Aiden's Site

Cold Winter Playdough Making

2011-02-11T13:00:00.002-05:00

Aiden likes to mix up flour; this time we made some play dough!

August '10

2010-08-15T22:46:00.002-04:00

Here are a few recent pictures of Aiden. One is right after he had stacked his new blocks and the other two are from when the ice cream man came to the beach in our community.

Wednesday Fun

2010-07-21T17:07:00.002-04:00

Aiden is helping in the kitchen again....

Aiden's First Ball Game

2010-07-10T21:53:00.003-04:00

We went to Bridgeport today to watch a ball game. Aiden had his first chocolate chip cookie! We think he had a good time-- Maggie was all smiles for the game, but cried the entire way home. Oddly, it didn't seem to phase Aiden. Enjoy the pictures.

July 10

2010-07-01T21:49:00.002-04:00

Here is one of our favorite videos of Aiden.

June '10 2

2010-06-28T22:32:00.002-04:00

It is almost July and Aiden's summer is in full swing. Most days he and mommy and Maggie go to the beach or the playground to enjoy the beautiful weather. Here is a video of Aiden enjoying a big truck that we rented from Home Depot. Here are also some pictures, one of which shows
Aiden enjoying one of his favorite pasttimes: collecting all of his posessions around him.

Turning Two

2010-06-03T14:03:00.004-04:00

Aiden enjoyed his second birthday, spending the morning at the mall playing with his friend Clara and then the rest of the day with Mom, Dad, and Maggie. He had his first ice cream cake along with an applesauce cake. He got to do whatever he wanted that day which was mostly walking with Dad-- okay Dad walking with Aiden on his shoulders to the playground and to the beach.

It's like switch flipped in Aiden's brain the moment he turned two. He is more independent and adventurous; more importantly, he wants things his way. Ah, yes the control freak two year old. Luckily he can say, "Aw, nuts" when things don't go his way whether it's a tower of blocks falling over or a matchbox car that's fallen on the floor out of reach. Unfortunately, he was at a loss for words when he got his hair cut as you will see. Enjoy the "clip" and photos!

May '10

2010-05-05T23:11:00.004-04:00

With two kids now time goes by so quickly. Aiden is coming up on two years old. Here are some recent pictures.

March '10-2

2010-03-28T21:44:00.003-04:00

Spring is in the air here in Connecticut and Aiden is gearing up for a summer of fun including playing in the lake. He has been practicing by playing in any water he can get near. Puddles, bath water, water in the sink and the lake (even though it was frozen over until recently). Here are some pictures of his antics.

March '10

2010-03-10T22:53:00.003-05:00

Aiden continues to amaze us with how good he is with his new sister Maggie and what a good boy he is in general. He has been showing quite a sense of humor lately and is always making us laugh. We are very lucky to have such a great kid! Here are some recent photos.

Welcome Maggie Mae!

2010-03-03T21:56:00.002-05:00

Aiden has a new sister and it is really amazing to see the character traits she brings out in him. Here are a few examples: the first night we brought Maggie home she was crying so Aiden ran into his room and tried to get the baby Tylenol that we gave to him when he was teething in order to give it to her. The next night he wasn't able to fall asleep so he made me bring him out of his room to give a kiss to the baby and to his mom and then he went right to sleep. Tonight we laid Maggie on the floor in her boppy and tried to get Aiden on the couch to read Goodnight Moon (which we do every night) and before he would get on the couch he brought a toy over to Maggie. He is such a sweet kid!! He always kisses the baby before going to bed without us even asking him to. I think he is going to be an incredible big brother to Maggie! On the developmental front, Aiden is starting to pick up a few words here and there. Today he said "dot" and "Nona". He'll be talking before we know it! He also has a sense of humor. Robin was asking him to point to some numbers in a book. She said "Where's the number 5?" and he pointed to it and then she said "Where's the number 7?" and Aiden started laughing and pointed at the number 10 and a few other numbers before pointing to the 7. We're pretty sure though that he knew the number 7 but was just playing with us. He certainly is entertaining!! Here are a few pictures.

Ready for baby

2010-02-14T21:23:00.004-05:00

Aiden understands that there is a baby in Mom's belly and that it will be out soon. He has his own baby with which he plays-- who would have thought our little truck boy would start lugging around a doll? Gerber is 30 years old and can still take it; well we'll see how long her arms stay attached to her body!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T21:16:00.004-05:00

We spent the morning at the mall playing. This is Aiden's favorite past time, as it allows him to frolic and people watch! He became adventurous and flipped into one of the train cars; luckily Dad was right there to set him straight while Mom caught the action on film.

