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

Deep in the heart of Texas

The last week brought the Lovell family to Austin, TX, the self-proclaimed Live Music Capital of the World. We were there for Mike's cousin Rory's wedding. Can you believe Mike has a cousin who lives in Texas? But it was Austin, a tiny blue city in a big red state. There was indeed music everywhere. There were hipsters in every shade of black. We saw cars with Obama stickers on their bumpers. It was amazing! But we were still in Texas, so our hotel had a warning sign on the front glass:


I did not bring in a concealed weapon out of regard for their policy.

This trip was the first time most of Mike's family had met Aaron, as they live in such outlandish places as Texas, Monroe, NY, and New Brunswick, Canada. Needless to say, he was a big hit. Mike's cousin Chrissy brought her 17 month old, Amber, who he intermittently played with/beside. At one point, he said, "Amber, dat's my mommy. Don't touch it!" A little possessive I guess. He fell in love with Mike's Canadian cousin Sarah, who fell in love right back. The age difference (21 years) did not seem to faze either of them.



I wish the top of his head wasn't cut off in that one. However, you can see the look of complete joy on his face as he gazes on "my Sa-wah". "Where my Sawah go?""Dat my Sawah dere?""My Sawah commin'?"

The wedding was held at a lovely ranch outside of Austin (read: nowheresville) at a place where there were several ceremonies going on at the same time. We accidentally sat in on 10 minutes of the pre-nuptial gathering of the Ortiz wedding before realizing we were in the wrong place. They seemed like nice people. I had to take Aaron out at the very beginning of the ceremony, because it was 5:30pm, he was tired, hungry and not willing to be quiet. I tried to point out the people in the processional, but he told me, "Don't want fancy ladies". I heard it was a lovely service. Aaron danced with Sarah for at least an hour and then posed with the single guys for the tossing of the garter.

Besides the wedding, we didn't do too much. We walked outside a bit in downtown Austin, but the weather was uncooperative. On an impulse, I bought expensive cowboy boots at a store with the most dizzying array of cowboy boots I've ever seen. I passed up the ones made from stingray. I asked Aaron to pick out a pair for me and he chose these:


I did not go with his choice, but rather a lovely brown leather with beautiful stitching. I wore them to the wedding with my dress. Honest. The pictures of me are horrific, but here's a pic of my feet in the boots:


Right before we left again for Philadelphia, we spent the afternoon at Mary's lovely home. There were kids there, toys, the aforementioned Sarah, but Aaron only had eyes for the restored car.

(with cousins TJ and Amber)

If you enlarge the top car picture, it looks like he is whistling while admiring the paint job. I love this boy.

Exodus to the north

Aaron and I went up to Worcester for passover last week and saw so many people that our heads were spinning. Mike was unable to come with us because he was in Dallas, TX, with the trial team from Villanova after making it to the national trial team competition. They didn't win, but we are so proud of them for making it!

Aaron visited with his cousins in Brookline and had a marvelous time, although his sharing skills are still lacking a bit. According to Reuben, "Aaron needs to learn to share his Lightning McQueen car". According to Aaron, Reuben is wrong. Aaron shouldn't have to share ANY cars or trucks. Here is a picture of him sitting on a truck, holding a truck, which has more little trucks inside it.


Even in the traditional "three kids on a couch" picture, he wasn't willing to let go of the trucks.



Speaking of which, this little video of the three of them is so cute (although kind of long):

Reuben, Aaron and Alessandra also had a good time trying on sunglasses at lunch.




At Baba's house, we had our seder, and Eli and Billy stayed over. The next day, Aaron found a play doctor's kit in my bedroom. He came into the kitchen, grabbed Billy by the hand and said, "Come see the doctor". He's got good instincts, folks. Eli let him listen to his heart with the stethescope. He may have a career as a doctor or maybe a safecracker.

Spring has sprung

There should be a lot more blog posts coming this way now that spring has sprung in New Jersey. One can only take so many indoor pictures of a boy and his little cars. Speaking of which, here are the latest pictures of a boy and his cars.

Aaron loves cars so much that he sometimes sleeps with his matchbox cars. If we go upstairs to change his diaper, they have to come with him. He brings them to daycare. They come to the grocery store in the diaper bag. They always want candy. He has spent hours lining all his cars in one direction and then lining them all up in another one. He knows the difference between a steam roller and a bulldozer, an excavator, a dumptruck and a pick-up truck. He has just made the cognitive connection between the mailbox and his mail truck. I made the mistake of getting him "Lightning McQueen" pajamas (from the movie Cars). He refused to take them off.


The change in season has also brought about a new sweater for the boy. I found the pattern on Ravelry.com, which is an online "knit and crochet community". I love that and I love this sweater. He looks really preppy in it.




We are looking forward to going to the playground, where the equipment is slightly more fun than our laundry bag.

Winter weekends

Winter weekends are hard! When it's not snowing, it's raining here in central NJ. And that makes it tough to get Aaron the running around time that he needs. This weekend, we had an outing each day. On Saturday, we went to the Discovery Museum, which we hadn't been to since he was in Early Intervention. The last time we were there, he was pulling himself up to standing and toddling around with assistance. Now look at him!!

There is so much to do and touch at the museum. At one point, he was so tired, that when he got into the open car they have, he slid over to the passenger seat, popped his thumb in his mouth and said, "mommy drive". He was very good about taking turns with the other kids there, which made me proud. Here are some more pics from the museum:

Yes, it's a giant Lite-Brite

On sunday, we went back to the Please Touch Museum in Philly, where we've already been enough to times to have paid for our membership. He was up and down in the cars and the bus and the trucks and especially the big dump truck that beeps when you press the horn. He loved that. We spent two hours there, which is marathon length for him, and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. Unfortunately, that was the only 20 minutes he slept all day. He spent the rest of the afternoon being very cranky, throwing things around, sending poor Lightning McQueen to time out for hitting, and bossing me around. Oh yes, did I mention he's become quite bossy? The other day, he hollered from the kitchen, "Mommy! Get in here!" Where does he learn this stuff?