Declan went in a month late for his 2 month checkup on Tuesday. Better late than never. He got a clean bill of health and a few shots. He is now just a touch over 3 months old (he's 14 months old today) and weighed in at 13 lbs 12.5 oz. He's a little tank. He's also grown to 24.25" long! Believe it or not, that sets him only in the 50th percentile. I was expecting 70 or 80 but apparently people are having bigger babies than I thought.

We're looking forward to folks getting to see him on Saturday. It should be fun since he's pretty easy to smile these days and loves attention!

Its been a while  in the making but we finally got Aidan's new playset last week. We'd talked for nearly a year about which set to get him and talked with a bunch of parents about what they had. We read reviews and we visited showrooms. In the end we bought a Creative Playthings swingset. Part of my reasoning was they they deliver and install! Sounds like a weekend and a potential emergency room saved for me!

Here's what my yard looked like when I still had one.

This is after Cirque de Aidan was installed. It took four guys from Creative Playthings 90 minutes to do this. The had the first pieces erected in the time it would have taken me to locate the instructions in one of the dozen boxes they brought in. Shortly after they left, Aidan arrived to test the construction.

Clearly, he approves.

If it were only this simple. Since I like to cut down on emergency room visit and don't like the idea of the area around the swings becoming a mud bog, I brought in a little mulch. In order to get enough to fill the 24'x40' area around the swing set I had to order 12 yards of mulch. I used to have a hard time imagining how much mulch that was. Not any more. Now I know its 54 wheelbarrows full which is about 972 shovels full which is about 6 hours of work which is about 1600 mg of ibuprofen. The end result is a complete surrender of our backyard to all things play. The good news is that it cuts my "lawn care" time in half.

The final straw is Aidan's favorite part of the swingset. With all the time and money spent on this monstrosity, what do you think his favorite part is?

That's right. His favorite part is the $19 plastice telescope which, presumably, he's using to hunt wabbits.

 Well, we're a bit past it now but Aidan had his first Easter Egg hunt this Easter. Jaime, Aidan, Declan and I headed down to Stony Creek in Connecticut for Easter Sunday to show off our newest Walker and to have Aidan run around looking for colored eggs in the grass.

To be honest, it was a pretty rough ride down. Apparently, as cute as our kids are, they're lousy at car rides. Aidan hated the car past 3 months old and his brother is starting earlier! In the end it was a fun few hours and pleasant weather. Not too much in the way of photos though. Its amazing how little I actually get to raise the camera to my face now with two kids.

Declan, our chunky little Easter egg, is tipping the scales in the neighborhood of 14lbs. He's solid but at this rate he's going to be a nose tackle. We'll get the scientific weight in Early May at his next appointment. For now we have to settle for Jaime getting on the scale with and without him and doing math. I'm sure his grandparents can attest that 14lbs is not far off the mark.

The next post will be all about the new swingset!

In the end, its still worth it and sitting with him beats the alternative of keeping him out of school for a month. So far, he loves it. Although, he tells us nothing voluntarily. Even though hes quote vocal and masters a good sized vocabulary, getting information out of him is like trying to get secrets out of a nazi prisoner. Fortunately, the school posts a cheat sheet outside the classroom with the syllabus. So, not only can we converse a little bit about his day but we seem downright prescient to him. “How did they know I read “The Kissing Hand” today? Is this room bugged?”

Its been quite some time since posting. Aidan is now two and a half and an incredible handful. Apparently we haven't learned our lesson now though. Jaime is pregnant with our second child. She's due on February 3rd and, yes, we are going to find out whether its a boy or a girl. We're still looking for names but we're leaning in a different direction than last time. Part of our choice for "Aidan" was based our fondness for it's meaning. Depending on the book you read, Aidan means Little Fire or Born of Fire. As luck would have it, that's a good description for our son. He's a firecracker that does not seem to burn out. So, this time we're looking for an Irish name that means "Lazy Little Bugger" or "Mostly Lies Around" or even "Really knows How to Kick Back and Chill"

Again, I hope to post a little more. Although, it seems like a big part of the hold up there is in photos. Aidan truly hates being photographed so it gets harder and harder to get shots of him. So, more of my post will probably be without photos. I'll add them when I can but I won't wait for them to make a post.

Speaking of photos, I've deleted a bunch from the Photo Album. Mostly it was our friends and family shots but I also dumped Aidan's photos from his first year. It was just demanding too much bandwidth. I will be trying to get more current photos up in their place! 

*DISCLAIMER: This post is not safe for small, Santa loving kids* 

Aidan got to sit on Santa's lap at the Somerville firefighter's Christmas party a couple of weeks ago. This is sort of a special Santa visit since the part was being played by my dad. This is why I didn't freak out when he gave Santa a kiss and Santa kissed back. If this had been at the mall daddy may very well be trying to post bail right now for beating a man in a red suit.

As usual, Aidan had far more interest in the girl dressed in the Frosty Costume and the woman making balloon animals. I wonder if we told him we were going to see balloon animals and Frosty if he might spend more time being facinated by Santa? We'll have to try next year.

I've added some more photos of Aidan to the photo album the new photos start here .

We’ve been making Aidan laugh for a very long time. Its never been very hard. All my tired material is brand new to him and he’s an easy audience. Mostly though, his brand of comedy has been physical. Funny faces, prat falls, peek-a-boo, dramatic movements, and a good old fashioned chase have been the standbys to make him giggle. What’s eluded him is the magical comedy of the screen. 

For some time he’s had favorite shows. The Wiggles, The Backyardigans, Go Baby, and host of other shows that make daddy’s head hurt have all made him run to the tv and watch intently for at least 30 seconds before continuing on to another home wrecking task. Its only in the last couple of months that he’s been demanding to watch some of the many Disney movies Jaime has been amassing on DVD. Its only in the last few weeks that he’s actually watched for any length of time with any real interest. Now, finally, he finds them funny and I couldn’t be prouder. 

There’s a scene in The Incredibles, I think its chapter 16, where Helen Parr (Elastigirl) is sobbing about losing her husband to seamstress to the supers, Edna. Frustrated with her lack of spirit and emotional breakdown, the tiny Edna jumps up onto a kitchen counter and demands that Helen get a grip of herself and “Confront the problem! Fight!…Win!” At the word win she’s strikes an “X” pose as if in mid jumping jack and adopts a giant, enthusiastic and deviant smile. Cue Aidan’s raucous laughter. 

I thought for sure the moment that would first make me this proud of his sense of humor would be the day he found farts funny but alas that day has not yet come. Instead, I can take pride in his finding something that is socially acceptable as funny and wanting to watch it over and over and over and over and over and…

I recently upgraded my camera. I went to a digital SLR from my point and shoot. Admittedly, the Panasonic Lumix I was shooting with is a terrific camera with a lot of capability but I found myself wanting even more control and flexibility. I'm shooting with a Canon 30D now and having a bunch of fun. I'm already seeing the differences in the shots I take with it. This is one of them. You can see more of Aidan's shots by clicking the photo. You can see more of my other shots here