A Day in the Life: Winter 2016

It's time for the first DITL post in 2016!  This is a quarterly link up with My Life in Transition.  If you'd like to participate, you can click here for the link, but hurry!  The deadline is fast approaching.

I was going to do a weekend post this time around on Saturday, but it ended up being such a rough day with Rylee waking up at 4:57am and then Ayden's meltdowns at gymnastics, that I bagged it and went with Monday instead.  So, welcome to our Day in the Life from January 18, 2016.

Tony: age 42 (only until tomorrow!)
Me: 41
Rylee: 2
Ayden: 2

6:00am - Tony's alarm goes off.  I have to nudge him to get him to actually turn it off.

6:18 - I hear Ayden start to wake up.

6:20 - Tony's second alarm goes off.  I wait a few more minutes and then roll out of bed and head into the bathroom to pee.  I come out and tell Tony he needs to get up.

6:28 - I go in to get Ayden out of his crib.  He's in a good mood and gives me a snuggle and a morning kiss.  I change his diaper and end up getting him dressed for the day because he soaked through his diaper.  I hear Rylee waking up in the room next door.

6:35 - Ayden runs into Rylee's room to say good morning.  Not really saying it, but he is excited to see her.  Tony says good morning to the kids on his way by the door.

6:38 - We all go out to snuggle together on the couch and watch Curious George, while Ayden and Rylee drink their morning sippy cup of milk.  When Rylee finishes her milk, I change her diaper.

6:55 - Tony goes to get ready for work.

7:15 - I go in search of snack cups that are laying (hiding) around the house somewhere from the day before.  Once I fill them with Cheerios, Ayden grabs both cups and bangs them together and on the counter top a few times.  Then he gives one to Rylee.

7:25 - I remember I planned on documenting my DITL today, so go find my notebook and start taking notes of our morning so far.

Watching Curious George

7:30 - Curious George comes to an end and I turn off the tv.  Rylee hollers "Pooh!  Pooh!" (for Winnie the Pooh), but I turn the tv off.  She quickly gets over it when I don't turn it back on and they both go play, while I continue making notes for this post.

He knocks this table over at least once/day, if not several times.

 7:50 - Tony leaves for work after a discussion of where to buy his new Keurig coffee pot that he's getting for his birthday.  He doesn't want me to order it online, "because then he has to wait for it."  Rylee and Ayden say "bye bye" several times as he leaves, and Rylee also says "love you" loud and clear (with prompting).  So cute!

7:57 - Ayden gets himself stuck sitting on top of stacked drawers we use for their toys.  Rylee wants to climb up there with him soooooo badly!

 8:02 - I start getting breakfast together: scrambled eggs, leftover waffles from the day before, and raspberries.  While the eggs are cooking and they are miraculously keeping themselves occupied sitting across the table from each other having a conversation, I quickly put a load of laundry in.

Conversation over.  Now they are just waiting for breakfast.

8:17 - The eggs are done, but I have to change Ayden's poopy diaper before we eat breakfast.  I herd them both into the bedroom, making a game of chase out of it.  There's no way I'm leaving one of them in the living room by themselves anymore!  They know I'm busy when I'm changing the other's diaper, and it never fails that they get into something during that time.

Climbing into their chairs, but stopping to shake them a bit first.

8:25 - We finally sit down for breakfast.  Rylee doesn't like the fresh raspberries (even though she loved them last summer!), so I give her some frozen blueberries instead.  Of course Ayden has to have some of those too.  After eating my breakfast with them, I take advantage of them being in their high chairs and load the dishwasher.

8:56 - I get them cleaned up and help them out of their high chairs.  They run into the other room to play with their kitchen.

9:06 - I put the clothes in the dryer from the washer, and another load in the washer.  Then I grab the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the best I can, while battling with them over the cord.

My helpers

9:20 - "We" put the vacuum away and then I chase them both into the bedroom again to change Rylee's poopy diaper and get her dressed.

I get a text from a friend (M), asking if we want to meet up for a nature hike by the lake.  We arrange to meet at 10:30.

9:35 - I quickly run to get dressed, knowing I have very little time before trouble ensues in the other room.  I throw on pants and a t-shirt and get back to the kitchen.  I find Ayden on a chair at the kitchen counter with Daddy's coffee spilled all over himself and the floor.  I yelled.  Not my finest moment.  I got them both back into their bedroom again, changed Ayden's clothes and put a fresh diaper on him.  Then I closed them both into their room to play while I went to brush my teeth.  I should have just done that to begin with.

