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May 22, 2003
Well, life is much better (or should I say less chaotic?) than it was when I wrote my last entry. I’ve been working on this entry on and off for over a week so I hope it is coherent!
Most importantly: What is Aden doing? Talking up a storm! His vocabulary is increasing exponentially and we have entered the repeating-things-a-million-times stage. My mom says this stage will last from now until he becomes a teenager and stops talking to us altogether! :)However, I love listening to him, especially since he has so much to tell me about the world. He notices and informs me of things I would never notice—a tiny bug on the sidewalk, a bird up in a tree, a cat across the street.
His words are also getting clearer or at least more intelligible to other people. But I still find myself translating a lot, even to Derek. “Wan wok uh stee!” Aden will repeat incessantly. “What does he want, honey?” my husband will holler at me as I am upstairs trying to get a moment’s peace and quiet, or maybe just hoping to use the bathroom by myself. “He wants to go for a walk up the street!” I will shout back, generally exasperated that my dear husband couldn’t figure this out for himself. But Aden has a lot to say, and it’s hard to stay fluent in his toddler language.
We have been going for family bike rides lately. Aden rides in the bike buggy pulled behind Derek or I. Aden loves to talk non-stop about all of the things he sees. He is fascinated with bikes of all kinds and always wants to sit on the seats of our bikes. We decided to go get him a little bike or tricycle, but once we got to Wal-mart and started looking, we realized that all of them are still too big for him. He can sit on the seat and push himself with his tiptoes, but try as he might, his feet are still several inches away from reaching the pedals. We decided to wait and get one for his birthday in July, but of course, he was utterly devastated when we left with no bike. I felt so bad for him! So now every time we go to Wal-mart, we have to stop at the bikes, not to mention the fish, and the balloons...
Aden’s other recent favorites have been airplanes, the squirrels up in the trees, the helicopters (maple seeds) that fall down from trees, what every single animal says (my favorite being his cat "Meow, meow" that he utters in an adorable high pitched voice every time our cat enters the room), and what movements different animals make. We have a wonderful Eric Carle book called "From Head to Toe" and each page is a different animal: "I am a gorilla and I thump my chest. Can you do it? I can do it!" etc. Aden and Katie absolutely love this book and they will both repeat it endlessly, even by themselves. I highly recommend it for any toddler, it’s so much fun.
Then there are his names for the people in his life, which might bore everyone else, but I find them adorable. Some of them are obvious: Mowee for my friend Molly, Lyler for his uncle Kyler, Kakee for Katie, Doo for Uncle Drew. Others are more creative: Xander is frequently called Dodur dog woof woof. My mom is Mamee and Derek’s dad is Boppy, even though we have never called them anything other than Grandma and Grandpa. Where do kids come up with these things?
When I wrote last, I was about to go to my doctor to get my IUD out. That went well, no pain at all and just the tiniest bit of spotting so hopefully my uterine lining was not scraped too badly (my midwife had warned me that if I felt like it was scraped, it might need 4 or 5 months to regenerate enough to support a pregnancy). My doctor was not helpful about my short luteal phases other than saying that if we didn’t get pregnant in 6 months, he thought I should come in then rather than waiting for a full year. This month was another 5 or possibly 6 day luteal phase; I was hoping it would at least go back to 9 days like it was the first 3 months I charted. Last but not least, he was not at all negative about my wanting a homebirth with a midwife. He said he could not "officially" be my back-up doctor (for malpractice reasons) but he would be happy to see me throughout my next pregnancy and if he didn’t see me for my delivery, good for me.
A few days later, I met my midwife-to-be, Fran. She is one of the most incredible women I have ever met. May I just say, when I "grow up" I want to be Fran. We had a wonderful 2 hour visit filled with conversations spanning nearly every pregnancy/birth/newborn topic I can imagine. I was able to discuss my feelings about my previous birth, how I envision the next birth, her statistics (things like complications, transport rate, tearing), how her practice works, her ideas on health and nutrition during pregnancy, why or if I wanted to continue to have a back-up doctor, etc. She seems perfect. Her credentials are impressive: She has been a midwife for 30 years but she also went to nursing school during that time and then spent 5 years working as a pediatrics nurse, with some time in a private practice and some time in the PICU at a large hospital. But more important than her credentials is the fact that I really felt connected to her. We were on the same wavelength about every topic. She truly listened to me. What an invaluable characteristic in a birth provider. But enough gushing about Fran, I have to gush about my husband too.
For Mother’s Day, Derek gave me an amazing card. Here is part of what he wrote: "Honey—You are such a wonderful mother! Every day I can see in our son’s eyes how much he adores and trusts you. It takes *a lot* of patience to allow a little boy to grow up at *his* pace and you have shown every ounce of control to allow him to do just that. ...With that said, I can’t wait for Aden to see how well you give your love and guidance to his brother or sister. I’m ready when you are...."
My eyes teared up and my heart just melted! Obviously, we have been talking for some time about when to TTC baby #2 but up to that point it was always me wanting it, while he felt a little reluctant. And I certainly didn’t want to feel like I was coercing him into another child. It was the greatest gift to know that he truly wants (and is looking forward to) having another baby too.
It still may be a few months until TTC time, but I’m getting ready. I started taking my prenatal vitamins (I’m taking those wonderful Rainbow Light once daily, wholefood vitamins that Brooke over on PT recommended) and I’m drinking my friend’s Mama Love tea (raspberry leaf and lots of other good herbs). I’m also continuing to try to exercise and shed a few pounds so my body will be healthy and strong for a new pregnancy. In fact, I had about 8 or 9 pounds of "baby weight" left on me from my pregnancy with Aden, and I have so far lost 6 pounds. Yay!
Well, Aden just woke up from his nap so I will have to close. He’d been playing in bed for a while, making all sorts of noise and talking to himself and his stuffed animals. I wasn’t sure what he was doing but generally if he sounds happy I give him a little time to himself play and wake up. So I waited a little and when I went in to get him, he held up Duck (his favorite stuffed animal) and said, "Guk, guk!" and then touched the top of his head. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing so he kept repeating it. Finally he put Duck on top of his head and said, "Guk!" (Quack?), then laughed hysterically and started wrestling in bed with Duck. He threw himself on top of duck, rolled over, kicked his feet, and thrashed about wildly. So that’s what all that noise was!
Take care, everyone!
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