"Reading"

three conversations

yesterday in the car:
[Rihanna - Only Girl in the World is playing on the radio]

me: do you like this song?
A: no.
me: oh, do you only like "What's my name?" I thought you liked Rihanna.
A: no. i only like "Black and Yellow"



while ordering groceries:
me: I'm ordering groceries. Is there any food you want?
A: Rice. And veggies that will help me grow tall like a tall tower crane.
me: Ok.
A: And other green things that will help me grow longer.

after school:
me: how do you feel today?
A: [pause] Happy. Last year I was sad because I had a cough. But today I have no cough. That's why I'm happy.

Dig Dig Diggy

potty training trickery

We've been going through the whole potty training process. At first Aaron loved washing his hands and would spend 10 minutes at the sink playing with the soap bubbles, but it seems to have lost its appeal.

And now he's found a way around it. Instead of using his small potty, he asks Isaac or I to help him stand to pee. And then he uses his foot to flush the toilet and exclaims, "I didn't touch the potty!! I don't have to wash my hands!"

We did not teach him this. Tricky little crane.

stocking stuffer

This year we're not sure what to get Aaron for Christmas. We have a lot of ideas, but it's hard to narrow things down. We have limited space, so we don't want giant toys, we know that he enjoys trucks, but we want to expand his horizons, and we're both sick of toys with lots of little pieces because he loves to dump out all his toys and pretend they're construction materials.


So I don't know. I'm sure we'll have to compromise in one of those areas. Maybe we'll just get him a lump of coal.


We're pretty sure he'd love it!

from the archives

Heard around the house

It's hard to video Aaron these days. He's developed a bit of self consciousness and is very aware of cameras. Sometimes when he recounts bits of his day, he'll tell us, "I cried" with a big whimper. We tried to tape him doing this once and he actually started crying and yelling, I don't want you the video! So we don't record him as often anymore.

He talks A LOT though. It's fun to have conversations with him and he's really into pretend play. He'll pretend to be a construction worker, or more often, an actual truck.

"It's daytime! Time to wake up!"
- Said 2 inches from my face in the pale light of morning

"I'll do it...at night-time" (or "tomorrow")
"It's too...late" (or early)
"I forgot to brush my teeth/kick the ball/say thank you for the airplane/finish my dinner/cut my nails/clean up[insert any activity mentioned earlier in the day] "
- Anytime he doesn't want to do something, usually used when avoiding the potty or bedtime. He's all about excuses. Already.

"I need my Mommy"
"Mommy, I need my Daddy" (while Isaac is standing right next to me)
- Anytime

"What today is it?" ...followed by "What's [insert name of day] mean?"
- In the morning and at night as he reinforces his schedule


"I'm demolishing the house!"
"I drive this truck. You drive this truck!"
"We're going over there..there's a fire! Now the fire is out and now there's water on top. There's ANOTHER FIRE!"
"I'm a grab excavator. I'm a crane..lifting up the wood frames"
"The stabilizers are down!"
"You go first" or "You do it" or "I want YOU to do it"
"Here's some sugar..and some butter. Let's make pancakes!"
"I need you...I need you to fill up my dump truck [or front loader]!"
"Let's get rolling!"
- During playtime

"Milk and cookies go together PERFECTLY. That's what Puo-Puo says!"
- Cookie time

"I cleaned up! Where's my bitamin?"
- After cleanup time

"My little hands look like raisins!"
- After bath time

"I need a story" followed by "My turn to tell a story!" followed by something like this:
"Once upon a time..I went to get an egg, then we made pancakes...and [mumbles]..somethingelse...and then..[mumbles..something else..we did puzzles..THE END. Your turn!"
-During his bedtime routine

"Ok, Mommy [or Daddy] go work"
- Last thing he says before he falls asleep at night - It's his way of dismissing us and letting us know that he won't be doing his jack-in-the-box routine out of bed anymore.


Here's a video I did catch: