Slowly springin'

Ah, Spring, a time of renewal - or, as it's known here in New England, a time when you never know how to dress. Snow, rain, sunshine and back again. Aden is dealing with it all very well - mostly he's just psyched that the backyard is occasionally clear of snow & debris, so he can run around and act like a little crazy man. And every now and then, his friends come over to help out with that. Especially the crazy part.

Surrealist joke looking for a punchline

Today Aden dragged his rocking horse, training potty and a pair of rubber gloves into his pop-up tent house. He put on the gloves, and for the next twenty minutes he alternated between riding the horse, sitting on the toilet (with his pants on), and running over the window to tell me something that was VERY important and utterly incomprehensible.

This means something, I'm sure. But I'm a little afraid to find out precisely what.

What's dat?

"What's dat, daddy?"

"That's our blog, Aden."

"What's dat, daddy?"

"That's how long it's been since we updated it last."

"What's dat, daddy?"

"That's the camera, buddy."

"What's dat, daddy?"

"Those are pictures of you."

"What's dat, daddy? Daddy, what's dat? What's dat, daddy? Daddy, daddy, what's dat?"

"Um, I think it's time for you to go play with your toy animals now, buddy..."

Better late...

Wow! What month is it? It feels like we went to bed in December, and woke up in February. Wait? What's that you say? It IS February? Holy smokes... I need to get a new alarm clock.

Just to tide you over, here are a few unseen classics from late '08. There will be more, and newer, shots soon...

Aden Withers Holiday Jugband Special!

It just wouldn't be a holiday get-together without some incredibly cute photos of Aden, and this year proved no different. It was interesting to see the changes in Aden's holiday behavior from past years... now his cuteness is punctuated by phrases like "mine!" "my turn now," and "my present!" Oh, and by the occasional tantrum on top of piles of gifts. Thankfully, he still becomes his cute old self with a little time out playing in the snow.

Spaceship to Planet Aden

Yesterday, when I picked Aden up from school, I asked him "Are you being silly?" Normally, he just echoes me and says "dilly daddy." Not any more. This time he replied "A little bit." Shocked, I asked "A little bit?" which he verified, "A little bit dilly daddy." The rate at which he's picking up new language is just shocking. I'm waiting for the day that I wake up to find that he's built a rocketship in his bedroom while we were sleeping.

Health risks (to parents!)

Wow - I never thought that having a toddler would be so dangerous. And I don't mean the everyday stuff: bumping heads when they're jumping around, throwing out your back when you go to pick them up, spraining your ankle when you try to intercept them. Nope, the real risk is from the grandparents, specifically when you don't upload photos to your blog often enough. Then you get late-night calls like this one: "If I don't see some new pictures of the kid by this weekend, you'll be dealing with the kind of trouble that you can't handle, sonny... oh, and tell Aden that his gwammy-wammy wubs him!"

Consider yourself warned - I know I do!