Aidan's new "friends"

So Aidan has never met a stranger. He makes a new friend almost every time we go to the park. Lately he has been having some pretty funny conversations at the grocery store, so I had to write them down before I forget them...

One day we came out and there were some people in the car parked next to us. A little boy was sticking out of the sun roof.
Boy: Hi!
Aidan: Hi!
Boy: What are you doing?
Aidan: Getting in our van.
Boy: I'm 4!
Aidan: I'm 4 too!
Boy: What are you going to do when you get home?
Aidan: We're going to make lunch.
Boy: Bye!
Aidan: Bye!

And then Thursday night in the Target line, a lady was in front of us with a baby girl and a preschool age boy in her cart.

Boy: Look Mom, there's a baby. A new one.
Aidan: He's not a new one. We got him a long time ago.
Boy: Oh. That's my baby sister.
Aidan: Oh.
Boy: Where did you get your baby? At the baby store?
Aidan: No! We got him at the hospital!

The Science Museum

Last Friday we went to the Ft. Worth Science Museum. We were going to go on Aidan's birthday, but Gresham was sick, so we had a free day last week and decided to go! It was a good thing, too, because in mid-September the museum will be leveled and they are building a new one, which will take 2 years.

These pictures are from the Cowgirl Hall of Fame Museum which is temporarily housing some of the Science museum stuff.

Aidan was delighted to find this room of cowboy stuff to play with, and we had the room to ourselves!



They had a whole row of boots to try on - in all different sizes!



I let Gresham get out and crawl around - this is his excited face!



Here is Gresham cooking at the play fire.



And Aidan by the Chuck Wagon.



We have been looking all over the place for cowboy boots for Aidan, and we finally found some at Academy last night! They are actually rubber rain boots that look like cowboy boots, but the price was right. We had looked everywhere - Target, Wal-Mart, etc, etc but I guess the only place you can buy cowboy boots is real Western stores ($$$$$...) We did see several options in GIRL cowboy boots at Target, however. Why is it that most stores have 637 girl choices and 3 boy styles??? Oh well, that's another blog entry for another day...

He said "mom"!

He did it! Gresham finally said "mom"! I don't know that it means anything, but it's still cute...
He is saying uh-oh now and at the appropriate times too! I'll try to post a video of it. He started saying uh-oh on Thursday night, and has been saying it constantly ever since then!

Aidan has a cold. This morning, I asked him if Honeybear had caught his cold yet. He said, "No. Honeybear doesn't get colds. He has a shot every Tuesday!" He has been careful not to share his cold with Gresham, as in, "I guess Gresham better not touch my toy I'm playing with... I don't want him to get my cold..."

Brothers

Here are the boys in their new matching polos for church - aren't they cute?

And now, one about Gresham for a change...

Most of these stories are about Aidan... although I'm sure we'll have more on Gresham once he can talk!! He is the cutest baby. Happy almost all the time, and VERY good at entertaining himself. (Guess he'd have to be with Aidan for a brother)

Tonight he spent about 15 minutes standing himself up on the couch, and then turning and trying to walk away. He never took any actual steps, but he was determined!

His favorite word for me to say is "uh oh." Sometimes when I say it, he will say the "oh" part. I keep trying to get him to say mama. He says ba ba and da da and na na and makes t sounds and s sounds, but no mama! It's kind of become a joke, and now if I ask him to say mama, he will sometimes smirk and say da da.

Aidan and Gresham play "chase" several times a day with Aidan crawling around and both of them giggling. Aidan loves his brother!

You're Only Young Once!

This evening, Aidan relaxed in Jordan's recliner and watched Mary Poppins while I fixed dinner and cooked some meat to have ready for Monday. Then, he ate dinner. Afterwards, he spent about 30 minutes playing a computer game while I washed the dishes, unloaded the dishwasher, and put dishes away - all while fishing things out of Gresham's mouth and kissing Gresham's boo boos, etc... Then, I finished and told Aidan that he needed to end the computer game and put away all the Little People toys that were scattered all over the living room while I changed the sheets on his bed. I even put some in the box to get him started! He immediately started complaining about how big the job was, how tired he was, etc, etc, but I told him that he needed to do it and went to go do his bed. He came in a few minutes later...
"Well, I've already put away more than you did, Mom."
(I'm thinking - your point is...???)
"Okay, well, go back and finish."
"It's just so hard."
"Go back and finish."
A few minutes later, I heard from the living room, "That's it! I'm giving up!"
I went in there and told Aidan that he was almost done and he just needed to put away the rest of the toys. He said, "Oh, I want to finish, Mom. It's just that I'm so tired..."
I couldn't stop laughing!! I went through the events of the evening with him and told him that tomorrow we can trade places!! His response to that was that he will fix himself a ham and cheese sandwich tomorrow because he knows how to make ham and cheese.

