Busy times

We've been busy in the Lovell house. I started my new job at Cooper Hospital and I think I'll be very happy there. Over this past weekend, Aaron really revved up his "terrible two"-ness. Lots of funny stuff, but also a plethora of meltdowns. "Milk please?" I hand him a cup with milk. "NO!!! No milk! (don't) Want it milk!" accompanied by vigorous shaking of head from side to side and many tears. One distraction later, he is all smiles and hugs. It's unbelievable and exhausting for all of us.

We had a little Adoption Day party, at which he was adorable. There were a lot of kids here and they were all over the place. He was born in the year of the Golden Fire Pig, so I made some gold pig cookies, which were delicious.


Uncle Jimmy came to visit for Thanksgiving and everyone went to a parade on the main drag. He still loves parades (we just saw the lighted firetruck parade last friday and I though he was going to lose his mind with excitement).




We also paid a visit to Baba in Worcester two weekends ago. Aaron saw his first snow and got to play in it, although it took a while to convince him that it was snow outside and not bubbles. He was pretty sure of himself.

He's convinced now. And that "uh-oh" was because he noticed a truck whose presence he had not yet announced.

This little piggie

As states go, New Jersey is definitely at the bottom of my list. Our county held its first swine flu vaccination clinic on monday for children ages 6months to 5 years. No pediatricians' offices could get the shot, so there was no other choice. The clinic was scheduled to start at 4pm. We arrived at 3:45 and got in line two blocks away.

at the start of our wait:

We were done at 6:10. Aaron was great, considering. We were standing in front of some really nice people, who gave us snacks (Aaron had finished his bag of goldfish and his milk in the first 30 minutes) and loaned us a fleece for him to wear when the sun went down and it got cold. I couldn't help but feel that we were participating in something akin to the polio vaccinations of the 1950's. There were so many people! There were health dept officials with bullhorns! When we finally got inside, he got the shot, which took two seconds. Luckily, all was forgotten when he received his lollipop ("lalalop"). Ahhh, candy, the fixer of everything.

A year's time

Tomorrow, November 4, will be the first anniversary of our adoption of Aaron in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Adoption day is sometimes referred to as a family's "gotcha" day- we got Aaron and he got us. Regardless of what you call it, November 4th, 2008, changed all of our lives forever. That morning, Mike and I sat in the reception room of the orphanage, surrounded by half emptied tea glasses, sweating (we were sweating as were the glasses). I realized that my camera battery had died just as a woman brought a skinny little boy dressed in fatigue pajamas into the room. She handed him to us, he stuck his thumb in his mouth, and it was done. Pictures were taken (not by me), gifts were exchanged, and we were whisked off to the DMV of Saigon to adopt our little boy. I don't know that I posted these pictures. They were emailed to me by Chi, the adoption coordinator.





He weighed just 18lbs (5%ile) that day. Now, he is 26lbs (50%ile). I'm also happy to say that his clothing choices have improved dramatically.

Tomorrow is a bittersweet day for me. Our adoption day was the most wonderful day of my life, but it also happens to be my father's birthday. It is so sad that he is not here to celebrate this milestone with us. I miss him every day and he would have gotten such joy from Aaron. It's around this time last year that he got sick again, and although he got to visit with our boy four or five times, it wasn't enough.

On a less tearful note...

Aaron celebrated his first Halloween on saturday! He was dressed as Mr Spock from Star Trek, although he just thought of it as an outfit with matching hat. It was his first experience with candy. He looked really cute even though he couldn't keep his hair on straight.

With mommy, dressed as overtired night doctor:

With captain Daddy Kirk:

With Kirk and clown Grandma Linda:

A message for Baba

Here is a message from Aaron to his Baba, who is away visiting Jonathan. You may note the unfortunate haircut given to him by Grandma Linda. Apparently, he moved. A few times.

Going north

Last weekend, Aaron and I took a trip up to Worcester to see my mom en route to cousin Mikaela's bat mitzvah in Connecticut on saturday. We tried our best to see people, but we were both exhausting from the running around and all the driving. Aaron was wonderful in the car on the way up, taking two naps and, when he was awake, pointing out every car, truck (guck) or motorcycle (mo-ki-ki-ki-ki-kle) we encountered. There were many. He has entered a transportation phase and I'm concerned that he may throw caution to the wind and steal the car.

He received a new bus from grandma Susan, who he calls Baba. This is not the bus of my childhood. When I was almost two years old, a toy bus came with a couple of white people in it. Not today's bus. The hispanic driver, Ramon, is driving a little African-American boy named Michael and a white girl named Maggie who is in a wheelchair. How does Maggie get into the bus? Handicapped access ramp in the back, of course!!

We visited with Cate's daughter Abby and Rebecca's kids, Max and Eli. They played together in June and it is great to see how grown up they all seem (except Eli, who is just an infant). We also made a run into Boston to visit with Nura and Mark's children, Reuben and Alessandra, who are delightful. We got to play in the park and eat sand.

