--threw billy a surprise party for his 30th birthday. a week before his birthday, my brother and his wife (nicholas and stephanie) came to see us. he and i planned their visit as a cover for billy’s party…that way billy couldn’t plan anything else for that week. i invited all of billy’s friends and family from up north, and planned a whale-watching trip for us. granted, our group on the boat ended up being somewhat small and we didn’t see any whales (they see more in february and march), but it was still lots of fun and billy was totally blind-sided. he wasn’t looking forward to the whale trip too much, and i really didn’t expect him to be, but i told him it was already arranged and that nick was looking forward to it. so we bundle up and get on the boat. billy walks in the inside deck and sits down looking around. nick and steph and i are looking around waiting for him to notice somebody familiar. at that point, only his friend alaina and her boyfriend eric were on the boat (from our group at least). at least two minutes go by, and he looked over and went, “oh my god. what??? you come to virginia beach and don’t even call me?!?!” after we gave hugs and did the introductions, his sisters came up behind him. he was so shocked, i really thought he wanted to cry. it was really funny. after a couple hours of cold seascapes and views of va beach, we went back to our house. steph and i had set up a little in preparation for surprise-phase-two. billy’s mom and stepdad were at our house while we were on the boat, setting up the house and cooking. by the time we get there, the house is decorated, they’re hiding in the bathroom, and our local friends were starting to show up. so again, billy was totally surprised…three times…and the party was a hit. he can’t understand how everybody kept it from him, though he was getting annoyed that nobody wanted to commit to coming to see him for his birthday, or anytime around that time. i had everyone say they’d come later in the spring or couldn’t make it until february or something…and he was actually getting upset. of course, later on he can see how it made sense…and other things too, made more sense in hindsight. like why did i make a million and a half cookies when just two people were coming to visit? or why was i making bags and bags of salad…i mean, sure stephanie is a vegetarian, but really, that was a lot of salad? or why was i so adamant about him not staying up so late the night before a whale-watching trip??? good job, everybody…thanks for helping me make a special day for billy! :) 
--aidan is now four years old. we had a small celebration for him here at home, with cake and gifts and games. when his little friend jarah comes in february, we’re going to go back to chuck-e-cheese. her birthday is about two weeks after aidan’s and we’ve spent the last two birthdays at chuck-e-cheese with her family. aidan thinks that’s where birthdays happen…when he started thinking about having a birthday a few months ago and then going to school, whenever he mentioned either one he’d say, “when i get four on january fourth, at chuck-e-cheese’s, i will go to school.” every single time! 
--and he did go to school the day after his birthday…he jumped into the spring semester at holy spirit catholic pre-school, in the three-year-old class. he was so excited to go, and to wear his backpack. when we were waiting outside there was a little boy named aden…he heard someone talk to him and said, “i am aidan too…how do you like my backpack…it’s camouflage.” then they talked about riley’s spiderman backpack. when the teacher opened the door, he ran in without saying ‘goodbye.’ never looked back, i thought, ‘so that’s that’ and took sierra home for nap time. (he goes three days a week in the afternoons.) he came back talking a mile a minute. he’s made some little friends and brings home a work of art nearly every day. they even had a pajama and pizza party to celebrate the letter ‘p.’--besides coming home with colds and/or pink eye, aidan has also started calling people names. they’re not bad names, just names…most of the time they don’t make any sense. i don’t know if it’s from school or if it’s just his age. either way, it’s annoying.
--at aidan’s doctor checkup, he’s now 45” tall and 46pounds…still about 95% in both.
--whenever we go to the grocery store, aidan strikes up a conversation with the friendly lady who checks us out. 99% of the time it’s the same lady, and she usually gives him a quarter for a “prize” from the machines by the doors. and because he talks about the same thing every time, she remembers what he wants to be when he grows up…but i also hear her talking to other people and she seems to have regulars that she remembers. anyhow, he says this nearly every time: “i wanna be an astronaut when i grow up. i will have a rocket and go into outer space to defeat the aliens. i will see asteroids. the sun is the biggest star.” (no, it’s the closest.) “the sun is the closest star.”