Out of the mouth of Aidan...

Aidan has been saying lots of hysterical stuff today, so let's see if I can remember it all now that we have been grocery shopping and my brain has gone to mush...

Today we played "construction workers." He dressed up in his yellow vest and tool belt, and I was the secretary. I set up a phone and a desk (TV tray) and wrote down jobs for him to do whenever we got a call. Then I put the jobs in a "mailbox" for him. The first job was to install new cabinets. I told him to go to the house and measure how much space we needed for the cabinets, so he did that and came back.
Mom: What kind of cabinets did the lady want?
Aidan: Pavement.
Mom: Pavement???
Aidan: Yeah, so we need to get a 'ment (cement) truck out there.
Mom: Okay, so how long do they need to be? Did you measure the space?
Aidan: Yes. 20 minutes long.

I guess 20 minutes is a measure of how long...

Then on the way to the grocery store, we were listening to his new favorite song, which is "All Creatures of Our God and King" sung by Fernando Ortega. EVERY TIME he asks me what "sorrow bear" means, as in "ye who long pain and sorrow bear." So tonight I explained it again, and then on the second time through the song he said, "Mom, you be Aidan and I"ll be Mom. Ask me what "sorrow bear" means because now I know!"

We actually had a fairly good trip to the grocery store. Aidan pushed Gresham in the stroller the whole time, which went much better than usual. It's nice that he can do that because I hate Gresham chewing on the cart!

Well, time for BED!

Why can't I be a big boy yet???

Tonight Jordan mowed the lawn and put down fertilizer and ran the sprinklers, and Aidan got to be out there "helping" with the mowing. As soon as they went outside, Gresham stood himself at the door and watched longingly... He wants to be keeping up with the guys!

When Aidan picks his own clothes...

Swimming!

Now that it's August 9th, we have finally made it to the pool! We went with Grandma to one of the Grapevine public pools. June and the first part of July were so rainy here, and we don't have access to many swimming opportunities, so we were glad to go swimming today!



Aidan in the water - it's hard to photograph a constantly moving person!



This was Gresham's first time in a pool, and he LOVED it!



This is what he did the whole time - kick his legs and splash. Poor guy, his eyes are still red from the chlorine.

What would I do without Aidan???

It's a good thing I have Aidan - I mean, there's so many things I would do in a day if he weren't there to correct me! Like the other day, I was putting napkins on the table...
"Why do you have that many napkins, Mom? Are you giving Gresham one?" (insert condescending tone here...)

And then yesterday, we were getting in the van...
"Aidan, hurry and get in your seat because it's hot!"
"Hots? What is hots Mom?"

"Let's go ride bikes, Aidan."
"Bikes? Are you going to ride one too?"
"You know what I mean, son.

We really need to start reading the book of Proverbs with him. It will be a good reminder for all of us. Unfortunately, I think I rely on my own strength as much as he does, just in a much more refined way... There are many lessons to be learned from parenting!

Sometimes you have to make your own fun...

Aidan has been dying to make instruments out of stuff lately because George did this on the Curious George TV show. We have been bored lately, so the other day we finally made instruments... This is Aidan playing a metal cake pan. It was as loud as it looks!



And Gresham playing the "shaker" - a tupperware container full of unpopped popcorn.

I put on Smokey Mountain Hymns, and we had a jammin' time!

Our new puppy...

Okay, we don't really have a puppy, but Gresham has been looking like one lately crawling around the house with toys hanging out of his mouth. This "toy" is his new set of keys! I purchased real keys from Wal-Mart's key dept. and a real keychain to put them on. Aidan still plays with the keys I got him when he was a baby, so Gresham had to have his own set.