What to do with a toddler

2010-02-11T15:38:00.002-05:00

The weather has been snowy and cold, so we've found other ways to entertain Aiden inside instead of outdoors. Today we baked cookies and then he "helped clean up" as much as he could.

January 10 Pictures

2010-01-10T11:10:00.002-05:00

Here are some more pictures...

December 09 Pictures

2010-01-10T10:53:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pictures from the end of last year and a video we like to call "Big Shoes to Fill". Enjoy!

January 2010

2010-01-03T21:15:00.002-05:00

The holidays are over and it's time for everyone to get back to work. Everyone except Aiden that is. He didn't take a minute off during Christmas or New Year's! We'll try to get as many pictures and videos of him opening presents, playing with presents and celebrating up on the website that we can in the limited time that we have. Here is a quick one of him and his mother with a little bit of his banter with the giant blue exercise ball. We hope everyone had great holidays and Happy New Year to all!

Tired Boy

2009-11-13T13:15:00.002-05:00

Even Aiden gets tired of the daily grind. He fell asleep while eating today's lunch. His lively music couldn't keep him awake! It must have been the brisk Fall air that did it to him. We spent the morning walking around the yard and down to the LWA garage to see the trucks.

All in a day's play

2009-11-10T13:42:00.005-05:00

I am not certain who looks forward to the morning orange juice ritual more, Aiden or Daddy. Aiden does brighten up our day, especially with his contagious laughter and hilarious antics.

Perfect Fall Day

2009-11-10T13:35:00.003-05:00

With the weather in the 60's, we took advantage of a beautiful Fall day this past Sunday by going to the playground in our community. Aiden enjoyed playing with Daddy, but most of all, he got to play with some bigger kids. He is looking up the slide at one of them.

Favorite Book and Chair

2009-11-02T13:42:00.002-05:00

Aiden loves his truck book and enjoys reading it in his new rocking chair.

Halloween

2009-11-02T13:28:00.006-05:00

On Friday Aiden went to his first Halloween party this year at Daddy's work place. He got to tour through the offices at LDH Energy while enchanting all of the ladies there with his good looks and cool Ninja outfit. On Thursday he went to music class dressed as a little cow. Here is a video and some pictures.

Aiden's First Haircut

2009-10-12T22:02:00.002-04:00

Here is a video of Aiden's first haircut. We don't mind all the curls in the back but the hair in the front was getting in his eyes so we decided to just trim the bangs. That should be easy enough, right? As it turned out, not really. But in the end he looks fine and his hair is out of his eyes. Please excuse our appearance, we weren't considering that this would be posted at the time.

October 2009

2009-10-03T14:05:00.002-04:00

Here is a video of Aiden and one of his favorite pasttimes: moving the vacuum around. Every chance he gets he will push it or his bicycle around the house or the yard. Some of his other new skills are hopping like a frog and walking on his toes.

Aiden 15 Months 1

2009-09-12T12:18:00.002-04:00

Here is a video of Aiden as he practices sitting down. It also shows him with one of his favorite toys, his vacuum. He pushes his vacuum around the house for hours on end!

Aiden 15 Months

2009-09-12T10:41:00.002-04:00

Here is a video of Aiden as he shows his mom some new tricks. We're introducing a new character in this video: Buddy. Aiden's favorite stuffed animal. We're going to try to post a few more videos and maybe some pictures very soon. Enjoy!

August 2009

2009-08-15T14:51:00.004-04:00

Well, we are finally posting another blog. Time seems to go by so quickly now and it is hard to keep up with the website. But we promise to try to be better. Included today are a few pictures and two videos. The pictures are of Aiden enjoying one of his favorite pastimes: fingerpainting! He would do that every day if he could. The picture on the stair is of the first time he backed up to it and sat down. He is now doing that in his potty training chair so I guess we have a jump on that. The last picture is of him and his broom. He loves that thing and we have spent many hours sweeping the driveway together! The first video is of Aiden and his contagious laughter (thanks Aunt Jen!!!) and the second video is a display of many of Aiden's new tricks. In addition to the ones you'll see he's also added spinning around, dancing (which looks quite similar to his bowing in this video) and walking around in all different funny ways.

He is also very close to speaking. In fact there are a few things that he says that we just can't understand what it is yet (it sounds almost like "I did it!")
We will try to post more pictures and videos of the rest of his newly acquired skills as soon as possible. Enjoy!

