Evolutionary Scientists Have Found...

I find anything related to evolution very interesting.  I'm sure it has something to do with whatever it is that makes me a happy scientist.  I came across this article that speculates that having wrinkly fingers from being in water too long has a purpose: The wrinkles provide increased traction.  So when you're wet and probably slippery from the water, don't fear!  Your wrinkly fingers are here!

The New York Times

See?  Interesting.



Fantastic Three

Sunday was just as fantastic.  We had originally made plans to go to the beach with my new co-worker, but it started raining.  RAINING!!  We are months overdue for some rain, so it didn't bother me in the slightest.  Instead, we went over to my co-workers house and let the kids run rampant.  Travis got called out on a job before we left the house, so he wasn't able to go with us.  After a couple hours of play, we headed home.  Aiden and I ate sandwiches on the ride home so all he had to do was climb in bed when we arrived.

Travis pulled up immediately after us.  I was exhausted.  Aiden has been getting up once a night for as long as I can remember.  It's probably only been a couple weeks, but it feels like forever.  So after Aiden fell asleep, I passed out as well.  Travis watched football in the living room all by his lonesome.  But I know he enjoyed a few hours to himself. 

I woke up to my alarm an hour and a half later and hopped in the shower.  I could have slept the rest of the day away.  It was dark in my room because of the rain.  PERFECT napping weather.  Aiden woke up soon after I got out of the shower. 

We decided to go to Marble Slab for ice cream.  We got Aiden a cup of vanilla mixed with M&M's and assorted sprinkles.  He almost ate the whole thing.  Thankfully he was full about the time it turned into a bowl of ice cream soup.  Travis and I had waffle cone bowls.  I tried a combination of mocha ice cream mixed with graham crackers.  It was awesome and I'd like to go back right now and have more.  RIGHT NOW.

It was still raining when we got home.  Still raining?  So weird.  I let Aiden run around the yard and play in the rain.  He loved it.  I folded laundry in the garage and then attempted to do a little gardening.  Yes, in the rain.  We have a bunch of tomato plants that have not survived the drought and I figured it was time to pull them up.  I had pulled up the second plant by the roots and was banging the dirt off when I felt a bunch of stings on my hand.  I looked down to realize what I thought was dirt was actually fire ants.  There was a nest of fire ants in the roots of the plant and I had pissed them off.

I ran inside to wash my hands as quick as I could.  I don't know if the venom sits on the outside of the skin at all, but I figured it couldn't hurt.  Turns out I only got bit three times on my left hand.  Twice on my pinky and once on my ring finger.  Thankfully it hasn't swollen out of control like I've done in the past.  But it's still bad enough that I can't wear my wedding rings.

For dinner we had BBQ stuffed baked potatoes - one of my favorite Texas meals.  It is so much better with real BBQ, not the kind in a tub from the grocery store.  Either way, it hit the spot!

See?  Fantastic Sunday.

Overbooked Saturday

We had an excellent weekend.  We shook things up a bit and went outside of our normal routine.  Travis was on call last week and this past weekend, which meant he had to work Saturday morning.  We had a birthday party to attend for my friend Katie's two-year-old son at 2 pm, so I put Aiden down for his nap an hour early.  He actually fell asleep.  I'm pretty sure it was magic.

When 1 o'clock rolled around, I called Travis to see if he was going to be home soon.  He said he was going to be a little late and since he was going to have to drive separately because he was on call, we should just go on without him.  Aiden woke up a few minutes later, we got dressed and on the road.  The party was really fun.  It was at Moody Gardens in Galveston.  They had a party room that was filled with many toy stations, all provided by Moody Gardens.  There was a Moody rep that stayed in the room and showed the kids how to do the various stations.  Katie supplied pizzas for everyone to eat.  Moody provided a giant cake and a bowl full of punch.  Travis showed up about 30 minutes into the shindig.

We played in that room for two hours and then slathered on the sunscreen.  As we walked outside, the rep handed each child a shovel and bucket and we headed over to Palm Beach.  Palm Beach is a really great outdoor water park for smaller children.  There are lots of sprinkler areas, shallow pools and even a couple water slides.  We've been there once before and loved it for Aiden. 

Overall, the party was awesome.  Katie didn't have to plan anything or clean up afterward and it was WAY cheaper than we've paid for an at-home birthday party.  There are other options aside from going to Palm Beach.  You can also go to the aquarium or the rainforest.  I'll definitely be keeping that place in mind for Aiden's future birthdays!  We stayed for an hour at Palm Beach and then had to leave.  I sort of overbooked us for Saturday!

We hopped in the car and stopped to change and grab a few things from home.  Then we headed over to the Yeager's for a BBQ.  They had a few other friends over as well, including Chris and Blair.  Blair, Luke and Aiden ran around the house like madmen for the majority of the evening.  We ate brisket and deviled eggs.  For dessert Linsey made a layered strawberry shortcake mix.  It was awesome. 

