We've been pretty busy lately and here are a few photos I'd love to share with you...

Brotherly Love and Baseball Pants

What's that?  Is Aiden wearing 'Big Boy' underwear?!  Why yes, yes he is.  Thanks for noticing!  We've been working on the potty training for the last several weeks and he is doing so well.  He was totally capable for a while.  It was mostly a matter of his being willing to stop playing and sit on the potty for more than 5 seconds.  I think the reinforcement at preschool has helped him a lot as well.  I'm extremely proud of him!  He is also very pleased with himself.  About a month ago, he liked to tell random strangers, "I a big boy - I wearing underwear!"

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Playtime!

Aiden really enjoys being a big brother.  He loves to help with Noah, bringing him a blanket or toy.  "Here you go, Noah!  Here's a car for you."  Sometimes, they make each other giggle and I can't wait for more of those interactions! 

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Listening to the music inside

It's wonderful to watch children grow and communicate more and more of who they are and what they think about.  Sometime in January or February (I can't quite remember), Aiden said a made-up word "Dindah" (hmm, I hope I'm not misspelling that).  It was in the context of saying something was his.  "No, that's my dindah!"  So, I asked him what it was.  He just smiled and repeated the question back to me.  I don't know, Aiden - you brought it up!  Is it an animal?  Nope.  Is it a person?  Nope.  My verbal investigation didn't turn up any leads.  Months later and we're still talking about the 'dindah'.  But usually, it's far away and we're not going to see it today.  Don and I have wondered if it could be the appearance of any imaginary friend, but I've never seen him try to talk to the 'dindah'.  It may be a mystery that will always elude us, but isn't it fun to say?

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Toes!

Noah is a total toe-holder lately.  Feet are just so much fun to play with!  I haven't seen him chewing on those toes yet, but he sure loves to hang on to them and roll around.  This makes diaper changing a bit more challenging.

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Mommy's Big Helper

Lately, I've been involving Aiden with cooking dinner.  He loves to help and it is my sneaky plan to fascinate him with making yummy food, so that he will not grow up to be a typical man who doesn't know how to boil water.  (Please don't take that as slam on all men in the kitchen.  I know several guys who cook way better than me!)  Anyways, he knows about boiling, stirring, cracking eggs.  Muffins are probably his favorite thing to help make, aside from smoothies, that is.  Here he is on family pizza night.  We put in our orders, but he pretty much decided what was going on everybody's pizzas.  And they were delicious!

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Ready to Crawl?

Well, we thought we had such a chill baby.  But it turns out our little Noah was being tricky.  He is turning out to be a pretty active little guy and I'm not sure what's going on with those legs, but they're made of steel. He is constantly kicking them and likes to slam them down on the floor.  He's been solidly supporting his full body weight, standing in our laps since he was only a month or so old.  Here he is at only barely 5 months and I can't believe he's already trying to go!

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All you need is love

A few days ago, Aiden came up to me and said, "Mommy, You're my best friend.  And Daddy and Noah, too!"  I just about melted into a puddle on the floor.  We may have a very active little boy, but he's not too busy to be just plain sweet.  Don and I now finally and regularly getting to hear those special three words from Aiden "I love you".  It's pretty much the best feeling ever.

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