Side Kick

I've been needing a day like today more than I even realized. Ayden had SUCH a great day! It's not that he's been having bad days necessarily but they have been fussier/moodier overall (teething I suppose?) and I just hadn't realized how much that had been weighing on me until today when he barely fussed at all. The funny part?  I never put on his teething necklace today...  I'm not sure that I've noticed that it helps yet or not.

We had a very leisurely start to our day. We hung out in bed for a while then finally went down stairs so I could get some breakfast. Ayden played with his Zaney Zoo while I made myself something to eat and worked on my morning routine.

After breakfast he took his usual half hour morning nap (I laid down while he slept but Polly's attempts to snuggle kept me from falling asleep as quickly as I could have).  When we woke up I decided to text my mom to see if we could come swim at their house and that's where we ended up spending the rest of our morning.

Think he'll be a plumber when he grows up? ;)

 We swam, played with the balls on my dad's pool table and strummed on his guitar.  Ayden had a blast and was asleep before we were even out of the driveway. When we got home, I let him finish his nap and then we took a bath together to wash off the sunscreen and play (as if we didn't get enough water play in the pool)... I had never actually taken a bath with him and it was great! It was easy to wash him and it was also some quality playtime. We talked about the water while he splashed and talked about his rubber ducks. He's still a huge fan of the rinse cup so I kept filling it and pouring it out over his hands, back and head.  He also enjoyed seeing the inside of our big jacuzzi tub which is a place in our house he had never been. He was touching all of the jet openings and the drain stopper with fascination, probably willing them to get in his mouth somehow...

After our bath I took him to his room,  got him ready and then we played some more. As I mentioned yesterday, he is starting to get to the crawling position on his own now, so he was up on all fours rocking back and forth.  I decided to model crawling for him. I'd crawl out of the room and turn around and then crawl back to him really fast saying, "I'm gonna get you!" and would gobble his neck when I got to him. He was laughing so hard and started anticipating my attack before I'd even start crawling toward him. He would get serious while I was crawling away and then would start laughing as soon as I'd turn around to come and get him.  It was so fun!  I think the best part about this stage is the interactions!

When he was ready for his next nap, I snuggled him into the Didymos and he got a good hour in and, to continue the trend of the day, woke up in a stellar mood!  I made kale chips, straightened up the downstairs and listened to YouTube videos while he slept.  I fed him after he woke and then he played quietly with his Zaney Zoo and a spoon (seriously, why do we even buy actual toys?) while I vacuumed and did a couple of other chores and then we went on a field trip!

I had received a large platter from Pier1 from a student for the dance recital.  It was really pretty but didn't match our decor so I went and exchanged it for some other cute stuff.

Set of turtle shell nesting measuring cups.

Possibly the cutest salt and pepper shakers I've ever seen...

Ayden was being beyond adorable in Pier1 smiling at everyone and trying to get his little hands on anything and everything we passed.  The sales associates and a customer kept going on and on about his cuteness and I was so proud of how social and cute he was being.  I told them he was my little side kick and they said they could tell that he was a good shopping buddy.   After Pier1, I decided to check out the new Trader Joe's that just opened in our town a couple of weeks ago.  Ayden fell asleep on the way there for his last cat nap of the day.  Overall, the sleep quota was great today compared to most days in the past month so here's hoping it makes his night sleep awesome!  As usual, he woke up when we got home so we took Maverick for his evening walk and then it was time to start Ayden's bedtime routine.

I'm pretty sure his eyelashes get longer every day

Since the day had gone so smoothly, I had pretty high hopes for tonight as well.  We did our usual bedtime routine and got him to sleep in about 30 minutes from start to finish.  It was 8:00 and not but 10 minutes later, he was awake.  I went back in and did some pick up put down until I got him back to sleep and he woke again!  He ended up waking four times total and wasn't asleep for "good" until about 9:15.  The last two times he went back to sleep, I just played our song and he fell asleep on his own while I just sat by his crib.  I'm not sure what was going on.  Part of his evening routine usually consists of David coming home and loving on him/playing with him and since David's gone, that part of his day was missing.  Maybe he was just missing his daddy and didn't feel like it was time to go to bed yet.  Lucky for the both of us, David will be home tomorrow!  I can't wait for our little family to be together again!!  Now I think I shall read some more of Baby Led Weaning before giving Ayden his dream feed and heading off to bed myself.  He gets to start solids next week :). I sure hope this fuss-free break is here to stay for a while!!

~Sarah