Museums, Singing, and Bottles

We recently went to Cleveland's Children's Museum. It was great fun, and Ayden had a blast. They have a water room where kids can learn about levees and dams by building them and rearranging pipes. In order to let the kids play in the water, they provide rain coats for them to wear.


Another popular room was the sand room. Here they recreate an island on which research and excavation is being done. There's a ship to climb on, a research tent to go in, and lots of sand, shovels, and even a jeep to ride around in. Josh and Ayden had a terrific time while Kieran slept in his car seat and I watched.


Kieran is becoming so interactive. We're loving all his smiles and cooing. Unfortunately, right now he's got a bit of a cold, probably given to him by his loving mother. So, he's congested and sleeps in his swing in order to keep the drainage under control. Otherwise we wake up to very pathetic sounds of him trying desperately to breathe through his nose. Hopefully he'll kick this thing to the curb very soon.


I had to go away for a few hours not too long ago, so Josh held the fort down, equipped with a pumped bottle for Kieran. Ayden thought bottles were terrific and was so excited to be able to help give Kieran his milk. He loves taking care of his little brother, but he's not very good at keeping the bottle in his mouth long enough for Kieran to get anything. He'd shove it in, then pull it out right away, promptly declare, "He wants his milk," and repeat the whole process again. Anyway, here's a picture of the two of them as Ayden is getting tucked into bed for the night.


This morning, as Josh was getting ready to go to work, Ayden pulled out his cd player and accompanying microphones and started singing along with the CD. It was so cute as he was always several seconds behind the CD; after hearing the words, he'd pick out the ones he was familiar with and sing them. So, here's a short clip of him singing along with "Come, Now is the Time to Worship." In case you're wondering, he's singing to a Veggie Tales Worship CD.

Baf-ooms and Special Potties

In the last few days, several of our friends have posted various potty training triumphs and challenges stories to their blogs, and so, in an effort to "keep up with the Joneses," I thought I'd add ours to the lot. We haven't officially (or unofficially, for that matter), begun potty training yet, but I think today marked the "Ayden is ready, let's get this show on the road" point. I had to go to the bathroom, so Ayden informed me that he, too, wanted to go to the "baf-oom." So, I thought, "Seize the moment!" We pulled down his pants, took off his diaper and sat him on the toilet. We sat, and sat, and chatted, decided to read some books, decided to include Kieran who then sat on my lap next to the toilet while I read and Ayden sat. Alas, nothing happened.

Ayden was all game to try again later, so I suggested we set the timer and try again in 20 minutes. The timer went off, and Ayden is excited to try going potty again. We go to the bathroom take off his pants and diaper and I start to put him on the toilet. Now, since I hadn't planned on potty training him today, we don't have anything that he can sit on without falling inthe toilet, and so it is a bit precarious to get him seated on our adult toilet. So, as I'm lifting him up for him to spread his legs out over both sides, he mis-guesses and promptly places one foot in the toilet.

"Oh, Ayden," I yell, to which he responds with crying and stressful sounds. Oops. I over reacted, so, not wanting to psychologically damage him when it comes to potty training, I quickly say, "It's o.k. we can clean it up." And I pull off the wet sock and throw it in the sink. Needless to say, he has not sat on the toilet since. He is, however, extremely interested in having his own "special potty," as he's been talking about that a good bit of the night.

I do think we have one other challenge to overcome, though. For about a year, Ayden has associated the word bathroom solely with sitting on the toilet. In other words, he doesn't understand that it's actually the name of a room in the house. This has led to some rather comical moments in our house. For example, I once bought him a new toothbrush and told him to put it in the bathroom. He just stood there and looked at me rather confusedly. "Ayden," I said, "take your toothbrush and go put it in the bathroom on the counter." Finally, being the dutiful son that he is, he took the toothbrush to put in the bathroom. Seconds later I hear the toilet lid open and, horrified, I dashed to the bathroom just as he's about to drop it into the toilet! Some of you might think he just wanted to drop it in the toilet, but, really, believe me, he thinks the word bathroom, in all it's contexts refers to the toilet.

In other news, Kieran is, as I've said nearly every post, growing like a weed. He just went in for a 6 week check up and he's now 12 pounds, 8 oz! He's doing terrific. He's smiling like crazy now and cooing away, so that's fun.

A few weeks ago, the boys both wore ties to church in order to be like dad. Ayden loved doing it and after a while, wanted his tie outside of his vest so that it was even more like Dad (who wasn't wearing a vest that day) and more visible.

Ah, the early morning

Last night was not the greatest in the Kieran-sleeping front, and it was all the more unfortunate because Josh had to be at church by 7 this morning. So, when he got up at 6:15, I decided to also give up on the sleeping thing and enjoy a quiet house until Ayden and Kieran got up. (Kieran, of course, threw in the towel around 6 and is now sleeping like the proverbial baby. Gotta love it!)

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of Ayden's latest adventures with a few comments about Kieran thrown in.

This is a picture of Ayden and his friend Malia. Malia's family has become dear friends of ours. Amanda, her mom, and I get together fairly regularly, and her dad Dan is another pastor at our church. He and Josh spend a lot of time together "talking church." Anyway, Ayden loves their family and their three kids, as do we. So, Amanda, Malia (4), and Jacob (1.5), Ayden, Kieran, and I got together earlier this week at the mall. The mall has an arcade room which thrills Malia and Ayden to no end. Here they are enjoying the motorcycle games.


Ayden LOVES wrestling and bouncing around on the bed. His favorite game is for Josh or I to lay at the foot of the bed while he goes up by the pillows. Then, he jumps on us (as he's doing in this picture), and we pick him up and throw him back to the head of the bed. This game is usually instigated by him saying, "throw me, mommy" or "tackle (i.e., tickle) me" which usually results in him also being thrown.


Ayden loves anything that has buttons and is electronic. So, cell phones and computers are some of his favorite things. Thank-goodness for the Sesame street computer game (or peeung bame, as Ayden says) and child-friendly web sites. Here's Ayden sitting at his table in the kitchen, playing along with Elmo and Big Bird.


Kieran continues to be a joyful addition to our family. He's becoming more alert all the time and is starting to fall into a wake-sleep rhythm that holds consistent for at least several days at a time. He's growing so quickly! Some days I look at him and think he's grown by leaps and bounds over night!

I love watching Kieran and Ayden together. Ayden does a great job with his little brother. If Kieran is crying, he wants to know "whats the ma-ung" (what's the matter) and he's always ready to offer him his "pacifi-ung"(pacifier). (Ayden doesn't quite have the "er" sound down yet, so it's substituted with the sound -ung.) Anyway, here's a typical picture of their interactions together. Sorry it's kind of dark. Not sure if I forgot to turn on lights or what:)