Airplane tickets to Wilkes-Barre & Gingerbread

Airplane tickets. Yep. Okay. I want airplane tickets. Brown gingerbread and the ticking clock and the black bowl. Gingerbreads. Maisy eat some too. Maisy's here. Eat cookies. Maisy eat cookies too. And Cyril, And Charlie. Aind Tallulah. And Maisy. And Aidan. And Mommy. And Nainnie. And Grammy. And Nainnie too. And Grammy. Eat gingerbreads now. Go there now? Eat gingerbread! And Daddy. Nainnie make it? And Daddy eat it? And Aidan and Grammy and Mommy. Aidan want the big one. Big, big, have a face one! And the eyes, and the heads, and the foots, and the legs! And the arms too, and the tummy! Eat it now! I want airplane tickets, please? Airplane tickets please! Aidan want airplane tickets!

A Perfect Child

On Saturday we went to visit Daddy's colleague Ernesto and his family. He's got a daughter named Bianca who is almost two. She's got a lot of interesting toys. Anyway, the event was an Argentine style barbecue. While the food selection started off well (artisan bread with brie, mmmmm), the Argentines tend to favor the "cavalcade of meats" style of barbecue. Ernesto cooked chicken, sausages, and Chateaubriand---none of which I found interesting. However, I did find the toys and the yard quite interesting and amused myself as Mommy and Daddy talked and ate for about 3 hours. The other people at this party were amazed at how independent I was and said I was "a perfect child." That was very nice of them to say, and I did have fun.

I'm starting to get the hang of this politeness thing Mommy and Daddy keep talking about. For instance, I've now figured out that I'm much more likely to get what I want when I say please rather than merely barking orders. For instance, yesterday when I asked Daddy to please where his train shirt (a shirt that Auntie Max gave him for Christmas a year or two ago), he happily put it on. This shirt and his aloha shirt with parrots are my two favorites. If I had my way, Daddy would wear these two shirts every day.

By the way, some of you may have noticed the little envelope icon that has now appeared at the bottom of each of my blogs. This lets you send a blog entry that you think is particularly interesting as a e-mail link to someone who does not regularly read the blog (hard as that is to believe).

July 2004 Yosemite Photos, Part 1

Click here to see some of the photos we took near waterfalls during our trip Yosemite National Park in July. (Some uncategorized July shots of yours truly are also included in this link. More Yosemite shots will be posted at a later date.)

I loved the "big, BIG, mountains" and waterfalls. I really wanted to sit up on top of the mountains, or at least try to pick one up, but my parents and Nainnie discouraged me from my mission.

I loved the swimming pool at Yosemite Lodge too. A favorite thing to do in the pool was to ride on my elephant floaty toy and have Mommy steer me so that I could push together all of the "beads" (small buoys on a rope denoting the start of the "deep end") and make them travel back and forth across the pool like a choo-choo. I also enjoyed sitting on the step in the shallow end.

Election Season

I'm really getting into the spirit of the presidential campaign.
Tonight, for instance, I requested stories about my favorite politician, Lyndon Johnson. As Mommy was putting me in jammies and encouraging me to brush my teeth when I proudly announced,

Lyndon Johnson time! Lyndon Johnson!

Of course, Daddy has been reading me books abot Lyndon Johnson since I was about three months old. Here is Daddy's favorite Lyndon Johnson book. I like reading about Lyndon Johnson an his friend Richard Brevard Russell.

I then made up a song (sung to the tune of "Are You Sleeping"):

Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon Johnson.
Here I am. Here I am.
Lyndon Johnson, Lyndon Johnson
Here I am. Here I am.

And then repeat as needed. This is a great song. I sang it all the way through bedtime.

Hanging Around

I learned a new trick when we were at the playground yesterday: hanging around. As you can see in the picture, there's a chinning bar at the top of the sliding board. By hanging off of this, swinging gently back and forth, and then releasing from the bar at the right time, I can zoom down the slide in an even more exciting way.

On the way home, Daddy showed me how to gallop. Initially, I tried to do this and ended up going in circles, but I sort of got the hang of it at the end. Hard to get the timing of the little jumps right though.

Aidan Morgan: Photographer

 I noticed as we were going through the pictures taken this afternoon that there were none of them that contained pictures of Daddy. I thought this wasn't so good, so I suggested that I take some pictures of Daddy and my surroundings. The picture above is one of the results. Daddy taught me the basics of holding the camera and pressing the silver shutter button, but that was about it. The pictures are presented more or less exactly as I shot them. You can find them here.

Sunday in the Park

Today was a happy day with Daddy. We watched a number of Olympic events. Some of my favorite are the wrestling and the judo, which I refer to as the "daddy fall down" games. I like watching the people fall down. Daddy built a really nice Lego airplane that I had my friend Maisy ride on. When I get really excited about an activity with Daddy, I like to say:

Yee haw, Daddy!