9:55 - I change dinner plans because I don't have time to put our planned dinner in the crockpot and still meet our friends in time.  I take some hamburger out of the freezer to thaw instead.

10:05 - Change another poopy diaper for Ayden.  WHY must he always poop in the fresh diaper I JUST put on him?  Oh well, I'd rather change it here than at the lake.

10:10 - Get them both ready to head out the door.

10:28 - Finally pull out of the driveway, running late.

10:35 - Arrive and park, but get back in and move the car when I realize that I have to stand in a large mud puddle in order to get Rylee out of the car.

The kids think it's the best thing ever to be outside and explore, and they are all super excited to see each other.

Nothing better than jumping in puddles.

The best picture we got of all four of them.
Photo courtesy of M.

Bottom two pics courtesy of M.

Walking hand in hand = ADORABLE!
Left photo taken by M.

This is the designated swimming area during the summer.  Now it's just a fun place to explore!
Photo courtesy of M.

Puddle jumping while waiting for me to buckle Ayden into his carseat.

11:45 - We are all loaded back up in the car and headed home.

11:57 - We're back in the house.  I throw all the muddy boots/shoes in the garage, along with their rain suits, then I help them wash their hands at the bathroom sink.

12:09pm - They jump on the couch while I make lunch.

12:25 - Lunch is served!  Ham and cheese sandwich, mixed veggies, and milk.  I give them plates for their lunch, but within seconds they have their food dumped on their trays and hand me the plates back.  Sigh.

Plates.  No plates.

 While they are eating lunch, I remember to switch the laundry around.  I throw the basket of clean clothes on my bed and put the clothes from the washer in the dryer.

12:45 - Give them their multi vitamins and get them cleaned up.  Immediately after getting down from their chairs, they both lay down and slide underneath one of them.

Goofballs.

12:53 - I round them up and chase them into the bedroom to change their diapers.  I changed Rylee first because I realized that there isn't anymore diapers in the house for Ayden.  Once I'm done with her, I close them in the room and run out to the garage to grab size 5 diapers.  I restock the diaper basket when I get back in their room and then change Ayden.  While I have him there, I also trim his fingernails.

Then we head back to the living room and we get their teeth brushed.  First I brush their teeth, then it's their turn.

"Another picture, Mom?  Really?"

1:15 - They find their blankets, Rylee grabs her baby, they give each other nigh-nigh kisses, and I put them down in their cribs.

1:20 - I lay down on the couch.  Ahhhhhh.....  And I scroll catch up with people on Facebook.

1:30 - Both are asleep.

1:57 - I get up and head back to my bedroom to go through clothes that I know don't fit me anymore.  There is a family in town here that had a house fire and someone is collecting donations for them.

2:28 - Done going through the clothes.  I found several items that will work for the mom and teenage daughter in the family.  I send a Facebook message to the gal that is collecting items and arrange for pick up.  Then I spend the next frustrating 20 minutes trying to get our computer to connect to the internet.  I'm mad that it won't work because I had plans to write my #MicroblogMonday post and start on this one!

2:51 - I give up on the computer and lay back down on the couch catch up on more social media.

3:20 - I hear Ayden waking up.

3:26 - I go in to get him and change his diaper.  Then we snuggle on the couch to watch Kipper, one of his favorite shows.

4:10 - Decide it's time to wake up Rylee so she'll still be able to go to sleep at bedtime!

4:15 - Snack time while watching the last few minutes of Kipper.  It's Veggie Straws and fruit snacks.  There's a short battle when Ayden tries to help Rylee eat her snacks instead of his own, but he goes back to his own chair after only a brief scuffle.  They both dump their snacks on the table.  When will this stage end?

4:19 - The tv is turned off.

4:25 - I put in another load of laundry.  Ayden comes in to help throw clothes in the washer.

4:36 - Start making dinner.

4:41 - I realize I still need to change Rylee's diaper.  I grab one from the diaper bag on the counter because I don't want to leave Ayden alone in the living room.  Then I think maybe this was a bad idea too, when he grabs the wipes container and then lays on top of Rylee to wrestle.  But then he moves on to doing trust falls on the couch, so I am able to change her.

