Pockets...

So much has transpired since I last updated this. Aiden and I had a wonderful trip to Florence Italy. We stayed with our friends Lexie and Umberto and we were also fortunate enough to have had the magnificent David Seaman come down from Germany to kick it around with us. Simply put, we had an amazing time. Eating wonderful food, being overwhelmed by history, traversing narrow medieval streets on bikes, howling like wolves at passersby, soaking up the culture and friendliness of everyone we met. By the end of it all, neither of us wanted to leave. Aiden now lives in Stauton Virginia. It is quite a distance away from Philadelphia and I miss him with all of my heart. 

I have always been fascinated by the items I find in Aidens pockets. I feel like they are an invaluable insight into the heart and mind of an amazing little boy. For example I present the contents of a pair of pants he left here last time he was at my house....

There in lies..... Change, a black string with a button on

 it, a heart necklace, blast caps, a rocket that the blast caps go in, a mini knight, earrings, a cross, a bunch of felt balls, a gum wrapper, a fuse, a golf tee, a tissue, and an eagle emblem. 

Deatheaters?

To anyone that knows Aiden, it is NO secret that he is quite enamored with the Harry Potter books. I'm not sure how many five years share his affinity, but there is no doubt, this one is hooked. Now couple this with the fact that his desire to draw representational objects is increasing tenfold and you can just guess what his subject matter tends to lean towards. 

Case in point, Aiden took it upon himself to give himself a tattoo recently. The tattoo was a pen drawing of a skull with a snake wrapped around it on his forearm. Unbeknownst to me was that this is apparently the mark of some sort of ghoulish characters from the Potter stories known as the Deatheasters wear upon their forearms called, The Dark Mark. 

Whatever the case, I thought he did a nice job. 

Aiden's first ventures in PHotoshop....

Aiden and I made this picture of these cats, Aiden more or less directed me as to what we should copy and paste and where to them once pasted. He even put some  of the eyes where he wanted via his own hands on the mouse......

He says it's called "Aiden and Dad". He says the one with the most heads is him, and that the other one is supposed to be me.

in an effort ...

..... to document all the wonderful things that have been a part of or creation of Aiden's life, I offer this remembrance; 

Today I recalled a song that Aiden used to love to sing, and if I'm not mistaken it was the first song he chose to do really take in and remember. It was from the cartoon of Gulliver's Travels. In the film it was sung Town Cryer. 

It went something to the effect of.....

Oh well....

Such a rainy day....

Nevermind that, nevermind that.....

That's all....

I just wanted to get that down so I wouldn't forget.

tuesday, July 22, 08

Aiden has been quite persistent about his desire to revisit the weapons collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I have to admit, as a child, I myself was very taken by the same exhibit. Boys; power objects, all that. I know, I know. None the less, if you're going to go stare at guns, swords, crossbows, armor and various other implements of war, they should at least be beautifully handcrafted pieces of antiquity. Aiden with his persistently keen eye, of course spotted what had to have been one of the most peculiar pieces in the exhibit; a sword with a gun built into it. He like it so much that he had to go back and see it again well after our first visit. As we were leaving, ( and we DID look at MANY other exhibits ), he had a thought on how he would improve the Gun/Sword........ can you guess what it was? Can you?


It's simple, ....


add a laser.


As usual, he's right.

Sand Goons

I took Aiden back to the beach yesterday. As we were leaving we were discussing the area where the land meets the sand of the beach, which he referred to as "Sand Goons". I barely had the heart to tell him......

Day at the Wissahickon

Today Aiden and I went for a hike in Fairmount Park. The trail we went down is on the edge of Chestnut Hill and leads straight down to the Wissahickon creek. It's pretty steep and a fairly long trail for such a little guy. We saw a lot of chipmunks, learned what sounds are the chipmunks and which are the birds, (as they sound very similar),. We picked up rocks and rotting logs to have a look at the creatures that live beneath them. We saw; giant, quick moving earth worms, centipedes, rolley polley bugs, many varieties of daddy long legs, weird mushrooms and such. We sat on a big smooth rock next to a small waterfall and chilled out, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the natural world. When we got to the bottom where the Wissahickon creek is we stood on the bank for a while skimming rocks and throwing heavy stones. The climb back up that side of the valley is pretty long and steep in places, Aiden never faultered. However, once we were back in the car he conked out within about 10 minutes, I figured he deserved it.

First Crush?

The dude seems to have his first legit crush on a girl at his preschool. He told me today that he wants to tell her he loves her, but not while at school as that wouldn't be fair to the other kids. So he says he plans to tell her the next time he sees her outside of school. Did I mention he's not even five yet?

Multi Tool....

Aiden just got his first Leatherman. He is VERY proud of it. He calls it his "multi-tool", which I suppose is quite accurate. He is very safe and careful with it and never takes the knife out without having me do it for him. He is very eager put it to use and asked me if I could get him a job at my work now that he has such a useful tool. I wish I could, belive me.

He asked me to take a photoset for him, of him posing with the tool...

Self Portrait

Smith Playground

Aidens "Ant House"

Aiden found a bunch of ants on my patio in between the cracks in the cement. He decided to make them his "friends" and as such; move them to a home they'd much prefer. It turned out that the place he figured they'd most prefer was a place he dubbed " The Canyon". "The Canyon" is an extra large crack in the cement where it does sort of look especially like a miniature canyon, or a rather large one were one to be an ant.

He decided after gingerly moving a bunch of ants to their new, improved home that this home would need a little protection from the harsh elements of my South Philly patio...

So he improvised a roof and I present here for all to seee.......

Third Annual Kid Toss

What a Handsome Lad...

At Der Kinderzoo

Momma Mia!!!