Aiden's Life

Father and son

Happy boy

The sticks in the ground behind Aiden are elevation markers, in preparation for the yard renovation. Turns out, our front yard is much higher than the backyard. Which means when Travis digs the trench to lay drainage pipe, he's going to have to go really deep by the time he reaches the front yard. He started digging this weekend. We learned the watering the drought-ridden ground makes the process a lot easier. Then it's more like digging, than chipping away at rock.

Aiden likes the new motorized truck he got from the Ramby's. He is yet to learn how to turn, but he's got the "gas" down. Literally.

The stakes in the ground in this photo are to show the layout of the new fence. Travis was just getting started when I took the picture, but it gives you an idea of how far out the new wall will go. We spent some time sitting in our patio furniture where the new patio will be, to get an idea of what it will be like. I decided it's going to be awesome. The process of building it will be a little painful, but I think it will be worth it.

I'm working on convincing Travis to postpone some of the work until next summer. I know that just getting the patio laid and the wall up is going to be a LOT of work. Putting lights in the wall and building benches, a swing set and a sandbox are just too much for this year. Physically and financially. I keep hearing, "It will only cost a little bit more." Unfortunately, five little-bit-more's add up.

Aiden brushes his teeth every night. A few times a week (whenever Travis is around), I take control of the brush. Aiden doesn't brush his teeth as much as he does chew on it. I'm trying to instill personal hygiene into his daily life. But he just DOES NOT like it when I brush his teeth. It's a bit of a fight.



And now for the new addition to our bathroom!

Aiden's potty. And reading materials. And Potty Elmo.

Aiden has been showing some interest in his bodily functions lately, so I thought it was time to introduce the potty. I'm not planning on really getting into the potty training just yet. I just wanted to get the toilet into Aiden's life, so he could grow accustomed to it's presence.

I bought the potty Sunday afternoon and set it up immediately. It's awesome. It has frogs on the seat, which Aiden loves. It also has a spot in the back (the green door is visible in the photo) to keep flushable wet wipes and a little bar pulls out of the side where you can hang a roll of toilet paper. That part makes me chuckle.

Aiden was interested in it, but only to drive his cars all over it. I told him no toys on the potty, since it is going to be less than sterile sometime in the future. He wants to check out the toilet, but he seems a little shy about it. I asked him if he wanted to sit on it, but he said no. After it had been set up for an hour, and I was in the other room, Aiden finally opened the lid and sat down. I ran into the bathroom clapping and cheering him on. He gave me a shy smile, but after he got off, he didn't want to get back on.

I'm just going to leave it there for now. Hopefully he'll start sitting on it more frequently and then we can broach the idea of pulling down the pants. Ha!