Sunday, October 30, 2005

Pictures of the Furbrains and Aidan.

Here is a picture of litte Tee. He thought he was hunting in the tall grass under the cooler. It was hard to get a good shot of him today. He was very active, pouncing and jumping at the worst possible moment for photos.











This is Kee and Tee. I just got lucky in catching Tee mid-pounce.












Aidan liked this old riding mower. He climbed up on it and pretended to drive it. Here he is looking at his Daddy.













We went to visit Howards cousin Derrail, they have this little picnic table for their grandson, The boys were sitting on it for a time, but Caleb (The grandson) decided to get up. Then he sat on the ground behind Aidan. I knelt down to get a picture of Caleb. Aidan leaned down and peeked at me.

New knitting dilemma.

I've started a sweater for Aidan, I hope I have enough light blue yarn to at least finish the front and the back, I have some white and a multi-colored yarn with blue in it that would make good sleeves, hood and pocket. Or maybe I'll make the sleeves out of the light blue yarn and use the others for the body. Hmmm I might just have to go to the store and get something just for this sweater. Howard isn't really excited about sweaters for boys, but I think they are cool, and I can make one for a lot less than we can buy one for. Besides here in California it doesn't get all that cold so a sweater just might be a good choice instead of a coat. However, if we move back home to Oregon, we will have to find him a coat. Well, actually he has one I'm just not sure if it will fit for the whole winter. But in Salem we can go to the clothing by the pound shop, and maybe there will be something good there. I know that everything will work out ok, because I'll make sure of it. LOL

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Cats renamed

Aidan has renamed our cats. The Mama cat was named Miss Psycho Kitty Furbrains McMillen, and the little boy kitty was Monster Child Furbrains McMillen. Now they are just Kee and Tee. Key is probably actually Ki, short for Kitty, and Tea, is probably actually Ty another shortened Kitty. But he knows which one is which and calls them by those names every time. I kind of like the new names anyway. But I'm going to keep the Furbrains part.

Blog stuff.

So you ever feel slighted by your on-line friends? For example, I submitted a comment to a blog I visit every day, and she never approved it. No explanation, nothing. It's not really a big deal, but for some reason I feel hurt by it. I almost don't want to visit her blog any more. It's such a small thing, but for some odd reason it's grown to be a very large thing in my mind. I'll get over it soon enough I'm sure.

My other favorites seem to be doing okay, although one of them has decided to stop blogging for now. I'll miss her, she has 2 little boys. One of them is a little older than Aidan and the other is a little younger. They live in England. It's been a lot of fun and very informative as well. But I understand her reasons and I support her choice.

I wish more of my family would write blogs, so I could keep up with what is happening with them. So far my 2 sister friends have blogs, and a couple of our friends. (actually my sister-friends are much closer to them than I am.) My son Chris has a blog, but he doesn't post often at all. That's it, everyone else I read on a regular basis are on-line friends, some of them don't even know I read them I'm sure. I have posted comments on a couple of them though.

I really admire those who have blogs. Keep it up. Inform us, help us, entertain us, keep your friends and family up to date on what you are doing. It is appreciated, even if no one says so.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Childhood perspectives.

It's interesting how we have a different perspective when we are children. Allen thinks I'm a TV addict, because the TV was on most of the time when he was little. But if he had been just a little bit more observant he would have noticed that I was reading or doing some craft or writing or something. The TV was background noise for me. Music was too distracting for the most part so I didn't listen to the radio or tapes often. I can't deal with the quiet either, so I needed something and TV was perfect. Neither of the boys were all that into TV either, Allen was more interested in people and being outside, Chris was into computers and reading. TV was background noise for them too, I think. But Allen thinks I was watching TV all that time, probably because of the few programs I really did watch. To a child it probably did seem like I watched a lot of TV, especially since he didn't watch much at all. Oh well, I doubt I could get him to change his view of it, so I won't even try.

Aidan is a lot like Allen in a couple of really important ways. First of all, he eats only when he wants to. Some days he eats and eats and eats, and other days he hardly eats at all. Allen used to be like that when he was younger. Aidan is pretty active, like Allen was, and he isn't all that interested in the TV. So I'm hoping that Aidan will be in much better shape than I am in. I am hoping he will be more like Allen and will be slim.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Aidan kisses Dora

So far Aidan hasn't had much preference about the things he wears. As long as he has clothing enough to keep warm or be allowed outside he is fine. I think that is going to change soon though. A couple of days ago we were grocery shopping, we were in the cereal section, when Aidan spotted Dora on a box of KIX, he doesn't usually eat KIX, but he just had to have THAT box. He even kissed her picture on the front of the box! I wonder how long it will be until he sees a shirt with one of the Backyardagains on it and just has to have it. He only watches about 10 minutes of any show right now, so maybe it will be longer than I think. I hope so, because those cloths are expensive! Oh and right now he is between sizes, his 2T pants are getting short, above his ankles, and 3T's are about 2 inches too long as well as a bit too big around the waist. I did hear that Levis slims are good for little boys who are not chubby. I'll have to look into them.

On a different note, Aidan has developed a taste for grapes. He still likes apples, oranges, peaches, blueberries and pears, but he would turn all of those down to have some grapes. Like most kids he likes candy and other sweets, but give him fresh fruit and he's happy. I'm trying to keep things balanced for him, not deny him sugar but keep a limit on it. He eats fairly well, he likes veggies, fruit, eggs, and dairy products. Some days he eats a lot of food, some days he eats a little food. The only problem I have with him is that he won't drink water. So I'm slowly watering down his juice and koolade hoping that he will eventually be ok with drinking plain water.

Friday, October 07, 2005

This and that.

This is proof that Howard is teaching Aidan bad habits. LOL I know that it was an almost empty milk jug. It didn't have enough left in it for a glass, but they both got a talking to about it.



Wish us luck, we have started on the long rocky road known to parents as Potty Training. It may still be a little early, in terms of his vocabulary and desire, but we are trying to set the stage for later advancement. He has training pants, and Howard got him some pull-ups kind of things at the store the other day. So far Aidan has peed in the toilet a couple of times, but still no poop. He doesn't tell me when he has to go, and I don't think he even cares if he is wet or poopy. But he does have a little seat that fits on the toilet seat, and a step stool so he can reach it by himself. I'm hoping that when it's really the right time he will do it just as quickly as he did when he moved to his bed from his crib.

Aidan is now saying "Thank you" and "Be careful" in pretty much the correct situations. He says "Cake" and "Coke" but neither of them usually mean actually cake or coke. Coke means that he wants something to drink, and cake means he wants a treat. Grapes are cake, fruit snakes are cake, and cake is cake. Milk and juice are coke, and any carbonated drink is also coke. But we are working on it. He still calls all animals Buddy. He knows that our kitten is a baby so he calls him Baby, and the Mom kitty is Kitty, as if they are named Baby and Kitty.

No news about a bigger house, or a job. There are possibilities though, so maybe I'll have good news for you all soon. It's about time that we finally have something good happen for us. But at least we have each other, and even though we are rather poor and live in a junky little house we are happy to be together.