What's "Happy Birthday" without the cake?

Mommy and I just returned from a lunchtime birthday party for our next-door neighbor kids' grandmother, who is visiting from England. (Daddy is teaching a class at "Wharton West" in SF today.) Birthday parties raise certain expectations in me, particularly "lights" (candles) and cake. I was pleased when I arrived to spot a candle on the table on the patio, which I tried without success to blow out. I also told the birthday grandma "Happy Birthday!" Mommy later gave me pieces of some small iced cakes (later identified as brownies).

There was a magician at the party for entertainment, who was kind of interesting but went on for too long for me to sit still, so Mommy and I retired to the kitchen for refreshments and some ball rolling. After a bit, all of the people by the magician started warming up to sing "Happy Birthday" (a comical warm-up led by the magician). After the warm up, Mommy told me that we were going to sing in earnest, so I thought that I'd save the day since there was no cake with lights in sight and, after all, what is "Happy Birthday" without the cake? I ran to the kitchen a hoisted the box of fancy brownies (previously identified as "cake") off the table with the intention of proudly presenting them to the birthday lady. Alas, the box was too heavy and the remaining brownies fell on the floor. This made me a little sad, but Mommy told me that she understood that my intentions were good, and now I have a good story to tell. I got to pet the magician's dwarf rabbit, Fluffy, so that made a good end to the party.

More Stories

At story time, I always want more and more stories. Annoyingly, Mommy and Daddy ration the stories to three per night. (Occasionally I can sneak in a fourth when Mommy's in a really good mood.) Anyway, I figure that the main reason the stories are rationed is that they're time consuming to read. To help with this situation, Daddy helped me to find this site: The PowerPoint Anthology of Literature. As it says on the site: "Great books distilled to their essence and presented in the most efficient form of communication ever devised."

My personal favorite is this one, which reduces the longish story Goodnight Moon down to two convenient slides filled with bullet point "take-aways" from the story.

Aidan Hong Kong

In our conversation at dinner, Daddy started talking about Hong Kong. Apparently, one of his students was just offered a job there. He asked me if I wanted to go to Hong Kong. Mommy frowned. "Yes!" I said. Daddy seemed pleased. What he didn't know was that I wanted to go right then, right that very second. I didn't really need or want to finish dinner as there was no point in delaying my trip to Hong Kong. Daddy and Mommy continued to talk.

"Aidan Hong Kong?" I offered, in case they forgot about our trip.

"Later. When you're a bigger boy." offered Mommy and Daddy.

Checking my height I concluded that I was certainly big enough to go to Hong Kong.

"Aidan Hong Kong?" I repeated.

Later that evening, Daddy got out a big book called an atlas to show me where Hong Kong was. He pointed to California and told me I was here. I then pointed to some other places on the page to indicate where Daddy and Mommy were. I pointed to the horn of Africa and said, "Daddy here." I pointed to the southern tip of India and said "Mommy here."

Daddy pointed out where Hong Kong was. It's pretty close to California on the page in the atlas.

"Aidan Hong Kong?" I reminded everyone since our trip was already delayed by more than an hour.

We looked at some post cards of Hong Kong that Daddy brought me. Hong Kong is filled with boats, which I liked very much. There was also a picture of a bunch of people climbing steps to visit a big golden guy named Buddha. I liked the steps a lot though Buddha was good too. Hong Kong seems like a great place to go.

"Aidan Hong Kong?"

Time is on my side

I'm getting more sophisticated in my speech. I now use things like articles ("Hit the golf ball") as well as prepositions ("Mommy with green car"). One consistent pattern which I've adopted is to append the term "time" to whatever it is that I want to do at the moment. I've discovered Mommy and Daddy have used "time" very effectively in scheduling things (bath time, teeth time, bed time, etc.) so I've adopted this as well to good effect. I choose other kinds of times like "choo choo time", "golf time", "outside now time", and so on. Adding the word time lends a kind of urgency and authority to the request that I think translates directly into results.

Easter & Wheel Day Photos

Click here to see photos of our Easter celebrations!

Click here to see me having fun with all the trucks and cars at "Wheel Day" in Lafayette!

Wheel Day

This morning Mommy and I went to an event called "Wheel Day." It featured lots of cool wheeled vehicles for kids to look at and climb on. I yelled, "Oh boy!" when we got out of the car and saw all of the neat things. I first chose to get on the yellow school bus. I have a schoolbus toy and also know the "Wheels on the Bus" song, so it was really exciting to get on the bus! I chose a seat, sat down, and said, "Whee!" to encourage the bus to go, but unfortunately the bus did not move. I still had a good time though. I sat in the driver's seat and even beeped the horn! I also sat in the drivers' seat of a huge dump truck (I also beeped the horn on this one), a yellow loader (much like Bob the Builder's truck, Scoop), a fire engine, a camoflauge-colored army hummer, a police car (only the back seat of that one), and a little red European coupe that opens by flipping the whole front end up so you can climb in! (This last car, the BMW Isetta, was so cool that I'm inserting a link about it here.) All of these vehicles were visited multiple times by Mommy and me. I also got to push a button to make the siren go on a police bicycle! I ran into my friend, Chloe, and her family at Wheel Day too, and we enjoyed the Hummer and the fire engine together. Photos will be forthcoming.

Speaking of trucks, I had a great time on Wednesday watching a yellow backhoe loader and a dump truck work to get the ground ready for the new playground at the Lafayette Community Center. I watched the loader (also like Scoop) pick up dirt and pebbles across the parking lot, haul it to the playground site, dump it and then level it off. Several of my friends watched this too as we had all come out of Kindergym, but I was lucky because I convinced Mommy to stay the longest. We got to see a dump truck arrive and raise its dumper all the way up to dump out a huge new load of dirt and rocks! Wow! Oh boy! Then the Scoop truck went to work carting the dirt to the playground. I can't wait for the new playground to be finished, but the trucks make waiting easier!

A Good Walk Spoiled

As you already know, golf is a big part of my life. I really like the "dot machine"---a machine that spins the golf ball really fast while Daddy puts dots on it. Here's the model Daddy has. Anyway, lately I"ve expanded my golf horizons. Dadddy recently bought a book called A Good Walk Spoiled by John Feinstein. This book features a nice green cover and is all about golf. For a while, Daddy read to me from this book during my breakfast. I liked this idea so much that over the last few days, I've been requesting that Mommy read me stories from the golf book. Last night at bedtime, I eschewed my usual favorites at story time---A Lot of Otters, Ten in the Bed, and Guess How Much I Love You---in favor of more stories from the golf book. Last night's story was about a golfer named Tom Watson who made something called a bogey at the 18th hole of the British Open in 1994. He was sad about this bogey.

Wiggle Time

On Saturday, Mommy and I went to see The Wiggles (our favorite singing group) at the Oakland Arena. It was really exciting! Mommy started talking about going to see The Wiggles the day before, and I talked about nothing but that until bedtime. I was all ready to go as soon as I woke up the next day. I exclaimed, "Wigls!" (Wiggles) as soon as I woke up and that periodically exclaimed, "Wigls! Songs! Dance! Oh Boy!" in various combinations to remind Mommy that we had somewhere to go.

Mommy and I got to the arena an hour early, and we were really glad that we did. She got a great parking spot, and I got to walk up and down ramps and pick out the white Wiggles shirt that I expressed a special preference for with smaller crowds than showed up later. We also got to our seats on time, which was great since there was such a crush of people arriving closer to the official start time, that they had to delay the start time a bit to let them get into the parking lot and to their seats.

Anyway, the show was really exciting! (I was a little intimidated by all of the lights, so I stayed on Mommy's lap like many other kids, but I had lots of fun!) Some kids brought signs to hold up with their parents, and The Wiggles read all those that they could see. (Mommy thought that was very nice of them.) One family in seats pretty high up held a sign that said, "We have food for Anthony!" He's always hungry, so he went up into the audience and received an open bag of baked Doritos (guess the kids were hungry too!).

We had great seats, and Mommy and I loved watching Greg, Anthony, Murray, and Jeff singing, dancing, and joking around. They came into the audience a couple times, and I was only a few feet away from Jeff! (Mommy wished it were Anthony, who is the heartthrob Wiggle of many in her mommy group. Click here for a SF Chronicle column by another mom fan of Anthony.)

My special favorite, Dorothy the Dinosaur, sang and danced to many songs with the others and even sang her solo butterfly song (a special favorite since Mommy and I sing it at home!) Wags the Dog and Henry the Octopus were also there dancing around. Mommy especially enjoyed Captain Feathersword, who sang his "Quack Quack Quack, Cock a Doodle Doo" song as Barney, a Teletubby, Mick Jagger, Ozzy Osbourne, Celine Dion, and an operatic tenor. He was really funny, and Mommy says he has an incredible vocal range despite all his clowning around!

As we walked to the car after the concert, Mommy asked me whether I had fun, and I said "Aidan Wigles fun!" We listened to Wiggles songs the whole way home in the car. I want to go back and visit the Wiggles again!

Easter

Easter is yet another great holiday, or wingding as I like to call it. (An aside: When we went to the P-Nuts playgroup joint 2-year-old birthday celebration, Daddy taught me that we were attending a wingding over and over in the car. I internalized it and now all events where there is both fun to be had and people to have it with are wingdings.) Yesterday morning I got up and found that the Easter Rabbit (the "buddy bat" as I call him) had come to visit me. I got all sorts of good stuff including a bit of chocolate. While I dislike all other forms of candy, I really like chocolate. Next, we all got dressed up for church. Mommy tried to put me in a shirt with evil buttons on it, but I protested vigorously and ended up button-free. Mommy explained to me that church is where people think about Jesus. Jesus is, apparently, a nice man who helps people. I'm all for that. In church, the highlight was all the songs. Every time we would stop signing songs and people would start to talk, I would pipe up from the back of the church my request: "more songs, more songs." Daddy seemed to agree with me on this sentiment. When church was over and we went outside, I kind of missed the church and the songs. I suggested that we go back by saying "more Jesus, more Jesus."

