us - 14 years compared to our 10, but only recently have they been granted to right to marry.

The ceremony was held outside and the weather was beautiful. Aaron was especially entranced by the live music. I brought Duplos and books to help keep him entertained, too, but for awhile he was content to just watch the musicians.

When a song would end, even if Aaron was looking at his book, he stopped to clap. And when the ceremony started, he kept watching them and signing "Please", hoping they would play another song.
Allex and Ann's dog Aloha participated in the ceremony, and given her name, I thought Aaron's Hawaiian shirt was appropriate. We don't have any formal wear for him, so jeans and a button down shirt were the best I could do. But I did put on his adorable little shoes from our friends Crystal and Eric, which he toddled around in (with one hand held) before the ceremony and later at the reception.

The wedding ceremony was a Taoist ceremony, which was new for us. The man performing the ceremony (I'm not sure what his title was) came out before hand and explained a little about what we would see, which was a nice touch since it was probably the first Taoist wedding most of us had been to.

Not only did the service start on time, but it was over in 15 minutes. That's my kind of wedding, especially with a baby in tow.

The reception was at Ann and Allex's house. They have a lovely backyard garden and we enjoyed a nice brunch reception. Aaron was pretty good for most of it, eating lots of melon and scone. But eventually, he had to get up and walk around, especially up the 11 steps from the back yard to the entrance to the house.

We shared a table with Carolyn and a mother and daughter we just met. The daughter is a 2nd grade teacher in a local school district. We were talking a little about Prop 8, which would amend the state constitution to prevent similar weddings. The teacher was angry over the ads that have been running saying that schools will have to teach gay marriage. She said she doesn't even teach about marriage in her class. It's unfortunate that the Yes on 8 campaign has resorted to lies to try to sway voters. I just hope that the right to marry isn't overturned on Tuesday.

18 month update

I still don't have pictures, but I wanted to post anyway. I've been fighting a sinus infection which is part of why I didn't get the blog updated over the weekend. Plus our power was out on Saturday from about 9-4.

Last Tuesday was Aaron's 18 month checkup. He was 26 lbs (around the 50th percentile), 33" long (about 75th percentile) and I don't know his head circumference, but it was at the 95 percentile. For height, he is hugging the 75th percentile curve pretty well, and she said if he stays on that course, he'll probably end up around 71" tall.

Unlike some of the exam rooms, this one had the light switch on the wall above the exam table, so Aaron spent a fair amount of the time we waited for the doctor (and some of the time while the doctor was in the room) turning the lights on and off. This is his favorite pastime and it was especially funny to turn the lights off while in his diaper at the doctor's office. Not so funny was having the doctor look in his ears.

Things went downhill from there. After the doctor left, the nurse came in for his shots. He got a flu shot in one leg, since it is that time of year, and then he got the DTap (the 4th, I think) and his first Hep A shot in his other leg. The leg with the flu shot was fine. The other one swelled up for a few days. He was also very fussy after his appointment and cried when I put him down for his nap.

On the plus side, the nurse gave him a book of shapes with fold-out flaps. It is part of a program they do. Starting at his 9 month checkup, he gets a book every time we go. I'm not sure at what age it is discontinued, but so far, he's gotten some books he really enjoys.

He has been jabbering more often, as if he is ready to start talking. And in the last week, he seemed to pick up a couple of new words, whereas he had been very slow to learn new words. His current list of words (and animal sounds is):

Mama
Dada
Papa
ball
duck
Ki - for Kim - his babysitter
dig (he can repeat it, but doesn't use it in context)
open (more like o-o, but he uses it in context)
star (possibly his favorite shape)
eat
bear (for teddy bears)
door (new in the last week)
key (new in the last week)
up (new in the last week)
hee haw (what the donkey says)
moo
baa
quack quack

Regarding his use of "open": Kim taught him to say "o-o" to indicate he wanted something opened - a box or a plastic jar. But he will also use it to ask you to take two Duplos apart for him or to tell you that you left a cabinet door open in the kitchen. In fact, he'll point into the kitchen and grunt and when you ask him "What? What do you see (or want)?" and he'll stop grunting and say "o-o" to tell you that he is pointing to the open cabinet door. Which you should close.

