May 2009

--may was busy, but not. billy was gone pretty much the entire month, until memorial weekend. we did, however, drive down to athens, ga, to see him for a long weekend. it was cool to be back in athens, which is where we got married, and wander the town. it is very walkable, and we love the main drag of shops and restaurants. it was great to see billy, though the kids didn’t understand why we couldn’t go back (another 9hours) to see him the next day after we got back!
--i read a book called outliers, about successful people. it was very interesting, but what i took from it concerned the way americans learn math, versus aisan cultures. because of the counting system used, the typical american four-year-old can only count to 15, while the japanese/chinese/etc four-year-old can count to 40. that basically means that by age four we americans are already behind in math…and it just compounds throughout the rest of the school years. didn’t really like that, so the next day i asked aidan to count as high as he could. he got to 15. who wants to be “average” anyway? so during our long morning walk, we memorized one through 20, using our weird counting verbiage. the next day we went to 30. he did great once he figured out the pattern…and the day after that, he went to 40. so, (after six months of pre-school, where aidan maintained his average-ness,) in three days, we had aidan all caught up with the asian four-year-olds! ;)
--more aidan progress: he used to have trouble singing along with something (tv/radio/me). the words he knew, he’d say at his pace, no matter how far behind the real melody he got. now, he hums the words he misses along with the song, and sings the parts he can with it. it’s pretty funny to listen to…but at least he’s keeping up!
--sierra’s vocabulary is incredible. she talks all the time, and it’s pretty clear what she’s saying most of the time. it’s rare that i have absolutely no idea what she’s saying. her latest sentences include:
* “ha fun, day-dee, otay?” = have fun, aidan, okay? (when we’d take him to school)
* “where day-dee dough?” = where’d aidan go?
* “i go aaaa-go ni-night!!!” = i’m going night-night in my diego (dora) sheets!!!
* “hurry, hurry, ess dough!” = hurry, hurry , let’s go!
* “ahh-mow home, mama!” = almost home, mama! (as soon as we’re on our street)
* “one, free, one, free” = 1, 3, 1, 3 (her counting practice)
--for the past few months, she has been potty-training herself. i’m not pushing it, and i’d actually prefer that she wait, but i’m not deterring it either. i just know in a month or so, we’re going to be doing lots of driving…road trips south and north…and i’m not sure i want to hear “i potty, mommy,” and stop all the time to avoid an accident. so, i’m keeping her in diapers, but taking her when she wants to go. she rarely lets me change her pants without first letting her sit on the potty. she always goes before her bath, and she tells me when she’s already gone, sometimes even before she goes. i’m just letting her do it if she wants to, but there’s no pressure to get out of diapers…i’ll start “training” her after august.
--when billy came home, we had friends (rob and justin) come down again for the long weekend. we went to a pool party, where aidan swam around the pool in a life jacket (cause after a day at the beach, nobody wanted to get in with him), and even jumped off the diving board. we thought he might get scared, cry or something, but he jumped off before anyone was ready with the camera! he obviously did it over and over after that.
--that same weekend, we had our own memorial weekend party. invited nearly everyone we know…cause, yeah, we go all out! started at 2pm and went until nearly 2am…cause, yeah, we go all out!! not everyone came of course, but those that did, i’m pretty sure they had a good time. and as we went nearly 12hours, not everyone was there the whole time or all at once…so it worked out. it was lots of food, friends, and fun.
--the next weekend, as “hotel hunt” had officially opened for the season, more friends (mike and leslie) came down. we had another great weekend at the beach, mini-golfing, a concert on the beach, and with another mini-gathering of our regulars! more food, friends, and fun!!