tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80570597674471178252024-02-06T21:39:15.561-07:00OutNumberedThe life and musings of a girl who finds herself continually and hopelessly stuck with the boys. As a mom, student, and full time desk jockey - I perpetually find myself out-numbered by the men in my life, but never out-smarted, out-witted, or out-lasted.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.comBlogger237125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-64842524827128542892014-07-29T10:04:00.000-06:002014-07-29T10:04:46.381-06:00I get by with A LOT of help from my friendsWhere's all those wonderful pictures from California, Britt? I'd love to see more of Aiden's trip to Disneyland!<br />
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Hey....Oh hi everyone! I think I remember you guys. It's actually pretty hard to forget about y'all when I keep hearing about how you need to see Aiden's summer updates...<br />
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Here's the thing.<br />
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I am having such a hard time keeping up with this kid. One minute he needs to be registered for flag football, the next minute he has kindergarten PTA meetings. If we aren't trying to get in a quick swim in the afternoon it's because he has the social calendar of a New York hotel heiress. I mean, jeeze. This kid is everywhere.<br />
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And on top of it all he is actually headed off to kindergarten. Really soon. Don't even get me started on that whole process...because if it is some sort of testing and assessment of my parenting skills, clearly, I fail.<br />
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In all honesty though... I will get the California trip up as soon as I am able, and in the mean time, while everyone is soaking up the last couple rays of summer sunshine (Colorado Thunderdays I affectionately call it) it just sort of seemed like the time to stop and take a breath.<br />
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I've done a great deal of reflection the last couple months. With Aiden really growing into this new stage of being a kid, it's hard not to sit back and remember him as a screaming baby who would never sleep. It was so miserable, and I always felt so alone. But I wasn't.<br />
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I had Kelly, to help me give him his first bath and to go with me to his baby doctor appointments. And I had Randalicious to help me hold him when I had to study or write a paper. Because of a couple really strong people, I was able to get so much done. Kelly has always been there when I've struggled, I can call at any time and say, "Please come over, I might kill my kid" - I'm kidding. But without my friends, new ones and old ones, I don't think we would have made it to kindergarten.<br />
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Single parenting is hard, really hard. Especially if you have any kind of silly notions about a life for yourself. I'm just saying...I get by with A LOT of help from my friends.<br />
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Pictures coming soon! Promise!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-5465407293994600882014-03-28T11:35:00.000-06:002014-03-28T11:35:47.886-06:00Happy Birthday OutNumberedI spend a great deal of my time preaching to others, yes, preaching is the word, about how hard work and relentless effort are the keys to success. When I am asked how I got this or that, and sometimes it is simply stated to me how incredibly lucky I have been... it feels important to me to remind those people - just work, just try, just push a little more than you think you can, just don't give up.<br />
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Today, instead of preaching, I am looking back on what has been - by far - one of the most incredible years for me. Twenty-five was something I feared, I wanted nothing to do with the idea of getting older while still being stuck in the same place. Looking back over the last 365 days, it strikes me how much I have grown and done. Unfortunately I haven't been able to share much of it, as I have significantly reduced my social media presence and have had to keep a lot of things to myself - sometimes by necessity, sometimes by preference. <br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">At 25, I was signed to nxt|Model's commercial division. I've had a great many opportunities because of this small, non-exclusive agency. I've also had a chance to work hard for myself and in a lot of instances, I have been my own agent. I have to market myself and get a lot of my own work, but they have been a great stepping stone to a lot of the last year's accomplishments.</span></div>
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This year, Aiden and I snuggled a lot. We held on tight to each other when things got really hard.</div>
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We fought a lot too. We fought about sugar and the proper way to clean up toys. We fought about appropriate timing for taking down Christmas trees and we fought about Sponge Bob yogurt. Mostly we fought about using nice words and making sure we tell each other how much we love one another.</div>
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And then we snuggled some more.</div>
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I promo-ed the crap out of the Denver-Metro area with Missy. </div>
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I conquered the Sturgis Bike Rally.</div>
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And I walked a few runways - sometimes looking like a peacock, sometimes wearing only paper.</div>
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I made some silly faces with Aiden.</div>
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And saw my best friend get married. </div>
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I got my hair and makeup done, a lot. And then after that, I got it done some more.</div>
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We watched Ghostbusters, over and over and over and over again. And we sang Ghostbusters in the car, over and over and over and over again.</div>
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We played in the park.</div>
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Then I did some more promo's with Missy.</div>
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I did a lot of photo shoots - and I got paid to do them. Sometimes, I was naked. Sometimes it was scary - but mostly it was beautiful, freeing, exciting and absolutely fulfilling.</div>
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Sometimes I had to lay face down in the mud in a freezing parking garage and play dead for the photographer. And it was really hard, it was the hardest day of work I ever had, and it was the most beautiful image I ever made. </div>
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And in a few moments over the past year, the lighting, the hair, the make up, the pose, the work, the attitude - it was all there, right where it needed to be, and I proved to myself and everyone else how bad I want this and how good I am.</div>
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This year, we hatched baby dinosaurs and they were disgusting. They smelled and they were ugly. But Aiden kept them alive for over a month and I was so proud.</div>
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This year, there was painting.</div>
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And swimming.</div>
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This year, Dexter's name changed approximately 38 times - currently, it is Anna (from "Frozen"). Also, she is now a girl according to Aiden. Yes, she wants to build a snowman as well. Oh, and I decided this year that I think I love my cat.</div>
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This year, my son grew up, a lot.</div>
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This year, I saw breath taking art.</div>
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This year, I landed a book cover and print advertising and a movie role.</div>
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This year, I found out who my friends really are. The ones who didn't know that any of this was going on and stuck with me anyway. There were also some friends who knew I was having a really hard time and they didn't stick by me. Not even a little bit. </div>
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My greatest accomplishments this year are things that I can't even say here, and my greatest losses are beyond words. But I am still standing, and it's all happening.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-1492297219982773742014-02-13T14:38:00.000-07:002014-02-13T14:38:54.524-07:00A Series of Unfortunate Events or Thank You, Citizens of WalMartI know that OutNumbered is often funny, because it is usually funny at my expense. And I fully expect this post to be every bit as hilarious as all others, if not actually laugh-out-loud funny, but I want to preface it with a little bit of seriousness.<br />
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A parent's greatest fear - child abduction. As a parent, I find nothing scarier. Our culture runs rampant with the subject these days - think about how you felt reading "The Lovely Bones" for the first time, whether you have kids or not, it was literally the worst case scenario. With the Super Bowl not that far behind us, there was a lot of negative press surrounding sex-trafficking in America...an even worse case scenario.<br />
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I recently saw a "kidnapping experiment" on Twitter (@bbabybritt if you're wondering...) that maybe some of you also saw, if not it's attached here:<br />
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It's absolutely terrifying to think it could happen to you and even more terrifying to think it couldn't. On top of all of this, I have been reading "Doctor Sleep" - GoodReads review here:<br />
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/831475539<br />
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...and it's a doozy, but basically, it's about special children disappearing and never coming home.<br />
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All that being said...Aiden got the cops called on Randalicious yesterday for kidnapping.<br />
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They went to WalMart to pick out some Valentine's for Aiden's party at school today. Randalicious told Aiden that he could have a Peppermint Patty (his FAVORITE) if he was good in the store. Of course he threw a fit, which I can only imagine became a tantrum/melt down in a matter of seconds. Bystanders would tell you that he was screaming throughout the store, "I want my daddy! I want my daddy! I want my daddy! I want my daddy!" The trained ear of Aiden's caregiver knows he was screaming, "I want my patty! I want my patty!I want my patty!I want my patty!"<br />
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Randalicious tried fervently to settle on-lookers and a woman at the check stand who insisted that he let the little boy call his daddy so that he might calm down. My calm and patient (and handsome and wonderful) father who was sent by the grace of God no doubt, explained, "He doesn't want to call his daddy, he wants a Peppermint Patty..."<br />
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No use. The woman - or another suspicious individual - followed them to the parking lot and scribbled down Randalicious' license plate number and then proceeded to call the cops.<br />
