It Almost Sounds Like Dutch

Don't call it a comeback, we've been here for years

2011-01-01T21:57:00.003-05:00

Yep, I'm a slacker. There's too many great Aden pix from the last year to really sort 'em all, so here's a smattering from the last couple of months. Here's to more posts in 2011!

Our son, the plumbing entrepreneur

2009-09-03T20:06:00.003-04:00

Today in the parking lot, Aden told me "I'm not your friend!" So we went down a list of what he could be instead. We established that he was not my uncle, my cousin, my brother, my dog or my veterinarian. Turns out, according to him, he's actually my plumber. I was overjoyed when I heard the news, but when I asked how much it would cost for him to fix the third floor bathroom, he stated that it would be at least $20,000. And it would cost an additional $2,036 in zoning fees!

On the plus side, we established (via the me listing off options system again) that the new bathroom would include a sink, a toilet, a bidet, a vacuum cleaner, a television, and paper towels. No shower, but he did say that we could have a hot tub. Score!

Beach days

2009-08-23T12:13:00.005-04:00

I don't know what the weather's like where you are, but we've hit that peculiar part of RI summer known alternately as "the dog days," "fry an egg on the sidewalk hot," or my personal favorite "the brain-melting stupifyingly horrendous days of horribleness." There's only one thing to do when this particular part of the season rolls around: get the heck out of town. So for the past couple of weekends, we've headed out to the Cape, where Aden bonded with his cousin Judah, trekked through the woods, climbed boulders, and further nurtured his inner fish. The highlight for him, though, was playing in buckets. Go figure.

Instant joy - just add water...

2009-07-26T19:40:00.004-04:00

... or swings, or the park, or the porch, or people, or... well, just about anything that's outside and active. Luckily for Aden (and the rest of us), there's a lot of that sort of stuff going on right now!

Beachin' it up

2009-07-20T16:45:00.006-04:00

Summer weather has come to New England... a month late. Not that I'm complaining, mind you - I don't mind a cool summer. But now that the heat has arrived, we're making up for lost time with as much time at the beach as possible! With a little grillin' and chillin' to mix things up.

Oh, and the dodgeball-esque shot? There's a story there...

Summer swings & things

2009-06-30T20:00:00.002-04:00

Wait... another month has passed? Again? That's crazy - it was last month just a moment ago.

Ah, well, I guess summer will do that, even if it's a somewhat rainy summer. Luckily, there have been just enough sunny days to snap the following photos:

Wild weekends

2009-06-01T20:02:00.004-04:00

... well, for a toddler, anyhow. That definition of wild seems to include multiple trips to the park, playing in an empty wading pool, wearing whatever the heck you feel like, eating hot dogs, going to an outdoor art fair, asking "what's dat?" at every stall in the art fair, and making silly faces on command. Not a bad definition, now that I think about it....

The weekend that kept on giving

2009-05-27T15:59:00.002-04:00

Wow, that was one heck of a three day weekend! Who knew you could pack that much action into a single long weekend? Not us! We rounded out the whole shebang with rainy day pool fun, fancy restaurant brunches, and a trip to the beach. Of course, now that it's rainy and cold again, we'll just have to refer to the photos to remember what it was all like. Good thing Aden loves a good photo or ten!

Epic win

2009-05-24T13:40:00.004-04:00

What do you get when you combine successful potty usage, a long weekend, new shoes, new sunglasses, corn, hot dogs, blowing bubbles, playing with friends, sleeping in, wading pools full of rainwater, and a big trip to the park? An epic win for all concerned. And it's not even over yet!

Weekend away

2009-05-19T20:05:00.004-04:00

There's nothing like a nice long weekend when spring actually decides to cooperate in New England. A little sun, a little outdoor time, some grown-up fun, and a couple of crazy kids (though only ours is shown here). What's not to love?

Holy guacamole!

2009-05-11T14:32:00.003-04:00

In case you hadn't noticed, our kid is a ham. A ham with a big side of guacamole.

Easterosity

2009-04-22T20:10:00.003-04:00

One of Aden's favorite random holidays is Easter. Why? Let's see... 1) the unique food (pierogis + ham + baked beans + scrambled eggs + a whole lot of ketchup), 2) fun little presents, 3) hidden plastic eggs, and 4) adults going crazy looking for said plastic eggs. Sadly, all photos of item #4 have been deleted to protect the innocent... but trust us, it was wild this year!

Springing into action

2009-04-05T11:24:00.002-04:00

The weather might not be 100% consistent yet, but Aden doesn't care. As far as he's concerned, if he's at home and awake, he wants to be outside running around. He might still be in his footie pajamas, it might be 40 degrees, and there may still be puddles on the porch, but it doesn't matter to him. As long as it's warm enough that he can see the ground, he wants to be out rocking and rolling.

Slowly springin'

2009-03-22T12:36:00.002-04:00

Ah, Spring, a time of renewal - or, as it's known here in New England, a time when you never know how to dress. Snow, rain, sunshine and back again. Aden is dealing with it all very well - mostly he's just psyched that the backyard is occasionally clear of snow & debris, so he can run around and act like a little crazy man. And every now and then, his friends come over to help out with that. Especially the crazy part.

Surrealist joke looking for a punchline

2009-03-08T12:48:00.002-04:00

Today Aden dragged his rocking horse, training potty and a pair of rubber gloves into his pop-up tent house. He put on the gloves, and for the next twenty minutes he alternated between riding the horse, sitting on the toilet (with his pants on), and running over the window to tell me something that was VERY important and utterly incomprehensible.

This means something, I'm sure. But I'm a little afraid to find out precisely what.

What's dat?

2009-03-06T16:13:00.003-05:00

"What's dat, daddy?"

"That's our blog, Aden."

"What's dat, daddy?"

"That's how long it's been since we updated it last."

"What's dat, daddy?"

"That's the camera, buddy."

"What's dat, daddy?"

"Those are pictures of you."

"What's dat, daddy? Daddy, what's dat? What's dat, daddy? Daddy, daddy, what's dat?"

"Um, I think it's time for you to go play with your toy animals now, buddy..."

Better late...

2009-02-07T13:36:00.001-05:00

Wow! What month is it? It feels like we went to bed in December, and woke up in February. Wait? What's that you say? It IS February? Holy smokes... I need to get a new alarm clock.

Just to tide you over, here are a few unseen classics from late '08. There will be more, and newer, shots soon...

Aden Withers Holiday Jugband Special!

2008-12-25T17:01:00.003-05:00

It just wouldn't be a holiday get-together without some incredibly cute photos of Aden, and this year proved no different. It was interesting to see the changes in Aden's holiday behavior from past years... now his cuteness is punctuated by phrases like "mine!" "my turn now," and "my present!" Oh, and by the occasional tantrum on top of piles of gifts. Thankfully, he still becomes his cute old self with a little time out playing in the snow.

Spaceship to Planet Aden

2008-12-17T21:10:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, when I picked Aden up from school, I asked him "Are you being silly?" Normally, he just echoes me and says "dilly daddy." Not any more. This time he replied "A little bit." Shocked, I asked "A little bit?" which he verified, "A little bit dilly daddy." The rate at which he's picking up new language is just shocking. I'm waiting for the day that I wake up to find that he's built a rocketship in his bedroom while we were sleeping.

Health risks (to parents!)

2008-12-12T11:06:00.004-05:00

Wow - I never thought that having a toddler would be so dangerous. And I don't mean the everyday stuff: bumping heads when they're jumping around, throwing out your back when you go to pick them up, spraining your ankle when you try to intercept them. Nope, the real risk is from the grandparents, specifically when you don't upload photos to your blog often enough. Then you get late-night calls like this one: "If I don't see some new pictures of the kid by this weekend, you'll be dealing with the kind of trouble that you can't handle, sonny... oh, and tell Aden that his gwammy-wammy wubs him!"

Consider yourself warned - I know I do!

Bow down before your incredibly cute overlords!

2008-11-16T20:45:00.003-05:00

It's not often that we here at Withers HQ feel compelled to blog about something other than Aden and only Aden. What could possibly have steered us off our editorial mission?

One word, people: puppies. Specifically, the mastiff puppies that our friend Darlene is fostering. Holy smokes. There's some serious cuteness going on there.

But since Aden's pretty darned cute too, we're letting him elbow his way into this post as well. He's holding a stuffed puppy, so that's good enough for our lax journalistic standards.

November megasuperupload!

2008-11-12T21:31:00.005-05:00

Only two weeks in, and already November has been a powerhouse of a month. Of course, when you start off with a bang, it sets the tone for the next couple of weeks.

November 1st was Aden's one year anniversary at home in Providence. One year. Let me repeat: ONE YEAR! That's just crazy talk, in so many ways. It feels like he's been here for so much longer... part of that is tribute to what an amazingly social little guy he is, and how completely he has woven himself into our lives, and part of that is the sleep deprivation talking.

To celebrate the amazingness of this past year, we had out first annual Coming Home party for Aden on Saturday, the 1st. It was a fun little shindig, with balloons (courtesy of Papa Scott), traditional Guatemalan cuisine, a kay-ray-zee air-travel themed cake (courtesy of Gramma Leslie), and all sorts of fun. Aden and Julian both sported traditional Guatemalan vests for the occasion (though we all agreed that Julian's made him look Bavarian), and the grownups stayed until the wee hours toasting to Aden's health.

On the 2nd, we took a mellow trip to a local farm to let the dogs frolic. Aden took advantage of the day to dress up like a little Guatemalan gnome. Cuteness ensued.

And on the 5th, we got on a plane and flew down to Florida to stay with Nancy & Steve to get a much-needed break from the cold. Aden particularly loved the return of fun in the water, both at the beach and at Nancy & Steve's posh little backyard pool. In fact, he invented a new favorite game, which consisted of hanging onto the pool wall, counting to three (or, as he pronounces it, "muun... duuuuu... pree!") and flinging himself out into the water. He kept doing that, over and over, for about an hour, until we noticed his pre-hypothermic appearance, and brought him out to warm up.

All of those other months had better look sharp - November has set a precedent that's going to be tough to match!

