Pirates and Mickeys and Clowns - Oh My!

Aedan is really getting into dressing up this Halloween. Last week, we let him try on my old clown costume that Aunt Sandy made when I was 3. He was so proud of himself and ended up wearing the costume to school because he cried when Nonna tried to take it off!

We also ordered him a pirate costume to wear to the Renaissance Festival. When I showed it to him he grinned and said "Arggg!" I had no idea he even knew what a pirate was!!!!

Finally, he has a Mickey Mouse costume to match Hayden's Minnie Mouse. We let them wear them this past weekend to go to the aquarium (we started out heading to zoo boo but it was too crazy!). Aedan's favorite part of the costume? The gloves that give him "Mi-Mi hands!" He even got upset when I made him take them off to eat!

I also won him a cat costume on e-bay since all month long he has told me he wants to be "mi-mi and meow-meow." It has not come in yet so I am just hoping it gets here by Thursday for him to wear to school! You would not believe how hard it is to find a boy-ish cat costume in 2-3T!!!! In other cat-related news, Aedan is now saying cat instead of "meow-meow" about 1/4 of the time.... or rather he says "titty tat!"

Costume pics to come soon!

Cute Stories and Cute Pictures!

Aedan (and this blog, lol!) is really missing Mommy while I am finishing up work on Midsummer Night's Dream at school... the past two nights, he has refused to let Daddy put him to bed or even be in the same room while he goes to sleep. He gives Matt a hug and then says "Bye Bye Dada. Dada OUT!" while pushing at him to leave the bed! Then he clings to me like a life-line - "My Mama. Mama hold..."

Last night, we were having our frequent "Baby" vs "Aedan" debate. I asked him if he wanted us all to call him "Baby" and he smiled and very enthusiastically said "Yeah! BABY!" I laughed and said "Awww... but I like AEDAN!" he gave me a hug and said "Yeah. I like Mama! And I like Dada!" It was soooo cute! Definitely the closest he comes to saying "I love you" at this point and one of his longest speeches ever!

Nonna texted me this morning to tell me that he answered a question for the first time in chapel (apparently Noah put MeowMeows in his ark) and was singing and doing hand motions too! I am getting a little dissapointed that we won't be here for the school's Christmas program this year (we will be in Disney).

Speaking of school - school pictures got here last week! Enjoy!

Petco

Story from Nonna earlier this week...

"I asked Aedan if he wanted to go to Petco with me. He said "yah", JUMPED up and came over to me... and "petted" me on the head, saying, "pet Nonna"!"

Tail, Tail, Tail! (and other odd words)

Okay so the "tail" thing is sticking... tonight, waiting to get into the bathtub, Aedan pulls at his diaper and and whines "tail out! tail out!"

He has also (finally!) started saying "train" instead of just "choochoo."

Other odd quirks... He will not say Bunny's name. Most of the time he will start to call her "Zete" (what he calls Zeke) and correct himself and just say "No DOG!"

Weird word... stone. "see Mama, rock. stone. stick." "stone Aedan?" "Stone." Where did he learn that?

He also knows what snow is apparently... again, where on earth did that come from?

Butterfly!!!

Yet another story I'm sure my son will LOVE reading about in 15 years... Just remember, Aedan, your dad carried around a doll for 3 years and is plenty masculine (and a great dad too)

Aedan LOVES butterflies. They have a butterfly garden at school and he will stand and watch them with a big grin. We have had a lot around the parks and houses this summer too. Almost every time he sees one, Aedan cries out "bu-fly! fly! fly bu-fly! fly in sky!" and then procedes to flap his own "wings" and run around "flying" himself.

Well, this morning at Nonna's house, I was hugging him goodbye when Aedan spotted a little glittery snow globe with a butterfly inside on Nonna's dresser. "Bu-fly! Hold bu-fly!" So we let him hold the snowglobe, which he proceeded to hug close to his chest grinning, "Hug! Hug Bu-fly!" in the sweetest, most loving tone he usually reserves for Meow Meow.

It was the sweetest thing... I am thinking I may have to find my old beanie baby butterfly for him!

Baby's First Rehearsal

Aedan came to rehearsal with me for the first time today! He was soooo good! We were doing a run through of Midsummer and he played choochoos on the floor (heard him say "train" multiple times which is new!) on his new mat from his great Aunts and chased a balloon around the classroom. The whole time he was there, I only had to stop and pay attention to him once! Otherwise, he entertained himself and/or played with my kids that were off stage.

Mmmm.. Treat!

Aedan has a new "treat"... Matt gave him a whole apple yesterday and Aedan thinks it is so exciting to be able to eat it like that! We have to take a couple of bites to get him started but then he muches on it all by himself! It is adorable to watch him attacking it!

"Hold ME!"

Okay... Short post for today, but just wanted to share my munchkin's adorable new habit. Extremely frequently in the past couple of days, he comes up to me, holds up his little arms and says "hold me. need hold me. meeeese...." today he also asked "sit [with] me Mama." Impossible to resist!!!!

I really stink at this....

But I should try a lot harder... I really do want a record of all his cute little quirks!!!!Sooo... My new (school) year's resolution is to blog daily... Today I am going to start with as many recent anecdotes I can remember...

