Things we did this weekend - part 1

We went to the Grain Bin in the middle of nowhere, nowhere near Grandma's house on Saturday morning. First, we stopped off to say hello to a few animals.

Aidan got a little too close to the moo cows.

And got way too close to this little puppy dog. Thankfully we could get him away, pointing in the direction of cinnamon buns and tasty treats.

Road Trip to Amery

We're at Grandma Char and Pappa Bud's for the weekend for a fun visit. Aidy's watching a pre-breakfast Winnie The Pooh. He loves it here.

But here's what happened on the way up:

While Erin and I discussed Christmas presents for friends and family, Aidan started reading. He has a new truck and car book. After about ten minutes or so, we heard some noises coming from the back like a strange kind of tune. Erin and I stopped talking without looking at him and he was telling the story of the book. He was going up and down in sentence cadences, using the odd words and vehicle sounds he has and it sounded something like.

WhurwhuurbahbahhCAAARRRbububublaWOOWOOWOOOWOOWOllalblahhTRUCK.

WOOWOO is the sound of a fire engine - as if that needed explaining.

I could see the pride in his mum's eyes.

Then came the wristband. I found a green and yellow flower wristband which flicks on and wraps around your wrist and I put it on my right wrist. Aidy saw this and pointed at it and obviously wanted it for himself. We that it was this he wanted for a while and I just thought he'd taken offense at me all of a sudden. Erin being the perceptive one in our parental partnership, saw what I had on my wrist and gave it to him.

The day before, on the way to swimming, Aidan had found this wristband and struggled getting it on, but eventually, he did and was very proud of himself. We heard the same noises of frustration I'd heard the night before and left him to his own devises. But when we looked back a few minutes later Aidy had wrapped the band around his head, saying "eyes, eyes" and pointing at them. For the next ten minutes he'd take it off and put it on again saying - each time, much louder - "nose, mouth or eyes".

He played to the crowd and time passed by very quickly.

Towards the end of the journey, when he should have been asleep, we started singing a few calming nursery rhymes. But every time we'd finish one, from the deepest dark heart of the back of the car, we heard a little chuckle and applause. Instead of ignoring this, Erin and I, both rose to the occasion, said "thank you very much" and carried on. This led to us exhausting our repertoire and getting a little boy who needed to sleep, very excited.

We tested this excitedness by visiting Grandma Jane. Needless to say he crashed, was grumpy and was asleep in the back of the car within 5 minutes of leaving.

Now he's up, drinking his milk and playing with cars, while Pooh is on in the background. He can't wait for the adventures that usually happen while we're here, to get going.

Words

The switch seems to have gone on for Aidan's vocabulary. He's repeating a lot of what we say and giggling a lot when he does.

His personality is coming through now, too. Here's three stories to prove it.

The three of us went for a walk the other evening and we walked by a man who said hi. Erin and I said hi back and Aidan did too, but he was a little too late for the man to notice. A minute later a woman did exactly the same thing except Aidan said hi back to her immediately. And let out the proudest giggle as we went on our way.

Another night, Aidan and I were upstairs reading some books. There's one which we use most nights and Aidan tells me what the pictures are. Theres a picture of a ball then chair then car. As I was asking what the pictures were Aidan picked up an other book, started looking at that and in a bored teenager's voice just said, "ball, chair, car," without looking at the right book. He's getting too smart - and cheeky - for his own good.

And last night we visited some friends. Aidan happily played with a Mr. Potato Head and a toy camera while we sat around chatting. A few minutes went by then Aidan walked up to us all, held the camera up to his eyes and started saying "cheese". He went round the room repeating it until he'd snapped us all.

All fall down

Aidan came over to help me when I was raking the lawn the other day. Or so I thought. Actually, he just wanted to run through the leaves and dive into them.

Lovin' summer

When he's done his mowing he just loves playing.

Gardening

Aidan followed his mum all around the back garden the other day helping with the mowing.

Aidan and Papa

It's always great seeing these two together. I think I know who has more fun when they're with each other. The big kid rather than the little one.