Aiden’s vocabulary now consists of “Balloon”, and that’s it.
“Bah woon”. All day, every day.
Even at non-balloons.
Books? “Bah woon”. The cats? “Bah woon”. Food? “Bah woon”.
We get all excited when he points at an actual balloon in a book and says it, but I’m starting to wonder what exactly that word is associated with. 
It’s pretty darn cute, though.
The doctor suggested that Aiden can now eat pretty much anything we can eat, assuming it’s cut into managable slices. Specifically, rotisserie chicken makes a good meal.
We had some of that chicken for dinner last night, and Aiden seemed to like it. It’s neat to see him eating “real” food, instead of milk, gerbers, and cookies.
I have a feeling that the cookies won’t be removed from his diet any time soon. At least, not if he has his way. He knows where we keep the cookies (in a cabinet), and he can open that cabinet and grab a cookie (or six). We’re in trouble.
Aiden had his one year checkup today at the doctor’s office. All is still well.
Dr. Dedman told us that we can upgrade to whole cow milk. Aiden will probably love that stuff. Plus, it’s a ton cheaper than the formula!
He has also thinned out a bit. His height is now in the 40th percentile (previously 25), and his weight is in the 70th (previously 80). He weight 24 pounds 8 ounces and is 29 inches tall. We were a bit worried that he was on the heavy side, so this is good news.
He got a slew of shots, against our initial goal. This makes the fourth round of the pertussin shot, a chickenpox vaccine, and his first DTaP shot. We still skipped the polio shot. It is very interesting how different doctors recommend different immunizations–Dr. Dedman strongly recommended ALL vaccines, while Dr. Wampler implied that some of them aren’t as important. My brain knows that studies find no correlation between vaccines and Autism, but it’s hard to pump him full of that stuff. And he is so pitiful, crying on the table, with nurses jabbing needles into him. I think it really does hurt me more than him.
They also pricked his finger to take a blood sample. He didn’t like that much, either. But he did get some super-cool cartoon bandaids (that he almost ate once they came off).
Aiden said his first multisyllabic word today–balloon.We still have some of the balloons left over from his birthday, and Aiden thinks they are great toys. He holds onto the strings and runs around the house. He had been making a “buh” sound at the balloons, and we have been encouraging it. After all, “balloon” starts with “buh”.
Today, out of the blue, he pointed and one and said “buh woo”. He didn’t say it again for hours, but now he repeats it over and over.
Why again do we buy expensive toys for him when a two dollar balloon is all he wants?
Last night, storms rampaged across much of the US, including our house. I was up late working, and at smidge past midnight, the excessively loud wind prompted me to check weather.com. There was a nice red line of death on the radar map heading right for us. We had about 20 minutes.
So I go downstairs and hop into bed, mentioning to Tanya that we’ll probably be dying in about 20 minutes. Sure enough, right on queue, the neighborhood weather siren fires off. This siren is designed to be heard for well over a mile, and is conveniently positioned right across the street about 4 houses down. It woke Aiden immediately, who was scared to death.
I snatched him up, wrapped him in his blanky, and brought him down to our room while we prepared to set up shop in the basement. Man, that siren is LOUD. I grabbed the flashlight, Tanya grabbed a blanket, and we headed on down.
We were down there for about 25 minutes. I kept checking the radar maps on my phone, and Aiden snacked on some formula. The wind and rain hitting the furnace exhaust on the roof was suprisingly loud, especially after a power flicker prompted me to turn off the two computers that run in the basement.
Aiden wasn’t scared anymore, but got pretty antsy, and didn’t want to be held. Unfortunately, our basement isn’t finished, and with the litter boxes living down there, the dust level on the floor frequently leaves a bit to be desired. We didn’t want him scurrying around in his socks and falling onto the bare concrete, so he had to be held the whole time.
Since it was actually his first time in the basement, flying around like Superman and looking at all the fascinating boxes did a pretty good job of occupying him.
In the end, there was no damage, but it was 1:00 in the morning Aiden was awake. We put him to sleep in our bed (at the expense of our comfort–I was nearly falling off the bed since I didn’t want to shift him over and “reset” his progress to sleeptown). We plopped him back in his crib close to 1:30, and he slept through the night.
I used to really enjoy storms when I was young. I thought tornados were cool, and love to would watch the atmostpheric violence through the windows. Not so much, anymore.
Aiden ever-increasing vocabulary of monosyllabic grunts seems to have lost a member. “Ma”.
He has been quite vocal lately, and after learning the raspberry, loves to walk around spraying the world with his emerging-tooth-inspired slobber. He can say “Da Da” (or, more accurately, “dadadadadada”), and “Bubba” (“bububububu”–baby and/or bottle). We’ve heard some N-based sounds “nuh”, and most of short vowel sounds. He can smack his lips quite loudly in what we like to pretend is a kiss at us, and he can grunt like nobody’s business, frequently while pointing at some item or place that he wants but probably should not have nor go.
And he used to be able to say “MaMa” (again, “mamamamamamama”). Tanya tries to extract some form of maternal greeting, and almost out of spite, it seems, he refuses to say it. Even worse, a “DaDa” will come out, making me beam with pride. Mission accomplished–Aiden loves Daddy the most!
Today is Aiden’s 1-year birthday! I can’t believe how quickly that year flew by.
We’re going to have a party for lunch, with Aiden’s grandparents over. The decorations look great, and there are balloons all over the kitchen. He thinks it’s pretty funny that they fall up instead of down when he lets go of them.
Yesterday, while Grandma Alla was cooking dinner, Aiden was running around the house and came into the bedroom, where Tanya and I were talking. He just walked right in, happy as can be, smiling and showing off his new tooth. In that moment, I saw Aiden for the first time not as the little baby we’ve known for the last year, but as a little PERSON.
It is a bittersweet feeling, realizing that your child grows up so quickly. It is amazing and wonderful to watch him develop, both physically and emotionally–he has evolved quite a personality of his own. Yet, he’s my baby, so small and innocent, and I don’ want that to go away.
I know I can’t stop time, so I try to make the most of this stage; somewhere between baby and child. I can definitely understand why a lot of people have kid # 2 around this time.
It looks like tooth number two is coming in nicely. Aiden doesn’t seem to mind this one as much as the first one, but he sure is drooling a lot from it!
Aiden is getting rather proficient at walking around, and can even “run” to a degree. We play this game where I get on my hands and knees and chase him around making a quacking sound. He used to hold on to Tanya’s finger and run around, but now he can do it on his own. I’ll hide around a corner or behind a couch, and he’ll walk around very cautiously, knowing I’m hiding somewhere. Then I’ll pop out quacking, and he’ll squeak and take off running. It’s hilarious.
He even knows when I stop and turn around to start chasing me back!