Name Trends

The Social Security Administration released their 2005 name popularity data. It looks like the popularity of my name has officially peaked (in 2003) and is now trending downward. "Aidan" ranked 43rd this year. Down three places over last year and four places over its peak. I think of myself as one of a kind, so it's nice to see that the rest of the US is slowly recognizing this fact. Daddy helped me to make this nice graph illustrating the trend.

Secret Mother's Day Gift

I made a Mother's Day gift for Mommy at school earlier in the week. Boy, it's hard keeping it a secret! She knows that some other kids made gifts that are sitting on the drying tables in school. She also knows that my gift is really pretty, involves glue, silk, and some words. But the words are secret, I won't tell her what it says. It's really hard keeping secrets. I begged my teacher to let me take it home today, but she said I need to wait until tomorrow.

Up a Tree

Around Easter, I got to have some pictures taken of me when I was sitting in our apple tree. I liked this idea a lot, so I asked Daddy to take some more pictures in this setting. Here are several in the tree as well as some pictures of me making pictures with chalk. Enjoy them here.

Sticker Poetry

Lately, I've been making scenes with some of my animal stickers. These include stickers of bugs, butterflies, fish, and all sorts of things. I like to tell Mommy about my pictures, and she writes down what I say. Daddy thought my descriptions were sort of like poetry.

Here are a couple of highlights:

Land and water and all different worlds and stuff. There's butterflies in the world and whales and big whales and little dolphins. And there are some bugs, like ladybugs and butterflies and stuff. And there's grass and fish and caterpillars. These stickers are pictures of real things.

and this one:

Fish. There's so many fish I can't even count! These fish are going to swim around the whales and then under and then come back. I can't even count how many fish there are in the whole world!

Finally, a different quote, unrelated to stickers but interesting nonetheless:

Are you as happy as a rockstar singing a happy, happy song?

G. Ometer, Math Detective

This past weekend, we started playing a new game that Daddy and I made up called G. Ometer, Math Detective. In this game, a "victim" makes a shape out of some blocks. Sometimes the shape is a square, sometimes a hexagon and so on. The "victim" then goes on a walk and the "thief" steals some of the blocks, leaving only a partial shape. The job of the math detective is to use the "clues" to figure out how many blocks the thief stole. It's very important that the detective interviews the victim to determine what the shape was initially, so as to know how many blocks there were at the start. Then, the detective examines the remaining evidence and, using the power of math, has to deduce how many items were stolen. Once the detective has figured this out, the victim can call the police lost and found to see if they turned up the right number of blocks. This is a really neat game. It's very cool that you can use the evidence to figure out what the thief took.

The Tale of the Aidan and the Hare

As you know, I love stuffed animal fun stories. Today, I put a big wicker basket that normally holds stuffed animals on my back and became Aidan the Tortoise. With Mommy, I played big turtle (me) and little turtle (a stuffed one)and the "terrible, horrible" crocodile and other predatory animals. Little turtle joined me inside my shell since it was hard for him to pull his whole body inside his own (a mobility problem common in stuffed turtles). Later, Daddy and I played the story of the Aidan and the Hare. Here's how the story went:

Once upon a time in the Hundred Acre Wood, all the animals decided to have a race to sdee who was the fastest. It came down to the Tortoise (Aidan) versus the Hare (green bunny). Green bunny got off to a great start, but got distracted by a lap desk with pictures of dinosaurs on it. Soon the tortoise came into the lead. Quickly, the hare raced ahead, but became distracted by a particularly interesting light switch. Again, the tortoise roared ahead. The hare raced back and was in the lead heading to the finish line, which was located in the office. Unfortunately for the hare, he became distracted by the very interesting door knob. The tortoise plowed on without getting distracted and won the race. Hooray for the tortoise.

I even figured out the lesson here---sometimes if you want to succeed, you have to focus on the task at hand rather than becoming distracted. Interesting how the Daddy stuffed animal stories are often related to things that happen in my life as well as those of the stuffed animals.