Been a long time since I rock & rolled

2008-10-29T19:45:00.004-04:00

Yep, Page & Plant had it right. Been a long time since we rocked this blog. And that reference is doubly appropriate now. Why? Well, we're proud to report that Aden's favorite songs, right after the alphabet song and Old MacDonald, are both Led Zeppelin tunes. Yep, that's right - you can only imagine how proud his daddy is! Aden now asks for "Immigrant Song" by mimicking Robert Plant's "ahh-ah-ahhhhhhh-ah" vocal line. And whenever "Kashmir" ends, Aden immediately says "again!" Last night, we had to play "Kashmir" for him three times in a row. Given that it's almost nine minutes long, that's saying something.

Aden's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, though it still requires some interpretation (he knows the abovementioned rockers as "Zhepblah!"). He can say his name, proudly reports that he is two, and will tell you that there are two of anything that there more than one of. He's learning to say "Withers," and will attempt to say the names of all of his grandparents. He looooooooooves the zoo (we purchased a family membership), which he refers to as "zoobarbara" in honor of the grandma who took him the first time.

But don't worry - all of the grandparents have been busy earning their stripes. Papa Scott's tickling skills have earned him constant mention, Grandma Marjorie helped further his current obsession (Mickey Mouse), and Grandpa Bob & Grandma Leslie went over & above the call of duty when they built a life-size wooden replica of Aden to guard their lawn. That's right - the squirrels are running scared now, and for good reason. But enough with the yammering - here's some proof of all of the above:

What month is it?

2008-09-29T20:33:00.005-04:00

Holy smokes, folks, September is nearly gone! How did that happen? It certainly was a long and eventful month, from our cousin Rae's memorial to our summer sitters Wren and Joe heading out to California. Luckily, Aden never lost his stride, or his snazzy fashion sense. That kid can rock a KISS t-shirt like nobody's business! Oh, and he discovered a new way to eat corn - once you've chewed the kernels off the cob, just dunk whats left in a glass of whatever you've got handy, and hey presto: corn juice! Brilliant...

Working hard at playing

2008-09-04T19:35:00.005-04:00

As predicted, Labor Day Weekend offered a bumper crop of fun for Aden. Highlights included a barbecue at 107 Overhill, and ANOTHER one at Grampa Bob & Gramma Leslie's. Aden chowed down on stuffies, clams (ok, a little bit of A clam) and chowder, proving once again that he's fearless about food. And Leslie made him a blueberry-themed jello cake, topped with a photo taken from this very blog! Aden thought that was pretty hilarious, and thought that the cake was extremely delicious.

Of socks and hats and whatnots

2008-09-01T12:18:00.003-04:00

Well, Summer's ending, which means it's time to clear out the camera and prepare for some massive "catch it while you can" photo shoots. Be forewarned: in the next few weeks, there should be massive amounts of cuteness. Hopefully this will tide everyone over until then...

4 by 4 by 4 by... you get the idea...

2008-08-14T17:07:00.003-04:00

So, don't say we didn't warn you: long weekends are fodder for many many kid photos. This should be the last from the beach weekend... until I go back and realize that I'd missed some!

4 x 4 Part 2

2008-08-12T20:06:00.004-04:00

Well, as I mentioned before, the camera that was charging was the big one... and man oh man, were there plenty of pictures. Dogs and babies and beach galore! As such, I've divided these posts up - there'll be at least one more sometime this week. So it's feast or famine when it comes to pictures around here - best to enjoy 'em while they're fresh!

4 Kids, 4 Dogs, 4 Days, 4 Real

2008-08-11T18:52:00.003-04:00

We just got back from a long weekend in southern RI, and I must say that it was a lovely time. As the post title up there says, there were four kids and four dogs (as well as six adults, but that just messes up the theme) hanging out in a perfectly sized beach house for four days. Needless to say, I took about four thousand pictures (spread out over two cameras). Oddly, in all of the pictures on the camera I processed today, Aden is wearing the same shirt. Strange. I swear, he wore other clothes while we were there. I guess you'll just have to tune in later in the week when I post pictures from the other camera to prove it.

Slackers

2008-08-03T21:14:00.004-04:00

It has been brought to the management's attention, largely by people of the grandparently sort, that we have been a bit lax in posting photographic evidence of Aden's exploits recently. We sincerely apologize regarding all interruptions to your regularly scheduled Aden programming. It seems that our employees got a bit too caught up in the actual exploits of Aden to document them properly for your enjoyment. However, things are back on track now, everyone is on the same proverbial page, and all aforementioned slackers have been sacked. They have been replaced by people who look astoundingly like them, but are much better at posting photos on their blog. Carry on.

This'll probably bust your computer

2008-07-13T20:50:00.005-04:00

That's right - your browser is about to suffer serious cuteness overload. Don't say we didn't warn ya!

Just can't wait to get back on the road again...

2008-07-01T20:57:00.003-04:00

Last week, we took the traveling roadshow down to Alayn & Dale's rented beach house in Little Compton, RI. This weekend, we're going back. With shots like these, how could we pass up another photo op?

Part three! (who knew?)

2008-06-26T18:41:00.003-04:00

As I was going through the vacation photos one more time, I realized that there were still a few more Tropical Aden highlights worth sharing. Also, we found a few keepers on one of the disposable waterproof cameras we brought along. And so the Bermuda theme keeps on rolling!

Bermyooder Twofer

2008-06-24T18:55:00.003-04:00

You can't go away for five nights to a beautiful tropical island with a crazy-cute 18-month old and come back with only one day's worth of blog photos to show for it. (Or at least, I can't... but it has been said that I have a bit of a problem with restraint when it comes to the digital camera...) So here are a few more...

Ber-moo-dah!

2008-06-23T20:00:00.005-04:00

We just got back from our first international vacation, and are pleased to report that everyone survived. It was pretty gorgeous, and not too shabby having a room just fifty feet from the water. Of course, as anyone who has done it will tell you, "vacation with a toddler" is a bit of a contradiction in terms, but we made it through... and we've got the pics to prove it!

Heatwave!

2008-06-14T11:36:00.005-04:00

Whew! I don't know how the weather is where you are, but it's been capital HOTTT here in RI. Every single store in a 20 mile radius sold out of air conditioners, ice cream, ice cubes, ice skates, ice sculptures, freon and penguins on the same day! Well, maybe I exaggerate a little, but you get the idea. Thankfully, we seem to have made it through intact, if a few pounds of sweat lighter. As you can see below, Aden & Co. took every opportunity to beat the heat and look slick doing it...

Whole lotta shakin'

2008-05-28T19:48:00.006-04:00

It's been crazy busy here in Adenland. All kinds of hijinks are afoot. But that doesn't mean that we don't have time to stop and take pictures now and again. Oh no. To quote one of those classic geek flicks: "Let me explain... no. There is too much. Let me sum up."

01) Prepping for a big day out.
02) Nugget in his "happy place."
03) Visiting "Uncle Pringles" (it's a long story, you probably shouldn't ask).
04) Uncle Bill begins the first of many drum lessons.
05) Luka explains his truck.
06) Little swimming pools are awesome.
07) Aden makes a new friend.
08) Big pools are mind-blowingly awesome!
09) Chopsticks are fun (see drum lessons, above).
10) All drinks are improved by straws.
11) Baby's first sushi! (a complete success, we're happy to report)

Takin' it to the street

2008-05-18T18:06:00.003-04:00

It's been a tough, hectic, crazy couple of weeks here at Withers HQ, for those of you not already in the know. Life... it gets rough sometimes. But around here, we've found a simple solution that we're not afraid to use at the drop of a hat: street party.

"Where is this mythical street?" you may ask, "And who parties there?" Well, we can't tell you. It's top secret. But we can show you. Here are a few scenes from some recent street party action (and a couple from some BBQ action). This is how we keep it real down here in Providence.

Hotter than a Cape Codder

2008-04-27T19:14:00.004-04:00

Well, o.k., Cape Codder's aren't really hot, per se, but no-one said that this blog thing was supposed to make sense.

This weekend, Aden got another taste of the beach life, as we went up to visit Great Grandma Fleck, and saw Grandma Marjorie, who was visiting as well. Needless to say, good times were had by all, and Aden charmed the proverbial pants off everyone he came in contact with. The highlight was definitely our trip to the beach on Saturday - even though it wasn't exactly summer weather, we couldn't keep the little dude out of the water! All he wanted to do was wade in the surf. We're pretty psyched to take him swimming for real when the real warm weather hits...

Of course, we know what you're here for - more rock, less talk. So on with the pictures!

Kay-ray-zee baby action

2008-04-20T11:41:00.006-04:00

All kinds of action's going on around here, as befits the season. Aden was just issued his U.S. certificate of foreign birth - now we just have to get his U.S. passport, and the kid will be set!

Grandma Marjorie is visiting this weekend, and helping out with morning baby duty, which has been great for Melissa and I. And as always, Grandma Marjorie came bearing gifts and clothes, which is great for Aden!

In development news, he's... well, developing. Aden has learned how to say Grammy Barbara's name, and it's his favorite word... except when we're trying to get him to say it to her over the phone. He figured out how to climb up on things previously out of reach by using smaller, movable things, as steps. So yes, we are in trouble.

But now YOU'RE in trouble too, because we're going to overload you with ten (count 'em, TEN!) photos of serious cute-inosity. Look upon these and tremble in fear (and cuteness).

Dancin' in the streets

2008-04-09T21:36:00.004-04:00

Today's update is actually from Melissa:

Spring really has sprung… and there is no better evidence than the action yesterday afternoon on Carrington Ave. Carrington is more than home to Aden’s back-up-parents Bill and Tori. It is also the dead-end street where a bunch of families hang out to let the dogs play, let the chillins roam, and the grown-ups drink a few pints of Steve’s home brew (go Steve!).

With the warmer weather upon us it was time to “take it to the streets” and get back to the awesome tradition of sitting on the stoop. The kids had a blast (notice the picture of Josie where her ability to fly into action is captured on film... er... digitally). Aden wasn’t starving, freezing or sick and managed to have a fine time playing his favorite game, or what we call “free range chicken.” He will not be cooped up! Baby Matthew (aka the boy in the pictures below who's not Aden or Julian) keeps us all on our toes. He is his own man and quite capable of amazing feats of independence.

I just can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon. During our visit, Tori remarked that Aden has only been home for six months. I usually concede that time flies, but in this case, it just feels like he’s been with us (and part of the Carrington crew) forever. Happy spring everyone!

Ah, Spring - a time for renewal and whatnots...

