Aiden has been so much fun lately (minus the occasional attitude and aversion to the word "no"). He's picking up more and more every day and his love of exploring and figuring things out is amazing to watch. We've noticed he's now at a stage (or the beginning stages of OCD) where he wants to sort, stack and arrange things. The other day I cleaned out the pantry and took a few cans out and put them on the floor. The next thing I knew, they were stacked in various spots in the hallway...we left them there and he was entertained for quite some time. Given crayons, he takes them in and out and in and out of the container over and over again (he'll occasionally put a few marks on a piece of paper...but so far sorting ranks higher on the priority scale). He loves taking all of the tupperware containers out of the cabinet and figures out which tops go to which containers.
We have a few new consistently weekly events now. We signed up for a music class that he absolutely loves (so far) on Mondays. It's a small group of similar age toddlers and we sing, dance and roll around all over. He giggles the most during "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain" because we "woooooah" backwards. We got the urge to sign up after some friends in our Friday playgroup told us about it. After our first trip to music, the one Mommy said "Aiden sure does love music class, huh!?". We're very excited to have him involved in something and he has NO problem being the center of attention. During the "Hello, Hello" song in the beginning, his teacher says hello to each kid with a movement. Most of the kids sit on their grown-up's lap while the teacher sings and waves/claps/pats hello to them. Aiden? Well he got up and stood in the center of the room with his hands on his hips, smiling from ear to ear while Mrs. C. clapped for him. He totally gets it from his father!!! :)
We've also started finger-painting once a week. We've had a lot of fun making a giant, colorful mess! The first time we finger-painted Aiden came out with green hair, blue arms, and few other mixed colors all over his body. Thankfully a nice, warm bubble bath afterward erased his body canvas for the next week's masterpiece.
And, as I mentioned earlier, we now have a consistent playgroup that meets on Friday mornings. We usually just gather together at one house or, if it's nice enough, in Colonial Williamsburg. Aiden's the stud of the group, being the only boy so far, but it's been a lot of fun. The best part is him having that consistent social interaction that he desperately needs!
Other than that, we've just been having a lot of fun together as a family. Ben has done a lot of traveling with work so we make certain to make the most of the time we have together. Our weekends are spent at the park (when it's not bitter cold), up at the tennis courts running around with the dogs, exploring Williamsburg/surrounding areas, etc. Aiden sure does love his Daddy...and even though I don't get as warm a welcome when I come home from being away...there's NOTHING like the smile on Aiden's face when he sees his Daddy for the first time in awhile....even just at the end of a long day he gets so excited to see him! I love it. :)
His new favorite activity- slides!
