Best Buds

This past weekend our plans changed twice for traveling. One was that we've made a tradition of going to MA but, happily, our nephew was born (we didn't want to expose him to Aria's germs). Second, we didn't make it up to our family's cottage on Saturday because, sadly, my G-pa passed away last Thursday and my parents traveled to be with him before he died. Instead of traveling later in the weekend, we decided to stay put, catch up on chores, and relax a little. It ended up being a rather enjoyable weekend. Aria's bud, Austin, was around too and they had lots of fun together playing in the water. See below...

*My G-pa was a super man. I can never imagine a life of 94 yrs! Please keep my G-ma in your prayers because it's going to be hard on her after 64 yrs of marriage. Rest in peace G-pa, I love you.

Weekend of Words

Just this weekend Aria really started to put words together. The novelty still hasn't worn off, it's just soooo cute to us!!!

She's saying:
I got you.
I have it.
I need it.
I get it.
I did it.
Where did it go?

Here's a couple we caught on video...

Second Time's a Charm

A couple months ago I tried to ride the merry-go-round with Aria and she was not having any of it. She couldn't wait to get off. This weekend we took another trip to the mall to play and we gave the merry-go-round another try. I even got a "hi" and a wave for my video! Weeeeeeeeeeeee...

Juice is baby crack

I picked Aria up from daycare yesterday and I found her drinking her sippy...more like chugging her sippy! I was curious what she was drinking because I have rarely seen her chugging water like that. So I opened the cup and smelled juice.

When we first started at the daycare, I had no idea that they give the kids juice at both snacks during the day. Aria had never had juice before (other than the occasional prune juice to get things moving). I just prefer her to drink only water and milk. She doesn't need juice for numerous reasons. So, after finding out that she had juice the first day, I asked them just to give her water instead. We've been marking on her sippy "No Juice" as a back up. Yesterday we forgot to mark her sippy and one of the new ladies didn't know Aria wasn't a "juice drinker". I asked them politely to make a note of it somewhere incase we forget again. (Another reason I'm looking forward to starting at the new school in July...these people don’t listen to my requests! It might be little, but it’s important to me.)

When we got home on her first day (after Aria was juicing all day) we went immediately outside to play. She was a little crazy kid running up and down the sidewalk (definitely more crazy than the usual crazy). Yesterday was the same. On the way home she was constantly giggling in the car all hopped up on sugar. By the time I started dinner and we went out to play, Kevin made it home to witness the sugar low. She was tantrumming like she never had before! It was bad. She is a totally different toddler when she has juice. No juice for you! ...atleast for now

Good juice articles:

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/fruit_juice.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46165

http://www.herbalremediesinfo.com/juice.html

http://www.juicyjuice.com/articles/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleId=65FAF6B5-41C0-4293-8CBA-71B79F8493D6

goofy uncle!

I am officially a goofy uncle! Felipe Xavier, born May 12, 2008, 5lbs 15.6oz, 20in.

with a little bit of a reluctant entry into the world, but all are doing well and trying to catch up on sleep (good luck with that, right?).

Congratulations David and Maria!

Happy Mother's Day!

Every day should be mother's day. here's to all mothers everywhere! :-)

would you like a free cup of lemonade for 5¢?

so the rain stopped for the afternoon yesterday, Aria woke up from her nap, and the doorbell rang. it was a boy who lives 7 houses down from us, with a spongebob dixie cup filled with pink lemonade. he asks "would you like a free cup of lemonade for five cents? it doesn't even have to be a nickel, it can be pennies." I gave him pennies. I think he couldn't sell any lemonade to the other houses, because he was back five minutes later, with his sister and three cups filled with the same super-strong pink lemonade. "would you like more lemonade for 25 cents?" we turned this offer down. I didn't want to ask if it was 25 cents per cup, or for all three. :-P

she didn't get upset...

I didn't want to post anything until we were certain it stuck—Aria is officially fine with going to daycare! this is her fifth week there, and for the past two weeks she hasn't minded when I or Dana leave her there.

And thank goodness, cause it was getting bad. Aria would know when we pulled into the parking lot, and she would get upset. It would start at oh about level 6 and would ratchet up with each threshold crossed. Level 11 would be reached when I'd put her down on her side of the classroom. I'd have to drop her and pretty much run out and hide. I felt horrible, and when Dana would drop her off, I had to call to make sure she was fine.

Luckily, I married a smart one. On the second day of the third week, Dana realized that if she let Aria walk into the building, and walk into her classroom on her own, her feelings of independence would override any separation anxiety she might have. Then when I brought her in last week, she started to get upset. I thought "oh no, regression..." but instead of me, Aria put her hands out for one of her teachers to pick her up! turns out she wasn't upset, but excited to see the teacher!

even today, Aria's getting over another cold, and so she was kinda cranky before we even got there. I was prepared for the worst, meaning I'd have to set a new record for the 30ft dash (out of the room). But as soon as I put her down, she saw that it was snacktime, and went to her chair and grabbed her sippy and could care less that I was leaving. My little grown up girl.
:-)

mountain lion?

so our friends over at johnny's brother have a post about a mountain lion siting near their house! i wanted to see the news picture, because they said they couldn't see this hiding mountain lion. here's the original (in case you don't want to go to the news site):

apparently, someone used their camera phone to snap the picture, and the mountain lion is hiding behind the tree. the tail should be visible if you look hard enough. well, being the graphic artist that i am, i've zoomed in and enhanced the picture:

see it now? no? well to avoid any further confusion, i've used my hi-tech-no-grafx computational analysis video processor to digitally place the tree in the background so we can see the whole mountain lion:

AND AWAAAAAY WE GO! :-P

Trip to the Zoo

This weekend we visited the Reston Zoo for the first time. We weren't exactly sure how Aria would react. She was okay as long as the animals were slow moving like the turtles or behind glass like the reptiles. The sheep, goats, birds and monkeys were just a little bit too much for her to handle. Overall it was nice to get out and see something a little different. See pictures/video below:

This is our family in more ways than one.

Goofy Daddy was the only one brave enough to feed the goats.

Just look at that face. I wonder what she's thinking about?
"Those goats are going to nibble on me if I get too close!"

I didn't know birds were so scary (especially caged ones)...

A day with sticks is a great day!

Family photo...and Aria with her beloved sticks.

Bubbles for Aria!

This is a cute little song Aria learned at Gymboree:

Bubbles In The Air (sung to If You're Happy And You Know It)

There are bubbles in the air, in the air (x2)
There are bubbles in the air
There are bubbles everywhere
There are bubbles in the air, in the air

There are bubbles way up high, way up high (x2)
There are bubbles way up high
There are bubbles in the sky
There are bubbles way up high, way up high

BUBBLES FOR ARIA...