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.