Shout out

Aiden has started that really adorable phase where he wants to wear our clothes (in his case, shoes, hats and barrettes).  He found a pair of my shoes that he liked and practised wearing them until he could walk.  Then he walked from one bedroom all the way to the other so he could look at himself  in the mirror wearing Mama's shoes.  

At the risk of offending anyone, I'm going to take a moment to be controversial.  I really wanted to call this post "Aiden's shout out against Prop 8". But, it's really my shout out.  I've hesitated a long time about this because I know Prop 8 is a sensitive topic  for many, especially in my own family.   Still I feel too strongly about this to keep quiet.  Everyone should have the right to love and where love exists it should be supported.  That we have legislated against it makes me sad.  There was a time when it was illegal for people of different races to marry each other.  When you see the beauty that is Aiden, it seems pure craziness that anyone would be threatened enough by his existence that they would want to deny him the right of growing up in the security of a legally recognized family.  I hope one day we'll look back on Prop 8 and be able to say the same thing.   So many arguments for Prop 8 presented it as protecting our children when it does the opposite.  Like it or not gay people have children too and those children are as deserving of family as the rest of us.  

 One really amazing thing about having a baby is that you see the world through fresh eyes.  When it comes to cultural norms, babies don't know anything about "should" they just accept everything the way it is and everyone the way they are.  Maybe that's why we love them so much.  People are either friendly and helpful or they are not.  Coolness doesn't even register.  Neither does moral or right.  Kindness is key and really all you need to know about a person.  I feel that as a state, we've lost sight of this.  It can be so easy to loose the child's gift of total acceptance.  My hope for Aiden is that he never does.  

In the spirit of total love and acceptance, here's my shout out against Prop 8.

Helping out at home

Aiden seems to have realized that raising a baby is a lot of work and that Mom & Dad (well mostly Mom) need all the help that they can get. He's decided to pull his own weight and help around the house. (We won't talk about all the work that he puts in to make sure that the house is an absolute mess to start with.) He likes attending to all the household chores like sweeping, scrubbing, cleaning, weeding, sweeping etc. But his two most favorite chores are vacuuming the house and watering the yard.

Whenever we bring out the vacuum he immediately takes over the job and before we know it the house looks spic and span. Unfortunately he has not yet grasped the concept of the fact that there is a finite amount of charge on the vacuum at any given time. Whenever the vacuum runs out of power he raises absolute hell. He thinks we are up to some mischief to prevent him from helping and we have to explain to him that it needs to be plugged in downstairs. Lately he's even started demanding for the vacuum by taking Mommy downstairs and imitating the sound that the vacuum makes.

As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he does the water sign. At first we though that meant he was thirsty but soon came to realize that it meant we have been ignoring watering the plants and that it was time for him to take ownership of that all important task. He can spend hours doing nothing but flooding the entire sidewalk. He doesn't quite appreciate it when we tell him that there is a drought going on in California which means we have to save water. He even has his favorite yard shoes. Mommy recently bought him these cute Crocs with the theme from the movie 'Cars'. Whenever it's time to go out and we tell him that it's time to put on shoes he makes a car sound and asks for his favorite shoes. This is the first and so far only preference that he has shown towards any sort of clothing. Could it be a harbinger of things to come ?

1st work of art

Can you tell we're behind on posting?


This post is the cyber equivalent of refrigerator art. Aiden made his first work of art on election day using paper forced on us by the people at the polling station. It is a careful examination of the confusion facing the undecided voter: do I want change or do I think everything is just jiffy the way it is?

Giraffe

Time is slipping by and I never posted Halloween pictures.  

Aiden was a giraffe this year.  While he's obsessed with hats, he doesn't like wearing them.  He likes it when other people wear them.  So, I didn't have high hopes for his Halloween costume which had a hood.  We bought it early and put the costume in his toy box.  The first time he wore it, I got out every book I could find with a picture of a giraffe.  I put the costume on him and took him to the mirror and excitedly compared him to the pictures.  I wasn't sure he got it but he was happy to wear the costume and even asked us to put the hood on every once in a while.  That night, Quita (grandma) came by to babysit and he actually showed her the pictures of giraffes and wouldn't let her turn the page.  Then he pointed to his costume.  It was one of those "Ah-ha!" moments.  He gets it, he gets it!

Since then the costume is a favorite.  He brings it to me when he wants to put it on and is so excited to wear it.  

A stroll to the park

One of the advantages of living in our neighborhood is that it's walking distance to the children's park. Aiden absolutely loves the walk to the park, but he loves it even more since he got his new wheels. He just lays in his big red all terrain wagon like a king while his subjects (Dad or Mom) pull him along. Along the way he commands us to make a mandatory stop at a party store to pick up a balloon to be attached to the wagon to let the masses know that the king is on his evening stroll. He loves watching all the hustle and bustle on the street and gets very excited when any sort of vehicle passes by. His favorites are the big Harleys that gather at the local biker bar. He does this really cute sign where he pretends to ride the bike and even tries to imitate the Harley growl. We pass quite a few dogs along the way and he's the first one to notice them. Once at the park he loves to ride on the swing or play in the sand pit but absolute favorite is this pink dinosaur. He lets out a big dinosaur roar even before we actually get to the park as soon as he gets a visual.

Aiden's Lexicon

"Dada" - Dada or Mama

"ffff" - Ceiling fan

"nana" - Banana or Granny

"up" - Pick me up, put me down, I wanna go out

"hat" - hat

"hot" - hot or cooking, hot mama

"seetch" - switch (sides nursing), I wanna nurse

"boo" - ghost lights for Halloween

"uggah ick" - Uncle Rick

"Chichi" - Aunty Chichi

"Am" - Aunty Pam

"gok" - go

"raaaarh" (growl) - bear or dinosaur

"om" - home

"shuz" - shoes or socks

"fuf" - flower

"bup" - balloon

"gee" - gidy-up, let's play horsey

"keek" - kick

Aiden's Election Day Happy Dance

Aiden voted today and is thrilled with the results of the election....When he saw the crowd go wild he started clapping along with them.  He's enthusiasm died down a little when we got out the camera but you get the idea.