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In the meantime, I had left work and called them to check in on Aiden. He was still upset and screaming "I want my patty!I want my patty!I want my patty!" Though I took it for, "I want my daddy! I want my daddy! I want my daddy!" Once he calmed down and talked with me for a bit about some things he might be able to do in order to get back into Grandpa's good graces, they were off to McDonald's.<br />
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Thinking maybe a little play time on the giant jungle gym might help soothe Aiden, Randalicious loaded him into the car. At this point in time, he noticed a squad car parked just a little ways down the road and it noticed him - him, and Aiden. The officer pulled up to the house, asked Randalicious about who he is, what the situation is with Aiden, where his parents are, why someone from WalMart might have called the cops...on and on.<br />
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Oh Aiden....Oh dear, sweet Aiden.<br />
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Poor Randalicious.<br />
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While it is all so funny now, I sincerely mean it when I say, "Thank you citizens of WalMart, good lookin out!!"<br />
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Now I owe my father the Valentine's Day gift to top all others, but really, thank God that my community is aware and would call the cops just because they had a bad feeling even though it was wrong.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-20542856305413440532014-01-10T15:42:00.001-07:002014-01-10T15:42:28.646-07:00The Elephant In the Room As many of my followers (who are essentially following no one because I hardly write any more) know, there's some pretty heavy stuff going on over at Winterfell - that's what Aiden and I call home. Yes, I am a nerd. Yes, I want him to be a nerd too.<br />
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I've been working hard on an actual piece surrounding all the baby-mama-drama and have not finished it yet. Partly because it takes so much out of me. And mostly, because I sincerely believe you can't really understand the journey, or storm or whatever other analogy you find fitting, until you come out the other side and you can look at the mess as a whole.<br />
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That partly piece though, about things being so weighty right now, has me thinking quite a bit. I need to really focus on the good stuff. I know this seems trivial and almost a little too kitschy considering it's the New Year and all. Side note - I don't believe in resolutions. But the point is, the more you smile and laugh, the less you stress. So lets have a little giggle shall we??<br />
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Holiday Season - we spent a lot of time gearing up for the holidays. Baking cookies, wrapping presents, visiting friends. Christmas is the one full solid paid vacation I get every year so I wanted everything done and out of the way before I was off of work for the year.<br />
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Our gift exchange with the Otley's this year had an all new participant. Baby Vander, who unfortunately found Aiden's gift to be much more exciting than his own.</div>
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The cookie baking was quite an obsession all of December - so when we finally did it, Aiden was in charge of all decorating operations.</div>
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Christmas 2013 - I spent a great deal of the holiday season contemplating Santa. Is my child really dumb enough to buy all this hoopla?!?! I guess so, now that the holidays are over, all he talks about is Santa this and Santa that. "Santa is gonna put you on the naughty list!" "Don't tell Santa I stuck my tongue out!" Luckily, Santa had Aiden on the "Nice List." <br />
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He opened *the big one* first, and if it had been ready-to-play he wouldn't have opened another thing! He's been interested in cooking for quite some time and kept asking why he couldn't have a kitchen. I'm not sure why he would think that but it seemed silly so I got him one.</div>
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He pretty much gave up opening presents about half way through - I think I went a little overboard again this year, even though I swore I wouldn't.</div>
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After Christmas it was all about cleaning up quick and making room for more.</div>
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Aiden's Birthday - we went the Mammoth game (they lost) and then had a donut breakfast party the next morning. Of course Aiden told the grumpy donut man it was his birthday and he gifted us the most obscene donut you'll ever see (below) Thank God Aiden didn't want to eat it - he would have had the jitters for days!</div>
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His birthday felt like Christmas all over again, so much stuff. And he gave up opening presents about half way though.</div>
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Can't really blame him, what with that cool dino book and all!</div>
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We spent the majority of what was left of winter break putting together Legos - I must say, I am quite proficient!</div>
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We even squeezed in another Mammoth game (they won!)</div>
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And we hatched some prehistoric dinosaur crab things - they're really pretty icky but Aiden thinks it's the coolest thing ever! We'll see how he feels when they start eating each other...</div>
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I'm doing my best to keep them alive and tolerate their existence in my kitchen, but really, if no one comes over for dinner until they are part of the big ocean in the sky, I won't blame you.</div>
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Mostly we've been having quite nights because there are some attitude and personality changes happening with the little dude...</div>
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but like I said before, all that heavy stuff for a different day.</div>
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For right now, Happy New Year from Britt and Aiden.</div>
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*Some years ask questions, some years answer them*</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-77170076507576158582013-11-21T15:46:00.000-07:002013-11-21T15:46:28.086-07:00"We Just Love Aiden"This is how most parent-teacher conferences begin for me.<br />
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"We just love Aiden."<br />
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"Aiden is the sweetest boy."<br />
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"He gives the biggest hugs."<br />
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I have come to dread parent-teacher conferences. With Aiden's early developmental set backs with speech, followed by concerns about his space perception and attention span - leading to the discovery of his Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) being linked to his inner-ears, affecting balance, hearing and attention span. This is just always a tough thing. Sitting with his teachers, who see him often and know him well, and hearing that he's not quite where he needs to be, or something new is wrong. It's exhausting being that parent.<br />
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This year, things went a little differently.<br />
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After explaining to me how much they love Aiden, they began telling me about how much Aiden loves his Mommy. I find it difficult to be sharing this without tearing up a little, because that day, I really needed nothing more than to hear that, and it warms my heart to be able to share it with everyone else. Aiden talks about his Mommy, all day, every day at school. About painting and cooking and bowling and reading the Wizard of Oz and about what a terrible singer his Mommy is.<br />
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As per the usual, we went through his evaluation task by task. He can pick out all numbers 1-25 from random order and organize them. He has a mastery of writing his upper case letters and can pick them all out at random from memory. He writes his name, beautifully if you ask me. Aiden understands past tense, present tense, all of his verbs and adjectives agree with his nouns and subjects and proper nouns.</div>
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While his teachers are very aware of his *slight* obsession with the littler girl in the next class, they are in total agreement that he is a happy kid, with a positive outlook and a bright social demeanor. He especially loves to sing the peaches song to his teachers...</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmaF6IOODFc" target="_blank">Peaches - Presidents of the United States</a></div>
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We sing this song while we cook at home and often while we eat - as it turns out, I do this terribly, he has only been sparing my feelings. </div>
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After he drew and then cut out all of his shapes for his evaluation, he asked his teachers for more because they were too easy. One of my personal favorite tid-bits - after naming the colors for his teachers, they asked which is his favorite...the rainbow.</div>
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As far as his attention span goes - the diet is helping drastically. He has trouble following multiple directions at once but he is paying attention and he wants to learn, like a regular four year old boy.</div>
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Helping the banker count the money.</div>
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Helping Mommy organize promo stuff.</div>
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Waiting patiently while his ball rolls all the way to the end.</div>
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Happy kiddo.</div>
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The very next week in class, Aiden received an award for following all of the teachers' directions, right away. It was a noisy award and it gave Mommy a couple head aches, but for a good cause. </div>
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The next day after that, he received another award. This one was a certificate which now hangs on our refrigerator. Aiden had his teachers in tears when he calmed and comforted a classmate who was upset.</div>
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My heart beams. For those of you who have read <i>The Help</i>, Aibileen nurtures the love and self esteem in Mae Mobley who is somewhat neglected by her own mother. Every night, and when on occasion Aiden claims that something is "all my fault," we tell each other, "Aiden is kind. Aiden is smart. Aiden is important."</div>
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When I heard what Aiden had done for one of his friends at school, I could almost imagine him telling his friend, "You are smart, you are kind, you are important."</div>
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It's easy for me to get so busy trying to take care of Aiden that I forget how much he does to take care of me - he feeds my soul with his silliness and he heals my heart with his love. So, I have started doing all sorts of things to help fill in the tiny places in his day where he might not know I am thinking about him with reminders of that.</div>
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I started off pretty rough.</div>
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But I have definitely gotten the hang of it!</div>
