Aidan's dreams

So the other day I was in the bathroom when Aidan walked in and asks, "So Mom, did you have any dreams?"
I told him that I thought I did but that I didn't remember them.
He said,"Well, I had 5 dreams." He then tells me about all 5 dreams. There was a girl in the first one that needed rescued. At the end of that dream he said that she went into his next dream and proceeded to tell me in detail about it. I honestly can't remember all the detail of these dreams but they were all connected by the one girl and there were 5 of them.Then he reaches his last dream where the robots they were fighting and trying to escape from finally caught him. They wanted to change him into a robot but they didn't have a transformer so he escaped and he was really scared and then he tried to change dreams but he couldn't, so he woke up.
I don't know what amazes me more, the complexity of the dreams and his ability to so clearly depict them the next day, or the fact that he seems to be able to recognize that he's dreaming and change his dreams when he feels like it. He rarely opens up and speaks more than a sentence or two at a time. He has to feel totally safe and secure. I guess sitting on the toilet I am completely non-threatening. Go figure. I asked him to tell my mom about his dreams and he got very angry and said, "NO, I already told you!" So once he's done, he's done. He is truly sensitive and incredibly intelligent but if he feels at all threatened he goes into fantasy sound effects and becomes a clown. I wish everyone could see this other side of my Aidan, but then again, that would make times like these less powerful and I'd never trade that moment for all the good parent compliments in the world.

Goldfish

So Aidan won a goldfish at the fair last weekend. Now of course we had to go get a little desktop aquarium and another fish for my youngest. We got a fantail goldfish(Fishy) to go with the generic common goldfish.(MooJoo) Yes, that is what Aidan named his fish. This morning Fishy was dead. So Ammon flushed it and I had planned on going out to replace it before the kids noticed. Well, Aidan came running in saying, "Ryan's fish is gone!" I had to explain that it had died but we'd get a new one. So then he wants to see it....and I had to tell him that we flushed it. Then he started crying. I felt bad. So much for the classic TV sitcom plot of finding one just like it so they never know. So I replaced Fishy with a new pretty fantail. Ryan was thrilled. (no mourning there) He just started talking understandably, but there was no mistaking him...."It's NEMO!" So now we have Nemo and Moojoo. My kids are nuts.

Oh Canada

Hello again,
The boys and I just took a week long trip to Echo Bay Ontario, Canada with Wendy Mills and her kids. Wow. That was an experience. Ammon had to work so it was just the moms and kids. It took us 12 hours to get there plus a few stops. The landscape is gorgeous, the lake was a lot of fun. Ryan doesn't like swimming in the lake since he can't see the bottom. Aidan was constantly in the water. They caught frogs every day. Wendy's daughter, Samantha, stepped on a nail and Aidan gave her a frog to make her feel better. Aside from the constant "mommy" from Ryan, we had a really nice time. We are all bug bitten, but that is the price you pay for enjoying nature. Ammon cleaned the whole house and made it very nice for our return. I'm very glad to be home now. Hopefully some pictures will be up soon.

Aidan's soccer pictures

Just thought I'd post some soccer pictures of Aidan. He really enjoyed it. As you can see, in the top picture, he seems to be trying some peace negotiations. In the center you can see that he gave up on that route;)

Potty training??

Well, today Ryan decided to use the potty. He didn't actually do anything but went through all the motions perfectly. Of course later he decided to throw about half a roll of t.p. into the toilet and then fish it back out. Needless to say, our bathroom was a mess and I was not happy. But this evening Ryan pooped his pants, went and got a baby wipe, and gave it to Ammon. Then he said,"Daddy, eeewwww!" So Ammon asked if he needed to go potty and he said yes. Though he'd already gone in his diaper he did sit on the toilet and act very proud of himself. So when he finished he hopped off, flushed, put his hands up in the air and said, "I did it!" He is so funny. Now if we can just get the timing down, he'll be doing alright.

UPDATE: This morning (6/29/06) while I was in the downstairs bathroom, Ryan went upstairs and pooped in the toilet by himself! Of course he got it all over the seat too, but he tried to fix it by cleaning it with the toilet bowl brush. He'll keep me on my toes, that's for sure.

Ryan's Glamour Shots..

Yes, our little flirt got glamour shots yesterday. Now mind you, I was lurking in the doorway of the studio at the mall eyeing the available options for my own set of pictures that might actually turn out well. I was hoping for a few sexy pictures for Ammon.....

No.

There was a photo contest going on for children. The kids package included 1 - 8x10, 2-5x7's, and 8 wallets for $20. Not too bad, but I still wouldn't have gone for it. But my dear hubby just had to enter Ryan. Aidan wanted nothing to do with it so it was just Ryan. They got some adorable pictures of him, no two ways about it but they look just like any other studio. Now to glamour touch them, where they do colorizations and such was going to run us $93 for that $20 package. All they did was change it to a sepia and color his eyes and shirt. Needless to say, we elected to just get the $20 value package. So this afternoon they called us and said the district manager had seen Ryan's pictures and wanted to blow one up to a 16x20, glamour touch it, etc. and matte and frame it for display in their store. After 30 days on their wall the picture would be ours to take home and we'd only have to pay 40% of the cost. The cost of $650! Our cost would only be $299 - for ONE PICTURE of ONE KID! As cute as it would be, it's simply ridiculous to pay out that kind of money for a picture. I'll bet they get lots of parents that way though. They leave with the value package and get called back and told their kid is so cute that they want to use them in their advertising. What parent wouldn't burst with pride? As flattering as it seems, it is probably something they do a lot. Besides, we don't need a large portrait in a studio to know our son is adorable. He melts our hearts each and every day.

Church with the boys..

Wow, today was a day like we haven't seen in quite some time. We've had great success with a star chart for Aidan. He gets a start for every 10 minutes he stays in his chair through sacrament meeting. Each star is worth 5 minutes of video game time. Last week was wonderful. Grandma and Grandpa Buhler were there and Aidan did quite well coloring and playing etch-a-sketch. This week was the polar opposite. He earned no stars as there was not a 10 minute section where he stayed even relatively still. Primary must've been worse because they came and got Ammon out of Sunday School. When I got out there Aidan was barefoot, jumping around like a wild animal of some sort, and using what must have been some primitive communication form that did not in any way resemble words. Appearantly during primary he was making sound effects that included quite a bit of spit sprays. Others were not amused. Suffice it to say that by the end of church not only had Aidan not earned stars, he'd lost some. I have noticed that his worst primary days are when his teacher is not there. The lady who substitutes is not exactly little boy friendly - mom to 3 adult girls - so that could have something to do with it. The rest is a complete mystery. We've had him evaluated by a team at the school. This included a speech therapist, a teacher, and a pshychologist. They all came out with the general concensus that Aidan is perfectly normal for a boy of his age. His attention span is a bit low, but not enough to even recommend treatment. So we continue on in spite of the looks and comments from some and with great support and kindness from others. To anyone who reads this who has ever spoken words of reassurance or offered experiences as guidance without judgement, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Sometimes all a mother of a challenging child needs is someone who understands.

My universe

Hello all. In my universe life may seem mundane, but in truth it's full of chaos. That is not to complain, I wouldn't trade it for the world. For those of you who haven't noticed the Fertility Friend link in my sidebar, feel free to check it out. It's full of great info. And I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but Ammon and I are trying for another addition to our family. We do not expect immediate success as my hormones are a bit messed up right now, but hopefully in due time we will have another angel to love.