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

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.