How Aaron Helps with Chef Salad Dinner

What!?! He's the spinner!

Mmm... Chef salad dinner...

My One-Man Band

For funsies today before lunch, I got a saucepan out of the cabinet for Aaron to beat on along with a wooden spoon to do the beating. Hey, this used to keep his attention when he was very little, why wouldn't it work now? Silly Mommy. I got distracted with something in another room and came back to find what you'll see in the video - about six pots and pans, all laid out perfectly like in his very own drum kit. Add a cutting board and a couple of glass (!) pots and you're on your way to some mad music skillz, yo!

I Can't Help It

Bill makes fun of me for feeling sorrow for people that I don't even know, but this just breaks my heart:

Heath Ledger found dead in NYC at age 28

Step Two to Big Boy Bed

Take the side rail off his crib and put the safety rail on. This essentially turns his bed into a daybed. A daybed that he can crawl out of. So far, between bedtime last time and naptime this afternoon, he has been really good about staying in the bed and going to sleep. We've only caught him out of bed and playing with his toys once, and he went right back to bed when Daddy told him to. Thankfully he doesn't know how to open the door to his room yet, so I don't think that we'll be getting midnight visitors anytime soon.

Aaron's crib is one of those convertible kind that changes from a crib to a daybed and then finally into a headboard and footboard for a full size bed (that he, in theory, could take to college with him, if it makes it through all the moves). We are waiting until we move to turn it into a full size bed (We're eventually going to be kicked out of the base house we're in right now so it can be demolished. We're hoping to move into a new base house later in the spring, if they don't run out first. If that happens, we will be buying off base.). Hopefully, our good luck with this transition holds out!

Folding AROUND the Dog

What? You don't have to do this too?

Stupid Camera That's Smarter Than Me

Well, this was my attempt at playing with the camera settings on my new Nikon, trying to get the pictures that I want. So far, the only setting that I like is No Flash. How lame is that? And they mostly come out blurry. I know, I know. I need to read the manual. My head just really hurts between the camera and trying to figure out all the bells and whistles on our new van.

I know, I'm so sad with all my new toys, right?

P.S. Isn't my little boy really starting to look like a little man? He's so handsome and growing up so fast. O.K., there's the brain trauma freeze I spoke of earlier.

Because Two Pugs Are Always Better Than One...

This long holiday weekend, we are puppy-sitting for our friends while they are down having fun in L.A. Bauer is quite a bit younger than Reagan, and it's really weird for us to think about Reagan being the old lady in the house now. We're so used to her running circles around other dogs (like Bauer does to her), but you can definitely tell that Reagan has calmed down in the past couple years as she gets older. She's only six and a half years old, but it kind of makes me afraid for the future when she won't be around anymore. But then I get brain trauma freeze and everything is O.K. again.

Mommy and Daddy Go on a Date

Johnny Depp + Helena Bonham Carter + Tim Burton = Pure, Wonderful, British-y Bliss. Fantastic movie.

And The Transition Begins...

To a big boy bed, that is. First step: big boy pillow. O.K., don't laugh. We're talking tiny steps here, people. My heart can't handle more than that. The boy has never used a big person pillow before. Just wasn't ever one of those things I felt he needed until I actually started thinking about him all grown up and stuff and still sleeping without one. And that's just weird. And probably not good for his spine. So I decided to give him my extremely flat pillow and bought myself a very nice "Down Alternative" pillow at Wal-Mart yesterday. Not really sure what that means, but I know I like down feather pillows minus the end of the feathers poking through and sticking me in the head. But I digress. Look how cute he looked this afternoon during his nap:

And what else could be better than having Optimus Prime lull you to sleep every night? Nothing, I tell you! Transformers rule!!

This is What Sad Looks Like

Maybe this whole talking thing isn't working out as well as I would have hoped. Aaron and I sat down to eat lunch today at about 11:45. I placed two chicken nuggets in front of him, each cut in half so he had four pieces. I also gave him some mandarin oranges and about four Pringles. O.K., duh, the Pringles were going in about half a second. I didn't have much hope for the oranges because he has really turned his nose up at oranges for a while now. It just makes me feel better that I'm at least offering it. Now, the chicken was a toss-up. I've seen him eat four Pringles then not eat anything until snack time after his afternoon nap. So I wasn't sure what to expect. However, this time, he gobbled down the chicken! Then it happened - he, plain as day, said, "More chicken." I thought, "Surely, you jest! More chicken, really?" And I even asked him several times as I was standing up and heading back into the kitchen, "Do you really want more?" And he kept repeating the same thing, "More chicken." So I made (read: microwaved) two more chicken nuggets and cut them each in half so he would have four. I then placed the new chicken in front of him, to which he promptly replied, "No chicken" and pushed the plate away. Oh, no, you didn't!! I told him that he wasn't getting up from the chair until he ate one more piece of chicken, that we don't ask for more then refuse it. People, he sat there for the next hour in that chair until it was time for his afternoon nap at 1:00. I couldn't believe how stubborn he was. All he had to do was take two bites and he could get everything he desired, which was to get down from the chair! One hour of perfectly good playtime wasted!! I have to say that I was pretty proud of myself for not backing down, even in the midst of so many tears that his face was starting to swell! Best mom ever!

Yeah, That Ain't Right

Not really the use we had in mind for this particular Christmas gift, dude...


(He was watching TV.)

Our Christmas Vacation

A breakdown:

• Number of days away from home: 26
• Number of states visited: 6 (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and back again)
• Number of grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and former college roommates visited: 3, 6, 6, 5, too many cousins to count, 1
• Number of national parks visited: 3 (Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, White Sands National Monument in New Mexico and Saguaro National Park, also in Arizona)
• Number of cities visited that win the Tackiest of Tacky Award: 2 (it's a tie between Tombstone, AZ and Roswell, NM)
• Number of pairs of giant boots visited: 1 (outside San Antonio's North Star Mall)

Cousin Lilly and Aaron

More posts to come! Be sure to click on the Flickr link above to see pictures of our adventures!!