Little Engineer

I secretly hope that Aiden grows up to be an engineer (obviously it's in Sean's genes). It's such a useful profession, no matter the area. Sean hopes Aiden grows up to be a banker. Or a lawyer. Or some kind of lawyer who specializes in banking but also has a medical degree. No pressure right?

Anyway, we were walking through the store a few weeks ago and they had all of these little boy shirts. Some looked like doctor's coats, complete with stethoscopes, some had police badges and some looked like a suit and tie. Then I found it....

The engineer shirt, complete with suspenders, taped up glasses and pocket protector.

I had to get it!!! It's so cute.

When Life Gets a Little Wild

All throughout the night we were bombarded by nonstop lightening and thunder. Aiden woke up at 3am and 5am, and although I should've realized it was because he's terrified of storms, Sean and I just kept dragging him back to bed over and over, groaning at being awoken so early. Thus began our day.

As I was getting dressed I realized I couldn't find my wedding ring. I retraced my steps and looked in every spot I may might have left it but found nothing. I began to panic. How could I lose the material representation of my wedding vows? NOT GOOD. Then I remembered how Aiden tends to rifle through the things on my bedside table, the place where I keep my ring at night. I attempted to interrogate him about it but he would say "uh...wing? uh yes" , he'd run out of the room and come back with a balloon. Or a plastic car. Not my wedding ring. I was on the verge of tears begging him to think about where he put it, but finally I gave up. After five minutes of silence on my part, while I tried to remember what the insurance policy on the ring covered, I barely noticed Aiden shimmying on his belly under the bed. He emerged from the depths with my two rings in his hand, smiling and very proud of remembering his hiding spot, nevermind that I was pulling my hair out and explaining to him what "grand larceny" meant.

It poured all day, making errands extremely difficult since our main road tends to flood at the lightest rain shower. Aiden barely napped. Things were not really coming together for me. Every breath I took seemed to come out as a tortured sigh.

Finally, I decided to make some banana bread before Sean got home. Aiden likes to sit on the counter with me while I mix ingrediants, occasionally asking to stir things. Whenever I hand the bowl over to him I'm constantly reminding him to stir "SLOWLY!!!" or else there are clouds of flour and cascades of sugar and egg all over the place. Today I was just trying to get everything together as quickly as possible, convinced that this too would somehow implode. I was whipping the batter, lost in thought about what I hadn't accomplished today, when I felt two tiny hands on my arm.

"Slow mommy," Aiden said. "Slow"

He looked so serious when he said it that I couldn't help but smile. I let him stir the rest of the time. Instead of working myself up over what I could try and cram into the next two hours, I took his advice and slowed down and we went and watched Kung Fu Panda. It was totally worth it.

Before Bedtime

The Second Best Toy Ever

Everyone knows that the best toy in the world is an empty cardboard box. However, I'm starting to think that the second best toy must be a helium filled balloon. Sean and I had to get the oil changed in both cars yesterday so Aiden had to come along. He loves car dealerships, because he loves anything involving cars. We wandered around showing him all the brand new Honda's while we were waiting (and like the engineer in training that he his, he kept asking to see the engines and wanting us to explain what all the parts were).

Lucky for him, one of the salesmen came along and gave him a HUGE white balloon. I explained to Aiden that if he took it outside and let go, it would float away, so he needed to hold on very very carefully. The whole ride home he held that balloon in a death grip. When we got inside I told him he could let go and that it would hit the ceiling and that he could pull it back down by the string. Well he let go, and with eyes wide he watched it bump against the ceiling. He shrieked with glee and pulled it back down, laughing at how he could retrieve it all by himself.

sorry this is sideways:

The added bonus is that now I always know where Aiden is.

Start of Fall, Almost

Wow, I didn't realize how long it had been since my last post until three separate people gently reminded me to get cracking and post something. The weather is finally getting cooler here! Although the high's are still 90 degrees almost every day, it only stays that warm for a couple hours and the mornings are usually in the seventies or eighties. It's so nice.

However, I am a little jealous hearing about the beautiful weather and the leaves and the great apple picking in New York. Although the weather is milder here, we don't have any leaves changing or crisp breezes or that wonderful scent of fallen leaves. Or apple cider donuts. Or hay rides. Can you tell I'm missing Autumn just a little bit?

We are nearing the last month of our stay, and I can hardly believe it. When we were in Brooklyn time seemed to crawl, it really felt like we were just going to stay there forever. We we moved down here it felt very temporary but still, I didn't realize just how fast it would go.

We've been busy visiting all of the parks that it was too hot to visit before. Aiden spends every morning outside playing since this is our last chance to get in a lot of that before returning home. We're planning on visiting the Magnolia plantation in the next couple of weeks and hopefully seeing Charles Towne Landing, which is Charleston's version of Old Sturbridge Village. If we're really brave we might get in one last trip to the beach!

Aiden has found the one leaf that has fallen off the trees

Who needs beautiful forests of colorful leaves when we have pollen floating on ponds?

Happiness Is A Warm Puppy

Things You Don't Want to Hear From the Babysitter

Sean and I went out on a three hour cruise around the Charleston harbor with five of his coworkers last night. I had really wanted to go but we were uncertain about finding a babysitter. The girl who had watched Aiden last time is due with her own son this week. No way was I asking a nine months pregnant woman to please corral my two year old.

In a crazy twist, Sean's coworker and his wife, who are expecting their first baby this December (there is something in the water here I swear!) offered to come over. I was a little nervous because Aiden has really only had friends and family watch him. This spring we had a woman come watch him for a few weeks, but her two daughters also came, and so he was pretty well behaved. Our babysitter here, Cassie, only came over once we had gotten him ready for/into bed. So, these two were about to face the ultimate challenge of getting Aiden ready for bed and putting him to sleep, since we'd be gone until 10pm.

I tried to convince myself that since they were strangers Aiden would probably be behaved. That's what we call: WISHFUL THINKING. Also, this man is a Naval Officer, which means he is trained to handle life threatening emergencies, so really, a two year old should be no sweat. RIGHT?

Well, the minute they walked in Aiden was dragging them over to play trains. And watch a movie. And play cars. We had to run since our ride was waiting in the parking lot, so we left Sean's cell number and headed out. Obviously, half way to the restaurant where the boat would be leaving from, it occurred to me that I didn't know if we'd get cell reception in the middle of the harbor, and even if we did, were we going to swim to shore and hail a cab back to the apartment? Either way, they didn't call while we were out.

It was an amazing time. There were free drinks and food and we sat on the deck of this huge catamaran and watched the sun set. It was so gorgeous and relaxing. And then we went home.

Aiden was asleep, and they assured us he had been a great kid. He had sat quietly all the way through "Finding Nemo". However, once the movie was over he ran around in circles with his blanket on his head and they couldn't get him to stop. Then he let the dog out. Then he jumped on our bed and pulled all the covers off. Then he peed himself. Then he refused to wear any clothes. They still insisted he was very nice.





Yeah. I was pretty mortified; I couldn't stop apologizing. Sean couldn't stop laughing. I hope we haven't scarred them too badly.