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No matter how crazy things get for the holidays, it's most important that Aiden knows I am thankful to have him and that there is no greater joy in my life than to see him turning into a boy that I respect and admire and love. From his waxed poetic vocabulary about boogers to the tiny little fuzzies between his toes that his stinky socks leave behind.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-53249416149334126922013-10-15T16:39:00.000-06:002013-10-15T16:39:12.581-06:00Just Keep Swimming!Remember when I said I wanted to spend more time hanging out with Aiden than writing about him, we're there. And we are so busy that it seems nearly impossible to squeeze OutNumbered in anymore, but I am still trying.<br />
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So lets play catch up.<br />
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Aiden's school did a coupon book fundraiser. Typically, I tell the school (under my breath and no where near the school itself) to 'eff off' when they ask for additional money from me. This time around though, I didn't turn my nose up at it because we all know I am a sucker for a book (of any kind clearly...maybe it's time to get some help??). In all seriousness, there was some stuff in it that was kinda cool and I felt we could definitely get our money back from it so I got one and offered it to a couple other people. The more that people showed interest, the more I thought, "Hey! Aiden should be selling these, not me!"<br />
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So I made him cold-call everyone to offer them a book, and I sold a few at work. Not thinking much of it, we turned his orders in and handed out the books. A couple days later, there was a school wide email naming Aiden as the top coupon book salesman with a prize gift card to Tony's (our newest obsession).<br />
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He was so excited when I told him and beaming from ear to ear, so thanks to any readers who bought a book! Also, you should know that when I asked Aiden what he wanted to buy from Tony's, he asked if he could buy pumpkins to share with his class!! *Insert image of mother beaming with pride* I made that. I did that. He's mine.<br />
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Aiden has also started swim lessons, privately with an old school mate of mine. And he loves it, he loves her - they get along swimmingly! Sorry, had to...<br />
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Sure, he swims a ton at the lake and at home, our pool is heated and open year round but he always uses his life jacket and refuses to jump in - mostly because of his Sensory Processing Disorder, getting his face wet and his ears under water is harder for him to handle. So the private lessons are hopefully to help him in an actual swim setting: going under water, in a pool, jumping in, submerging and getting re-orientated, etc.<br />
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He loved it! He got his ears wet, did laps, floated on his back, whole thing! And the best part is, it totally tuckered him out.<br />
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He is going to do at least two more weeks of lessons and then we will decide if he wants to keep going. I am sort of thinking Karate might be more enjoyable for the winter and then hopefully he will want to start back into swimming again in the spring.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-72123840341920504282013-08-27T12:32:00.001-06:002013-08-27T12:32:43.564-06:00Ducks, Cooking, Art CampI have no thematic title for this one, sorry. Miscellaneous Aiden Adventures??<br />
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Ducks....<br />
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We constantly have a surplus of bread in our house - note, I keep it in the fridge so it's good past the expiration date (I assume?? Can anyone assure me of this??) - but eventually it just gets stale because more often than not, my taste buds want something fried and greasy and topped with cheese for lunch.<br />
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So when it goes stale, but not moldy, we take it to the duckies!!<br />
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Last time we did it, we got rained out! Luckily, we were at Clement Park which is home to the Jeffco Public Library so I decided to take Aiden in there and see if he wanted anything.</div>
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He wasn't much interested in the books, mostly I think he was overwhelmed. But he liked the magazine racks in the kid's section.</div>
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When it became clear he was never going to pick a book, I suggested a movie. Of course he wanted a Mummy movie!</div>
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As we were leaving, I spotted a new book from one of my favorite authors on the staff picks shelf and snapped it up - Aiden scolded me and said, "You don't need a book, you have lots at home."</div>
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But the books at the library are FREE, some day he'll understand my habit.</div>
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Speaking of habits, Aiden has taken up cooking this summer!</div>
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He started out as a little kitchen helper measuring ingredients and stirring mixtures. He graduated to helping at the oven and stove (with lots of supervision and help of course).</div>
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Yesterday morning he made his own scrambled eggs from start to finish!!</div>
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Mommy is liking where this is headed!</div>
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Besides culinary skills, we have also been feeding Aiden's inner artist this summer. He went to an outer space themed art camp at the Denver Art Museum in July and absolutely loved it!</div>
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There were 20 kids total, and only 4 of them were boys, of course Don Juan was in heaven with the ladies...</div>
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Showing the girls a thing or two about coloring inside the lines...</div>
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He brought home space ships and aliens galore!</div>
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And my most favorite art piece...</div>
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That's right, my kid spells AND writes his name. Genius. Can not be denied, he's on his way to med school!</div>
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I kid, I kid - I'm just so happy to see him flourishing and growing. He loved art camp so much that I decided to send him for one more week before school started. Seeing him with new kids and bringing home all the projects and just really turning into such a well-rounded kid...priceless.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-11284470321996169192013-08-21T13:21:00.001-06:002013-08-21T13:21:52.595-06:00Learning New ThingsAiden is back to school! And in Pre-K - is this really happening?!?<br />
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The little dude is getting so smart that I can hardly stand it! We tried to do a United States of America puzzle a couple nights ago, and it turned out that he didn't need me hardly at all. I think I showed him where 5 states go.<br />
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While I was totally astonished, I was also relieved. At Back-To-School-Night, his new teacher was talking about geography and what they'd study so I thought, "Great! He's ahead of the curve!" Then she clarified that geography would include one new country a week. Holy smokes, this kid is growing up way too fast!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91xRbp4-SYAn7ojQ0gBcuX5Jmn_ryEAtr449p1WD9P-j_GqzhO2ScaeIUXJ3hx0GaIF_uAF8uSqmkIXXkgAXthEgwXAKyjaWR2SLeksXpwPg89HTTCXSBrSfczsB_eeEA5N_lg5YWaTE/s1600/Aiden+Back+to+School.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91xRbp4-SYAn7ojQ0gBcuX5Jmn_ryEAtr449p1WD9P-j_GqzhO2ScaeIUXJ3hx0GaIF_uAF8uSqmkIXXkgAXthEgwXAKyjaWR2SLeksXpwPg89HTTCXSBrSfczsB_eeEA5N_lg5YWaTE/s320/Aiden+Back+to+School.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And socially, he is remarkably in tune with his feelings and peers. He saw his little girlfriend in the hallway before school started and I told her how much Aiden missed her this summer. Her mom replied that she talked about him non-stop all summer too! Unfortunately they are in different classes this year, but when she went into her own room Aiden was very attentive to what was happening.<br />
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He put his hands right on his hips and said, "Mommy, where is Christina going?" So I told him about how they would be in different classes this year and that they would still play together plenty. Immediately he asked, "Are there other boys in that class room?!" I giggled a bit and said, "Yes, there's lots of boys and girls in every class Aiden."<br />
<br />So we went in to his classroom and he started rough housing with one of his buddies. I started to leave and he came running to the door, I thought to give me one more hug, and dashed past me to the other class room. He poked his head in and back out then told me, "I was just checking on Christina."<br />
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We're going to learn lots this year, both of us.<br />
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Last night on a family walk to the park, Aiden was asking about "the heart." He kept saying, "tell me about the heart." So I covered the basics. It's a muscle, it pumps your blood all over your body to keep everything working and because of the different chambers that hold and push out blood, it makes that, "Lub-Dub" sound that you hear at the doctor's office with the stethoscope.<br />
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He seemed fairly satisfied by this response and let it go at that. But I kept thinking about it. I should have said more, there's important pieces I forgot. All evening I was bothered by this. Even after I put him to bed. Luckily for me, he didn't go to sleep right away (shocker!) - he sat up for a while saying, "I'm not tired, I don't want to sleep."<br />
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So I climbed into the tent with him and asked if I could snuggle. While we snuggled, I whispered, "Mommy has to tell you something."<br />
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"What?!? What is it? What's wrong?"<br />
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So I proceeded cautiously.<br />
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"When you asked Mommy about the heart tonight, I didn't tell you everything. I forgot the most important parts!"<br />
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He was worried of course and started inquiring about "the blood" and "the muscles" and I told him that all that is very important, but there's an even more important thing that your heart does for you.<br />
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I told him, "Your heart is where you keep your love. All the people that you know, some that you haven't met yet and even some of the ones you might not see again - they're all safe and sound in your heart. And your heart does something even better than keeping them all safe, it tells you the truth no matter what."<br />
<br />I remember being told when I was little, that if your heart has wings you will never be lost.<br />
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So I told Aiden, "No matter what happens, this year, this week, your entire life, always follow your heart."<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-17714237898176696142013-07-23T11:14:00.000-06:002013-07-23T11:15:58.310-06:00Summer Break Part IIAlright, where did we leave off???<br />