When we got home, we went on an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. While some people like to gather all the eggs on the hunt before determining what's inside, I prefer more immediate feedback. I would give an egg to my assistant, Daddy, and order him to open it. I would then inspect the contents and make an immediate judgment: If it was chocolate, then it should be eaten immediately---"eat" I'd say. If it was a toy, then it required immediate playing with. If it was a non-chocolate piece of food such as cereal or teddy grahams, then it could be safely ignored and I would proceed to the next egg.

I like Easter.

Big Slide

In addition t my newfound jumping ability, I'm also become quite an excellent climber. Daddy took me to the park yesterday and I went zipping up to the top of the big slide. The first part consists of steps leading up to a level where there is a little slide. I used to only go to this part and come down the little slide, but recently I discovered there is a ladder leading from the landing of the little slide up to the top of the big slide. I can zip up the ladder and go zooming down the big slide. The other thing that's great about slides is sliding lots of things other than Aidan down them. I'm particularly fond of sliding golf balls down the slide. Daddy or Mommy thoughtfully put the golf balls to wait for me at the top of the slide (that way my hands can be free for climbing rather than carrying golf balls). Then, when I get to the top of the slide, I'll roll the golf balls down. Sometimes I roll them singly (whee!), other times I roll them in bunches (lots!). Finally, I slide myself down to greet the golf balls at the bottom.

NO Buttons!

Sometime in February or early March, I decided that buttons were especially unpleasant things and started declaring "No buttons!" each time it was time to get dressed. I decided to be very firm about this point, since my mild expressions of distaste for buttons in 2003 were obviously not getting me anywhere. I am happy to say my early 2004 arguments against buttons were so vehement that only one shirt with buttons has disgraced my chest since I started the 2004 Anti-Button Crusade. (The one that slipped by had buttons shaped like baseballs so, after much debate, I yielded since baseballs are cool.) I feel very powerful.

Photos from Uncle Ted & Aunt Holly's Visit

Click here to see photos from Uncle Ted and Aunt Holly's visit in March!

Other Roo

I am a big fan of Tigger, Eeyore, and Winnie the Pooh, but up until recently I have been less familiar with other characters, such as "Other Roo." "Other Roo" figures prominently in The Tigger Movie, a video which I received from my godmother, Jo Ann, at Christmastime. (Much like Tigger, "Other Roo" is excellent at bouncing, as I am too since I started consistently jumping with "Two feet!" off the ground last Saturday.)

You may not recognize the character "Other Roo" since Mommy calls him "Roo" (for short I guess). Mommy thinks that I am so used to referring to the "other room," which is how everyone in this house refers to a room we're not yet in, that I have tacked "Other" on to Roo's name. I think that she just neglected to learn his full name and is being too informal.

Red Hat

I'm really starting to enjoy reading books. Currently, there is only one book that I can actually read: it's called Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton. I like to open up the book and read aloud---"Blue hat, green hat, red hat, uh oh" and so on. The key to my reading skills with this book are that all of the words correspond exactly to the pictures. So if I simply say what I see on the page, I end up reading the book. Actually, I'm not quite accurate. The "uh oh" part is my innovation. In the book, "uh oh" is replaced by "oops". Reading is fun.

Grammy's Visit

Click here to see some photos from my Grammy's visit!

My Grammy flew on an airplane to visit me the other week. I really enjoyed having her here. She came with me to Kindergym and "preschool" (a mommy and me pre-preschool experience) and I showed her around. We also went to the Oakland Zoo together, where we saw cool animals like giraffes, camels, and elephants. We spent lots of time at the attached little kids amusement park too, where we all rode the choo-choo together and I took many rides on the neat cars that go around and around in a circle. I chose a different car most times, but my favorite is still a shiny blue roadster.

Like me, Grammy seems to like STOP signs quite a bit, and we enjoyed pointing out each one we saw and anticipating when the next one would show up. This is a fun game on the local streets, but less satisfying on the freeway, where the cars so fast and don't stop often. I am very happy that I can see a stop sign right outside my window over the backyard fence!

Mommy, Grammy and I went on a big adventure her last weekend here. We drove to Monterey to see the fishies there who live at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Since it's a 2 hour drive, we stayed overnight at a motel in nearby Seaside, where I got to sleep in my Pack n Play. I was very happy to see it and sleep in it again!

The aquarium was neat with huge tanks of fishies, plants, otters, penguins, etc. There was a dark little space you could climb up and view the penguins away from the crowds, and I declared that the penguins seen from that spot "Aidan's penguins." We watched the otters play with toys and eat lunch. That was fun too. I have a book at home that I really like called, A lot of Otters, and so I really looked forward to visiting the otters. We all came home with otter merchandise.

On the way back to the car after the aquarium, we spotted a big, brightly lit carousel. I decided to take a ride despite my year-long fear of carousel horses. (This despite my love of horsies everywhere else!) Anyway, while at first I was going to sit on the bench on the carousel, with a little coaxing a chose a white horse this time and had a great time. Then I chose a grey horse for the next ride! I would have chosen an apricot colored horse next, but mommy insisted that out long day was coming to an end, and we went to our "green car" and rode home. It was a very fun day! I miss Grammy!

Happy Birthday Uncle Jack!

Today is my Uncle Jack's birthday. Mommy and I called him at work to wish him a happy day. I listed for Uncle Jack the things that he will require in order to have a perfect birthday : 1) cake, 2) lights (candles on the cake), and 3) Elmo hat. Now that he has this information, he should have a magnificent birthday.

While Mommy tried once again to get me to call Uncle Jack by name while speaking with him, I did not cooperate until after we hung up the phone. Then I clearly said, "Uncle Jack, bye-bye!"

DVD

I like to watch videos and am becoming more skilled in operating the VCR. I now know how to eject a video and replace it in its dust jacket. Mommy and Daddy have also set up my video library in such a way that I have easy access to all my favorites. Right now the current "heavy" rotation includes Maisy, Little People, Wiggles, and Elmo. Sometimes I get addicted to videos and want to watch lots of them. Often, Mommy or Daddy will try to rein me in by telling me that we're all done watching videos or that the VCR is tired and needs a rest. Fortunately, I've come up with a creative solution to the tired VCR problem--it turns out that when the VCR is busy playing videos, the DVD player is resting. Hence, when faced with no more videos, I thoughtfully suggest, "DVD, DVD" as a solution to the problem. While Mommy and Daddy like the creativity of this solution, they still don't let me keep watching stuff.

Asia

Daddy just got back from Asia. After doing pretty well on his return, he's a bit of a mess from insomnia right now. Anyway, he told me to point out to you some pictures he posted of his trip. You can view them here.

No happy

I usually indicate my mood as being either positive (Yes happy) or negative (no happy). Over the last few days, I"ve been no happy a lot. Yesterday, Mommy took me to the doctor and it turns out I've got an ear infection, which is especially painfull when I lie down. This is a problem since I typically sleep lying down. Monday night was an especially "no happy" night for all of us. Fortunately, the doctor gave me some antibiotics (mmm, delicious medicine) and I'm already feeling mre yes happy than I was earlier. I hope I recover soon although Mommy promises that I'll get to enjoy the tasty medicine for the full course of the antibiotics.

People

We've had a whole bunch of visitors come through our house over the last several days. Over the weekend, Aunt Holly and Uncle Ted came to visit. The brought me a present (bows!!!) that I like very much. It's a set of legos (duplos actually) that create an elephant, a giraffe, and, in honor of their Floridian roots, an alligator. I really love my legos. Uncle Ted and Aunt Holly are lots of fun to play with. Uncle Ted especially likes to roll around on the floor with me. The main difficulty is that with so many new people coming through, it was hard for me to keep track of their names, so, throughout their stay, I simply referred to them as "people." For instance, if Aunt Holly would come in the door with her shoes on, I'd suggest (strongly) "People shoes off." And so on.

The morning after they left, I woke up and said "Bye bye Aunt Holly." I finally figured out her name, but just a little too late.

Pool

It's been unseasonably hot here this past week. After the temperature soared into the mid 80s yesterday, Daddy broke out the swimming pool for the first time all year. This was the best. As Daddy was getting out the pool, I flapped my arms up and down and shouted "pool, pool" in my excitement. The pool didn't disappoint. It was nice and cool. I also got to do one of my favorite pool activities: the ritual throwing of all the balls in the yard into the pool. Then throwing them back out again. And so on.

In the driver's seat

Daddy got a new toy yesterday---a driver that his friend Vijay sent him. We were both pretty excited to get the golf club out of its box. It's a Ping TiSI model. It's got a huge clubhead. When I saw the size of the clubhead, I opened my mouth wide and went "ohhhhhh", followed by a couple of "oh boys!". Daddy had a similar reaction. I quickly identified the club as a driver and scurried off to get out the box of golf balls and the putting green. We putted with the "big dog" as Daddy likes to call the new club. It doesn't look much like a dog, but I woofed at it anyway. Then it was my turn to hit with the club. While it's a really long club, since the head is so big, it's rather easy for me to hit golf balls with it. Soon after that, I brought out my own golf clubs ("Aidan's golf clubs" as I refer to them---I always refer to myself in the third person) for comparison. I toyed with them briefly and then went back to the driver. I like Daddy's golf clubs much better than my own.

Woof!

Hum

I know how to hum. Mommy caught me humming "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in the car today, and then we hummed it together in the car and at home. Hum Hum Hum Hum...

Here are some links to recent photos of me with some buddies:

Click here for photos at Kindergym February 26 and in rain gear afterwards.

Click here for photos taken at the P-Nuts Playgroup group 2-year-old birthday party on Feb 29.

We are still wading through the digital photos taken around Christmas. Some of them will be posted within the next few days!

