Polar bear

This week was busy. Mommy turned 30 on Wednesday, and enjoyed a French toast birthday breakfast with Aidan and Daddy before flying to a conference in New Orleans for the rest of the week. Aidan missed her, but had a good time with Daddy, and his new stuffed polar bear who he has become very attached to (according to Aidan, the polar bear is either his "friend" or his "cousin", who he loves so, so much!).


Aidan insisted on going sledding whenever Daddy picked him up from playschool (he sledded 9 out of 10 days running!), and they played soccer and basketball games in the living room until Aidan could drill the ball and do tricks!


Mommy got back on Saturday late afternoon, and we were all happy to be together again. Sunday, we took three trains to the Central Park Zoo, and Aidan showed Mommy two *real* polar bears, as well as monkeys, sea lions, seals, penguins, and a snow leopard.


I was happy to be able to hang out with my guys when I got back: while I was gone I sent off my dissertation to my thesis committee (I am defending it in LA on March 3rd), and ever since the world has been a much better place!

Sledding

There was a big snow storm on Wednesday, and we have been sledding with Aidan every day since then! He really gets excited about it now, which makes it even more fun for us!

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Other highlights for the week: fun playdates with Jakob (thank goodness for a friend in our building this winter!), lots of train rides with Daddy, and a visit to Dylan's Candy Bar (not Willy Wonka's, but the next best thing!)


Mommy has been crazily busy, getting ready to defend her dissertation March 3rd and attend a conference in New Orleans this week, and Daddy has been fantastic with Aidan to take up the slack. It's mostly pictures this week, because I have to finish my preliminary dissertation revisions! More next time.

Croutons and Puff

Aidan moved up into the next class (2.5-3yr olds) at playschool this week. His new teacher is Miss Olga Sr., and he is doing great! He was excited about it Monday, cried because he wanted to go back to Miss Nana's class Tuesday, and Wednesday woke up in the morning and told us: "I'm not going to cry today!" and had a great day!


This week he also was incredibly sweet at playschool. On Thursday, we brought croutons to school for a snack (we found out he had been eating Miss Candy's!), and he said, "I want to share my croutons with Miss Candy!" - when he told her, she melted and gave him a huge hug. He was SO proud of himself!


Here are some other highlights from this week:
- Aidan is really interested in becoming a big brother. He has told us that we should take Kiana ice skating with all of us together (he really wants to go), and points out the empty toothbrush spot in our toothbrush holder, and says "When Kiana comes, she can put her toothbrush there!" And on Wednesday at breakfast, Aidan told us, "When Kiana comes, I'm going to give her a hug and say, 'I love you, SO much!'"


- Aidan now sings "Puff the Magic Dragon" (Peter, Paul & Mary), which we love. We got a library book that illustrates the song, and it's been Aidan's favorite this week.
- Aidan asked Daddy about the clouds that made the snow:
Aidan: "I want them to come scrape the snow."
Alex: "You want them to clean up the mess they made?"
Aidan: "Yeah."
- Despite being very busy, we managed to have fun and see friends this weekend. Friday, we saw Cira and Mary; Saturday, Daddy and Aidan went to the Central Park zoo and saw polar bears, seals, a snow leopard, and cuddly monkeys; and Saturday night, we had dinner with college friends Nadine & Josh, and Jenn (Aidan loved the chocolate cake Jenn brought & even helped Nadine serve it!).