Nature Boy (or Mud Man)

One day you and I were walking back from the playground when we heard someone yelling from a nearby back yard: "Is that our neighbor?"

It was two of our little neighbor boys in their backyard, looking through the fence, saying hi to you...buck naked.

I thought "well, the weather's nice enough...we should let Aidan play naked in the backyard and see what happens."

So, that night, I stripped you down and let you wander around the backyard. You loved it!

I told Mommy of how much fun you had and then she decided we had to do it again...and again...




Since then you've had 2 or 3 fun, fully nude, muddy, wet, sunny play times outside. And you've totally bonded with nature each time.






You don't care if you get rocks on your tush or sticks on your tush. You've got scraped up legs and a splinter in your finger, but you still LOVE being naked outside. Fun in the sprinkler, fun in the sun, even fun swinging and spinning in and out of the water.

And then, of course, it's bath time!

Your Mommy says that you are just like she was: a mud-pie making, outdoors-loving, muddy, dirty kid.




You're really becoming quite the Nature Boy...and we love it!


Good clean fun for all!

The end!

Missing You and Catching Up

In late September I had to go on my annual business trip, this one was from Friday morning before you woke up to Monday night after you went to bed. So I went four whole days without seeing you. It sucked. But, at least we got to video chat and talk on the phone a little bit. But this wasn't exactly soothing...you missed me too! And when you saw me or heard me on the phone you got a little upset and pointed at the front door (because that's where I come from, apparently!)

While I was gone, you and your Mommy did lots of fun things and hung out with Bibi and Baba a lot. The four of you even went to the Arboretum.





You guys probably had to get wet in the fountain to hide your missing-Daddy tears.

But, when I came back home I didn't waste any time catching up with you. You woke up crying on Monday night and I beat your Mom to your crib (and honestly, I most of the times don't try to beat her to your crib on those late-night calls). It was dark and we couldn't see each other, but you knew it was me (because it clearly wasn't Mommy). I held you tight and you fell asleep again in my arms. It was pretty much the awesomest part of leaving.

I guess that's the best part of leaving: coming home.

And while I was home, we did some serious good hanging out. Since I've been away from the blog for a while, and I know how much it sucks to miss you, here's some catching up on what we've been up to:

You did some naked running around inside and outside:


Your Mommy, you and I went to the Arboretum too...and also played in the fountain!







We celebrated Rosh Hashana With Mimi and Pops (and you discovered your love for piano playing)










You stomped your feet and played inside and out:






And loved on your "brothers"...



You've learned a bit of sign language too! Your Bibi taught your "please" in one afternoon. Where you hit your chest...or tummy..with one hand or two... You did "please" for like a week solid, but now you've kind of stopped doing it and just use a big emphatic "YES" (a GIANT head nod) instead. We're working on please still.

You can climb in your Aidan-sized chair and are oh-so proud of yourself.

You turned over the Dogs' water bowl twice in one day (and the floor got very clean).

You can finally reach the on/off button on the washer (on your tippy toes).

Everything is a phone. Even a phone. You hold all sorts of things up to your ear and pretend you're on the phone; this is pretty amazing, because you've never actually been on the phone.

Speaking of pretending, once last week I let you feed the dogs their treats. You immediately went back to the container to give them more, but I had closed it. So you invented a game: you pretend to get the food, hold it tightly in a closed-fist and give it to the dogs. You think this is hilarious good fun...the dogs, not so much.

You can climb up to the top of the playground at the park all by yourself. And you love going down the slides.

Your favorite food is apricots and the yellow crayon is your favorite one to hold. Your favorite toy of today is the Toy Story Woody that Uncle BJ and Aunt Kari got you.

You turned 19 months old!

We surprised your Mommy with a surprise birthday party (she's 30!) and with the big "SURPRISE!!!!" you cried...but you got over it! Plus you enjoyed the cake!

It mostly stinks to have to leave, but it's always good to catch up.

You are growing and changing every day, and every day has its ups and downs. But, I'd so much rather be holding you as you have a mini-melt down than be miles and miles away.

Your Mom and I just marvel at how much fun the 5 of us (and Grandmas and Aunts and Uncles and Grandpas) are having raising you and being a family. You are such a good boy and if we ever get out of synch again, don't worry, I'll miss you and you'll miss me. And when I get back, we'll catch up again.

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!