Do You Want to Go to Pictures?

Aidyn is very good at pretending and sometimes it can be SO hard not to laugh when she does. But, as I've blogged before, she does not like to be laughed at so we do work very hard at it. Today we were tested for sure when she pretended to scold her Daddy during their playtime. He was doing something she wasn't approving of and knowing that we were about to leave for our photo shoot she said in a scolding tone, "Do you want to go to pictures?"

Certainly Investigate

Aidyn has been using some really big new words lately. I really enjoy listening to her vocabulary grow and knowing that it's in correlation to all the reading we do together. This past week she has come out of nowhere with "Certainly there must be water in this cup" and then today it was "We need to investigate where this yummy smell is coming from!" I am continually amazed that she consistently uses her new words correctly!!

Situation

Aidyn was wrestling with Daddy on her bed this morning and at one point Aidyn wanted to command Daddy's every action. Her first instruction was to make an Aidyn sandwich with the pillows in which she would be the mayonnaise and her stuffed animals would be pink toast, panda from the zoo, cheese, and mustard--with her stuffed cat, Snowball, being "crunchy cat meat." So, Daddy wasn't doing it fast enough for Aidyn's liking and she expressed her frustration: "Daddy, are you going to listen to me or not?" He didn't say anything, trying to subtly help her understand that her attitude was unacceptable. So she sighed heavily, looked away, shook her head slowly and then said, "Huuuuhhhhhh....Daddy. I am having a big situation with you right now."

Sad Tree

Aidyn has still not quite caught on to the correct name for weeping willows, but she is fascinated with them and points them out all over town. Yesterday while driving she saw one and said, "Mom! Look! One of those sad trees. What are they called again?" I reminded her of the correct name and then said, "What makes you think they're sad trees?" She thought for a moment and then said, "Well, because they look sad and they have a sad name." Interesting...does she know what "weeping" knows enough to connect it with sadness? I don't know. But it's still cute!

Scared Marks

Today I was sending a text to my mother-in-law and Aidyn was watching over my shoulder. She has been increasingly interested in the printed word since she can read many simple words now, but these two words that I sent were too hard for her. The text said, "Awesome!!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!" in appreciation for some help she had given me. I read it aloud to Aidyn at her request and she said, "But...then...why does it have so many scared marks?" I knew immediately what she meant and we had a great discussion about exclamation points and some other punctuation.

Out of Energy

It has been SO hot here this week and I think it's draining me big time. (Slightly off topic, but I thought it was funny when at my doctor's office today for my physical my doctor asked if I have a good energy level. I said, "Well, I have a 4-year-old who had surgery on Monday and needs extra attention plus medicine every four hours even at night, an 11-month-old who knows how to crawl, I'm 23 weeks pregnant and it's almost 100 degrees outside today..." She just smiled and said, "Yeah, I guess that was a dumb question.") Aidyn has noticed my decreased energy level and mentioned it to me yesterday morning around 10:30.

Me: "I am so tired."
Aidyn: "Not me! I have lots of energy! Are you out of energy already?"
Me: "I guess so."
Aidyn: "Well. That was fast."

What About Disneyland?

A random exchange with Aidyn from earlier this week:

Aidyn: "Mom, does everyone who's on tv live on Earth?"
Me: "Well, honey, most people on tv aren't real."
Aidyn: "But Mom! What about Disneyland? Disneyland is on Earth and we SAW those ones!!"
Me: [struggling for a good response] "Um, well, I guess Disneyland is different."
Aidyn: "Oh. Ok."

All These Strange Feelings

Very early this morning [read: just before 0130] as I cuddled my poor little girl with her sore throat and still at least 30 minutes until her pain medicine was due (gave it to her early anyway, poor baby) she gently patted MY back and said, "It's ok, all these strange feelings will go away soon."

I Almost Cried

Aidyn had her tonsillectomy today and was such an amazing little patient. Rather than the normal preschool patient who panics and freaks out either in pre-op or after coming out of anesthesia, our beautiful little girl "went to sleep smiling and woke up smiling" according to her surgeon. She was so well-behaved and calm that we got comments from every nurse who came in contact with her--just another view of her maturity level for us. She did just about break my heart when she saw me for the first time after waking up. She had eyes full of tears and said, "I almost cried when I was back there without you, but I didn't." She was a brave, brave, brave little rock star today!!

Too Much Party In My Tummy

There's this show that Aidyn loves to watch called Yo Gabba Gabba. One of her favorite songs is called, "Party In My Tummy." The other night she was complaining of an upset tummy--she is the only child I know who will actually get sick if she eats too many sweets--and she said sadly, "I think there's too much party in my tummy."

We Forgot to God

Last night at dinner Aidyn was trying to remind me that we forgot something: She said, "Mom! We forgot to God!!" then added, "that's a fancy way of saying 'we forgot to pray.'"

Twodey-Nine

Aidyn is learning how to count to 100 as part of her Kindergarten year. She is doing very well with only some minimal reminders as she goes through. She has learned about twenty, thirty, forty, and so on and demonstrated her knowledge as we were playing a game of Chutes and Ladders (which conveniently has 100 numbered squares). She did have a little trouble, though, when she had to slide down to number 29. I asked her to tell me what square she was on and she replied, "Two nine." I asked her to read the number and she paused for a moment and then said, "Oh! It's twodey-nine!!"

Frickle Leaves

This past week we have been studying leaves and trees for school. She has been quite the little sponge, soaking up information and then being adorable as she tells it back to us. She was especially interested in the fact that syrup gets made in trees and I love watching her face light up with happiness as she discovers new things about our world.

