Are you getting misty-eyed?

During Mothers Day dinner, Skye showed me a "Humans of New York" post about an oncologist who, after 30 frustrating years of waiting and hoping for successful treatment options for a rare form of brain cancer, refused to see any more patients. Within a few years of this decision, a neurosurgeon successfully removed cancerous cells from the centre of a child's brain with a catheter and today, this form of cancer has a rising survival rate.

I was visibly moved by the post, and Aaron reached for my arm, inclined his head towards me and asked, "Mom, are you getting misty-eyed?"

I laughed and said, "Yes. Where did you learn that word?"

A3: "Harry Potter, of course!"

A2: "What does it mean?"

A3: "Almost crying for happiness."

Yes, isn't it so.

Are we alone?

We are staying in a townhouse in Florida for the month of November.

Aaron: "Mom, is it only you down here?"

Mom: "Aidan is here as well."

Aaron: "Awake Aidan?"

Aaron is becoming more private about changing in front of people, so he wasn't comfortable entering the room in his boxers, with Aidan awake to see him. Awww, he's growing up.

Trivial Pursuit Junior

I introduced Aaron to Trivial Pursuit Junior yesterday. The questions are multiple choice. When it's his turn, he gets into the lotus position, closes his eyes and asks his heart for the answer. He won! He's convinced it was his heart. :-)

You are the Ruler of You

After Aaron's bath this evening, I was drying him off and, with a grumpy look on his face, he jabbed at me with his shark hex-bot.

I calmly took away the toy, saying, "I'll take that," then struggled a bit to get his pyjama top onto his damp torso. When I gestured for him to step into his pyjama bottoms, he glared at me and refused, saying, "I'll do it when you give me back my shark."

I promised him he would get his shark back after he was dressed.

Then, with a firm-set jaw, he scowled, gritting, "So, is it always going to be your rules then? You're the ruler?"

And this was my moment ... my grand moment ... to choose a new way. And I did. And I am so happy that I did. It wasn't perfect, it was even a bit sloppy (i.e. if I could have the chance to do it over, I might say something different, or mostly just something ... less).

I looked into those angry eyes and assured him, "I'm your mom." The next words that flowed from my lips were purely from my heart ... inspired and definitely not premeditated. "You are the ruler of you. You chose to hit your mom with your toy. What do you think your mom might do if you hit her with your toy?

A3: "Take it away."

Me: "Would you like to have your shark back?"

A3 (nodding, quietly): "Yes."

Me: "What can you do to get your shark back?"

A3: "Say sorry?" And he was sincere.

We slipped his pyjama bottoms on and I handed his shark back to him.

After blow-drying his hair, he hugged me and said, "Mom, I'm really sorry that I tried to hurt you with my shark."

Missing Daddy

On Friday morning, as Skye was leaving to catch the bus to work, Aaron clambered for a hug goodbye. As he was snuggled in daddy's arms, he announced, "Dad, I love you better than mom!"

When I dropped Aaron off at daycare, he made a point of telling me, "Mom, Daddy is my favourite guy in our family."

I'm guessing, after some good snuggles and quality time with Dad, he's feeling better now. This morning, Aaron told me, "Mom, I love you as much as Dad now."

:) :)

Mommy, can I have a baby brother, Pleeeease?!?

Aaron has a friend, Oscar, from preschool who is very excited about becoming a big brother again. He has a second baby brother on the way.

For the past couple months, Aaron has casually asked, occasionally, if he can have a baby brother. The answer has always been a simple, "No," which seemed to pass acceptably.

Over the past week or so, however, Aaron has become more and more urgent about having a baby brother. I hadn't considered that this may ever be an issue for him, but it makes a lot of sense. Aaron has three big brothers, and two of them have the double pleasure of being both an older and a younger brother.

Last night, as Aaron was looking so despondent upon being reminded that he's always going to be the youngest in our family, I asked him if it might make him feel better one day, to have a pet again? He shook his head decidedly, "No."

He spent about 20 minutes, busily rearranging his bed, building a fort underneath the bunk he shares with Aidan. He proudly bounced into the kitchen to announce that he is giving his bed to his baby brother and he will have the fort bed from now on. This child is simply not accepting, "No," as an answer!

At bedtime, when we were settling in to read a story, Aaron looked at me quite sincerely and asked, "Are you making a baby now?" I told him I'm not, and we continued to get him into his jammies. A moment later, he asked, "Mom, when can you get love from Daddy to make a baby?" I responded that I get love from Daddy every day, to which he quickly interjected, "And every night?!?" I could see this conversation was at risk of getting away from me, so we picked up "Ferdinand," and read.

Oh, how Ferdinand reminds me of Aidan!! ;)

Aaron is so sweet and earnest with his longing to be a big brother, that I have to be careful not to snicker. Some of the things he says, really are adorably funny.

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

It was nice to meet you at Coquitlam Centre.

I like the North Pole. I want to live in the North Pole sometime.

I would like an Optimus Maximus and a Spiderman remote car. I would also like a green lantern car.

I like to drink water.

I hope you have a really nice Christmas!

Love, 
Aaron Cove (5yo)