Wingding

Yesterday, we went to the P-Nuts group 2 year old birthday celebration. P-Nuts is one of the many groups to which I belong. The origins of the name are obscure though. Anyway, on our way there, Daddy taught me a new word to describe this event---wingding. I liked saying it---wingding. The best part of this house, which I call the choo-choo house, is the train table where they have a Thomas the Tank Engine train. I loved playing with that. Indeed, for the couple of hours that we were there, I paid almost exclusive attention to the choo-choo. Occasionally, other children would join me in playing with the choo-choo (and sometimes I'd rather that they'd have gone away) but none were as consistently faithful to the railroading spirit as I was. The other highlight of the event was receiving a balloon. I now officially have a favorite color---yellow. Given the choice of many different colored balloons, I wanted the yellow one. I display similar preferences when it comes to my clothes as well.

Feetball

One of my favorite activities to play with Daddy is "feetball". I pick up two (always has to be two) feetballs and summon Daddy to our back hallway. Here, the game takes on various forms. Sometimes I toss a feetball to Daddy and he tosses it back. Other times, I'm the fullback and I come charging into the "line" (Daddy) in an attempt to break through. When we're doing the fullback version of the game, Daddy prefers that we be on carpeted surfaces rather than the hard floor. The noises Daddy makes on impact are the best part (although being bounced around is pretty good too.) Daddy seems to think that I'll make a fine fullback some day since I don't shy away from contact at all. I just lower my head and plow in.

Feetball is fun.

Maisy

Last weekend, Daddy and I went out shopping. Well, we went out shopping in the crazy Daddy way where we get to the mall before it opens and I get to run around and explore. Anyway, after things opened, we found a warehouse bookstore and explored there. I was attracted to a number of large boxes that looked good for climbing into. Daddy put me in a nearly empty box and I frolicked in the books at the bottom of the box. One of the books I found was about the character Maisy, who is a mouse. In this book, Maisy was working on a farm. The best thing about this book is that it had lots of little handles to pull Maisy up and down a ladder, ride a tractor and so on. Finally, we left the store and, on leaving, I cried out plaintively "Maisy, Maisy."

That was enough to melt Daddy's heart and get him to buy the book for me. He gave me the money to hand to the salesperson, and I got to take the Maisy book home with me. It's one of my favorite books now. I especially like it when Daddy reads it to me.

Teezy

Sometimes when Daddy comes home from work, he makes a "teezy". He always seems to want more of this drink since he keeps saying he's making "more" "teezy". This is a fun drink to make. First, he puts a wet glass in the freezer to cool. Then he puts some ice cubes and some juices called gin and vermouth into a shaker. Then the fun begins. He shakes the shaker and it makes a great maraca sound. Then he pours the "more" "teezy" into his glass. Then it's my turn to shake the shake. I used to only give it a desultory shake and then return it to Daddy saying "Daddy's turn". But now I shake with gusto all the while chanting "teezy, teezy, teezy". Then I pass it back to Daddy for more shaking. When I want it back, I request "More teezy"

Can you guess what this drink is?

The hard-working letter I

I have a new favorite song---Soak up the Sun---by Sheryl Crow. I actually know it as the "I" song. Daddy started singing this too me in the tub while making my foam letter I dance along to the music. I love it. Later, he downloaded the song (legally using iTunes) so that I could listen to it. Sheryl Crow's singing is even better than Daddy's. Now, it's my new favorite song. In fact, I like to listen to it exclusively. It's best repeated in a continuous loop. Here are my favorite lyrics:

"I"'s gonna soak up the sun
Gonna tell everyone to lighten up

I love the letter I. I think it's displaced E as my favorite letter---largely because of this song.

A hearty breakfast

I'm a big believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That's why I prefer to have my breakfasts as enormous feasts. Lately, breakfast has consisted of two yogurts, some juice, and two bowls of oatmeal (I really like to have two of everything). Daddy says that this is a full day's worth of calorie intake for him while for me it's just breakfast. Of course, I run around a lot during the day, so I need the energy.

Singing

I've become increasing interested in singing over the last few weeks. Mostly I like to make up my own songs with lyrics about things that interest me. Sometimes I sing or hum songs that I know from my music together class. A favorite in this regard is the chugga chugga choo choo song, which I really enjoy. On Sunday, Daddy was reading a book called Barnyard Dance by the amazingly prolific Sandra Boynton. This is a book that's meant to be sung though perhaps not in the way that Daddy does it. He would singsong some of the words to the book and then take extended breaks to hum the theme from that all-time classic, The Benny Hill Show. I really enjoy the Benny Hill music. Since that song doesn't have words (or at least Daddy doesn't know them), I added my own lyrics. While Daddy hummed the Benny Hill theme, I'd singsong "Balls in holes. Ballf ballf balls in holes!" and so on. He seemed to really like these lyrics.

Teeth!

My Daddy was in charge of me on Sunday as Mommy went out to see a concert by someone named Cecilia Bartoli. She even waited in line after the concert to get her autograph. Meanwhile, it was a pretty overcast day. Daddy originally had in mind to go on a hiking trail somewhere but the combination of the weather and my unwillingness to get into the car dissuaded him of this. In stead, we went to the park across from the house. I did lots of sliding on the sliding board. The best was when Daddy would hold my hand on the way down and give me some extra acceleration. Whee!

We had to leave the park when a large and overly friendly dog came to visit. I really don't trust dogs that are significantly bigger than I am. This guy gave me a bunch of kisses and then wouldn't leave.

"Bye bye woof." I said.

The dog just looked at me and circled around.

"Bye bye woof"

No response from the dog. Obviously he was not getting the message.

Eventually, I became so distraught over the dog following us that Daddy had to carry me home.

The afternoon was a bit better. We went out in the backyard where I discovered my big red wagon. I love my wagon---and especially the long wagon rides Daddy takes me on. We went round the whole neighborhood. I would greet everyone as we passed. I'm evolving a preferred style of conversation that I perfected when dealing with the little people and the golf balls with smiley faces on them. I look the person straight in the eyes and, with a big smile, say "hi". Usually the other person says hi back to me. This signifies the end of the conversation, so I say "bye bye" and turn my gaze in another direction.

Ample Bubbles

Whenever I take a bath, I have to have bubbles My usual ritual is to run to the bathroom while crying out "eeeeeeeee". Then when Daddy turns on the faucets, I say "bath on" followed shortly by the plaintive cry, "bubbles!" One Daddy puts in the bubbles, things start to get really good. As the number of bubbles increases, I closely monitor the situation until, when there are enough bubbles, I declare "ample bubbles". "Ample" is not a word I normally use, but Daddy taught it to me to describe situations where there are plenty of bubbles. Finally, when my bath is over, I say bye bye to the bubbles as they go down the drain.

"Bye bye bubbles."
"Bye bye ample bubbles."

Good day sunshine

It's been a glorious weekend--sunny and mid 60s. Naturally, I spent a lot of time outside. On Sunday morning we went to the driving range to hit golf ball. I brought my own set of clubs so that I could hit golf balls with Mommy and Daddy. Even better was a trip to the putting green, where I pulled all the flagsticks out of the holes and carried them around with me. Then I put them back in the holes. "In holes" I said as I did this. I also got to see the swans and the geese and pretended to be a swan and munch on the grass. In the afternoon, I went out for a wagon ride around the park near where we live. I got to swing on the swings there--"higher, higher" I cried. Daddy brought some golf balls and a club with him to the park. He was practicing his sand shots from the sandy area where the swings are. Sand shots are cool since he "blasts" both the sand and the ball up in the air. "Whee" I would say with each shot. My job was to get the balls and set them in place for each of the shots. Sand shots are much more interesting than normal golf shots.

Jammy Whammy

I used to like to run around and play "chase the Aidan" whenever it was time to put jammies on. Now, jammy time means time to put on my dancing shoes Addy invented a new way of putting on jammies while I "do the Jammy Whammy" and "turn myself about". The way the dance works is that, as Addy sings for me to put my left leg in, I put my leg in my jammies. Somehow, things aren't symmetric when it comes to the part of the song where I put my left leg out. Addy still keeps my leg in the jammies. The best parts of the song are where I shake my legs about and turn around. I really enjoy both of these.

"C" is for everything

Sunday is "Addy Day" in our household---Addy typically does stuff with me the whole day and gives Mommy a much needed day off. Anyway, yesterday was a rainy day here, so our usual strategy of going for walks and playing in the park was a no-go. Instead, Addy decided to drive us to a big indoor mall called the Stoneridge mall. We got there early---about 9:30---before any of the stores opened. This was fine with both of us since we really had nothing to buy. It was also good because it let me run around and be free without lots of other pesky shoppers getting in my way. There are lots of fun things in malls. One of my favorites was the escalator. I liked to ride up and down and up and down...and up and down...over and over again. Indeed, I really never get tired of escalator rides. Addy apparently does though. He wanted to stop after our fourth consecutive round trip. Elevators are also fun. Stoneridge has an elevator with windows on all sides. I liked looking out the window at the people as we went up and down.

The comedy highlight of the day involved the letter "C", one of my favorite letters. There are lots of big letters on the signs for the stores in the mall. Addy would ask me what different letters were and often I would tell him. Then, I decided to play a kind of joke. No matter what letter Addy pointed at, I would tell him it was the letter "C" and smile and laugh. He thought this was quite amusing as well. We looked at a big sign for an ATM. "What letter is this?" Addy would ask, pointing at the "A".

"C!" I would say confidently, smiling at him. He looked at me doubtfully and laughed. He moved on to to the "T" (which was tough for me to keep a straight face while saying "C" to in that "T" is a really great letter. It even resembles a golf tee, which is one of my favorite objects. Similarly with "M".

By the end of the morning, I was really tired and went to sleep in the car. It was a busy, but very fun, day.