2008-04-06T12:35:00.004-04:00

Dear Blogosphere -
It's been so long, it's hard to know where to begin. Aden's been growing like a weed (he leapt from not even showing up on U.S. growth charts to hitting the third percentile), plowing through paperwork (last bit to handle: his U.S. birth certificate), running like crazy and babbling up a storm. Easter turned out to be a great holiday - we spent it at Grandpa & Grandma Bob & Leslie's, and Aden ate his first cabbage pierogi... and his second... and his third. To our immense pride, he loved them! He's quite the cosmopolitan little dude. He also cleaned up at the egg hunt, finding the most eggs (though I'm pretty sure that Leslie pre-loaded his basket with a few), and got the best gifts (namely, a tricked out racecar that plays "You Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer).

Last weekend, we went out to the Small House on the Cape (thanks Ann, Rachel, Mary & Small House crew!), where Aden had yet another great time! Aden got to spend some quality bonding time with his pal Julian, and took his first walk on the beach. Of course, it was pretty cold, so he didn't go in the water, but the resulting pictures are pretty fantastic. If we could have just photoshopped a helmet onto his winter bunting, the photos could pass for Aden's first steps on the moon.

Now that's it's getting nice out, and that we're past the painful days of flu & teething (that was a tough combination), we're hoping to take more pictures and keep the blog in better shape. Keep your eyes open people, because there are bound to be more adventures posted soon. But here's what you really came for: the pix!

Triple threat in slopeside antics

2008-02-01T11:41:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Aden went on his first ski trip. He didn't hit the trails, but based on his high-energy antics over the weekend, it won't be long before he's swooshing down the bunny slopes... and then it won't be long after that until he's bombing down the black diamonds!

This trip, however, was all about getting to know the joy that is ski-in / ski-out accomodations. It's easy for the adults to watch a kid when there's so many folks around. More people = more distractions for the little dude. Case in point: Aunt Jess jumpstarted Aden's gymnastics career by helping him climb up her front. His buddies Julian and Leo came along too, so they all got to hang out and chat about their nutty parents... and lay around and eat their feet. You know - what all the cool babies do.

Words fail me every day

2008-01-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's been a while since we last posted... but it hasn't been for lack of activity. Things have been abuzz around the house, let me tell you. The biggest news has been of the bipedal sort: there's some serious walking action going on in Aden's direction. In fact, today he was pretty much jogging laps around the house.

All of this has been pretty exciting, and pretty exhausting. He's managed to draw blood three times in the past four days (mouth, eyelid, and mouth again), all from falling. It hasn't slowed him down much, though. I don't think that anything can slow him down much.

So, while there are literally hundreds of photos for me to sort through, I'm only posting two. Think of them as Dr. Aden and Mr. Hyde - two opposite (but equally hilarious) poles of a tiny personality that's evolving very fast. Feel free to come up with your own captions for the two sides of Little Mr. A, and if you think you've got something that captures his particular brand of je ne sais quois, post it in the comments...

08ification

2008-01-04T13:15:00.001-05:00

Today, I received this frantic e-mail from a reader of this blog: Dear Jeremy - since your last post indicates that you, Melissa and Aden were trapped in the snowfields of Maine, we assume that you remain there today. As such, we have contacted the police, the National Guard, and the Mounties to find you and bring you home to safety. Hang in tight, buddy - help is on the way!

However, not to burst anyone's bubble, but we're not trapped in the snowfields of northern Maine at all. In fact, we've been through quite a few adventures since that last post, and we've been safely back home for many days now. Here's the short-form to catch you back up to speed:

1) Aden got to visit Cape Cod to meet all of his extended relatives, and had a great time. He loved hanging out with his many cousins. David, Julia and Emma were all very helpful, and Aden was psyched to meet so many friendly people who were only a little bigger than him.

2) After meeting the fam, Aden celebrated the New Year in Providence. At least that's what we thought. We were surprised to wake up on January 1st, 2008 to find the NYPD on our front doorstep, holding a very sleepy and cranky Aden. Apparently, they found him in Times Square after the ball dropped, trying to bite Ryan Seacrest's ankle on national TV. We're not quite sure how he got out of the crib and found the keys to the car, be we sure are proud of our industrious little kid.

3) Aden's gotten to go to daycare a couple of times now, and loves it. Except for the part where we drop him off. And the part where we pick him up. Everything in between, however, is totally awesome.

4) Aunt Wren and Uncle Joe have been hanging out here in Providence, and Aden has been exceptionally happy to get to hang out with them. Yesterday (and I am totally not making this up), he even exclaimed "Aunt Wren!" Of course, we haven't gotten him to say it since, but it was pretty darned exciting.

5) Slimy and Slimier is no longer Aden's favorite game. His new favorite is called "Hide Under a Table or Chair, Jump and Giggle With Surprise When an Adult Peeks Down and Finds Me." We are currently accepting submissions for a shorter name for this game.

And that's about it... we will be sure to update sooner next time... especially if he manages to get a chunk out of Seacrest's ankle. Now that would be some serious news!

Aden's big cold adventure

2007-12-26T21:50:00.000-05:00

Normally, I think that the day after Christmas may be my favorite day of the holiday season. Usually. You know, the pressure's off, there are presents to enjoy, there's probably some nice leftovers. All the good stuff. Today, however, started off a little differently. For one thing, Aden woke up at 3 a.m., and wouldn't go back to sleep. Thankfully, I was able to persuade him to nod back off with 7 oz. of formula, but the die was cast for me for the morning... after getting so knocked out of my sleep cycle, I didn't feel human again until nearly 10 a.m (with the help of three or four cups of coffee).

Melissa and I were determined to salvage the day, though, so when Aden finally got up from his pushed-back nap (he went down around 11, was back up around 1:45), we suited him up and took him out for a walk with Nugz. It was nearly perfect out - cold, but not bitingly so. I didn't even need to put on gloves. We trekked a ways up the ice-covered road, came back, and went past Mom & Papa's cabin to the abandoned property next door. There was still great snow cover there, so while Nugget frolicked, Aden got to play in the snow for the first time in his little life. He thought it was hilarious! Once he realized that you could eat the weird cold white stuff that he was crawling on, he couldn't stop bending down to lick it. Each time, he'd come back up giggling. Pretty great. When we got home, Melissa passed out on the couch, while Aden and I spent a little time playing with all of his new toys on the floor.

And when it was finally time for him to go to bed, Aden went to sleep without a peep of protest.

Special holiday bonus!

2007-12-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

There's something to be said for hanging out in a remote location, far from work and regular life... if nothing else, it makes blogging a hekcuva lot easier. Hence, today's spectacular double-posting action, something not seen around these here parts for quite a while.

The rest of the day went very smoothly, thanks very much - people roused themselves from slumber, stumbled downstairs in various states of coherence (or were carried down, in Aden's case), and we got back to the serious business at hand... of opening presents. That was followed by some holiday video IM'ing to Joe's family back in Cali (yay modern technological holidays!), an awesome turkey dinner, and a little DVD viewing. Oh, and some serious Christmas cleanup. Lots of wrapping paper to take care of, folks, lots of boxes. In fact, I'm sort of shirking my duty right now. That also helps inspire blogging.

Well, back to work (I don't want any of my stocking stuffers to "accidentally" get lost in the shuffle). Good night to all, and to all a good night...

Christmaspalooza!

2007-12-25T10:59:00.000-05:00

True to his usual rhythms, Aden woke up at 6:30 this morning... which would have been fine, of course, if everyone other than us had gone to bed before 5. Of course, as per our families usual rhythms, most folks (besides Melissa and Jeremy) were up all night getting the house ready for Christmas.

But the rest of the family straggled awake in good humor, and by 8:30, things were hopping. By 10, everyone (including Aden) was exhausted. So massive napping is now underway, and the bulk of gift unwrapping will wait until this afternoon. Stockings and a few particularly entertaining baby gifts have been opened, and a good time was had by all. One great thing observed about presents under the tree: when you're less than three feet tall, it looks like they really are a mountain of gifts. Aden greatly enjoyed rappelling up Mout Giftington.

And now I must head off to take my own nap. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays, everyone - here are some snapshots of this mornings brief debauchery.

Land of the Ice and Snow

2007-12-23T14:05:00.001-05:00

I doubt that Downeast Maine is what Page & Plant had in mind when they wrote "Immigrant Song," but it sure fits at the moment. I can't help but wonder at how far away this all seems from Guatemala City, but Aden has adjusted as well as always. Basically, as long as there's a window he can smush his face up against, he seems to do all right.

Nugget is in total constant canine joy mode whenever we go outside - this is, after all, what he was made for. Bounding through snow, smelling stuff, rolling in other stuff - that's his Christmas gift right there. I'm already excited for next year, when we can watch Aden toddle along the snowbanks, chasing after Nugz.

State of the ProvWitherses

2007-12-21T12:16:00.000-05:00

Frenzied. Packing. Looking for stuff. Checking lists twice. This show is getting ready to hit the road, folks. Is wider New England ready for the experience that is the Jeremy, Melissa, Aden & Nugget show? For their sakes, let's hope so...

Party recap, pt.2

2007-12-18T10:57:00.000-05:00

Somewhere out in the Interwebisphere, I am sure that someone has written a number of essays on the subject of blog etiquette, like some kind of cyber Emily Post. And I am quite positive that rule number one is "Do not lapse in your posting if you expect people to keep reading your blog." Clearly, I have broken that rule to smithereens. But by now, you all know that I'm a loner, Dottie, a rebel (that's a Pee Wee Herman reference for all you keeping track)... but I'm a polite rebel, Dottie. And so I offer this excuse: Aden's been feeling a bit ill for the past week or so - at first, we just thought he was hung over from the party, but then we realized that children are little petri dishes, and this will be the first of many plague-like illnesses that the guy brings into our house.

Thankfully, he's coming out of The Sick, so things are looking up. And since I finally have a moment to update the blog, I offer all of you this peace offering: more pictures of the kid rocking out. It's kind of nice to look back on them and remember what he looks like without snot streaming out of his nose and crusting on his face. You know what? He's pretty cute when he's not all snotty. I promise that when he's cute again, we'll post more pictures...

Party review, pt. 1

2007-12-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

As mentioned before, Aden's first birthday party was a total blowout bash, as befitting such a powerhouse little guy. There are far too many highlights to include in a single post, so we'll start with the basic synopsis of the day, and the photos off one of the two cameras.

