you can read about my reasons here on the new “old’ blog which i redesigned over the weekend.

i’m working on moving over the old posts to the new blog. sigh.

i used to do this with my old apartment. it was really small, but i would get bored with the layout and re-arrange the furniture every couple of months.

i’ll take moving a blog between services over that any day.

so, please start visiting http://itsbabymcj.blogspot.com from here on out! i’ve also taken the opportunity to revive my really old blog, “fil-am,. i am” which i started before aidan came along.

We had Monday off due to the MLK holiday. Tuesday was a back to school and back to work, except for Paul who had the day off since he worked on Saturday. So, already, Aidan’s daily routine a little different– Mama was his lone carpool buddy. Paul let me drive his car so we had the DVD with Aidan’s Mickey Mouse Playhouse CD in it. The DVD player was a Christmas gift from my folks and at first I was hesitant about it because I’ve seen the vacant stare on kids when they watch these things in the car. But we’ve found that it is a God Send on long car rides.Otherwise, I usually turn around and talk with Aidan, hold his hand and point out cars and trucks on the freeway as Paul drives us to work and school.

So, Aidan watched his DVD and the ride to work to uneventful and we made good time. Then, we pulled into the parking lot for school.The usual routine is that he hands over his binky (as part of our weaning process, he can have the binky in the car or at sleep time.) If the DVD is on, we say goodbye to Mickey and say “see you later.” This time, Aidan didn’t want to say goodbye and he pitched a fit. In turn, he didn’t hand over his binky, so I had to take it from him. I had to haul a whining, writhing toddler into school.

When we got to the classroom,  all the kids were there and Aidan was very unhappy. He cried and howled. I sat on the floor while he buried his head in my lap. This went on for a good 5-7 minutes. I looked up and all the kids had surrounded us, looking concerned. One of the boys, Christian, was worried and came up to Aidan and patted his back. (It was really cute.)Finally,  once Aidan calmed down, we were able to take off his coat and get him back to his old self with a good old fashioned tickle. Whew.

And then I had to go to work. Sigh. 

Let’s take the word “No.”There’s “Nope!” or “No” said in the shortest possible way. He usually uses this version of “no” when we’re playing  a guessing game. For example, we’ll be in Paul’s car driving home from his school.

Mama: “Are we in Daddy’s Car?”

Aidan: “Nope!” 

Mama: “Are we in Mama’s Car?”

Aidan: “No”

Mama: “Are we in Nana’s/Papa’s/Lola’s/Lolo’s/Tito’s car?”

Aidan: “No”

Mama: “Whose car is this?”

Aidan: “Daddy’s Car!” (Um, okay)

Next, we have “Noooooo.” This is the whiny “no” that translates into “Geez, I already told you I don’t want to do what you want me to do so lay off!”

I don’t mean to give off the impression that “no” is the only word in his vocabulary. The nice thing is that Aidan no longer uses noises to like “Mmmmm” to the tune of “I don’t know.” it is either a definitive “yes” or “no.”

Often, we have people comment that they are amazed how well he speaks for his age. Here are some of his latest words and phrases:

“It’s right over there!”

“Aidan, Aidan. Daddy, Daddy, Mamama…” (this is his own made up song. He sings it when he’s happy and usually during the ride home from school.)

“Mama eats. Daddy eats. Aidan eats.”

“Some?” (So much nicer than saying “More?”)

“Thank you” (an improvement over “Tat-too”)

“Fork” (It actually comes out as “F@ck”) We had some fun at his expense the other night and asked him to say “Fork You.” We had a good laugh. The scary thing was that the next morning, he said it without us asking. Uh-oh. We’re in trouble. 

How things have changed– and I don’t mind a bit. New  Year’s Eve kicked off with yummy Chinese food from the neighbohood restaurant. Aidan, who is almost over his nasty cold, was in good spirits and played the clown by putting noodles in his hair. I got extra kisses from Aidan before Paul took him upstairs for his bedtime story and “night-night.”

What’s next? Probably a few movies. We probably won’t see Dick Clark or Carson Daly ring in the new year. When your kid wakes up at 6 a.m. like clockwork, staying up late to greet the new year isn’t as attractive as it used to be. The new year will be waiting for us in the morning.

