This week was Aidan's last week of soccer school with Pro Soccer Kids for this semester. He has really loved it (and happily admits that, now!), and we've signed him up for more classes in the January. But we're going to miss it for the next couple of Mondays! He has learned all sorts of skills - from listening to the coach to dribbling the ball to doing giant kicks and drinking water *only* on water breaks, to kicking the ball through and past cones and a single defender - it's been a wonderful activity!
This weekend we all took it easy and relaxed, which was wonderful. We did another Family Clay Day downtown at The Downtown Community Center's Tribeca Clayworks, which Aidan asked for all week and was thrilled to go to. And Mommy and Daddy let each other catch up on some sleep. (Hooray!) We are looking forward to seeing family this week at Thanksgiving in the Catskills!
Here are some highlights from this week:
AIDAN:
- Aidan is rotating between wonderful normal Aidan and an alien form. Many times he is his usual wonderful self: tonight at dinner he said "Thank you, Mama, for making lunch!" at least three times; he spent at least 5 minutes running from the foyer to the couch and saying "boo!" because it made Kiana laugh; and he regularly joyfully includes us in his games at the playground. This side of him is wonderful!
- But then, sometimes the alien version pops out to test all limits - I guess that's true to form for an almost three-and-a-half year old: Instead of racing everywhere in high gear, he now regularly walks at about one inch per minute to get places; instead of answering when we call him, he is now often in his own little world and doesn't pay attention until the 10th (+) time we've called his name in various permutations (Aidan? 'scuse me? Aidan-Dayden? Aidan? Aidan? AI-dan?? AIDAN. AIDAN. AIDAN!); and the worst is that he now sometimes does *exactly* what I've asked him *not* to do (waking up Kiana or Daddy when they are sleeping are the worst) - just to see what will happen, as far as I can tell. This drives me crazy! It brings a couple of things to mind for me: First, it reminds me of a blog post that I saw from a mom of five in my neighborhood, where she said that "if I were God, I would've counted 1, 2... 4. Age three is one of those mysteries on a par with why babies aren't born potty trained"! (Ha!) And second, the name obliviousness reminds me of a Wonder Pets episode: In it, like in every other episode ever filmed, they use teamwork to save a baby animal. However, Ming Ming Duck tries to do it alone and has to be reminded by Linny the Guinea Pig to remember teamwork. Ming Ming, who is modeled on a 3 year old, responds: "Note to self: remember TEAMWORK!" (Ha!) I guess 3 year olds either have no attention span or just very selective hearing!! -- Right now, I'm looking for inspiration with this!
- Funny story (but with significant backstory):
* Last week while Miss Nana was gone at playschool, Aidan's babysitter Laurie filled in for her. While she was there, she told Aidan's class a story about Thanksgiving: she told them that there was a mean king in England who took people's money from them and that is why people went on big boats to get to America. (We think this sounds more like the Revolutionary War, but that's what he heard.)
* Then, this week, while we were on a train, Aidan held up his middle finger to me and told me that it needed a kiss because it had an "owie." Daddy told him to hold up *two* fingers (so we could compare them), and Aidan demanded to know why, until Daddy told him another story: he said that during a war, archers used their middle finger to pull back the string on the bow, and if they were captured they would have their finger cut off; so in battle, archers would show their middle fingers in victory to the other side to say that could still shoot. (Gory!)
* After hearing this combination of stories, Aidan told me on Thursday that there was a "mean king" who "ate people's fingers!" and that's why they went on "big boats" to America. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
KIANA
- We have been trying to start introducing sign language to Kiana, which helped us a lot when Aidan was pre-verbal. However, it's been confusing! For the last couple of weeks, Kiana has been exploring her hands, and has been (probably accidentally) making the "milk" sign on a regular basis. We thin that it's most likely an accident, but we want to positively reinforce the association, so I've been dropping everything to nurse whenever I can when she does it.
- When Kiana wants to be entertained, she is hilarious! She slaps her thighs with her round little hands with glee (sometimes there are some "heh, heh, heh" laughs, too), and when Daddy comes home, all he has to do is look at her with a smile, and her whole body jigs with happiness!
- This week, Kiana tried pureed peas and sweet potatoes. She is *not* a fan of the green stuff, but liked the sweet potatoes a bit more (still not as wonderful as rice cereal from the first time, though.)
- On Thursday, while Aidan was taking a bath and Kiana was in the Bumbo , she stretched so far out of it while reaching for a toy that she ended up jumping right out of the seat! She fell right on the hard tile floor from about 3 inches up and was very sad about it. :( Poor baby! At least she recovered pretty quickly.
- This week we seem to have a whole new round of teething. She has started some new "words" ("Bbbbbbbbbb"), is making "biting" motions with her gums, and sings a sad "Yah, yah, yah, yah!" when it gets worse. :(
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