June 24

2009-06-24T10:20:00.004-04:00

We can't believe the month of June is almost over. Time goes by so quickly once you have a child! Aiden is amazing. He is healthy, happy (apparently) and such a joy to be around. Some of his favorite activities are playing in the lake or his pool, walking around outside, using the slide and swings at the playground, watching our neighbor Jen play with her dogs, playing hide and seek and chasing mom and dad around the house. He has such a great laugh and his mom gets him laughing so hard sometimes that he can't stand up! Here are a bunch of recent pictures of him. We'll try to post some new videos of him soon.

May 31, 2009

2009-05-31T16:40:00.004-04:00

Aiden just turned one a little over a week ago. It's amazing how fast it has gone and how much he has grown! He is such a wonderful little boy and he brings his mother and father great joy every day (along with a little exasperation!) Thanks to everyone for their generosity to Aiden as well as to his parents. Here are some pictures and maybe a video or two from the last couple weeks.

May 8 Videos

2009-05-08T07:22:00.003-04:00

May 8 More Pictures!

2009-05-08T06:53:00.002-04:00

May 8, 2009

2009-05-08T06:31:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been over a month since our last post. We have been so busy chasing Aiden around that it's hard to find time anymore! He is doing great though. He will be a one year old in a few weeks and it's amazing how quickly it has gone. Somehow, somewhere recently we went from having a baby to having another person in the house. Aiden is mobile, he has his likes and dislikes (and he's not shy about letting us know what they are!), and he is just fun to hang out with. One of our favorite pastimes is chasing each other around the house. Aiden will chase mommy, then mommy will chase Aiden. Then daddy will chase Aiden then he'll chase daddy. With all of us laughing hysterically the whole time! Aiden also likes opening and closing the door with mommy or daddy on the other side. He laughs every time he opens it!
We have been incredibly lucky that Aiden has been so healthy for his first year and we are truly thankful for that. We are also thankful to all of his friends and family who are so caring, generous and loving to him. Here are some recent pictures of Aiden (some from his recent trip to Florida to visit some of his family members). We will post some recent videos of him in the next few days. Enjoy!

April 1 No April Fool's Day

2009-04-01T12:25:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately, there won't be any pictures with this post but we wanted to relay a little story to everyone. Yesterday, Robin put Aiden down in the living room to play and she went into the kitchen to do some cleaning, etc. We do this quite often because Aiden has many of his toys there and Robin can check on him easily. So, Robin is emptying the dishwasher when she turned around and Aiden is standing there helping her unload it! Up until yesterday, Aiden did a lot of walking but he had never gotten up on his own. We're not sure how he did it, but he somehow stood up (or pulled himself up) and walked from the living room into the kitchen. It appears that our little guy is now fully mobile and we'll have to be even more diligent in watching him. He's certainly growing up fast! Hopefully, we'll have more pictures and videos soon.

March 22

2009-03-22T21:24:00.006-04:00

Aiden turned 10 months yesterday. He is doing wonderfully and bringing us joy every day. We recently brought him to the playground in our little community. He tried many of the apparatus but seemed to enjoy the swing the most. Here are videos of his swinging adventure and a few pictures. Two of the pictures are from his first spaghetti dinner that he ate at the dining room table with his mom and dad!

March 2 2009

2009-03-02T22:03:00.006-05:00

Here is a video for only the most hard core Aiden fans (mostly grandparents). It is 8 1/2 minutes of all Aiden, all the time. Robin taped this while he was eating blueberries for the first time. It includes most of his current skills; waving, clapping his hands, eating an apple, laughing and rocking back and forth. For those of you brave enough (and with enough time), enjoy!!

More Pictures!

2009-02-24T22:10:00.000-05:00

9 Months

2009-02-24T21:45:00.003-05:00

Aiden had his nine month checkup today. His height is in the 90th percentile, his head size is in the 95th percentile and his weight is in the 80th percentile. He is a perfectly healthy "little" baby. Things at home are starting to change very quickly for us. Yesterday he took his first steps without any help. Apparently he wanted his mother to walk him around like we always do and she didn't want to so he just took off on his own. What a strong willed child! Since then he has been practicing walking from mommy to daddy and back again without any help. He's also doing a bunch of other new things. He has learned to open cabinet doors and look inside. He plays soccer by kicking things around the house when he's walking with us. He's got a basketball game that he picks up the ball and puts it in the basket. He also claps his hands without any help now. It seems like all of a sudden he can do so many things! We feel so lucky to have such a wonderful, healthy little boy. Here are some recent pictures of him.

February Videos

2009-02-14T14:36:00.006-05:00

So here are the videos mentioned in the previous post. One is of Aiden as he shows that he is getting ready to crawl. He's not there yet but it shouldn't be long. The other is a video of him playing the piano. Granted he is not that good yet but if you listen closely, we're pretty sure he plays Mary Had a Little Lamb right at the end!

