2014 Beach Trip- Numero Uno

Of Ladybugs and Tin Cans

Aidan,

Your curiosity has been coming out in bigger, bolder shows lately. You unscrewed and dumped out the bug spray all over the table. You checked out the terra cota citronella candle holder lid, which somehow broke. You dumped out the sunscreen all in the inflatable pool and some deck furniture...but after all, your "tail was burning" (as you told me). You destroyed our pet spider's web to see what would happen (and you later apologized and- right on cue- the spider crawled back up (literally) the water spout to build his web again). You climbed up a ladder at Baba's house to pick yourself some delicious figs.

We love and embrace your curiosity; and I love your little, trickster, mischievous gleam you get in your eyes right before you get a sneaky idea to do something super sneaky cool.

But, I was reminded last week that amongst all the impishness, your curiosity also reveals your innocence and sense of wonder.

You and Julia spent the night at Yaya's and Baba's house (first time! woo hoo!). Your mother and I came to pick you guys up in the morning.

You hugged on your mommy for ages, and Julia hugged on me. Then you guys started telling us about all the amazing, cool, and fun things that you saw and did!

Finally, you said, "Mommy! We found a ladybug! C'mon! I show you!"

Your Mommy followed you to the bedroom/playroom.

"Where is the ladybug?" your Mom asked.

"Under the bed!" you said.

So you guys got down on all fours, and peered under the bed.

You pointed to an old, cylindrical tin can (once a home to cookies or something) and excitedly told your Mom to look inside! Because therein was the ladybug!

Your Mom got the can out from under the bed and turned it around and inside was...

A BIG, DEAD, COCKROACH!

<your mother hates cockroaches>

She screamed and dropped the can. I started laughing. It would have been the perfect prank, a hilarious joke to play. But you were not laughing.

You didn't know what a cockroach was, nor did it seem gross or scary to you. To you, it was just- to your best knowledge- a large ladybug.

Your Mom got over it quickly and started chuckling too. She and I realized that you were innocently serious; you hadn't meant any harm or mischief. You just wanted to share your discovery.

We stopped laughing and hugged you. Explained to you why we thought it was funny. That cockroaches and ladybugs are in fact different. And Mommy is creeped out by cockroaches.

And then you started laughing too.

You were now in on the joke you unwittingly played, and you got a big kick out of it.

So much so that when in our art room at home, a few days later, you spotted a cylindrical tin that once housed cookies, you got a mischievous look in your eye and announced to us:

"Look! There's a ladybug in there! A ladybug like this" (and then you made your 'croaked' face).

We all had a good laugh. A really nice, warm laugh as a family.

You're growing up really fast son; but I will never forget your innocence with the mistaken ladybug.

Of Pig Tails and Tissue Trails

Julia, you are about 21.5 months old, but sometimes you act as if you've been here forever- wise beyond your years, too perceptive and smart to not even be two yet. This summer, your vocabulary has skyrocketed, your singing and dancing have gotten super amazing...

...and you've even learned how to jump.

Sometimes, you just leap forward physically, leaving your mother and I astonished at how much of a big girl you really are.

 

First and foremost, it's official: your hair has finally grown long enough to sport more 'do's. Today you wore your first ever pig tails, and they suit you to a tee. Just. Plain. Awesome. You are always beautiful.

Today you are beautiful with pig tails!

 

 

For just about a week solid preceding the pig tail incident, you were waking up moaning, griping, and sometimes crying in the middle of the night and nothing could console you except for being held. We could not figure out what the heck was going on, since you are normally such a good sleeper. Then, one day, after what turned out to be the last such night, your mother and I both independently noted that you seemed bigger...heavier...and then all of a sudden you could reach things you couldn't reach before. That settled it from an acadmic standpoint: you had a growth spurt!

 

 

 

Sometimes you seem to be growing up before our very eyes. Sometimes you seem like you've been here before.

 

Sometimes you seem like you might be from somewhere else altogether!

 

 

You love to color on yourself.

 

And you have to sleep with a tissue in your hand. You've been doing this for quite a while; sometimes a tissue to hold will comfort you if you're upset at night time...even so much as a year ago.

 

 You call tissues 'nanos'; even though you can say tissues. Each night, you request a nano, and then in the morning it's gone. Sometimes we see little pieces of tissues balled up, here and there. Sometimes you call down to us "Mommy, nano fall!" Sometimes you are pretty upset about their frailty, as one night when Mimi and Pops were babysitting and you kept yelling down "Mimi, nano broke!"

 

Most nights though, the nanos just seem to disappear...Until one day I moved the crib from the wall and found nearly a box-worth of tissues all torn up and balled up under your bed. You are so funny! Some people have security blankets, some people have security nanos that they tear up night after night.

 

No matter how strange that may seem as you're reading it, it is completely normal- and a good reason to buy stock in Kleenex- and completely a part of who you are: old soul, growing up too quickly, quirky and hilarious!

 

I think we'll keep you.

 

Sneaky Sleeper

Aidan,

 

You've been sneaking into our bed for a few months now. Nightmares, bad dreams, sleepwalking, checking on us, cold, thirsty, lonely? Who knows why (well,sometimes we do know that it's bad dreams, because you tell us), but pretty much every night/morning around 5 am you wind up in bed with us, and your mother doesn't have the energy to take you back again, and I'm a deep sleeper, so I don't know you're there until the morning unless you drape your arm over my head. Sometimes you manage to sneak in unnoticed by your Mom and we both wake up surprised to see you. Last night, though, was an even more amazing sneak sleeper maneuver.

 

I tucked you in, and you were fast asleep by 7:25 (those swim classes really tire you out). Your Mom and I worked out, we ate some dessert, we watched some television. There was a huge pile of laundry in the bed. The evening consisted of a few trips back to our bedroom: putting away the weights, changing into PJs, letting the dogs out, and in, and out again.

