Stairs

August 2010 - Stairs is a scary word in our home.  We are always concerned with Aiden around any stairs.  We even have 3 stairs that lead down into our bedroom.  We have been working with Aiden to go down the stairs by himself.  We tell him to turn around and then go down the stairs.  We are very proud of his new accomplishment.  We know we have a long way to go, but for now, we can enough this milestone.

Bye Bye Bottle

It is official.  As of August 15th, 2010 Aiden is off the bottle.  It was not as bad as I thought it would be because Aiden has started drinking very well from cups with straws.  He was only getting a bottle before bed and we finally just took it away.  We are very proud of Aiden and how well he did with the transition.  Here is a photo of Aiden having one of his last bottles and drinking from a straw cup at the same time.  Silly boy!

Vacation - Bryce Canyon

On the way back to Salt Lake City, we decided to stop at Bryce Canyon and we were so glad we did.  It was beautiful.  It was also a lot cooler than Zion.  What was also nice about Bryce is you could get to all the vista points by car.  This was great because it is difficult to go on a lot of the trails with a stroller.

Vacation - Zion National Park

 After the conference, we headed out to Zion National Park to enjoy a family vacation.  Not sure going to Zion in August being 7 months pregnant and going with a 2 year old was a smart idea but who knows if we would ever get out to Utah again.  Zion is absolutely beautiful but HOT!  I think it was 95 or 100 degrees the two days we were there.  We got up early in the morning to enjoy the park for a bit.  Aiden's favorite thing was the bus.  There was no air conditioning on the bus but the windows were open.  The wind that whipped through the bus made Aiden laugh and laugh.  I think he would have liked staying on the bus all day!  While we were at the park we also practiced a lot with Aiden on walking.  Aiden is really close to walking independently.  He has been for a long time but does not want to walk by himself.  He will hold onto a hand, someone's pants or furniture to get around but is scared to take steps by himself.  We really hope we can get him to walk by himself because we know he would be so much happier. Aiden really loved Zion because he got to spend a lot of time with Mom and Dad.  Also, if you ever go out to Zion the restaurants we went to were fantastic.  I had some of the best food ever.  Go to Bit and Spur ( the tart dessert was amazing ) and the Spotted Dog Cafe ( amazing salads ).

1p36 DSA Conference - Water Fun

At the 1p36 DSA conference, one of the fun activities was going to a water play area at a mall in downtown Salt Lake City.  The water jumped out of holes to classical music.  It was a very hot day so it was a perfect activity to enjoy.  This was a great activity for Daddy and Aiden to participate in.  Because Aiden is still not walking independently, he needs constant one on one attention when doing most physical activites.  If an activity is too hard for Aiden he usually gives up quickly.  As you can see from all the photos, Aiden had a BLAST!  He laughed and laughed and did not want to get out of the water. All the kids and adults really enjoyed this activity.  I wish we had something like this close to our home.  Enjoy all the photos!

1p36 DSA Conference - Rachel Coleman

If there is one thing I look forward to each summer is the 1p36 DSA Conference.  This is the 4th year and the conference is in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We have been lucky enough to also attend the last two conferences in Indianapolis, Indiana and Boston, Mass.  The conference is like a big family reunion.  Usually, 30-40 families attend and about 20 of the families attend each year.  I like listening to the speakers but having a weekend where you can see a whole bunch of children that is like yours is amazing.  We were lucky enough to have Rachel Coleman from Signing Time attend the conference and perform for the kids.

 Aiden listens to Baby Signing Time every day and I thought he would get the biggest kick out of seeing her in person.  We were able to sneak in and hear Rachel practicing.  Aiden was so excited.  He was clapping and laughing.  It was so cute.  It was like Aiden was meeting a rock star or a girl he had a big crush on.  I could not wait for her to perform.  When Rachel start her show she started telling the story on why she started Signing Time and after 15 minutes of talking, Aiden fell fast asleep on my lap.  He missed her singing all her songs :(  The goods news is we got these photos with her afterwards.  Rachel does a lot of tours so I am going to find out when she is coming to NY so I can take Aiden to see her again.

Pool Fun

Aiden loves the water.  Almost every day in the summer we spend time in our backyard pool with Aiden.  We are trying to teach Aiden to swim.  He will kick and move his arms doing the doggie paddle really well but he keeps trying to swallow the water.  When Aiden swallows the water, he laughs and laughs and coughs and coughs.  Steve and I even let him do it a couple of times to see if he would finally understand that swallowing the water is not good but it did not work.  So for now, even when we have a life jacket or swimmies on Aiden, we still have to keep a close eye on him or we will not have any water in the pool left :)

Big Boy Bed

We had two goals for Aiden over the summer:
                   1) To move into a toddler bed
                   2) Stop using a bottle

In July, we decided to buy a toddler bed for Aiden.  We wanted him to have time to slowly transition into the bed from the crib.  We would need the crib for Aiden's baby brother who would be born at the end of October. We also decided to move Aiden into a new room with the bed.  We set up the room as a "safe room" for Aiden.  No bureau to climb on or anything.  The first night it I stayed in the room until he feel asleep but the next night we just left him in his room and he fell asleep by himself.  He now usually plays for a half hour and then puts himself into his bed and go to sleep.  We are very proud of Aiden.