What a year it has been. Aidan turned one years old in Ireland. Scott and Susan got married and are now expecting a baby in June. We has some health issues in the family, most recently me in the ER with chest pain (but all is well now!) and Aidan being sick thanks to the petrie dish that is daycare (but we love his daycare teachers and staff!) Oh yeah, Aidan started daycare in November and after a rough transition (for him and my mom), he is  thriving and creating lots of artwork for us to hang up proudly.

Here’s to another happy and hopefully healthier, new year.

Aidan was battling a slight fever on Sunday afternoon (he’s been sick since Christmas with a cold) but he would NOT take his medicine. He can’t drink from the little cup provided, so we use a syringe to squirt it into his mouth. Recently, he’s learned to spit it out, resulting in sticky pink stuff all over his chin and chest– and all over us.  Plus, we get the lovely combination of crying and whining which, combined with snot, is a lovely sight to behold.

Aidan has grown to love Mickey and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel. My parents bought “Mickey” for him a few months ago and he’s grown attached to him. I thought Mickey would come in handy for Aidan’s next dose of medicine.

We made sure Aidan was calm and ready for bed. Then, I brought Mickey over and said, “Aidan, Mickey wants to take his medicine with you!” It worked– Mickey pretended to take some of the medicine and then he “gave” Aidan his medicine. (It was a little tricky balancing Mickey hands with the syringe.) At one point, Aidan “gave” Mickey medicine, too. Next thing you knew, Aidan and Mickey had taken their medicine. No tears, no fuss, no muss.

“Good Job, Mama” said Paul.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

With Aidan with the grandparents, Paul and I got to sleep in. Sure, it was only until about 8 a.m. or so, but when your kid consistently wakes up at 5:30 – 6 a.m. every day, believe me, it’s sleeping in!

We were able to have dinner and a movie! Ah…

“Hi. Aidan is running a fever and he needs to be picked up.”

He’s been battling a cold for a week and a couple of times, he spiked a fever of around 100 degrees that was easily squelched with a little Children’s Tylenol. And, he was just fine over the weekend and this morning, except for the runny nose. But he did have a little cough…So off we went to pick him up.The poor little guy was lethargic and hot in his car seat. A quick call to his doctor’s office and a chat with the nurse resulted in an afternoon appointment. Until then, we hung out at home, waiting for the dose of Tylenol to take effect and cuddling him as he slept fitfully.

Can I just say that seeing your kid uncomfortable and sick and not his happy self just SUCKS? Well, it does. Seeing your child listless and weak… hearing him whimper as he snuggles into you… it just breaks your heart.

He managed to eat lunch and we saw a glimmer of the Aidan we knew. Then he got crabby again and Paul put him down for a nap while I participated in conference call at work. When we got to the doctor’s office, it was FULL The fullest I’ve ever seen. Sick kids everywhere. The receptionist said that it was usually like this during the winter.Our usual doctor was out today, so we saw someone else. He was a fast talker, but thorough. Because it was so busy, we waited a while but the nurse gave us Children’s Motrin for his fever and it did the trick. Aidan became a little more animated and wanted to explore the examining room. Then he sat on Paul’s lap while I held a makeshift compress for his forehead using paper towels.The doctor said it was amazing that Aidan was so cooperative during the examination– having his ears looked at, his throat swabbed for a throat culture. The doctor showed me Aidan’s throat and it was an angry, red color. In a few minutes, the throat culture revealed that Aidan had strep throat! Instead of the telltale white coating in his throat, he had a barely perceptable, light red rash on his belly. The doctor asked if Aidan had been tugging his ear or rubbing his throat– indicators of pain. Aidan must have a high threshold for pain because he hasn’t done any of those things. The doctor said that if we had what Aidan had, we’d probably be out on the floor. It also turns out that this strep is popping up in daycares lately. Great.

So, now he’s got to take antibiotics for the next 10 days and they should improve his condition in the next 48 hours. He has been in much better spirits since we got him home. However, he’s far from being the model patient. He does not like taking his medicine so Paul has to hold him as I use a syringe to squirt medicine into his mouth. We tried the “yum-yum, Aidan want some” talk to get him to take it, only to end up with medicine all over us. After several minutes of coaxing, (and a little manuever I’ll call the ’tilt ‘em back and let him have it,’ he got his dose of anitbiotics.

Since his daycare has a rule that a sick child has to be symptom-free a full 24 hours before s/he can come back AND it’s Thanksgiving week, Lola and Lolo will be watching Aidan tomorrow and Wednesday. Hopefully, the antibiotics will kick in soon so we can have a extra thankful Thanksgiving this year.