Purple Yogurt

I've long been a fan of yogurt, but, as I've grown older, my tastes have become more refined. First, I'm very brand loyal. I only eat Danimals yogurt. Other competitors, such as YoBaby, are distinctly inferior and I refuse to eat them. Now, I've refined my taste even among the Danimals. The six pack of Danimals consists of three purple yogurts and three orange yogurts. I've now decided that only the purple ones are edible and not the orange ones. Sometimes Addy tries to sneak an orange container past me. But I'm very alert. When he brings me an orange, I tell him forcefully "purple, purple"---of course, the way I pronounce it, it sounds more like "people, people" I've noticed that the orange yogurts are starting to pile up in the fridge. I wonder what will happen to them?

Sentences

While my conversation is always sparkling, I've decided that Mommy and Daddy are finally at a stage where they can handle some increased sophistication. I've now started making three word sentences instead of my usual two word sentences. However, so as not to change things too radically, I'm still confining myself to only imperative statements. Here are some examples:

"Ball in holes" (Refers to the fact that if there is a hole around, such as in one of my toys or on the putting green, it is necessary that balls be placed in it.)

"Aidan apple all done" (Aidan is all done eating pineapple)

"Two piggy off" (The two piggies need to get out of the crib so I can play with them)

I've also discovered the joys of the possessive case. I'm very big about ownership and property rights, so for many objects I identify them by owner: Mommy's, Addy's, Aidan's, and sometimes, for some items, Nainnie's.

I'm feeling more urbane and sophisticated every day.

News Flush

Over the weekend, I successfully used the toilet on several occasions. Of course, these were mingled with a fair number of "hanging out" toilet experiences, but Mommy and Daddy are quite impressed at my progress. Saying "pee pee" is easily the fastest and best way to get them to drop whatever they're doing and pay attention to me.

Brought to you by the letter D

I learned a new word this weekend---or perhaps a new acronym is more like it---now, whenever Mommy or Daddy put a disk in our home theater, I exclaim "DVD, DVD." I sort of got to know this word through repeated viewing of my Elmo DVD. Mommy and Daddy have both stressed the differences between VCR tapes, which I can put in myself. The word DVD is also useful since it has helped me to key in on the letter D. I can now spot D's quite readily and I proudly announce "D" whenever I see one.

A Mystery

Last night, we were reading a story about Winnie the Pooh. While the story seems to be about a bear, I kept pointing to the toilet every time Addy said the character's name. Why would they name a bear pooh? It makes no sense.

Royal Vista

Yesterday, the whole family went to Royal Vista golf course to hit some "ballf balls." As we arrived, I noticed a couple of abandoned ballf balls in an ashtray. I absolutely had to have them, so Mommy and washed them off and gave them to me. The first part of our time was spent with Mommy hitting the ball and Addy supervising me. I found lots of good stuff around the driving range. In addition to the two ballf balls, I found a couple of tees and a broken rubber tee thingy used for the mats of the driving range. One of my favorite activities was to put a wooden tee inside one of the rubber tee thingies, pull it back, and then make it fly. "Whee," I said as the tee sailed away. I also pulled out some of Mommy's clubs and hit some balls myself.

After we were done driving, we went over to the putting green. I was initially helping Mommy and Addy to putt. They would hit a ball toward the hole, and I would intercept it. Then I would pick it up and deposit it in the hole. This way, Mommy and Addy made every one of their putts. Surprisingly, they didn't want this help even though it meant sometimes (or most of the time) they would not make their putts. Instead, Addy took me over to look at the big lake surrounding the 9th green. We saw lots of waterfowl there: herons, ibises, pelicans, ducks, and, my favorite, swans. Later, the swans came to visit us. They were eating grass on the ground. I was so excited by the swans that I decided I wanted to be a swan too. I got down on the ground like a swan and pretended to eat grass just like they were doing.

After my big morning, I fell asleep soon after we got into the car to drive home.

Toilet

One of my new favorite pastimes is to hang out on the toilet. Or, more accurately, to get on and off the toilet repeatedly. To initiate this game, all I have to do is loudly announce "pee-pee". This then sends Mommy and I to the bathroom where she helps me up onto my special seat on the toilet. Then I hang out there. Mommy seems to expect me to do something other than just look around when I'm on the toilet, but I don't quite get what else I'm supposed to do. Then I try to get down from the toilet and---the best part---flush the toilet. I love flushing. Once that task is accomplished, it's time to get back up on the toilet and start all over again. Happily, Mommy really seems to enjoy hanging out with me as I sit on the toilet.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Last night, Addy put me to bed. This is, of course, not my preferred option. Whenever I hear that we're going to bed, I race over to Mommy and, if she's sitting down, I tug at her leg and say "off, off." Mommy wouldn't do the whole bedtime thing last night. Eventually, I went into the bedroom and Addy read me a story---one of my favorites---"Ten in the Bed". My initial reaction was to lie in the doorway as far from him as possible while still being in the room and cry. The story, however, is so compelling (three stuffed animals have been pushed off the bed...what could possibly happen next?) that I quieted and eventually listened for a while. But not for that long. During the "slow" parts, I would run out in the living room to check if Mommy was around. Addy eventually grew tired of this and put me in my crib, which was not what I wanted. I complained for a while.

Eventually, Addy came back in and I realized that story reading with him was not so bad after all. We read several stories together and Piggy sang the A-B-C song to wish me good night. At that point, I wasn't sure I wanted to go to sleep, so I turned the light of the room on. (I can reach the switch from my crib.) Addy turned it back off. So I turned it back on. That was enough for him. I got to go to sleep with the light on.

People's Republic

I've got a new favorite in the video department. Elmo is out. Ernie is out. Wiggles are out. Now what's cool and fashionable are People. "People" refers to the videos accompanying the many Little People (TM) items I received over Christmas and my birthday. These videos consist of short vignettes where the Little People do different things. Each vignette is preceded by the dulcet tones of Aaron Neville singing the Little People song. I love it. The cars--vroom--the people, the music. Best of all, the Little People like to watch themselves on TV.

While Mommy and Addy initially liked the Aaron Neville song and the cuteness of the People, I think they're kind of sick of it by now. Addy says that he feels like he's living in a "People's Republic" these days.

Sick

I hate being sick. Not only does it make me miserable, but I miss out on lots of exciting social opportunities. For instance, yesterday I was due to go to my first day of Kindergym this semester. I was especially looking forward to the tunnels there. I was also looking forward to using my newfound climbing skills. But, to no avail. I got sick about 20 minutes before we were due to leave, and I had to stay in all day. Today I was supposed to have a playdate, and that was cancelled too. Being sick is no fun.

A Night at the Opera

Last night, Mommy went with her friends to the San Francisco Opera where she saw La Boheme. Since I'm not yet an opera buff (and since Addy is a Philistine), she left the two of us to hang out at home. Initially, I was pretty distraught about Mommy leaving, but soon enough I rediscovered the joys of the Little People and was happy again. Addy has a much different management style than does Mommy. For instance, in eating, we mostly shared everything. Addy had cheese and crackers as a kind of starter and so did Aidan. By the way, the trick of balancing the cheese on the cracker is a tough one. I used to have a terrible time with this, but I'm getting better. The secret seems to be not to turn the cracker to a vertical position when inserting into one's mouth. Later in the evening, we had pizza. Now normally I sit in my high chair with my own tray. Tonight, however, Addy wanted a dinner companion, so he pushed my high chair up to the table, removed the little tray, and had me eat directly off the table. He offered me a host of different choices, but pizza was my preferred option. I especially like the cheese on the pizza. The crust, however, is nothing very interesting.

After that we had a bath and then Addy read me stories. I like my bedtime routine with him to be different than that with Mommy. For instance, Mommy has me sit on the big chair with her while she reads stories. Addy tried to do this as well, but I didn't like it since it reminded me that Mommy was not there. I preferred to stand next to him and check out the stories on my feet. Later, he tried to sing to me before bed. I didn't like this either. What was okay was when he put me in my crib and had Piggy sing the A-B-C song.

A Day on the Links

As you know, ballf is a big part of my day-to-day routine. One of the best parts is the ritual associated with getting all the equipment together for a day of golf. Yesterday morning, I had it in mind to play. I quickly found the box of golf balls and placed this in the middle of the living room. Next, I knew we needed golf clubs. Since Addy was sitting on the couch, I immediately ordered him "off, off" and scurried to the closet where the clubs are kept. We picked out the putter---our usual club---but this was clearly not enough clubs for the task. "Two, two", I said. Addy pulled out a 7 iron as well. Two is, of course, the right number of clubs (one for each hand). I dragged both clubs back to the living room. Next, we needed a hole to hit the balls into. I ran into the bedroom where the putting surface lives under the bed. I got it all by myself and carried it into the living room. I carefully set it down and then unrolled the 9' felt green so that we had a proper putting surface. But, you cannot play golf without tees as well. "Tees, tees!" I said. Daddy produced a couple of indoor tees to place the balls on. These tees are not as much fun as the pointy outdoor tees, but they do work better on carpeted surfaces.

Finally, it was time to get to work. I hit a couple of balls then handed the putter to Addy to hit with. I placed a ball in front of his putter and then went to the hole to watch the results. When he would hit the ball in the hole, I would say "Yes" and "bye bye" to the ball. Sometimes, however, Addy would miss. In that case, I would shake my head at him and say "nooooo". Addy says that this new form of feedback from me increases the pressure on him to putt successfully. Still, Addy did make most of the putts, so there weren't too many "nooos" from me.

I love ballf!

Bubbles

While there are many things to love about taking baths, one of the best things are the bubbles. Lately, Daddy has been bathing me, so I've got to train him in the routine. I get into the tub while the water is still running and splash around for a bit. Once I'm acclimated, it's time for the bubbles. "Bubbles?" I say. He then provides bubbles and they start to foam up as the water is running. Once the water stops, the bubbles settle down and disappear quite quickly. I'm a bit sad when this happens and I anticipate it. As soon as the water stops I say, "Bye bye bubbles." This way the bubbles know I'm saying goodbye to them before they disappear.

Booze

This morning Daddy was watching me while Mommy went out to sign me up for another program of learning and enrichment. After we were playing for a while, I ran over to the kitchen gate and started pointing to the kitchen and saying "booze, booze!" Daddy was confused. He didn't know what booze was (or rather he did, but didn't think this was an appropriate request.) He tried some alternatives:

Him: "Milk?"

