Life with Aaron is never dull. Some of the latest things we take delight in:
When Aaron wants you to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", he holds his hands up and says "uh, uh" - mimicking the "up above" part of the song. We do hand motions to this song which he loves and he imitates forming a diamond (in the sky) with his fingers very well. But lately, after I sing the "like a diamond in the sky" line, he then puts both his hands on his head meaning he wants me to sing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes". And 3 lines into that song, he is back to "uh, uh" for "Twinkle, Twinkle".
In his play area, when Thom and/or I are on the floor with him, Aaron will just suddenly stop playing with his toys and come over to one of us, put his head on our chest (sometimes half-way climbing on top of us), then get up and go back to his toys.
When holding Aaron, if I ask for a hug, he will rest his head on my shoulder briefly with his arms around me. Sometimes he will pat me, too.
Some things we don't delight in:
On Saturday, Aaron probably could have used a morning nap, but I had plans to go see my friend Michaela, who I recently found out was moving to Knoxville. He fell asleep in the car about 5 minutes before we got to her house and then woke up when we parked. He did great during our visit (and found their dog who jumped up on us and licked him quite hysterical) and he did great when we all went out to eat lunch. But he fell asleep on the way home and even though he was exhausted, he would not take a nap when we got home. After an hour of waiting for him to fall asleep, it was clear he wasn't going to go to sleep on his own, so I loaded him up in the stroller and walked him around the neighborhood. When he still wasn't asleep, I turned him over to Thom (who had been working in the yard) and he took him for a walk. He never did go to sleep and was a little terror the rest of the night. At dinner, after eating a few bites, he discovered it was the funniest thing in the world to put his finger in his mouth and fling his food back out. We eventually got him to bed, but it wasn't easy and he woke up once before we went to bed and twice more in the middle of the night. Moral of the story - plan everything around the baby's naps, even if someone is moving to Knoxville.
General update:
Our nanny Kim is great. This will be her 4th week with us. She is very good about keeping Aaron entertained and finding new things for him to do. I was comfortable leaving him alone with her the second week and last week, I let her take him to a sing-along in the park - one I've taken him to, but hadn't lately since it was at a day and time when she was watching him. I've never let anyone take him anywhere before and Thom hasn't taken him out on his own, so it was a strange feeling watching her drive away with Aaron in my car. It was the longest I've been alone in the house in over 15 months. They had a great time at the park and she even met up with a woman she knows with a 20 month old son and Aaron and the other baby played together in the sand. She told me before she left to feel free to call and check up on him. I only called once, though, to make sure she'd found the park and that everything was OK.
Aaron is cruising pretty well now. He likes to stand up at the fence between the dining and living rooms and cruise back and forth. He sometimes moves from chair to chair in the dining room, too. and he can also take some steps with someone holding his hands. I saw Kim do it first, and then my friend Heidi, and I finally tried it with him last night. We ordered a walker/push toy which should arrive this week. It is a little Radio Flier cart (not the full wagon) that he can push his toys around in.
One of the things I love about Kim is that she has so much experience with kids. I asked her what kind of toys she thought Aaron would like now (since he seems to be getting bored of his toys) and among other things, she recommended dolls. So I pulled out two dolls from when I was a kid - My Friend Mandy, a blond doll with a soft torso and hard plastic lower legs, arms and head, and a boy Cabbage Patch doll. These dolls are probably 25 years old and my mom had the foresight to save them for me. Which has now saved me from having to buy dolls for my son. And Kim was right on the money. Aaron really enjoys the dolls. He will point out their eyes and nose and enjoys "tickling" their feet while I make different laughs for the boy and the girl.
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