Sparkly Show

We've added a new bit to the nighttime routine---dancing. Thanks to Daddy's iPod, we have an amazing collection of dance favorites. Since going to the Wiggles concert, I've discovered that dance concerts are even more exciting when the lights are dimmed and the performers have sparkly lights on them. Every night, we now have a concert in the guest bedroom. To do this, we turn off all the lights, shut the door, and then use my two light wands---one is fiber optic and spins around, the other has colorful strobing lights in a globe. Daddy and I like to dance around. We also have to have an audience for the show. Most of the time the audience consists of the stuffed animals who sit on the bed. Mommy sometimes joins them. For really exicting shows, we pick up a stuffed animal and let him dance on the "stage" with us. The stuffed animals really seem to like this.

We like to dance to mambo music by Tito Puente, fast songs by Paul McCartney, early Beatles stuff, lots of Beach Boys songs---especially the ones about California---and, the final song of every dance party, Yellow Submarine. I also like Lyle Lovett's song "That's Right You're Not from Texas" which is really fast and fun. Mommy is very impressed at all our energy.

More Stuffed Animal Fun

As you know, sutffed animal fun is the name I give to little plays and performances by my stuffed animals. While Daddy's initial version of this game involved creating plays like "The Three Tigers" and "Nordy and the Beanstalk", it has changed over time. One big change is that I'm taking charge of the adventures rather than letting Daddy or Mommy come up with them. The stuffed animals do all sorts of things but usually these involve some traveling. In one story, the stuffed animals (and Aidan) went to a Wiggles concert. Amazingly, Aidan drove the car to the show. When they arrived there, the Wiggles invited them onto the stage to sing and dance with them. The stuffed animals thought this was fantastic.

Other times, the stuffed animal stories are about more prosaic situations. For instance, in one story, Mommy Duck was trying to get Baby Duck ready to go on a trip. Baby duck, however, didn't want to do anything. He refused to take off his jammies, put on his shoes, or anything. Mommy duck kept encouraging baby duck to try. Somehow, this story reminds me of some things that happen in my own life.

Speech Stylin'

I like to add a little bit of panache to my speech when asking for stuff I especially like. I find that one way to do this is to ask for things using my "street stylin'" argot. This mainly consists of omitting the last sounds from the words I'm using (sort of like the French) and running all the words together. For example, I wanted some angel food cake for dessert today. So I asked,

May I please have some ange'foo'cae'?

Notice how I added the please and the nice phrasing to the request while still "stylin'" with the money phrase. Unfortunately, Daddy had no clue what I was saying. Mommy understands my lingo but insisted that I ask in a way that all could understand. I offered them the correct phrase but was definitely perturbed that they didn't like my stylish approach.

I've also added a couple of other "cool" phrases that I picked up from Daddy to my argot including:

That's gotta hurt.

when my Hot Wheels cars or Little People crash or fall off things. Actually, Daddy tells me that he stole this phrase from Bob Costas who used it to describe violent sports collisions. I also like the one-word phrase "useless" to describe things that are of no interest to me. I also like to use the word "goofy" whenever possible. Mommy is less than enamored of these phrases.

Miami 2006

Here are some highlights from my recent trip to Miami. Check them out here.

Orlando 2006

Here are some highlights from our recent trip to Orlando. Check them out here.

Happy Easter

Easter is one of the best holidays. For one thing, it involves lots of...chocolate. But it also involves lots of other good stuff including decorating and eating eggs, searching for eggs in Easter Egg Hunts, and meeting the Easter Bunny. I was very excited, so I got up extra early for Easter--620 in the morning. Daddy persuaded me that Mommy would not enjoy getting up so early so I went back to sleep for a bit.

I quickly went on a "patrol" around the house in search of Easter baskets and found one in the sunken room. It had lots of great stuff in it. Stuffed animals, chocolate, Hot Wheels cars, and some really neat "pills." If you put these pills in water, they dissolve and turn into sponges in interesting shapes like boats and cars.

I got dressed for church and, as a special treat for Mommy, I wore a button shirt and a cute sweater as opposed to my usual preference for "soft" clothes. Everyone thought I was very cute in church, especially the minister. As we were leaving the church, I held out my hand to her to shake and said a merry Happy Easter.

We then did a big photo shoot. You can find the highlights here.

Happy Easter everyone!