The evening was a hit.  I was shocked to look at my phone and see it was 9:20 pm!  We were walking out to the car and I noticed Aiden was walking really funny.  I though he was goofing around, but when Travis attempted to put him in his car seat he started screaming about being poopy.  Sure enough his butt was stinky.  Linsey let us come back inside to change his diaper on a flat surface, but I'm sure she was regretting it after a minute.  Aiden had diarrhea.  I was a bad parent and didn't check his diaper all night.  So I have no idea how long he was in this horrible diaper, chafing him as he ran.  He cried bloody murder as Travis wiped him clean.  It was BAD.  I felt HORRIBLE. 

Today most of it is gone.  He still has scabs on his leg where the diaper must have been rubbing him as he ran.  I've just gotten so accustomed to him not peeing as frequently that I've grown lazy about checking his diaper.  We were adamant about changing his diaper often over the remainder of the weekend.  I didn't want that dang thing to come back!  Poor kid.

Word of the Week

Aiden has recently begun using a very annoying word.  "Huh?"  And it's not like he uses it just one time.

"Aiden, can you come sit at the table please?  It's dinner time."

"Huh?"

"Can you please come sit at the table?"

"Huh?"

"COME HERE."

"Huh?"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The other night, Travis was getting Aiden dressed in his pajamas so I could hear them through the baby monitor.  Aiden said something that I couldn't quite decipher over the radio waves.

Travis' response, "Huh?"

Aiden then replies, "Huh?"

Now I know where he gets it from.

A Cure for Cancer

Doctors are doing an experiemental therapy using modified HIV to attack cancer cells.  Three cancer patients have undergone this therapy.  Two are in complete remission and one is in partial remission. 

Two out of three's not bad.

An Immune System Trained to Kill Cancer

I Heart Shopping

I'm trying to weed out the remaining baby stuff from Aiden's room since we're hoping to have a baby soon.  I don't want him to feel like we're taking his things away and giving it to the baby.  The most imperative item at the moment was his bedding.  He only had one set of toddler sheets so we were alternating with his crib sheets.  That way I could have one on his bed while the other is in the wash.  

Yesterday after work Aiden and I went to the store and picked out a new bed set.  Guess who?

Woody and Buzz, of course!!

Aiden was so excited.  I threw the set in the wash as soon as we got home so it could go on by bed time.  I put it on while Travis was giving him a bath.  As soon as he was out of the bathroom that monkey immediately started jumping on the bed.

I also bought him some Toy Story underwear!  I'm going to try letting him wear them at night and/or on the weekends.  Maybe he'll get upset about getting Buzz or Woody wet and that will give him incentive to use the potty.

I don't know what I'm doing, but it's worth a try!

Our Stubborn Little Man

Aiden has been such a stinker face lately.  He is so ridiculously sweet with me.  I mean, look at that smile.

But then as soon as Travis comes around he is a complete a-hole.  He doesn't want to have anything to do with Travis.  When he gets home from work, Aiden tells him to go back to work and refuses to give him a hug and kiss hello.  He does the same thing for goodbye in the morning.  Aiden gets an attitude with everything Travis says to him.  Every once in a while they have a good night when Travis has time to play with him a lot.  But it's not often enough.  I just don't know what to do about it.

The other thing I don't know how to handle is potty training.  Does any body have any recommendations?  I've read a couple books about it, and some stuff online, but nothing is cut and dry.  I know kids are not cut and dry, but I need more than I can find.  Everything recommends letting him sit on the potty frequently, especially during times when he usually pees or poops.  I don't know when he pees?!  How do you figure that out??  How often should I let him sit on the potty?  For how long?  I tried letting him go without a diaper for a night and he freaked out every time he peed on the ground.  I would rush him to the toilet, but that just freaked him out even more.

He also doesn't poop on a set schedule.  Apparently, most kids have a set time they poop. Like Travis.  He goes once in the morning and once in the evening.  I guess Aiden is like me.  You never know when the time will come.  Not to mention Aiden's bowels are all sorts of messed up.  He had horrible constipation for a year that made him bleed and cry, EVERY TIME.  These days he has diarrhea more often than not.  So now instead of bleeding, he's got diaper rash.  At least I can medicate the rash.

I don't know when to put Aiden on the potty.  He will only sit on the potty if I bribe him.  So I started letting him put a sticker on his potty chart every time he sat on the toilet.  I try to do it every night before bed, but he's never peed during that time (I read a book or two to distract him from getting off).  I don't really have time to do the potty in the morning or when we get home from work/daycare.  I guess I need to find the time.  It's just that it's such a fight getting him on that toilet.  If he needs to sit on it for 10 minutes at a time, that is about 20 minutes of our time.  The other ten minutes is spent begging him to sit on the damn potty.

I even tried buying Pull-ups with Buzz Lightyear on them.  We told him he can wear the big boy pants when he goes pee pee on the potty.  He was excited about the Toy Story pants, but apparently not excited enough.

To get him even remotely excited about the potty, we let him decorate it with stickers of Spiderman and Elmo.  We spent a week or two just looking at the stickers on his really awesome potty before he would actually sit on it.

I've come up with a new method of bribery: He gets to watch TV if he sits on the potty.  We rarely let him watch TV during the week, so that's a HUGE deal.  It worked for 30 minutes last night!

Except now I'm worried he's going to get a hemorrhoid.