Aiden's 4th Birthday

We celebrated Aiden's birthday on the 25th this year. That Saturday, was free day at the zoo. We went to the zoo that morning and found out there was also a community day going on at the park outside the zoo. There were free bouncy houses (one of Aiden's favorite things). Josh and Emily and Sopie went with us that morning too. Aiden loves Josh, Emily and Sopie. So he got to play on the bouncy house, go to the zoo and have his birthday party that evening.

Aiden wanted a Toy Story themed birthday this year. So we invited a few of his friends to a local place called Blast Off! It has a rocket outside and jungle gyms, slides and ball pits. He had a ton of fun as you can tell from the pictures. We also gave him a few presents from Mom and Dad on his actual birthday.

Yellowstone Day Trip

For Labor Day, we decided to go to Yellowstone. We really had a lot of fun and Aiden is still telling people about the deer, bison and the "dragon" he saw at "Yellowcorn". The dragon was actually one of the geyser vents that just happened to open up under a cave so the steam was coming out of the cave and it made gurgling and growling noises.

Some of the pictures:

Aiden's First Day of Preschool

Aiden's first day of preschool was August 24th. He goes every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and is loving it. There are only 6 kids in his class, 4 are boys. He seems to have become pretty good friends with all of them. He is really liking his classes and usually on the car ride home tells me all about what he learned that day. He also tells me everyday that he hasn't learned to read yet, just learned more letter sounds. He really wants to learn to read and his teacher tells me that he has asked everyday if he is going to learn to read that day. It's a Montessori Preschool, so they cover more than just academics. There is a whole section of the room dedicated to life skills, and Aiden is pretty proud of himself for learning how to do up a zipper completely on his own. The school also has a miniature pony named Buttons that the kids get to feed, brush and ride; a pygmy goat named Sunny, and a rabbit (who's name Aiden hasn't yet told me) that the kids get to take care of too. Next week they are going to an apple orchard as their first field trip. Parents get to go, so I am looking forward to it too.

Daisy Dog

Daisy has been a member of our family for a long time. I really will miss her. I can remember going to see her when she was a brand new puppy. She was so pink and tiny. When we brought her home she would cry at night until we discovered Leo, the Lion. She could curl up and fit on his lap. I can remember her as a puppy trying to pounce fireflies, and running up to the neighbors big lab and barking at her like she was a huge tough dog (of course the lab was stuck behind a fence). Daisy always sat by me when I played the piano and sometimes it seemed like I had a teacher sitting there telling me I made a mistake. She would usually be sleeping or sitting with her head on her paws and when I played a wrong note she would lift her head up and look at me. Whenever it was someone's birthday or Christmas Daisy would grab pieces of the wrapping paper and run around with it.

Daisy was always protective of any of the little kids and would gaurd the top of the stairs. She also liked the baby toys especially soft rattles and rings and would steal them when they were left out on the floor.

We used to play outside with Daisy a lot. We sent her down the slide (she really didn't like it, but we thought it was hilarious). We also would put her on the glider and have her swing with us. There was also the Little Tikes orange and yellow car. It had a little storage space behind the seat and we used to put Daisy in it, have Stephen climb in the seat and then Laura and I would hang onto the roof and go down the hill in front of the house. I'm sure Daisy was not amused by the whole thing, but she put up with us.

If you were playing sardines you had to make sure Daisy was occupied or have her hide with you, because she would give you away, especially if you hid in Mom and Dad's closet.

She used to wait at the window for the bus to come. For a long time if you said the word bus, she would run to the window and look for it.

She would sleep in the crook of your legs and growl at you if you moved. Unless you were sick then she would come and sleep by your stomach or as close to your head as she could get and she never complained when you moved.

I love you Crazy Daisy!

Second video

For some reason it wouldn't let me put both videos on at once

Aiden's Sense of Humor

So yesterday, Aiden told me his first joke:
Aiden "Mom! Why did the crazy chicken cross the road?"
Me "I don't know, why Aiden?"
Aiden "To get to the other side silly Mom! Isn't that why you cross the road?"
Me "sure"
Aiden "Now you are supposed to laugh!"
Me "okay, haha!"

Aiden "Mom! Why did two crazy chickens cross the road?"

This continued all the way up to 16 chickens which is basically as far as Aiden can count. I asked Aiden where he learned the joke and he said
"Me don't know! Everyone knows that joke Mom."

Then I was uploading videos and came across this one. He was playing a game where you are supposed to catch dinosaur eggs without letting the big mean dinosaur get the egg. Well Aiden figured out that if you timed it just right, you could get the egg to hit the big mean dinosaur on the head and it would make a funny noise and flail around. This is what he is laughing at in the video.



Well, I have been slacking on getting photos up. Hopefully things won't get super busy again and I can be more consistent.

A couple Videos of Aiden

Usually when we tell Aiden I love you, he says I love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots....and so on. I still haven't caught him on tape doing it.



My funny kid counting. I took this video in March.