Happy Holidays

I'm writing this post while listening to Neil Diamond's cover version of "The Hannukah Song" by Adam Sandler. Trippy.

Aaron has been so much fun lately. He was even great while we were driving the seven (!) hours to get to Baba's house for Thanksgiving. He was watching the "Little Einsteins" on the DVD player in the car for the second half of the ride. It's his new favorite show and there are three episodes on each disc. He said, "Mommy, I want the one with the eagle." I turned around and said, "I don't know which one is the eagle." He kind of sighed and said, "It's a bird, mommy. It has wings and flies like this." (wing flapping movements). He seemed so disappointed. It reminded me of the movie "Airplane" when Leslie Neilson says that someone is in the hospital and when the person he's talking to asks, "what is it?", Neilson replies, "A big white building with lots of doctors and nurses, but that's not important right now." Given Neilson's recent death, it seems kind of prescient.

So here is a smattering of pictures from the last two weeks. I tried to upload a video but it isn't cooperating. Enjoy and Happy Chanukah.

raking leaves

wearing his indian headdress from daycare

first night of chanukah

opening the play kitchen from Baba and uncle Jonathan

the new chef

tasting his play food

Two years

It is adoption day for the Lovell family. Two years ago today, we were waiting in a small conference room, seated at a table with half-full glasses of tea, with a giant portrait of Ho Chi Minh staring down at us, nervously awaiting our baby. Suddenly, he was there, on my lap, wearing a camouflage outfit three sizes too big. We fell in love with him on the way to the Adoption Bureau. Now, he's such a little person.

And we couldn't have asked for more.

Are you kidding me?

"Are you kidding me?" is Aaron's new catchphrase, as in: Time to go to bed. Are you kidding me? Usually, I am not kidding him. On Friday, all the kids went to the babysitter with their halloween costumes on. Aaron doesn't seem to have an absolute favorite character these days, and I figured he won't remember this year's halloween, so I put him in the same costume that he wore last year- Mr. Spock from Star Trek. I told him he was dressing up like a spaceman. He was fine with it, although he didn't want to wear the hat with the black hair and the Spock ears. When we got to "school", the other kids all had on little kid costumes- princesses, ballerinas, Buzz Lightyear, a cow. And I started to feel really freaking guilty about not letting the boy pick out his own costume that he could relate to.

Anyway, Saturday I was out doing errands and found a dog costume in Old Navy. Aaron loves to pretend he's a dog these days. He crawls around on his hand and knees and barks. Ask him about dinner and he'll answer, "Yes, ruff-ruff. I want noodle soup, ruff-ruff." So I thought, perfect! He'll be a dog instead. I brought home the costume, his eyes lit up and he put it on. He actually wore the bottom half of the costume for a few hours. Guilt assuaged!! I could count myself as a good mom again!! Sunday came and he couldn't wait to go trick-or-treating. Time to put on the dog costume!! "NO! Not the doggy. I don't like the doggy. I want the pirate costume!" By which he meant the space man costume. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Saturday night, Mike and I went to a grown-ups only Halloween birthday party. We were in homemade costumes. Our host and hostess were in super fancy brocade Marie Antoinette and Louis XI costumes, and most of their guests followed suit. The best costume of all was the guy who wrapped himself in bubble wrap, put mailing stickers all over himself and a big label that said "to USA from Yemen". He was a suspicious package.

Mike was Jimmy McMillan from the New York State Governor's race. If you don't know who that is, just click here. I was a cheerleader.

Aaron, actually

September flew by! Work was so crazy and busy that the rest of the days I spent in a semi-stuporous state. It was punctuated in the middle by a quick trip to Worcester for Yom Kippur and my father's unveiling. What fun. Otherwise, it was the usual. When the temperature came down under 80 degrees, we took a couple of field trips- to the Philadelphia Zoo (America's first and oldest zoo) and Johnson's Farm, a local working farm with a hayride, a small animal farm, and pick-your-own pumpkins and apples. Aaron, of course, wanted to pick blueberries, which was not possible because A) blueberries are out of season and B) blueberries are a b**tch to pick and already come pre-picked in convenient pint sized containers at the grocery store. The biggest attraction at both the zoo and the farm were the tractors, both real and kiddie-sized.

At the farm, we fed the goats and sheep and played in the big pipes.

The paparazzi became annoying after that.

Aaron had his first autumn cold, waking up with a fever a couple of days this month. On a monday, I kept him home from daycare because his temp was 102. We had a quiet day of coloring and watching Curious George. The next day, he was fine and back to his usual self. I told him he was going to school. I'm going to school? Yes. You didn't feel well yesterday, so we stayed home, but you're fine today! Actually, I don't feel so good. Two milestones! #1- he now uses the word actually; #2- he is already trying to weasel his way out of school. I must get him a copy of the classic book from 1985- "101 Reasons Not to Go to Hebrew School", authored by Beth Ellen Starr.

A busy month

Is it reusing or recycling?

