A day in the life of...

A day in the life of...

Aiden Taylor Deegan, Age 3

First, I have to get up in the morning...

Then comes breakfast. This is Dadoo's oatmeal, which I like to take photos of while screaming "YUCK!" really loudly.

My momoo is not a morning person.

Then I go to school, which is lots of fun.


Dadoo picks me up after school.

I take some artsy shots after school, like this one...

and this one...

and this one.



When I get home Momoo and I bake something together

Like chocolate chip muffins!

I have chocolate chips on my face, ha ha.

After dinner we watch some Olympics (or Thomas the Train if I have any say)

Then it's time for bed... SHOOT.

Mother knows...not much apparently

So much for mother's intuition. I have been absolutely convinced that the little one we're cooking is a boy. In my dreams I've pictured this little guy swaddled up in a blue blanket and little blue cap, and I've even been subconsciously preparing myself for a household with two small boys running rampant and a sizeable testosterone imbalance. But after this week's ultrasound, it was clear there are no "boy parts" as they say. We're having a girl!




Of course, we are just thrilled and relieved that everything is going smoothly so far and the little one looks healthy and on track... it will be a new adventure to have a baby girl though, and we're looking forward to that. Aiden is excited at the thought of a baby sister, who he would like to name "sister" (very creative) and who hopefully will like trucks and tools as much as he does!

Shutterbug

The lens on my point-and-shoot digital camera recently stopped working correctly. It still focuses and takes photos, but it won't zoom anymore and it's prone to just beeping and deciding not to shut on at all once in awhile. So I got a new camera. And guess who wanted my old one? Especially since it's his favorite color, blue.

Aiden has become quite the shutterbug. He spent several hours yesterday running around the house taking pictures of everything he could think of. Here is some of his portfolio, which included over 250 photos by the end of the day.

Winter Weekends

We've resigned ourselves to the fact that winter won't be relaxing its grip on New Hampshire for several more months. Though it's torture to see the cherry trees bursting into bloom on the streets of Vancouver as we enthusiastically watch the 2010 Olympics coverage, we try not to think about that. Instead, we plan. What can we do this weekend with an energetic toddler and a pregnant woman on semi-couch-rest? And the next weekend? The options are not plentiful, but we're finding them. We go swimming at the gym pool, to skating lessons or hockey on New London's "rink" on the green, over to the Montshire Museum, or to the library to pick out some new books. Or whatever we can find.



This weekend the town of Newbury had a winter festival with kids activities like sledding, ice skating, and ice fishing. Aiden especially liked the ice fishing, as he got to use his Spongebob Squarepants rod in the dead of winter. It was fun to scoop up the shiners with a net and set the tip-ups too, but unfortunately the fish were not hungry. Ah, but that's not what fishing is really about, is it? It's about sitting in quiet contemplation and enjoying the natural beauty of... blah blah blah.... toddlers do not appreciate the zen of fishing! As soon as they announced the hot dogs were ready, Spongebob got the ditch.


Later we went to the Discovery Center, a planetarium/space museum not to far away in Concord. Aiden loved the giant rocket outside the buiding, and zooming in and around the sun, moon, planets, and stars while watching the 360-degree domed planetarium show. Everything he can fit in or on (couch, bed, box, etc) is now a spaceship ready for the countdown to blastoff!




Next weekend who knows what we'll find to do, but it's amazing how resourceful you become scouring the internet and newspapers for any scrap of something that might keep a 3 year old and his parents sane for just one more winter weekend...

Hurrah for Grandpa!

We love when Grandpa Da-da comes to visit. Aiden, of course, loves spending time with each of his grandparents, since they read extra books and give extra hugs and listen extra hard to his complicated explanations about what is most important right NOW! Andy and I love Grandpa Da-da's visits because house projects that have sat dormant for months suddenly and miraculously get completed. This time Andy, Dan and Aiden worked on installing a handrail for our basement stairs, building some storage shelves in the garage, and putting in a new mailbox to replace the one with the busted door and rusted-out flag. Aiden is now an expert measuring tape holder and scew dispenser. And he got to bang on the walls (something we normally discourage) trying to locate studs. What could be better?

We also had time for a little Valentine's weekend fun, including sledding, ice skating lessons, breakfast at Ellie's and a snowmobile race event on Lake Sunapee. This last one was too loud for Aiden's taste, but it was interesting to see the snowmachines shooting off across the ice at 120 mph. No thanks for me, either. I like being in one piece.

If these videos don't work, try clicking on the blog post from the Archive menu on the left and then playing them. That seems to work for me!

Sunday afternoons are for...

Not football! At least not these days... on Sunday afternoons Aiden has skating/hockey lessons at the Proctor Academy ice rink in Andover. It's so cute to see all the little kids all geared out in hockey helmets and skates and trying their best to keep balance on the ice. Some of the kids, not much older than Aiden, are zooming around with sticks and hockey jerseys already. Aiden's group is in the "push-the-crate" phase but they're having fun, which is the important part. Lots of Red Light, Green Light and crate races back and forth across the ice. Not quite Wayne Gretsky yet, but...