Traveling with the Little People

Much like real travel, the Little People face many hassles when they want to go on a trip. This morning, Daddy and I played Little People go to Pennsylvania. The first key difficulty for the Little People is that their family, which consists of Mommy, Daddy, Maggie, Sarah Lynn, the twins---Eddie and Eddie, and a baby, have no car that is big enough to fit them all. As a result, they had to walk to the airport. This made them tired. Then they had to go through the security line. Unlike (or maybe not) real security lines, this security line made the Little People take off nearly all of their clothes. Then there was a big mixup as to whose clothes belonged to whom.

Finally, they made it to the gate. Things were going well until the Little People discovered that the plane only had two seats. The family would have to go on their trip with the plane shuttling back and forth to pick people up. I helped to figure out the flight arrangements. On the first trip, the baby flew on the plane alone with a stranger (Farmer Jed) and then wait in the terminal in Pennsylvania for the others to arrive. Next Maggie and Sarah Lynn (two unescorted minors) got to fly. Next, Mommy and Daddy got to fly together. They commented on how peaceful the flight was without all those kids. Finally, the twins, Eddie and Eddie, got to make the flight. When all arrived at Pennsylvania, there were still no cars big enough to fit, so the family had to walk. Traveling is tough in Little People land.

Gardening

We finally had a break in the endless rains on Saturday. Since it's already April, it was time to get our garden kicked into gear. We went to one of my favorite stores, Yardbirds, and quickly picked up a whole bunch of bags of planting mix and soil amendments. Actually, Daddy picked u these bags. I tried to pick one up and soon decided that trying to haul a bag is about equal to my wieght (40 pounds) was a bit too much to ask even for strong Aidan. After that, we got down to the really fun part--picking out what to plant. This year's selection includes, of course, several different kinds of tomatoes, a whole bunch of lettuce, some celery, and some watermelon.

After we got home, we added all the amendments to the garden and put the potting mix in our big tomato pots. Daddy used a shovel to turn the soil and the amendments together. I used my hands to scoop the stuff out and mix with the garden. It really seemed to improve the consistency of the soil from the clay that it usually is. Next, we planted all the plants. Daddy made small holes where the plants go and I put each plant in very carefully. I love gardening.

The next day, we picked up some seeds to plant as well. These included carrots, pumpkins, broccoli, and, my favorite, sunflowers. I put in the seeds all by myself. I can't wait for them to come up. I think our garden looks really nice. Last night we had some rain so all the plants got a nice drink. I hope they grow big.

Big

I went to the doctor yesterday for my 4-year-old checkup (slightly delayed). While I was initially promised no shots by the nurse, there were shots---3 of them! The doctor said that I had to have these 3 sometime before kindergarten, so he and Mommy decided to get them out of the way now so I don't have to be so anxious about doctor visits in the future. I don't like shots at all. Happily, the doctor tells me that (barring tetanus shots) I won't need another shot until I'm around ten years old. Yippee!

I also had my first hearing and vision tests. I was very good at hearing the beeps and raising my hand. The eye exam was kind of neat because it reminded me of Thomas the Train. My eye chart had various shapes on it of different sizes, including a bunch of "level-crossing shape"(s). Most people would call this a "plus," but I guess they are not as familiar with railroads as I am! The nurse got a huge kick out of my name for that shape.

They also weighed and measured me to see how I'm growing relative to other 4 year old boys. If you'll recall, shortly after I was born, I was in about the 5th percentile for height and weight. Eventually I made it into the 15th and then the 25th percentile. Well, I had a big growth spurt this past year. I'm now in the 75th percentile for height and weight. In other words, I'm big!

On the Road- Deal or No Deal, etc.

Deal or No Deal may be the best game ever. We played it a lot during my trip to Florida. Everyone seems to like this game. When we were in Orlando, Emma played this game where we used the Little People as the "models." She has lots of Little People that are different from the ones I have. I was especially intrigued by some of the Little People from the manger set. One Sonya Lee character, who was dressed as a wise man, had a funny hat. It reminded me of Nainnie "potlid" character, so I referred to her as "Potlid Sonya Lee".

