i dooo

This week Aiden's really been making words with a big kid voice. He started with "oh, yay!" whenever we would ask him if he was "ready" - It didn't matter if he was ready for a diaper change or a trip to Gymboree he was equally excited. The fun part for us was that his little kid voice peeked through. Just this week if you ask him, would you like some more cheese? He responds with "i do" - clear as day in the cutest little kid voice. I just wish I could get it on tape (and play it back as part of his wedding video or something :-> )

Last weekend I got a call from the nicest sounding telemarketer, and even though I usually politely ask to be taken off their list before they spit out what they are calling about, there was something soothing about this woman's voice. Aiden was competing for the phone, but he was quickly distracted by his clipo hippo. Turns out it was a phone survey from University of Pennsylvania researchers. They don't quite explain what they are researching, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with whether you read to your children. It took over 45 minutes, but I got paid $25 so I think it was worth it.

They charted out Aiden's typical day hour by hour, asked about over a 100 words (whether he understood, understood and spoke, or didn't understand), and asked general questions about family life. They asked a lot about which books where his favorites and why, how often we read, and what other media we might use at the same time. Some of the words on the list were simple words he loves, but others were more abstract (like away, how, and break - yep I wrote them all down as she was asking them because I knew I'd be curious later and J might be interested). The survey didn't include anything about signing which surprised me. I just couldn't be more convinced that signing is so beneficial. I think I'll spend my $25 on more books.

And, I've recently been tidyin up my photo archives and I didn't want you to miss this! Here is Art by Aiden favorites - the fall in review: