Now that Aaron is in preschool, Brian and I get a little more one-on-one time and we love it. Actually he takes a nap first, which I love, then we get to spend time together. Today I was reading a magazine on floor of the living room while he played with a ball in the entryway. It was so fun to just watch him throw the ball on the carpet, then on the tile and laugh every time. He's still such a sweet, happy boy. I feel I can't call him a baby anymore now that he walks so well and understands so much of what we say. He follows instructions really well and surprises me all the time. Here's a few more examples:
1. For years we've had this routine for putting Aaron in his car seat (1 arm, 2 arms, click 3, click 4, click 5, kiss for 6 and hands on head for 7). Brian has the same car seat and I've said the same things for a while, but I usually gave him his pacifier for 7 since I knew he was little enough to not be able to get his fingers caught in the door or anything. This past week, when I've put him in his car seat he automatically puts his hands on his head after I give him a kiss! He's so observant and I love it.
2. He currently has a spoken vocabulary of 4 words and a sign vocabulary of 4 words (although he seems to learn more signs all the time, he just doesn't do them when I prompt him yet). His signs are: eat, more, milk and finished. His words are dada, mama, amen and my mom got him to say Grandma this past weekend. When we say prayers, whether on the food, or our nightly family prayers, or Family Home Evening, or even at church, he folds his cute chubbly little arms and at the end he actually says amen. It is so adorable!
3. He also loves to give kisses. If you ask him for a kiss he will walk over to you and with his mouth open WIDE dive at your mouth. Sometimes he'll get you just about from nose to chin. And sometimes he is in a kissy mood and just kisses you repeatedly! He's an animal. He can also blow kisses and gives high fives like a pro!
4. Lastly, the kid still eats everything in sight. He empties his bowl or plate at every meal (granted we find half of it in his lap or on the floor) and seems to never fill up. The first time he signed "finished" I was more excited that he was actually full than that he had made the sign!
Well, that's the update on the one year old. I'll update Aaron's activities again soon too.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Nature's Bug Zapper
We have the greatest backyard Bug Zapper. We share it with our neighbor just behind us. It's yellow and black and gives us all the heeby jeeby's. I had to muster up some courage to take these pictures. To give you a sense of scale... she is about 5" long with her body being about 1.5" - 2". She's big. I can see her from where I sit here on the couch.
Nephila clavipes (Linnaeus), or, Golden Silk Spider is a large orange and brown spider with the feathery tufts on its legs is well know to most native southerners. It is particularly despised by hikers and hunters, as during late summer and fall the large golden webs of this species make a sticky rap for the unwary. However, as is typical with most spiders, there is little real danger from an encounter with the golden silk spider. The spider will bite only if held or pinched, and the bite itself will produce only localized pain with a slight redness, which quickly goes away. On the whole, the bite is much less severe than a bee string. Typically, the webs are made in open woods or edges of dense forest, usually attached to trees and low shrubs, although they may be in the tops of trees or between the wires of utility lines. But ours has spun her web on our back fence.
When mowing the lawn or otherwise being in the backyard, I find myself ducking. I can't bear to exterminate her. She is pretty and has kept our back yard free of mosquitoes, flies, and other flying pests. So I guess we are both creeped out, and grateful. (mostly creeped out.)
Nephila clavipes (Linnaeus), or, Golden Silk Spider is a large orange and brown spider with the feathery tufts on its legs is well know to most native southerners. It is particularly despised by hikers and hunters, as during late summer and fall the large golden webs of this species make a sticky rap for the unwary. However, as is typical with most spiders, there is little real danger from an encounter with the golden silk spider. The spider will bite only if held or pinched, and the bite itself will produce only localized pain with a slight redness, which quickly goes away. On the whole, the bite is much less severe than a bee string. Typically, the webs are made in open woods or edges of dense forest, usually attached to trees and low shrubs, although they may be in the tops of trees or between the wires of utility lines. But ours has spun her web on our back fence.
