Tap, Tap, Tap-- is this thing on?

You know it has been a long time since you've blogged when...

1) you forget how to log-in to the blog.
2) a full season has passed and you haven't blogged a word about it.
3) you consider redesigning the whole thing-- DO OVER!
4) your kid doesn't look much like his picture on your blog.

I've been so busy launching a website at work and various other work-related web stuff that the last thing I wanted to do was more of the same at home. I've mostly been futzing around on Farmtown in FB. I'm two levels away from farm nirvana!

The summer was great-- lots of time was spent outdoors since we had such great summer weather. Lot of parks added water playgrounds we just had to explore. Aidan and I planted our first garden this year which yielded a bumper crop of zucchini, tomatoes, and lettuce (we're still enjoying a late batch of green beans.) Paul built a fine fence complete with trellis and arbor so I could plant four kinds of clematis. We visited with friends and family from out of town-- it was a busy summer! You can see pictures on my website at http://www.paul-n-laurel.com.

So, to reward you for my lack of posting this past summer, here is a video of Aidan singing the Meatball Song. No longer adverse to acting up in front of the camera, here is one of three versions of Aidan singing:

let me introduce you to my little friend

toddlers are curious creatures. they ask a lot of questions. they like to poke and prod.

now for toddler boys, around the age of 3, they become particularly intrigued with body functions. probably because of the whole potty training process and the parts involved.

so of course, aidan has suddenly become very aware of his penis.

we try to use the anatomically correct term and try to refrain from using euphemisms like "peepee" or "weewee" and such. he pronounces it "pe-nus."

for the past several weeks aidan has been putting his hand down the front or back of his pants. i like to ask him," what are you doing, aidan? is your penis still there? good, now take your hands out of your pants." in the shower, sometimes he slaps at it. now, i thought that was a sensitive area, guys! i mean, what's with all the drama when some dude is dealt a blow in the 'nads? it looks like it hurts to high heaven!

paul says when it's your own penis, it doesn't hurt. really?

aidan has offered up a couple of great lines regarding the ol' "pe-nus:"

[after a bath] aidan says, "look mama! my penus is big! like daddy's! "

(no comment. this is a family blog after all.)

[in the morning] aidan has said, "look mama! my penus is up. because it slept all night!"

car talk

Our best conversations are usually when we are on the way home. We've picked Aidan up from daycare and he's has his afternoon snack while we talk about our day.

[Paul and I are talking about something at work]

Aidan: Stop talking-- I want to talk!

Us: What's that, Aidan?

Aidan: Stop talking guys.

Us: Okay, Aidan. You talk. What do you want to talk about?

[Silence]

Aidan: I can't talk. You help me guys.

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Aidan: Mama! I want more booty!

Me: How do you ask nicely?

Aidan: Booty please!

Me: The whole thing, please! (Lately, I've been able to get away with just giving him "the look" and I don't even have to say anything.)

Aidan: Mama, can I have some Pirate Booty please?

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Us: Did you have fun at school today, Aidan?

AIdan: Uh-huh. (Usually his mouth is full with grapes, oranges, or the aforementioned Booty)

Us: What did you do today?

Aidan: I play with playdough and I pinched [child's name omitted to protect their identity and Aidan's reputation]

Us: Aidan, it's not nice to pinch your friends. You shouldn't pinch your friends.

Aidan: It was funny--- bwaa ha haaa!

Us: That's not funny, Aidan.

Aidan: It's he-larious!

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bombs away and target practice

two weeks ago, aidan started  wearing "big boy" character briefs. we have been lazy in the potty training department. we don't want to push and we know that aidan knows the steps to "the process." he just doesn't care to put all those steps together. 

so, we were surprised when his teacher encouraged us to put him in underwear, saying she'd be happy to help him out and clean him up. 

the first two days were, in a word, gross. pee-wet thin cotton is one thing. thin cotton coated with poop is quite another. paul has been the lucky recipient of the poopy pants.

after those two treacherous days, the rest of the week was great. he stays dry for most of the day and we (as in the parents) have trained ourselves to take him to the potty every 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

as a grown-up, you don't have to think about these things; you just... go. but toddlers haven't learned to listen to that little alarm that goes off in their brains when their bladder/gut is full. it's more fun to keep playing with your lightning mcqueen cars and thomas trains than to stop, drop trou and sit on the potty. think about it-- for the majority of their lives, they've become accustomed to steeping in their goo until the parentals changed their diapers. it's another transition that is going to take some time. and patience. and more underpants-- otherwise, i'm going to be doing laundry every day. 

paul has come up with two ways to get aidan excited about going potty. so far, so good.

target practice:  it's exactly what you think. aim and shoot at the targets floating in the toilet. so far, we've had cheerios (a traditional favorite); mini marshmallows and, in a pinch, little rolled up balls of toilet paper. aidan loves target practice and proudly announces he hit the targets every time.

bombs away.  this is relatively new and is a work in progress. no bombs yet, but we've been able to get aidan to sit at least for a minute. 

yet one more milestone to work towards.

a new song learned

we dropped aidan off at preschool today a little later than usual and the kids were gathered around the teacher, getting ready to listen to a story.

teacher said, "aidan's here! should we sing to aidan?"

this is what they sang:

if aidan's here today, clap your hands [clap, clap]

if aidan'a here today, clap your hands [clap, clap]

if aidan's here today, raise your hands and say "hurray!" [all the kids cheer, "hurray!"]

if aidan's here today, clap your hands [clap,clap]


it made for a smooth, fun dropoff. paul and i joked that we should sing it at our next morning meeting at work.