February 2009

2009-02-09T22:17:00.002-05:00

Time is going by so fast and Aiden is changing so quickly it is hard to keep up with him. His newest tricks include opening and closing cabinet doors and drawers, pushing and carrying things around the house (accompanied by mom or dad) and yesterday he even said his first word. He had been making a lot of "mom" and "momma" sounds (I thought because of his teething) but his mother got up to go into the kitchen and he said loud and clear "Momma!" It may have been a bit of a coincidence but dad will have to concede that his first word wasn't "dada". On the teething front, Aiden has at least a few teeth coming in on top to match his two beauties on the bottom. Here are some recent pictures (with guest appearances by Matthew and Mason Visconti). We hope to post some new videos this coming weekend. Stay tuned!

Jan 2009

2009-01-12T23:11:00.004-05:00

Now that the holidays are over mom and Aiden are settling back into a normal routine. That means mom can take a lot of pictures of him. Here are a few of our favorites to start off the new year.

Aiden's First Christmas

2008-12-28T09:04:00.005-05:00

Aiden just experienced his first Christmas. Although he received many wonderful gifts from friends and family, he unfortunately was a bit more interested in the wrapping paper than the gifts. Now that the wrapping paper has been discarded though, he is having fun with his new toys. Thanks to everyone for their generosity! For those of you who don't see Aiden very often, here is an update on his latest exploits. He continues to walk everywhere, anytime that he can (still aided by some unsuspecting foil's fingers). He even has a new vehicle that he can walk around in which just may save his parents from a lot of back pain (thanks to the Clarks!!) He spends a great deal of time with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. The cause may be from teething or a stuffy nose but either way, his daddy hopes it is not his only similarity to Michael Jordan. Aiden has taken up the habit of patting or tapping things (OK, actually it is more like banging his hand on things). Sometimes he seems to be getting the feel of the object, sometimes he seems to like the noise he makes and sometimes he seems to be doing it out of frustration. He has also become very vocal lately. He is mostly experimenting with squeals but sometimes he throws in some sounds that almost sound like words. And lastly, his mom wanted to mention his developing personality. He is becoming a strong willed little boy who lets you know in no uncertain terms what he wants and he isn't afraid to pitch a small fit when he doesn't get it! It looks like we're in for years of "fun"! All in all, he is a wonderful baby though and all these qualities (good and not so good) are endearing and make us love him even more. Hope you enjoy these pictures (we have a lot of them this time around) and the quick video.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-07T11:56:00.004-05:00

Aiden had a successful first Thanksgiving. He spent it with mom and dad, Aunt Carrie and Uncle Chris, Uncle Brian, Grandma Semko and Great-Grandma Mayberry. He was in his glory as he was the center of attention all weekend (with a few brief cameos by Snoopa). Most of the weekend was spent, as most of his time is now spent, walking around the house while holding onto someone's fingers. He was able to wear out seven adults with his zeal for walking! In other exciting news, Aiden now has two bottom teeth. He is well on his way to having a great smile! And they're getting plenty of use with his penchant for putting things in his mouth as you can see by him trying to eat the camera in the video of him walking with his Uncle Brian.

November 8, 2008

2008-11-08T08:41:00.005-05:00

Aiden is now 5 1/2 months old and he has had his first bump in the road. He had a cold for about a week followed by a double ear infection. He's been on antibiotics for a few days now and he seems to be feeling much better. As for new experiences, he tried Cheerios and toast for the first time last week. Apparently, he was as good at wearing them as eating them! Here are some pictures and two videos. Please excuse our camera work!

5 Months!

2008-10-19T09:58:00.005-04:00

Aiden is coming up on five months this week. It's amazing how quickly time goes by. When we get the chance to stop and think about it, we realize just how much he has grown already. For one thing, he has become so much fun. Most of our time together is spent trying to get him to laugh. He has a very sophisticated sense of humor but when something strikes him as funny, he's a riot! He's started eating vegetables now in addition to his cereal. Before you know it, he'll be joining mom and dad for pizza on Friday nights! Here are a couple recent pictures, a video of Aiden eating carrots for the first time (he liked them better then he liked peas the first time he tried those) and a video of dad being a dork and Aiden laughing at him.

Week 21

2008-10-05T16:50:00.005-04:00

Aiden's Baptism went great last weekend. He was the star of the show and he was a very well behaved baby. To celebrate we are posting pictures of Aiden with a few of his family members (sorry to any of you that we didn't have a picture of!!) Thank you again to everyone for coming and for all the generous gifts. Now that that is over, the new word of the day is teething. Here is also a video of Aiden with his Aunt Susan while he shows off his new teething skills.