He is also very close to walking. The other night, he was standing against the wall in the dining room with Duplos in each hand. Then he leaned forward, away from the wall and balanced for a few seconds on his own. Then he seemed to realize he was on his own, and then he tried to walk to me - a few feet away. He took a step and a half before falling (I caught him) and we cheered him on so much, he kept repeating the act. Only he was so excited and laughing so hard, he couldn't really balance very well. But today, Kim took him to the indoor playground and he was doing the same thing there against a wall. And when they came home, she said he took a few steps in the dining room while he had a book in his hand.

He also seems to be going through a new phase on the social development front. He has never shown much stranger anxiety - in fact, sometimes I've thought he would happily go off with just about anyone. But now suddenly, when we are out at someone's house, he is clingy and cries if he can't see me - at least until he has time to warm up. Even this morning he had a melt down when Kim arrived. He might have the cold I had, so maybe he's not feeling well, but he's been like this on several occasions over the past 10 days and I'm starting to think it is a new phase. When we are at home and I want a hug or a cuddle, he shakes his head and pushes me away. When we go to someone else's house, he doesn't want to leave my side. I've always appreciated his independence, but I kind of like this phase. It's good to know that I am preferred over other mommies and children.

I'll try to post more pictures soon. One of the downsides of being sick is I'm way behind on work. I shouldn't even be writing this while Aaron is napping. I should be writing code.

Duplos

I meant to post more pictures this weekend, but I ran out of time. So here's one picture to tide you over until I have time to post more. I took this last Sunday a few hours before I discovered Aaron had a fever. He had just gotten up from a nap and was playing with his Duplos.

Budding Musician

Since Aaron enjoys music and has enjoyed playing on other people's pianos, I was inspired to pull out Thom's old keyboard and set it up in Aaron's play room (a.k.a. the dining room). It is often the first thing he wants to play with in the morning or after a nap.

Last weekend, my friend Mike was in town for work. He is a keyboard player and was able to quit his day job 10 years ago to make a living playing music (and giving piano lessons). I made sure to get some video of Aaron and Mike making music together.

I think Aaron could tell that Mike had abilities his parents do not have. I rarely get in much playing before Aaron pushes my hands off the keys or grabs my hand and makes me push the volume buttons instead. He showed much more respect when playing with Mike.

Roseola

This picture is from last Saturday. Thom was pushing him around in his wagon.

Sunday night, after Aaron barely ate anything for dinner, I discovered he had a fever of 102. We gave him some Tylenol before bed and assumed he had whatever I had been fighting off over the weekend. This is his first illness since being completely weaned, so he no longer has the benefit of my immune system.

He didn't feel well on Monday. In fact, he cried and cried when Kim arrived, whereas he usually goes right to her without a kiss goodbye to me. But he was clingy and crying and it took Thom to get him calmed down enough for Kim to take him for a walk.

After about 30 minutes of walking, he fell asleep, so Kim texted me that she was going to keep walking with him. She ended up walking around the neighborhood for 2 hours! But when he woke up, he was happy as a clam. He still went down for his afternoon nap and slept over 3 hours and was ready for bed early, he was so tired. And still not much appetite, but he fortunately was drinking enough water and milk to stay hydrated.

His fever spiked up over 103 Monday night, so we called the nurse line. He didn't really have any other symptoms, aside from being excessively tired and little appetite, so she just said to keep an eye on it and recommended two full droppers of Infant Tylenol (we weren't sure how much to give, but were giving about a dropper and a half). Every night we gave him Tylenol, I went in before bed to feel his head and make sure he wasn't burning up. I never had to give him a second dose at night.

Tuesday was a little better until the afternoon. He was fussy and clingy and his fever rose again. This time the nurse said that if he still had a fever on Wednesday, to call his pediatrian's office in case they wanted to see him, but she thought we could probably make it through the night with a dose of Tylenol. Having a fever as his primary symptom, we were told it could be an ear infection or possibly roseola. With roseola, the fever would break after 3-5 days followed by a rash, but until the rash developed, you couldn't tell if that was what caused the fever. It is one of those common childhood illnesses that most kids get before 2, but which I had never heard of until now. I'm sure it is the first of many.

