This is a bit late, but on January 8th, our little boy turned two years old! This also happened to be our last day in California, but Aden took it with stride. His big present from us was a balance bike which we had given him before Christmas so he could enjoy it while we were on vacation. For those who don't know, a balance bike is a bike that has no pedals. The child's feet are supposed to hit the ground so he can push himself along and work on balancing the bike. Aden has always been very physically active, plus we've seen a few of these bikes in action with our friends' kids, so we thought it would be a perfect fit. We were right. At first he was a bit timid about the bike, but he quickly caught on to the concept and had been improving everyday. Now, he can pick up his feet and balance for about 10-15 seconds. The goal here is to be able to skip training wheels and go straight to a pedal bike.
Back to Aden's birthday, we had a very relaxing day of playing. For lunch, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and Aden loved it. He isn't usually much of a plain meat eater, but found that he really enjoyed dipping his naked tenders into the BBQ sauce. After lunch was nap time, when Jamie and I finished all of our packing. We flew out that evening and after 24 hours of traveling made it back to our house in Saudi.
It really has been amazing how Aden has grown in the last year. He is so much more independent. He feeds himself completely, can buckle himself into his chair, tries to get dressed and put his shoes on himself, and is in a big boy bed. His vocabulary is growing each day. He loves to completely surprise us with a random new word. His latest have been read, story, and avocado. He likes to be helpful at home (as long as it is on his terms). He loves to laugh and make others laugh. His laugh is so contagious. Jamie and I are very quickly finding out that parenting is a series of phases. We may not like each phase, but we learn something from each one. We know that the year of two will have some challenges, but will also be a lot of fun.
Here are some fun pics of him through the last two years:
Back to Aden's birthday, we had a very relaxing day of playing. For lunch, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and Aden loved it. He isn't usually much of a plain meat eater, but found that he really enjoyed dipping his naked tenders into the BBQ sauce. After lunch was nap time, when Jamie and I finished all of our packing. We flew out that evening and after 24 hours of traveling made it back to our house in Saudi.
It really has been amazing how Aden has grown in the last year. He is so much more independent. He feeds himself completely, can buckle himself into his chair, tries to get dressed and put his shoes on himself, and is in a big boy bed. His vocabulary is growing each day. He loves to completely surprise us with a random new word. His latest have been read, story, and avocado. He likes to be helpful at home (as long as it is on his terms). He loves to laugh and make others laugh. His laugh is so contagious. Jamie and I are very quickly finding out that parenting is a series of phases. We may not like each phase, but we learn something from each one. We know that the year of two will have some challenges, but will also be a lot of fun.
Here are some fun pics of him through the last two years:
