Aidan, Age 3

I promise to post some more pictures soon. We've had a season of illness in our house. One after the other it seems, so none of us has had much energy for doing much. We have been enjoying the outdoors a little more as the weather gets nicer.

I just wanted to document a little bit about what Aidan is like right now, just before his third birthday!

He has become a very sweet little boy, he notices when other kids are upset and asks them what's wrong, offers a hug, says bless you when someone sneezes. We're still working on please and thank you, but those come on their own every once in awhile too. He is still a pretty tough little boy and doesn't cry easily when hurt, so it's nice to see the softer empathetic side of him too.

He's quite the imitator. Whether it's trying to be like daddy, another kid at the park, or most recently like our friend's son Grayson (who is about 7 years older) riding bikes and laying in the grass, hands behind their heads. Sometimes it's what he says that's imitating...threatening toys with time out, making "the mad mommy face" with his arms crossed across his chest, or other phrases that sound oddly familiar!

He's starting to show some interest in becoming a big brother. He frequently kisses and touches my belly. He yelled at Chris the other day because he was afraid he was going to hurt the baby (I don't remember what Chris was doing...). He also has started to treat other things as "his baby". Yesterday at the park, his ball was his baby and he pushed it in the baby swing. A few weeks ago, I watched him out on the porch of our apartment rocking his big t-rex dinosaur and singing to it. I really think he's going to be a great big brother and I hope we're all ready as a family to welcome another member with out too many bumps!

He plays much more independently and has more pretend play. It is very nice to see and quite humorous to listen to the conversations his toys have together. This morning in the bath his fish were talking to one another about getting washed up. It's just a fun little peek into what's going on in his little head! :)

There's also the very difficult side of being an almost three year old! He definitely is showing that he is independent. We've been struggling with bed time and sometimes nap time. He can choose to sleep or play and often play wins out until we're all tired, frustrated, and close to (or in...considering my hormonal state!) tears! He seems to have decided that his bed time is 10 or 10:30PM most nights, regardless of whether or not he had a nap and/or how much activity we've done that day. This has proved incredibly trying for me as my bedtime is usually 10 or 10:30 as well, offering me little to no downtime prior to going to sleep. Just ask Chris...I don't function very well without my sleep! :) God is definitely trying to teach me some patience! All I can say is that I am very thankful we are a two parent household and that I have such a wonderful husband who happens to be very patient at that time of night.

I really love my little boy and can't wait to continue to watch him grow up. It is truly exciting to watch him learn new things and become so proud of his own accomplishments (like the occasional success on the potty). We love you Aidan!