 

We made our way to be around 11:00 and your Mom says, "Did you know Aidan was in our bed?" I did not, but there you were, adorably sleeping in our bed. You had snuck in there- which is really interesting, because if you wake up while we're still up, you typically come and see us, but last night you must have simply wanted to sleep...some where else. This is also impressive, because you're not exactly light-footed. Your thud-thud-thud isn't exactly stealthy usually.

 

But last night, you snuck out of your bed, climbed in ours, tucked yourself in, and got nice and adorably comfrotable..

 

 

I don't know if the huge pile of laundry was good enough camouflage, or if you had tucked yourself in so deeply that I didn't see you, but with the multiple trips to the bedroom, I somehow missed your beautiful face sleeping in our big bed.

 

I'm glad we got to see you there, so peaceful, so at home, so comfortable- exactly the things we want for you to feel in every room in our home. I couldn't resist taking a picture; you looked so beautiful, sleeping there basking in the soft light coming from the closet.

 

When I see you sleeping, I am immediately transported back to your early days as an infant.

 

You have grown to be a creative, impressive, hilarious, complicated, emotional, confident, sensitive young boy. But when we catch you sleeping, especially dwarfed by the big comforter in our bed, it's not hard to recall the day you first held my hand and used to sleep on my and your mom's chest during long naps, drenched in afternoon sunlight.

 

We kissed you and took you back to bed for the night.

 

I awoke to the sound of my alarm at 7 am, and was pleasantly surprised to find you there, cuddled between your Mom and me.

 

 

Civil Disobedience

 

 

The other morning you both were wide awake before I left for work. Aidan, you led the charge.

 

"You are not to go to work," you said playfully.

 

I explained that I had too! Afterall, we'd just had a 3.5 day weekend and a week at the beach. And I kind have to bring home the bacons. But, that doesn't matter. And it didn't phase you either.

 

You rant to the front door. Julia, chocolate milk in hand, followed you.

 

"We are blocking your way! You can't leave!" you said, cheekily.

 

A smile never left your faces, and you both really made me feel so super special that you wanted me to stay at home and be with you.

 

I thought fleetingly about calling sick...but what kind of example would that set?

 

We hugged, we kissed, we made plans to play Candy Land when I got home.

 

And when I got home we hugged again, kissed again, and played, hung out, swam, chased, and read until bed time.

 



The only good part about leaving the both of you is constantly getting to come back to you.

i love you so much; and thank you for blocking the door, and making my day.

The Things You Say

Julia, as more and more words- and sentences- come out of your mouth the more apparent it becomes that you are whip-smart, super powerful, and amazingly funny too.

You know most of your body parts and don't hesitate to tell us. "Eye", "Eyebrow", "Elbow", "hair", "knee", "nose", "Behbuh" (belly button), "mouth", "eeah" (ear), "teef!" "eyelash" are among your favorites. I often have no shirt on (that's what Dads do)...so I've noticed that you - like your brother before you- seem very interested in "bibbles" (nipples).  And you use these liberally: in your favorite book ("Nemo") you always have to find the "shaaa" (shark) and tell us all about his teeth.

You know when you want to play "Horsey" or "kikitty" or "dog."

When you go potty, you tell me to "sit!" So, I sit across from you on the edge of the tub.

You learn words left and right, and remember them too. Last night in the bath tub, you said "Grover Cup, Pease."

Last night while you were trying to avoid going to bed, you kept point and asking me to take you to the "chair." "Chair." "Chair."

When you are proud for going pee pee on the potty, or just looking for someone, you use your "Oh!" Such as "Oh, Mama!" "Oh, Daddy!" "Oh, Aidan!"


If you don't know someone's name, that never stops you:  You called your cousin Jenny "That."

"Nah" means "yeah." "Neh" means again. "No no no no no no"- you can figure that one out.

We played "ring around the rosey" once before you fell in love with the game and request it every day a hundred times. "Robey robey robey neh!"

You sing songs too, including "clean up clean up" (often you'll make messes just for the joy of cleaning them up!)

You love to sing songs that your brother is teaching you too. "A, B, A, B, A, B, B" But once a few days ago I sang "ABCD" and you sang "EFG" unmistakably!

You also LOVE when a song from "Frozen" comes on and in a gruff voice you say "FROZEN! FROZEN! FROZEN!"

And of course, Old MacDonald remains one of your favorites.

In the car one day, Aidan was doing some improv and sang "E I E I Daddy." He thought it was hilarious! So did you...and you've been singing it ever since!

You are making sentences quite readily too. "Oolia bath" (you wanted to get back in the bath since Aidan and Kaelyn were still in there having fun).

"Ho me ho me" is of course "hold me hold me".

"Oolia go goo gleep shirt" (you were wearing your Go Goo Gleep shirt..duh!)

"Aidan shoes"

"Mine iPad! Mine iPad!"

"Aidan bite." (no, he didn't)

"Good gog"

"Aidan cry." (yes, he did)

"Mama book"

"Thank you!"

"Hi Nemo!"

"Bye bye, Nemo!"

"Bye bye, park"

"Mimi! Bop!" (Pops)

"Yaya! Baba!"

"NG NG" (it means "swing"...trust me on this)

"Asher! Asher! Asher!"

"Baby Bottle! Baby..."

"More wah wah Oolia!"

"Mama, Dada, there you are!"

Sometimes you just sit and babble stuff we haven't heard before and can't translate yet; occasionally it's over a book, so you're probably just reading. But, with the speed with which your vocabulary is growing and you're mastering language, we'll understand you soon enough. For now though, you are a little girl in a big world, and you have a lot to say about it. We're just happy to hear it!