Wednesday, his temp was down between 99-100, which didn't seem to warrant a call to the pediatrician's office. He seemed a little better, but still tired. At one point when I was out of my office, I saw him reclined in Kim's lap reading books. I took his temperature (with a temporal artery thermometer) which had been causing him to cry and fuss, and he didn't bat an eyelash, he was so comfy and tired. He napped 4 hours and when he woke up, his temp was under 99. He was still fussy and had no appetite last night, but he went to bed early and slept through the night. In fact, he's been sleeping remarkably well through this illness compared with his last one.

Today, he still has no fever, but he does have a faint red rash on his trunk, face and inside his elbows, so I'm pretty sure it is roseola. I guess we can mark one childhood illness off our list. I had to call my friend Biriz though because we visited her and Alara on Tuesday. We thought he probably just had a cold that was going around, and Biriz wasn't worried since they had just had it. Her daughter turns 2 this month and I'm not sure if she has had it yet. If she hasn't, she will probably get it soon since she was playing very close to Aaron.

I'm just glad my happy little boy is returning. He was so sad and lethargic for 3 days. In fact, when he started feeling better last night, he was throwing things gentley and smiling at me, since he knows we don't throw things in the house. I knew I couldn't allow throwing just because he's been sick, but seeing him being playful and funny again made it really hard not to smile back.

Rainbow

We woke up Monday to the sound of thunder. It's pretty rare around here and we had no idea a storm was coming through, so it was a nice surprise. We both love thunderstorms.

But we weren't surprised when Aaron started crying after one of the thunder claps. We were surprised that he quieted back down quickly though, so we were able to lie in bed enjoying the storm for a few more minutes. It was odd, though, because it wasn't raining. When Aaron cried again, we got up. And a few minutes later, it just started pouring.

Within 30 minutes, it had stopped and when Thom went out for the paper, he saw this rainbow. So Aaron and I joined him. Right when we went out, though, the garbage truck pulled up in front of our house, so while Thom was pointing out the rainbow to Aaron, Aaron was busying pointing out the garbage truck to Thom. If Aaron could remember this day, he'd probably remember the day his parents took him outside to see the garbage truck and there happened to be a rainbow.

This picture captures the recently skinned palm tree in front of our house. It still looks naked to me, like a poodle that has been shaved. It is Aaron's palm tree. Whenever we go for a walk, we'll ask him where his palm tree is, and he'll point it out. He can also point out the pine trees and the eucalyptus trees. But palm trees seem to be his favorite. In fact, the house on one of our walks that used to have llamas in a pen in the front yard has 5 palm trees in front. With merely a glance at the boring llamas, Aaron would point out each palm tree in the yard...back and forth, over and over, until we turned around for home. I was sad that the llama people moved because I thought Aaron would enjoy going down to see the llamas when he was older, but maybe he will just enjoy counting the palm trees instead.

The rainbow was nice, but I'm over this hot muggy weather the storm seems to have left behind.

Diapers.com

I was thinking about writing about this online store, but then I got an e-mail that convinced me to go ahead.

When I first heard about Diapers.com, it was in a feature in the Wall Street Journal where someone comparison-shopped for diapers at 5 online retailers, including Amazon.com. I had been buying Pampers on Amazon.com for months and felt that the review was horribly skewed towards Diapers.com. The woman claimed she couldn't find Pampers from Amazon.com directly, so she bought them from a 3rd party on Amazon who charged an outrageous amount for shipping. When you buy diapers direct from Amazon, shipping is free since it is free for anything over $25.

Anyway, the reviewer loved Diapers.com so much and gave such a bad review of Amazon.com, I felt that she was either an idiot (for not finding the Pampers directly from Amazon) or was being paid by Diapers.com to do the feature. Also, Diapers.com only has free shipping if you spend $49 and I only buy one case of diapers at a time (for about $35) so it didn't make sense to swith from Amazon.com for diapers. (I once bought two cases of diapers online only to end up with an entire case of unused size 1 diapers that no longer fit Aaron. Since then, I only buy one case at a time.) So I didn't shop at Diapers.com for a long time.

But eventually, I needed something besides diapers, and I was comparison shopping and found that Diapers.com had some interesting products (like BPA-free sippy cups and other green products) and competitive prices. And although their free shipping doesn't kick in until $49, I realized that it is 2 day free shipping. So I can order something on Monday and have it by Wednesday! Amazon.com takes longer.

If I just need a case of diapers, I'll order it from Amazon.com (although these days it is Luvs, not Pampers). But if I need other baby stuff, I'll order from Diapers.com.