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Oh yeah, it was Father's Day and Aiden was having ice cream.<br />
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Like I mentioned, sugar has been nixed at home - but this doesn't stop his Grandpa's sweet tooth one bit. Aiden and Randalicious go for a treat after school at least two days a week and probably more, recently.<br />
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If you have ever heard me talk about why I work so much, you have most assuredly heard the rant about the cost of Legos. And the set-up of the stupid Lego store which is such that you have to pass all the cool packages of current pop-culture trend related play sets in order to get to the cheap(er-mildly...) Legos in the back. Ugh...I digress.<br />
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Anyway, my point is. Aiden likes Legos, they are expensive, so is practically everything else - new shoes for rough and tumble boys, bigger clothes for growth-spurt-prone kids, etc.<br />
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So Aiden gets a little extra time with Randalicious while I work odd promotions, in odd places. Most recently, I found myself in the middle of no where North Platte, NE - whose claim to fame is Buffalo Bill, and that's about it. While walking around the "museum" (it was really a giant gift shop with a Buffalo Bill statue) trying to find a souvenir for the Bubba, I spotted a bag full of plastic horses and wagons and thought - Perfect! It'll do...<br />
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Aiden was so happy just to hear that he got something that he didn't care what it was...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ25_gcYWSVujFZWueOqJna_mvfEws-iUlwV4PzkLFpNJxB0_99JhMzlwiCX0WanmmouJZPR4zoumIvWOx22zOiZzjpIsiq304-OE5UnE7rOr0YGMc37zvHgI-gqPdUzlDebD95N61GSw/s1600/cowboys+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ25_gcYWSVujFZWueOqJna_mvfEws-iUlwV4PzkLFpNJxB0_99JhMzlwiCX0WanmmouJZPR4zoumIvWOx22zOiZzjpIsiq304-OE5UnE7rOr0YGMc37zvHgI-gqPdUzlDebD95N61GSw/s320/cowboys+1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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And then we opened it up...the world's most offensive toy.</div>
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At least most of the red colored pieces are cowboys right??</div>
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He loves it, of course... but mostly only plays with the wagons and boats now, though it didn't take him long at all to figure out Cowboys & Indians.</div>
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Aiden has been getting a lot of play time with new kids this summer too! Stand by for the "Art Camp Blog" - anyway, he went to his second cousin Sebastian's birthday last month. The two of them are almost exactly 6 months apart - Aiden being older - but the closeness in age definitely shows! </div>
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Sebastian's party was pirate themed, right up Aiden's alley, and it was all sorts of running around crazy - thank God my kid isn't the only one who wants to do only this, all day, everyday.</div>
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Waiting to hit the pinata...</div>
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Takin a swing...</div>
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Playing in the bouncy castle with the boys</div>
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Showing off his pirate sword!</div>
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Hope everyone is having at least half as much fun as this kid is this summer!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-6224652505351594832013-07-19T15:37:00.001-06:002013-07-19T15:39:18.813-06:00Summer Break 2013 Part IHoly cow! Does anybody else feel like the summer is just flying by? It simply isn't fair. I haven't had hardly enough time to play with Aiden in the pool and even less time to write about him! I have so many funny stories and updates and pictures, but my OCD self will not let me tell them out of order.<br />
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So from the beginning of Summer Break 2013<br />
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We've been trying to get out and do at least one special thing every weekend together. Like a movie, a museum trip, a picnic, etc. We started by mini golfing....<br />
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This was Aiden's first time mini golfing, and he requested that Uncle Nik and Sam come with us. And naturally, when he cheated THE WHOLE TIME, it didn't bother anyone...</div>
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He was really captivated by all the props and statues - but we are going to have to work on his golf etiquette since he just kinda wandered to and from which ever holes he wanted.</div>
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We got to do a little hiking up Coal Creek Canyon to see the "Tree House"</div>
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Stopping along the way to look at the art in the woods and picking up sticks.</div>
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Then chasing Mommy with the sticks.</div>
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Aiden also made sure that Mommy wore lots</div>
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and lots....</div>
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and lots of sunscreen. </div>
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He is getting to be so grown up, and often pretending he is the parent and I am the child. Fine by me...wonder when he'll start paying rent and doing laundry? A girl can dream :)</div>
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For Father's Day we had a really mellow BBQ at Randalicious' house - everyone ate way too much after promising to Aiden that we would all go to the park and play baseball on the REAL baseball field. So all of the food-comatose adults had to buck up and work it off.</div>
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Luckily, the rain gave us a reprieve and had us running for home after two quick innings in which only Aiden was up to bat.</div>
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He didn't seem to mind when we got home though because Aunt B & Uncle Dave brought more sugary goodness than he'd ever seen in his life to make ice cream sundaes with!</div>
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Since the start of summer though, Aiden's diet has really changed at home. I still allow him to have sugar at his grandparent's and other caregiver's houses. But at home we have pretty much nixed sugar and nitrates completely. Poor kid - his cookie jar is filled with granola. But, he is doing really well physically and behaviorally with the cut back on all that crap - so I can only feel a little bad that he doesn't have cookies and hot dogs at home hardly at all.</div>
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Since he's doing so much better, he is getting along great in summer camp and talks on and on and on about his guys friends these days. Christina (his little girlfriend) isn't in camp so he is just enjoying his little bromances. He even asks if he can have "So and So" or "Whatshisname" over to his house.</div>
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Such a sweet kid.</div>
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More Summer 2013 updates to follow.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-30445489654528656722013-06-09T22:04:00.000-06:002013-06-10T10:02:36.195-06:00Late Night Mommy ThoughtsAiden and I are struggling. We have huge gaping swings between being the best of friends and the worst of enemies. We enjoy each other's company and we love having fun, but unfortunately it would seem that he has been getting away with certain behaviors and attitudes else where. Maybe because other caregivers feel bad for him or perhaps it is that he is simply charming but it is breeding terrible attitude patterns that I simply don't allow.<br />
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I remember when Aiden was learning to walk, talk, sleep, eat, etc. Every one of those things felt like the hardest thing in the world. And all I could do was be consistent and repetitive. I am doing the same thing now. I insist on "please" with everything he asks. I refuse to cave to the "need" for candy, sugar, snacks, etc. when he hasn't eaten dinner. I do not allow him to yell, throw, or hit me without the consequence of immediate time outs and loss of privileges. Remarkably, I am becoming more resilient to these issues and I remain resolved to see to it that he is a gracious, well mannered, generous, good kid - but holy crap.<br />
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How long does it take? I keep thinking that at any time it will all click for him. How easy it is to get what he wants when he is nice and says "please." Eventually he will realize that he never gets his way when he whines right!?!? RIGHT!?! At some point a light bulb will go off and he will just automatically help me without being asked, use nice words/use words not whining period, magically put one toy away before he gets a new one out...right?!?!<br />
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hopefully we'll get more stickers soon :/</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-40294915910288509962013-06-04T12:31:00.000-06:002013-06-04T12:31:05.465-06:00Another School Year GoneAiden has been enjoying Summer Break for a full week now, but he's been so busy that I haven't had a chance to share all the exciting progress and highlights from his school year...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's a glimpse at his summer plans - like I said, just a little busy</td></tr>
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When he finished up his actual school year at Abiding Hope, they sent home a file with some of his best work and accomplishments from the year, as well as a "yearbook" for him to keep.<br />
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I can't believe how much he grew! He was barely over the "days of the week" in August, and in May be was to the top of the colors! And his hair is growing too! He insists he doesn't want it cut but we'll see how hot he gets this summer.<br />
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In his "portfolio" for the year, he had a self portrait from August. He knows at least that he has blonde hair and that McDonald's is his favorite food. Dinosaurs might be more of a learning interest now than a game but I had almost forgotten about how he liked to "play dinosaurs" so this was a really fun page to look at.</div>
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They sent home a sample of "self-directed art" too. He might not be Picasso, but because he's Aiden, it has been deemed an instant classic in our house.<br />
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After Christmas time they asked what his favorite gift from Santa was...surprise, surprise we haven't forgotten about the Shake Shake Bridge!<br />
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They also inquired about his birthday party plans and the cutie-patootie continues to make my heart melt!!<br />
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One of his candid photos in the "yearbook."<br />
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His class picture. The teacher on the far left is his favorite - she had him last year too. In the front row, third from the left, dark hair and pink shirt is Christina. Aiden talks A LOT about this little girl...and in the front row, second from the right in a dark blue shirt is Anthony who Aiden says is his best friend ever. Mrs. Morrin on the far right, we are so utterly grateful for this woman. She really got things going for us in terms of OT for Aiden and learning development this year.<br />
