Car Lover

Mack, his favorite word

Aiden, as we all know, LOVES CARS. Any kind, any color, any make/model/size. For Christmas he received all sorts of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, and my brother even got him a nifty Hot Wheels carrying case. Now he can lug fifty cars around with him; the case is nearly as tall as him and we hear it bang banging against his legs as he drags it behind him from room to room. Then he opens the case and very carefully lines up each car. Occasionally he will pick one up and say "Mommy" or "Daddy", meaning this car belongs to one of us. Soon he started assigning cars to everyone he could think of. Sean and I test him on it, to see if the car assignments change, but we've discovered that no matter when you ask him: the same cars are always assigned to the same people. So I thought I'd share.

From the top: Grandma's, Laura's, Addie's, Papa's, Nai Nai's, Uncle Ben's, followed by Mommy's orange convertible and Daddy's two toned purple car. Nice choice for Daddy.

The Family Autos

Memory like a steel trap (nose like an Endres)

Our Weekend

I started my last semester this past Wednesday, and that old familiar anxiety about school is back. I don't know when it started, sometime in college, but I've become one of those people who always think they are on the verge of failing and then end up with an A-. I've been doing really well in school, but not without major stress and general mental anguish.

This weekend has been a great chance to just stop freaking out about missing text books and professors who mumble and instead help my mom make cupcakes for the church dinner, and wrestle with the dog, and do the laundry and go grocery shopping. It's funny how all those things that usually seem like chores are suddenly welcoming and comfortable.

The one thing that has been different about this semester is having Sean as a temporary stay at home dad. I cam home on Friday to a sparkling clean house and a very happy child. It was a great start to a very relaxing weekend.

Come Back From San Francisco...

Today Laura left for her big cross country road trip, on her way to a new state, a new school and a new life. This was a plan in the making for quite some time, but that doesn't change the fact that it has still left Sean and I standing here, scratching our heads and wondering where all the time went and what we're supposed to do now. I knew it would be hard on us, since she is my best friend in the entire world, and we've been kind of gobsmacked by how much will change and what a good yet terrible thing her move will be.

Laura is Aiden's godmother, a role delegated to her long before Sean and I ever had a child and long before I ever even met him. A godmother is a moral guide, someone who knows exactly how you'd like to raise your child and is there to help the parents accomplish it . She has done that wonderfully so far, and I know she will continue no matter where she is.

Aiden will miss her, but he has the blessing of being too young to fully absorb her absence. He will still have lots of family and friends around, but I can't help thinking about all of the little things he still has to learn from her. She'd probably be the one he'd go to if he ever tried to run away, and the one he'll talk to about his first girlfriend and his first beer. Maybe he'll come talk to us first, but if not, I'd want it to be her because I know exactly what she'd say and do: the same thing I would. That's why she's his godmother, because I trust her that much.

Foster Child....Sort of

So, we're watching Sean's mother and stepfather's dog while they are out of the country for business. I have always wanted a dog, so I was totally thrilled, and it helps that she's just a little snuggle lump.



Well, she's a big snuggle lump, and she's some sort of lab mix, and her name is Bear. Aiden loves her so much, but definitely takes on the big brother role in their relationship. I'm pretty sure they're on the same cognitive level at this point, although Bear is potty trained and Aiden is not. There is nothing funnier than a two year old, who happens to be shorter and weighs about thirty pounds less, bossing the dog around. He walks up to her and says "Gogo, here!" and they mosey off down the hall together (Gogo is Chinese for dog). He is constantly showing her his toys and telling her what she can and can't do. We finally had to tell Aiden he wasn't allowed to bother her when she laid down because for twenty minutes he stood over her and babbled on and on to her about who-knows-what, when all she wanted was a nap. Welcome to my world Bear.

Skiing Part 3

Seriously, more skiing today. The weather is warming up so we figured we'd get in one last day before everything melted.

I got video of Aiden going down by himself today. We've been trying to get him to work on turning but it's been a little hard for him because the skis are so heavy. Today when he went down alone he realized if he really leaned into it he could turn and stop himself really fast, which cracked him up. At least he's getting the feel of it.

Encouraging...From the Sidelines

So, since we picked up those itty baby skis for Aiden, Sean has been taking him out as often as possible. To Sean's utter satisfaction: Aiden seems to LOVE IT. Sean loves skiing, loves big mountains and small ones, moguls and black diamond trails (I don't even really know what those are). So Sean will load Aiden into the fifty pounds of coats and snowpants and hats and boots and skis and haul him out onto the big hill in our neighbor's yard. Then, he patiently trots next to him, reminding him when to turn his feet and lean, and then once Aiden has made it to the bottom he hauls the boy and his snow covered skis back up to do it again. And again. And again and again and again.

Today he took Aiden out while I relaxed in our warm house, promising that "I'll be right out! One second! I'm so on my way....in just 5 minutes!".

