Growing Up

Aiden is almost 18 months old! Can you believe it? Here are some pictures I thought you'd enjoy. I'll describe the back story on each one...

1. I moved a bunch of stuff into the kitchen because we were getting the carpets cleaned. Aiden was instantly attracted to the huge mess and spent about 30 minutes poking around in there!

2. Aiden was eating but obviously something made him mad.

3. Aiden loves to play with cans (no sharp edges, don't worry). This time he was putting his farm animal magnets in the can and dumping them out over and over and over and over.

4. Aiden likes to help me load the dishwasher. I walked into the living room to grab a glass off the table. It only took Aiden about 10 seconds to push in the bottom rack and get himself on the door. I got a picture on my phone of him STANDING there. I swear, he must plan these things for the MOMENT I'm not paying attention. He always executes them quickly and perfectly.

5. I was gardening, he was playing in the sandbox. He ventured away from the sandbox into some mud nearby and was none too happy with the results. I had to take him in for a bath right away!

He has been sick the last few days and his crankiness has been OFF THE CHARTS. He woke up in a good mood today though so I'm hopeful for a speedy recovery. During this illness he decided to give up the pacifier. He had sores in his mouth and Shannon explained to me that sucking is painful when kids have sores like that. Today I have some friends coming over to help me organize our place and get it ready to sell. I'll try to round up all the pacifiers while we're doing that because I'm sure he'll go right back to using them if he gets the chance.

I think Aiden will be a chef or a dentist. He LOVES to play with the stuff in the kitchen. His favorite thing to do in there is take all the spices out of the drawer and line them up on the windowsill. His favorite toy in the kitchen is easily the can opener. Don't worry, it doesn't have any exposed sharp parts. It is one of those can openers that leaves the lid without sharp edges. He loves to walk around the house with it and he even took it to the car recently.

One of Aiden's other favorite things is feeling my teeth. If he's sitting in my lap or a grocery cart and I'm talking, he immediately puts his hand in my mouth and feels around. I try to get his hand out but he puts it right back in as soon as I open my mouth. If you know me at all, you know I can't really keep my mouth SHUT so he's got lots of opportunity to get his hand in there!