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<br />We celebrated the last day of school with a trip to the park and played for hours and hours! Racing, sliding, riding bikes, swinging and just getting into Summer-Mode in general.<br />
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I am so proud of how much this kiddo has grown this year. There have been some huge adjustments and major growing pains along the way, but we're doing so good - because we have each other.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-43741583684855437952013-05-09T14:01:00.001-06:002013-05-09T14:01:55.800-06:00Small Miracles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
What a difference!!</div>
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Aiden has begun his occupational therapy (OT) after weeks and weeks of being wait-listed. After all the insurance drama and prescription debauchery, it was so worth the wait. Miss Jackie (the OT) will be taking Miss Jo's place since Aiden is done with speech therapy and she is an awesome fit.</div>
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We talked for about an hour about the things that bother Aiden and what his teachers see as "problem areas," and she listened and took notes and came back with good, solid answers.</div>
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Everything about Aiden tells her that he is a "sensory kid." His issues have to do with his Kinesthetic Sensory System and his Vestibular Senses.</div>
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The Kinesthetic System is what "grounds" your body - you know you are standing on the floor, supported by the foundation which sits firmly in the ground. You are aware of the location of your limbs/extremities and you can feel the space around you. For Aiden, these sensory receptors are slow or interrupted (between the shoulders and other major joints, and the brain) so he is unaware of what space his body is in, how much room he has to move or stop moving - thus he plows over and through things without a second thought to get to where he wants to go.</div>
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The Vestibular System is managed by the inner ear and fluid inside of it. This is less of a problem for Aiden, as he often "crashes" on purpose because of the jolt it gives his Kinesthetic receptors - not because he can't balance. However, this particular system explains a lot about this kid. Why the car in the street sounds as loud as the game in his hand, as loud as the dishwasher in the other room, as loud as the thunder outside, etc. It's all loud, all the time. He actually calls it fast - this is intentional. All of the noise input makes his mind race and he gets confused and disoriented. It also explains why he doesn't like showers or getting his head wet - those sensations further exacerbate the input he is getting an overload of.</div>
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Once we talked about what's going on with Aiden, we talked about ways to help calm him down. Jackie brought a bag full of sensory objects to touch and feel and we founds somethings that Aiden could wrap around his arms to help reset his Kinesthetic receptors.</div>
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We also practiced some things that we can physically do to help him - rhythmic pressure through his arms and legs to the shoulder and hip joints. Randalicious and I took turns practicing and by the time we had it down, Aiden was hypnotized. It was a miracle. And he loved it. He said it felt good, he was smiling. He was calm.</div>
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Jackie watched him work with some play-doh and asked about his hobbies and his puzzles and she was truly astonished by what he knows and can do - this leads me to worry a little toward the other end of the spectrum. Clearly he is a smart kid, but if he can't figure out how to literally settle himself he could potentially hate learning and get really frustrated by school.</div>
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For now though, I am happy that we are figuring out the little pieces - I think he is too.</div>
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He's had a really good week, playing with his kitty - who is dying to go out for walks now that the weather is better.</div>
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Going to the Aquarium.</div>
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He even found his Game-Boy - which I had given up for lost over a month ago!</div>
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And he is hard core sleeping at night.</div>
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It's the little things. It really is.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-3681723699552727292013-05-02T14:55:00.000-06:002013-05-02T14:55:35.655-06:00A-B-C, 1-2-3Hi all!!!<br />
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Sorry for the lapse in updates! It's hard to write about Aiden when I spend most of my time chasing after, cleaning up behind and keeping up with him.<br />
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He is doing splendidly though! I may or may not have mentioned that he has finished his speech therapy and continues to speak more and more eloquently everyday. I get a lot of flack and funny looks when people hear the way we speak to each other - suggesting that I talk to him like an adult and should speak on his level...but he has grown to very clearly express himself and his emotions in the most beautiful way that I can't see any reason not to speak to him as though our vocabularies are equal.<br />
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He starts occupational therapy this week, so hopefully we can put that budding syntax of his to good use once he decides he wants to sit still!<br />
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Everything about him seems to be changing and growing so rapidly. After some long thought, I decided that his toddler bed was "dwarfing him" and that he could probably really benefit from a big boy bed - not just a bigger mattress but something that really made him feel like a big kid.<br />
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He is now the mayor of his very own twin-loft bed with a tent. And miraculously, he suddenly looks so small in the massive structure. Even just the size of the twin mattress makes him look so little.<br />
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Not only is he speaking like a big boy and sleeping like a big boy, he's working hard like a big boy too! As recent at 2 months ago he started counting all by himself to 30 - struggling with some of the teens and not really knowing what they look like, but trying really hard to understand.</div>
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So for the last week or so we have been doing the "numbers puzzle" before bed. It's 20 little 3-piece puzzles. Each puzzle has a number piece (i.e. 6), a picture piece (i.e. six puppies), and a word piece (i.e. s-i-x). So he lays them all out numbers first, 1-20.</div>
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Then I give him the picture pieces, one at a time and in random order - this way he has to count the pictures and find the matching number.</div>
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When we are all done, I read the word piece to him and he has to go back to his line up and find the digit that we are talking about.</div>
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Not only is he getting good at it, but he calls this "playing" and he wants to do it every night, uninterrupted by the TV! I freaking love this kid.</div>
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He's also getting really good with letters. He wanted to write the "B" on Aunt B's birthday card all by himself - though he got frustrated, he really wants to figure it out.</div>
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After introducing himself to strangers - not sure where he learned how to do that.... - the first question he asks is what letter their name starts with. Then, he asks for my phone so that he can make note of it:</div>
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"A"</div>
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"G"</div>
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So that's what we have been working on. He has a parent-teacher conference this week and then when May is over he'll start going to school 3 days a week (well, summer camp) and then Pre-K in the fall for 4 days a week.</div>
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Certainly growing up.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-37688047332111495032013-04-02T11:08:00.001-06:002013-04-02T11:08:44.807-06:00Easter and SuchAnd now for those Aiden updates I had promised....<br />
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First and foremost, a big congrats to my little guy - he is done with speech therapy!!! He still has to have an OT evaluation and potentially some intervention in that area, but language-wise, he is right where he needs to be. He had so much fun catching up with Miss Jo last week, it's almost sad that they won't be hanging out together anymore, but he did phenomenally! He knew and pronounced all the words perfectly and even rambled on about each one for a while. The sounds he still doesn't have down 100% are sounds that most kids don't master until they are 6 and he has trouble with pronouns a bit but again, that comes with another year or two of talking the talk.<br />
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So the OT thing (occupational therapy) will just be about helping him concentrate. Some kids require lots of sensory input to focus, others receive too much. With Aiden, we have noticed a sensitivity to sounds. He will hear a neighbor or a car or a thud outside and immediately want to know what it is. He complains when the radio is too loud ("too fast" he says) in the car for him to hear his game boy, etc. So, likely, Aiden is getting to much sensory input and it manifests itself by making him move his body around to compensate for every sensory receptor his body is receiving. He'll do funny things, like run his head along the floor, stomp his feet, crash hard on the ground with his body, etc and it's all a means to solidify all the "noise" he's getting.<br />
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In other news:</div>
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Aiden had a splendid Easter, hunted eggs with Aunt Dana...</div>
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And because it was such a beautiful day, we went swimming! It was gorgeous, the water was warm, the sun was out - and Aiden took no bribing (well maybe a small amount of "I'm gonna push you!") to jump in. He swam his little self all around the pool, glorious :)<br />
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Some other interesting things that have been happening lately...<br />
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For the last couple weeks, at bed time, Aiden has been sneaking into his closet and closing the door. The light is on of course, but he sits quietly in there for a couple minutes, sometimes whispering, sometimes silent, then he comes back out and gets back in bed. Peculiar....<br />
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His hands and lips have been especially dry over last cold months, so I cover them in A&D ointment before bed and leave the tube on his night stand. The first time the tube went missing, I chalked it up to mishap cleaning and replaced it with another (we have plenty). Last night, it was missing again, so I got a new one upon Aiden's insistence, covered him in the stuff and went to bed.<br />