Finally I got my own coat and hat and boots and gloves and the camera and climbed through the prickly opening in the bushes between property lines to go watch. And it was actually adorable. You would've thought Sean was coaching an Olympic hopeful the way he patiently guided and led.

This is what it looked like:

So I took a turn holding his hand and guiding him down, encouraging him to move his feet and turn, and to lean his body into it, and before long daddy was staring at me since I haven't skied since I was about five and I was just making stuff up at this point. So I let Sean take the reins again.

But then, as usual, my feet started to get numb. And my hands too. And it was just generally really super cold and grey. So I let dad and son keep playing and I headed back inside, to the oh-so-warm house where there was coffee. And in the middle of enjoying my first cup of the day, and my first moment alone, Sean called my cell phone, urging me to come on back out, because Aiden had just learned something amazing and new. And I had to gently tell him that I was so excited about that, and I just love that they enjoy this together, but no way in heck was I about get all those layers on again, climb through the hedge and back down the hill.

Well, afterward Sean and Aiden came back in, and he told me that what Aiden had learned was how to go down the hill by himself, confident and balanced. Well, that made me feel really terrible because although Aiden had been having fun, he really couldn't do much on his own and we were confined to the back yard. It was fun, but not a really big deal, and now he'd pretty much mastered step one, and I was too comfortable inside to go watch.Now it seems like the next step is the bunny slope at a real mountain. Which means I have to decide if this is something that the two of them are going to continue to enjoy as a dad and son thing, or if I'm going to have to actually get some lessons myself.

I am so excited that the two of them have this special time together, but couldn't we have encouraged him to learn to play beach volleyball instead? I think I'd really enjoy that one.

Lil' GQ

New jammies with Thomas on them.


Two pieces . Flannel. Very grown-up.




Working it, because he knows he looks good.

For Christmas (and his birthday) Aiden got so many cute clothes. I know a lot of moms who get so upset when their kids grow out of clothes, and so far, I haven't felt that because he has so many cute outfits just waiting for him to grow into them. All of the women in his life, especially my friends, do their best to ensure that he is the best dressed boy in his preschool class. I always feel conspicuous but oddly proud when I drop him off at school and the other kids are running around in old sweatpants and he's got a new checked button down carefully matched with a casual yet sporty cable knit zipper-front sweater and khakis. I'm always dressed in whatever I like from the Target clearance rack, but somehow (not from anything I've purchased!) Aiden's closet is stuffed with Ralph Lauren and Nautica and Tommy Hilfiger.
Sean would probably cringe if he knew how much time I spend matching and rearranging and laying out clothes for Aiden, and that I always dress him more formally than necessary (Sean thinks Aiden should wear feety pajamas all day, or at least worn-in sweatpants and oversized sweatshirts). The funny thing is, Aidy has never yet acted like he wasn't comfortable in these 'grown-up' clothes. I think he's got a fashion sense already. Just don't tell Sean.

Ski Bums

Sean loves to ski. He tells me about how he started at 22 months old, and was better than his parents in just a few years, and how he can't wait to get Aiden on skis. Well, this winter he's finally big enough, and last week we went out and got him itty bitty baby skis.

Even though it was super cold this weekend Sean and his dad got out there with him. From the story I heard, they got him strapped onto his skis and then let him go down the small hill in Sean's dad's yard all by himself. It didn't occur to them that perhaps a two year old who has never been on skis before might not appreciate being sent down a hill alone as his first experience of the sport.


However, they must know what they're doing because apparently once he calmed down he couldn't wait to go again, and he had a great time. Sean is thrilled that Aiden is willing to try skiing and now it seems it's up to me to learn!

Kiss and make up

Gulliver and a Lilliputian

Hiatus

So, I didn't post much (okay, anything) this fall. I was working my way through my last difficult semester ( I just finished the requirements for my business minor) and it was a little too much. However, now that my best friend/Aiden's godmom is about to move all the way across the country to lovely San Fransisco, and Sean will be out of state for training, I figured I'd better start it up again.

This is the perfect time to get going again I'm out of school until the 20th, when I start my last semester (you have no idea how thrilling that is) and Seany won't be starting his BIG! NEW! JOB! until mid February. We've basically been taking these past three weeks as our honeymoon, and we tend to not get out of our pajamas until four p.m. and we eat cookies for breakfast and watch Disney movies until the wee hours of the night. IT'S BEEN AWESOME.

I definitely think Aiden has been loving having both parents home, and this has been our first really long break together. Usually Sean starts a co-op right after New Years, but now we've had some time to just do a whole lot of nothing and it's been bliss. I guess it's getting to Sean since he decided to apply for a temp job working on the 2010 census. He was all "honey, we don't get dressed until 4p.m. and we watch movies all day, I have to have something to do with myself" and I'm all "honey, how are you going to take a temp job when we are so busy not getting dressed until 4p.m.??? And what about all of the movies? They're not going to watch themselves!".

Yep, married life has been a whole lot of fun.