Me: "No"

Him: "Juice"

Me: "No. Booze"

Finally he gave up and let me show him. I ran down to the Christmas tree and scooped up a couple of bows. "Booze!" I cried. Finally, the light bulb went on an Daddy understood. "Booze" are "bows".

Unwrapping Gifts

As I mentioned, Christmas comes early in California. I got up Sunday morning dressed in my Christmas jammies. The house was quiet and only Daddy was up with me at the time. Anyway, we came into the living room and I asked for the little tree to be turned on. "On, on," I said while pointing at the tree. Mommy tells me that she got the little tree from her Mommy while she was sick just before I was born. Anyway, Mommy came out and we all went down to light the big tree. I was shocked and delighted to find a whole load of presents under the tree. Apparently, Santa had come the night before. (Daddy says that this staggered Christmas schedule in Cali is due to all the traffic on the roads here. Santa has to go out early to avoid the congestion.)

I quickly hit upon the biggest box I could find and tore it open. Fortunately, nearly all of the boxes were for me, so choosing randomly, I was still likely to get one of my presents. Last year, I had a hard time tearing through all the wrapping paper. Not this year. I have a method to unwrapping gifts---here it is. When you first see a present, you have to find the spot on the box where the bow is located. Then you exclaim "bow, bow!" This is followed by disemboweling the bow. Then it's on to ripping the wrapping paper off of the present. In the case of the first gift, this revealed a Fisher-Price farm! Now comes the part where Mommy and Daddy have to help. There job is to get the gift out of its box and assembled as quickly as possible. "Off, off" I say as they open the box. They got out all the animals including my favorite, the piggy. Then they put the farm together for me. After that, it's time to play.

One of the best things about the farm is the dance area. There's a little spot on the floor of the barn where, if the little people step on it, it plays some great songs. I like to have the little people dance to the music. Sometimes I ask Mommy and Daddy to make them dance so tat I can be free to stand up and dance along with the music too.

Christmas is great!

Apocalypse Now

This past weekend I got to open many of my Christmas gifts. Christmas comes early in California apparently. Mommy tells me that this is first Christmas and that I'll get to enjoy another one when we fly back east. Anyway, I got many great toys but some of my favorites are my two Fisher-Price helicopters. One of the helicopters came with my Fisher-Price Airport. When this helicopter flies near the control tower of the airport, there are sounds of whirring rotors and radio cross-chat. The other helicopter came separately. It's also Fisher-Price. With this one, if you press the little trigger mechanism, the rotors rotate and make sounds. Lights also light up.

Last night, Daddy taught me a new game---Apocalypse Now. In this game, the helicopters fly round and round the little people's town. Of course, there are lots of rotor noises, but, in addition, Daddy sings the melody from Ride of the Valkyries. Occasionally, the helicopters sweep low over the frightened little people as they scurry away. Daddy says that flying low helps to "win the hearts and minds" of the little people. He says that if we buzz them often enough they'll stop following someone named "Uncle Ho". I don't know what he's talking about, but I sure like the music and the helicopters.

Elmo-spotting

My Mommy is amazed at my powers of observation when it comes to my favorite Muppet, Elmo. We visited a mall a couple of days ago and, as we walked around the stores, I would point excitedly and cry "Elmo." Many times Mommy thought I was hallucinating since, in her field of vision, there were no Elmos to be seen. But, on closer inspection, she would see what I was seeing--a small Elmo icon here, a picture there. In short, if there were Elmos to be seen, I saw them, and commented excitedly on the fact. Daddy thinks he should put little Elmo pictures on his golf balls and take me out with him when he plays. That way, he reasons, he'll never lose a ball in the woods again.

Picture Time

I've posted a bunch of pictures from a pumpkin carving party, my trip to Habitot, and, most importantly, my second birthday. To see them, click here. Enjoy!

Party!

Today was my 2nd birthday party. My actual birthday is on December 30, but I had a kids' party today so that my friends could celebrate with me (since many will be elsewhere celebrating the winter holidays later this month). I've been watching an Elmo's World video featuring birthday parties lately to get myself ready for today. Daddy's birthday in November was also a good practice run. The big take-aways from Daddy's birthday and my Elmo video are that people give you nice things that often have bows attached and that candles and cake are involved. Last night, when Mommy reminded me that I would have a party today, I told her, "bow" and "Elmo" to let her know that I was ready.

Anyway, I was in excellent spirits for my party. We talked about my friends coming over and I was excited to show them my ball pit. I enjoy the ballpit immensely myself. I had 5 friends come to my party: Jaren, Chloe, Sophie, Emmersen, and McKenna. (Sam called in sick this morning, unfortunately!) Chloe's baby brother was there too, as were all the mommies and my Daddy. We played in my ballpit and with my other toys. Mommy also led us all in circle time with some songs about balls as we rolled the balls around. Then we had lunch. Spinach quiche (baked by Daddy!), fruit salad, cheese and crackers, and pita bread dipped in hummus. (I skipped the hummus myself.) After lunch, everyone sang "Happy Birthday" while I blew out the candles on my platter of cupcakes (iced to look like baseballs). Then we all ate our cupcakes and did some more playing before opening gifts. I got some great books and Wiggles' stuff, all of which I took into my room so that it could "rest" in the chair while I napped in my crib. Birthday parties are fun, but they sure do tire a guy out!

A little night music

Last night was not a fun one for me. Daddy put me to bed, which is never as good as when Mommy does it. Initially, I was quite distraught over the prospect, but after many pages of The Cat in the Hat, I settled down. In fact, I was so tired that I requested that Daddy turn off the light so I could sleep. This all went well until around 9:30pm, when I awoke again. I was not happy to still be in my crib and wanted to get up and play. Mommy kept telling me it was sleepytime as I called to her. She would pick me up from time to time and even change me, but still I was unhappy. I continued to call out increasingly unhappy until around 11pm. Then Daddy came in the room and picked me up. I didn't want him to pick me up, but decided after a short while it was okay. We went into the kitchen for a glass of warm milk. I liked watching the microwave turn round and round. "Ding" went the microwave. "Ding" I said back to it. After I got back into the crib with my milk, I was much happier. I took a few sips and went straight to sleep.

Bye Bye Nainnie

Sadly, my Nainnie had to go back to her house yesterday. I was very sad to see her go since she's lots of fun to be around. She even managed to figure out a way to wash my hair without my noticing it. I appreciate that since, when I notice, I hate to have my hair washed. After she had gone yesterday evening, I would call for her, "Nainnie, Nainnie," from time to time to see if she would reapprear. Sadly, she didn't.

On the plus side, Mommy gave me the best toy ever yesterday: A ball pit. Mommy filled up an inflatable swimming pool with 300 (!!) plastic balls. I love t roll around in the ball pit, to throw the balls around, to be buried in balls, and so on. During dinner, I just kept saying "ball, ball, ball" and hoping it would be over so I could get back to the ball pit. It's super!

Ballf

Daddy and I share a passion for Ballf. In fact, it's my favorite sport. The funny thing is that Daddy keeps calling it "golf" rather than the more sensible name ballf. After all, it's played with a wonderful little ball; hence it seems sensible that ball should be somewhere in the name--ballf.

While I have my own set of clubs, I prefer Daddy's clubs. In fact, my favorite club is the putter, which also happens to be a word I can actually say, "puddah". We get out Daddy's putting green and line the balls up about 3 feet from the hole. Then I take the putter (I choke up on it a lot) and Daddy helps to guide my stroke to putt the balls into the hole. I love it when I sink these three footers. I like to make a little jump for joy with the putter in my hand.

In addition to putting, the other great thing about ballf is organizing the balls. Two days ago, I gout out my dump truck and loaded it with freight---golf balls. Then Daddy would help the truck back up to the unloading area, the hole on the putting green, and unload the freight into the hole. The balls would go into the hole and then slide along the return shoot back to the loading area where we would take the dump truck to get another haul of golf balls.

I'm also getting pretty good at counting the balls. The highest I've gotten up to is to count four golf balls, though there seem to be a lot more than that.

Ballf is a truly great sport. A feast for the mind and the body.

Habitot

Yesterday we went to a place called Habitot in Berkeley. This is a cool, hands-on "museum" built especially for guys my size. I was immediately impressed with the Brio train table at the entrance to the place. I liked to turn the rotating bridge around and around. Occasionally, other children would try to drive a train over the bridge. I liked to set the bridge sideways so the trains would derail. Boom!

Next, we visited the store, where I picked up all manner of pretend fruit and other items. My favorite was something called a matzo, which looked like a giant cracker. Mmmm.

Then we headed for the water play area. Unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy made me wear a plastic smock so I wouldn't get too wet. I did not like the smock at all. It seemed scary the way it tied around me. Water play was lots of fun though. I got to pour water down a homemade waterfall and let my friend, a plastic fishy, swim in the current.

Next, we headed for the art area. I made a lovely piece---it's a piece of cardboard covered with aluminum foil. On it, I painted using glittery glue. Then I stuck some sequins and other sparkly things on the glue. Finally, and best of all, I got to stick lots of feathers on it. I loved the feathers and wanted to put all of them on my piece, but there wasn't enough glue or space to fit them. Still, it's a really nice piece. Maybe I'll get Daddy to scan it and put it up on my website.

I like Habitot!

Organizing

My plastic pail has many uses. I can play with it in the sand on the beach. I can throw it into my little pool at home and watch it float around. But it's even very useful indoors as well. One of my favorite things to do with my plastic pail is to turn it upside down and press it into the carpet. This makes a lovely circular indentation in the carpet in the shape of my favorite letter, "o". Another thing the pail is really useful for is holding golf balls. Lately, I've enjoyed getting out all of Daddy's golf balls (we just bought a dozen over the weekend to make an even 16) and then placing them in the pail. When all the ball are in the pail, I lift it up and spill them out all down my front. This activity is even better when Mommy and Daddy help to count the golf balls as I put them in. 1, 2, 3, ...

