telephone

"Mommy, what's for dinner tonight?"

"Gnocchi, but you can have yours plain, without sauce."

"Why we are eating Pinnochio for dinner? Why he is plain?"

the exact moment I knew Disney was a different experience for Aidan

We were in Orlando last week. I thought it would be fun to watch him, as the line between reality and imagination is so incredibly blurry right now. I had no idea.

There's a Buzz Lightyear ride, which was bound to be popular. He loves, loves Buzz. You ride through, shoot lasers at targets and eliminate the evil emperor Zerg. He was so happy that he was bouncing up and down. He took a nap right after the ride, and we had a few minutes to kill. I asked him whether he wanted to ride again, and he kind of shrugged and said, "No." I asked him why and he said, "At the end of the ride, Buzz told me I did a great job and he took the evil emperor Zerg to jail. We're done."

funniest quotes from this weekend

We were at Addison's birthday party on Saturday. He got as excited as she was about one particular present, yelling, "You got my favorite color--pink!"

Looking up after his soccer "practice" Saturday, Aidan asked, "Mommy, did I do a great job?" He sat by the edge of the field for part of it and didn't participate for a good portion, so I called out, "You didn't do a great job, but you didn't do terrible." (Not one of my stellar Mom moments, but a history of swim lessons explains my answer a little.) No one heard that, though - they heard his next question. Everyone heard it. "Mommy, did I do terrible?" Like I run around having "terrible" be his measure for everything. Ugh.

Steel trap

The kid doesn't forget anything. We were in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, and he must've noticed the skyline. This week we carpooled with Daddy because his Jeep was in the shop. Looking up at Daddy's tall building through the sunroof, he said, "Wow! That building is very, very tall. It's almost like Chicago!"

Last week he was talking about his love of strawberries and generally all things pink. I asked him if he wanted to have a strawberry cake for his birthday next year, and he said he did. Then he said, "BB likes pink strawberry cake, but Uncle Brett likes cheesecake." That doesn't sound like much, but what it means is that he remembers the desserts my siblings had for their birthday dinner, which was in April, seven months ago.

Crazy.

Thought it was just a legend, but it's real

Aidan lives in a very black and white world, which is hilarious at times, especially during Funk Breaks (see earlier post). For Aidan, though, whatever dance we first do for a particular song is what you must always do for that song (black and white world).

At our house "All the Single Ladies" (a Beyonce song - he learned it at school, believe it or not) is called by its name, but Michael Jackson's "Shake your Body (Down to the Ground)" is called The Pointing Song because we did a pointing-type groovy dance to it the first time; other songs have similar titles. MJ's "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough," it turns out, is the Batman hula dance. Go ahead - try to picture that. I dare ya. It involves Aidan's wearing his Batman mask/cape that he's going to wear for Halloween, and then running through the house (so his cape flies up in the air), hands on hips and moving his hips in circles as he runs. It's maybe the funniest/best dance EVER.

I have to get video of it, because he'll never believe when he's older that he came up with this when he was little! What an awesome kid.

Most delusional?

Saturday was Aidan's first soccer experience. Coach Sam started out the class by going around and asking everyone's names. They all had name stickers already, but I think he was trying to get them comfortable interacting with him. Aidan's back was to me, so I couldn't hear him, but I could hear the Coach - this is what I got: What's your name? Jane? That's a nice name. What's your name? Phillip? Nice to meet you. What's your name? Nora? Glad to have you on the team. What's your name? Gee, I don't see a Batman here on my list. Could you be listed here under something else?

should I get the frequent buyer card?

We were at a sporting goods store this evening, and that's not a place I frequent. However, we needed shin guards and soccer socks for a certain someone. He's very excited, and luckily, soccer's not a very expensive sport to undertake, especially for a three-year-old.

As I was checking out, the cashier asked me if I had a frequent buyer card, and I said that I didn't have one because I don't do a lot of sports-like things. I got to thinking that probably I'll be needing more and more sports paraphenalia here soon. I may become a frequent buyer. Oh dear. The boy may soon figure out how unprepared I am (literally, not figuratively) for the world of sports. Piano lessons? Got you covered! Theater or choir? Ready to help! Language? Sure. Sports? I've got nothing. Been flying under the radar with that to date, but for how much longer?