The Amazing Aaron

Aaron has suddenly become quite accomplished at sitting up on his own!



And at pushing buttons.



And at getting most anything into his mouth for a good chew (no, there's no sound on the video below).

Solid Food

We celebrated July 4th by giving Aaron solid food for the first time. Well, you know, formula with a little rice cereal mixed in so it's a hair thicker. And served with a spoon instead of a bottle. He did pretty well for a first attempt and I think we might have even gotten more down his throat than on his face.

Since then he has become a cereal fiend. He just loves it! We have tried both rice cereal and oatmeal, and he seems to love them both. We make it fairly thick now, and he eats a respectable amount at one time. Sometimes he even cries when you take the spoon away for a moment. Sometimes he also tries to get a hand in his mouth and sing at the same time, which is kind of funny. Look at my happy guy!

Yesterday I tried to feed him mashed bananas. He made the most horrible faces (contrast pix above and below). Same thing when Genevieve offered him applesauce this evening. I guess he's not a fan of fruit yet.

He always manages to smear it all over his face. Those long eyelashes can get pretty gunky. We are stepping up the frequency of baths.

Aaron's first camping trip

As soon as school let out, John wanted to take Genevieve camping. At first it was just going to be the two of them, but she very sweetly entreated me to come too. I wasn't sure how Aaron would do but I figured I'd give it a shot. The first time we took Genevieve camping, she was 2 years old and cried all night. John ended up driving her around until dawn. Aaron did great, though. He seemed to really enjoy the outdoors, and at night he curled up with me in my sleeping bag.

So we had a great time. We went to Stony Brook State Park, which is only a little more than an hour away, and the park was beautiful. It's near Letchworth, which is bigger and more well known, but this was just as pretty and much less crowded. We even managed to avoid the rain for the most part (it's been raining nearly constantly all summer so far).

We did all the usual stuff: cooked over the campfire, made s'mores, read Harry Potter...

The next day we went hiking. The trail runs right along the river with numerous waterfalls and bridges. It was great. It reminded me of Watkins Glen, or Taughannock. They even have a section dammed up for a pool (it was freezing, though) and a marvelous playground.

Luckily Aaron enjoyed the backpack carrier. He spent at least half the hike dozing on John's back, and the rest of the time he just looked around and sucked on his hand happily.

The rain started just when we were ready to leave. If only we had packed up the tent earlier, it would have been perfect. As it was, we ended up stuffing a wet tent in the car as usual. At home we pitched it in the backyard to dry out, but of course it has rained practically every day since, so I'm still waiting...