Santa Barbara

This past weekend, we all went for a visit to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a city about 100 miles north of LA. It's a long car ride from Walnut Creek. On the way down, we drove at night but I had (and still have) a head cold and found sleeping difficult. By the time we were about 40 miles away, I was ready to stop being in my car seat. I kept saying "off, off" but to no avail.

Happily, there was a good reward when I got there. We stayed with the Bergstroms, who I like very much. They have a granddaughter who is about 7 months old, and they were well equipped for my visit. When I arrived, at about 12:30 at night, they stayed up to greet us and presented me with a toy ambulance which I enjoyed driving around the house. They also had a big, red ball, which I enjoyed playing with. They have lots of other good stuff too, especially books. I got to read a book called "10 Minutes to Bedtime," which was fabulous. Mommy and Daddy seemed to like it too since it featured many hamsters (they like hamsters...a lot!) The best book of all in my opinion, however, was "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo." I liked this book so much that I got to take it home with me.

On Friday, while Daddy did his thing at the university, Mommy and I went to the Child's Place Zoo, also known as the Santa Barbara Zoo. We saw lots of animals. I especially enjoyed the giraffes, the otters, the monkeys, the sea lions, and the capybara. The capybara was eating a pumpkin and reminded me of a big version of my friend, Licorice the guinea pig. I tried to gently pet the capybara through the fence, but he was too far away. I also rode a fun train with Mommy at the zoo.

The weather on Saturday was pretty dreary in the morning and very rainy in the afternoon. We all went shopping on State Street in the morning. I got some new shoes and some other nice stuff, including a mini version of my good friend, Piggy! I napped most of the afternoon.

At the end of my visit to the Bergstroms's, I made a little regatta with some fallen flowers. They have lots of nice flowers in their backyard. I picked a couple up and deposited them in a big puddle. Thanks to the breeze, the flowers would glide across the puddle like little boats. I picked up several more and had a little sailing race across the puddle. Finally, it was time to go. I waved bye bye to the Bergstroms and blew them kisses (a new trick) to show that I really liked staying with them. I hope we get to go back soon.

Big Red Car

Christmas came a bit early for me. I found one of my gifts, the Wiggles Big Red Car, in the office. Realizing this was mine, I indicated in the strongest possible terms my desire to have it---now. Happily, I got to open it and played with it almost exclusively this evening. For those who don't know, the Big Red Car is the vehicle of choice for the Wiggles. It looks a bit like a convertible VW Beetle. In the version I have, the 4 Wiggles are in the car with their bodies apparently welded together. If you push down on their collective heads and then release, they break out into song and the car rolls along for a short distance. While they're singing and the car is rolling, their bodies move up and down in the car in perfect unison. By the end of the day, I had played with the toy so much that the Wiggles song, which had started out at a jaunty presto temp was more like a largo by the end.

Hooray for Halloween

Last Friday, I went trick or treating for the second time in my life. When I went last year, dressed as a tiger, it was kind of a desultory effort. This year was more ambitious, we covered two full blocks of houses and I ended up with a bag full of sweets (none of which I want). This year, I was dressed as a lion. (Link to pictures coming soon). Initially, I was a bit hesitant about the whole trick or treating ritual, but I soon warmed to the task. When the door of the house I was visiting would open, I would immediately point at whatever objects looked interesting and try to make my way inside. Surprisingly, even though the door was open, the people on the other side didn't always want me to come in and explore. Next, they would offer me some choices from a bowl of candy. I love the sensory experience of the bowl of candy more than the candy itself. I would let me hand linger in the bowl, feeling the smooth plastic covering the candy and listening as the plastic crinkled when my hand moved. Finally, Mommy and Daddy would urge me to choose something and we would put these items in my bag. Then it was time to say goodbye. I would take a few steps ways and then, in my demure way, wave bye-bye to the people inside the door. This tactic was very successful in eliciting the desired "Ah, he's so cute reaction" I was after.

Halloween is lots of fun!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we went to a pumpkin carving party. Sadly, the knife wielding involved in carving pumpkins excluded me from this aspect of the festivities. Still, I did get to see lots of my friends from Kinder-Gym and other classes. Mommy carved a cat face in her pumpkin while Daddy made something he called "evil skull dude". Daddy was impressed at how well-behaved I was. I still have some problems with sharing stuff with others (since they don't seem to realize that everything is mine!), but I was mostly a sweet and charming little guy. I had no "meltdowns" as they say during the time of the party.

Hats

Having on a nice hat is hard to beat. I like to wear hats anytime and anywhere. Lately, I've decided that an excellent time to enjoy a hat is at bedtime. I make sure to get my Dorothy the Dinosaur/Wiggles hat out and see to it that Mommy puts it on my head at bedtime. When I wake up, it's also the first thing that I put on--even before I put on bedroom slippers. I have strong preferences over hats too. Sometimes Mommy tries to give me a beret that looks like a pumpkin. While it's fun to pretend to eat this hat, it's not as fun to wear as my stylish Dorothy the Dinosaur hat.

Waffles and Applesauce

One of my favorite food pairings these days are waffles and applesauce. While full-size waffles are too big for me, Mommy has found some delicious mini waffles that are perfect for holding in my hand. Part of what makes them great is that they're convenient scoops for picking up applesauce, which is made extra delicious by the liberal addition of cinnamon by Mommy. Waffles are also very stackable, so they're fun to play with too.

While these foods are great, they don't always come exactly as I like them. For instance, last week Daddy made me waffles and applesauce. He got the applesauce right but, in his attempts not to make the waffles too hot, he toasted them insufficiently and they were gooey doughballs. I don't like them that way. Yesterday, when we were at a party, Mommy brought me applesauce, which she had packed in her bag but she forgot to pack the waffles and the toaster. I kept telling her, "waffles, waffles, waffles" but somehow, she didn't get the message.

Katie

Just about every weekend, a woman named Katie comes over to visit, typically just before I go to bed. I like to play lots of different games with her--ball tossing, bead maze, and so on. Last night, we played an unusual game. I handed Katie my sand pail and a pair of shovels. She scooped from pretend sand into the pail and pressed the pail into the carpet to make a pretend sand castle. As there was obviously no real sand castle there, I was puzzled by her behavior. Then I realized what was really going on. In pressing the pail into the carpet, Katie had made one of my favorite letters, "O". The "O" seemed to come from the shape of the perimeter of the pail. I asked her to make lots and lots of O's. At one point, I was surrounded by O's. This was great---much better than the crazy pretend sand castle idea.

Mommy and Daddy tried to teach me Katie's name. They would patiently say Kay-Tee for me. I would listen carefully and then reply with a colorful nickname, "Hosel!". Again, they would try and again I would say, "Hosel!" Eventually, Daddy got me to say "Tee" in response to her name. This also fits with her nickname since a tee is another fun piece of golf equipment.

Daddy and Mommy apparently went out on a date after I was asleep, so I was being watched solely by my friend Katie/Hosel. Before I went to bed, Daddy told me to dream about golf. He didn't have to remind my since I do that anyway. Seems like whenever I wake up from naps or in the morning the first word out of my mouth is "ball" followed by "golf" shortly thereafter.

Fore!

Golf is becoming an evening ritual for me. Shortly after Daddy gets home from work, I start saying ball, ball, ball. Then I tug at his arm to get him to go to the guest bedroom where the golf stuff is kept. I open the door to the room, but I don't know how to open the closet so I point. Daddy opens up the closet and gets out some clubs and the backpack of golf balls. I get to carry the backpack. Next, it's off to the living room where I unpack the balls and well as the practice putting hole. I like to put the balls in the putting hole. Sometimes, I wait by the hold while Daddy putts some balls towards it. Daddy is a very successful putter this way in that when the ball gets close to the hole, I pick it up and put it in for him. He gets a hole in one every time!

My Trip East in September

I think that it's about time to tell you about my trip East in September. Last month, Mommy and I criss-crossed the U.S.-- first flying to Pennsylvania by way of Chicago, then flying to Orlando, Florida, and finally flying home to California. I am a seasoned traveler and I know that when the plane speeds up and takes off it is time to exclaim, "Whee!" along with Mommy. Unfortunately, I also know that plane travel also means long periods stuck in a confined space, so I am no longer a consistently good traveler. Let's just say that the flight attendents had to serve Mommy's snack and beverage on a tray across the aisle since my constant attempts at escape were pretty violent. Oh well.

Anyway, the times that I was not on a plane, I had a pretty good time. My Grammy took Mommy and Me to see "Bob the Builder Live!" at the Wachovia Arena. While I don't know much about Bob himself, I do love trucks, and there were many big, nifty, animatronic trucks in the show (their headlight-eyes and grill- mouths even moved!) as well as lots of lights around the arena. I found these to be very entertaining! I even got a big lightstick with Scoop the truck and Bob the Builder stuck on top. Cool!

While in Wilkes-Barre, I also had fun playing in Auntie Max's yard, Kirby Park, as well as in Nainnie's and Grammy's houses. I also visited my friend Julia (age 3) and her parents in Mountaintop, grooved to live music at my Uncle Jack's place, and visited with Marguerite as well as my godmother, Jo Ann. (I surprised both my Nainnie and my Grammy by calling them by name on this trip! I'm still working on the others, although I still remember that Auntie Max is "Ant.") My social calendar is always full in Wilkes-Barre!

After Wilkes-Barre, Mommy and I went to Orlando to attend my cousin Emma's baptism. (Daddy and Nainnie also came too, but each flew in separately.) I had really been missing Daddy, and he arrived just in time to cheer me up.

