Everyday Adventures

I was busy these last two weeks with the bead party & craft day preparations but I've GOT to update the blog with some of the latest Aiden Antics:

The Changeling: We've experienced the collapse-to-the-ground tantrums that arose from us somehow opening the Playdough jar the wrong way and endured the screaming when we picked up the wrong tractor book (he has eight? nine?). The most recent annoyance is how Aiden will BEG to watch a movie BY NAME and then before the DVD tray can slide closed, he's INSISTING a different movie be put in. It's enough to make you want to rip your hair out. If I dare say "No, we're going to watch this movie" a full-blown tantrum begins. I've learned the easiest thing to do is spoil him rotten by buying cheap McDonald's toys off eBay that go along with all of his movies and when he starts this mess, I gather up the toys that go with the movie so they can all watch it together. *POOF* The living room is transformed into Disney World and he's completely happy. Thank you McDonalds for the toys. Sorry Aiden puked in the kid's area last week.

The Cravings: I've been through a pregnancy and not had my cravings change as fast as his. I have a love/hate relationship with dum dums. He'll beg for the tiny suckers all day long until I decide 9:45 is far enough from breakfast and close enough to lunch to give in. He likes to pick his own from the bag, not only to tell me what color it is but to keep tabs on how many there are left so he can beg for every single last one from the moment he wakes until he goes to bed. So annoying! Fast forward to some errand or chore I must get done while Aiden is contemplating a nuclear meltdown. I pull one of those microscopic suckers from my purse and the problem is solved. I'm sure I'll have hell to pay later for these bribes but seriously, my child is insane. I'll pay for the fillings.

So this morning Brian has caught my stomach bug and is making a LOT of noise. Aiden wakes up right as Bri is leaving the house, missing that last 30 minutes of sleep I have discovered is critical to having a good morning. Aiden tows bleary-eyed me to the kitchen and - no lie - in one breath says "WantSuckerWantPeachesWantCupcakesEatChocolateYogurtWantEggsEatPizzaWantNoodles..." He's still rattling on and I'm stuck somewhere around 'cupcake', trying to remember why my mother told me they weren't a breakfast food. (They do have eggs in them...) A nanosecond later - before I can blink, let alone inhale to answer him - Aiden's little body is thrashing on the floor in a screaming fit. Noodles it was for breakfast.

The Surprise: Last week Aiden began asking to go to the grocery store. This is more than odd, since the battle to keep him in the cart is so fierce, I frequently choose going without fresh produce for days before entertainging fellow HEBers with our dysfunctional shopping performance. However Brian SWORE he was an angel in the store on Saturday and when I ran up there today, again he was the perfect child I never knew I had. He sat politely in the cart, asked nicely to hold a Cars toy he saw and told me "No open, first pay for it" (OMGosh, he listens and understands me?) and entertained himself the entire time with the toy package, which stayed pristine, a balloon and a dum dum. Miraculously I was able to cut our weekly grocery bill by $40. Don't ask me how, I'm still reeling from the parallel universe-type shopping experience and I'm certain in my euphoria I forgot something expensive. Nevertheless, I thought his excellent behavior deserved a special treat so we came home and made the cupcakes he'd asked for at breakfast.

Aiden looooooves to crack eggs these days. Usually by the dozen and all at one time. So I had him pull a chair up and I let him hold the egg while I cracked it into the batter and then scrubbed him down before we added salmonella to the list of bugs we're battling this week. He very sweetly pointed to the KitchenAid whisk attachment and asked to lick it so I scraped most of the batter off and let him ingest salmonella that way. I instructed him to stand by me and put the whisk in the sink when he was done. THREE seconds later he's vanished with the whisk. I pull him over in the living room, smeared with chocolate cake batter and driving the licked-clean whisk in his stroller. It was so funny I had to get a picture of my chocolate-covered surfer dude!



Okay Silver family, does he not look like one of the Shannon boys?!! (For the rest of you, check out my SIL's blog to see Aiden's cousins in action. The craziness runs in the family....)

And that was just the stuff from today. I haven't even told you about the chronic pants-removal issue we're having. I swear, this place is like a Frat house. I don't even pretend to be in control any more. I just laugh, stain-treat and go on!