No Dear, heaven isn't in the basement

Recently we had a goldfish death. I know to most people, this means nothing at all... a trip to Wal-Mart and another 53 cents. Sadly, this was a fish that Aidan has had since he was a baby and was a part of our family. We had to feed it every night before bed and the fish's light had to be on so Aidan could watch him swim as he fell asleep. When I walked by Aidan's door the other morning, my heart sank when I saw that big, golden family member floating belly up.

This was a big mommy moment. My first attempt at explaining the circle of life and where we go when we die to a 3 year old. Having a degree in Early Childhood Development was supposed to prepare me for moments like this and I would be able to help my child through his pain and grief. I took a deep breath and called Aidan over and broke the news to him. His fishy had died and gone to heaven. Grandpa Bob would look after him for us in heaven and it was okay to be sad. I watched Aidan to gauge his response and be ready to answer any questions he might have.

He took all of about 3 seconds to grieve and then said "I flush him?" I said "sure" thinking that this must part of the healing process and it would be his way of saying goodbye. As we laid fishy in his watery grave, the following conversation took place...

Aidan - he's going down the toilet to basement?

Me - Yes dear

Aidan - going heaven basement?

Me - No sweetheart, heaven is not in the basement, heaven is in the sky. The pipes in the basement, just help fishy get to heaven

Aidan - oh

At this point we pause to flush our friend and say goodbye. Then Aidan looks at me with an impish grin and says

"Fishy with my poop now!"

He then laughs and runs off to play. I guess the acceptance stage of grief comes easier when you are 3 years old and my attempt at a spiritual lesson went down to the drain...literally.

REST IN PEACE FISHY!!

On a follow up to this story. I purchased some new fish last night and after putting them in the tank and showing Aidan, he said to me "I knew you would fix it Mom".

I guess Daddy isn't the only one he has faith in!

Daddy can fix ANYTHING...

Daddies are amazing men. Growing up I always remember my Dad puttering around the house, fixing this and that. He was a marine mechanic and small engines were his specialty. I guess I would have thought he could fix just about anything, but nothing can compare to the faith that Aidan has in his Daddy!

Aidan has always thought Nathan was responsible for changing EVERY lightbulb in the ENTIRE world. We could be at someone else's house and he would see a light bulb out and would instantly say "Daddy fix". At the grocery store, a light flickering high above the canned goods..."Daddy fix". The sight of a street lamp not on would almost certainly bring on the cries of "Daddy fix". If a hotwheel lost a wheel or a train track came undone, I was always certain to hear it..."Daddy fix".

Then one day, the true level of faith this little boy had in his father revealed itself to me. Aidan was using the bathroom when I heard the familiar "Mom, wipe my bum?" I went in to help my little man, when he had to point out his ummmmmmm "accomplishment" in the toilet. He was a little distressed though because it happened to be in 2 pieces. It was broken and he wasn't very happy about it. Just then, his face lit up and he looked at me with a renewed hope...you guessed it...his next words out of his mouth were..."Daddy fix"

Now that's faith!

That OLD Lady...

We live in Canada...you need a good winter hat when you live in Canada, so when I found this one, I thought it was very cute AND practical for the cold winter that was coming.

Little did I know it would lead to my first ever "Mommy can't believe you said that and I want to die" moment!

We headed to the zoo one chilly morning a couple of weeks ago. Aidan was wearing his cute hat. It gets a lot of comments because of it's bear shape, so I never really paid much attention when the lady, who was ahead of us in line at the zoo, started talking to Aidan and telling him how cute his hat was.

I didn't pay much attention UNTIL...Aidan turned around and said in his loudest 3 year old voice... "MOM!! That OLD lady said my hat was nice!"

I froze! What could I say?? I certainly knew that everyone within ear shot had just heard that and not knowing how this ummmmm "older adult" would react to such a comment, I had to act quickly! I glared at my innocent little boy, who was so excited that someone had noticed his hat and told him to "SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!" I had promised myself never to do this to him because we had waited so long to hear him speak, but what can you do when he spews the truth so freely?? When out of earshot of the poor woman who had had her self esteem shattered by this 3 foot tower of truth, I explained to him that it is not nice to call people old...just like he didn't like being called a baby. I think he understood, but GOOD LORD I am not looking forward to the next time his new found vocabulary makes me want to crawl in a hole and die!

My little "Late Talker"...

Wow! I can't believe I have been motivated to create my own blog. Seems like only a short while ago my life had absolutely nothing to blog about, but now with little guy, Aidan, talking up a storm, it seemed like I needed a place to write it all down, and paper and pen just doesn't cut it these days. I don't want Aidan to look back and think his mom wasn't hip or cool. I can get jiggy with it...blog style! (That should show you just how "not hip" I am !)

Any way, about us. I am Lisa, full time mother to Aidan, full time wife/zookeeper to Nathan and goddess of Swedish furniture by night. Nathan and I have been married for 5 years and Aidan has just turned 3. He was a happy, beautiful, healthy baby who developed perfectly...except for the fact that until 2 months ago, he didn't have a lot to say. He never had a problem getting his needs across. He was very creative and getting our attention, running to the fridge and pointing, grunting and using his one very useful word that he had learned...HELP!! We started to get worried when he turned 2 and he was supposed to be using 50 words and he had 3 or 4. People kept saying "Relax, he'll talk when he is ready" or "Enjoy the quiet now cause when he does talk, you won't get him to shut up". God how I wanted to punch them square in the kidneys everytime I heard that, but now I am glad I didn't. By George they were right!

We tried speech therapy every week and that helped us get started. Soon Aidan was saying 6 or 7 words and after a few months we made it to double digits. He was starting to get more consonant sounds and stringing them together however he saw fit...in a language only a mother could truly understand. Who else would know that Baa meant "Bear in the Big Blue House" where as Daa meant "Where is Daddy?" A mother's intuition can only get you so far though and Aidan was becoming increasingly frustrated when he couldn't get me to understand what he wanted. Temper tantrums were very common for my little Late Talker and Kahlua in my coffee was getting to be a common thing for mommy in the evenings. (It's much better than pulling your hair out!!)

Then just before Christmas last year, it seemed like a lightbulb went off in his head and new words started coming out of his mouth several times a day. He was becoming a TALKER!!

We were getting ready to go and see my inlaws for the holidays. They live across the country and hadn't seen Aidan in 18 months. They would talk to him on the phone, but the conversations were pretty one sided when Aidan would just sit and listen and occasionally blow kisses into the phone. 2 months ago, he was able to get off the plane, run up to them and say "Hi Gramma", "Hi Grampa". No one could believe (me included) that this was the same kid who would barely say "juice" a month before.

Thus the reason for this blog...he now says so many funny things, I don't want to forget any of them.

Just last week, on Valentine's Day, his Dad ate the last chocolate Aidan had been saving from Grandma and Grandpa. Aidan was so mad, he took the empty box off the kitchen table, shoved it under his Dad's nose and said (in his most sarcastic 3 year old voice) "Are you full now Dad?"

I almost wet myself and knew I should scold him for talking disrespectfully to his father, but how can you be mad at a kid with such great comedic timing??

Hope you enjoy reading. I promise all my posts won't be so long!