One of the parts of this week was a Leaf Walk in which she went all around the neighborhood with Daddy and found as many types of leaves as she could. She brought back an entire bucket of leaves, including one branch from an evergreen bush covered in "frickle leaves" as she called them.

Oh Yeah!

This is impossible to blog properly and do justice to the amazing cuteness that this is, but I hope that by recording it I might be able to always hear Aidyn's sweet little voice in my head. She has a new favorite phrase when she wants to really respond in the affirmative: "Oh yeah!" You just have to hear her say it to believe how adorable it is, but for now I'll have to be happy with it saved here for posterity.

How Did All That Fit in My Tummy!?

Slightly graphic for all those who don't regularly discuss bodily functions with their children....

This morning Aidyn had to come out of the bathroom to ask for some toilet paper. When Daddy went in there to help her put some new toilet paper on the roll, she pointed into the toilet at what was admittedly quite a large amount and exclaimed, "How did all that fit in my tummy!?"

Up Jacks

AJ was bouncing in his Jumperoo and Aidyn decided to jump with him. She was jumping wildly and I said, "Aidyn, what are you doing?" and she replied, "Up-jacks!!" then proceeded to show me what they were...jumping jacks!!

How Much?

Lately Aidyn has been trying to quantify her love for us or our love for her in terms of numbers. She does this with other things, too, but the love ones are the cutest, in my opinion. Today the discussion went like this:
Aidyn: "Mom, do you love me?"
Me: "Yes, baby, more than you will ever know?"
Aidyn: "How many? Like sixteen?"
Me: "No, like eighty-five kabillion, nine hundred million, three thousand nine hundred and ninety five zillion."
Aidyn: "Wow. That is a lot. Do you know how many I love you?"
Me: "How many?"
Aidyn [obviously searching for the biggest numbers she knows, I thought]: "Thirteen, eleven, sixteen."
Me: "Wow. That is a lot. How much do you love Daddy?"
Aidyn: "Thirteen, eleven, sixteen."
Me: "The same? Really?"
Aidyn: "Yes. But do you know how much I love God?"
Me: "How much?"
Aidyn: "Like billion million kazillion and thirteen. At least."

This Is How You Really Say a Prayer

A few nights ago Aidyn was up way past her bedtime and I wanted to help her get to sleep quickly. We sat down to say prayers and, as is our routine, I prayed first: "Dear Jesus, please help Aidyn sleep very nicely. Amen." Aidyn looked at me quite angrily, "Mama!! That was NOT a prayer. That was like a one-word prayer." Then she took her turn, "Dear Jesus. Thank you for today. Please help me to sleep well," then as an aside to me, "This is how you REALLY say a prayer!!" then continuing, "Please help me not to be nasty anymore. And help all the people who don't have a house or enough food to get them. And please help Daddy and AJ and Baby Landon sleep well. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Gruff Soup

Last week when Aidyn's throat was very sore, I made her some "soup without noodles" at her request. It was the first time she had ever asked for that and I tried to clarify, "Do you mean broth?" She said that yes, she was wanting broth so I made it for her. Two nights ago she was wondering if she could have "some more of that gruff soup." It took me a while to figure out what she meant, and she must have seen the look of confusion on my face because she added, "You know? Gruff soup? Soup without noodles!!"

Wailing Weeper

Aidyn was asking Daddy, "What is that creepy tree?" while driving near the church last week. He explained that it was a Weeping Willow tree and she didn't mention it again until Sunday. As we were driving to the church picnic she saw the tree again and pointed out, "There's that wailing weeper!!"

God Questions

This week has been full of incredible opportunities to talk with Aidyn about God. She, of course, has heard lots about God at Sunday School, but I love when she asks questions. A few nights ago she had a meltdown at bedtime and then told me, "I feel really bad for the way I acted. I don't want to keep being nasty every day?" I gave her a simple explanation that she should ask God to help her not to be nasty and she prayed her own prayer, "Dear God, I'm sorry I was nasty and please help me not to be nasty anymore." Confession must really be good for the soul because she then went immediately to sleep.

This morning she must have been thinking about that talk because she started this conversation in the car:
Aidyn: "Mommy, why did God make us?"
Me: "Well, because He wanted to love us."
Aidyn: "How did God make us?"
Me: "The Bible says that God made the first man, what was his name?"
Aidyn: "ADAM!!"
Me: "Yes, that's right. God made Adam from the dust of the ground and then blew His own breath into Adam and made him come alive."
Aidyn: "Wow. That's a lot of breath." [quiet for a moment, then...] "When did God make Adam?"
Me: "A very very long time ago. And what day was it that God made Adam?"
Aidyn: "The seventh day? No, that was when God rested. The sixth day!"
Me: "Right."
Aidyn: "Well, why did God make us be nasty?"
Me: "Oh, sweetie, God did not make us to be nasty. He made us wonderfully and He said we were good!! But, let me tell you a story. Do you know what a serpent is?"
Aidyn: "A snake!"
Me: "Right, well there was a serpent who came into the garden where Adam and Eve lived..." I relayed the story of the first "nastiness" that there ever was, and Aidyn listened very carefully. Then...
Aidyn: "Oh. Well, how does God help us not be nasty anymore?"
Me: "Let me tell you another story. Do you remember what we celebrate at Christmas?"
Aidyn: "Jesus' birthday!"
Me: "Yes, that's right. And so when Jesus was born..." Then I relayed the story of Jesus and how He helps us not to be nasty anymore. Afterward she asked me to tell her another story about God so I told her about Noah and then Jonah.

It's so interesting and wonderful to watch God work in Aidyn's life. I look forward to more of her questions--but I hope I can figure out how to help her understand all that she wants and needs to know.