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Not long after I lay down, I could hear the closet door closing and the whispering start. Shortly after, he went into the bathroom and washed something in the sink, then asked to be tucked back in - OK kid, one more time, but then really, bed time. When I snuggled him back in bed, I noticed the A&D missing...the one I just put on the night stand. Peculiar....<br />
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When I asked where it was, he said he put it in the closet. So I took a peek...<br />
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Everything in Aiden's reach in the closet was covered and smelled of A&D, then in the very back of the closet, sort of hidden, were 4 empty, squished up tubes of the stuff.<br />
<br />Since bed time had long come and gone, I said, "back to bed." Mostly because I was hoping that if I went to sleep pretending it never happened, it'd take care of itself. This morning, when trying to dress Aiden in something that wasn't covered in goo, I realized how terribly wrong I was.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-56288891813824538812013-03-28T13:23:00.001-06:002013-03-28T13:26:43.800-06:00Who run the world?<div style="text-align: right;">
GIRLS! We run this mother...strong enough to bear the children, then get back to business.</div>
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I promise Aiden updates soon, we have so much to be happy about these days. But first, I have somethings I want to say:</div>
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I'm 25 years old today. Fewf, that was hard to get out. Not because I fear getting old, but because my other fears are prompted by age.</div>
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Fears that I haven't learned, absorbed or experienced enough. Fears that I started chasing my dream with only a small window of time in which to achieve it before it will be shelved with other lost wishes. </div>
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I think we get really wrapped up in mortality and worry over the exact amount of minutes in which we have left to live and I have been working hard over the last year or so to change that within myself. It's okay to express anxiety over the passage of time, but I beg of you, let that passage of time appear to you in a way that is circular, spiral and wide - ultimately, Gabriel Garcia Marquez-esque. Let your worries be about the moments in which you presently find yourself and fill those moments with your whole self.</div>
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A little over a year ago, I was lying in a hospital bed and weighed 100 pounds on a good day; felt alone, frail and deeply depressed. That week of my life, feeling like I might die, was quite possibly the best thing that ever happened to me. I walked away from it with a hunger to get better, to be better and do better. If not for me, then for Aiden. So I did. </div>
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This last year has been filled with the most courageous, beautiful learning experiences. I found myself, I found strength and I found the will to push forward - to stop waiting for life to happen. </div>
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I am so truly blessed for all the support and opportunity I have received this year, I am also much more aware of how fragile those commodities are. Support and opportunity can be here one day and gone the next. It is the conviction of will and the strength of character which pushes you forward.</div>
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There are so many more women in my life this year than ever before and I am ecstatic to have them to work with and learn from. Ladies, we hold each other up, we can do anything once we realize it is simply in our own hands.</div>
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I am stronger. I am brave and resilient. I am better. I am unstoppable. </div>
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I am 25 and I am not ever going to stop moving forward.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-1743733219109790542013-02-11T14:31:00.000-07:002013-02-11T14:32:59.362-07:00A Much Happier Hoe-DownHey all, lots of requests for pics and videos from last week's Hoe-Down at Abiding hope.<br />
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It went MUCH better than <a href="http://outnumbered-momandtheboys.blogspot.com/2012/02/not-so-happy-hoe-down.html" target="_blank">last year.</a><br />
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Aiden was such a champ, and so totally into it - I might have shed a tear or two, either out of beaming pride or total laughter.<br />
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Anything that doesn't fit in this post can be found on Facebook :)<br />
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And some of the action...</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxWKorwystdGldG5YSXod5QactwKHrU31kNfUfjC8WCRmzQ1XmpoE36DzmKO1FgK534DnE6qjEhkcrpYz6Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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See Facebook for more videos - Aiden had really, just such a great time :)</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-27375959923940924912013-02-06T15:51:00.000-07:002013-02-06T15:51:41.221-07:00Curious CuriositiesLast night, Aiden was a bit subdued. After sustaining a small injury at school he was being quiet and just wanted to play LEGO's after dinner, so I left him to his own devices while I read awhile.<br />
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Shortly before bath time he asked if we could watch Dora or Diego. This is a new fascination of his, but it is thrilling to me to no end. When I am in the other room putting away laundry or in the kitchen cooking something and I hear him talking to the TV about how old he is, how many animals he sees on the screen or singing in Spanish - I am over joyed. I love the interaction he enjoys with these kid's shows; I am really not sure where it came from but he thinks it is the greatest thing in the world and I think him learning these things (especially the basic Spanish) is pretty neat too.<br />
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Anyway, the episode was progressing and Diego was trying to save a baby chinchilla from some snakes when quiet, docile Aiden asked me, "Do we live on the Earff?"<br />
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We went around and around until I understood the "Earff" is the "Earth," and I told him, "Yes, we live on Earth, pretty neat huh?"<br />
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"Yeah, it's a good idea, I like the Earff," and he went kinda quiet again, watching Diego go on about his business, when he piped up again with, "A rock hits the Earff? A big rock crashes?"<br />
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My jaw dropped. "Who told you that? Where did you hear that? No, sweetie, there are no rocks going to crash the Earth." I waited to hear his response.<br />
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"We have a moon?"<br />
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Ok. Time to get the solar system puzzle out.<br />
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Aiden got a big solar system floor puzzle for Christmas that he hasn't played with much since, so we got it out and put it all together.<br />
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After we got it together, we started talking about the different things he could see. I asked him about the sun, why is it so big and so yellow? And we talked about why the "Earff" looks so blue, and which one of the green patches we live on (and Grandpa too!). We talked about all the things "floating" around in the Milky Way - which prompted the need for candy...and we talked about why Pluto is on the puzzle but it's name isn't there.</div>
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Aiden's a pretty cool kid. A curious kid, who's curiosities make me curious. But, a really cool kid.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-79627407366169242682013-01-07T10:58:00.000-07:002013-01-07T10:58:57.309-07:00New Year - New RulesSome may have noticed that OutNumbered sort of fell off the grid there for a bit...sorry.<br />
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This was due to a few factors - technical difficulties, general busy-ness, and mostly because I wanted to spend most of my holiday free time enjoying my kiddo, rather than writing about him.<br />
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I do have a few holiday goodies to share though!<br />
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This was the first year that Aiden was really super interested in Santa Claus. He wanted to talk to him, see him and he was very concerned about what Santa was doing to get ready for the big day. Of course, he was reminding everyone in the weeks leading up to Christmas that he really needed the "Thomas the Train Shake Shake Bridge" and that Santa was working on it.</div>
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Santa delivered :)</div>
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This kid was pretty spoiled. Christmas Day I was completely overcome with the amount of presents he got just from me - there were so many toys, how could I have spent so much?!? Looking back over the year though, which was exceptionally tight for us financially, I felt a great sense of pride in knowing I was able to do that for him. If that's what all the skimping and scrounging was for then it was totally worth it.</div>
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And if things get tight this year...we'll start our own toy store.</div>
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A big hit for Aiden this year was the mechanical T-Rex that moves, roars and shoots darts. This works well in conjunction with his pirate ship which also shoots darts/cannons.</div>
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After Christmas, when I started shopping for Aiden's birthday - I had a really hard time finding anything that he didn't already have.</div>
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What a problem right?</div>
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Anyway, a big, happy, belated birthday to my 4 year old!</div>
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He has become quite the little person! Full of sassy sayings and personality quirks.</div>
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He has grown taller but the size of his hugs remains the same - bigger than any person I know.</div>
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He celebrated his 4th birthday with close family friends and a couple kids from the lake.</div>
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Uncle Erik was even in town and trained the boys on how to use the tri-pod nerf gun.</div>
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I haven't seen my cat in days....</div>
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Since his birthday, Aiden has been very busy - shopping and such</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6zfUFzNxPGrCSddCBfgppy1vHEOfzOH-Mus3iM5yIaLJ6JzY5DfjjcNExdBQ8CvGan5_Lpd-ju9Y9ChYtUoH02DHyFVEX22jeYDK2f2vJObtCqE-kN6qyq6DBVMeS3qtwJ0rv4rtIcc/s1600/IMG_1757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6zfUFzNxPGrCSddCBfgppy1vHEOfzOH-Mus3iM5yIaLJ6JzY5DfjjcNExdBQ8CvGan5_Lpd-ju9Y9ChYtUoH02DHyFVEX22jeYDK2f2vJObtCqE-kN6qyq6DBVMeS3qtwJ0rv4rtIcc/s320/IMG_1757.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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He also attended a birthday party for someone else. Little kids bowling makes me extremely nervous - I always expect a little arm to go rolling down the lane with the ball.</div>
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Aiden was enamored with the big kids and how they only used one hand to bowl - so with a little help from Daddy, and a couple gutter balls, he was able to do it just like them.</div>