Here's roughly how the day went:
6:30 - Aden wakes up, Grandma Marjorie takes babysitting duty, Melissa gets up to start preparing for the day, Jeremy groggily rolls over and goes back to sleep (bad dad!).

8:00 - Jeremy stumbles out of bed, says something along the lines of "Whass happenin'? Anybody make coffee?" Melissa has already arranged 700 roses into a portrait of Aden and carved a 10 ft. swan out of ice cream.

9:15 - Melissa decides the roses and swan are a little pretentious, chooses to go with a simpler 20-ft tall cake with Aden's name up the side. Bakes 15 of the 30 necessary layers in record time. Jeremy is mostly dressed by this point, but still can't find his socks. Aden still happily playing with Grandma.

10:30 - Aden is napping, Jeremy has walked the dog, Melissa has scrapped the cake plan and is now working on a sushi tray.

11:45 - Jeremy helps by moving a table! The sushi tray has been nixed in favor of a customizable cupcake bar, and Melissa has four vendors bidding wildly over the phone.

12:30 - Aden wakes up, Jeremy has gotten the digital slideshow mostly working (except for the bum adaptor cable the Mac store sold him - grrrr!), Melissa has decided that it would be simpler to go with a towering cupcake centerpiece, which she puts together beautifully in 15 minutes by herself.

1:00 - Party helpers arrive.

1:15 - Early-bird guests arrive.

1:30 - Family arrives. The party is now in full swing, and Aden is having a great time getting passed from one family member to another. Plus one of his first presents is a rocking horse! Rock on!

2:30 - Friends arrive. Whoo-hoo!

3:00 - More friends arrive. At this point, Melissa and Jeremy look at each other and ask "We really know this many people?"

3:45 - Yet more friends arrive, with kids no less. The party is officially hopping.

4:00 - Police cruiser swings by to ask us to get the band to turn down the PA, and to please keep that 5-year old with the Super Soaker off the roof. Oh, and to stop throwing couches out the window.

5:00 - Mötörhead, the headlining band, takes the stage. Lead singer & bass player Lemmy shouts "This one's for the little dude in the onesie!" as they launch into their hit "The Ace of Spades." Cops swing by for the fourth time.

5:15 - Cops give up, start moshing with the crowd.

6:15 - Mötörhead finishes their set, Lemmy shouts "Goodnight Cleveland!" and guests start streaming out.

6:30 - Aden goes to bed, still clutching the cymbal he stole off Mötörhead's drum kit and Lemmy's bandolier bass strap.

7:45 - Final clean-up crew leaves, taking the last three couches off the front sidewalk with them.

8:00 - Jeremy & Melissa collapse into a gibbering mess in front of the TV while Melissa's cousin Beck laughs at them for being so lame. They all watch the Food Network for a half hour, then pass out.

Of course, it didn't happen exactly like that, but you get the idea...

To tide you over

2007-12-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

So, yes, we did promise party pictures... but what we didn't anticipate (foolishly, given my proclivities) was the sheer NUMBER of party pictures to sort through. Let's just say that daddy went a little crazy with the cameras at Aden's 1st bash. Though the fact that I had two digital cameras fully charged and ready to go should have been some indication.

So instead, today we give you photos taken when Aden & Mommy visited our friends Wendy & Chris and their new son Graham. The picture of Melissa and Aden is cute, of course, but the real winners are Aden and Graham side by side. We will definitely be whipping those out years from now to embarass them in front of all of their friends. If we could read babies minds, I think that these two would be saying something along the lines of the following in every shot:

Aden: Dude?
Graham: Dude!
Aden: Du-uuude?
both:Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!

Party on, Garth!

2007-12-08T23:36:00.000-05:00

It's t-minus one half hour until it's officially Aden's birthday, and then the countdown begins for the party of the year. It promises to be quite a time, and should produce a number of blog-worthy pictures. Until then, however, we will have to do with this one, in which Aden channels the spirit of good old Bill the Cat.

Let's all join him in a hearty "ACKTHPTTHHH!"

Certified!

2007-12-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note about a great big hurdle overcome without our even thinking about it: today Aden received his Certificate of US Citizenship in the mail. And our response? "Oh - huh. Wow. Yeah, I guess he needed that. Didn't even think of that. Cool."

We've still got a few steps left in the overall process - getting him a social security number and whatnot - but this certainly clears the way for the rest of the process. Hooray!

And what did Aden do to celebrate? You know - read some DVDs, chased the cats... the usual...

Action baby!

2007-12-05T10:48:00.001-05:00

Since some of this blog's reader's seem to doubt Aden's future as a model (or maybe his parents' abilities as stylists), he's decided to consider acting. And the title of his very first film? That's right: Action Baby!

We figure he'd be a natural - it could just be a montage of his favorite activities: playing around (but not in) his activity chair, making crazy faces, belly-flopping on whatever looks soft, sucking on Cookie Monster's eyeballs, visiting his buddies in the clink... you know, the usual stuff... usual for Action Baby!

Workin' it

2007-12-02T11:50:00.000-05:00

Derek Zoolander: Well, I guess it all started the first time I took second grade, when I was eating lunch and caught my reflection in a spoon, and I thought to myself, "Hey, you're ridiculously good-looking!" Maybe I could do that for a career.
Matilda: Do what?
Derek Zoolander: Be professionally good-looking.

Slimy & Slimier: a Game of Kings

2007-12-01T10:03:00.000-05:00

This week, Aden and Nugget decided that it was time to give the world a pictoral guide to Slimy & Slimier. If you've never witnessed the glory of this event before, pay close attention - it's a very sophisticated game, full of delicate subtlety and absolute precision, and these players are at the top of their game. For dedicated fans, it doesn't get much better than this.

T'anksgibbons

2007-11-27T11:46:00.001-05:00

All right - now that we've gone for weeks without posting, now that we've lost just about every reader of this blog, now that our ratings are in the pits, NOW is the time for massive posting. Oh yeah - that's what we call stragety. Or stagrety. Or... something. Definitely not strategy.

Anyhow, Thanksgiving was a blast. The Withers clan set up camp here at Overhill, arriving in waves. First in, Aunt Wren & Uncle Joe, followed by Grandma Marjorie... with a surprise appearance by Grandpapa Scott! Well, he called ahead, so it wasn't really a surprise, but I'm trying to build drama here.

Aden was thrilled to see each and every one of the houseguests, especially because they gave him kisses on his belly and took him from his parents whenever they needed to do other stuff (the parents liked that too!). All sorts of new developmental milestones were achieved that week, including: giving high fives, babbling in a death metal / cookie monster voice, getting everyone sick with a cold, blowing snot, throwing things at the dog, and eating delicious mashed-up "big people" food. It was pretty awesome.

On Thanksgiving day itself, Melissa, Aden & I went over to Uncle Chris & Aunt Kim's house, and had a lovely mid-day dinner with Chris, Kim, Steven and Grammy Barbara. Sadly, we don't have any pictures since I was sporting a massive migraine on the way over (which thankfully resolved itself by the time we sat down to eat) and forgot to pack the camera. But dinner was great, and Aden even tried a little pie and squash, which he enjoyed very much. Since it was unseasonably warm, we got to play on the lawn after eating, which is the first time Aden's ever gotten to crawl around on grass (that we know).

After that, we came back home to Overhill for an evening Thanksgiving dinner - by the end of the night, the turkey wasn't the only one who was stuffed!

While it was sad to see everyone go at the end of the week, Aden got some good one-on-one time with each and everyone, and had a great time.

As mentioned earlier, Aden and Nugget reached an entirely new level in their relationship this past week when Aden finally started interacting directly with the dog. Namely by draping himself over the dog, who had been sleeping, and pounding on Nugget's flank with a toy! Shockingly, the dog didn't eat him, and just laid there taking the abuse. Of course, I didn't have my camera for that... but I sure had it ready when Aden came back for round two, climbing up on the supine dog and grabbing fistfuls of fur. The dog didn't even stir for that one.

Since that formative event, the two have begun playing a game that we here like to call "slimy and slimier." It goes like this:

1. Aden puts a toy in his mouth
2. Aden takes the toy out of his mouth
3. Aden puts the toy in the dog's mouth
4. The dog chews on the toy for a second or two
5. Aden takes the toy out of the dog's mouth
6. Aden puts the toy back in his mouth
7. Repeat

So far, everyone seems pretty happy with this game, and Aden's shown no signs of lycanthropy (that's what dog drool causes, right? Just a slight case of werewolf-ism?), so we're going to let them continue building their buddyship.

Clearly, we've got plenty to be thankful for. And the gibbons aren't so bad, once you get used to all the banana peels around the house.

Working up to Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T20:48:00.000-05:00

Whew. That was a whole lot of turkey. In fact, we got so conked out on all that good stuff, we're weeks behind. So, let's start with the Thanksgiving ramp-up.

Aden's been around family since before we even touched down on American soil - Gramma Marjorie was there on our first trip to visit him in Guatemala, and Grammy Barbara met us at the airport on our triumphant return home (I think that if the airport officials had let her, she would have been in the control tower making sure that they brought us down safely). But Thanksgiving promised to be a veritable onlsaught of relatives, so we began warming up the weekend before.

First, we brought Aden to visit Grandpa Bob and Gramma Leslie. We all had a great time - Bob proved fluent in Aden's native tongue (gibberish) - whenever Aden would squak at him, Bob would squak right back, which Aden of course found hilarious. Both Bob and Leslie read this blog, so we they prepared for the visit from The Supreme Bananan Smasher by stocking up on extra cleaning supplies... which, astoundingly, they didn't have to break out once! Bob and Leslie's beagle, Twinkle, wasn't too excited to meet the new houseguest, but did very well under the circumstances, and we've got high hopes for a future Aden/Twinkle friendship.

After that, Aden got to meet Uncle Chris, Aunt Kim, Cousin Steven and Great-Aunt Carol. Again, many hikinks were had, and there were giggles all around. The kid's a charmer!

We also had a visit from our friend Jen and her kids Jalen and Isabelle (I have a hard time remembering exactly when in the weekend, given the haze of turkey and stuffing that clouds my memories of the last few weeks). Aden fell in love at first sight with Jalen, which makes us wonder if he might have had an older foster-brother in Guatemala. Jalen is 5, and Aden crawled right up to him and hugged him at first sight. That was pretty fantastically cute.