Week 17 (2)

2008-09-22T00:09:00.002-04:00

Week 17

2008-09-21T22:42:00.006-04:00

Aiden is coming up on 4 months now and things are really starting to happen for him. He had cereal this morning for the first time, he recently found his toes, he gets Baptized next weekend and he has his four month checkup the next week. We're very thankful that he is healthy and happy (we think). Here is a video of him in his favorite toy, his Entertainer (thanks Liz and Frank!!) where he spends quite a bit of time. There is also a video of him eating his first "solid" food. And of course, some pictures of him playing with his toes and doing other fun stuff.

Week 15 (2)

2008-08-30T11:35:00.003-04:00

Here are some more pictures of the boy. Here is also a video of Aiden standing while holding onto the couch. Please excuse the taping quality, mom was more worried about Aiden falling than how the video was coming out!

Week 15

2008-08-30T10:56:00.003-04:00

Robin has taken quite a few pictures of Aiden lately so we wanted to share some of them with everyone. He is just over 14 pounds now and growing like a weed! The other day he was standing up in the living room holding onto the couch (with mom making sure that he didn't fall down). He's not ready to walk yet but it seems like it is right around the corner. One of our greatest joys is Aiden's smile. Hopefully, you'll get as much pleasure out of it in these pictures as we do. Enjoy!

Week 12

2008-08-16T21:38:00.005-04:00

It's been about a month since the last post and there have been too many changes to list. Aiden smiles quite often now and he's taken to sticking his tongue out when he's feeling a little gassy. He spends his time looking at everything around him. He's most happy when he's outside enjoying nature. We took him to the beach the other day and he loved splashing his feet in the water! Since the last post was dedicated to dad, we dedicate this one to mom. I'm not sure who was happier when Aiden was playing in the water, him or her! Aiden had a doctor's appointment recently and the doctor told us that he is in the 75th percentile for size and 90th percentile for height. NBA, here we come!

Week 8

2008-07-17T20:29:00.003-04:00

Well, here we are at two months. Aiden is such a great baby. He keeps Robin busy all day with his large appetite and his occasional fussiness but she is a wonderful and patient mother. Aiden is getting a sense of his environment now and takes many opportunities to stop and stare at different things (he loves ceiling fans) to size them up. He looks us straight in the face now and we imagine that there is a hint of recognition there. Although mom does all the tough work with Aiden, today's post is dedicated to dad. (since we had some good pictures of the two of us together) In one of them, both Aiden and I are pretending to be asleep. Like father like son!

Week 5

2008-06-26T22:35:00.004-04:00

Well, the weeks are flying past. We think that Aiden has gone through a growth spurt because he, all of a sudden, seems so big! When he stretches out his arms, they now reach past the sides of his cradle. Mom is busy feeding him all day long to try to keep up with his huge appetite. Here is a quick video of Aiden sleeping. It isn't very exciting but if you turn the sound up, he was making some pretty funny noises while he slept. Here also are a few new pictures of him. Take a look at that melon!!

Week 4

2008-06-18T20:38:00.002-04:00

Aiden was weighed yesterday and he is up to 9 pounds. He has gained an ounce a day for the last week or so. Mom and Dad are looking for second jobs to help pay for his food bills in the near future. He rolled over today for the first time. Mom had him on his back on the bed, turned around for a second and when she turned back he was on his stomach. He's going to be quite the athlete! It's also a new level of watchfulness for us now that he's mobile. Here are a few pictures taken today to show how much he is growing!

Aiden's First Bath

2008-06-11T23:08:00.003-04:00

We've finally gotten some videos of Aiden loaded on our computer. Here is our first try at posting one on his web site. This is his first bath at the hospital the day he was born. Enjoy!

Week 3

2008-06-11T20:22:00.000-04:00

Aiden now weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces according to his weigh-in today. He's growing by leaps and bounds! He's is still just about the best baby in the world. Unfortunately, good pictures of him are hard to come by due to his father's aversion to flash photography of him. Here is one picture of him with his eyes open though. He has them open quite often now and he seems to be trying to focus on objects that are close to him. His mother says that he is even laughing now (although it may just be gas!)

Week 2

2008-06-04T21:37:00.001-04:00

Here is Robin's favorite picture of Aiden. He had is two week checkup today and he is now a healthy 7 lbs 13 ounces and 22 inches long. He is a wonderful baby and a handsome little guy!

Aiden's First Days

2008-06-04T21:30:00.000-04:00

This is the first entry on Aiden Finn McAllister's website. This will be a place for family and friends to come to see how he is doing and how fast he is growing. We will put up pictures and updates as often as possible. Thanks for visiting!