Emma and I played at her house and at a really nifty playground a bunch of times. I also went to the Orlando Science Center with Mommy and Daddy one day. This was a lot of fun since part of the place is dedicated to toddler activities like water play with boats, building with huge lego-type blocks, and participating in an orange juice production assembly line (much more fun than it sounds!). I also went to Sea World one day with Mommy, Daddy and Nainnie. It was a sort of wet day, but we saw lots of sea animals. I especially liked the big windows looking into sealife exhibits where fish and manatees were right there on the other side of the glass and I could almost touch them. I also really liked watching the rays swim around and around. Mommy and Daddy learned that the rays really like belly rubs, so lots of rays came over to us although I could not reach them.

I also had a nice time playing with my Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie. One night we went to Downtown Disney along with Nainnie and I really had fun on the big slide at the Lego Imagination Center. I rode the carousel too, but while I like horses I was kind of nervous when they moved.

We also all went to Emma's baptism, where I lasted in the church service just long enough to see Emma hug the minister after he baptized her. Then Daddy took me to the church nursery for the rest of the service. Oddly, when Mommy and Daddy went to pick me up from the nursery, the caregivers asked what language I spoke since they didn't think it was English. Mommy and Daddy were perplexed at this. Then they said that I'd been calling out "Abba!" for some time. Unfortunately, they were not aware that "Abba" is my favorite nickname for Mommy!

After all of the excitement of my trip, I was really happy to get home and get back into my routine and greet my toys again. Home is a nice place to be.

Bye Bye Bottle and Hello Words!

I have switched to a sippy instead of a bottle before bed with no fuss, so, "Bye Bye, Bottles!"

I am also picking up more and more words. New today were "orange juice" and "love you." "All done" is another very useful phrase I like to use. "Yes" and "No" are in heavy usage now. I can also say, "I-did-it" and "I-want-those," but haven't put these phrases into heavy rotation yet. I like to say them really fast as one word. I also can say, "please" when prompted, and tell Mommy that I want a "waffle." In addition, I can also say "golf" and name an obscure part of a golf club, called a hosel, thanks to Daddy.

Two of my favorite names are "Elmo" and "Ernie." I often wake up in my crib exclaiming, "Elmo!" or "Ernie!" to tell my lazy parents to wake up so I can watch Sesame Street. (Elmo used to be called "Melmo" (see earlier post) but has informed me that he has dropped the "M" from the beginning of his name.) I also enjoy calling Grammy and Nainnie. I started saying both of their names last month when I visited them, and they seem delighted when I call them by name on the phone. (I can also say my cousin Emma's name and the names of several friends, but we aren't old enough to have many solo phone privileges.)

I am especially fond of my Tickle Me Elmo these days. (Grammy helped him find his way here several months ago.) I feel that I must always be vigilant as to Elmo's whereabouts since it is a hard, cold world and I must protect him. Mommy and Daddy always help me to locate him. Yesterday, Elmo accompanied me to the park and swung on a swing alongside me and went down two sliding boards. I also took him on a walk in my Elmo-sized (and doll-sized) stroller. My Elmo-sized stroller and at least one friend come along in the car almost every time we go out.

Today was a bit of a difficult day for me. I went to Music Together (Fun!), but at the end of class I got my finger pinched VERY HARD in an accordian-style baby gate at the entrance to the music room. It hurt LOTS! Mommy says that it also looked very, very sore. Luckily, Mommy had an ice pack in her bag, and she held it on my finger until I started to feel a little better. My finger was a little swollen tonight, but I am making a good recovery.

Then, tonight, Mommy and I were on our front lawn on the way into the house in the half-darkness when a light-colored dog appeared with her owner (off her leash). I was very excited to see her, but she was a bit too excited to see me and knocked me over. Then she picked up my Elmo by the tummy and shook him. Then she knocked me down again and got stuck in the straps of Mommy's backpack (on the ground) before her owner finally got control of her. I was SCARED! I love to see doggies, but I'm not used to full body contact. (The dog was a partially-grown puppy of what looked like a retriever breed.) Mommy explained that the doggie was too excited about wanting to play with me and the dog's owner apologized profusely. I said "Woof" and waved goodbye to the doggie through my tears as we went into the house. I am resilient though and I cheered up quickly once inside and had a nice evening.

By the way, Mommy found me next to Licorice's cage today with a big Tupperware container of guinea pig food that I had taken out of the cabinet where it is kept and hauled over to Licorice. I thought that Licorice looked hungry and wanted to feed her! I am the kind of guy who likes to take initiative!

Visits

Yesterday was a great day for socializing. As usual, Daddy had me out on many walks and we met all sorts of people on them. First, we met a 5 year old girl named Michelle near "ball heaven". Ball heaven is the front of a neighbor's yard that has a basketball net and tons of basketballs all around. I picked up a basketball and was bouncing it (sometimes I try to dribble it like the big kids do, but I never remember to let go of the ball). Michelle showed me how to pitch the basketball underhand to try to make baskets. While she did this twice, I couldn't manage to heave the basketball up high enough.

Then we ran across a couple of kids riding bikes. I like watching bike riding in that the bikes have some terrific wheels attached to them. Plus they go pretty fast, and I like the motion too. Anyway, the Mommy and Daddy of these kids were also around in their garage. They got out a basketball for me to play with and I happily played catch with their Mommy. She would roll the basketball to me. I'd catch it (I'm quite good at this now), and then I'd bounce-pass it back to her. She said I took her back to the time her little boy was about my age.

Finally, we went back to the park and ran across our next-door neighbors (the Partridge's) playing soccer and football in the park. I loved the soccer ball and ran toward it to get it. The two older Partridge sisters, Georgina and Madeline, then played with me in the park. We went on the swings, down the slide, and on some other stuff but, best of all, the soccer ball got to participate too. It went down the slide. I swung on the swing. It was great.

Then it came time to go home. We followed the Partridges back to their house and, seeing an open door, I went zooming inside. Everyone was happy to see me and I got to play a bit more.

It was a great day!

A message from Addy

Normally this space is given over to my life, but tonight, I'm letting Daddy write about his life for a change.

It's a sad night. The Red Sox managed to lose in spectacularly heartbreaking fashion. After holding a 3 run lead going into the 8th inning, the Yankees managed to rally in the 8th to tie it up, and then went on to win it in the 11th on a walk-off home run by Aaron Boone. These are the kinds of games where you cannot help but second-guess the manager's moves. Why did Grady Little stick with Pedro so long in the 8th. The Boston bullpen, which had proved so dependable in the post-season, was not called upon until it was too late for them to rescue the situation. Why couldn't the Red Sox have managed to squeeze out one more run off of Clemens or the many Yankee relievers to come after him. This is one of the saddest times I can ever remember in being a Red Sox fan. I really wish that they could have won. I also can't help but think what a wonderful opportunity was presented to them had they won this game. The Florida Marlins would seem to be a team the Red Sox could reasonably hope to beat in the World Series. Was this their best shot to win it all in my lifetime? It might well have been. Will they ever win a World Series? Will they ever even get there?

Sigh.

Ivory Towers

I'm getting a very steady hand when it comes to building things. Last night, I got out my Bento Box of shapes. This consists of 3 dimensional squares, cylinders, and triangles, each coming in three different sizes. What I like to do is to invert the Bento Box so that the shapes all fall out and then set it on the floor on its reverse side. This is the platform for the tower. Then I stack each of the shapes one on top of the other. The triangles in particular are very tricky to stack correctly. When I was done, I had created a tower that was as tall as I was (in a sitting position).

Speaking of which, how tall am I going to be? Mommy found a number of terrific growth estimation tools to figure out how tall I'll be when I grow up. Right now I"m 2' 9", but I hope to grow some more. According to this site, I'll be about 5'10", which is okay I guess. The problem is not with Mommy, it's with Daddy. If Daddy would suddenly have a growth spurt and grow to be 6' tall, then I'd sky up to 6' 1". If Daddy would really have a growth spurt and shoot up to 7' tall, then I'd be in a fine position for a career in the NBA at 6'7". Unfortunately, Daddy tells me that it's not likely that he will grow.

The variability inherent in height predictions should be noted, however, since the site says that Mommy's genetic potential for height should have been 5' 6 1/2", however, she exceeded her "potential" and grew to be 5'9". Variability can go the other way too, unfortunately, but I'm hoping that exceeding such predictions is also in my genes heightwise.

In other news, I'm learning lots of new words. A current favorite word is "Melmo". Melmo is the name of my favorite Sesame Street character as well as a convenient shorthand for indicating my desire to watch Sesame Street.

Hop, skip, and jump

I've been testing out a whole bunch of new skills recently. Yesterday, my Daddy finally felt better (he had been sick) and we spent most of the day in the yard and in the park. Daddy was, as usual, hitting golf balls. One thing that I really liked to do was to get the golf balls and set them on the tee for Daddy. Then he would zing them across the park. Sometimes, I would take a turn hitting too. I have a little golf set that I use. Daddy helps me by stading behind me and positioning my hands appropriately. Then we take a big swing together and I get to zing a ball across the park. This is absolutely great.

When we were walking home from the park, I decided to try some new running skills. While I now like to run straight ahead, lowering my head slightly, and going "eeeeee", I've also taken to sort of galloping. It's not exactly galloping, but it's kind of like that motion. Daddy would gallop a few paces in front of me. It's hilarious to see him run like that. I would try to imitate. Daddy can also do something called skipping, which seems unfathomably hard.

One I was home, I decided to practice my jumping. I'm not very good at it so far (mostly I just try to lift my legs into the air and then "sit" to attain a jump), but I'm getting better. One thing I've learned already---never jump when there are blocks underfoot. The corners of the blocks are not pleasant to land on.

Little Tiger

This weekend was quite a busy one for me. On Saturday, I went to the Dorothy the Dinosaur show. She's my favorite character on the Wiggles. While it would have been enough to just have Dorothy there, in fact, Captain Feathersword, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog were also there. Looked like the Captain gained some weight since the TV show. I enjoyed the singing and dancing. I also enjoyed the lights and colors of the Paramount Theater, which is the really nice place that the show was put on. Daddy says to check out the online tour.