And then of course, there were all the visits from Bill, Tori, and Jessica (all of whom, of course, are Aunts or Uncles in their own way), not to mention Ben & Kate Hitmar. Oh, and Aden's first visit to Schwadesign, where he got a ride from Josh; Amy and Alyson stood around and made googly eyes at him; and Anna wanted to eat his ankles.

Given that Aden made it through all of this pre-Thanksgiving build-up without a hitch, his status as a charmer has officially been confirmed. As always, though, we'll let the pictures be the final proof of that.

Crawling out of the tryptophan coma

2007-11-24T12:16:00.000-05:00

If there's anyone out there still reading this blog, we apolgize. The entire Withers family has been hibernating, trying to metabolize the huge dose of turkey, potatoes and stuffing that we recently ingested. Regular posting will resume as soon as we can roll off the barcalounger and download photos.

However, it should be noted, pictures or not, that Aden really digs every one of the relatives he's been introduced to in the last two weeks... almost as much as he loves pie. And that's saying a lot, because he really, really, really loves pie.

3 Generations of Goofballs

2007-11-15T15:43:00.000-05:00

Well, Grandpapa Witherses visit concluded today, and it was a complete raving success. GP bestowed all sorts of wisdom upon Aden, like ways to improve his funny face techniques, the joy of hollering through the storm door, advanced belly tickling, and various other Grandpapa-type things. To our amazement, Aden did not try to use Papa's moustache as a handle for wild acrobatic tricks - we had assumed that was a given.

It's great to see Aden thriving so much as a social butterfly, especially since his dance card for the next week or so promises to be packed. Hopefully everyone will be able to handle his love of drool and fart noises. Personally I think that in his hands, they're elevated to an art form, but we all know that not everyone knows what to think of avant-garde art. And if there's one thing that Aden's proving on a daily basis, he's a (little) man bent on pushing the boundaries of his age. Like Picasso without all the anger-management issues, or Van Gogh with both ears, or, uh, Jackson Pollock with a bottle full of formula. You get the idea.

Blogsplosion!!!!!

2007-11-14T16:48:00.000-05:00

Holy smokes people - it's easy to fall behind on this whole blogging thing! Especially when there's so dang much going on... since the last post, Aden's done so much more than mangle bananas. He's gone on long walks with the dogs, met his new buddy Julian, gotten his first ever Schwadesign shirt, met his Grandpapa Withers, learned to smoosh his face against the storm door, gotten tickled, laughed a lot, climbed multiple sets of stairs (yeek!), licked all sorts of things that shouldn't be licked, done a bunch of stuff that I won't have room to mention (sorry, folks!), taken his first trip to Ikea, and generally been incredibly cute in any number of diverse situations. Phew!

Rather than go on and on, we'll just let the pictures do the talking... and there's plenty of them to be had!

Rants & proclamations

2007-11-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

In the last post, I mentioned Aden's favorite new game, "Stand Up in Front of the Stove and Yell Into the Oven Window." It should be noted that this is actually just a new subset of his old favorite game, "Stand in Front of Any Window, Pound on the Glass and Rant Gibberish, Pausing Only to Lick and Drool on Said Glass."

Yesterday was a big morning - Aden woke up at 4, so there was plenty of time to play The Window Game, as well as the Harass the Cats Game. That one's great because now that the weather's cold, the cats don't run so fast, and they keep pausing in warm spots so Aden can catch up to them.

In fact it was such a long morning that he even decided to try something new, and dabbled with this napping thing that everyone's talking about. Nothing major, mind you - he's not ready for a total napping commitment - but he got a good 45 minutes in laying on his dad's chest post-bottle. So, as the saying goes... baby steps.

Banana carnage, pt. 2

2007-11-08T17:38:00.000-05:00

Those of you who might be faint of hear when it comes to our yellow-peeled friends might want to look away. What is posted below may not seem pretty to those of the banana persuasion. However, this blog is not about prettiness, it's about reality. And we all need to face the facts, here, people: Aden... eats... bananas.

Actually, now that I think about it, you really can't see too much carnage. But that Cheerio stuck to his face pretty much says it all: the kid is a cold-hearted banana killer.

Also for your review: Aden & Nugget, peacefully co-existing together. Note that the toy in the photo is almost perfectly equidistant between them. This is not an accident, on anyone's part.

Finally, we have a picture of one of Aden's favorite games: "Smile and Giggle as I Push Your Face Away." That's a good one. Almost as good as his newest fave (not yet captured for posterity): "Stand Up in Front of the Stove and Yell Into the Oven Window." We're not sure what he's trying to accomplish with that one, but he takes it very seriously.

Ba-na-nas

2007-11-07T09:04:00.000-05:00

Just a quickie for the morning: we're still working on the whole pattern and rhythm thing, but let me tell you, Aden's sheer aversion to napping has reached a fever pitch. For the last two days, he has fully resisted both morning and afternoon naps, which means most of his day from 11:00 on has been a slow (or not so slow, in patches) meltdown. We've got plans, schemes and strategies going on, though. We will take down this nap resistance!

Yesterday, we had a visit from our adoption agencies social worker, just to see how Aden's adjusting to his new home. She agreed with everyone who's seen him so far, and says that he's a well-adjusted super-cutie (good thing she visited in the morning!).

This morning was particularly great - after another 12-hour marathon sleep, Aden awoke at 5 a.m. After a quick change and bottle, he was good to go. And go he did! There was plenty of playing, standing, wobbling, chasing the cats (he almost caught Dudley, who was particularly lethargic today), falling on his butt - all sorts of good stuff. Then, we topped it off with a nice meal of oatmeal mixed with blended apples, blueberries and bananas. Melissa came down to join in the breakfast action, and as a special treat, Aden got his hands on some REAL bananas. Which meant, essentially, that Aden got to cover his entire body and highchair in a slimy banana paste as he waved his arms around in the air (he waved them like he just didn't care, to borrow a phrase). Yum!

And now, now is the changing of the guard, as I head to the shower and Melissa gets the dog and the kid ready for a nice morning walk. Good times.

I promise to upload some photos of the banana slime fest this evening, so you can all witness the carnage first-hand.

Whew... what a weekend!

2007-11-04T12:50:00.000-05:00

As Melissa said earlier, I did indeed catch The Sickness. I'm not sure whether I got it from the traveling or the kid, but whatever it was moved fast and took no prisoners. Thankfully, after a crazy-fast onset and miserable peak, I seem to be back to normal - normal enough to post, anyhow...

So, as hinted at in earlier e-mails, it's been quite a trip, but Aden's been an amazing trooper. We weren't sure how the whole airport / airplane thing was going to go over, so we prepared his diaper bag as though we were going on a cross-country hiking trip - food, toys, multiple changes of clothes: the whole shebang. The airport was a little overwhelming, but he handled it in stride - once we got through the seemingly endless check-in / documentation / paying random taxes / getting through customs, we found a wide-open, lagely un-trod-upon area across from our gate, so Melissa and I spent a little time playing with Aden there, and letting him crawl around.

We weren't sure how he'd handle the airplanes, but all told, he did just fine. We had been told that he should suck on something during takeoff (so his little inner ears wouldn't get uncomfortable from the pressure). Of course, in classic chow-hound fashion, he downed his entire bottle before we'd finished getting up to speed... but amazingly, he didn't seem to care as we got up to altitude. In fact, with a little rocking, he passed out cold, and stayed asleep for over half the flight.

Charlotte was a little hairier than we had hoped - our sources had told us that immigration would take only fifteen minutes, and that the people there were very kind and helpful. And while I would not necessarily call them "UNkind" in our experience, they seemed a little too swamped to be all buddy-buddy. Basically, we got shunted off to a waiting area where we waited... and waited... and waited. Finally, when we realized that a) we only had 45 minutes left to make our flight and b) our little bundle of joy had dropped a bundle of his own in his pants, it was time to take action. Thankfully, through a stroke of luck, when I went out to see the head officer about getting ahead in the queue, she was working on our papers. So we got through that as quickly as we could, Melissa got Aden to the bathroom (where he proceeded to pee all over himself as she was changing him), and we managed to get out just in time to make our flight.

While Aden wasn't at all upset on the flight home, he was in prime Drunk Monkey mode. So we ended up passing him back and forth, trying to keep up with the crazy wiggling. Thankfully, he didn't shout too much - just a few crazy hollers at the end.

And then, like that, we were home! It was so amazing to wake up in our own bed, in our own house, in our own hometown. As I said to Melissa, "It feels bizarre to be able to walk around freely without having to wait for our names to be called over loudspearkers, or to need to present documents to someone."

On Friday, we took Aden to his first pediatrician's appointment. Dr. Rexford, his doc, was great, and proclaimed him to be in perfect health. We had been a bit worried about his weight, but she put those fears to rest, pointing out that he's a little guy, and his weight is in perfect proportion to everything else. Further, the Guatemalan pediatrician had suggested that Aden was lactose intolerant, which Dr. Rexford doubted. She suggested that we try phasing lactose formula back in, which we did, and sure enough there were no problems at all.

Saturday and Sunday were also big days, and went by in a blur. While Aden isn't quite sure about the giant dog-beast who keeps licking his face, he is positive that he'd like to catch one or both of the cats. The cats, of course, have other opinions about that. The big lesson that we received today was all about his rhythms - with the end of daylight savings today, we missed his nap window, which meant that by this evening, he was a total over-tired, overstimulated mess. Total meltdown ensued, but after an abbreviated bathtime and quick change, he was down for the night - he fell asleep in a record-breaking fifteen minutes. Lesson learned - no skipping naps from here on out!

We've decided to try to keep the blog up, both as a record for our far flung friends & family as well as for ourselves. Posting may become a little more spotty now that we're not cooped up in a hotel room, but we will do our best to keep it as regular as possible. And without further ado, here's a brief pictoral summary of the big weekend.

A little sickness for Jeremy, but getting better!

2007-11-03T23:06:00.000-04:00

Good news: We are doing great and Aden is adjusting awesomely. Last night he slept in his crib for 12 hours after only about an hour of fuss. Tonight, only 15 minutes of fuss. And happy as a clam are we all. Bad news: jeremy is sick. that's why no photos. tomorrow we hope he will be better.

