23 months!

Dear Aiden,

I was so amused by your reaction to the wedding extravaganza this month. Friends were coming up to you and patting your back looking for your energizer bunny windup knob. You'd then turn around to give them the knuckle bump that my cousins taught you. You were asking everyone for cake nearly all night long, and I'm still surprised that you recognized that elegant three tiered thing as a cake. You showed off your dancing grooves until you were falling over from fatigue because that is how you roll.

One of my favorite memories of this month was getting you ready to wear your first tux. We took you to the tailors to get it taken in at the shoulders and hemmed because I didn't have time to deal with it myself. You weren't too keen on trying it on until I told you it was your penguin suit and you could waddle better in it. You put on that jacket and waddled over to the mirror and hopped up on the pedestal so she could measure your pants. The seamstress and I could not stop laughin at you. The next best part was buying you some old man black socks with gold toes and stitching up some little hippo cummerbunds for you... all you needed to add were some suspenders - next time ;)

You had a certain little boy excitement at the family picnic after the wedding when you were down by the river getting all muddy and grubby. When you saw the little crabs in the water you stepped back with wide eyes saying "all done" over and over. This is your way of dealing with little scares. You had some pretty big wacks at music class this month and that doggone cut by your nose just minutes before we left for the airport. You are surprisingly calm in between tears during these moments. I think you're just soaking in all the love and attention. You've even taken to laughin and pretending that you have booboos on your knee.

I know you're still a baby when I look at your chubby little feet, although your toes grew this month which is creeping those cute baby feet closer to little boy feet. You've evolved into one of the bigger kids at Gymboree. You were wearing your elmo shirt and there was a younger kid running up to you to point just like you used to do. You are still attracted to playing with the bigger kids. You will sometimes run after then saying, "hey guys, waaait, high five time" I have a feeling you're not going to be a shy kid. It's great when you click with another kid, like that fun bigger kid that liked to run in circles reving like a car. He even told you that you could be the "red car" (which I guess to him was the coolest Lightening McQueen on his shirt!).

You've definitely mastered copying us. As we were waiting to turn at the red arrow the other day in the car, you noticed that the other light had changed, and you said, "You've got green one dada." You will sometimes try to tell us what to do - "Mama go in your room" or "Sorry Feifer you need to move" or "Up, that Aiden's chair" - but you're politeness is getting there and when we ask you to ask nicely you will say please. If we grab your hand or arm to pick you up, you like to point out in a very posessive way, "that Aiden's arm" You've even woken up in the middle of the night yelling, "those are Aiden's toes"...who knows where that came from Mr. Bossypants. Your dad and I were talking about our expensive hobbies (guitars and cameras!) and your dad jokingly asked you if you were going to have any expensive hobbies to which you replied, "Nah, Dadda, I play basie-ball." We really wonder where you get these funny responses and we look forward to more conversations.

Towards the beginning of this month, some funny old lady in the grocery store asked you a sort of rhetorical question as you beamed at the elmo balloons floating around the cupcake stand, she said "Look at you, are you happy?" You turned towards her and responded with "I always happy." No exclamation in your voice, just a simple quick response. We are so lucky that this is normally the case, but you do manage to have those overtired crazed baby moments too. Or how about those moments were you dump your yogurt drink on the floor and quickly explain "That's a bad baby, not nice." Uh ya, you will learn.

Your book of the month seemed to be the happy birthday dr. suess book. You say it kinda like "haappy burtday." It was your best bud, Tyler's second birthday this month, and even though you had to miss his party because it was on Lizzie's wedding day we had you help pick out a present. Your dad made it really clear to you that you were picking a present for Tyler. You came home from the store with a knex cowboy elmo set that you clearly loved. You immediately told me that it was Tyler's elmo. When he opened it, he was off to play with more of your toys, while you beat at the box saying Tyler's "psent."

You picked up on using gender more often this month. If you see a girl you will say "there her is." The funniest instance of this is when we asked you who my aunt was, your first response was "girl" but then when we asked what my Aunt's name was, you replied with "Lulu, da girl" You like making up funny names for your animals now too. Your dad started teaching you the names of dinosaurs (which means mommy needs to learn how to identify a bracciosaurus now too!). He also decided to have a very clear cut answer for the doctor when she asks us how many words you speak and understand (as opposed to words you just repeat during a song, etc), so he made a list. You are up to at least 750, no kidding.

Your imagination is taking off. Your favorite new game is to go on a dinosaur hunt. You may be walking around the neighborhood or looking out the window or riding in the car and you all of sudden you will yell out "I see a dinosaur way up high" If we ask you what is he doing, he is usually eating, sliding or walking. If we ask you what do dinos eat? According to you, they like fruit, grass and houses. You told our neighbor that the dinos you saw were eating houses and he said he was going to up his homeowners insurance.

You continue to like to help, and I will usually let things take longer if it means that you are determined and feel that sense of accomplishment when you get the buckle or load the corn into a bag at the farmer's market. The new Mr. Potato Head Tubby Tater my Hasbro friend got you is something you are determined to play with and line up the spokes just right, but geesh it is tough to get them in all the way so you normally end up doing it over and over. I'm glad you persevere even over Tubby Tater's hat staying put.

I look forward to a whole new season of fall fun. Pumpkin picking and halloween tricks are in the works. You're already excited for the ghosts in all our neighbors yards, but you are "all done" with the graveyard in your old school buddy Junior's yard. Looking forward to more tricks and treats this month.

Love, Mama