Daddy's Little Shadow

Steve really better watch his step these days! Ryan loves to follow along and do whatever his Daddy is doing. I happened to catch it in pictures yesterday. Steve was outside working in the yard with the shovel. Ryan hurried out and picked up his own little yellow shovel and followed Steve around pretending do whatever Steve did. The best part is to see the huge expression of pride on Ryan's face. I think it makes him feel like a big boy. No wonder there's such a special bond between daddies and their sons.

A Special Entry for AJ

My baby just got his first pair of shoes today!! I can't believe he's getting to be such a big boy now. We put the shoes on and he proceeded to chew on them the rest of the day. For the past few days he's been practicing standing without help. The shoes seem to help with that just a bit. He just LOVES trying to stand. I let go, he stands for a second, and then he just erupts into laughter. His laughter is absolutely contagious.

He loves to laugh and does it at the drop of a hat. He's incredibly ticklish, too. He always has been. It makes me think back to when he was much younger, as early as 3 mos I think, when he would just do these big belly laughs the whole time I tried to change his diaper. I also have a memory of him laughing at one of his well baby checks. I think it was about 6 mos. As the Dr was looking over him, he laughed the whole time because the Dr was inadvertently tickling him. It was at that appt that the Dr said some children to become ticklish as a learned/social type thing. Then there are some children that are just born more ticklish. He said AJ was obviously just born that way.

We've been waiting for his first tooth for a long time! He finally got his first tooth right after he turned 10 mos (last week). I've always heard stories of this happening, but I've never seen it personally. But, he got a total of 3 teeth in 2 days! One top and one bottom erupted at almost the same time. Then the 2nd top tooth came in. We're still waiting for the 2nd bottom one. He's going to look like a little toddler before I know it. How do these kids grow up so fast when I feel like some days will never end?

I think that's all the catching up I can do for today. I'll try to update on a regular basis now.

This picture was taken about a week ago-before his new teeth and new shoes-but I thought it was cute anyway. Don't you just want to squeeze those adorable little cheeks?

AJ's New Game

This morning I realized AJ has a new favorite game. It is so much fun. He actually initiated the game today. He makes this cute high-pitched "ah" sound while waving his hand in the air. Then he waits for me to say "ah" back. We continue this back and forth game until one of us gets tired of it. Yes, it's usually me. He laughs between each exchange. I think he enjoys this game more than peek-a-boo!

He also has a new babbling sound. He's been saying "dadadada" for 2-3 months now. Within the last week or so he added "babababa". I'm hoping he starts babbling a lot more soon. I'm so hopeful that I won't have another "late talker".

Just adding a line in here about adhd to see if I can get some other ads on my blog. ;)

Our Shopping Adventure

I guess I'll just jump right in with both feet!

Today I decided to take all 4 kids to the mall to get shoes for everyone. Stride Rite was having their semi-annual "Buy 1 Get 1 50% off sale". Now having 4 kids pays off. See, if I only had 3 kids to buy shoes for, I'd have a dilemma on my hands. I'd have to buy that 4th pair of shoes anyway, right? Well, now all the kids have their shoes for the fall. I even bought Kaeli and Paige a pair of "dressy" shoes. Last year I was accused of being a "mean mom" because Kaeli only had one pair of sneakers and that was it. According to Kaeli, she was the *ONLY* girl wearing sneakers on picture day. Yep, she obviously went around the school and checked out what every other girl was wearing on her feet that day. I had no idea this would start at such a young age! So, now she will not have to suffer such a tragedy on picture day this year. WHEW!

After the shoes we headed over to the water fountain. We never go to the mall without a supply of pennies to throw into the fountain. I can't help but wonder how much money they make from the water fountain. Seriously, until I had kids I never knew what a huge incentive throwing pennies into the fountain could be. This is always the highlight of any trip to the mall. Kaeli, Paige, and Ryan all had a great time throwing their pennies into the fountain while AJ had his bottle.

After the fountain, we had lunch at the food court. Nothing eventful there. Believe it or not, they were very well behaved through lunch. AJ was overdue for a nap by now and it was time to head home. On the way out, I decided to let the kids each choose a book from the bookstore. This was not pretty! AJ was crying most of the time. Kaeli couldn't make up her mind which book she wanted. Ryan wanted every book he laid eyes on. Problem is he'd pick one up and then just lay it in the middle of the floor when another one caught his attention. Thank goodness Paige was the easy one. She chose a book very quickly and helped me put books away as Ryan put them all over the floor. FINALLY, we headed for the checkout counter. The lady rang us up and handed each a bag with their own book in it. What a nice lady......UNTIL I look in my wallet and can't find my credit card. I look at her and explain that I must have left my card at the last place I used it. I kid you not.....this lady acted like I had purposely caused her extra work and that I had this big scheme planned out. I was pretty irritated by now. I told her I certainly didn't plan to have this happen and that I'd come right back. Outside the store I decided to check my pockets just in case I had put it in there--of course, there was my credit card. But, the books stayed at the book store. I was so mad at that lady that there was no way I was going back in there. I was actually surprised at how well the kids took the news. Maybe they realized I had had enough for the day. But, surprisingly they didn't argue at all. Thank goodness for small miracles!

The rest of the day was very easy in comparison. We got home just in time for Ryan and AJ's nap. Paige doesn't usually nap, but today even she was tired. She only likes to take a nap with me, of course I had to oblige. So, Kaeli entertained herself while the 4 of us napped. Now THAT is a good ending to a day.

Here is a little funny story from the day. As usual, I had plenty of people say to me "you certainly have your hands full". After what felt like the gazillionth time, Kaeli looked at me and said "Why does everybody keep saying that to you?". I thought it was cute.