Aiden has had a thing about monkeys for as long as I can remember. Probably because I have been calling him a monkey since day one...and there was an incident at the Denver Zoo when he was 4 months old where I insisted we take him to the primate house so his parents could have him back.
Of course, being a monkey lover of all trades, he is an avid follower of the adventures of everyone's favorite -- Curious George. We were watching a full length animated CG movie the other night and I couldn't help but see some striking resemblances between George and my little monkey.
They both have a hard time communicating - though Aiden is rapidly surpassing his furry doppelganger in the language department, he has to use gestures and noises when he can't find the words to tell me what he needs.
I also see in him, the same mischievousness and, well, curiosity that often gets George lost or in trouble with The Man In The Yellow Hat. He wants to know how things work, he wants to do what the adults are doing and he wants to help even when that one tiny pair of extra hands usually leads to a spilled chocolate milk, a very wet, very angry kitty, a deleted file on the computer, a beautiful drawing on Mommy's desk (sans paper) or the walls, and so on...
What is most curious about Aiden as compared to George though, is how much my heart ached for The Man In The Yellow Hat when he got frustrated with George - as parents can do with toddlers. We all really only want to help our kids and see them happy but it is the worst feeling in the world when you don't know exactly how to make that happen.
Last night, after 3 bedtime stories Aiden was still dis-satisfied with the reading material I had supplied and he cried and cried asking for a particular book, but for the life of me it sounded like he was asking for the "balloon book" which does not exist. His library is quickly trying to over take mine in terms of titles so there is no way we could have gone through every book to find what he wanted. I wanted to scream, worse, I wanted to sit down and cry for the "balloon book" with him.
Then I remembered The Man In The Yellow Hat - everyone gets stressed and everyone feels helpless sometimes. So Aiden and I coped the only way we know how - we curled up in the rocking chair and snuggled. While rocking back and forth a while, my mind settled and so did my nerves. Then, it hit me.
"Boon book" didn't mean "balloon book," it meant "MOON Book." I knew exactly what he wanted, so we read yet another bedtime story and unfortunately after all that crying he was pretty cranky so he went down a little rough but what a relief. I didn't have to send him to bed without the perfect bedtime story.
It's all about the small victories.
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