Critiquing Toddler Art

Contrary to popular opinion, there is such a thing as good and bad toddler art.  

Here is an example of good toddler art.  The medium is water-soluble markers on white paper.

This is an example of bad toddler art.... The medium is permanent ball point pen on white duvet cover. 

Singing with Baba

I can't think of many things that are cuter than having a toddler sing to you.  Aiden has a few songs in his repetoire and has been known to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep to me and Dada at night as we're trying to quiet him down.  

Here's a clip of him jamming the alphabet song with Uncle Jonathan. 

The second clip is of him singing his own version of "Old McDonald Had a Farm".  His version goes something like this.  "Old McDonald had a Farm.  On his farm he had a dump truck.  Honk honk here, everywhere, honk honk..."

OC

I've been wanting to post more pictures from our OC trip to cousin Monique's wedding back in May. Where did the time go? Not only was it the occasion of Aiden's big rig drive but it was also the first time he wore a suit. If there were a sound track to this post, it would be "What a difference a day makes".

(You already seen this one but its cute enough to post again...) Here's Aiden working hard for his money.

But he cleans up real nice!

The trip was a great opportunity to meet new family and bond with some favorites. Here's Aiden with Aunty Helena and Uncle Rick.

With Quita

Our family. We may spend each day together but the family portraits are few and of questionable quality so I love this one.

Once we finished taking pictures and actually got to the wedding, Aiden partied like a rock star, entertaining guest late into the night - and way past his bedtime. He created new tricks (like the splits) which have since come in handy and showed off the old faithful - crawling around on the floor.

Aiden with cousin Yvette and Aunt Alma.

This was also the occasion of our first "dangerously honest moment". You know when a child says something about how he or she sees the world and its something the rest of us would probably censor. Aiden pointed to and commented on Aunt Alma's "beard". Luckily she didn't hear or understand what he said. I don't think anyone else did either. She's not a blog reader so let's just keep this one to ourselves. For the record, Aunt Alma, we think you are beautiful just the way you are.

And....I saved my favorite picture for last. Aiden and Uncle Rick sharing a moment before we headed off to the wedding.

Golden Gate Bridge

On a recent trip to Grandma's house, Aiden discovered the Golden Gate Bridge. Not only is it beautiful, but you have to go through a tunnel to get to it and then you go through *another* tunnel coming off it, a rainbow tunnel no less. Who could have conceived of such a wonderful route?

Aiden then requested that Mama build the Golden Gate Bridge at home. I was pretty proud of the result.

Enter Dada and things got competitive. The bridge was reinforced. The towers made taller with a dinosaur at the top. Ramps were added (I take credit for the ramp structural design but Dada perfected the technique of smoothing the surface so the cars didn't have such a bumpy ride.) Not unlike the real thing if you ask us.

PS: Look closely at the picture you'll see Dada (in helmet and blue sweatshirt) and Aiden on the bridge. After we had so much fun building it, we decided to ride our bikes across it.

Hair

While we all agree Aiden's hair is fabulous.  Lac and I are finally in agreement that it needs a little trim.  We'll wait until after his second birthday and then...big sigh...I'll do the honors while he's asleep.  At least that's plan A.  We may have to come up with something else if that doesn't work.  I'm trying to start forgiving myself now.  Please wish me luck.

Big Rig

Have we mentioned that Aiden is into cars and trucks? I find myself telling people this and they nod in a "but of course...he's a boy" kind of way. When they do that, I know they just don't get it. He's obsessed. Aiden can spend the afternoon walking around the neighborhood trying to open the door to any vehicle he can reach and call it a good day. On his rounds, he'll touch the tires and the lights of each car and identify them. He knows the difference between a police car, a mail truck, a fire truck, a van, a mini- van, a pick-up truck, an SUV, a car transporter, an excavator, I could go on but I can't keep them straight myself. Beemer and Thunderbird are the new additions to his car vocabulary. Each new place we visit is sized up based on it's qualifications as a race course for whatever 4 wheeler happens to be in his pocket.

On our recent trip to OC for cousin Monique's wedding there were a couple of big rigs parked outside our hotel. Ask Aiden and he'll tell you that was the coolest part of the trip. He wanted to drive those big rigs the moment he saw them. When no one was looking we let Aiden climb all over the trucks. Here we are "sneaking" the big rigs.

It wasn't good enough though. He wanted to DRIVE them. The next day, when we saw big burly men working on the trucks, fixing them up for their next journey. Dada and I looked at each other as if to ask the question.....Your son dreams of driving a big rig. Do you have the cajones to ask them if he can? Neither of us did.

Enter Aiden's super hot Auntie Helena. We didn't hesitate to send our precious little one down with her to ask those men if he could drive a big rig. We watched from the safety of our 4th floor window to see what happened. There was talking, laughing, and then there was DRIVING!

Dada's worst nightmare!

The backstory on this is that somehow I've been branded a "tree-hugging hippy" by my husband.  While I've always sort of wished that I were a "tree hugging hippy", I'm sorry to say that my spirit isn't free enough and my politics aren't active enough to fit the bill.  However, it does look like Aiden is off to a good start.  While a Ardenwood Historic Farm for friend Hope's birthday, he and Alicia decided (on their own) that the tree needed some hugging.