First of all, Aedan now has a big boy bed - yay Aedan!!!! It took it being shaped like a racecar, but at longlast there is a sleeping space he is not afraid to occupy on his own... he's still not crazy about the idea, however. The other night when I asked him whether he wanted to sleep in his bed or mama's bed he thought for a minute and replied "Mama sleep vroom vroom bed." Nice try, kiddo!

This morning, Nonna texted me with an adorable story... Aedan pointed to a picture of an alligator (specifically the tail) and said "snap snap tail!" Immediately, he then patted his own butt and said "baby tail!"

Aedan still refuses to say his own name... You ask "is your name Aedan?" and he replies "Noooo...baby." He also insists he is NOT a "big boy" but will now tell you he is a "big baby."

Driving home with Daddy the other day, he began to cry. Matt turned around and asked what the matter was. Aedan had spilt his juice. His reply to Matt? "Baby sad. Baby all wet!"

Aedan LOVES Aristocats. Disney does not make any merchandise featuring Thomas, Berliose, or Toulous. Consequently, Aedan carries around a Marie stuffed "white meow meow." He sleeps with it, tries to feed it, and takes it to the grocery store. On a recent trip, it was sprinkling on the way in and Marie got a little wet. Aedan kept a running monologue through the first half of the trip "Oh no! Meow Meow all wet. Dry Dry Meow Meow!" He was not remotely concerned that he was a bit wet as well.

Twice in the past month, Aedan has asked to put on a tutu.. it is the cutest thing in the entire world!!!! He somehow knows they are for dancing and he prances around and "twirl twirl"s

Not as much a funny anecdote as just Mommy bragging, but Aedan knows 20 out of 26 letters and 3-4 numbers as well. We are starting to play with three letter words... he LOVES Boggle Jr. and will sit and play with it by himself, reading all the letters off the little cubes and matching them up with the picture/word cards.

Just because it is so darn cute... here is messy Aedan (Daddy gave him m&m ice cream!)

Recently, Aedan tripped and fell while running across his room. Before I could say anything, he jumped up and said "baby alright Mama. Baby's o-tay!"

Last week, I was sick... Aedan continually came up and said "Mama alright? Mama sad?" I finally taught him "sick" so when he was running fever later in the week he curled up in my arms and said "Baby sad. Baby sick."

He is already learning how to get what he wants... the other day "Mama, where [did the] cookies go?" Me: "Aedan, you don't need any more cookies." Aedan: "Dada, where cookies go?"

We already have a little actor on our hands. When watching Lion King, Aedan does all of Simba's parts "Come on! " "Dad? Dad, where are you?" He has also started calling Matt "Dad" half the time - we totally blame the movie.

I guess that's all for now... Will try to keep remembering these and will post new ones!

At 18 Months...

Aedan is such a great little man... He loves cars and trains and is constantly running around with a "vroom vroom" as he says. He got a ride-on car that we can push him in for Christmas and will push it to the front door and then look at me and say "vroom vroom ride OUTSIDE."

He is also very into "pretend" play. He loves to "cook" in his new kitchen and feed us all of his creations. He has several baby dolls that he loves to hug or push in his shopping cart. One has a pacifier that Aedan will put in its mouth and say "baby night-night" as he pats its tummy or head.

He loves to read and especially likes "Where is Spot?" (my favorite at his age too!) which he will bring to us while asking "Where is he?" He is still a master at animal sounds and can do an elephant, duck, horse, cat, bird, chicken, cow, goat, sheep, snake, lion, bear... and probably more I am forgetting here. The sheep is new and he will bring us his farm books to find the "baabaa" plus loves his "baa baa black sheep" book. He also loves to pretend he is an elephant by walking slowly and making his arm a trunk while making his elephant sound "aroo!" He got to ride an elephant at the Rennaissance Festival this year and while he was totally solemn during the process he is so proud of himself when we watch the video.

Aedan's favorite foods are mandarin oranges (he will eat an entire HUGE can in one sitting), cheese, yogurt, chocolate, and ice... Nonna got him hooked on the crushed ice she is always munching and now he will run around asking for "ice! iiiiice?" so we taught him to add "baby" to the end and sing "da da da da da da dum" so now we have a little Vanilla Ice rapper baby. I just hope he doesn't destroy the few teeth he has (still only 4!) He also has definitely developed a sweet tooth... he knows Grammie usually keeps sweets by her chair and when we visit he will run up to her and ask for "snack" while signing "more please." I hate him having candy, but I know how much it means to her to be able to hold him for a few minutes (usually he is just too busy to slow down to be held!)

We are getting ready to move right now and I am pulling out all of his baby things to pack and/or sell. He has gotten so excited playing with so many of the toys he is really too big for - it's adorable! It has also been so nostalgic for me - these first few years just fly!!!

Totally Stink at this Blogging Stuff...

But a quick update anyway...Our little guys now has so many words I could not even begin to list them... He climbs ladders (up and down), "cooks" in his pretend kitchen, sings, dances, knows 4 colors, counts to 3, and can identify the letter "A." He is growing up so fast I seriously can't believe it sometimes. I know I need to do a better job of keeping up with it all here, so I am going to try! (Call it a new year's resolution!)