When Aaron was little, I used to complain about his whining and clinging. We've since moved on to chaos and destruction. Turns out my Aaron needs LOTS of attention and will get it however he can. Having Elise around has limited the amount of attention I can give, so he's gone full dinosaur on me several times recently. I really wish I could get him to nap more than once a week!
This was his most impressive episode so far. It happened while I was putting Elise down for a nap one morning. I walked out to see this:
A pile of salt on the nightstand and Aaron armed with the salt and pepper shakers.
I knew this was going to be awesome.
Next: salt and pepper down the stairs:
Salt across the table and all over the apples:
Salt and pepper inside my glass of water (he was very proud of this one):
Salt on my laptop (thank heaven it was closed!):
Turns out he had pulled the stool over to the counter, climbed up, retrieved the shakers and gone on a rampage. The shakers now live much, much higher. Other episodes include dry erase marker on the rug, various messes with water, and running off with a pair of scissors (luckily I caught him before he got very far).
But he also has a very sweet and caring side. He's always worried when his siblings cry (except Elise, since he's usually the one making that happen). He'll often go upstairs and bring down their blankets to comfort them.
He also LOVES to hold Elise. He asks all the time and is quite upset when it's not always an option. Elise is simultaneously excited to watch Aaron's craziness and terrified of what he's going to do.
I'd say Elise's look speaks volumes right here.
"Save me!"
Don't be fooled: he loves her, but some of his favorite activities include: trying to wake her up, trying to keep her from falling asleep in the van by yelling "LISE-Y BUG!" at the top of his lung, shoving things in her mouth, poking her in the eye, and trying to crush her. Aaron's variety of love is dangerous if you're tiny.
Aaron is also more than a bit obsessive-compulsive. We had many tears over the switch from long sleeves and pants to cooler clothes. He also outgrew his most favorite shoes and much drama ensued when we put on his new ones for the first time:
He was finally won over after we made sure everyone who saw him told him what nice shoes he had. Now he refers to these shoes as his "nice shoes" and puts them on without complaint. Sandals were another battle entirely ("No! Want socks!").
We're still in love with his sad puppy dog eyes. We like to ask him where they came from. Catherine decided the other day that somewhere there's a puppy running around with "happy little boy eyes." I find this both adorable and terrifying, since all I can picture are the mutts from The Hunger Games.
Favorite Aaron words right now: "pee-nana" (banana), "a-boo-ca-doo" (avocado), and "chop-serries" (strawberries). Also, "nummy-licious" when things are delicious (or candy), and "juicey-peas" (how he asks for his juice). Food is still high on his list of favorite things.
We love our Aaron and his unique way of seeing the world. There was the day he told me about the "fish in the water." He proudly showed me these goldfish, carefully placed on our blue bedsheets:
Or the time he insisted on drinking his water with a knife:
Or his almost-naked iPad playing:
We sure love you, little Aaron Dinosaur!