Newborn cousin Evan did not play the game, but I'm sure he will when he gets older. Right now, he sleeps, eats, and sucks his "plug" (pacifier) a lot. People seem to really like to carry him around since he can't move around much by himself yet-- although I did see him roll onto his side by himself. He seems nice. When he gets bigger, maybe he can build couch forts and play with Emma and me.

Daddy and I also played with lots of different kinds of cards and lots of players in Miami. In one game, my cousin Libby (also known as "The Mighty Libby") was the host, I was the banker (borrowing Daddy's cell phone to call the host), while cousin Matthew was the contestant. I love Deal or No Deal.

I also love building sand furniture. Cousin Meryl intiated this on the beach at Key Biscayne, and we soon had a cluster of 6 sand chairs, all complete with sand cup holders and sand iPods! Matthew's remote control boat was also tons of fun to power around the pool.

I was sad to leave all my Florida cousins. I hope I see them again soon!

Is it real or is it glass?

When I was in Miami visiting my Uncle Ted and his family, I got to see one of the neatest gardens ever. They were having an exhibition of work by a glass sculptor named Chihuly at the Fairchild Tropical Garden. Mixed in among the ponds and the gardens were glass balls and plants by the artist. I loved the colors and the patterns. I was very good at figuring out which things were glass and which were real. Here are a couple of pictures.

I'm going to Disney World!

Actually, I went to Disney World last week. It was so much fun. I got to meet lots of great characters including Pooh and Minnie Mouse. While many people seem to prefer Mickey, I actually think Minnie is far more interesting. She always wears more pink things, which is always good since pink is a very nice color. My current two favorite colors are still green and yellow, but pink and purple have been moving up in the ranks lately.


I got to go on some great rides including the teacups and, best of all, the cars. I got to drive the cars while Mommy and Daddy operated the gas pedal. I've never driven before, but I think I did a very good job of keeping the car on the road and turning at the right time. Daddy was very impressed with my turns. I also got to see the new and improved "It's a Small World" ride. This was truly unbelievable. I've never seen so many mechanical guys. Finally, there was a light parade with lots of light up floats. Some of you will recall my early fascination with lights (or "ights" as I liked to call them when I was really little.)

Disney is great. I announced that I wanted to go back maybe next week. Mommy and Daddy seemed a little doubtful about this though.

Daddy Goes to School

Last night was really fun. My school had a "Daddy Goes to School" night. All the Daddies and their kids were in school and we had an abbreviated version of my usual school day. We started with circle time. I quickly picked my favorite spot---right next to the teacher, and settled in. Since there were so many Daddies and kids, i was pretty crowded in the circle, but happily we still had a good spot. I also found a magnet with my name on it and chose my responsibility. I picked the toilets, which seem like one of the most interesting responsibilities since they involve water and machinery (flushing), which is always a good combination.

After going through the calendar to figure out what day it was and the weather report (dark--a new type of weather rarely seen during my daytime classes) we were off to work with materials. First, we worked with graduated cylinders. We took them out and had to figure out which slots each cylender belonged. We also built a kind ofcity of cylinders.

Next, it was off to the scales for the weigh-in challenge. The idea is that they have various weights adding up to 100g and a balance scale. You have to figure out which set of weights leads to balance on the scale. My favorite weights were the whopping 500g ones. I referred to these as the "big dog" weights since they reminded me of my Daddy's driver---the biggest golf club in the bag. We did lots of other fun stuff before driving home. I had a great time. I think Daddy learned some new things too.

Tea Time

I was sad because I missed the Mother's Tea at my school. This took place while my leg was hurt, so I couldn't go. Mommy and I decided to have a tea at our house last night instead. Mommy helped make the tea (gingerbread tea, which smells great but doesn't taste nearly as good). I put out a tray with the desserts to go with the tea. I decided that each person would get to shamrock cookies. In addition, I decided that the green shamrocks needed some additional color for their "leaves" so I added a bunch of raw carrots. I gave Mommy and Daddy their cookies and carrots while Mommy brought out the tea after dinner. As a good host, I waited for Mommy and Daddy to finish before eating my own dessert. Everyone was very happy with my great manners and pretty arrangement for the tea.