--first of all, aidan now LOOKS like the big boy that he is. even older, maybe. i finally gave him a big-boy haircut, and gave up the bowl-cut. he looked instantly two years older. “instantly” might be a strong word though…it took nearly an hour to have him sit still while i got rid of all that (beautiful) hair.
--he still loves to be an animal, although it’s not always a daily occurrence. first question out of his mouth in the morning is usually, “what kind animal i am today??” then we figure out what animal he’ll be for the rest of the day. when i make the mistake of calling him “my big boy,” he’ll instantly correct me with the animal of the day: “no, i’m just a little ostrich/leopard/meerkat/turtle” (see below.) he has a great imagination. the only problem is when he tries to eat his food without using his hand…then we have issues, and he has to be a boy for a while. 
--he’s grasping more and more concepts these days. he knows that girls grow into ladies, and boys grow into men. (verbatim per aidan: “i’m a boy. you’re a girl. you’re a big girl. you’re a lady. sierra’s a little girl. daddy’s a man.”) he knows about red and green traffic lights. (“our light is red…now it’s their turn to go. we wait our turn.”) he knows that girls and boys/ladies and men are people, and that he’s a person. he knows both mine and billy’s step-parents. and though he doesn’t know how to count past ten, except throwing out “twenty-six, twenty-eight,” he asks people their age. (“what old you are?”) a concept we don’t really like him to talk about is other people's weight. (“mama, those ladies are fat.” and in the store…horrible!)--we have started praying at night, in addition to before meals…meaning, aidan is praying. he knows the blessing (before meals)…as long as the tv isn’t distracting him or he’s not embarrassed with company present. at night we pray the politically un-correct version of “now i lay me” and then we bless people. he’ll “god bless” so-and-so and so-and-so. we go through our enormous family, our friends, and then he blesses all his animals. i try to use it as practice naming family members, but many times he has to ask me “who else?” because our family is so big.
--we had a couple visitors and some friends come and go these two months. aunt leah came to visit for a weekend. we had a good time with her, though a short visit, and had a party with some of our friends. grammy (billy’s mom) came for a week. we went to williamsburg for a weekend. we had some great food, did some shopping at the outlets, and went to busch gardens. aidan was tall enough (in his shoes) to make the mark for some of the bigger rides. he rode one rollercoaster, that didn’t go upside down. still it was really fast, and throws you around. we think it kind of freaked him out a bit because he wasn’t too responsive during or just after. though if you ask him if he had fun he gave an enthusiastic “yes!” (we told him we were going to williamsburg and later on we asked where we were going. he said, “daddysburg!” how cute is that??? i didn’t even know he knew billy’s name was william.)
--our great friends shannon and jesse (with jarah and issac) left in may. we had a great time, since july 06, getting to know them and watching our kids grow up soooo much! but as one door closes (we’ll see them again), another opens. two other sets of friends (with kids) we had made in japan are now living in the area. so, now we can get together with them. we have seen mariah and sameer (with asha and yogi) and also ferna and eric (with quinten) a few times, together and separately…and looking forward to more.
--aidan’s latest cute phrases i’ve jotted down (besides the ones already quoted) include: “yes!” “awesome!” “that’s cool!” “holy cow!” “awww, man!” “woo-hoo!” and “sometimes i just have to laugh,” a quote from the wonder-pets show.--on to sierra…she’s gone from taking no steps, to taking two, to reaching and going across from the chair to the couch, to taking six steps, to walking across the room, to navigating around the house. she still falls and she still crawls, but she’s definitely a walker now!!
--she plays peek-a-boo a lot these days. she’ll do it with her hands, with her shirt, with furniture. one of her favorite games to play with aidan, where they really get to cackling, is what i call dynamic peek-a-boo. she squats down on the side of the couch and aidan’s on the couch. she stands up and aidan looks down over at her. they both think it’s hilarious…and seeing them laugh like that is hilarious to me! sometimes they’ll both squat down and play with me. though, she likes to peek through the slats on the couch…it’s cute! 
--her words are: “ma-ma,” “da-da,” and “bye-bye.” sometimes i think i hear “baa” when we’re talking about a bath. and she says “night-night” silently…she moves her lips but no sounds come out, like she’s practicing. when she’s calling me, she says mama over and over, and the tone is pleading.--she loves to look at books. she’ll still try to eat those made of paper, but the board books are great. she thinks it’s awesome to lift flaps or touch the different textures. she reaches for a book every time we get in the car.
--some other things she does now are walk on her knees and brush her hair. she steals aidan’s sippy cups, so that i constantly have to have a cup for her if he has one. she copies sounds she hears. when aidan’s a leopard or lion or whatever and growls at her, she growls right back! if he razzes, she razzes. she will point at what she wants, and also in response to “where’s aidan/mama?” she pushes toy cars around, rides the ride-on car, and plays the toy drum and kazoo. she puts things in buckets/pots/baskets/boxes…takes them out and puts them back in. she “shares.” she’ll hand over something that you ask for…usually. she’ll give you something that she thinks you should have, like a piece of her cracker or something. she’s an awesome climber…i see her on the first step or two, and when i come near her, she goes as fast as she can up the stairs before i can get to her. she has also started climbing bookshelves or into the walker. another thing she loves to do is dance. she rocks back and forth when she hears music or sees someone else dancing. too funny. she'll also sit down on a box or rocking chair, or my knee when i’m on the floor, or the toy drum. 
--aidan and sierra have started playing well together. most of the time it consists of him tolerating it when she grabs what he’s playing with or knocks down what he’s building, or her tackling him with hugs. but they also play chase and peek-a-boo, or “share” the toys. 
--by the way, billy got me the BEST-EST mother’s day gift ever…tickets to james taylor. we had an awesome time. we had lawn seats, packed a picnic and took the kids. they had fun dancing around and listening and clapping and watching everyone. it was a great time!!!
