That Thing You Do: Dandelions

Aidan, ever since you were a very young lad, you delighted in stopping to smell the flowers. You still do. 

And while that is an enviable trait, your botanical appreciation goes even further. For as long as I can remember, you've been into dandelions. You love to blow them away and make wishes upon them when they're no longer yellow. You love to smell them, to stop and look at the bees flitting in and out of their yellow heads, to pick and gather them wherever we may find them...and to give them to people you love.

You've picked out dandelions for me, for Julia, for Yaya, for Shamsy, for Pops and Baba and Joseph, for Rebekka and Molly. For the Long triplets. Even for Toby to have a little snack!

But, if we're being honest here, most of the dandelions you pick are for your Mama.

You are so, so sweet.

You find beauty where others may see weeds. And you selflessly give that beauty away, to brighten some one else's day.

That's the beauty of a dandelion. It is more symbolic of love than a rarer flower such as a rose or orchid. Because love is everywhere. You just need to open your eyes and see it. And just as the dandelion flower turns to a seed that can be spread with a breath and a wish, so to can love.

No matter where you go in life, my son, remember the dandelion. It, like you, is sunny, is life, and is love. 

Green Means Go

Another weekend, another Go, Go, Go!

Which is great! We love to let you explore, bounce, discover, run, dance and burn off all that energy! Now, that's not to say there's not downtime: we have plenty of time to relax and cuddle and make french toast breakfasts and just play imaginatively upstairs.

But, we also get to go to the bounce house:

(p.s. I was very proud of you on this visit to the bounce house, because you decided to leave the Pirate Game (a video game demo you love to sit and watch for...ever....) on your own accord!)

And Chuck E. Cheese:

And the Dallas World Aquarium:

And Mimi and Pops even took you to "Old MacDonalds" on your special day with them on Monday!


There's a lot of world to explore out there, and we're glad to give you and your sister the green light.

You both grow up so much, so fast, and always surprise us.

This weekend, Aidan, you cracked us up in the car. You were telling us the traffic light colors and meanings, like you love to do. But the ending was all new...

"Green means Go!" you said.

"Red means STOP!" you said.

"Yellow means...slow down...baby!"

You had us in stitches, and you knew it too. So you kept saying "Slow down, baby!"

And Julia, this week and weekend, you've really started to grasp several things: you're grasping toys and hair (and the glasses right off your mommy's face) with your hands; you're grasping your feet and you're grasping communication too.

You've recently taken to blowing bubbles and raspberries as an alternative form of communication.

And it's most welcome, indeed!

So, no matter what light we hit on the road, you both seem to be accelerating and growing and going...green green green.

I love it, and love watching you grow. But not so fast.

Slow Down, babies!

Talk Like a Man

Aidan,

I used to keep a list of every word that you said, in the order in which they appeared in your vocabulary. I was preparing for the worst. At your 18 month check up the doctor wanted to know if you could say five words. Your Mom froze and said "I don't know...uh...yes...yes he does." She was asked to list those words. She blanked.

The doctor said that by 24 months, they wanted you to say 50 words and be able to string two of them together into a phrase.

So I kept a list.

By 2 years old, you had surpassed all our expectations and had a vocabulary of at least 50 words  (and noises). Okay, maybe you were just shy of 50 words, if you don't count onomatopoeia, and subsituting animal noises for animal names (like 'arf' for 'dog).

But we weren't worried any more about your language skills. So I stopped keeping the list. It's a good thing too, because I couldn't have kept up if I did.

It seems that recently your vocabulary is increasing incrementally. I can't even remember everything you said yesterday, all the new words you learned over the last week (we learned "heavy," "booger," "guys," sunny," "sorry" etc).

But it's incredible to watch and be innundated by the flood of words coming out of your brain.

It's lke watching your brain at work, especailly when we don't understand what you're saying and you come up with other ways to explain to us what your saying.

And of course, vocabulary enhances your attitude too.

The other day, our friend Bryan was telling Luke that the pig says "oink." You corrected them: "no...pig..."

You're a little smart alec...but you're a smarty pants too.

It's really a pleasure to talk to such a smarty pants, by the way.