Later, we went to the park and played on the swings and the slide. Here is a picture of me on the swings.

Here is a picture of me peeking out through the slats in the slide. I love peeking out.
 

And another one.


 

I've posted a photo album with some of my best shots for you to enjoy. You can find it here. It's on Ofoto rather than Shutterfly since Daddy tells me there is a good coupon available that lets you get prints quite cheaply (19c/photo) right now.

Yee haw!

Aidan Says Yes

I've noticed that saying something, like no or yes, is strongly correlated with whether I get to do what I want to do or not. For instance, if I say, "Aidan have a cookie?" and Mommy says "Yes" then I get a cookie. If she says no, I don't. Since yes is the magic word, I recently came across a solution that ensures I get what I want when I request something. Here's how it goes: First, I make a request for something. "Aidan have x?" and listen for Mommy's response. If it's yes then all is well and I can proceed. If it's no, then I offer the following, "Aidan says yes." This invokes the magic word, "yes", and should ensure that I get what I want. While this seems like it has to work, so far it hasn't proven as good a strategy in practice as in theory. Mommy somehow does not like "Aidan says yes." Somehow my yeses don't mean the same as hers. Well, just have to keep trying.

Daddy helped me make this nice flowchart.
 

Current Song Lineup

After story time, it's songs time before I go to sleep. Songs time is one of the nicest times. Mommy turns the lights down low. I jump up on Mommy's lap and nestle my head underneath hers and then we sing songs. Usually, I make requests; however the requests come in more or less a standard order which is as follows:

Hushabye
Brahms' Lullabye
Raindrops on Roses
Baa baa black sheep

---Intermission----
At the intermission, I'll go out an fetch Daddy for Act II.

Twinkle twinkle
She sells seashells

And the finale, Wimoweh

Mommy and Daddy have evolved the words to the finale. The last verse now goes:

In the bedroom, the quiet bedroom, the Aidan sleeps tonight
In the bedroom, the quiet bedroom, the Aidan sleeps tonight

Then Mommy and Daddy vamp the Wimoweh part as they carry me to my crib. Mommy grabs the top part of me ("Mommy body") while Daddy takes the lower half ("Daddy legs") They put me into my crib and then do a slow fadeout of the Wimowehs as they wish me a good night.

Lift the Flaps

Lately, some of my favorite bedtime stories are something called "lift the flap" books. These books typically contain many flaps hiding lots of wonderful secrets underneath. I especially like "Go, Maisy, Go!" which features "over forty flaps." Daddy always seems to groan when he reads that line in the book. One of the nicest things about flap books is that I can really use my imagination to work out all sorts of scenarios with the characters and the flaps. Of course, these scenarios take time both to formulate and to tell Mommy and Daddy about. As a result, bedtime reading the flap books can sometimes last a long time (which is fine with me). Yesterday, for example, story time lasted for more than an hour. Flap books are the best!

Summer Visitors

This summer, I had visits from both of my grandmothers. My Grammy visited in late May/early June and the two of us were partners in crime while my parents went to England. Few pictures exist of our adventures since my Mommy & Daddy had the digital camera in England-- and because we want to keep our activities a secret! Grammy has leaked a few photos from her camera though, so we'll have to scan some of them soon.

My Nainnie visited in late June/early July, and this visit is well-documented with digital photos. Among other things, we went to the Oakland Zoo, attended the Danville 4th of July parade, visited Yosemite National Park, and played with my friends. Here is a link to some of the photos from Nainnie's visit. More will come later.

Croutons

Yesterday, Mommy made a very nice meal consisting of salmon, broccoli trees, and salad. She put out the salad first, and I immediately spotted the best part of the mean---the croutons. I asked Daddy for one, and he gave it to me. Then, when Mommy and Daddy put their salads on their plates, I noticed they had extra croutons, so I asked for some of these too so they wouldn't be burdened with too many croutons.

For dessert, we had a sunshine cake that I helped Mommy pick out at the store. It was a vanilla cake with a smiling sun on top. I really liked the cake, but cautioned Mommy not to cut or eat any part of the smiling sun. This was difficult because the rays of the sun extend almost to the edges of the cake.

Underwear

I've been asking for a long while about the mysterious pairs of underwear that appeared in my shirt drawer a month or two ago. Today, I finally succeeded in persuading Mommy that it was time for "big" Aidan to wear underwear. She made me promise to tell her whenever I had to go to the bathroom. I kept my promise (mostly), though I did run through two pairs of underwear today (onewith Thomas and one with the finding Nemo fishies). I'm really a big boy wearing underwear just like Mommy and Daddy (actually, my underwear resembles Daddy's much more than Mommy's).