Also over the weekend, Daddy introduced me to two new sports. He got out a tee-ball set that had been living in the garage for the past several months. Hooray. I'm finally big enough to play tee-ball. I really enjoyed the big softballs and I especially liked placing them on the tee; however swinging the bat to hit them was elusive. I preferred to give Daddy the bat so he could hit the balls. Daddy tried to teach me to swing, which I sort of liked, but Mommy said he was trying to teach me to swing left-handed when, in her view, it seemed more natural for me to swing right-handed.

The other sport we did a lot of this weekend was golf. Daddy recently got a set of clubs and Mommy got me a set of small plastic clubs as well. We went out together on Sunday morning to hit some golf wiffle balls in the park. I was carrying my driver slung over my shoulder and Daddy had his 6 iron. Again, I found the balls themselves to be the most fascinating part of the process. Daddy said I was excellent at "shagging" golf balls. He would hit them and they would go soaring through the air. Then I would chase them across the park, bring them back and set them on the golf tee for Daddy. This was lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Abba

Today is my Abba's birthday. I'm not sure how old she is but compared to me she's old. I'm celebrating by doing some original artwork on a card that Addy bought for me. I've also been on my best behavior---sweet as can be---on her special day. Best of all, maybe there will be cake some time this weekend. I like cake (even if it is sort of messy).

Abba

Yesterday I went to my cousin Emma's baptism. I find it very hard to sit still in church and this time was no exception. Shortly after the baptism was completed, I decided I had had enough. Daddy took my into the vestibule to play with my (Emma's) toy wheeled bead maze. Evenutally, one of the ushers took pity on Daddy and told him about a mecca of toys located not far away. Daddy took me for the "hajj" to the mecca of toys and I soon became quite interested. There were other nice ladies there to take care of me and the other kids who were playing. Eventually, I noticed that niether Mommy nor Daddy were around. At times this distressed me and I called for Mommy. "Ab-baa" I said. "ab-baa!". The women who were taking care of me looked at me quizzically. I soon got interested in other toys, but then would stop occasionally to call out "Ab-baa!"

When Daddy and Mommy came to pick me up, the women asked what language I spoke. Daddy, in his funny way, said I spoke "Aidan-ese" which didn't seem to hep them to sort out the mystery. They asked directly what "abba" means and they said that I kept saying this. How silly of them. Of course, "abba" is my word for my favorite person---Mommy.

The Electric Slide

Lately, I've rediscovered the joys of the small sliding board in my backyard. As those of you who've visited know, my "clubhouse" is full of fun stuff. There are a series of indentations that I use to climb up. At the top is my clubhouse which has a great clock in it. "Tick tock". Then, to come down from the clubhouse, there's the convenient sliding board. The round trip up and down is always something to celebrate, so I've taken to doing the "happy sliding dance" at the end of each trip down from the slide. To do the dance, you have to bend your knees slightly and then bounce up and down while waving your arms and going, "Whee!". Then, when you're all finished, you give yourself a round of applause. I taught Mommy and Daddy the sliding board dance, and they're getting pretty good at it. But still, I am the lord of the dance, when it comes to sliding board celebrations.

I attended a playgroup this afternoon where I got to slide with abandon on a somewhat taller sliding board than the one I use regularly. This was very exciting and I went up the steps and down the slide many. many times, exclaiming, "Whee!" each time.

Music Together

The fall session of my Music Together class begain on Tuesday. I particularly liked banging the rhythm sticks on the floor and using the shakers (like maracas). I also enjoyed seeing my teacher, Rowena, some of my old friends, as well as lots of new kids. After class, we went to lunch at Skipolini's Pizza with 4 other toddlers and mommies. Skipolini's has some play structures in the courtyard that we enjoyed playing on. Mommy was a little concerned since I would climb deep into the big play structures through tubes and then it was sometimes hard to get me to come back out! I had fun although I had an accident just before we left. I was crouching on a platform about 3 feet off the ground and got distracted by another child and fell backward onto the ground and bumped my head. Happily, the floor was rubberized, so although I cried and Mommy was very worried at first, I was just fine soon after my fall. I enjoyed holding the ice pack Mommy gave me.

Google

As some of you may know, I'm the most popular Aidan Morgan on Google. If you type in the search term "Aidan Morgan" and click the "I feel lucky" button it will take you right to my website. Well, I recently discovered that I achieved a new Internet milestone: I'm now the most popular Aidan weblog on Google. Typing the search term "Aidan's Weblog" in Google and clicking I feel lucky takes you right here---to this very web page.

Last night Daddy and I took turns pushing my toy bus along the floor. Neither of us are very good bus drivers since each dirve would typically result in the bus plowing into a wall or some other object. Occasionally the bus would flip over in our zeal to "drive" it. I liked to cheer the bus on by making vroom noises and saying "us, us" to it. "Us" is how I like to say bus (following one of the standard rules for my language which is to drop the initial consonant of most words, e.g., Daddy = "Addy").

Picture Time

The complete set of pictures from Auntie Max's visit are now up. You can see them here. Note that because of the randomness of Shutterfly, the old link posted a couple of days ago probably won't work.

I've also posted these same pictures at Ofoto. You can see them here. While Ofoto is annoying in that you have to sign in to see the pictures, it actually did a better job with this batch of pictures than did Shutterfly. Specifically, Shutterfly automatically cropped the pictures uploaded to it in such a way as to harm the composition. Don't believe me--compare IMG_2976 and IMG_2987 at both sites. The Ofoto site displays the image correctly as my Daddy composed it while Shutterfly does not.

A visit to Chloe and her New Baby Brother

On Friday, while Aunti Max was taking a Greyline bus tour of San Francisco, Mommy and I visited my friend, Chloe, her Mommy and her new baby brother, Cameron. It had been several weeks since I saw Chloe last, and I was excited to go visit her. Before we left, Mommy told me we were going to play with Chloe and I said, "O-ee" in response. At Chloe's house, Mommy pointed to Chloe and asked, "Who's that?" and I answered, "O-ee." I don't know why Mommy needed me to remind her of Chloe's name! Anyway, Chloe is the 4th individual person whom I've called by name. (As you can see in a blog published earlier today, Aunti Max is the 5th.)

I was very excited to play with Chloe's toys. I enjoyed playing in the sandbox with her "ovels" and pushing her mower outside. Inside was the best though. I absolutely loved Chloe's easel with a tray chock full of crayons. While I did draw some lines with them, the crayons were best for burying my hands in-- causing them to make noise as they first knocked against the sides of the tray and then were flung to the floor. Best of all though was Chloe's toddler-size stroller. Oh what a wonderful thing it was! It had wheels and was just the right size for me to push. I think that it was even better than the strollers I ride in!

I was very affectionate with everyone at Chloe's house. I kissed the new baby (born August 15) several times. He was very tiny, cute and calm and I liked him. (Babies are nicer when they aren't invading my home turf!) I also gave several wet kisses to Mommy, Chloe's mom and Chloe's aunt. I tried to give Chloe a big, friendly hug as we were leaving, unfortunately, I was a little too enthusiastic and knocked Chloe down. She hit her head on the hard, tile floor and cried and cried. I felt bad and was scared by all of her crying, so I cried too and hid behind a chair. We both calmed down eventually and then Mommy and I said, "Bye-Bye."

Food Update

By the way, I ate part of a Valencia orange for the first time at Chloe's house. It was delicious! I also ate part of one today. I also decided to indulge in some scrambled egg and ketchup today (for the first time in weeks). Bananas and raisins are also finally back on my list of acceptable foods.

Auntie Max

I got to say goodbye to my Auntie Max tonight. She's taken good care of me and seems to really like me. I like her too. Indeed, I like her so much that I even sort of figured out her name. I call her "Ant". One of the things we both love to do is play with my big bead maze. I drag it to her in every room and encourage her to play with me by making little whining noises. She always seems so excited. She says, "Oh Aidan, you've brought my favorite game." Of course, then she immediately tries to point out something else for me to do. Fortunately, I'm good at staying focused and "on task" as they say, so I make sure she doesn't forget about the fun we're going to have playing with the bead maze. It's too bad she's leaving, she's lots of fun to have around.

Comments Update

Some of you are probably wondering about the comments on my page. Unfortunately, the server where my comments are is broken. They had to buy a new server (probably because it was inundated with all the comments from my weblog). It will be up next Monday.

Earthquake

Yesterday, my Aunt Maxine made us all dinner. I didn't actually eat what she made since it consisted of a salad with nuts (no nuts until I'm 3) and beef Wellington (I've embraced the Cali lifestyle and am mostly vegetarian). While she was cooking we got to experience a reasonably large earthquake. Here's a site with details. Mommy actually submitted a report about it though it didn't actually do anything other than shake us a little bit. Auntie Max thought that a large truck must have just passed by. Some friends in Lafayette, a few miles closer to the center of of quake, said it felt as though a truck had run right into their house. No damage though. Daddy thought it was Maxine's first earthquake, but Mommy told him that in fact, she had already experienced one in Pennsylvania-- link here. Auntie Max remembered only mine subsidences.

I've decided that Auntie Max is worthy of her own special goodbye before I go to sleep. As Mommy was taking me off to my room to sing to me before sleepytime last night, I ran back to the kitchen to make sure I got a special goodbye from her as well as a kiss. I like her.

Auntie Max

My Aunt Maxine came to visit me in California for the first time ever. I found it especially hilarious when she would kick at the little pool I was wading in causing the water to splash. Daddy took several pictures of her first day in California and posted them here. More to come!

Wheelbarrow

One fun thing that Daddy does (and which seems to horrify Mommy) is to let me do wheelbarrow rides. Daddy will pick up my legs while I use my arms to propel myself along the ground. It's not the fastest way to get around, but it is a lot of fun. Plus, seeing the world upside down makes everything seem new and different.

Picture Time

I posted up some pictures of out Labor Day celebration. The little girl is Bianca (mentioned in the previous Blog entry) and the bearded person is Ernesto. You can enjoy the pictures here.