Omama!

last week, aidan saw barack obama on tv, which spurred this conversation:

aidan: what's obama?

mama: obama is our president.

aidan:  our prezdent?

mama: yes. president obama.

aidan: obama? that's obama?

mama: yes.

aidan:  obama. ooobama. omama!

mama: no, Obama.

aidan:  omama! obama! omama! obama!

"obama-omama" is now aidan's favorite funny thing to say. 

sleep, sweet sleep

i am happy to report that we are now back to our regular sleeping schedule. okay, he wakes up at least once during the night, but goes back to sleep. and, he sleeps until 5-5:30 a.m. that may sound early to you, but it is just fine by us.

no one wins in a standoff with a toddler

here is the winning recipe to ensure you and  your spouse will not get any sleep for two consecutive days:

1. 1 toddler, 2 months shy of his three year birthday
2. same toddler, moved to preschool and shorted the usual transition time between the current and new room due to snow storm. just before the holidays, no less.
3. the holidays. nuff said.
4. two nights with nana and papa
5. getting back to the old routine
6. toddler learns how to turn a door knob and open their bedroom door (natch!)

stir together, simmer and get one ornery toddler who refuses to go to sleep and/or sleep through the night, effectively rendering parents into zombie like state for next day of work.

on tuesday night, aidan sat up in his bed after storytime and announced "i'm not going sleep." eventually, he laid down. but, once mama got up to leave, he stood and screamed and cried for "my mama!" door closes, end of story. oops-- not so fast. where did he learn to turn the door knob? why is he coming out of his room and coming downstairs?! doesn't he know that 9-10 is mama and daddy's time to unwind?!? nooooo!  almost two hours are spent escorting aidan back to his bed, hearing him cry and having him come out. he finally gives up and goes to sleep-- only to wake up at 4 a.m. ugh.

wednesday night. the worst night ever. aidan refuses to go to bed. thus begins a 2-hour stand off where we no longer close the door (which ticks him off.) after telling him it is night-night time and he must go to bed, we spend the next two hours escorting him back to his bed, helping him climb into in, patting his head and leaving (all without saying one word.) he is furious. paul and i sit on our bed and wait for him to come out of his room to begin the entire process again. we tag team and takes turns escorting him back and forth.

after an hour and a half of this, aidan is showing signs of wear. he no longer walks down the hall between our rooms. instead, he walks to a nearby stool a couple of feet from his doorway and rest his head on the stool. we escort him back to bed, he struggles to climb up, he seems to settle for sleep, but yelps when he sees we aren't going to stay by his side all night.

10 minutes later, i've removed the stool. he now walks to the coffee table and rests his head on it. 

at the two hour mark, after paul has escorted him to bed and we hear him scream in protest. he stops suddenly. we peek outside our door to find aidan sound asleep in his doorway. game over. he's safe, sound and we aren't going to attempt to move him to his bed.

two hours later, he awakens. i quickly get him into bed and he falls back to sleep.

one hour later. guess who's up and ready for more? ugh.

paul has me go downstairs to get some sleep. i have to go to the basement because the pitter patter or footsteps, followed by paul's bigger footsteps and the accompanying carrying on are too much. i set my alarm for an hour so i can relieve paul.

the hour goes by too fast. i head upstairs and find that the game continues. it is  5 a.m. paul is inclined to keep this up until our alarm goes off. i say, cut our losses-- let's go to bed and heck, if aidan wants to come to bed with us, so be it. we've been telling him all along he can come to our bed in the morning. when i tell him this, he gleefully says "okay!" and jumps into our bed. 

damn.  that's what he wanted all along.

so, we sleep. i sleep through the alarm and paul has to wake me up. aidan is asleep. we have breakfast. he sleeps. we get ready for work. he continues to sleep. paul gets him dressed and he's half awake. by the time i get dressed, i assume they've gone downstairs. but i look over at our bed and aidan is still asleep, but fully dressed. we finally get out the door to head for preschool and work. coffee is no longer a nicety-- is is a necessity.

it is thursday, 9:57 p.m. the kid is asleep! and instead of catching Z's, i'm blogging. 

good night. sweet dreams!

"that's poops!" and other aidanisms

here is the latest batch of aidanisms to kick off 2009:

poops: used as a filler word to describe a sentiment (usually something he doesn't like or agree with). example: "no! that's poops!" or used as a comedic device. example: "santa poops is coming to town... hahaha!"

that's not  working so much. said when, well, something isn't working.

i don't like that! pretty self explanatory, no?

mama, daddy, can i have a cookie now? pretty much when we get home, before dinner. at least he asks each of us if we want a cookie and he will give us one. he sure knows how to share.

mama, daddy, can we watch movers and mickey now? our after dinner, pre-night time ritual. 

what happened? what's happening? what he says when my dad is trying to figure out how to turn on the tv and cable to find aidan's shows (see previous aidanism)

i don't watch super goo! it's scary! aidan loves watching imagination movers, but for some reason, the episode called "super goo" where mover rich and mover smitty get stuck together with mover's dave's sticky invention didn't sit well with him. it was, well, scary. 

oopsie! his version of oops. he's usually dropped or spilled something when he says this.

no, daddy, no-- stop dancing! what aidan always says when paul starts bustin' a move to the theme song of imagination movers.

that makes me mad...  GRRRR!  aidan scowls and growls. his eyebrows furl. he reminds me of my dad when he's pissed. :)

that makes you happy!  what he says after he pinches/kicks/hits you and you say you're sad. he then gives you a kiss and says "i'm sorry!"

i want hangerber and stir fries!  translation: "hamburger and french fries"