4:52 - Ayden pushes his MegaBloks truck into his room.  I know he's planning on using it to climb onto the changing table and get to the wipes.  I go after him and find that I am right.  I shuffle him out of the room and shut the door behind us.

5:27 - I see Ayden put something in his mouth and dig a leaf out that he had found on the floor.  I take their shirts off because it's time for dinner, but I have them pick up blocks first so they will be off the kitchen floor.  Once the blocks are all picked up and put in the MegaBloks truck, they push it to the hall and dump them all out again.  I make them pick the blocks up again.

5:35 - They are in their high chairs and dinner is served!  It's Cheeseburger Pasta and green beans for dinner, along with milk.  Ayden dumps his plate within seconds.  I scoop it back onto his plate, with his help, and ask him to please eat off his plate.  I also catch Rylee as she is about to dump her plate.

5:37 - They both dump their plates and I give up.

5:46 - Check in with Tony on the phone.  He's very excited about the fantastic deal he got on his big boy coffee pot.

5:50 - The gal knocks on our door to pick up those clothes.

5:53 - I give Ayden and Rylee some raspberries, but again, Rylee doesn't want them so I give her a graham cracker instead.  Of course Adyen gets one of those two.  While they eat those, I get the dishwasher loaded and started.

6:05 - Get them cleaned up and out of their high chairs.

6:08 - Daddy is home with his new Keurig coffee pot!

6:13 - I planned on going for a walk, but it is flat out pouring down rain, so I just finish unloading my car from my trip to Costco the day before and only walk to the mailbox and back.  On my way back in the house, I switch out the laundry, throwing the clean clothes on our bed and putting the other clothes in the dryer.  I hang up the items that need to hang dry.

6:35 - I put some clothes away in Ayden and Rylee's closet and dresser, while they start picking up toys with Daddy.

6:43 - We get them changed into nighttime diapers and pj's.  Ayden has another poopy diaper!  The kid is turning into a 3 times/day pooper lately!  Then we brush their teeth.

6:55 - It's story time.  We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  Ayden makes the Baa sheep sound for the very first time!  Then Ayden and Rylee both show Daddy how they can now say their twin friends' names, which also happened for the first time today.  We try to get them to say their own names, but they just point at each other.

Family selfie

7:08 - We do our nightly ritual of reciting Good Night, I Love You, with Tony and I alternating lines from the book we have memorized.  We grab their blankets and Rylee's blanket, say bedtime prayers, give good night kisses, high fives, and knuckles.  Tony puts Rylee to bed in her room and I take Ayden to his room and put him to bed.

7:15 - Tony sets up his new coffee pot while I pick up more toys.  Then I jot down notes for this blog post.

7:38 - I make us some root beer floats and then we sit down to watch the second to last episode, of the very last season of The Office on Netflix.

8:43 - The show's over.  We both scroll through Facebook.

8:50 - I go fold most of the laundry piled on our bed, leaving the dishtowels and all the socks for the next day.  Tony gets ready for bed, but before actually laying down, he shows me how to fix the internet problem.

9:02 - I take a shower and shave my legs.  I HATE shaving my legs.

9:25 - Put my pj's on and mousse in my hair to help control the frizz, and put lotion on my face.  Then I go check on Ayden and Rylee.

I can't get a sleeping picture of Ayden because he was stirring and I did NOT want to wake him!  Back in the kitchen, I unload the clean sippy cups from the dishwasher to cool off.  Then I sit and catch up on Facebook for longer than I had intended.

10:15 - Finally sit down at the computer to write my #MicroblogMonday post.

10:53 - Finish and publish the post.  I remember a typo I saw in my post from the previous day and go back and fix it.

11:00 - Read an article that looks interesting, while telling myself that I really need to go to bed.

11:06 - Shut down the computer.

11:08 - Brush my teeth and go to bed, thinking that if the babies wake up tonight, I'm screwed.  If they sleep until 6:30-7:00am, I'm golden!

11:38 - Damn.  I remember that I had planned to screen shot my Fitbit results from the day.  I hit a record high (for me so far) of 13,000+ steps today!

*Ayden woke up the next morning at 5:07am.  Ugh.  Way too early!!!  

