Nature Boy Chicken Farmer

[sigh]

Aidan refused to put clothes on this afternoon. I just got tired of arguing with him about it and let him be.

He didn't finish his apple, so I told him to give the rest to the chickens. He said, "I can't go outside with no clothes on..." "Then go put on the clothes I left for you on your bed," I replied.

I guess he decided that he could indeed go outside with no clothes on.

The Tomato Cage Solution

We turned around to install the tomato cages today, and when we looked back again, Aidan had installed a tomato cage on himself. He said, "I'm a tomato plant!" As parents, we immediately saw another useful aspect of what Aidan had done. We finally had a way to keep him in one spot for more than a few minutes!

Boy, looking at this picture reminded me that it has been a really long time since I was able to fit inside of a tomato cage...

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We've been watching a pair of eagles sitting on their two eggs lately. It's quite interesting to see how they interact with each other, working in shifts. They each have their own personality that comes through on camera. There is a forum where people around the world who are watching this pair can chat, ask questions and make comments about the eagles. The female is larger than the male and has "big hair". The male always looks neat and put together, like he washed up and slicked his hair down before doing his shift. He also is constantly cleaning the nest, rearranging the lining to get it just right. The female is a very vocal gal. If you hear an eagle, it's most probably her, sitting on the eggs, talking to herself. I think the eggs are due to hatch ("catch" in Aidan speak) in a couple of days. Here's the link if you'd like to watch too.
http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/

It's Springtime!

Today was a beautiful day! Aidan and Mama went to the store and got some tomato starts and flowers for the bed in the front yard. Of course, Aidan wanted to help, and to him right now, to help means to do it all by yourself. In fact, it now really does take us FOREVER to get anything done because he has to do it himself. We must do some extensive planning ahead if we have to be anywhere at a certain time. Oh, and on top of it all, you have to make sure he tries to go pee pee before you go... If you make the grave mistake of helping him to hurry things along, he gets really upset and has to start all over. So then you haven't saved any time at all. He also says, as Mama and I are taking a break, "Well, I'm not going to rest. I'm just going to get the job done." Okay! Gooo to it!

This is how you plant a tomato plant (just in case you didn't know how yet).

First, you dig a hole where you want the tomato plant to grow.

Then, you pour the baby plant out of the container.

Now you have to loosen up the roots.

After you get the baby plant out, you have to drop it into the hole.

Next, you fill in the hole with the dirt that you dug out.

Then you can pat, pat, pat the dirt around the baby tomato plant. Kind of like when Mama tucks you in at bedtime...

Finally, you water the plants with a [1/4 filled due to weight-carrying limitations] watering can to give them a drink.

Now you know how.

Swim Class

We've been enrolling Aidan in swim classes. He's doing well, once the first-day-new-teacher fear goes away. Also, he was so cold during his first swim class, he was shivering terribly and his lips were blue. So, I got him a wetsuit. Now he's much warmer in class and can concentrate on the activities instead of shivering. Another plus to your kid wearing a wetsuit is that it's super easy to keep track of them.

I took these pictures on Wednesday because I wanted to show you all how cute he looks in his shorty wetsuit. One more thing I'd like to point out is for you to notice Aidan's mouth position in the picture of the kids sitting on the side of the pool. Open. Wide open. This kind of smile/laugh looks great and really wins people over most of the time, but an open mouth is definitely a hindrance in effective swimming. It's like the mouth turns into a scoop on the front of a tractor, and well, you can guess what happens next. He not only laughs with his mouth wide open, he cringes/retreats with his mouth wide open too. Case in point:

Needless to say, he swallows quite a bit of water during most classes, especially when there is any sort of splashing going on.

Alright. Enough commentary. On to the pictures!

Aidan Gets His Banana Split

We are so proud! Remember we were going to lock ourselves in the kitchen for as long as it took to potty train Aidan? Well, that was on Sunday. Monday, it seemed as if we'd accomplished nothing in the nauseatingly tiring six hour potty boot camp. But Tuesday, oh that was a different story. Aidan started sitting on his potty chair downstairs, then twice more upstairs with no prodding from me. He was doing this of his own accord. I noticed him trying again in his room about half an hour later, and continued what I was doing (which happened to be washing tons of training pants from the day before). All of a sudden, Aidan comes bursting out of his room saying, "I did it! I pee-peed!" Of course, I was pleasantly surprised, and ran after him to look. Sure enough, a full pee-pee load was right there in his potty chair bowl. After some praising, he said, "And now I have to put it in the big toiyet." And so he did. And then he flushed. And then he said, "Now I have to wash my hands." And he did.

I was so proud and pleased and relieved! All was not in vain. He was listening and learning on Sunday. We called Mama at work to tell her the good news.

Things have not slowed down yet. He's getting more and more control, and it really bothers him when he misses. He can't stand having sopping wet pants and socks. He takes his wet things off and puts them on the side of the bathtub for me to rinse out, and then goes into his dresser to get a clean pair of pants and puts them on. Then, he cleans his own puddles up. Wonderful! I couldn't ask for more!

He was physically ready. He just had to see where the pee-pee came from and practice repeatedly. We used techniques from the book, "Toilet Training In Less Than A Day" by Nathan H. Azrin, Ph.D. and Richard M. Foxx, Ph.D. This book werked for us!

He saw a banana split on TV a while ago, and that has been the "prize" that we've been holding out in front of him, so to speak. We took him to Baskin Robbins today, and he had a banana split for lunch. Then he came home and ran around the backyard for a couple of hours.

It has been hard work for him, and he's really concentrating on getting this thing down pat. I'm sure this isn't the first picture of a kid who fell asleep on the potty, but I had to take one of our own anyway. It's so cute the way he's working in earnest to make this potty thing work. The other day after having an accident, he said, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I will get it next time." The intent is there. All he needs to do is practice. He's doing very well.

Yep, we're pretty happy he barely squeaked in just before his fourth birthday. We were beginning to think he was going to be wearing diapers in college...

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This is what I came down to yesterday afternoon...

Talk about abs of steel!