Went to the doctors yesterday and aden passed with flying colors. he even took two shots on the leg like a total tough guy. doctor was impressed by him all around. yay for us!

Last thing: read this editorial if you can. I think it's the closest thing to true I have read about guatemalan adoption yet!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201782.html

We made it!

2007-11-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

Home sweet home. Aden is asleep in our bed catching a long overdue nap. We got in last night around midnight and after some quick settling in tried to catch some zzz's. All in all, the trip was realtively easy. Of course aden decided to pee all over himself while I was changing his diaper at the airport. And of course he decided to take a huge poop during our immigration interview. I think it was strategy--create such a "stink" that the agent expedited his processing. Aden is now a freshly minted US citizen. We are SOOO happy to be home. Thanks for all of the love and support while we were imprisoned...um, I mean visiting...at the Marriot Guatemala City. I think we would have gone completely bananas without it. We're going to keep the blog going so we hope you will continue to visit.

Today we go to the doctors and the grocery store...i am sure that there will be many more stories to tell. Jeremy has the perfect pictures to post later today that capture our 2,000 mile journey home, so stay tuned. Much love! MW

Outta here!

2007-11-01T13:03:00.000-04:00

So we totally lied last night when we said that would be our last post from Guatemala. THIS is our last post. Scout's honor. Next time you see this dancing monkey, he'll be 100% USA certified.

Whoo-hoo!

Sweet dreams... or just plain weird ones...

2007-10-31T21:47:00.000-04:00

Well, while it looks like we will have internet access until we leave the hotel at noon tomorrow, we're not sure if we'll be able to post again. We're hoping to post from the Charlotte Airport again, but just in case, we figured we'd leave you with a post for the night.

There must have been something in those nachos besides food poisoning, because Melissa and I both have had some bizarre dreams over the last couple of nights. Melissa's dream was that we were hanging out with Bill, Tori and Julian, and Melissa kept misplacing Aden. Finally, Tori gave Melissa a french bread bag (with the bread still in it) to put Aden in, so she'd remember where he was.

I dreamt that I was in the basement of the Guatemala City Marriott to do some laundry (side note: you can't do your own laundry here - you have to send it out), when I saw three men huddled around what looked like a main computer router. I started to walk past them when I realized that one of them was our friend Chris, Wendy's husband. So I asked him what he was doing here, and he became very cagey - after some odd small talk, I realized that he must be involved in international espionage. Of course, I woke up before I could find out what was worth spying on in the Guatemala Marriott.

And with that, we wish you all sweet dreams... and who knows? When we blog next, it may be on American soil...

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

2007-10-31T19:58:00.001-04:00

That's right - Aden decided that today was the day to step up his game. He figured out how to clamber up the stairs! Or, actually, how to clamber up A stair. He hasn't made it further than a single stair yet... but I'm sure that the rest won't be far behind.

But that's not the half of it - he's already proving himself to be a cunning strategist. You see, whenever he's doing something mischevious now, he makes the "kissy fish" face, which clearly demonstrates that he has sized us up as being suckers who will let him get away with almost anything if he looks cute enough.

Which is, unfortunately, kind of true.

We're in serious trouble, of the cutest kind.

I was poisoned by nachos...but now there's only one more day to go!!

2007-10-31T07:10:00.001-04:00

Well, after 12 hours of vomiting and 12 hours of recovering, I am pleased to report that I am feeling much better--with better being a relative term. Today is our last day...and for me, it cannot pass fast enough. Maybe I am just bitter about being poisoned by nachos (a sacred food). Or maybe I just miss my tempurpedic mattress. But you know you are almost crazy when going to a third world country's airport (with an infant) sounds better than another day at the Marriot. One more deep fried meat cigar (small tortillas stuffed with mystery meat, wrapped, then fried) and I am going to kill someone.

So, today we start packing and count the hours to noon tomorrow when our shuttle to the airport leaves. I am willing to pass the time by any means necessary...dreaming about what food I will eat this weekend, Aden's first trip to the doctors on Friday, lots o' champagne with Tori, Bill and Jess, and our first play date with baby Julian and the Carrington Street crew. Of course, I already spend way too much time dreaming about our reunion with Nugget (our 85 lb golden dog-child).

More pictures below. Aden had peaches for the first time today. the picture speaks for itself.

Phototasticaliciousness

2007-10-30T17:38:00.000-04:00

Melissa's not feeling so hot, so she's sleeping right now, and Aden is in the middle of his epic mid-day nap, and I'm waiting for the call that Aden's travel docs are here... so it's the perfect time to post some more photos! There's no real rhyme or reason - these are just a few that I've been meaning to post but hadn't had the chance yet...

Although, now that I look at them, a couple of them definitely fall into the "threaten to show these to his friends when Aden becomes a surly teenager" category...

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

2007-10-30T11:57:00.000-04:00

I meant to post this photo a couple of days ago. One amazing thing about the view from our hotel room is the volcanoes that dominate the horizon - there are three or four of them visible from our room. I got this shot on an unusually clear morning, when clouds weren't covering this one. It's pretty awesome when you can see the top of it.

Around that time, I overheard a conversation between an American tourist and a hotel employee in the executive lounge, where I forage for coffee every morning. The American was in the middle of saying "... so do you get any snow on these mountains? 'Cuz it seems that if you did, you could make some good money by setting up some ski resorts out here."

The hotel employee laughed and replied "Oh no, sir - there is no snow at the top of the volcanoes!"

"Volcanoes? Really? Wait 'till I tell my wife you've got dried-up volcanoes out here. She'll get a kick out of that!"

Again, the employee laughed "Oh no sir - they are not extinct. They are very much active - every two years or so one will erupt. It is very exciting - everyone comes out with their cameras to take pictures."

The tourist seemed a bit taken aback by that, and I left with my coffee.

Bjornin' it

2007-10-30T10:27:00.001-04:00

This morning, I figured we'd give Melissa a little extra time to sleep in, loaded Aden into our Baby Bjorn (for those not keeping up on their baby paraphenalia, it's a front-loading baby carrier... kind of like a reverse backpack with holes for his legs to pop through), and went out to scavenge up some coffee. Aden's been great in the Bjorn - we've gone out a couple of times, to get him used to it - so I figured that I'd try to take a picture of us for the historical record.

Anyone who's ever tried to take a picture of themselves knows that it's not an easy process... add a baby strapped to your front and, well, let's just say that this is the best shot that I was able to get.

Free-range Monkey!!

2007-10-29T20:54:00.000-04:00

Well, the big day came. And it's official - Aden's visa has been approved! We're just waiting for the delivery of the actual papers, which we will receive tomorrow afternoon. Once we land in Charlotte, we'll be given the papers to apply for his citizenship. Good stuff.

Today was simultaneously weirder and more mundane than we had expected. We received a call last night, saying that our appointment would be at 7:30, so we should meet someone from our lawyer's family in the lobby at 7:00 (it's a family busines, so they all help out - the husband and two of the sons are runners, and the third son is a lawyer as well, and works on cases for his mother, who seems to run the show). So, to make sure that we'd have time to get everything together, we set the alarm clocks for 5:30...

... and barely slept a wink. Needless to say, 5:30 came fast. We got up, got ready, got Aden ready - even had time to grab a cup of coffee and some toast before heading back to our room to wait for the call to come down... and we waited... and waited... finally, at 7:15, we received a call from one of the lawyer's sons - some of the paperwork wasn't completely filled out, so he was finishing it up now (!). I was a little worried, but he sounded completely cavalier. He said that our appointment wasn't actually until 8, so he'd be there by 7:30.

7:30 came, and still no call... so I called him. Thankfully, he was in the lobby. Time to go! We headed down to find him buying his breakfast in the coffee shop. He showed us out to the car that would take us to the embassy - a beat up red jalopy of a pickup truck. Did I mention that this brother is actually a pineapple farmer? He runs errands like ours on the side. We all clambered in (no child seat, of course), and he pulled out into traffic, eating his breakfast and talking a mile a minute. There was no need to worry, he said, zipping through traffic - the embassy was close by, and we wouldn't miss our appointment: 8:00 was just when they'd open the doors to the adoptive families. Our place in line had already been determined - he pointed to our pink appointment slip: family #29, out of 35.

He was right about the distance - we were there in a matter of minutes. He dropped us off while he parked the truck. It was quite a scene in the embassy courtyard - adoptive families, would-be immigrant families, food-vendors and random merchants all rubbed shoulders. Thankfully, our representative showed up soon and showed us where the line for adoptions was.

We stood in line for a while, chatting. Periodically, our rep's father, who was there with another family, would come back to talk to his son. The first time, we found out that the embassy wouldn't be letting any of us in until 8:30. The second time, it was to catch up - turns out that two dead bodies had been found near his house last night. When we asked the son how the people had died, he shook his head and cocked his hand like a gun.

Finally, the doors opened and our line slowly started moving. We got inside, found a place to wait, and did just that: waited. And waited. And waited. Turns out that there were really only two interactions that we needed to be there for: the first, to meet with an embassy employee who would review our paperwork and make sure that everything was in place. The second, to meet with another employee who would ask us a few perfunctory questions to make sure that our story matched up with the paperwork. In between, our lawyer's rep took care of getting Aden's new American passport set up. But that was really it - a whole lot of waiting for our names to be called, in a tiny room crowded with other people in the same boat as well as other people wanting just to get ON a boat (well, o.k. - a plane). All told, we were in the embassy for three hours, and dealt with actual embassy employees for maybe five minutes. It was a lot like the DMV.

We had forgotten to pack a bottle, but Aden was amazingly good, even though we went way past his regular feeding time. Frankly, he was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. We brought him a couple of smaller toys, and he gladly sucked and chewed on those for a while (the little guy was a fountain of drool), and then passed out for a while. He didn't really fuss at all the whole time, which was reassuring, since it was our first time out and about in such a high-traffic / long wait area with him.

When we finally got back to the hotel room, we were all drained. Bottles were prepared, naps were taken, playtimes were had, more naps were taken, and we're only now beginning to feel human again. But no matter how out-of-whack we were upon getting back, there was a huge undercurrent of excitement: our little dude is all but ready to come back to the states.

Houston, we have begun the countdown for re-entry. And we've got a Free-range Monkey with us who's looking forward to exploring his new life.