Microblog Monday: Gymnastics Failure

We took Ayden and Rylee to their very first gymnastics class on Saturday.  It's something we were really looking forward to doing with them, and thought that they would love it!  On the drive there, we talked about how we expected Rylee to do pretty good but how Ayden would be a challenge.  We didn't think it would be a bad thing, but rather that he would just be a lot of work because he just likes to goooooo.  Turns out, we were right!  But oh so much more of a challenge than we had even thought.

We had to arrive a few minutes early to fill out paperwork and pay.  We also had to take off our shoes and Ayden and Rylee's socks and jackets.  Ayden just. wanted. to. go.  He had NO patience for waiting around, never mind the fact that they don't let anyone on the floor or equipment until the class starts.  Those 8 minutes were brutal for Ayden and set us up for failure.  As soon as we walked onto the mats to the designated spot for our class, Ayden threw a temper tantrum.  He wanted to just run around, and we wouldn't let him!  He refused to participate in the class with the other kids.  After a few minutes of him screaming and distracting the class, I carried him back to the lobby area and we sat there (along with other parents watching their older kids in another class) until he had calmed down.  It took several minutes and a trip to the bathroom for tissue since he became a snotty mess.  I waited until he'd been calm for awhile and then we ventured out to join the class again.  He participated in 2 stations of the obstacle course set up, but then threw another fit.  When the class moved to the trampolines, he wouldn't follow the rules of having only one child per trampoline and insisted on running around to other trampolines.  Again, he threw a major temper tantrum and I had to carry him out.  This time I just put on his socks and shoes and took him out to the car, where we waited while Rylee continued on in class.

The class was a total failure with Ayden.  We expected it to be difficult (for us, not him), but thought he would have fun.  We were not at all prepared for the total meltdown tantrums.  Ten kids in the class, same age, and Ayden was the only one that was out of control.  He just doesn't listen, and was so out of control!  We thought about keeping Rylee in the class and asking for our money back for Ayden, but decided we'd try it again, next time being more prepared (emotionally) and making sure not to arrive even a minute early.

At least our day ended on a brighter note, with some family time outside for their very first bike ride.

She decided she'd rather push than ride :)

Note: I know their helmets are not fitted/adjusted correctly, but this was the first time they actually even LET me put the helmets on them, so we just went with it!  Especially since they don't quite reach the pedals yet, so aren't actually really riding.  lol


For more #MicroblogMonday posts from other bloggers, click here.

All About Rylee at 2 Years Old

It's Rylee's turn!  Miss Rylee has a big personality in a little body.  She is 5 lbs lighter than her brother and 2 full inches shorter.  Rylee is 26.4 lbs (24%) and 33 inches tall (48%), which is actually a big change from their 18 month check up when she was in the 59th percentile for weight and 23rd percentile for height!  She continues to have a cute little Buddha belly though, or as I call it, her milk belly.  The girl LOVES her milk!  Seriously.  I think she'd drink a whole entire gallon every day if we'd let her!  She calls milk "ku."  I don't know why she calls it that, but it's very cool that she at least has a word for it and it's a big bonus that we actually know what it means!

At Community Playgroup

Rylee is mostly wearing size 24 month clothing, but can still fit in some 12-18 month pants and is wearing up to 2T in a lot of tops and dresses.  Why is there such a size discrepancy between clothing brands???  She is wearing size 4 diapers and size 6 shoes.

Rylee has really gotten into playing with baby dolls in the last few months.  There's a "baby" at Community Playgroup that she has adopted, and heaven help us all if another kid happens to want to play with it, or if we had to put it away because it was time to go home.  That baby is HERS!  We had one baby at home that was given to us second hand, but it is all hard plastic.  She enjoyed playing with it a lot, but it's not one she could really snuggle with, so we got her a brand new baby doll for her birthday.  She loves it!  Now when she plays with her babies, she hands the old, hard one to her brother to play with.  Or she tries to anyway.  He's not really into it.  lol  Also since getting the new baby, she's not quite as attached to the one at Playgroup.  She still doesn't like anyone else playing with it, but at least there's no temper tantrum when we have to leave it behind!

Opening her birthday present

Pushing her new baby around in Ayden's truck.

Napping with her baby.

