Home Again

We're all recovering from the trip. Mommy and Daddy are still trying to get unpacked and back into the swing. Although there's not so much to unpack since one bag was totally lost by the airline. Aidan is recovering from being without us. Although he's clearly happy to have us, he has asked for Nana a couple of times. He enjoys having her here.

Aidan was very glad to see us on Tuesday night. He was sleeping when we came in and I didn't want to wake him but Jason insisted that we should. He barely woke up but he knew that we were there. Yesterday I took the day off to spend with him. We went to visit the Ehl family, who always hands down clothes to us (which is very helpful). Aidan played with Jacob, who is a year older. Afterward we went to Berea for Eli's second birthday party. That was a lot of fun. The kids pretty much destroyed the place by throwing toys and food all over. These are the other Mommies and babies from the playgroup that we've gone to since Aidan was six weeks old. It's been great watching the kids grow into toddlers. This playgroup has been great support for both of us for many reasons. At one point Aidan got very upset with me because I wasn't feeding him cake and ice cream fast enough. He picked up the ice cream ball off of my plate and threw it. That, of course, was the end of his ice cream.

By the time we got to Sabrina's apartment (we stopped in Richmond on the way back to Lex), Aidan had chocolate cake all over his face. I thought I had wiped it off but it must have just smeared. We visited Sabrina for just a few minutes and saw her new pad. It's a really nice place. Aidan busted in to her roommate's room and stole a stuffed animal to play with. They didn't seem to mind. Of course, who could say no to that face? He had a very big day playing with all the kids and visiting his Brina, so on the way home he fell into a deep sleep.

As usual, I didn't dare move a sleeping Aidan from the car. We sat in the driveway until he woke. By the time he woke up it was almost 4 pm. We went inside and played for a while until Daddy got home. Not long after that the contractors came by to talk kitchen remodelling, so Aidan was a little irritated that Mommy and Daddy were distracted. He was mostly good, but was a little fussy. The rest of our evening was right back to the usual schedule with bath, booby, book, and bed. He fell asleep again on his own with very little problem. Just what we've been working toward. As we were snuggling just before he fell asleep he reached over and grabbed my hand, positioning my arm around his waste as if to say, "I need to be snuggled a little tighter." I was happy to oblige.

This morning it seemed like he slept in forever. I was up, showered, ready to go, had his clothes pulled out, and breakfast fixed by the time he got up. I've been trying to wean him from the immediate nursing session right out of bed by taking him directly into the kitchen for food. This morning he got up and immediately did the "food" sign so I just took him in the kitchen and put him in the highchair. He asked for waffles, which was a good thing since that's what I had already fixed. I toasted two waffles because I thought he might eat one and I'd eat the other. Unfortunately, he ate almost all of both. He left only two squares. I've never seen a toddler eat so much. It's amazing how much he can eat! And he's only in the 8th percentile on weight. How does that happen?

Overall, we are all happy to have things back to normal. It's nice to get someone else's opinion of what it's like raising Aidan, though. Nana agrees that Aidan's not such a great sleeper. She also commented on how in the world could you ever get any housework done with Aidan around. These comments make me feel a lot better since the popular sentiment seems to be that Aidan's sleeping issues are our fault. Plus I get down from time to time about not being able to get housework done. It's nice to have reassurances that we're doing it all right given our child's personality. He's getting exactly what he needs and so are we.