Cardboard Address

When we bought our dishwasher we turned the box into a little playhouse for the girls. A friend from work said that at one point when her kids were small she had a box like that in her living room for over a year so we'll have to see how long this one stays here.

Aidyn decided that the playhouse needed an address. Daddy helped:

D: "What should the number of the street address be?"
A: "Um...29."
D: "Ok, 29. And what is the name of the street?"
A: "Pretend Road."
D: "Ok. And what city is it in?"
A: "Um...Whole City."
D: "And what state is Whole City in?"
A: "California!"

So, written on the front of the makeshift playhouse (in crayon, no less) is the address of Aidyn's cardboard home: 29 Pretend Rd., Whole City, CA. Feel free to send her some mail...she just might get it.

Chicken Pock Pie

Two weeks ago I had a minor procedure done under sedation that pretty much put me out for an entire day. One of our wonderful friends graciously brought us some dinner to help make our day a lot easier and it happened to be one of our favorites--Aidyn refers to it as "chicken pock pie."

Jackie Hair

Aidyn has a friend named Jackie in her class at church. Jackie is an little African-American girl who is sooooooo cute. Aidyn was reminded of her the other day when I put her hair into pigtails and lifted her up to see herself in the bathroom mirror. "Oh!" she said. "That's my Jackie hair!"

Braille

The emergency instruction card on the MARC train from Baltimore to Washington D.C. (which Aidyn licked) was printed with braille.  Aidyn asked what the bumps were and I explained that they were braille and helped blind people be able to read.  I love how quietly she sits and soaks in new information!  Her ability to retain is also wonderful because on the return trip she picked up the instruction card again (and did not lick it this time) and proclaimed, "Braille helps people who can't see read!"

Stop Licking That!

During our visit to Washington D.C. today I found myself repeatedly telling Aidyn not to lick things.  Apparently our nation's capitol tastes great because today alone Aidyn licked:

1. the MARC public train window,

2. the emergency instruction card on the train,

3. the escalator handrail on the Metro subway,

4. the chain surrounding the Lincoln Memorial,

5. the elevator glass in the Washington Monument,

6. the table in the Smithsonian Cafe,

7. the guardrails and/or glass at too many exhibits to count or list,

8. the plastic pouch of the kangaroo model in the mammal area of the Museum of Natural History,

9. the mirror in the San Francisco-themed diner where we ate Philly cheesesteaks which was run by an oriental woman and a middle eastern man and had Jewish music playing (very cultural licking occurred here).

Ok.  Ew.  Hopefully that was all because that is SO gross.  Stop licking that.

Obama Checked Our Bags

Aidyn has only ever seen President Obama once or twice on television and although she knows that he's the president, she has no idea what he does or how important he is...obviously!

I told Aidyn that President Obama lives and works in Washington D.C. where we were visiting today. I told her this as we were walking to the Smithsonian Castle to visit the museums. As we entered the castle a man (who did not resemble Obama in the least...except for his skin color) inspected our bags before we were allowed in and Aidyn exclaimed, "Obama checked our bags!"

'Cause I'm Not Sixteen!

Auntie [teasing Aidyn as we got in the car]:  "You wanna drive?"

Aidyn [incredulously]: "NO!!"

Auntie: "Why not?"

Aidyn: "'Cause I'm not sixteen!"

Who knew that she knew how old you have to be to drive!?

B-I-N-G-O

I told Aidyn that the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. had a special bingo game that you could fill out as you saw each animal.  She was very excited and exclaimed, "A b-i-n-g-o bingo game???"  What a great connection with the song that she was able to make and remember the spelling of the word!

Taxiing

As we began our flight to Baltimore this weekend Aidyn was upset with the airplane because she wanted to fly and it kept "driving," as she called it.  I explained that the airplane can't take off here ("why mom?") because it can't just take off anywhere ("but why mom?") because it might hit the building if it takes off too close to the airport ("why mom?") because it needs to go out to the runway to take off ("why?") because that's the way airplanes are designed ("oh, I see").  Finally she asked what it's called when the airplane is driving and not flying yet and she learned a new word: taxiing.

Ending

This weekend we went to Baltimore to visit Auntie.  On the way here I was enjoying watching Aidyn soak in all the information at the airport.  One of the things in which she was very interested was the moving sidewalks at the airport.  She has also been very interested in new vocabulary words and the moving sidewalk gave her a chance to learn a new word.  As we came to the end of the sidewalk, the automated voice declared, "The moving sidewalk is ending."

Aidyn said, "Mom, what's ending mean?"  So, we had a great discussion about beginning and ending in the airport!

Broke the Log

Aidyn's doll must have been misbehaving.  I'm not sure exactly what she did, but she broke some ordinance and Aidyn pronounced, "She's in jail because she broke the log."

Bedtime Stalling

Aidyn's bedtime stalling has not been a recent development. I've blogged about it before here and here and here. Last night she tried again over an hour after she was put down for bed.

Aidyn [calling down from upstairs]: "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?"
Daddy: "Yes, Aidyn?"
Aidyn: "Um. Well. Um. I have to tell you something."
Daddy: "What is it?"

Aidyn: "Um. Well. Did you know I'm not reading books anymore?"

Daddy: "Ok, Aidyn. Now get back in bed. Good night."

Then several minutes later...
Aidyn [calling down from upstairs]: "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?"
Daddy: "Yes, Aidyn?"
Aidyn: "Um. Well. Um. I have to tell you something."
Daddy: "It better be really important because you're supposed to be sleeping."
Aidyn: "Um. Well. Um. Did you know that you didn't put the toilet paper back on the roll thingy?"
Daddy: "Yes, Aidyn. Now get back in bed or you'll be in trouble."

Red Peppers

After finding a piece of red bell pepper in her vegetable beef soup yesterday...

Aidyn: "Why are you starting me on hot peppers?"
Me: "They're not hot peppers, they're sweet peppers. Try one."
Aidyn [tries one]: "Oh, they're good. Thanks. They're not hot ones. You're not starting me on hot peppers."

Oh, I See

Our little girl is like a 30-year-old in a 3-year-old's body. (Well, actually she's in the 50th percentile for a 30 month old despite being 45 months old...she's in the less than 3rd percentile for her age, but hey...who's counting??) Recently she's been asking a lot more "why" questions and listens very intently to the answer, then responds, "Oh, I see." Such a big girl!