Rylee's absolute favorite thing to do is run.  She LOVES to play a good game of chase around the house.  She also adores running to us outside and giving big ole hugs.  It might be the cutest thing ever, especially because she giggles so hard the entire time!  Rylee also likes to color.  Just as of last week, she can now recognize and say the color "yellow."  She also can say "purple," but doesn't recognize it as a color yet.  I recently bought them their first coloring books, and they both are really enjoying looking and "coloring" actual pictures and not just blank pieces of paper.

So much joy!

She does AMAZING work!  Just kidding.
Momma has helped a little bit.  Wink Wink

Rylee has really started saying a LOT of words!  She will repeat almost the whole alphabet back to us, one letter at a time.  She's not as good with numbers yet though.  When I ask her to say one, she says "two."  At least she knows what comes after one!  haha  She is very good at quite a few animal sounds now: dog, cat, cow, horse, duck, sheep, elephant, and monkey.  She says please (without the letter L), but we're still working on thank you.  She can say help, but needs to be reminded to use her words rather than whining when she wants help with something.  She says eyes, teeth, hair, eyebrow, and cheek, and can point to several other body parts.  She sings "Let It Go," but those are the only words she knows to the song.  If someone hurts themselves or coughs, she asks if they are okay.  She will then mimic bumping into things or fake a cough, and then tell you SHE'S okay, which is totally adorable.  The girl loves to give high fives and constantly asks for them.  It's kind of inconvenient sometimes, like when you are sitting across the table at dinner and she holds up her hand and says "high five."  You totally don't want to get up and scoot around the table to her, but it's impossible to resist the cuteness so you do it anyway.

Rylee may not be quite as curious and into everything as Ayden, but she does hold her own in being a little daredevil.  She's usually involved, or not very far behind, whatever mischief he happens to get into.

Rylee eats pretty good with a spoon and a fork, but often asks for help (and then gets mad because she wants to do it herself).  Her favorite foods are cheese, applesauce, waffles, and crackers.  She will also eat eggs, bananas, turkey sausage, and pasta consistently.  She's kind of a frustrating little eater actually.  One day, she won't touch a food, but the next she may wolf it down and ask for more.  Or I might think something is a favorite, but she will totally refuse it the following week.  I can finally say that Rylee has stopped throwing all her food on the floor during Every. Single. meal and snack though.  That is a huge relief for me!  Much better on my blood pressure too.

Rylee is very much trying to learn this whole dressing and undressing thing.  We constantly have to put the baby's clothes back on it throughout the day, just so she can take them off again.  She has taken her own shirt off several times.  It's a huge chore trying to keep a coat or jacket zipped up on her so we can get out of the house.  As soon as I put it on her and zip her up, she's got that zipper down again.  She's recently started trying to put shirts and jackets on by herself.  She hasn't been successful yet, but I'm sure the day will be coming very soon that Rylee will be playing dress up and going through many outfits a day.  She won't keep a pair of socks on her feet at all if she doesn't also have shoes on, but she LOVES to put boots on all by herself and will happily wear them all day long.

This is how I found her one morning when I went in to get her.
I am very much dreading the day she also takes off her diaper.

We think she's starting to develop a funny little personality.  There are moments that we think she is totally being a tease.  She will hold out a toy to Ayden, but then snatch it back.  Tony, Rylee, and I were sitting on the floor together one day.  Tony asked her where mommy was and she pointed to him, saying "mommy."  When he asked who daddy was, she pointed to me and said "daddy."  We laughed and said "nooooo.  Are you being funny?"  And she repeated "funny!"

I can't imagine my life without this sweet, funny little girl in it.  Sometimes we just sit back in awe of how lucky we were to be blessed with not one, but two babies.  It seems like just yesterday (okay, maybe last month) they were born, and now they are TWO year olds!

First time in the snow (the measly little bit we got). 

She has recently started covering herself up on the couch.

Our fashionista.

Microblog Monday: Can I Have a Do Over?

I've been staying up WAY too late recently (11:00-12:00ish), watching Season 5 of Downton Abbey.  I was proud of myself last night for turning off the tv instead of starting another episode, and being in bed by 10:30.  Still not early, but better than it had been.  For some reason, Hubby was still up really late though.  At just past midnight, I heard him sneeze and he woke up Ayden.  I went in, covered Ayden back up, patted his back, and he actually went right back to sleep.  A bit later, Hubby finally came to bed, but then he kept me from being able to fall back to sleep, so I eventually moved out to the couch.  Both Ayden and Rylee decided to wake up at 5:40am.  Ugghhhhh!!!

