Aiden Update: 2 years, 3 months

This kid cracks me up on a daily basis! The other day we were in the car and he heard some cars honking at each other and says "wassup homie!"--apparently he has learned that from watching his Father drive and honk at his friends. At this point, Aiden is a little over 2 years old and it seems like each day his conversations get more involved and his capacity for knowledge increases. He tells us all the time how he wants to go to school, but we keep telling him he has to learn how to potty first. Here's a little update on all his current likes/dislikes:

• He loves reading and especially loves reading this Christmas book (that's 77 pages) even though I have repeatedly explained to him that Christmas is not for another 10 months. Reading one book isn't good enough, we must read at least 10 books at a time.
• He still hates the vacuum and likes to tell me how "he scared vacuum".
  
• He's a master at operating the iPad and picked it up quicker than most adults probably could! He has this Monkey learning game on there where he can count, do a matching game, and work on puzzles and we have been so shocked that he can complete all these tasks correctly and without our help! He also loves watching Curious George on the PBS Kids App and is currently obsessed with the Talking Tom Cat app.
  
• He's still deathly afraid of Halloween masks--this is due to his Uncle Mario scaring him back on Halloween and he's not been able to let go of that. "Uncle Morno scare mask" is a common phrase he likes to tell me.
• He can count to 10 perfectly, he knows his shapes and his Daddy is working on teaching him colors and letters.
  
• Moth's apparently really freak the kid out--we had a slight freak out last week when one got in the house so I reluctantly had to kill it, normally Daddy is the bug murderer.
• He's a pro at getting on Mommy's iphone and calling Uncle Clay and Aunt Megan repeatedly. He's also very good at sending rambling nonsensical texts messages to Mantha.
  
• He loves going to the Wellness Center with me to "play with kids" while Mommy works out. He gets a kick out of pressing the handicap buttons that open the doors, so I always tell him to go open the door for us.
  
• His memory never fails him. I'll tell him at night our plans for the next day and the second he wakes up in the morning he's all over it, reminding me of what I had told him. I have learned to use this to my advantage as he is great at recalling grocery lists when Mommy forgets.
  

Clifford and I feel so blessed and lucky to have this little man in our lives. He is the epitome of happiness and our lives feel so much more complete now. Maybe by the end of this year he will have a sibling on the way! I definitely think we are ready for it!

This post sponsored by Kroger

Aiden's first ride in the cart out of his car seat

Aiden's first ride in the car cart at Kroger

Ok, it's not really sponsored by Kroger, but it should be seeing that I spend 95% of my free time there. The main reason is because it's one of Aiden's favorite places. We'll just be sitting around the house and he'll grab me by the pants leg and say "we go Kroger?". Then he gets my keys off the table, puts on my sunglasses and opens the front door, "come on Mommy!". How can you say no to that? It's so darn cute! When we get to Kroger, we have to get in the carts that have the children's cars attached to them--he gets so excited about that! His favorite thing to get into at the grocery are strawberries. He has some sort of strawberry radar. I try hiding them in the cart but he figures it out every time and asks for one. "Mommy, stawbee?". The first time he did that I panicked. The strawberry's aren't washed, he's going to get some terrible disease! He might choke on the stem! Now I'm over that. If it keeps him happy and quiet while I shop, then it's ok by me. I really only have a window of about 30 minutes to spend at Kroger before he attempts to escape from the car cart. Then it's usually me chasing him down the aisle with him laughing. Plan B is to stick him in the bed of my cart with all the groceries. He seems to quiet down this way! His second favorite thing to do at the grocery is flirt with the cashiers. I swear, he's already a ladies man. Too bad his cuteness can't get us free groceries!

Sidenote: I thought he was a genius at 15 months when I was reading the Kroger advertisement in the newspaper and Aiden pointed to their logo and said "Kroger!". It took me a minute to absorb that and I frantically called my mother to tell her about my little genius. She then consulted my baby book (which is like 500 pages because she recorded EVERYTHING) to tell me that I recognized the Kroger logo at 14 months. Like mother like son I suppose! The branding guru that created the Kroger logo deserves a medal!