Mmmmm! S'mores!
I LOVE being outside
Birthday party picnic
Birthday "cake""Do you see those cool fireworks?!?!"
It's hard to imagine; we're half way through summer! Although the only thing we've done of any note is going to the Hills for Jessica's graduation, our break has been everything we could have hoped for and more. The extra time we've been able to spend with Aiden has been such a blessing. We do still take him to day care two days a week; it's good for him to be around kids his age, but it's also good for the sake of continuity. Besides, he loves Andrea, the girls, and the other day care children. As I sit here, though, I've come to realize the solitude and quiet has somehow become unsettling. I asked Troy this morning, "What did we do last summer?" We try to be productive and enjoy our time, but we find ourselves counting the hours until we can go pick him up. Now, that's not to say we don't have our challenges! Last night after setting off our fireworks, we didn't leave Sean and Jenny's until 10:50 -- PM. He'd only had a 25 minute nap during the day, so we fully expected Aiden to conk out a few minutes into the trip home. It was not to be. He sang and babbled almost the entire way home. Almost. With about 10 minutes left, his shoe fell off. Instant melt-down. I had no way to reach it, and he was VERY stressed out! He screamed and sobbed and screamed some more! Yes, we are being fully indoctrinated into the joys of parenting a toddler. We are also learning to pick our battles. He went to bed with his shoes ON. :) For the most part, though, parenting Aiden is a joy. He has SUCH a sense of humor. He laughs frequently and loves to make others laugh. He still isn't speaking much, but we do have a speech therapist, who Aiden adores, coming once a week. She feels he is doing well, but of course, I still worry! That's my job!! Outside of day care and speech therapy, we have had time to be a family of three. (Can it be? On July 12 -- Dad's birthday none-the-less -- we will have been our forever family for nine months!) Back in February I bought a family pass to the zoo. With the zoo, as with pretty much every new experience we're finding, it took Aiden a while to warm up to the idea. After the first trip, though, he loves to go. One morning after speech, we were playing with some Play Doh on the deck. I realized how nice it was, warm not hot and gorgeous sunshine, and make an impromptu decision: we were going to the zoo! It was one of our best days of summer so far. We spent an hour walking around looking at the animals; we then had a picnic I had thrown together. Afterwards, Aiden got to play in the park. Such fun!! It is pure joy to see his excitement, wonder, and happiness: the rewards of parenting! We were also able to witness his wonder and happiness on his birthday. We had his party on July 2. Aiden is fortunate to have so many people who love, dare I say adore, him! About twenty family and friends (who are really more like family!) came over even though it was a holiday weekend. We did a traditional Fourth of July-type BBQ and even had a blow-up waterslide thanks to great friend Jenny F. Most of the time, though, it's just day-to-day life made special by having our new little guy with us. Often we just sit and watch him play in the yard. The kid is nonestop energy! One of his favorite pasttimes his running laps: Ready! Set! Go! **On a side note, we have uploaded videos to youtube. Our name is The3Sturges, or they can be found under the video titles: "Boogie Baby Aiden," "SetGOAiden," "Aiden Sings the Blues," or "Hurdling Aiden."** Frequently, the neighbor kids stop by to play with him. He's the new kid on the block and is getting a lot of attention, especially from the girls! ;) Morgan, Anna, and Emily often come by and entertain him which is nice since he does require a lot of energy and they offer a brief respite! As usual, he was a little leary in the beginning, but now he runs to the door when he seems them. It's so cute! Overall, there isn't much to report. We are fully entrenched in and loving summer. Going back to school and missing out on so much of Aiden's life is going to be terribly difficult. I'm already dreading it. But, hey, if we have any hopes of #2, we'd better get back to work and start making some money.....
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