Especially when he can say "Joe" and "Baba,"

"Yaya"

"Mommy"

"Mimi"

"Brady" (Bray-deeee)

"Smile" (and can smile when we ask him to)

"Baby!" (and can kiss the baby when we ask him to)

"Daddy"

(You just started calling us "mommy" and "daddy". previously we'd been mom, ma, da, mom dad and my dad)

"Eat" (or, "eat eat eat")

"Dog" and "Walk"

 "Me you" (which means either 'me and you' or just you, meaning Aidan)...okay, that one's confusing...

Photo by Aidan

 "Toby" (which you just learned last week. It started out as "Taboo" and then you finally got it...you were so excited to say "Toby" that every dog is now "Toby!" even...

Photo by Aidan

 "Toby"...okay, that's "Preston," but we're still working on that one.

Photo by Aidan

 "Pig," "Pink" and "Pinky (the finger!)

Photo by Aidan

"Friend" (we just learned that one this weekend!)

"Pops" (which currently sounds like "Poss")

 "Yellow" and some variation on the word "Bracelet"

 "Shaow" (Shadow-- you love making shadow puppets, a trick that Mimi started and Daddy continued...you love the "big wolf" shadow...and the 'baby wolf' shadow too)

"Frog"

"Color"

"Dark" and "Eyes"

"Train!"

"Haircut" and "Baby"

You say "set go set go" for chases and while playing with cars.

You also say "Green set go" when you're ready for the traffic light to change.

You love Yellow and point out yellow-ness everywhere: "yellow bus!" "yellow truck!" "yellow car","yellow block," "yellow crayon," "yellow chair."

And "yellow candy" (sounds like "yellow canny"). You bargain for your yellow candy (a Reece's Pieces) after your medicine. But now all the yellows are gone, so you bargain for "brown canny" and "orange canny" too.

When people ask you "How old are you?" You dutifully respond "two!"

You learned to say "Ernie" "Mo's Ducks" and "sunny days" for your favorite Sesame Street character, songs and books.


You love numbers, including "two," "five!" and whenever any one is counting, you conclude with "nine ten nine ten nine ten", no matter where we actually are in the chronology.

You know our neighbors, Bryan, Tammy and Luke and discuss their comings and goings. "Bran gone." "Hi Tammy" "Yuke!"

You love your "Buzz car!" And love "wood-dee" too.

You say "you me swim"...but the jury's still out if you want to swim alone or with me.

One day we read a book about Winnie the Pooh. In the very end, Winnie the Pooh O.D.s on a lot of honey and goes to sleep, dreaming of "honey pots and pots of honey." You started saying "honey!" I asked you if you wanted some honey. You said "honey!" So I gave you a little spoonful. And you said "honey" again. So I gave you a second, third, fourth helping of honey. "Honey, honey, honey!" you said! So we went to go tell your Mommy. "Aidan, tell Mommy, what did you just eat?" I asked. You thought about it awful hard and then repiled "Pooh!"

Oy vey. That's right. You're speaking Yiddish too. Mimi taught you to say "Oy vey," and you use it when we read a book about "Sunny Days" (aka Sesame Street")


You also are learning some great words about gross-out stuff. Some Mother who shall remain namless taught you "Pee-Yew" for stinkiness or yuckiness. You LOVE reading about the garbage truck and saying "Pee-Yew." We ask you what you think of the garbage truck, and you'll reply "Pee-yew!"


Sometimes you join us in the bathroom. One particular day after I had stood up from the toilet, you peered in and said "Pee-Yew Poo Poo!" Great, now you're shaming me.

But, it's good for you to feel natural in the bathroom. Everybody poops. And now you can say "potty." The other day you barged in on me, sw what I was doing and said "Pee Pee Potty!" Unfortunately, you've also joined your dear old dad and had reason to say "Poo Poo Potty."

You love cars and trucks, and love riding the "Buzz Car" Brady let you borrow; you saw a "Big Truck" outside your school, and saw a "big Black Truck" outside our house.

Your new words aren't just limited to defecation and transportation, though. We had dinner with Aunt Sham and Scott last week, and you learned Scott's name. You thought long and hard and dubbed him "Sock!" And the whole night you kept calling him, "Sock! Sock! Sock!"

Then you saw a picture of the tow of them and said "Shammy! Sock!"

I've been compiling this posting for a week now to try to remember all the hilarious, amazing, new things you've been saying and I just can't keep up. You're talking so much now...and I'm just happy to be part of the conversation!