My apologies for lack of posting during August. We were away for 10 of the days and I worked most of the rest. Aaron continues to be a wonderful little boy. His language skills are unbelievable. I asked him to do something one day and he told me, "I already did it at the office." I was mad at him for something and he put his hand on my arm and, with a concerned voice, said, "Talk to me, mommy. Talk to me." My little therapist in training.

We have embarked on potty training, which has been easier than I'd expected. He will pee in the regular toilet with about 50% accuracy. If he is promised a treat, it goes up to 80%. As far as I can tell, this is better than what most men achieve in a lifetime. When Mike emerged from the bathroom one morning, Aaron asked if he'd peed. When Mike replied in the affirmative, Aaron said, "But there's no candy left!" Here he is after a successful trip to the bathroom.

Mike doesn't get candy after he pees.

We went on a trip to Long Beach Island, NJ, and rented a house for a week. The house was beautiful and one block from the beach. Unfortunately, the ocean was 1/4 mile from where the beach started, so it was a real pain to go back and forth. We did find a little children's beach on the bay side of the island, where there weren't any waves and the water was shallow. There was also a big wooden train for kids to climb on.

This one was the "dining car" where he ordered "salad and chicken."

Overall it was a nice week, although vacationing with a two year old is not relaxing.



Two weeks later, we were off to the beach in Cape May, where some of our friends were staying. Aaron loved being around the other kids, but was too small to do a lot of what they were doing. I explained that the other kids were bigger and he told me he is "bigger and a half." Shows what I know. With Elle and Ciara:

In the Washington Commons, Cape May's pedestrian mall:

At daycare, Aaron has ventured into the world of art, bringing home two pictures in one week.
The hand print one is a classic. I asked him what it was and he said, "elephants."

This second one is a little trickier to work out:

Give up? It's a "snake truck," which is a truck with snakes in it (I didn't know either). I looked at it for a long time and asked him Where are the snakes? To which he responded, "in the back of the truck." I don't get modern art.

Last, but not least, Aaron's name is now legally changed from Nguyen Vu Hoa to Aaron Starr Lovell. Loads of paperwork and about $300 later, the judge okayed it.

I have an idea

Aaron is all talk all the time. Here are a few of his newest sentences:

-Mom, I have a idea for you

-Hay for horses

-I'm a good guy

-We go to the store get stickers now all right?


He's turned into a very bossy little man and is displaying his true two year old self. If he were 30, we'd say he was rapid cycling bipolar. I'm so tired after a weekend with him stuck inside (due to 100 degree weather) that I can't think of anything else to write. So here are some pictures.

Watching the "dryer man" fix the dryer. Lucky Aaron will get to wash him fix the washer as well, since it has stopped spinning in solidarity with the dryer.

Toddler fashion choices- multicolored top, striped shorts, orange sneaks:

Helping:

At the pool with his swim bubble on:

Let me call you Feetheart

It's been another busy (and hot) month here in Collingswood. I'll give my favorite Aaron line right up front. The mother of a toddler knows no privacy, even in the bathroom. Aaron followed me into the bathroom yesterday as usual. I was on the toilet and he came over, said, "OK, Feetheart, you're done," and flushed! For the record, I was not done. He has taken to calling me "feetheart", "darlin'" and "hon." Honestly, it comes out a little condescending.

We had several visitors, including Uncle Jimmy and Baba. Aaron LOVES having visitors and a new audience for his trucks and cars monologues. He played T-Ball with Jim and they played the "dir-dir" together. The "dir-dir" is the inside of a paper towel roll and is named for the sound it makes when you toot into it.





Baba came to visit the next weekend for the monthly mutual admiration society meeting. We went to the town pool, which finally opened, and the Please Touch Museum, where Aaron went "shopping" in the play grocery store. Part of the play is putting everything back at the end, and he did it willingly for the first time ever.



It has been hot as blazes here and before the town pool opened, we took refuge in the 30" pool in the front yard.



Mostly, it has been a month of asserting independence. He wants to do everything we are doing and wants to do it by himself. He insists on putting on his pants by himself, although more often than not, two legs end up in one hole. He watched Mike getting dressed for work one morning and was fascinated by the red tie Mike put on. Aaron went to the closet, took out a tie, said, "You have a red one. I wear a blue one." He started to put it around his neck, was dissatisfied with the color choice and took out a green one instead. He insisted I put it on him and he wore it until we went out.


He has also decided that HE will walk the dog, although it is questionable who is walking whom. I love the second picture. Just a boy frolicking with his pup.



Aaron's silly streak has also come out. Here are a few random samples:

Wearing three pieces of clothing on his head while "taking a picture" with his "cramra".

One- make a hole in the box. Two- put your boy in the box. Three...

May pictures

I'm not sure how May escaped me, but it did. I worked a lot and we were quite busy. Here are some of the latest in the Aaron chronicles:

Aaron the train engineer

Every meal is surrounded by cars and trucks

Shopping for flowers

Looking cool at the playground


Hitting the ball

Being "helpful" by pushing the stroller