Another Faux Spring Day

Yesterday it was close to 50 degrees in February, and today it was the same. Tomorrow it is back to winter. It is supposed to rain/freezing rain/snow. Ayden and I enjoyed the past few days by going for wagon rides and playing outside after his nap. He loves going for wagon rides. Anything that has tires and he is a fan. I got him some boots from the Cars movie and he loves them. They are a little big so he is getting used to walking in them without tripping.





Over the weekend we went back to visit my parents because I had a hair appointment for Ayden and I in Cedar Rapids. My sister-in-law's sister does an amazing job and I have gone to her for years. Even when I was in Germany I would come back and have her do my hair. Ayden did well until the end when he got some hair in his mouth. My sister and mom entertained him while I got my hair cut and colored.

My sister was telling a story a few months ago to us and happened to say "duh" and Ayden started laughing hysterically. Whenever we say it now he laughs and will say it back to you. When my sister walked in the door last Friday night Ayden saw her and said "Duh!" Then a few minutes later I asked him who she was and he said "Duh" again. We now call her Aunt Duh:)

We got Ayden a slide last week since I have been looking for one for awhile and finally found one that didn't cost too much. Ayden has been having fun sliding down it and sending his stuffed dogs and cars down the slide. He doesn't climb up the steps, but just leans over and goes down on his tummy.



Ayden has also been quite the mimicker. He tries to copy what we say and any actions we make. He is so funny. He also talks all the time in gibberish. He has the most serious facial expressions to go with it too. He talks to me all the time and looks at me so seriously. I have no idea what he is saying, but he sounds so cute! I was reading him a book tonight and it had lots of animals and the sounds they make. He tried to copy all the sounds when I said them like "quack quack," "meow," and "woof woof." The other funny thing he did happened just before his bath. We undress Ayden in his room and he likes to run naked dragging his towel behind him to the bathtub. He took a detour this time by hiding in the closet. When I found him in the closet he was peeing all over Joel's clothes! I couldn't stop laughing. I know that will probably encourage him, but I couldn't help it.

Tomorrow we are going to a playdate at our friend Destri's house to get-together with our old Kindermusik group. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Some of us got together last week too and it was a lot of fun. Hopefully we will be able to do it more often when spring gets here and the weather improves and cold and flu season ends. I'm also supposed to have Mom's Night Out with another mom's group I am in tomorrow night so I am hoping it will still happen depending on the weather.

The Elmo Obsession

Ayden has been obsessed with Elmo for a few months now. He loves to play with Hokey Pokey Elmo at my parents house. So much so that we have to hide it sometimes because the song is sooo annoying after awhile. I made the mistake of showing him the movie Elmo in Grouchland and now that is all he wants to watch or do. We have Netflix on demand so are able to not have to mess with putting in a DVD. Ayden will run up to me holding the remote and chomping his teeth together with his mouth open. (That is the sign he made up for Elmo awhile ago, I guess because he has a huge puppet mouth??) When it gets really bad I hide the remote from him. We got him a stuffed Elmo for Valentine's Day so I hope he likes it, even though it doesn't play music or do a dance or anything. I don't think I could put up with that for too long if it did. I would end up taking out the batteries:)




Today it was gorgeous outside, in the 50's which is rare for a mid-February day. After taking 2 hours during Ayden's nap to vacuum, and clean up our very messy car, I got Ayden dressed and put some boots on him to head outside. If you ask him, "Ayden, do you want to go outside?" he gets really excited and will run for his shoes and grab mine and bring them to me. He starts to cry if I'm not fast enough or try to do something else quick before we head out. We took a long walk up the road and back with Bailey and then he walked around the yard and went down to where Daddy works to check out the trucks parked there. He even saw Grandpa out in his tractor and got a ride which made his day. Tractors are his other obsession, even more so than Elmo. After walking around for about an hour and a half and going to visit Daddy a few times at the office we headed in for the day. I sure was tired after the long walk and fresh air, and I hope Ayden sleeps well tonight. It was so nice to get outside. We are really tired of being cooped up in the house because of the cold. Spring please come soon!!

Ayden and Mommy Make Muffins

This afternoon Ayden helped me make some muffins. I wasn't expecting him to be very interested or to be very helpful at all, but I was really surprised. I got a chair for him to stand on and pushed it up to the counter. I got out the muffin pan and muffin papers and he helped me put them into the pan after seeing me do it a few times. He closely watched me fill the muffin papers with batter and then he stuck his little fingers in one and licked them. I gave him the empty bowl and wooden spoon and he pretended to mix with it and then started licking the batter off the spoon. His face was covered in chocolate and it was soooo cute:)







Another activity we did this morning was to make Feelie Goop out of cornstarch and water. I got a really neat book for Christmas called First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos. It has a lot of neat art projects for little ones and I can not wait to try others. You mix 2 cups of cornstarch with 1 cup water and there it is. You can also add food coloring to make it different colors. Cornstarch mixed with water has a unique physical property-it's gooey when poured from a spoon, but hard when squeezed in your hands. It's a kinda weird liquid/solid at the same time. I remember doing this in school and thought it was pretty neat. Ayden on the other hand did not like it. I tried to get him to touch it and he didn't like it so I poured some on his hand. He tried shaking it off and then started to cry. We ended it soon after that. I have found he is not a fan of textures especially new ones. Maybe we will try it when he is a little older. The thing I like about the book is it gives lots of recipes for homemade paints, clays, and other things. You don't have to go to the store and spend all kinds of money because a lot of it is stuff you already have. Next we may try fingerpainting. I just hope it's not too messy.





Ayden is starting to talk more even though a lot of it is gibberish. He will say something and look so serious and he has this expression that looks like he can't figure out why we don't understand him. Like we are the ones speaking a foreign language. The other day I got him to say "cheese" when trying to take his picture, and he now says "duh." For some reason he finds this hilarious when you say it while rolling your eyes. It's a good way to get him to smile for the camera or to get him to laugh when he's upset. I was changing his diaper before his nap and he was mad so I started saying "duh" and then he would laugh and copy me. Probably not the best word for him to know, but at least it's something!