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I was also lucky enough to enjoy some birthday fun, thanks to a weekend off.</div>
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The girls (and Dylan) had a lovely time doing karaoke and being silly.</div>
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Anyway, this all got me thinking about New Year's Resolutions and such (which I don't believe in) so this year:</div>
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- Not worry so much about not working out so much</div>
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- Spend more time enjoying Aiden than writing about him</div>
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- More girl dates</div>
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- Maintain the "Sweet Surrender" mantra</div>
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- Uphold the work ethic and sense of self which made 2012 so awesome</div>
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Even though you all will be hearing less from OutNumbered this year - rest assured, 2013 holds many funny stories and fantastic adventures that I can't wait to share.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-50241010584936096232012-11-15T14:06:00.000-07:002012-11-15T14:22:15.628-07:00Meltdown MasteredAiden and I get tired. And we get cranky. Because we go, go, go and then we crash.<br />
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Luckily, as a Mommy, I get to be grumpy - because I am an adult and I don't kick people when I am cranky.<br />
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Aiden seems to get tired enough he crosses this "meltdown line" where all logic and reason suddenly go out the window and kicking, hitting, screaming, running away, throwing toys and being mean are not only possible but all occur at the same time if he doesn't get what he wants or he has to do something he deems "unfair."<br />
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Please note - Aiden considers the following "unfair":<br />
- Brushing his teeth<br />
- Buckling his seat belt<br />
- Cleaning up one toy bin before getting out another<br />
- Turning the TV off if he won't eat dinner<br />
- Going to bed before 9 PM<br />
- Putting his coat on before we leave the house<br />
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So last night, when I picked him up from Grandpa's as per usual, and I told him it was time to go home he came unglued. Even though I relented to helping him with and puzzle and a game of hide-and-seek before we left. Life is still just really unfair.<br />
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When he wasn't getting his way he started screaming about how he wanted to go out to dinner with Papa (Randalicious) -- at this point I had already been hit, kicked, slapped and screamed at. By the time I had him buckled in the car there was absolutely no way I was going to take him any where in public - I even expressed this to him vocally, "Mommy would be silly to take you anywhere but home to bed after you hit me."<br />
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So his screaming turned to crying, which of course made my resolve turn mushy.<br />
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"I wanna be a nice boy, I wanna be nice, I wanna say sorry!"<br />
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So I start feeling sad...does he not think he is a nice boy?? He's a very nice boy - he's just making bad decisions...should I go easy on him? Now that he's saying "sorry" and "please mommy, please," I feel like a total jerk :/<br />
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But I held fast to what I already told him -- I can not take this small person who may or may not be suffering from a bipolar disorder at the moment, to a public place. In part because I am also tired. Nope, not in the cards.<br />
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So we drove away from Grandpa's with him screaming and me remaining ever so quiet so as not to let on how bad I felt about how he was carrying on. Half way home, with the screaming still coming from the back seat he started in with, "I need to go potty, I'm gonna go potty!"<br />
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When I offered to stop, he refused saying, "I need to go potty at Grandpa's house!!!"<br />
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Ah, sweet relief, I made a good choice. He was totally aware of his manipulative behavior and when I didn't allow him to see it working, he spent half the ride home re-working his angle. So I spent the second half of the ride home convincing myself that if he really did pee his pants in the back seat -- that might be the best thing for him.<br />
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The worst thing for him would have been giving in. It's not like I stand a lot gain from him peeing his pants in my new car, having to wash the car seat and carrying his pee-stink self inside the house -- but I did gain from him realizing that the carrying on and essentially "bullying" into getting his way doesn't fly.<br />
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Wouldn't you know it, by the time we got home, he couldn't wait to get inside and do a new puzzle. And boy was it quiet while he ate every last bite of his dinner with me, one might dare to say enjoyable.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-8785786058568895592012-11-07T15:40:00.000-07:002012-11-07T15:40:51.849-07:00Burn<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Do you wanna be a poet and write</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Do you wanna be an actor up in lights</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Do you wanna be a soldier and fight for love</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Do you wanna travel the world</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Do you wanna be a diver for pearls</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Or climb a mountain and touch the clouds above</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Be anyone you want to be</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Bring to life your fantasies</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">But I want something in return</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I want you to burn</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Burn for me baby</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Like a candle in my night</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Oh burn</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Burn for me, burn for me</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Are you gonna be a gambler and deal</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Are you gonna be a doctor and heal</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Or go to heaven and touch God’s face</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Are you gonna be a dreamer who sleeps</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Are you gonna be a sinner who weeps</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Or an angel under grace</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I’ll lay down on your bed of coals</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Offer up my heart and soul</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">But in return</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I want you to burn</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Burn for me baby</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Like a candle in my night</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Oh burn</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Burn for me, burn for me</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Laugh for me, cry for me</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Pray for me, fly for me</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Live for me, die for us</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">I want you to burn</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Burn for me baby</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Like a candle in my night</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Oh burn</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Burn for me, burn for me</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg753IScmzvLqiI5_fjUb4kRc1WShpiguFXy_1-c5a8PSkQjtXn27XIc9aZFYFG7nCZfSWM-1X974u7AiVm9dFRdUoTolqbrmX4omZmoFoFL_Wl2ZCvFR4SeGv_wFIfbjmISQf_ehr2-nk/s1600/IMG_1395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg753IScmzvLqiI5_fjUb4kRc1WShpiguFXy_1-c5a8PSkQjtXn27XIc9aZFYFG7nCZfSWM-1X974u7AiVm9dFRdUoTolqbrmX4omZmoFoFL_Wl2ZCvFR4SeGv_wFIfbjmISQf_ehr2-nk/s400/IMG_1395.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-center;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-54953633222742488152012-11-01T14:34:00.000-06:002012-11-01T14:35:30.512-06:00Another Great One <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As always, Halloween did not disappoint. </div>
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Since I was working on Saturday night, I didn't get to go all out in costume and celebrate my favorite holiday but I did get to spice up the LBD a little bit.</div>
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Aiden began celebrating on Friday by going Trick-or-Treating at Grandma Deiker's office so his candy stash was well on its way by the end of the weekend. Aunt Dana even brought home a pair of Vampire fangs from her Halloween party for him to play with.</div>
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He is so spooky!</div>
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On Halloween night we went Trick-or-Treating in Randalicious' neighborhood (where I used to go) for the first time. Aiden was so independent and all "big boy" about the whole thing.</div>
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He rang all the door bells by himself, said "Trick or treat!" and "Happy Halloween" and lots of "Thank you's"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwiTbo7MLr3w4f4-eroic1gQtxsN0afoJiWDLAr-zYoh65e4_nTPMAekbN1v-CVQH6QVJdX7Plq_3VbCjspQWTTdgMbvpdjRgeld3vmD-kKD0I9qRqhjhdupOgRBIn90X61PAImtQ463M/s1600/IMG_1339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwiTbo7MLr3w4f4-eroic1gQtxsN0afoJiWDLAr-zYoh65e4_nTPMAekbN1v-CVQH6QVJdX7Plq_3VbCjspQWTTdgMbvpdjRgeld3vmD-kKD0I9qRqhjhdupOgRBIn90X61PAImtQ463M/s320/IMG_1339.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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There was one house though that was just a little too spooky for him, so he took Daddy to the door with him.</div>
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All night he was great about holding hands and staying on the sidewalk. I was personally impressed by how many parents were out and volunteer safety patrols.</div>
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Aiden was so funny, when he passed a group of parents who said, "Spiderman, COOL!" He silently, coolly looked up at them and shots some imaginary spidey-webs at them. I don't know who thought it was funnier.</div>
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As we walked away I whispered to Steve, "Our kid is such an effing B-A"</div>
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On an even more amusing note, I decided to participate in Jimmy Kimmel's You Tube Challenge this year --</div>
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"Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I told my kid I ate all their Halloween candy"</div>
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Enjoy the results knowing, I promptly gave him a piece afterward because I felt so bad.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-67336635062202628322012-10-24T13:11:00.001-06:002012-10-24T13:11:33.240-06:00Early ChristmasAs it turns out, kids really like presents. Presents seem to put kids in a really good mood.<br />