Oh, and the e-mail that prompted me to finally write about them - I got a promotion code that will get you $10 off your first order: ELSH4273. I'll get a $1, too. So use it if you order from Diapers.com - just remember it is only good on your first order, so if you've already shopped with them, it won't work.

Trying for a girl

Thom and I have had a girl's name picked out for a daughter since before we were married. Audrey. We are Audrey Hepburn fans, but we also just love the name. It's classic, but not too common. When we found out we were having a boy last time, we spent a lot of time choosing a name. And we didn't have a solid second choice, so if we have another boy, we'll be hitting the baby name books for sure.

But even more than having a name picked out, we'd kind of like to have a least one son and one daughter. I had heard there are theories about influencing the gender of your baby, but didn't know much about it until my friend Heidi leant me a book called Taking Charge of your Fertility. She said there was a chapter on trying for either a boy or a girl, so I thought I'd check it out.

The book is amazing. It has so much information on how women's bodies work, I think every woman should have this book. I thought at first that it was about the rhythm method, something I learned a little about from my Catholic upbringing. But the book isn't anti-birth control. The family planning aspect is just for women who don't want to use hormones to avoid pregnancy. It talks about how to chart your cycles to learn when you are most fertile and how to use that information to avoid or achieve pregnancy, using barrier methods when necessary.

There are several theories about gender selection, but the one this book discusses involves timing. The theory is that sperm carrying a Y chromosome (boy sperm) are fast swimmers, but don't live as long and aren't as hardy as girl sperm. So to increase the chance of having a boy, you'd want to wait until you ovulate. The boy sperm have a better shot at arriving to the egg first. For a girl, try a few days before that. The boy sperm are more likely to die off before the egg is released. They cite some evidence such as the fact that babies born as a result of artificial insemination tend to be boys since the procedure is performed as close to ovulation as possible. And that men with certain jobs (deep sea divers) that create a hostile environment for sperm tend to have more girls.

I have since heard that this theory has been discredited, but I figure there is little harm in trying. The only downside with trying for a girl is that it reduces your chance of conceiving in general since you are basically avoiding the most fertile days. And I've heard that in any given month, you only have about a 20% chance to begin with. If it takes too long to conceive, we'll change our plans. But it will be an interesting experiment.

So helpful

Aaron is getting to the age where he wants to do everything, which is ideal for molding him into a little helper. For example, when we take his clothes off for bed, we let him put the old outfit in the hamper. It makes him happy. He gets to turn the light off to his room at night and he gets to open the garage door when we are going out. He is even learning to pick up his toys before nap time. I'm a firm believer in children doing age appropriate chores as soon as they are able, so anything we find he can do, we make it a part of his routine and praise his helfulness.

One thing he really enjoys doing is helping out at the grocery store. We shop at Trader Joe's where there are no conveyor belts. The checker just takes the items directly from your shopping cart. So Aaron is always eager to hand stuff to the checker. He spends most of the shopping cart ride turned around backwards, trying to get stuff out of the cart. In fact, we try to pack the cart carefully so he can't reach stuff. Because he will start pulling items from the cart in the middle of our shopping trip and hand them to me, or Thom, or just someone passing by. But once we are are the checkout stand, we will hand items that aren't too heavy to Aaron to hand to the checker.

Even the checkers who I wouldn't expect to be interested in kids seem to enjoy his enthusiasm. He doesn't just hand an item to them. He says "uh, uh, uh", getting more urgent the longer it takes for them to grab whatever he is handing them. Most of the time, the checker will start giving him items from the bottom of the cart so that he can hand them right back. He gets so pleased with himself. But he still doesn't seem to understand the whole process, because as soon as they put a full grocery bag in the cart, he tries to reach in and hand something back to them.

Sometimes Aaron is too helpful. It's no secret that Thom and I are trying for another baby. Several weeks ago, I went to buy some home pregnancy tests at Longs (no, we aren't pregnant yet). I had Aaron with me in the cart. I was carrying the test in my hand. As we approached the line to check out, Aaron takes the package from me, then turns around and offers it to the young woman in line ahead of us. She appears to be college age. Turning a little pink, I tell Aaron "I don't think she wants that." The woman looks down at what Aaron is offering her, smiles and says "No, not yet."

