The 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.

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.

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??

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.

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.

The cookie baking was quite an obsession all of December - so when we finally did it, Aiden was in charge of all decorating operations.

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."

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.

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.

After Christmas it was all about cleaning up quick and making room for more.

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!

His birthday felt like Christmas all over again, so much stuff. And he gave up opening presents about half way though.

Can't really blame him, what with that cool dino book and all!

We spent the majority of what was left of winter break putting together Legos - I must say, I am quite proficient!

We even squeezed in another Mammoth game (they won!)

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...

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.

Mostly we've been having quite nights because there are some attitude and personality changes happening with the little dude...

 but like I said before, all that heavy stuff for a different day.

For right now, Happy New Year from Britt and Aiden.

*Some years ask questions, some years answer them*

Summer Break Part II

Alright, where did we leave off???

Oh yeah, it was Father's Day and Aiden was having ice cream.

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.

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.

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.

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...

Aiden was so happy just to hear that he got something that he didn't care what it was...

   

And then we opened it up...the world's most offensive toy.

At least most of the red colored pieces are cowboys right??

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.

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! 

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.

Waiting to hit the pinata...

Takin a swing...

Playing in the bouncy castle with the boys

Showing off his pirate sword!

Hope everyone is having at least half as much fun as this kid is this summer!

Summer Break 2013 Part I

Holy 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.

So from the beginning of Summer Break 2013

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....

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...

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.

We got to do a little hiking up Coal Creek Canyon to see the "Tree House"

Stopping along the way to look at the art in the woods and picking up sticks.

Then chasing Mommy with the sticks.

Aiden also made sure that Mommy wore lots

and lots....

and lots of sunscreen. 

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 :)

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Such a sweet kid.

More Summer 2013 updates to follow.

Another School Year Gone

Aiden 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...

That's a glimpse at his summer plans - like I said, just a little busy

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.

 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.

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.

 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.

After Christmas time they asked what his favorite gift from Santa was...surprise, surprise we haven't forgotten about the Shake Shake Bridge!

They also inquired about his birthday party plans and the cutie-patootie continues to make my heart melt!!

One of his candid photos in the "yearbook."

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.

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.

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.

Easter and Such

And now for those Aiden updates I had promised....

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.

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.

In other news:

Aiden had a splendid Easter, hunted eggs with Aunt Dana...

 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 :)

Some other interesting things that have been happening lately...

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....

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.

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....

When I asked where it was, he said he put it in the closet. So I took a peek...

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.

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.