I love how Aaron is looking at Reuben like he the best thing in the whole universe!

Then it was off to the Bat Mitzvah, where Mike met up with us. When Aaron and I walked into the back of the sanctuary, the service had already started. He looked at the congregation and said, very loudly, "Mommy! Hats!". Hats indeed. He had a great time with his Baba and generally cut quite a figure on the dance floor. No nap that day, but he did great.





Baba is now en route to Hargeisa, Somaliland, via Dubai, to visit my brother for the opening of his school. We are hoping to hear that she got there soon.

September visit from mom

Visits from Grandma Susan are always busy times for Aaron. So much to explore in the grandma room, including things he has seen there before. Those things are much more interesting when the room is occupied. He has both played and dropped that picture frame before, but this was the first time he dropped it on his grandmother's foot.

There was lots of playing in his room:

There were many trips to the park by our house, which wore out the two grandmas more than they wore out Aaron.









In case you can't read the top of that one, it says "Collingswood Car Wash". If you press a button, a spray of water comes out. The kids love it. Aaron was running back and forth between the two spray heads until he was soaked!!

A little news about me- I am starting a new job on December 1. I will be working at Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ, which is where I did my residency. The shifts are 9 hours, as opposed to 12 hours, which makes a huge difference when you are working in an ER. I will be doing 12 shifts a month, all 11pm to 8am. I enjoy working nights, and this schedule will allow me to be home for dinner and bedtime every night. In my current position, I am really gone 13 to 13 1/2 hours and often miss Aaron completely. Last weekend, he didn't see me from friday night until sunday night and I think that freaked him out. This job is salaried as opposed to an hourly wage and comes with a great benefits package. It was so hard to tell my boss that I was leaving. He has been incredibly good to me during some really tough times. As always, he was a gentleman in this situation, too, saying that the most important thing has to be my family's happiness.

Down the shore

We are back from two weeks at the New Jersey shore- the first week in Wildwood and the second in Cape May. Wildwood was unbelievably tacky, complete with lewd tee-shirts and fried oreos on a stick. Cape May was its usual darling Victorian era self. In Cape May, we were with the friends we always vacation with. Aaron's love, Elle, was right across the street. Don't think he forgot it for a moment. He asked for her every second of the day. The other big bonus of Cape May was that Aaron spent the week with his uncle Jimmy. Unfortunately for Jim, Aaron can't say his name, and calls him "Mimmy". So did everyone else. We had a good time, but we are all glad to be home. What follows are random pictures from the trip.

Getting ready to bring mommy to Wildwood:

On the beach in Wildwood after bravely trying the water for the first time:

First mini-meltdown of the day:

Aaron discovered he could play ring around the rosy by himself by using the umbrella's pole as an axle. He is happy to skip the lyrics up to "ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"

Aaron and Mike on the boardwalk:

Aaron is unable to resist saying "CHEESE" when anything is pointed toward him. Sometimes, it is even a camera.

Aaron helping me pack by wearing many hats

Being coy at lunch:

With uncle Mimmy:

On the Cape May beach:


With Ciara, Aidan and Riley in a hole:

By himself in a hole:

Making calls:

Kicked off the island

I was at work on August 7th and my blackberry message light began to blink. I picked it up and saw that there was a new message from the Mommy group. Imagine my surprise when I read this:

You have been removed from XXXXXX.

The person who removed you, XXXX, said:
------------------------------

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The Organizer has removed you from the group because you
haven't been active in the group.
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Wow. My first thought: I was right. I can't even make friends in a totally artificial way that only involves showing up to things other people organize. My second thought: fuck them!! As previously blogged about, I tried to go to a meet up but couldn't find the people with whom I was to meet! I work full time, damn it, and if I can't make their outings at a good enough rate, I don't want to be part of their little group. Good god!

No longer angry, I am just kind of amused by the whole thing. I was booted from a toddler group. I didn't hit or bite anyone. I didn't take anyone else's toy. I was too shy. When I was a toddler, I would have been the one who played with the shy girl. What ever happened to that toddler?

18 month checkup

New stats:

Height: 32 inches (was 31 1/4)- 50%ile
Weight: 24 lbs 11oz (was 21 lbs 14oz)- 25%ile
Head: 18 inches (was 17 3/4)- 5%ile

So he's still got a little head, but it's not getting any smaller on the growth chart. He was terrible at the doctor's office. She said it is to be expected at this age. I was still kind of embarrassed. Other than that, he's doing great. Language, motor all good. In fact, his motor skills are so good that he can now do this when I turn my back for 2 seconds to fulfill his demands for water (WITH ICE!!!):


Yup. standing on a chair with no side rails holding medication. It is like a 24 hour death prevention watch in our house. But he is so darn cute and lovable that I can't get mad.