Dear Friends and Family,

 

Well, this is the last pre-baby update. Things are gearing up for the arrival of "Nebraska" and we're all very excited. We'll let you know the big news as soon as there is big news to know!

 

Much has been happening in Arden-land in recent weeks.

 

Puns

 His recent language development has been punning. (Michael says he's not sure that's really recent; it's just that they've gotten funny recently.) A few examples:

 - We have some Pepperidge Farm Snack Sticks (like breadsticks) which he calls "Salt and Pepperidge Farm Snack Sticks."

 - When offered chocolate chips as a treat, he calls them "chocolate Marta and Chips" after friends of ours (Chip and Marta) from playgroup.

 - You can't dress him in denim pants without being asked if they're "Eu-jeans" after the treasurer of Beachcomber, Eugene Okamoto.

 - Last week on a windy day, he asked if our the musical sounds from outside were "Jen Wynne Chimes" after another playgroup mom, instead of wind chimes.

 

The End of the Binky

 We're pleased to report that Arden gave up his pacifier (binky) two weeks ago, pretty much of his own accord!

 

One day, Arden couldn't find the binky he uses in the car, so Michael decided to give a shot at having no car binky that day. Well, Arden had no problem with that at all, not a single complaint. Michael had spent a few days telling him that he would have to give it up soon because it would push his teeth into the wrong place now that he's a big boy. That logic hadn't seemed to gain much traction, but it was starting to make an impression.

 

We hadn't figured that we would also eliminate his bed binky, at least not yet. Just getting it out of the car would be a nice improvement. But at nap time that day, about five minutes after he went down, Michael heard his door open and something being tossed out. Michael didn't even go look, figuring it was some toy or book he had decided to exile. And Arden didn't say anything, just closed the door and went back in to sleep. When Michael went past his door later, he noticed that what was lying there was the binky.

 

Since then, there has been no mention of the binky at all. It's almost like it never existed.

 

Preparing for Big Brotherhood

 Arden's really getting into the idea of being a big brother. He really wants to teach Nebraska how to do all the things he knows how to do and wants to make sure we don't forget about Nebraska in our daily lives. When we made four puddings the other day, he was insistent that we had to save one for Nebraska so he could have one too. (We explained that it would be a long time before he could eat pudding!) When we decided not to buy a friend's used car that we had been considering because it was bigger than Michael's Celica, Arden was extremely agitated that there wouldn't be any room for the baby and kept asking what were we going to do if we didn't buy the car?

 

We hope this bodes well for Arden being a loving and concerned big brother. He'll certainly have some adjustments to make with the new arrival, but it looks like he's as ready as he could be. We'll keep you all posted on how it goes.