Aidan Morgan: Architect, Daddy: General Contractor

Today, we made a really nice building. In addition to having room underneath, it has special chairs for some of my favorite stuffed animals. I especially like that Henry the Octopus' feet hang down below. Percy the engine would go back and forth to tickle Henry's feet. 

Self Portraits

I like to get in touch with my creative side. Today's medium: Photography. Below are three self-portraits I took by pressing the silver button on the digital camera and pointing it at myself. This was a lot of fun until I got sort of dazed from repeeatedly staring into the flash at close range. Still, it's suffering like that that makes true artistry (or so Daddy tells me).

Morning Routine

I've settled into a morning routine with Daddy. I tend to wake up when my room starts to get light from the sun. Often, I'll talk to my stuffed animals or look at my books before asking to get out of my crib. Soon, Daddy cmes and hoists me out. The first thing to check on, once out of the crib, is whether the moon is still out. You see, I'm a bit nervous about the moon and would prefer that it not be around. I ask Daddy, "Moon outside?" He says no, but I run to the window to see for myself.

Next, I scamper off the the kitchen to help Daddy make coffee. "Daddy want coffee?" I inquire. He says yes and goes through the preparations. I like to do a little coffee griding dance as the beans get ground up in the coffee maker. Soon, it's time to go outside to get the newspaper. I always accompany Daddy on this mission regardless of footwear. If I'm wearing socks, I announce "sock shoes" as I make my way toward the driveway. If I'm just in bare feet I announce "feet shoes" and so on. I get to carry the newspaper inside by its convenient rubber band. Once inside, I announce "band off." Daddy removes the rubber band and together we read bits of the paper. Daddy's favorite part of the paper is the crossword puzzle. "Read the crossword puzzle," I offer helpfully.

I also like to have a cup of juice in the morning. Daddy now knows this, so he offers it in advance of my asking. He asks what kind of juice I want. I usually ask for whatever juice we happen to have on hand, which changes from time to time. A couple of weeks ago it was berry juice, then apple juice. Right now, it's one of my absolute favorites, white grape juice. Often, I'll take my cup of juice and set down next to the train set for some train play with Daddy. He always likes to play trains with me.

Sometime later, Mommy gets up to greet us. Sometime after that, Daddy will have to go to work. I give him a hug and a kiss on his way out and look forward to his coming home in the evening.

Christmas in July

Want to see what I (and my family members) looked like 7 months ago?  Well, it's officially Christmas in July!  Look here!

(P.s. Please note that there are not many at Grammy's house on Christmas Day since Mommy lost the digital camera for a while at her house.)

Watch the Closing Doors

As you know, I really love trains. Lately, one of my favorite games is "watch the closing doors."
In this game, one of the trains carries passengers from Jersey City to NYC acting as one of the path trains. I will point to the spot where each of the stops is on the track. As the train arrives in this spot, Daddy will say (in a bad NY/NJ accent):

This is the World Trade Center train, World Trade Center. Journal Square station stop. Next stop Grove Street. Stand clear. Watch the closing doors. Ding ding.

Once we arrive at the World Trade Center stop, the train goes out service. Fortunately, it's quickly brought back into service as a Newark train. Apart from designating the stops and telling Daddy who is riding and getting off the train, I really like the patter of the conductor at each stop. Often, I'll speak in chorus with Daddy,

Watch the closing do-ahs!

Even better is that the New Jersey accent really plays to my strength, which is omitting the "r" sound. Daddy says "do-ahs" for doors, and I say "do-ahs" too. I'm also getting to know the stops. I now know that the last three stops for a Newark train are Journal Square, Harrison, and Newark.

A bit of background for Path afficionados: Daddy says the World Trade Center stop is still there even though the World Trade Center isn't. Here's a link with an amusing history of the Path trains. Here are two photo galleries of Path trains, a super-nice one and a more ordinary one.

Weekend Update

 

It was a busy weekend for me lately. Daddy and I went out this morning and played with my new soccer ball. I picked it out from Play it Again Sports (or, as Daddy calls it, "The Ball Store"). I really like the yellow color.

Later, Daddy and I had a cup of pretend juice together. Here I am pouring pretend juice into Daddy's cup (the green one). I've already poured some into my yellow cup.


 

A little later, Mommy came out with a new bubble making wand. We made lots of big, big bubbles. I made a photo album with some picture highlights of my weekend. You can see it here.


 

Aidan's Art Gallery

Lately, I've been getting more in touch with my artistic side. The next several posts are a kind of art gallery of some of my best stuff. For the permanent collection, check out the new link on my homepage for the permanent collection.