--i love his conversations lately. one day he was talking about being a grow-up…how he’s “going to be bigger than my dad when i’m a frow-nup. jarah doesn’t know that word.” ha! total stream of consciousness! because last time we saw jarah, like six months ago, they were talking in bed and talking about, well, the same thing actually. jarah couldn’t understand aidan’s pronunciation of grown-up…and he remembered that! another example i wrote down: “mommy, what happened to the dinosaurs to make them into dinosaur bones? was it an asteroid? (maybe) it was lava. lava is from volcanoes a long long time ago. (we still have volcanoes.) but lava is like hot water that makes the dinosaurs into bones.”--i always thought i had a wonderfully sweet little boy, who obeys and tries to please. i know i still do, but really…four is worse than three, which was worse than the “terrible” twos. at least for us. his deliberate lying and defiance is so much worse than the toddler battle of wills. cause toddlers are little, they have obeying for different reasons. one is they can’t contain that real and true NEED to move around and explore…like sierra’s doing lately. another reason is a legitimate communication barrier…either they don’t understand or they can’t explain. so it’s not really their fault…to me, it’s not willful disobedience. but with aidan i feel like it’s a constant deliberate battle, with major meltdowns, name-calling (granted they don’t make sense, and usually aren’t even real words, but the meaning is clear), arguing, and whining. i’m sure it’s normal and age-appropriate and he’ll grow out of it…but for now it’s so unbelievably frustrating. he flat out lies to my face about things i watch him do or not do…about all kinds of things; whether he washed his hands, whether he pushed sierra down, whatever. and if he thinks he got away with it because i didn’t actually see him, because all i heard was a whack and then a scream, but can tell what happened, he says “but you didn’t see me.” like that makes it okay, or that he didn’t really do it if i didn’t really see it. we’re constantly explaining rules these days, he spends a lot of time in his bed, and he has started taking naps again…until he can act like a big boy, he doesn’t get big-boy-privileges.
--in addition to aidan and billy’s birthdays…we also celebrated our five year anniversary and a trip to the emergency room. sierra had her thumb in the crack of the screen door when billy closed it. she did scream and cry, but billy thought he must have broken her thumb, so we trek it over to the ER for xrays. turns out it wasn’t broken, just the skin, though it looked pretty squished…and i’m sure it hurt cause she wouldn’t use it or let us touch it for a long time. anyhow, we got a cool xray to put in her baby book…and now each of my kids have made the trip, so we’re two for two!
--in addition to her being everywhere in her need for mobility and putting fingers where they shouldn’t be, she also started consistently climbing (read, falling) out of her crib. she’d toddle into my room in the early morning (if she got her room door open), which scared me…cause she’s still not great going down stairs, and she’s never on the floor alone upstairs without being contained in a bedroom, so we didn’t have a gate up. so, instead of having her fall and break a bone, i took the side of the crib down converting it into a toddler bed and installed a gate at the top of the stairs. there are days when i have to put her in bed several times for her nap, but for the most part, she’s good at going to bed…just like aidan was. he used to sit in bed after he woke up until i came to get him or told him to get up…for months he did that. not sierra though…she’s banging on the door every morning if she can’t get it open! :)--she likes to do things she’s not supposed to, but she waits for you to watch her do it…i don’t know, maybe she likes that thrill. either way, she goes right up to whatever she’s not supposed to touch, puts her hand out, and waits for you to see her do it. as soon as you look, she’ll go ahead and reach with this look like, “what are you going to do now?” it’s either that, or she stops before doing it and tells herself, “ahh-uh-uh-uh-uhhhh” or “no no no.”
--she has started mothering her babydolls. she got a stroller for christmas, and also a crib/highchair and bottle. she covers her babies with blankets (which she calls “nigh-nights”), usually smothering them, rocks and feeds them, and takes them for rides. she’s a cute little mommy.--latest vocabulary accomplishments are:
* “air a-dee??” = where’s aidan? (asks every day after dropping him off at school)
* “pitty” = pretty
* “air-pay” = airplane (whenever she sees or hears one)
* “hay-uh” = hair
* “shaw” = shark
* “saw” = soar (dinosaur)
* “aye-dough” = diego
* “yeah” = yeah / yes
* “yay!” = yay!
* “yeah pea” = yes, please
* “opp-orn” = popcorn
* “nigh-night” = night night / blanket
* “yow-yow” = meow / cat
* “shoe” = fish (progression from “if” to “ish,” and now it’s “shoe”??)
* “dop” = stop
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