Growing up...not so fast.

Aidan, you grow and change and amaze your Mom and me every day. It's hard to keep up with sometimes, let alone write about it.

I remember being floored last week: you brought me a book to read, Dr. Seuss' "I can read with my eyes closed." You flipped it directly open to the only page in the book that you like, and you already had your fingers on your nose to act out the page: "And what to do about Owls on noses."

Then you got up, went to the book shelf and grabbed "In my tree," the only other book we have that's all about owls.

The fact that you just made that connection blew my mind. But that was already a week ago and since then you've blown my mind a few more times, made me laugh, made me frustrated, made me happy, and made me feel loved a million times each!

What a crazy journey we're on together. I'm definitely along for the ride, even though you're the one captaining it.

Here are some of the amazing/fun/awesome (or maybe even regular, day-in-day-out) awesomeness of late:

You love to drink from the faucet (and fill up your water bottle and cup there too). You figured this out all on your own, and cracked us up!



You're really (kinda) getting the hang of (kinda) feeding yourself with a spoon!




And, when not trying to eat the food for yourself, you love to feed others too!


It's gotten cooler outside, so you've been able to explore the playground for the first time since you learned to walk.

You love swinging:








And putting mulch on things:



And sliding:

And bumping into friends in the park...

and elsewhere...


And you even got to go on your very first bike ride:

So, as you can see, you've been a baby on the move. I'm not even trying to catch up any more; I'm just enjoying the heck out of the ride!

Houston-bound

Over Labor Day Weekend, we decided to go visit Uncle Dana, all your cousins and Aunt Mendi. It was a great weekend, and you had a blast playing with your cousins, especially Kat, Haley and Grayson.


You loved climbing up Uncle Dana's staircase (no video of this, as all adult hands are needed on deck when stairs are being climbed by an 18 month old),

chasing the girls around the house (or being dragged in a laundry basket),



reading with the girls,





playing in the tent room,





swimming, and watching Holden and Griffin do what ever "big boys."

And, if you can believe it, the heat in Texas broke- the consecutive days of 100 degrees were over! (temporarily)

So we did a lot of stuff outdoors: we went for a walk, went to the park, and played outside.

Between the stairs, the fun toys, the family love and the swimming, you had a really good time!

Oh, and on the drive in you even watched your first feature-length movie from start to finish: Toy Story 3. You laughed a lot and were pretty interested.

Daddy's very sensitive ever since he became a Daddy; Toy Story 3 made him cry three times. Damn Pixar.

But there were no tears (okay, so there were a few, but nothing major) at Uncle Dana's house! A fun time was had by all; and you really do love seeing your cousins!