How did the summer fly by so fast? Seems just like yesterday I was posting my first summer post and looking forward to all the things I would get done during the long summer. Well, summer has come and gone and it's back to school time.
The kids have just been amazing. After returning from Disney, we had lots of summer fun. Swimming in the pool and spending time as a family.
Aiden has discovered board games. I picked him up a few from a tag sale over the summer and we had quite a few family game nights. He likes Disney Sorry even though he doesn't quite understand fully how to play yet. He also has a monkey game he can play independently where you pull sticks out of a barrel and hope your monkeys don't fall.
Aiden also continues to amaze and delight us with his verbal commentary.... Just last night, he said
skyscrapers are called skyscrapers because they scrape the sky. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff! Aiden is also doing well learning to aread and can read a few of his easy readers books.... He has an AMAZING ability to rhyme. He can rhyme anything it seems and I don't even remember teaching him to rhyme. All I know, is this kid is smart. He also is starting to understand the concept of money and can tell you how many dollars he has in his piggy bank. The last few days, he has been obsessed with spelling and you will hear him ask you, "Mommy/Daddy how do you spell....." (The pic above shows Aiden spelling his name all by himself for the first time!)
Elly continues to be gorgeous and grows more independent each day.... At her 2 year check up 2 weeks ago, she is still measuring in as tall and very skinny. She doesn't have an ounce of fat on her body and still doesn't eat a whole lot. We still haven't cut her long blond hair, though Eric and I are in disagreement about that. I think it's time for a trim and he says no, not yet. Elly strings together 4-6 word phrases like nothing and even the pediatrician was impressed with her capabilities. It seems she can do just about anything she sets her mind to as she spends her days trying to keep up with big brother. She still loves "bee bees" (dolls) and has even started sleeping with the teddy bear I had as a young girl. She also still has a shoe fetish and must pick her "shoe shoes" each day. Sometimes she even changes pairs throughout the day. She also still loves Barney and spent many hours watching Barney this summer. I even found a costume for her at a tag sale for play.
Over the summer, we accumulated a few new things for the kiddos. Elly got her first big girl bedroom set. It's a twin bed with matching tall dresser and desk and hutch. Then I had lots of fun taking her shopping with me to pick out bedding. She has done a really good job sleeping in her bed. We really only had a hard time the first few nights. Elly also got a power wheels Dora Toddler ride on. Now, she rides around Chilmark Ct trying to keep up with Aiden in his monster truck. Aiden is a bit upset that she no longer wants to ride with him and follows her around trying to convince her to hop in. Aiden got to go see Transformers with us over the summer and mommy scored a big bag of Transformer toys second hand for him to play with. And daddy caved and got him the Bumblebee mask. Yes, just what he needed, more toys.
The sibling rivalry lately has been pretty bad. Aiden gets irritated because he can't boss Elly around and Elly gets irritated because Aiden won't leave her alone. Sometimes it's cute though. Especially when we have a "night night" competition. We will say Aiden or Elly go night night and they both start in saying no Aiden/Elly go night night. Other times though, we want to rip our hair out because they just won't leave each other be and you have to break up another battle of the wills. One thing they both agree on is loving ice cream. Elly calls it "I I". I just wish she could eat it as neatly as her brother. They also both enjoy playing tea set in Elly's room. I finally was brave enough to crack open the ceramic tea set my parents had given her last Christmas.
Now, we are in the process of planning for Aiden's 5th birthday. He says he wants to go to "Sand Whales" (Sea World) and wants a scary dinosaur cake with decorations. I am not sure how I will go about all of this, but we probably will take him to Sea World since it's his last birthday before he starts Kindergarten next year.
