11-05-05

First Word - 11/5/2005

Notes: At ten months, AJ began saying his first real word: DOG. He loves dogs and is very enthusiastic when he sees one. He is really enthusiastic when he sees most any animal and he thinks they are all dogs. For the past month and a half we have been living in a hotel room in Ohio waiting to get a house of our own. I brought with us only a few of his toys because we knew we wouldn't have a lot of room. The rest went to storage. I did bring one stuffed dog and one stuffed bear. AJ does know the difference between them. If asked where the dog is, he will either point to one of the real dogs or to his stuffed dog. If asked where his bear is, he will go get his bear, but he can't yet say the word bear. This picture was taken the last day in our house in Kansas. AJ was fussing a little bit and I got the camera thinking I would take a fussy faced picture and say he was sad we were leaving our home in Kansas, but as soon as I started to take the picture, he started to laugh.

One year old - 11/5/2005

Notes: On October 20th, AJ turned one year old. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I walked past a mirror holding AJ today and stood looking at him in my arms. His legs dangled down so far. He suddenly looked so big to me, like he was a little boy and not a baby. How can that be? What really gets me is that it feels like no time at all ago he was tiny and I could hold him in one arm yet at the same time it seems difficult to remember ever not having him. He has been the greatest gift God ever gave us. He is such a sweetie. Lately, he has been giving kisses upon request and he will give kisses to his stuffed dog then put the dog to my mouth for the dog to give me a kiss too. AJ took his first steps the week before his first birthday. Unfortunately I missed them. He was staying with Grandpma and Grandpa Cook while I was at a conference and he took four steps by himself while with them. I thought after that he would be off and running in no time. I was wrong. He would only occassionally take steps by himself up until this past week. He learned how to push himself up to a standing position from the floor. He was so proud of himself, then he started walking. Unfortunately, he could only get so far in the hotel room before running into something. So, we started spending a lot of time in the hallway so he'd have further to go with no obstructions. He was doing better and better taking 8 to 10 steps at a time before falling on his bottom. I became afraid that I was encouraging him to fall because when he fell the first few times, I wanted him to be encouraged to keep trying and not get upset so I clapped and cheered him. After that, AJ would start to fall with great effect on his bottom and then clap as though he were saying "yeah, I fell again!" So, I started clapping and cheering while he was walking. So then AJ started to clap while he was in mid stride, lost his balance and went down very hard on his face. That was two days ago and he has refused to try to walk on his own since then. Dave tried to take him in the hall and pull out his finger AJ was holding onto while AJ was walking and AJ through the biggest fit. He screamed, threw himself down on the carpet and wailed. AJ is very sweet most of the time, but at the ripe old age of one, he has already learned to throw his body around and burst into angry tears when he is mad. It is hard not to laugh now because these tantrums are so cute at this age, but I fear we will be in grave trouble in the future.

hotel sweet home - 11/5/2005

Notes: So, as I've mentioned before, we have been living in a hotel for quite a while. AJ has been in his playpen. I miss the crib. I also miss sleeping through the night. I finally figured out why AJ keeps waking up during the night here. I was up late one night in the "living room" of the hotel room close to where AJ's crib is set up and I heard the outside door to the hotel slam shut loudly. AJ jumped and cried. I realized another time I was going to the bathroom that the same thing happened in the middle of the night. There are sometimes people here at the hotel who come in and out at all hours and since our room door is right by the outside door, it keeps waking up AJ when it slams shut. I fear that AJ is getting used to getting up at night and having mommy cuddle him badck to sleep. This may become a habit that will require breaking once we get into our own house. I can't let him cry here during the night because I don't want to wake up other people in the hotel.

Well since we have moved to Ohio, I have not returned to the working world. I have stayed "home" with AJ. I never thought I could be off work this long without missing it, but I really haven't. I really loved the job I left in Kansas, but have been having a ball with AJ. We have spent a lot of time figuring out things to do during the day to get out of the hotel. We frequent the Gahanna library a lot. They have story time for infants and toddlers every Monday, plus they just have a really cool library with lots of great books and videos for all ages. AJ likes to go play with the stuffed animals they have there and help me pick out books that are on his level in the little one's section. On Wednesdays we go to a music class for toddlers. AJ loves it. There is a lot of movement and singing and playing of instruments plus he loves watching other kids. There is another play group we participate in most weeks. We also frequent a mall about 15 minutes from the hotel that has a Zoo play area for kids. AJ really likes it there. Lots of kids and things for him to climb on and crawl under and through. We've learned that the mall that is just minutes from the house we are buying is building a new play area for kids that will be opening just after we move into our house, so we'll have another place to hang out. ....Okay, one last thing to add before we say goodbye to this site. Grandpa Cook says that AJ speaks Chinese and I must admit it does sort of sound like that at times. Dave and I had to smile this evening when we went out to dinner at a Chinese restaraunt. The hostess had a little boy with her. She told us he was 20 months hold. It wasn't very busy so she was letting him play around the tables. He brought out a big ball and was playing with it near us, causing AJ to start cracking up in laughter. This encouraged the boy to play closer to us and to try to interact with AJ. The boy started to speak to AJ (in what I truly believe was actual Chinese) and AJ appeared to completely understand him because he just babbled right on back to him and then the boy laughed as though the kids had shared this private joke. I thought Grandpa Cook would just laugh if he saw this happening and would be quite sure that AJ was indeed speaking fluent Chinese. My little genius. (Well, okay, maybe not so much a genius since he still doesn't say "mamma" unless that is, he is saying it in Chinese and I don't understand him.)