Dear Aiden,
This month was your birthday month. A month last year packed with firsts...packed with mini-celebrations...packed with dirty diapers...and packed with deliriously tired moments where we cuddled for hours. We kept some of your birthday decorations around (a top favorite was your train and the red balloons) and we really packed in the fun this month. I was dreading the change in temperature, but so far we've really made the most of this mild fall. It's been so fun to watch you explore all the crunchy leaves.
A highlight this month was watching the parade and the dog show on Thanksgiving. You'd make a excited-mouth-hanging-open gasp of excitement when you see something that you like. I think you are imitating/mocking your mommy ;) Your doggie friends were extremely exciting and you would gasp, point, and woof at them. Luckily we have the tv area blocked off with the coffee table so you can't actually wack at the screen. However, in the non-baby-proofed house we visited for Thanksgiving you figured out you could actually wack the tv screen and that was pretty much all that you wanted to do. We'd be three rooms away and you'd eventually lead us back into that room so that you could try to catch the football on the tv screen. We were finally able to distract you with a toy stuffed football that you loved to throw to the ground with a howl.
It's the time of year for feety pajamas even though you never seem like you really need them on your hot little toes. On any extra cold nights, I've been putting you in them anyway and just about every time I put them on you immediately start trying to push your toes through the feet covers. You grunt and squiggle your toes to try to free them. You prefer to have bare feet or just socks, but you are getting good at stomping around even in your little boots. Daddy commented that they should call babies your age ploppers instead of toddlers. You are pretty funny when you get tired because it seems like constant plopping and popping back up. You really work hard to put on appearances that you aren't tired...muuuust keeeeep playing...
You are very good at lifting your big train tent. You think it is awesome when you can peek out from under it or move it across the room. Your new favorite this month was going in the giraffe tunnel. You can speed crawl right through it, but you like to stop half way every once in a while and try to stand up. You don't quite understand why it won't let you. This month you really started interacting more with your toys rather than just playing with them in one place. You learned that the shape sorter is fun to kick and mix up all the shapes. You have your quiet play moments too when you like to figure out how to push shapes into your shape sorter. You are really getting good at lining them up (once mom flips them around for you).
You can be sorta rambunctious lately. You get giddy when you successfully pull the side tabs off the foamy mats. They are the perfect length to carry around and wack at things. You will occasionally even wack yourself and giggle. You like to use the the flashy hammer to wack things like that too. You are learning what is good to wack by watching our reactions (and usually you think the best things to wack are the things that we try to distract you from). One of your favorite silly games is to find Daddy's belly button and poke it (mommy is too ticklish for this game). If we ask you where daddy's belly button is you will find it for us. Thanks to Sandra Boynton's belly button book you also think all hippos have belly buttons.
A new "trick" (as daddy likes to call them) that you've learned in that you will rock any toy or even just your arms when we say, "aw, are you rocking your baby?" You've learned to give kisses and be more affectionate this past month. You are very gentle (when you want to be). We took another visit to Build-a-Bear Workshop (they send good coupons and it's a mom favorite - and I heard they might go out of business, so anything I can do to keep them around). This time there was a little line, so we let you walk around the store while one of us waited in line. You were especially excited by all the shoe accessories and I think you have pretty good taste. We took home a new doggie named Peewee Puppy since he has a little nerdy argyle vest and he's petite. You weren't too sure if you wanted him to ride with you in your stroller, but you warmed up to him.
It's amazing how you are so good at expressing your preferences now. I am glad that most of the time you can use signs and gestures instead of screaming, but you sure are testing out what you can get with a little yelping lately. You were in the habit of trying to pull the cats hair earlier this month. I realized that I was apparently holding up and shaking a naughty finger at you because you'd shake your finger right back at me and giggle. So, we started teaching you to hold up your finger when we ask, "How old are you?"
You are really into the art of conversation lately. You don't use that many real words (mama, dada, dog, ball, ok, no, yes, and hi are really your only words so far), but you loved gabbing back and forth. One of your favorite games was gabbing on the phone and you liked to babble in response when we let you hold the phone. The trick is trying to get the phone back from you. You are generally learning how to be "all done" which is sometimes easier than other times. You know how to give the sign for all done when you're finished eating and brushing your teeth. When it comes to drumming however, it seemed that you'd prefer to never really be done. Although after about 30 minutes the other day on daddy's tired knees, you did seem like you were ready for other games.
You got a new teacher, Andreia, at the beginning of the month. You are still warming up to her. The extent of the interaction I've witnessed is that you giggle at her and run away. You had already transitioned over to all sippy cups by the time she started, so you don't need her to hold you and give you a bottle. You get most of your meals/snacks from your other teachers Rebecca and Sarah and now your favorite game is to feed yourself with a spoon (and you're getting better and better). This upcoming month we will find out which classroom you will transition over to in January. I've made my case for the classroom I think would be the best match for you. It would reunite you with that Kyla character and your buddy Tyler (who leaves your room in a few short days), but we shall see...and I'm sure you'd be happy in any of the classrooms.
This month we expect Santa to visit and leave fun toys (as long as you're good). We expect many more rides rocking on our legs to fly up in the sky. We expect more drawings (when we can get you to keep the crayons out of your mouth). We expect excitement with visitors this month. Oh, we have so many fun expectations for this upcoming month...Love you, Mama
We kicked off the holiday break with a snow day! It was a huge deal with school's canceling when it was still clear weather (because last year there was this big debacle where everyone got caught for hours on the roads). They were planning ahead and at first it looked like it might have been a big mix up. It didn't really start until around 2pm or so, but by 4pm we had nearly a half foot. Now we have over a foot and it's still coming as I write this. We were excited to have an extra day of vacation and we felt good about getting ahead on some projects (like the wallpaper removal in our office - which is smooth sailing so far and we hope to have it painted for our visitors on xmas eve). 
Aiden had a quick little visit with the snow before it got dark, and at first he wasn't at all excited to be in those snow pants again, although he did get used to walking in them this time. We also made some cookies and Aiden helped - Well, he pressed down on the cookie cutters that stuck to the sticky dough a bit too much, but we did have a nice big sheet of one big expanded cookie to munch on the rest of the day. Any way to make a snwo day a little sweeter.
We also put together Aiden's new christmas wagon from GranGran and PopPop (big thanks! good luck on your cross country trip - too bad you don't have this wagon tied up behind ya for extra room - ha!) and he loved helping by stacking the wheels and once J finished building it he cruised back and forth in it inside. He loved beebopping in it and I can tell that it will quickly replace the stroller this spring as the preferred mode of transportation. School had a confirmed case of the croup and two nights ago we had a little barker here. He is much more comfortable if you give him the cold air and then humid shower air "treatment." Then all he wants to do is stay upright and play for a little while. Thank goodness he can play with patient daddy a little bit, although I think both mommy and daddy have a bugs in her throats too. Oh, will I be glad when he has his last day in that germy place on Tuesday (maybe earlier if we get everything done). I think that he's built up enough immunity already.
It's so nice to have an extended break this year! I don't have to go in again until Jan 5th! It'll be so nice to spend time as a family. Unfortunately, our family xmas party up near Boston for today was cancelled because one of the hosts broke his leg, so we'll be celebrating later. I am sad because I was so looking forward to squishing J's cousin's new baby. Oh well, I'm sure we'll catch up with them soon. We look forward to many more snowy days hanging out playing games like Hats!
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