When mowing the lawn or otherwise being in the backyard, I find myself ducking. I can't bear to exterminate her. She is pretty and has kept our back yard free of mosquitoes, flies, and other flying pests. So I guess we are both creeped out, and grateful. (mostly creeped out.)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Fishing and the Camera
Aaron, Grandpa Fuller and I went fishing a few weeks ago. Honestly.. it was the first time that I caught a fish. We all were having a great time until the camera fell into the lake.
Story of the Camera in the lake....
As you can see in the pictures the dock where we are sitting isn't super wide... Jen, playing the role of motherly photographer, capturing her husband's and son's first fish was maneuvering all over the dock with the nimble footwork of a billy goat. Just after snapping the pictures above, she slid the camera into her pocket and tried to edge herself around Grandpa. I don't think she noticed, but I saw the camera slide out of her pocket and gently splash into the lake.
When she realized what had happened and took over the duties of keeping Aaron from following the camera off the dock and into the lake, I jumped in after the camera. The lake is only about 4 - 5 feet deep where we are fishing. Initially I attempted to dive and feel around on the bottom with my hands. I quickly learned that my feet were better suited to find the camera sitting on the bottom. I found many other treasures on the bottom of the lake before I found the camera. It had spent 5 minutes underwater and was surely dead.
We took the batteries out, rinsed it with clean water, and attempted to dry it with a hair-dryer. Then we let it sit for a week ensuring that it was completely and utterly dry before attempting to turn it on again. When we did finally put the batteries in, it took five or six tries to get most of the camera functions to work... but the camera did work. And worked for about a week before it stopped auto-focusing. Then stopped working all together. After some effort we declared it gone.
Yippee! I get to shop for a new camera. Then I realized that the new cameras aren't as nice as the one we had. And they take different types of memory cards, and connection cables, and every other accessory.
I turned to eBay. I found our old camera for sale and started bidding. It took a few tries before I successfully replaced our camera with one identical for a great deal! Be careful... eBaying can potentially be addicting and time sucking!
But we have a camera again. So... the blog will continue.
Story of the Camera in the lake....
As you can see in the pictures the dock where we are sitting isn't super wide... Jen, playing the role of motherly photographer, capturing her husband's and son's first fish was maneuvering all over the dock with the nimble footwork of a billy goat. Just after snapping the pictures above, she slid the camera into her pocket and tried to edge herself around Grandpa. I don't think she noticed, but I saw the camera slide out of her pocket and gently splash into the lake.
When she realized what had happened and took over the duties of keeping Aaron from following the camera off the dock and into the lake, I jumped in after the camera. The lake is only about 4 - 5 feet deep where we are fishing. Initially I attempted to dive and feel around on the bottom with my hands. I quickly learned that my feet were better suited to find the camera sitting on the bottom. I found many other treasures on the bottom of the lake before I found the camera. It had spent 5 minutes underwater and was surely dead.
We took the batteries out, rinsed it with clean water, and attempted to dry it with a hair-dryer. Then we let it sit for a week ensuring that it was completely and utterly dry before attempting to turn it on again. When we did finally put the batteries in, it took five or six tries to get most of the camera functions to work... but the camera did work. And worked for about a week before it stopped auto-focusing. Then stopped working all together. After some effort we declared it gone.
Yippee! I get to shop for a new camera. Then I realized that the new cameras aren't as nice as the one we had. And they take different types of memory cards, and connection cables, and every other accessory.
I turned to eBay. I found our old camera for sale and started bidding. It took a few tries before I successfully replaced our camera with one identical for a great deal! Be careful... eBaying can potentially be addicting and time sucking!
But we have a camera again. So... the blog will continue.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Aaron's first day at preschool
Today Aaron started his first day of preschool. He attends New Hope Presbyterian Church Child Development Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to noon. His teacher, Miss Anne, is very nice and there are 12 children in his class (more boys than girls too). We're hoping he makes friends easily and learns some necessary social skills. Here are some pictures of him from his first day.
He ran right in and started playing with toys. I made him kiss me goodbye and then I left. I was a little sad leaving him, but he didn't care at all. He was having a great time.
When I came back to pick him up he was all smiles. He was telling me stories of what he did in class (something about playing catch with a blue square and a story about a grumpy lady...who knows!) He helped decorate his own bag to take back and forth to class and he's looking forward to Thursday. When did he grow up so fast?
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