Just American

Aiden has always loved being read to. Either Mama or Dada usually read him a story before it's time to hit the sack. And we turn off the lights after reading a story or two. He tries all sorts of tricks to extend his uptime. One day after I had read him a couple of stories and turned off the lights, he asked for more stories. When I wouldn't turn on the lights again he threw a fit. So I decided to make up a story on my own. It went 'Once upon a time, there was a little boy.....' It would be a story about one of the more exciting things that happened in his life during that week. And it would end with 'Do you know the name of this boy?' And with all the excitement of a toddler, he'd say, 'BABA !!!'. He really took to it and now it's a regular feature of the night time routine. One day just to make it more interesting I decided to try it with different accents. First I tried a strong Indian accent. He didn't like that at all and said 'regular'. I said, you don't like Indian ? And he said 'No Indian, regular'. So then I tried my version of a British accent and he did the same thing. 'Regular'. I said 'Oh you mean American' and he said 'American'. And from then on everytime I try any other accents, he says 'No Indian, No British, Just American'.

Here's an illustration with 'Runaway Bunny'

Baby Band

Aiden's BFF Hope came over to the house the other day and the two of them decided to start a band. They're both accomplished singers but they're still working out the whole teamwork thing....

Here Hope has started singing and just needs a little cooperation from Aiden. I love the very slight look of frustration on her face as she tries to sing through Aiden's ruckus.

They are finally in agreement about the song but maybe not the tempo....

Artistic differences are such a drag. Aiden's feeling very Old McDonald and Hope is a little BaaBaa Blacksheep. What will they do?

Bear Wearing

Take away the crib (OK we never had one) and I would survive. Same goes for the changing table....our guest bedroom desk worked just fine. One day we had guests and moved it to our bedroom floor. We're still parked there. The beautiful bassinet that held all Stoddard babies as we slept and was painstakingly refurbished by Quita... we used it once. The stroller which was a bone of contention with Grandpa because on his first try he didn't get the exact one we had researched ....we barely used it. But, don't even think about taking away my Ergo baby carrier. I would flip. You might be able to raise a baby without one but I'm not in line to try that experiment. I love it that much. I used it when Aiden was 5 months and I'm still using it now that he's 2 years 3 months and 27.5 pounds. It's a dream. When I see the Bjorn, I cringe remembering all those sore shoulders even when Aiden was a lightweight. BTW, we still have our Bjorn and it needs a new home....anyone interested????

Aiden's jumped on the baby-carrying bandwagon and he's a very good Daddy to his bear Corduroy (pronounced "Corduroid"). Here you see him changing bear's diaper. Just how many diapers can a little bear wear? Then, my favorite.... taking Corduroy for a jaunt around the house. The bear-in-the-shirt idea is all his. Aiden loves carrying Corduroy as much as I love carrying him.

Our little Handful

Today during bath time I had an "oooh noooo" moment. First it was the art and then it was the teeth but I'll start with the art.

Art is Aiden's new obsession. He didn't get it from Mama and he didn't get it from Dada but Baba can spend hours drawing. We signed him up for an art class this summer and he didn't want to go. He was in the middle of a phase right after he had the chicken pox were he didn't want to leave the house or try anything new. I normally respect his limits but staying inside was driving me batty so I took him anyway, protesting the whole way. I told him we didn't have to stay, we were just going to have a look. We walked through the door, Baba trying to wiggle away; me with an iron grip when suddenly I spotted the letter "L" cookie cutter on the playdough table. Aiden loves letters and it was worth a try....

Baba, I see the letter "L" over there. He froze. He reconsidered. He never ever complained about art class again. Now he begs me to go. Art class has 6 tables each with a different project. The projects change every week but there's always a playdough table. We spent 5 consecutive weeks playing at the playdough table for a whole hour before he had the heart to explore.

Now our home is fully stocked with markers, crayons, playdough, a million cookie cutters, paint, stamps, and bathtub paint. So back to our story.

Today Aiden asked me to paint a bulldozer on the side of the tub. Did I mention I'm not artistic? I can pick a bull dozer out in a line up...I think...but I'm not sure I know what one *really* looks like. Anyhow, I did my best. Baba admired my effort but then he started complaining. I drew wheels on my bulldozer and they have crawlers. He made me change the wheels to crawlers. Then there was no dirt in the bulldozer. I added dirt. Wait, the bulldozer should be dumping dirt into a dumptruck. I drew a dump truck. I was so relieved when Dada came in to take over. This was getting complicated.

Later I heard from Dada about the tooth brushing episode. The toothbrush was in and out of Baba's mouth in a flash. What happened to brushing your teeth Dada asked. Aiden answered....Baba fast!