It was almost time for breakfast when I grabbed a tissue to wipe Rylee's nose, but she made a game of it and ran away from me!  I just about impaled myself on the corner of a kitchen counter trying to catch her real quick.  Seriously, it brought me to my knees and drew blood.  If it were a sharp object, I would be dead.

About an hour later, Ayden got his fingers pinched in the folding closet door in his room.  His poor little fingers were so indented!  He was back up and running after 5 minutes of crying in my arms, but had another moment later, when he fell off a kitchen chair.  He wasn't hurt, but needed to cry for a few minutes and be loved on.

Later in the day, this happened...

How many small heart attacks can one mom have?  I was out of the room for literally no more than 90 seconds.  I really, really hope I can survive toddlerhood with these two.  I hope THEY survive toddlerhood!

Shortly after this, Ayden was climbing on his MegaBloks truck.  He fell and smacked his forehead on the floor.  Cue, more crying and a small, red lump on his noggin.

Can I have a do over on today, please?


If you'd like to read more #MicroblogMonday posts from this week, click here.

All About Ayden at 2 Years Old

It's time for some all about Ayden and Rylee posts!  Since my last post was about Ayden, I figured I'd just keep the flow going and write about him first.

Ayden continues to be a big boy at 35 inches tall (65%) and 31.2 pounds (85%).  I don't know why, but it always surprises me that he's so high on the chart for his weight.  He hardly has any belly at all and I frequently marvel at how skinny he seems (not in an unhealthy way).  He's just a stocky boy I guess!  He's in between size 2T and 3T shirts, but still in size 18-24 month pants.  All of his pj's are 3T now.  He has such a long torso, that any 2 piece pj sets he wears, the tops are at his belly button!  He's wearing size 5 diapers and size 7 shoes.

Opening his birthday gift from us.

Isn't this what a MegaBloks truck is for???

Ayden is still behind in his language/communication skills, but he does have more words and animal sounds than he did at 18 months.  He says hi, bye bye, nigh nigh (night), more, teeth, and hair.  He says "bee" for bird and can say ball.  That's about it for words.  He still doesn't mimic us saying anything at all.  For animal sounds, he does an elephant, cow, and horse.  Ayden has LOTS to say in jibber jabber, if not in real actual words.  He often will stand and tell you a very long story and is very expressive.  I can't wait to know what he's actually saying!

He does understand several things, even if he can't say them.  He can point out your eyes, eye brows, nose, toes, belly, and ears.  He understands what it means when you say it's time for snack or when you tell him to go put his shoes in the closet.  He knows what it means when you say it's time for a bath.  I think he understands quite a bit.  He just does not have many words.  Lot's to say, but little words.  This also results in quite a bit of whining at times, because he doesn't know how else to express what he wants.

Ayden loves to push his cars and trucks around.  We keep a truck on our front porch for them, and he sometimes will push that truck around the entire neighborhood!  Also a favorite pastime is to splash in mud puddles.  He loves building with his blocks, stacking them as high as he can possibly reach, and then knocking them down.  He's gotten pretty good at throwing a ball and has even started grasping the concept of hitting a ball off a tee (although we have a loooonnnngggg way to go working on his form, lol).

Ayden's absolute favorite thing to do is find mischief.  He is constantly trying to figure out how to get into everything he's not supposed to, or climbing onto things like the kitchen counters, desk, changing table, etc.  He stacks things together in an attempt to get as high as he can climb.  He often times gets himself stuck in things he can't get out of.  He is a busy, busy, boy and he keeps us always hopping and trying to stay one step ahead of him.  Honestly, I'm kind of shocked we haven't had any trips to the ER with him yet.  I'm not even kidding.  I know that his adventurous spirit will someday be a quality that we greatly admire and love, but for right now, it's simply exhausting!  At least we can usually laugh about it, once we get over the mini heart attacks he constantly gives us.

He managed to get himself stuck in this chair.

