Happy Valentine’s Day to my Little Man! Oh wait, scratch that. “Aiden not man,” as you say. Sorry. Happy Valentine’s Day to my Big Boy!
I can’t say how proud I am to be your Mommy, or your “Maaaamaaaaaa-y” as you’ve been calling me this week. You are a bundle of fun that can’t be contained.
Today you were full of smiles for everyone around you, as you are almost every day. I love when you run up to me with your arms open for a hug or a cuddle, when you laugh just to laugh, or share with me your pure joy in this world.
You may not understand Valentine’s Day yet, but you can be assured that I will always love you and will shower you with love each day of your life.
P.S. – that image is Aiden blowing a kiss ;)
We took Aiden to Science World for the first time a few weeks ago. Or the Science I-See-Um (Museum), as Aiden referred to it. It was a lot for Aiden to take in, but he was determined to see it all. His attention span wasn’t that great for any one activity, but he loved interacting with several of the activities in the Eureka gallery as well as in the Kidspace.
Science World is currently showcasing the Extreme Dinosaurs exhibit – a great display of animatronic dinosaurs that’s sure to leave an impression. Indeed, it left quite an impression on Aiden. We had to quickly carry Aiden through the exhibit, as the dinosaurs were “very noisy” and a little scary for Aiden, but his sheer love of dinosaurs kept him from crying. Indeed, if you ask him about his trip to Science World, he’ll pretty much only talk about the dinosaurs.
See all our photos from the trip here.
Aiden is very sensitive. While the upside of this nature is a very gentle and curious little boy, Aiden also has many things that he’s afraid of. These things will translate into hysterical crying, if we’re not careful. His sensitivity does not, thankfully, translate into extra tantrums or feelings of being overwhelmed in public.
When Aiden is a little bit scared of something, he’ll tell you by saying “Aiden no yike it.” Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that Aiden doesn’t “yike” (like), even when you just look at things that are obviously upsetting him (he will use the phrase for food and things he doesn’t want to do, of course).
His current top fears include:
- Dogs (small ones in particular)
- Driving through puddles (huge fear – both the noise and the splashing)
- Car washes
- Swiper the Fox in Dora the Explorer
- The middle sequence of The Polar Express (the top of the train, the sliding on the ice, the puppets, the man hitting the wall in the tunnel)
- Monsters. We couldn’t watch The Grinch because he looked scary and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer was most definitely out after the Abominable snowman totally freaked Aiden out.
- Getting any part of his head wet
- Fireworks
There are things that do cause Aiden’s anxiety to peak, though not with such dramatic teary results. These things have included loud car noises, a flock of geese, parades with many fire engines and large crowds of people. Sometimes something different, like a new type of diaper or a vest vs a jacket, can set off a big freakout as well.
Most of the things that cause Aiden to be upset are things that are very loud or unexpectedly loud. He’s learned to express this by saying things are “very noisy.” Having a way to express his anxiety has helped a lot at forestalling tears. Knowing what upsets Aiden also lets us avoid things – areas known to have big puddles or fast forwarding through certain movies, for example.
He’s starting to use the word “scared” as well, though we are balancing a fine line with that. While we try to give Aiden the words to describe his feelings, I’ve been a little bit cautious about specifically calling out his fears. I don’t want Aiden to feel self-conscious about his fears, or be labelled as ‘scared of things’ when I think some of his sensitivities are temporary. I’d rather he feel like he can find ways to express his anxieties without saying he’s scared. If that makes sense.
How do you talk with your children about their fears?
Aiden has an astounding memory. He wants to know the details of everything - every kind of tree, kind of car, kind of dinosaur and part on a train. He never stops asking questions and is great at showing off his skills by retaining an endless stream of facts.
Not only does Aiden have a great memory for facts (which he gets from Ianiv), he also has a fantastic situational memory (which he gets from me). He loves to tell stories of where we’ve been and what we’ve done. We have always encouraged Aiden to talk about his day, but it goes far beyond that. Aiden will talk about things he’s done a LONG time ago.
Aiden continually talked about how Babby had “forgotten” money for the tractor at his last visit to Maplewood Farms. This time, there was no getting around renting that tractor.
Some examples of Aiden’s memory in action:
- He talks about Hawaii all the time. In detail. He recounted, unprompted, how we took a green bus to a cruise ship where we saw girls wearing flowers dancing. All of this was correct. His most common things to bring up are the airplane, the penguins, trolley busses and swimming.
- We recently went to a butcher we hadn’t been to since last summer. Aiden immediately remembered that we bought crackers last time we were there and asked for them again. This was nearly a YEAR later.
- He brings up and compares different situations. He will tell you how the sloth in his Animals Encyclopedia (he loves this book) is the same as the blue sloth in the Dora video.
- He told me about a birthday party 6 months after we went there, out of the blue. He told me how much fun the bouncy castle was and that he liked the goldfish snacks.
- He recently told me the entire plot of a book we’d only read 2 times. He was really looking forward to reading said book before his nap.
There are endless examples of Aiden’s memory in action. I am daily astounded by the things he talks about with me and how he shares not only his current day but events in the past that really made an impression on him.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that Aiden has begun calling out the names of logos he recognizes of stores, restaurants, cafes and delivery trucks (as examples). In the same way he insists on knowing the title of every book we read, to ask for it by name, he also wants to know the names of every place we pass or go to. ;)
I’m already finding myself having to research things to fulfill Aiden’s desire for facts. Crazy!
Aiden is making a lot of progress when he’s singing. He’s most likely to sing when not in the spotlight. His most common stage is his crib – he often sings before bedtime or in the morning.
Aiden doesn’t sing many songs from start to finish unassisted, but will sing bits on his own. The first two lines are most common before he gets distracted.
Aiden enjoys singing Twinkle Twinkle, Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck, Hello Everybody, Zoom Zoom and the Bananas Song. Sometimes a song he’s been thinking about will crop up, like the ABCs or Wheels on The Bus.
Just today, Aiden was in his crib when I hear: “Aiden want to sing The Wheels on the Bus. The wheels on the bus goes round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round. Awwwww wheels not working. Not working anymore. Probably not working.”
As you can see, easily distracted. He always ends up on a tangent in his pretend world making up stories.
Aiden will also make up songs. “Aiden shoes on. Aiden shoes off. Aiden shoes on. Aiden shoes off.” When he then said: “Mommy, sing Aiden’s shoe song!”, I clued in that he was doing more than just babbling. Super cute.
It’s clear Aiden wants to sing more. He will often move his lips when someone sings, trying to learn the words perhaps. Or lip sync? Cute though. He’s also participating more now that he’s started preschool once a week (my guess).