Happy Birthday Grammy Barbara!

2007-10-28T17:54:00.000-04:00

Mommy says she never forgets your birthday because when she was a teenager your ATM passcode was the same as your birthdate. So, everytime she suckered you out of $20 bucks a secret reminder of your birthday deeply penetrated her subconscious. We wish we were there to celebrate with you. I will smear some peaches into my hair tonight as an act of celebration.

Bizarro rock

2007-10-28T12:33:00.000-04:00

So, for your breaking up-to-the-minute news here in Guatemala City, the music has changed over at the park from Euro-techno to cover bands doing what sounds like bizarro-world renditions of 50's and 60's music. The only song that we've been able to identify for sure is "I Only Want to Be With You." So far, all of the bands are the same in that the guitarist sort of knows the chords, but not how to tune his guitar, and the vocalist sort of knows the melody but can't hit the high notes. It makes me glad that we have a bunch of songs loaded up on Melissa's iTunes, so the music in the park isn't Aden's first exposure to rock n' roll.

At the moment, his musical faves include the more upbeat numbers by Belle & Sebastian (fey English pop), Cheap Trick, Brother Ali (indie rap from Minneapolis), and The Figgs (Kinks-inspired power pop). Oh, and he thinks it's hilarious when I sing him the riff to Led Zeppelin's "Imigrant Song" (even though we are far from "The land of ice and snow"), and when Melissa and I do our not-so-synchronized dance routine to "Whip It" by Devo.

I have to admit, our Devo impression is pretty dang funny.

Over the Hump

2007-10-28T11:45:00.001-04:00

Yes, there were fireworks again last night and today there is another party in the "plaza" across from our hotel. Think dirt arena with vendors set up around it and really loud techno latin music. These people throw down!

Well, today is Sunday...which means that we've been in room 1157 at the Marriot for 4.5 days. Good news is that we are over the hump and we have only 4 more days here and then we travel home on Thursday (yay!). Tomorrow will be an exciting day. We must meet our translator Oscar in the lobby at 6:30am tomorrow morning. He will then take us to the embassy for our appointment. The embassy agent will interview us, check our papers, and then on tuesday afternoon, issue Aden's Visa. Wednesday we are technically free to go, but there are no flights into Providence that day, so that's why were are here until Thursday. Because we have visited Aden before, he will be an American citizen the minute his little feet touch the tarmac in Charlotte, North Carolina. The newest little american! How cool is that? We will have to spend an extra few minutes in imigration at Charlotte, but everyone we have spoken to says that the agents there are very friendly and welcoming. I sure hope so...because I have had my fill of annoying government types.

Aden's so energetic--a boy through and through. I am not too worried about the plane, though, as he seldom cries. It was relatively affordable to fly first class from Guatemala to Charlotte, so we have lots of extra space and easy access to a lavatory and things like warm water. Baby flies in style!

Lastly, this morning was a big one for chef mommy. i went crazy and mixed oatmeal cereal with a jar of apple banana sauce. He ate 6 oz of food in one sitting. doesn't sound like much, but it filled his little baby bowl. he really liked it. tomorrow we move to peaches and plums. His repetoire is expanding quickly. won't be long before he is ordering the 8 course tasting menu at Gracies. Foie Gras anyone?

We'll let you know how the embassy appointment (and the ride to an fro) goes. I am sure that there will be some wild stories to tell.

One request: Please pray to the television gods that today's CSI episode will be a new one ;-)

Educated baby

2007-10-28T10:55:00.000-04:00

OUR son only reads The New York Times...

... admittedly, it's actually The Times Digest, and he'd rather chew on it than read it, but come on, people - he's got to start somewhere!

Case in point, re: toys

2007-10-27T11:45:00.001-04:00

Not to give away the punchline to the post below, but this is what Aden spent the last half hour doing.

Spoon Versus Manhattan Baby

2007-10-27T11:03:00.000-04:00

Manhattan baby makes killer toys. Colorful, stimulating, and pitifully pleasing to the yuppie aesthetic. I know this because we have a bag of them here. Aden is fond of them. The same way he is fond of the garbage can, the uncovered electical outlets, the coffee table, and yanking out clumps of my hair. In general, he likes all toys, whether they are attached to my body or not.

Interesting thing...Given a choice, Aden will faithfully choose his favorite toy among the plethora of Manhattan Toy options we offer him. Does he choose the "sensory boosting stuffed rhino"? No. Does he choose the "taggie aligator?" No. Does he choose the "crinkle puppy texture doll?" How about the "mirrored multi-colored hamburger shaped "play disk?" Um, no. There is one toy far superior to all of these. And it's not the sateen rattle stuffed dinosaur he used to love. it's the blue plastic coated gerber baby spoon I got for fifty cents at Kohls last week. If the blue spoon is not available, the pink spoon will do, but blue is definitely best. It is a drum stick, a teething toy, good for rubbing on the floor. good for passing hand to hand. sometimes even good for eating! (side note: yesterday we introduced corn, winter squash, oatmeal, apples, and cinnamon. Today we snuck in some carrots too).

I would be remiss if I did not mention the other favorite toys: a clean diaper to chew on, the desitin tube, daddy's stockpile of digital wizzy wigs, socks, and board books. Yesterday he licked the bottom of my Vans (sneakers) so obviously those are hot right now. Oh, and the empty water bottle. God forbid I forget the empty water bottle. Playtime is fun.

Drunken Monkey 2: Return of the Monkey

2007-10-27T09:42:00.000-04:00

Yep, you'd think that by now we'd have learned at least one rule of parenting: know when to leave well enough alone. But sometimes, for us experiental learners, you've got repeat a mistake three or four (bajillion) times before the lesson sinks in.

Yesterday was going amazingly smoothly: textbook-smooth, even. We had gotten into a groove. Feeding? Check. Solo playtime? Check. Group playtime? Check. Giant nap for everyone? Check. We even took some time to walk Aden around in his Baby Bjorn, so he could get used to it, and we could see the hotel (hint for travelers to Guatemala City: there's not a whole heck of a lot to see in the hotel). So maybe we can chalk this all up to feeling flushed with success. Pride goeth before a fall. That sort of thing.

Anyhow, around 6:30, we gave him his bottle, which he sucked down like a champ. And then he passed out. Simple as that: eat, conk out. Perfect!

But the thing of it is, a sleeping baby is like a custard. You have to let it sit. And don't open the oven door too fast! (or is that a flan? a popover? souffle? you get the idea.) When Aden is out cold, you could drive a tank by his head and he wouldn't notice. So we figured that it would be safe to move him from our bed, where he had passed out, to his crib. Bad move, folks. Within seconds, he was 100% back to awake. We tried being quiet and rocking him (he laughed, and bounced up and down like we were giving him a ride), we tried dimming the lights, we tried singing, all to no avail. Drunken Monkey was back in action.

The one upside was that, without his PCP-laced bananas, he was something of a new Drunken Monkey. Like he was drunk on Schlitz instead of Jagermeister - not quite as frantic, though still full of slapstick antics. His big new move this time was the fishy-kiss face. He blew air kisses! Over and over and over again. He thought it was totally hilarious. Of course, the fact that we had given in to the hilarity and were blowing air-kisses back probably didn't hurt. Sadly, the fishy-kiss face proved too elusive to catch on film, so there are no pictures of this just yet - we're hoping that it will make another appearance sometime soon.

Anyhow, after two hours of blowing kisses and falling around like a miniature Benny Hill, Aden's energy finally subsided to the point that we really could rock him to sleep. The upside of the whole episode was that he didn't wake up at all for the rest of the night, and slept in until 6:30! Bliss!

They dig the fireworks down here

2007-10-26T21:13:00.001-04:00

Say what you will about Guatemala City, they know how to throw a party. Once again, three blocks from our hotel: drumming! dancing! fireworks! more dancing! more fireworks!

If Wren's theory is right, they're REALLY psyched that we're here to take Aden home.

Peas (no) & Cookies (yes)

2007-10-26T16:27:00.000-04:00

Um...let the pictures speak for themselves. I just can't imagine why pureed unseasoned greenish brown smelly peas wouldn't be a smash hit with the kid who, for the last 10 months, has been been eating vanilla flavored rice cereal and formula where the first ingredient is corn syrup :-) And surprise, cookies were an instant favorite. huh, what a riddle that is.

Today's been text book...6:15 wake up and breakfast, peas and cookies around 9, tubby time to get rid of the cookie crud at 9:30, bottle at 10, and a glorious three hour nap for all of us at 10:30. I am guessing this is too good to hold for the next twelve hours, so we are fueling up for a return performance from Drunken Monkey. I did not know that a woman could look forward this much to a single glass of red wine and being asleep by 9pm. Par-tay on.

Of boot camp and drunken monkeys

2007-10-26T10:11:00.001-04:00

This morning was the first in which I woke up and officially felt broken. Everything hurts, even my eyeballs. I feel like I'm in boot camp, with a tiny little drill sargeant, who can't really stand on his own and issues his commands in high-pitched gibberish, but still demands absolute respect. "You will respect my author-o-TAY!!!!"

Going to bed last night turned into a 2 and a half hour comedy (or tragedy) event. Aden had been zipping about all day long, and taken one nice long nap in the morning. So we figured that we were in for an easy night. A no-brainer. Right? Wrong!

In hindsight, we made two major tactical errors: 1) Aden took a mini-nap around 4:30, and then 2) we fed him sweet potoato & banana baby food after he woke up. Now, I know that the last one might not seem like such a big deal (it sure didn't to us), but that's when things went really wrong. It was as if the organic hippies who make the food we brought had spiked that stuff with Red Bull. Or PCP. Aden suddenly went manic, alternating between wild bursts of energy and complete exhaustion. We tried every bedtime trick in the book to get him to settle down, from rocking and singing to leaving him in the crib to let him "work it out" (spoiler to the shocking ending: he didn't work it out).

Finally, we entered the final chapter, which shall forever be known as "The Drunken Monkey Incident." Melissa and I were so beat ourselves that we crashed out on the bed with Aden between us, and just watched the comedy carnage. For a solid half hour, Aden did his best impression of a tiny little man on a Jagermeister bender - manically trying to climb up on us, falling on his face, trying to stand but not being able to lift his head off the bed, spouting gibberish at a mile a minute, waving his arms in the air, smacking himself in the face, and generally acting like (to quote Amy from Schwa) he had "flipped his burger." We just looked at each other, mutely shocked at the insane juggernaut our cute little baby had mutated into.