Even though Ayden is usually on the move and into trouble, he does slow down sometimes as well.  He gets very determined to figure things out.  He examines the wheels on his cars/trucks, trying to figure out how they work.  He will spend a long time trying to figure out how to open things (which eventually leads to trouble, haha).  He absolutely loves flap books and will sit "reading" them for a long time, opening and closing the little flaps over and over again.  Where's Spot is his favorite.

Ayden has gotten very good with a spoon and a fork, and just recently has stopped trying to eat yogurt and applesauce with his fingers.  Now he just tips the bowl back and tries to slurp it out when he can't get the last little bit with his spoon!  Eh, whatever.  Overall, Ayden is a pretty good eater.  He loves pasta, toast with peanut butter and honey on it, cheese, avocado, most fruits (although he's recently boycotted bananas and just squishes them to death), and most vegetables as long as they are the frozen variety (that have been cooked of course).  For some reason, I can't get my kiddos to actually eat fresh cooked veggies, but they love them out of a frozen bag!

I may be a little biased, but I think my son is a very handsome little boy with a killer smile.  He absolutely drives me batty most days, but he also has the ability to melt me into a giant puddle.  He loves being tickled, and is also a big love bug.  He loves to cuddle and be hugged, and he gives the best kisses with smooching sound effects!

I love this picture because he doesn't look quite as grown up!
He still looks like my baby :)

I LOVE that smile!

Diaper Eating Update

I posted a couple weeks ago about taking Ayden to the doctor to address his current diaper eating habits.  Before that it was hair, carpet, fuzz from stuffed animals...  This has been an on going issue for about 11 months now.  I thought I should give you an update.

He has been diagnosed as having pica, which is an eating disorder that effects 10-30% of children ages 1-6.  Pica is characterized by persistent and compulsive eating of non-food items, lasting one month or longer (http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/pica.html#).

It's a little unnerving to learn what pica entails.  The simple answer would be if it's related to nutritional deficiencies.  I'd even consider him being a little OCD a simple answer compared to the other conditions related to pica: developmental problems such as mental retardation, autism, developmental disabilities, or brain abnormalities.  Schizophrenia can also be related to pica.  That's not very comforting.  While I'd like to think that my baby is a normal, curious, adventurous boy that just happens to have a bad habit of eating fuzz like material, I can't help but worry that other issues may come out of this as well.  Sometimes Dr. Google is not a very friendly and comforting resource.

He had a blood draw the day of his appointment to check for nutritional deficiencies.  The results showed his iron levels to be normal, but something else related to iron and how it gets processed (I can't remember what it's called) was a little low, so we will be starting a multivitamin with iron.  His sodium/electrolytes were a little low as well, but apparently if the blood sits a little while in the lab before getting processed, it can effect the numbers, so Dr. S wasn't worried about that.  However, the other point of concern was that his glucose was a little high, coming back at 117.  Anything above 100 is considered abnormal.  Sooooo, in addition to addressing his pica issues, we also need to rule out that Ayden could have diabetes.

Dr. S said that it's pretty rare for diabetes to show up in one so young, but it was important for us to at least do a follow up.  Yesterday was Ayden and Rylee's 2 year check up, so he had his second blood draw and now we are just waiting for the results.

Let me just say, it was a horrible doctor's appointment for poor Ayden!  We were there for a grand total of 2 hours, 10 minutes.  He does NOT sit still or leave ANYTHING alone EVER!!!  He could have cared less about the books and toys that were in the room we were in, but wanted more than anything to play with the computer and all the doctor's instruments.  He had to get two shots, which he did not like (Rylee took them like a champ!), and then we had to wait in the waiting room for another 15 minutes waiting to be called back to the lab, which was not fun with two toddlers ready to get out of there.  Then he had to have his blood drawn.  He cried and cried and cried, bless his little heart!  By the time we got home, he was over it and ready to play though, thank goodness.

In addition to the blood work at that first appointment a few weeks ago, we also got a referral to a developmental pediatrician.  They contacted me the very next day to get us registered and sent out paperwork.  I just need to finish filling it out and send it back.  Then we'll be onto the next step.

Overall, I know Ayden is a healthy, rambunctious boy.  We do have to get a handle on this diaper eating issue though, before it does turn into a serious issue.  With the rate at which he eats fuzzy material, I'm sure it won't take long before he has some internal blockage.  I'd also like to think we can get a handle on the situation before it becomes a mental health issue as well.

His smile melts me