The sun's in my eyes mom!

My happy boy is doing well. His top two fangs (I call them) are growing in nicely, and the top front ones are cutting through right now. So hopefully Jordan won't look like Dracula for too long. :)

This kids also loves to feed himself. he won't take much baby food these days because he has to feed himself. He eats a lot of cheerios and boiled vegetables.

About the only time of day that he looks like an angel is when he's sleeping- which he hasn't done much of lately. We sent his binky to the moon on a balloon about 10 days ago. Ever since he's had a hard time relaxing to fall asleep at night time. This was one of the rare occassions that he did.

This kid loves dirt. He likes to hit it with stick. Unfortunately he still likes to eat it when I'm not looking. He does it for the attention- or at least that's what I presume because it can't possible taste that good.

Aaron was imitating Paolo after he had worked on our garden box in our yard.

Carnevale

Abbiamo festeggiato Carnevale alla scuola Italiana questa settimana. Questo e` Aaron con il suo amico Roberto. Erano carini.

This week at Italian pre-school we celebrated "Carnevale" which is the Italian version of our Halloween. Aaron had a lot of fun!

I swear Aaron has picked his nose more than anything else the last two weeks. Caught in the act.

Aaron had some great faces that were funny.

Aaron's super powers: he can yell louder than any child or adult that I know (hmmm, maybe he'll be an opera singer one day); he can go from happy to full body temper tantrum in less than 0.2 seconds (hmmm, sounds like he's close to 3); he LOVES his baby brother and often tries to smother (literally) him with love. Poor Jordan is constantly being rescues from the clutches of Aaron; when he wants to, he can really pour on the charm; he can memorize anything as long as you read it to him in a book every day for a week.

And that's my super boy!

This is Jordan as we were playing "magia" (magic in Italian) where the boys sit on my bed and we throw this exceptionally ugly blanket over them. Then I stick my head under and Aaron starts to laugh like crazy. Jordan was laughing too because Aaron was laughing. I couldn't get Aaron to hold still long enough to get picture of him under the blanket too.

Peek-a-boo!

Love his smile. Always!

When your kids imitate you

We just bought new windows because all of our other ones had cracks in at least one pane or had moisture inbetween them. Here are some before and after pictures.

Aaron has started to use his imagination and immitate what we do. He "talks on the phone" a lot by putting his hand up to his ear, and has some funny conversations. Well lately I've been so exhausted that if he isn't being quiet during nap time and I need to sleep, I let him cuddle with me in bed while I take a nap. Yesterday Aaron hopped in his bed and wanted to pretend that he was taking a nap with mom. So I layed my head next to his. He started breathing really hard and really fast in my ear! It must seem to him that that's what I do when I sleep. So that's how Aaron views his mommy. Very telling. :)

Toddler Bed and Crawling

This is a very typical expression for Jordan. He is my HAPPY boy!

He also loves bath time more than anything else all day long. He loves kicking aroun in the water and playing with Aaron.

He is also crawling like crazy, everywhere. He crawls in and out of this box several times a day.

Paolo this week threatened to suprise me by taking Aaron to get his first short haircut. Little did I know that it would be Monday while I was working. He brought the boys in so I could feed Jordan, and I couldn't stop staring at Aaron.

I found this car at D.I. for $10. I love a good buy!

Aaron has been crawling out of his crib for a few weeks now. We got a lock for his door, and found a toddler bed on line for a good price. Now he is up at night emptying all 6 drawers of their content (photos to come). And we have to pick it up every morning. Oh the joys of kids!

Here's my crawling maniac.

Trouble Maker in Chief

Aaron is my trouble maker in chief. This last week he did it again. My sewing room downstairs used to be a bedroom that the previous owners rented out. So the outside of the doorknob had a key entry, and it locked from the inside. I've never had the key to this door. Aaron snuck in when I wasn't looking (because he loves to illegally play with my quilting needles- which is highly prohibited). He just happened to also turn the lock on the inside without realizing what he did. He locked himself in without knowing it. When it was quiet I went to check on him and found him locked in. I tried to get him to open it up, but he didn't know or understand how. I tried to use a credit card to open it. No luck. I called a neighbor to enlist her help, but together we were unsuccessful. So I called a locksmith and found out it would be $75 for him to come out. What an outragious price!

By this time I was getting desperate. He'd been locked in about an hour. I figured if I kicked the door in, I'd damage the door frame. I decided to cut a hole in the door because it's only about $35 to replace. I got a small jigsaw electric saw and with the help of my neighbor cut a hole in the top of the door. The noise scared the pants off of Aaron and he cried quite a bit. I found the room in quite a state. Aaron had stuck the pins into the carpet and lined them all up. There was all kinds of thread EVERYWHERE! He had eaten all of the candy in the room. He really had a fun hour.

So here's the picture after I taped the pieces of wood back onto the door until I finally break down and replace the door (above).

This is a sweater of Bart Simpson that uncle Daniele sent to Aaron. I felt like it was quite fitting to this last week.

Jordan is 8 months old today! I can't believe it. He is now crawling quite well. He tries to pull himself up on everything. He is finally eating solids, but still refusing a bottle. He cut his two bottom teeth on the 1st of January, and now his top two are coming in. I forgot how horrible it is for them to get teeth. He's been waking up at night screaming his head off, and unable to console him.

Isn't my husband cute?!

Hanging out in bed with mom.

Merry Christmas

This is the Christmas outfit from Grandma Copple. Aaron was adorable but refused to sit and smile at the camera.

My big boy.

Jordan enjoyed watching Aaron open up Christmas presents.

"Oh WOW!!!" Is what Aaron had to say.

Aaron was the INN keeper this year for our family Christmas pageant.

Bologna soccer team shirt from uncle Daniele.

Today was a very bad day for Aaron (and for his mommy). All he did was whine and yell "mamma" at the top of his lungs (which is very, very loud) every three seconds all morning long. He woke up Jordan twice from his nap. Jordan has been really cranky and fussy because he's getting his second tooth in 4 days. I also happened to be watching a neighbor's little girl. When her mom came to pick her up, Aaron took all of the special Pecorino cheese that Paolo's brother had just mailed us, and ate it/spread it all over while I was helping the mom. I came back into the kitchen to finish making lunch and found Aaron doing this. Big sigh, big breathe.

Paolo was watching Jordan while I napped yesterday. He thought it would be fun to put Jordan on the chair and take a few pictures. The chair was sopping wet when he was done. Love my husband!

Crawling

Jordan is now officially crawling. Thank goodness not well yet. It happened Sunday. He was 3 days shy of hitting 7 months. Where does the time go?! I wanted the time to slow down the second time so that I could enjoy it more, and instead he's growing too fast.

Two peas in a pod. Jordan loves it when Aaron jumps on the bed. Jordan really can't wait for the day when he is as mobile as his brother.

"bicotto pichi". One of Aaron's favorite treats are fig newtons (in Italian we call them biscotto di fichi). So he asks a lot for his "bicotto pichi". I love listening to him try to talk.

Jordan still won't take a bottle. He's anxious to eat the food we're eating. Even the rice cereal is making him constipated. It's a battle I can't win. He loves trying to eat his special baby cereal, but he doesn't have good control over gripping yet.

Playing on mom and dad's bed.