Dear A,
Towards the beginning of the month your favorite phrase was, "I going to try." You wanted to try out everything for yourself. You insist on walking up and down the big staircase completely on your own - you sometimes get insistent that we are spotting you too close, but we have to explain that you need to be safe. You wanted to "try" the camel and the horse at the carousel the other day. I've been saying that you will remember this summer as one big carousel ride since we've been making the rounds to ride so many different old carousels.
We did a bunch of projects in the basement this month. You probably didn't even realize there was a basement until recently. Now you will wait at the gate if one of us is down there and say, "I want to come" but we're still keeping you gated away from at least that area. The other gates have slowly disappeared, and the big snake gate left the old barn room for its renovation and it never came back. You can jet up the stairs faster than we can turn the corner lately. If your dad goes upstairs to play guitar, you will sweetly beg at the stairs, "Dada, I missss you" - oh the baby manipulation is so cute, for now.
We seemed to drive over and under bridges a couple times this month in the car. You loved to say "woooh, we under".... then you would say "back outside! let's go inside!" We switched your car seat around to forward facing finally this month because those little legs were just a little too bunched up. It gives you a whole new perspective and you like looking out the front windshield at things your dad points out.
You had your first peanut butter smiddgens this month. The first bite was you swiping a bite of my peanut butter banana bread, and then you wanted more. You probably noticed me watching you for a reaction, so you went "mmm, yuuum" - oh that's my boy! You and I will be sharing peanut butter treats in the future. You also wanted to learn how to cut, so we got you your very own mini cutlery set with a knife that cuts "safely." You only practice with us, but you're getting good. Now if only you would eat one safe bite at a time instead of trying to stuff your hungry mouth.
You got your second official haircut this month. I'd been trimming it myself, but I thought for the sake of your upcoming ring bearer duties, it should all be evened out. I emphasized that we wanted to keep some length on top, but the pregnant hair stylist was distracted or something so it ended up pretty darn short! It took a little getting used to, and you kept looking at me strangely when I stared at it and kept trying to pat it. It's as if you were saying, oh mom, it will grow, don't worry about it.
You had a little run in with your dad's bedside table late this month. You got a pretty big bite out of the side of your mouth. The blood ick caused you to want to drink two huge cups of water and then you spent about an hour sucking on ice cubes that I wrapped up for you to hold. Otherwise they would slip right out of your fingers and you'd say "uh oh slipperrrry..." We knew you were doing better because to get a good look at the damage, we'd ask you what a lion says, and you'd roar a big roar with enthusiasm.
When you were excited after getting all dried off after swim class you would bounce down the corridor doing your little happy walk. We thought it was pretty funny when you'd get in the pool and squeal from the cool water and ask for "more hot." Swim class was a good treat for you this month. You've even started practicing your scoops and bubble blowing in the bathtub now. Whenever we mention that you are swimming, you explain to us that "Tyler swims, Aiden too."
You started pulling on our pant leg when you want us to go with you. You usually are headed outside and you are especially interested in going out in the rain. If we ask you to use words to explain to us what you want, you will usually stop grunting and pushing and explain what you'd like. I am glad that you are getting better at using your words because I think it is one of the key ways we will avoid meltdowns.
You get super excited by things every once in a while that surprise us. My sister sent me a link to this random article about a high speed chase in Willoughby (not a common occurrence in small town Ohio) and there was a video of the police car's dashboard camera. You started cheering, "get the guy, get em, getm." It made Auntie Liz giggle on the skype, which meant that you kept doing it.
You seemed to develop a real sense of humor this month by actually trying to tell jokes. Here is your first "joke" (while holding up a yellow A): "Ha ha ha! This is a red I. Ha ha ha!" Also: "Monkey is an elephant! Ha ha ha!" You would come down from your bath when gran, pop, and liz were in town and hop around like a crazy hooded towel bunny. You even hopped right out of your diaper once. In our new big open room, you got excited about spinning and saying "I spin! I spin! I dizzy!"
Your vocabulary sometimes plays little tricks. For instance, seagulls are called white ducks, and ostriches are flamingos...which sounds more like "mingo." You love this Tails book that my mom bought you and you learned all about lemurs and bush babies - Now everything with big cute eyes that looks remotely like a monkey you like to call a bush baby. When you say bush baby it is so darn cute.
You started asking us to ask you the questions. You will repeat "Aiden, what is this?" until we repeat it, then you will say "Um, let me see..." You will have this funny little pause and then you will blurt out the answer with goofball excitement. I get a kick out of asking you new questions to see what you will say. I asked you what kind of sauce would you like, and you answered "um, saucy sauce puh-ease." A very typical way to distract you from something that is getting you worked up is to ask you something like, "what number is that?" You get it right most of the time, but you make us laugh when you say number I.
If we ask you how old you are, you will usually quickly answer that you are one, then when your dad says you're right, you will then blurt out, "oh nooo, I twooo" He'll say "no, you were right you are one" you will get insistent that you are two. It is your way of having your very first practice at "arguing" with your dad. You better watch out because he's a professional arguer.
You had a little raspy cough at the end of this month (your first in a looong time). When you called me when you woke up in the morning the other weekend, you sounded like an old man. You somehow picked up the idea that PopPop is an "old man" which you thought was pretty funny. You would make us all laugh by saying "Poppop old man, Ainen little old man..."
Your Dad and Poppop asked you what pop started with and you replied "p-o-p" - Whaa you can spell? I know it's crazy and a flukey thing, but seriously you have these little hidden tricks that you use to impress people. J's family was very impressed with you when you went to visit them to celebrate Nana and J's shared birthday and you spelled out apple from one of their old country signs. You were apparently the talk around the docks in Cape Cod that week by your proud great uncle. You now do this all the time because your dad thought it was so fun. He asked you how do you spell Dada? And you read the letters off his tshirt - B-R-O-W-N. I guess that is a creative solution.
If you asked me what my favorite things about this month were, I'd probably imitate you with a finger to my lips and say "um, hmmm..." - because that little expression of yours is one of my favorites. I also liked seeing how you would help us by throwing out my trash and fixing the strap on daddy's shoe. You were so proud to be able to help us out. One of my least favorites may be the little feisty games you learned somewhere where you have alligator fighting with dirty elmo. But I'll survive the mini fighting games, given that if I ask what you are doing you will usually reply with "um, hmmm... kisses?"
Mucho besos to you my little kisser, Mama