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I can't say whether that was the intention behind Aiden's new "toy" but I am really liking the effect it has on his attitude :)<br />
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I brought home an old computer last night, in pretty good condition, nothing special, stripped down, etc. last night. Fortunately, because of bad traffic and Aiden's delayed arrival I was able to get things rearranged and set up before he got home.<br />
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Since I wasn't really planning on this, well planning on it happening so soon, I had nothing to put the computer on for Aiden and the monitor being so big made me think twice about stealing space on the train table. So I cleaned off Aiden's night stand and hijacked it for the computer.</div>
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Dexter was so extremely helpful with all the cords and plugs :)</div>
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Aiden has his own little space in the corner now for watching Netflix and playing games, but we are going to have to find a better seat - not his Crayola Craft Table.</div>
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When he got home, I had it on and set up on PBS.org with all his favorite little shows, and I told him he had a surprise in his room.</div>
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When he walked in, he went straight for the blue bag in the background (which was used as transport for the computer) opened the bag and gave me a disappointed look like, "Uhh, Mom, my present is empty, WTF?"</div>
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I pointed out the new addition and he got excited!</div>
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"This is mine?!?!"</div>
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He was hesitant to check it out, still in disbelief, until Randalicious came to help him.</div>
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They were really enjoying themselves, and as I mentioned, this early Christmas present put Aiden in a great mood. He was hamming it up at dinner - more than usual...</div>
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After dinner, all he wanted to do was go home and play. Having never had to explain what a mouse is and how it works before, I was stumped. I kept calling it a "button" and a "clicker" trying to help him understand what it does. It was probably similar to discussing paint swatches with a monkey who speaks Spanish...</div>
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After we played quite a bit and learned about dinosaurs, he settled down on his couch to watch a movie before bed.</div>
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I went to the living room to take care of some emails and things for work and as I sat on the couch, I thought to my self - wow, it is so calm and quiet. I don't think any living room has been so peaceful since I was taking pregnant naps on the couch.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-68439334936284331502012-10-22T14:56:00.001-06:002012-10-22T14:56:39.225-06:00Ready for Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Some of us more than others....</div>
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Aiden in particular is overly excited. I don't know if I mentioned or not but the subject of witches, ghosts and pumpkins came up during conferences last week - not in a bad way, but lets say, this time of year - dinosaurs take a back seat to Halloween.</div>
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Being the Halloween nut that I am, this should surprise no one really, but what may shock you, is that we still have not done pumpkins. There was in fact a time when we would go get our pumpkins in September because I was worried about shortages - yes ladies and gentlemen, I have long been fearful of pumpkin shortages.</div>
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Anyway, even though they are more expensive at private pumpkin patches, this ritual is decidedly important enough for us to make a whole ordeal out of pumpkin picking. So we spend Sunday morning at the pumpkin patch.</div>
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Aiden wore his Spiderman costume, because of course if he only gets to wear it to school and trick-or-treating, we will no doubt, not be using it nearly enough.<br />
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He spent a good deal of time inspecting the left over pumpkins, and after seeing Steve "knock" on the side of one to see if it was rotten, Aiden then had to pat down all possible carving contenders.<br />
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There were carving stations and farm animals to pet also, as well as other kids to play with, and an amusing learning experience about see-saws.<br />
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It was such a beautiful day, once I was done being the "Mom-aratzi" we just sat and enjoyed the warm sun while Aiden played.<br />
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And played....<br />
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And played some more...</div>
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Since it was such a nice day, we decided on a picnic lunch in the park - mostly so Aiden could get more use out of his Spiderman outfit.</div>
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Climb Spidey, climb!</div>
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Once he was officially tuckered out, we went home for a nice long snooze, then headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. Aiden was super excited, he got to help put up Halloween lights last week, so he spent a great deal of time Sunday night admiring his handy work.</div>
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He was so wound up last night that I had to remind him at bed time what a busy week we have - we have to carve our pumpkin...("Oh boy!") and make our ghosts....("Oh my gosh!") and buy candy...("Oh my candy!"). He added trick or treating to the list and I didn't have the heart to tell him no :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057059767447117825.post-59307308175619689202012-10-18T13:59:00.000-06:002012-10-18T13:59:06.890-06:00A Gentleman and a ScholarIt's that time of year...Parent-Teacher Conferences. Early this month, Abiding Hope did their annual hearing and vision screening, and I knew as the screening approached that Aiden would be in for some more in-depth analysis.<br />
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Sure enough, his teachers approached me about having a more involved evaluation done on him about a week before the screening and I agreed to is so long as it would not affect Aiden negatively, i.e. - I wouldn't want him singled out and I surely wouldn't want him to feel any sort of pressure to do something differently, or "correctly," because he is truly sensitive to those things and it seems to make him feel as though he has done something "wrong."<br />
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All these concerns addressed, Aiden had a screening and we discussed it all this morning. I have known, for over a year now that developmentally, Aiden's speech is not where the other kids' are at. However, having since been in speech therapy and more and more time in school, as well as more and more reading at home - he has VASTLY improved. Luckily, one of his teachers this year was one of his teachers last year and she could affirm this also.<br />
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For right now, Aiden is going to have another evaluation done, by his speech therapist. We are all in agreement that since he is comfortable with, and probably misses her, she should be the one to determine whether he needs further intervention or not. That being said, he definitely needs Occupational Therapy and there's just no way around it.<br />
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The real concern at this point for Aiden's teachers, is his lack of spatial awareness. Literally meaning, he doesn't understand what is "his space" as opposed to someone else's space or just in general - how much of the space around him is comfortably his. Some of the clues to this are, rather hilarious, that he will explore that "unknown space" with his body. By running his hands along all surfaces, spreading him self out as much as possible, and even running his head along the carpet - I told you, rather hilarious.<br />
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If only it were a perfect world where Aiden could test and learn his limits via head rubbing whenever and wherever he wanted....sigh. Unfortunately, this leads to other problems within the class room. He has trouble getting from Point A to Point B simply because he doesn't understand the space between. In attempting to do so, he knocks things over, tramples things, and sometimes tramples other kids.<br />
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Obviously, he doesn't do this on purpose and no one is suggesting that he is. Quite to the contrary, his teachers have on occasion told him, "Aiden, you hurt your friend," and he will not have even realized it, furthermore, he then gets terribly upset and cries because he feels so bad for what he has done. Bless my little guy's heart.<br />
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This is the only area on his "report card" scholastically where the teachers show concern - emotionally, being tied to his spatial awareness, he gets really down when he thinks he has hurt someone. But everything else is going great.<br />
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He interacts extremely well and respectfully with adults, which I find humorous because at this stage, it is obvious that Aiden views my friends as his friends/peers/playmates - so of course he interacts well with them. Aiden and I are even in the habit these days of telling each other, "You are my best friend."<br />
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He is counting beautifully, knows all of his colors (except grey which we just happened to be working on in the car this morning) and is great with geometric shapes. Earlier this week at dinner, he was using his food to show me some of his shapes even.<br />
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My biggest joy from this morning though, was hearing about his aptitude for reading and writing. Aiden views himself as a reader. Even though he is not necessarily reading all the words on all of the pages, he believes himself to be. He will sit and take a book from beginning to end without interruption and work through it as though he is reading it. (Not to be extra boastful or anything but he did point out the word "Big" to me last week).<br />
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Aiden is the same way with writing. His pencil grip is developing beautifully and when he sees someone writing, he wants to write as well. When asked to write his name he produced a beautiful "A" - really it would bring you to tears, and then he drew a pumpkin and told the teacher to write "pumpkin" because it was very important that this go with his "name." Just like with reading, when he is "writing," he fully believes himself to be writing clearly, legibly, and lengthily.<br />
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I am a proud mama bear today. My kid can write an A.<br />
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OOOO! Also, Kids Kreations orders are due next week - </div>
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And I will have new school pictures shortly :)</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09748597134683210873noreply@blogger.com0