Indoor Playground

Aaron is so active, it is hard to keep him entertained at home. I've always taken him out on the days I have him all day, but now Kim also takes him out two of the three days she has him. There is an indoor playground in town that he likes. It's a nice, clean environment with lots of things to play with and explore. Kim took some pictures on a recent visit, but the camera was acting up. They all came out blurry. But here are a few of the best ones.He likes the play kitchen. It has lots of doors to open and close, plus pots and pans (and a collander) and plastic fruits and vegetables to play with. He gets very busy working in the little kitchen. But sometimes, he has to pause to watch what the bigger kids are doing. Half the fun of this place is watching the other kids, and sometimes playing with them. I always enjoy hearing about how Aaron interacted with the other kids when he and Kim come back for lunch.
He especially likes the big plastic cars (or fire engine, in this case) that kids can ride in - although he likes to push them around instead riding in them. He'll usually push them around empty, but he is quite happy to push other kids around.

Rumor has it that this playground may go out of business if business doesn't pick up. I would be very disappointed. I love that he can climb and explore and play indoors, meaning no dirt, no sunscreen application, no heat. When he's walking better and the weather cools down, we'll spend more time at outdoor playgrounds, but this is the best indoor playground nearby. I'm meeting two friends of mine and their kids there this Tuesday for a playdate. Hopefully business picks up for them.

17 months and counting

This is Aaron with one of my friend Linda's Chin's. I'm not sure which one it is - she has about 5, I think, but I'm sure she will know exactly which one this is despite the fact that they all look alike! (Sorry, Linda!) Although he seemed to like each dog individually, he seemed a little overwhelmed when taken altogether. So this was the best picture I got of him and the dogs. In addition to visiting with the dogs, he spent a fair amount of time in Linda's step-daughter Kayla's room pushing buttons on her radio which was on the floor, not seeming to mind that it was turned off and so the buttons did nothing. And almost as interesting as the radio were the cords on the blinds which hung down just above the radio. Those two things, plus Kayla's cell phone, kept Aaron entertained for most of our visit.

I don't have any pictures from swim class. The fact is, we have stopped going. We went the second week and Aaron was just too tired, he cried and fussed from the start. It wasn't fun for us or for him, so we ended up leaving early. I thought the class would be good since he enjoys being in the pool, but if it isn't fun for him, there is no point in going. Plus, the instructor really underwhelmed us. My sister recommends the Y, so we might try that next year. And hopefully we can find a class that doesn't overlap with nap time.

Aaron is finally weaned. I had hoped to have him completely weaned by 18 months, so I was glad it went so well. I was following the weaning philosophy of "Never offer, never refuse". It just made sense to me. Since he didn't need to nurse anymore, there was no reason to offer if he didn't ask (except when he woke up at 4:30am and it was the easiest way to get him back to sleep). And I didn't want to refuse when he did ask if there wasn't any reason not to. I did refuse if we were out somewhere, except when we were at a friend's daughter's birthday party and he was still getting over his cold and wasn't feeling well. When he started sleeping through the night (it's been a couple of weeks and it is wonderful!), the 4:30am feeding went away. And gradually, he stopped asking in the morning and after his afternoon nap, or before bed (the other common times he wanted to nurse). Sometime in the past week I realized he was done.

Aaron is growing up so gradually, yet so quickly. Someone who hasn't seen him in a couple of weeks will comment on how much he has grown, but even then I may not see it. But sometimes, I'll just see him in a new light. The other day, I was pushing him in his swing. Maybe it was his outfit, but I looked at him and realized, he really isn't my baby anymore. He's a little boy.

Sometimes I try to hold onto him, he'll be playing, and I'll just wrap him in my arms and tell him I love him, knowing that some day, I won't be able to cuddle him anymore. Sometimes he puts up with it, but more often he pushes me away. He has work to do.

Buying shoes

First, I want to apologize for not having pictures. I took the camera over to my friend Linda's over the weekend to get some pictures of Aaron with her dogs and I left it behind. I also want to apologize because unless you are shopping for shoes for your kid, and even then, this will probably be a boring post for you.

Aaron is gradually getting better on his feet. But he walks with his feet pronated - turned out. His physical therapist wasn't concerned at first, but since he is still doing it, she recommended orthodics. She was going to see if they would be covered by the program we are going through to get physical therapy, but in the meantime, she happened to have a previously-worn pair that fit Aaron perfectly. She said the orthodics typically run $52, so if they weren't covered, I'd have waited a little while longer to see if the pronation cleared up on it's own.

