I remember last year in May when it seemed like nature had cozied right up to our front door and we stumbled upon duck eggs in the yard and a baby rabbit in our (now covered!) window well. This year has been no different. We live in the suburbs and although a small portion of our back yard is fenced, the area beyond the fence is a mess of woods. Animals seem to loooove it. We've had all manner of creatures from deer to woodchucks come moseying on through our yard. This year it's started with what we assume to be a mink. It is longer and lower to the ground than a fox and has a shiny black coat. My brief google search says mink. Then yesterday we saw this guy:
A turkey, right? We have lots of wild turkeys in the area although we usually see them in the Fall. Aiden took out his binoculars and watched him before saying "Hey mom, he's eating a piece of paper" which I know is definitely not in the standard wild turkey diet. I looked for myself and yeah....that's a turkey vulture. Eating a fluffy bunny. It's the ciiiiircle of life! Like the wheeel of fortune! Nature in all it's glory right there.
When he's not being scarred by scavenging birds, Aiden seems to be blooming right along with nature. Anyone who's met him knows he has a tendency towards being reserved if not out and out shy. It's no different at school. He has a lot of friends but he hangs back a bit and it takes him a while to warm up to everyone. Well, the past couple of weeks have been a complete 180. I picked him up from school one day and instead of walking out to the parking lot he walked into the center of the kids all milling around getting ready to go and said "I'm the fastest biker here and no one can catch me!" and hopped onto one of the trikes and took off. All the boys followed him and he started shouting out directions to everyone and they all listened. I just sort of stood there wondering who this kid was because he certainly wasn't the one I dropped off earlier in the morning.
He has come into his own all of the sudden. All the worry I had about whether he'd handle kindergarten and the bus ride have evaporated. The only thing is that this attitude is sometimes directed at Sean and I and while I want to nurture this new independence and self assurance, the constant back talk is pretty wearing.
Earlier in the year I had been 100% positive that Aiden wouldn't be ready for any kind of summer camp. New activities up to now have come with a lot of tears and clinging and I didn't want to spend the summer convincing him to please go have fun with the other kids. Well now with this new personality I'm on the verge of signing him up for everything. I know he'd for sure going to soccer camp and a craft camp but who knows how crazy we'll get.
He's currently in swim class, which loves and also cheats at because he's very tall and can sort of bounce across the pool bottom while all the other short kids are actually having to try and swim. He also fails miserably at the floating portion of the class because he has approximately .07% body fat and there is just nothing to keep him up. Other than that he's been rocking it.
On a whim I also signed both he and I up for a cupcake decorating class. I thought he'd be excited since he bakes with me all the time but when I told him about it he just stared at me like it was the dumbest idea he'd ever heard. Turns out it was AWESOME. Mostly because we got to take home six elaborately decorated cupcakes. Also, because I realized that he has a magical skill that few people old or young possess and that skill is: he can follow directions. Both parents and kids alike bickered and talked and daydreamed while the baking instructor talked but Aiden, hold on to your hats, payed attention and listened and then he went and did exactly what he was supposed to. WHOA. That's like 80% percent of success right there. I was so proud.
And since I haven't said a word about Rory yet, here are some parting photos. He's got four teeth coming in, all at the same time. Oh joy! He's been busy just holding himself together this week and wasn't really in the mood for having his picture taken. But here he is, doing what he does best: trying to get Aiden's attention and trying to eat stuff.
