Dear Aiden,
As the summer truly kicks off and the sand box is all clean and dry now, we are back to our fun early evening getting-all-dirty-in-the-sandbox-right-before-bath routine. It feels good to have a chance to go back to something that you loved last summer. You are old enough now to have favorites from a previous season, so I just can't wait for fall. I look forward to you reminding me of all the fun things you "wemember we like" to do.
You are such a gamer. This month you especially liked any letter game. Boggle Jr. became a quick favorite and we even have a travel version now. I love these games that will grow with you as you being to understand new ways to play them. You love hunting with letters with your magnet set and matching up the lower and upper case sets (minus that pesky little v that has always been missing). You even remember that it's missing. We also just got you some of my old favorites including Don't Break the Ice! which we've played at least 100 times in a week.
You love to pretend to hunt monsters. Your friends across the street pretend to be monsters and you love to have them chase you. You learned to play tag, after we finally convince you that people weren't being bad and trying to hit you. You will hunt down monsters describing everything you are doing along the way...follow the map and go through the town and pass the gas station to the monster museum. Then once you get to the pretend museum (which is usually the area by the couch) you will announce, "Welcome to the giant monster museum! Come see all the monsters skeletons!"
You love to play magician and say "poof!" to transform things. "Poof you're a live dinosaur, poof you're a dinosaur skeleton!" You would insist that daddy would stand up and pretend that his feet open and shut the dinosaur museum. The safari truck would bring the animals up to ooh and aah at the big dinosaurs. You would act as tour guide and give fun facts like "dinosaurs like to stay out of other dinosaurs' tummies!" You were in awe of the Dinosaur Live show at the Dunkin Donuts Arena this month and I think you were amazed by the whole production. You did remind us frequently that they were just puppets. I just love in the most exciting moments how you would grab your cheeks and widen your eyes. You also learned to ask for things this month - "I truuuuly need that!" - so you suckered us into a new dino hat at the show.
You love trying to butter your own bread. When we were out for our anniversary at a semi-nice restaurant, you really liked their spiced honey butter. You would end up with a huge dollop on your bread which completely disgusted your butter-phobe daddy, so he refused to take a piece that you'd prebuttered. You insisted, "Come on daddy try something new!" We just had to laugh.
You like to imitate us and give directions like those we give you, but sometimes you add a little bit of unintended cuteness. Like when you said at the beach, "Daddy now it's time to take our shoes off and wear just our toes!" You do avoid being bossy because we told you a story about the bossy tiger that no one wanted to be friends with or help out. "Daddy don't fall into the water, because I won't be able to pull you out and the birds will eat you!" Eeek, I guess sometimes you create some elaborate stories. I like when I explain something new and you respond with "I didn't know about that" in a funny matter of fact tone.
You're a pretty persistent kid. Sometimes you are persistent in introducing yourself to new friends until you learn their name. Sometimes it being persistent in filling the sand toy all the way up. I'm starting to realize that if something really interests you, you will stick with it for quite a while. For instance, you really concentrated on shucking peas this month. You like to play extended games of War with your Cars cards your Gran and Pop got you. You call is "wha-our" in a grumbly little voice. You pretty much get which numbers are bigger and which are smaller, but sometimes you like to "forget" so that you can win the cards. Pretty tricky, but at least you admit to being "silly" when we ask if you're sure...
You and your dad have certain routines and games you like to play. You giggle and say "Daddy you're always tickling me!" You like to sing The Bear Went Over the Mountain song while jumping over daddy's back, which your dad treats as his own personal massage. Your daddy takes you to the potty and helps you get more comfortable with potties you aren't familiar with when we are out and about. The potty pit at the state park we went to a bit ago was probably the one that you remembered the most. You told me that you can't fall in because then daddy would have to get in "the icky" to get you out. Your dad will tease that if you aren't ready for your bath, then Sophy gets to go first. You joke back, "Sophy is too furry to take a bath, silly Daddy!" You love it when your dad "pretends" to drop you as he jokes about how he won't drop you.
Your sleep habits will always surprise and confound us. There was a weekday when you didn't even wake up to tree grinding outside your window, but you sometimes you wake up to a little extra sunlight in your room. I've tried to teach you to read the clock and wait until 7 at least. A couple times when you were learning you'd come in and I'd say, "What time is it Aiden?" - you'd respond with "Oops, not 7!? Seven means we can go downstairs to play!" You seem like you want to go along with this idea, but when you trot into my room and enthusiastically say, "Mommy it says 7! Look 5 -4 -7!" My face can barely peel itself from the pillow at 5:47am to respond. I'm an early riser, but not that early. We so frequently see the 5am hour and I can remember when that was reserved for very early flight days or something verrrry out of the ordinary.
You like to tell stories and use the sentences and word structure you hear - Your favorite is using the word "said" - "Zoom, zoom, I'm going to park here, 'said' the little yellow car..." You'll begin by saying, "This story is called Giants by Aiden!" You like to act out the stories too. You will sit in our laps which you declare is a boat and you pretend to "row out into the ocean to catch the fish." You will sometimes even describe what you are doing at the moment as if it is a story - "Then, Ainen hops on bike and tries to reach the pedals."
Your play food is one of your favorite early morning games. You like to make me breakfast which is usually some sort of sandwich which you just keep piling on the goodness - a muffin pretzel egg and cheese donut sandwich. You like to explain what you think will "make you big and strong." Some foods are "yummier" than others. We had a bunch of picnics already this summer and you especially like some easy picnic treats like hummus, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries.
You've spent a bunch of time lately in a hot house with just underpants since it is cool and easy for you to pull down yourself to get on the potty. Your main motivation for putting on pants is to go visit your friends across the street. It's nice that you are interested in having friends (and pants on occasionally too!) "Mommy, can I go on a wagon ride to see my friends?" We get over there and the formerly littlest sister (they just added a sixth girl to their family) hops in and they insist on pulling you around in circles.
You now enjoy bouncing yourself on the big ball off the edge of your bed. It's the same ball bounce that comforted you as a baby and still brings a smile to your face. You love what you love, eh? Some things will be everlasting... including these memories.
Love,
Your sappy mama
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