She said the soft leather Robeez shoes we had for him weren't good shoes to use the orthodics in. But I pulled out a pair of Pedipeds Aaron had gotten for his birthday and realized they now fit him and the orthodics fit inside perfectly. So I tried that out over the weekend and Jan (the PT) watched him in them on Tuesday when she was here. Although the Pedipeds are firmer than the Robeez, it was still too easy for him to roll onto his arches, so she recommended getting a more "traditional" type of shoe. Some little tennis shoes or something.

It's kind of confusing to me since Robeez and Pedipeds both sell themselves on being perfect for little ones learning to walk. The soft soles make it easier for them to still use their toes for balance. But I guess for kids with pronated feet who need orthodics, they aren't so great. So yesterday, I set out to buy a pair of shoes for Aaron. Since he had received the Robeez and the Pedipeds as gifts, and since I don't see any point in putting shoes on him until he can walk, I haven't had to buy a pair of shoes for him yet.

While running errands yesterday, we happened to be at a shopping center with a Ross, Shoe Pavilion and a Mervyn's. I tried Ross first. I don't want to spend a lot on shoes Aaron will wear for a few months. Ross had a sizing chart attached to the floor and it looked like Aaron was a size 5. There was a cute pair of little oxford style brown shoes that I liked, but not in size 5. All I could get in size 5 was either Cars themed or Spiderman themed. If Aaron is like his cousins, he will be asking me for shoes like that soon enough. But I hate character themed shoes so I didn't want to get them. Even for $13. They also seemed bulky and large for his little feet.

Next was Shoe Pavillion. They were going out of business and seemed to have already sold most of their toddler boy shoes. Mervyn's was next. They did have a few styles that weren't character themed, but not much selection in size 5. And most of the shoes were in the $32-45 range - which just seems like a lot of money for infant shoes.

So after his nap, I took Aaron to the mall. I was going to check out Stride Rite where I figured I could get his feet more accurately sized. But as soon as I stepped into the mall, I saw Payless, and figured they'd have good prices. When I went in, the saleswoman offered to size his feet. She said he was a 3 1/2, but since they don't have half sizes that small, we'd have to go with a 4. I thought that sounded kind of small. Sizes 1-4 were grouped together. There were two size 4 boy shoes. I didn't like either one. I think one had laces. I don't want to deal with laces on a one year old. So off we went to Stride Rite.

There, the saleswoman was kind enough to get off her personal phone call to help us. She sized his feet and said he was a 5 1/2! I kind of trusted her more than the Payless woman, though. There was one style of shoe that was on sale for $35 - a little more expensive than I was hoping to pay, but I didn't rule it out. It had a Velcro closure and no licensed character. However, she didn't have any of the 3 colors in his size. I started looking at some of the other shoes. However, when I looked at the shoes in the first columns, she said "Oh, those are just for crawlers." Seriously? They make shoes for crawlers? I mean, I know people who put shoes on their kids who can't walk yet, but I didn't realize they made special shoes for them.

I noticed that most of the shoes I was picking up were $45 or $47, so I finally just asked her point blank if she had any other shoes that were under $40. Nope. I'm sure I will pay more for Aaron's shoes when he is older, as I do think well built shoes are important for kids (and adults), but I myself rarely buy shoes more than $40, so I wasn't ready to pay that much for Aaron's. The saleswoman had offered to order the on-sale ones, but since I couldn't try a pair on Aaron, I said I'd think about it. In the meantime, Aaron had crawled over to the toys and was quite happy.

Next, we tried Sears. For some reason, shoe departments don't leave out the shoe sizers any more and I wanted to try to see for myself what size Aaron really is. I had to ask someone and he retrieved one from behind the counter and measured for himself. He said Aaron was a 4 1/2, but 5 would be the closest they had. Sears had a decent selection, but not in size 5.

At this point, though, despite the different sizes I had been given, I felt pretty comfortable with the size 5 verdict. That is what I thought he was after our visit to Ross. So I went back to Payless and looked at the size 5 section. There was much more inventory than for sizes 1-4. I found a simple pair of Champion white (leather) tennis shoes with black decoration and Velcro closures. For $20.