Aidan's "Stupid" Phase and Other News

This week brought us some cold weather and horrible winds. One morning when I was up with Olivia, the wind blew so hard that it made me wonder what of ours was blowing down the street. It sounded like someone was banging on the windows as hard as they could. Everyone else slept through it though. Which is good cause it was another crazy week.

Aidan went for his H1N1 shot this week. The pediatrician's office got another shipment and he was lucky enough to get one. I had Julien meet me there as Aidan has developed a crippling fear of needles since the whole allergist trauma. (Which I got the bill for the blood work this week and I'm mad all over again.) Julien had to hold him and it still took two tries. Aidan cried so hard. On top of it, he refused to take the band aids off for days. The magical healing powers of band aids, I tell you. In fact, with his grumpiness and the weather, I decided to let him stay home from preschool on Wednesday. Even 3 year olds deserve mental health days. Or at least their mommies do. While we played hookey that day, we lost power at the house for two hours. So annoying! I had been talking to a friend about getting together for a play date and I had just said "today's not so great, how about tomorrow" when the lights went out. Definitely a sign that the play date should be another day. The next day, a couple playgroup friends came over with their kids and we all had lunch and hung out. Friday, Aidan went back to preschool and came home with some cute Christmas projects he had made.

Aidan has been saying a new phrase lately. And I know who he gets it from. And unfortunately, I can't be mad at Julien cause it didn't come from him. Recently, Aidan has started saying "I can't get this stupid thing to work." Now, when you hear it, it's cute. But, then he started saying a lot of things were "stupid." I told him that stupid isn't a nice word and even though Mommy says it, it isn't right and I shouldn't be saying it either. Then, in his infinite 3 year old wisdom, he justified it by saying, "but it's about things Mommy." That he had the complex thought process that calling a thing stupid was more acceptable than calling a person stupid is impressive to me. However, I told him it was still a no-go. Then tonight he told me to "come here stupid." Oh really? Where did you get the idea that was ok. We talked about how it wasn't ok to call people stupid ever and it was hurtful. One more and time out for him. So, without thinking it seemed, he did it again. So, time out has had. Crying ensued followed by another little talk and no more "stupids" this evening. I think he might be hearing some of the other kids using it at school and he was repeating it like a script and not even realizing what he was saying. Either that or calling the cats stupid has had more of an impact than we realized. But, it's almost like a phase he's entered. He likes to be the "bad guy" now and likes to play fight. I hope he's not loosing his sweetness. I'm not such a fan of gruff demeanor he's trying out.

Speaking of demeanors, Olivia's has changed since leaving newbornhood. She's mellowed a lot lately. No more difficult, fussy, refluxy baby. No more screaming in the car the entire ride either. (thank goodness!) Much more contented. And she has one of the biggest smiles I've seen on a baby ever. She loves kids and loves loves loves her brother. She is also a big fan of Daddy. She gets a huge smile everyday when he gets home. You can see she's excited to see him. I didn't know she could be a Daddy's girl so young but I think she is. She's really chunked up as we are apparently unable to do the teeny baby thing in this house. :) Her cheeks look like they may explode if they get any bigger and she has the biggest buddha belly. We started cereal over a week ago. She isn't sure about it but she's willing to try. Tried bananas too. She thought that was pretty interesting. She's really stepped up the eating lately to 6-7 ounces every 2-3 hours. In turn, this week she's slept so well at night. In fact, last night she slept from 7:30p-5:00a. It was fantastic! I really hoped she's turned a corner and will continue like this. I could really get used to 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Speaking of sleep, I think it's time for me to head to bed. Tonight's my night off and I want to enjoy it.