This is the month of pretend games, monsters, cats, robots, princesses, spiders, and smells. Your imagination ran wild and we were along for the ride. You were exposed to all sortsa new characters that your imagination morphed and created into fun new games. Most of the month you insisted on calling me Dora and you were Boots. You insisted that I ask for the backpack and the map you'd scribble out for me. Then you wanted me to get the rocks to sing to wake Boots up from the spell the evil witch put on him. Your dad taught you how to play rock, paper, scissors which would sometimes help Boots decide which way to go on the path. And these elaborate games would go on and on...
Towards the beginning of the month, you would scribble on a sheet of paper and declare that was the "sign" for your "eating place, um, rest-ra-aunt!" Then you asked me "what treat would you like to order?" I'd say watermelon and I'd get a big bunch of wooden watermelon in a frying pan...and so on. You love your cutting food treats. A new toy this month was a wooden tool bench that was in close competition as the new favorite. You mostly liked using the pliers to pick up the other tools. Daddy even showed you lefty loosey and right tighty with the screw driver.
You watched an episode of Kai Lan and learned that when you get upset you need to "calm, calm down" and it actually helped you cope in some tizzy fit moments when I asked you what did Kai Lan say you should do when you're upset. Your eyes would light up and you would say "be calm, calm, calmmmm..." You insist that you are a good boy, and you told me the rules for a good boy are: "i do not shout, i go to sleep, i do not cry, because I am a happy boy!" You say it with a cute little ring in your voice and it seems to help to remind you by asking "is that something that a good boy does?"
You love this fun drawing pad I had squirreled away for you for a while. It uses crayons and then you can rub it off and start with a clean slate. It will keep you busy for a long time. You like to trace and circle things. Circle the "community helpers" is your favorite page and you tried to make the point that the singer can be a helper too, just like the firefighter... well, that's some sort of insight I suppose. You love tracing letters and your new game is to trace the words of the book with your finger "pretending" to read.
Your dad loves to play pretend games with you. He will pick up a rock and tell you it's a spider, you reply seriously, "I don't believe that is a pretend spider daddy, that is a rock." Then your dad will pretend to eat it and you will say, "I don't eat bugs because they are too tickly, i just throw them in the trash." So matter of fact, so serious sometimes it makes me giggle.
Your dad was a little embarassed to attract attention from other parents at Gymboree when he was pretending to turn into a beautiful butterfly after he was a hungry caterpillar that ate you, the pretend apple. You also learned about "camouflage" in one of your books, so you were pretending to be a cricket that the "daddy bird" couldn't see when he was on the green "grass" patches.
Your Uno Moo game skills were advanced because you started understanding the "wild card" farmer. You say that the farmer would "pretends" to be the color you choose. The power of pretend helps you understand a lot of things. Like when you were scared by the Beauty and the Beast book because you thought your bedside lamp was going to come alive. We were able to explain to you that the guys in the book were just pretend. You asked your dad to clarify whether dinosaurs are pretend. He did tell you that they were real, but now they are all gone and extinct. You say the word extinct with the cutest little garbled voice. The other word I love to hear is spooky - "Oh my goshes, did you know the ghost is so spooky?"
Your favorite game when Gran and Pop were visiting this month: Gran is a pretend cat, Aiden a pretend dog and PopPop is the pretend robot that tries to get them. Oh, you would giggle and squirm and run for hugs from the cat. Your grandparent time is so sweet and you tell me that you miss them out of the blue sometimes. I thought it was pretty funny when Gran had her hair in rollers and you very calmly said, "Gran, I don't want your hair to look crazy."
You informed us that you prefer chocolate instead of "regular" ice cream. Turns out vanilla is just too regular for you ;) You were so excited to get a chance to go in the "chiken" aka. the kitchen area of the Creamery to scoop your own ice cream and help push the waitresses finger for the whipped cream the other day. You were wearing your craft night visor treat full of starfish, crabs, and mermaids at the time. Your excitement combined with that funny visor made me smile.
You've been picking up some new foreign language words from books and shows that you see. In response, you've started making up your own words. "In english, we say fork, in spanish we say "cupa" (or some other word sounds you make up) - can you say cupa? - you insist we repeat your made up word - then you say, "Goooood." I think some of your Dr. Suess books have words in them that you think are actual words too.
We don't always want to mention treats out loud, like bars for instance, so we would spell them - I have a b-a-r in the bag for later. But then you started remembering the spelling. You'd say, "I want a b-a-r!" So now we just subtly point or spell it backwards - I have a r-a-b ;) I have feeling you're going to pick up on that soon too. Your dad showed you how to do less than and more than and you seem to really get it. You're also in the habit of using also instead of too, so you sound a lot like a big kid.
You're pretty funny if we meet a little baby and we ask you if you want a little baby in our house, you immediately say "no, no thanks" without hesitation. If we go on and say, but you could be a big brother you sometimes eventually say "ok, yes, let's pretend! You grow little and I'll be your big brother." You like to think of us as your playmates and you're somehow pretty aware that another little one would get in the way of that. J did ask you whether you'd prefer to have a new dog or a new sister, and you said a "ok, a little sister." He then asked you what you would name her and you said Kayley! Then dad said that your cousin already took that name, so you said, "Oh ok, how about my sister Kisses!" (Note for interested readers: no, I'm not pregnant!)
I ended the month with a bang organizing and photographing four major events in the span of three days. You were so sweet everytime Daddy carted you along to pick me up and drop me off. You were excited to tell me that you and Daddy surprised me by making cupcakes I could enjoy in the middle of the really long day. You have a real sweetie pie example to follow ;)
Your favorite toy in the car lately has switched from the drawing pad to the viewmaster "camera." I'm glad you like those fun picture disks just like I did as a kid. You love reading the Three Little Pigs lately. The new forward facing book rack in your room is full of fun books that your dad loves reading to you over and over again. I loved your bewildered excited reaction to that rack. You couldn't quite figure out how "mommy got the books to float on the wall!?"
Your speech gets easier to understand all the time. When I listen to old videos of you I am so grateful to have your little voice captured. I can't believe how much it has already changed. Sometimes you get so excited you accidently trade out names calling me daddy, and daddy becca, and so on. But the funniest little slip lately, when you get really excited and you're talking as fast as you can, you will say our names with an extra bit at the end - Daddy De and Mommy Me.
I'm going to "pretend" that this summer is going to last forever. We're getting so good at pretending that I'm betting by the time winter rolls around again we'll just pretend the snow is sand ;)
Love, Mommy Me
2 comments:
Wow big boy Aiden....That last picture of you two is adorable...it is like a mini-lauren:)
Aww, we miss you guys! :-)
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