Finally, when he began to slow down (i.e. when the craziness started coming in waves, and it took him a whole ten seconds to begin another spazz attack) Melissa made her move. It was like in an action-hero cop movie, when the protagonists are in a gunfight, hopelessly outnumbered, and they improbably crouch behind a wooden door, letting the bullets whiz by their heads. Melissa was that one hero cop who looks at her goofy, offbeat partner (yeah - that's me) and says, with a steely look in her eye, "Cover me," and goes running out into the firestorm.

Except in this case, she just picked Aden up and rocked him back and forth. Four or five times, Aden tried to spazz out in her arms, but it was a losing battle. Within fifteen minutes, he was slumped out, totally unconcious. We waited, terrified of making a sound, for another five minutes... and then Melissa put him down in his crib, and collapsed on our bed, totally zonked with exhaustion.

(and, while you've all seen him playing with his butt paste [heh, heh- I said butt paste], this particular expression best sums up the general frenzy of the Drunken Monkey. Fear the drunken monkey. Bow before his powerful spazztacity.)

Fast times at baby high

2007-10-25T21:03:00.000-04:00

So, you may ask yourselves, "do these people just sit around all day taking pictures of this kid?" And the answer is yes. Yes we do.

However, now that he's gotten super-mobile, the one downside is blurrier photos... still, they get the gist of things...

Fang

2007-10-25T19:43:00.000-04:00

We've been kicking around nicknames for Aden since he arrived - "munchkin," "monchichi," "monkey," "munchkin brain" (not a comment on his brain size - phrases are just funnier with the word "brain" in them - try it yourself!) and "monkey brain" are all big hits. But Melissa just pointed out that his canine teeth are coming in faster than any others, and he's been leaving "fang marks" on his books, which he chews more than reads.

So I think that "Fang" may be my new favorite nickname for him. For the next fifteen minutes, anyway.

And Now Nothing is Safe

2007-10-25T17:25:00.000-04:00

Our son the "genius" is now officially a menace to all things, including himself. Today's antics included "race me into the bathroom where I will hit the toilet like a heat seeking missile" and "can I pull this pile of stuff off the coffee table before you reach me." Two great, mensa-like genius games. Today we also experimented with mixing bananas, corn muffin, sweet potatoes, chicken, and two bites of predigested cereal (that fell from my mouth into his). if that doesn't cause a "reaction" I think we are in the clear to try that jar of peas and brown rice I've been hanging onto.

We are so happy we came a few days early. it is amazing the physical progress Aden has made in two days. I've always known this but now I have conclusive proof that children are case studies in resiliance. I now realize that my house is a death trap and I need to do another round of baby proofing asap when we get back.

i'll let you know how those peas go tomorrow ;-)

Our son, the GENIUS!

2007-10-25T15:59:00.000-04:00

That's right - I've said it. I'm throwing my hat in the ring with all of the crazy parents in the world who swear that their 2-year old is brilliant because he or she can pick up a Tonka truck. But I know I'm right: our kid is a developmental GENIUS!!!

This afternoon, for the first time, Aden really, really burst into action. We put him down on the floor so we could do something, and he started crawling. He was a little shaky at first, but then all of a sudden, he was zooming across the floor, from one end of the room to the other. But that's not all! He started pulling himself up into a full standing position with absolutely zero help from either one of us. Then, after standing for a bit, he'd disengage from whatever he had used to climb up, and settle gently down onto his butt... only to gleefully start the process all over again.

Now, I know that this may seem completely mundane to anyone else, but this is the kid who didn't want to be put down yesterday (or this morning, for that matter), and showed almost no interest in moving from one place to another without being air-lifted. So seeing him jet around on his own is pretty amazing.

Of course, this is also the kid whose favorite new teething toy is a tube of stuff called "Butt Paste" (really - that's what it says right on the package!), but that's just because geniuses are eccentric. Further proof of my theorem. Genius!

Baby Top 40

2007-10-25T11:14:00.000-04:00

This morning, inspired by Adam Golaski's chart-topping hit "O Squishy Pants" (check the comments if that one doesn't make sense), Aden decided to try his hand at composing music. I think that he's a rocker at heart, because what came out was a stunning rendition of "Cranky Train," as sung to the tune of Ozzy's "Crazy Train." "We're going off the rails on a cranky traiiii-aiin!" (guitar solo!)

Thankfully, after a half hour or so of being carried around the room, touching random objects that he's seen a bajillion times already, and throwing plush toys (yes, he's discovered the joy of playing fetch with the parents) he was in much better shape. It's amazing what being carried around by your own personal servant will do for your mood! I'd like to try that someday...

Eventful day

2007-10-24T20:37:00.001-04:00

Well, that was one heck of a long day, full of ups, downs, sidewayses and everything in between. On the whole, though, it was amazingly good - the fussing came at standard fussy times, and the giggles, smiles and good stuff definitely outweighed the sad. It's officially been established that Aden responds well to a) tickling, b) bouncy rides, c) singing, d) drumming and e) exploring. Oh, and f) eating. But we knew that one already.

After the Monumental Nap this afternoon, we were moved to the larger room that we had originally reserved. And while I don't really think that Aden noticed, it certainly did wonders for our sanity. We were finally able to unpack & stretch out, which meant a lot.

The thing that really struck us today is that, while Aden isn't much of a crawler, he's really getting good at standing up. He can't stay up unsupported for too long, but his toddling days are right around the corner. My bet is that he simply skips walking and goes straight to running. Man, are the cats ever going to be psyched about that!

Aden's super exhausted right now, falling asleep in our arms. He won't quite let us leave him in the crib yet, but I think that within the hour, he'll be down for the night. After all, it was a big day...

And now, as a final bizarre cap to the day, the Guatemalan soccer team won a big international match, so there's been a huge rally going on within earshot of the hotel for the past three hours, capped off with fireworks being shot off over the city... from about three blocks away. Dang. It's one heck of a party. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be bothering the kid.

Naptime

2007-10-24T14:21:00.001-04:00

... is really, really nice.

2 a.m. revelation

2007-10-24T10:24:00.001-04:00

Well, as quickly as things went South, they seem to have turned back around. Last night, Aden was fussing so much that we let him sleep on our bed, between us (although I didn't sleep too much - every time he wiggled, I woke up). He fell deeply asleep... until 2 a.m., when he woke up. At first, he seemed a little confused, looking from Melissa to me and back again. But then it was like a switch turned inside, and he was all smiles and giggles. We changed and fed him, and then he sat in bed with us, babbling and gesturing. We finally put him down in his crib, and after a few perfunctory cries, he passed out again. He stayed asleep this time until 7, and woke up completely chipper and full of joy.

This isn't to say that he won't be fussy or cranky over the next couple of days, because I'm sure he will be. But it feels like we're over a major hump, which is really reassuring.

Oh, and revelation #2? We won't be co-sleeping with this kid - he thrashes in his sleep like Chuck Norris on a butt-kicking bender.

Best worst night ever? Worst best? Borst? West?

2007-10-23T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well, he's ours now... and we're all totally exhausted.

We got in around 2, to discover that the room we had reserved wasn't actually available... because the previous guest decided to extend his stay. D'oh! But the hotel set us up with a nice little room, and promised to move us tomorrow. As we prepped the room and waited, we got a little nervous. After all, this was it, the day. THE day. The DAY. You get the idea.

Anyhow, I met the foster mother in the lobby around 4, as planned... but the representative from the lawyer's office, who's supposed to be there to translate and do official stuff was running late. So we tried to make small talk across the linguistic divide while I marvelled at how cute and observant and with it Aden was. And how incredibly attached to his foster mother he was. At which point, I realized that we were probably in for a rocky night.

Eventually the lawyer's rep got there, and we all went up to the room where Melissa was waiting. More talk ensued, about schedules and feeding and the upcoming Embassy visit and Aden's health... and then, suddenly, it was time to go. The foster mother was clearly sad to leave Aden - after all, she's been raising him for the past ten months - but after the goodbye's, it was just the three of us.

At first, it was great - he's cute and smiley and giggly and squirmy... but then he seemed to realize - the woman he thinks of as mom, she's not coming back.

So, long story short, there's been a lot of crying. A whole lot. The only breaks were for bath time (which he loved), feeding (which ended too quickly), and now sleepy time (which we hope lasts the night). Anyways, we have faith that it's going to get better, but for now, these two pictures should sum it all up - guess which was from the beginning of the afternoon, and which was from the end.

Totally awesome news

2007-10-23T09:36:00.000-04:00

So, no pictures just yet (we're in the Charlotte airport - you don't really want to see photos of that), but we just got word that we've received our Embassy appointment... and shockingly, it fits with the travel itinerary that we guesstimated! So we'll be flying home on November 1st, landing around 11:30 at night! And we'll have Aden with us! Which is totally awesome! Even more so when coupled with our current state of sleep deprivation and caffeine!

Whoo-hoo!

t-minus how many hours?!?

2007-10-22T16:51:00.000-04:00

Holy smokes, people - we're in the thick of it now! This past weekend flew by in a flurry of house prep, shopping, packing... we've been getting ready for this arrival for months now, but somehow, there's still a whole host of last minute details that need to be handled. But we've been making lists and whittling them down... so, bit by bit, we're getting there.

I should be getting back to packing & prepping, but here are a few more photos to tide people over until... well, maybe tomorrow!

That sound you just heard? That was the whole frickin' Internet going "awwwwwwwwwww..."

Crashing Out Early

2007-10-17T21:22:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it is, but this past week has been somewhat exhausting. But, in the spirit of blog discipline, I figured that I should post something. So here's something good: a preview of the cuteness that will be the Withers family (RI branch office).

The first post

2007-10-16T20:18:00.000-04:00

Well, as with all blogs, here's the first post. And a mission statement to boot: it's just a little thing to keep all those far-flung folks in touch while we're off kicking it. After all, all the cool kids are doing it.

Enjoy.

Oh, and here's a picture of Aden studying up, like the rock star in training that he is. We're at T-minus seven days until we get to go hang with him in the Marriott for a while. Excitement levels are high here. Except for the cats, who couldn't care about much besides their food & prozac, and the dog, who doesn't know what's about to hit him.