Aidan is now three and a quarter years old! It's been a lovely month for Aidan, with some fun new experiences, as well as his normal activities. We managed to persuade him to have his haircut (no easy task, based on past performances), but he went to the proper barber's shop with Daddy and came out with much shorter hair! We're very hopeful that this means he has overcome his fear of having his hair cut - well done Aidan!

We've had a couple of picnics this month. We visited Almond Valley Heritage Centre this month, and had a picnic lunch in their special picnic barn. Aidan had a great time playing in the Adventure Zone and especially enjoyed the flying fox. On another occasion we met Daddy in Edinburgh after work, and the children had a picnic tea in the food court at Princes Mall.

Auntie Jeanne, Uncle Jeff and Philip visited this month, as did Steve, Varya, Benjii and Toby. We also saw Morag and Iona, and Rachel on a number of occasions. Aidan loves having visitors (he had a fantastic time running around and playing in the garden with Philip), but the day that Steve, Varya and their boys visited, Aidan was very tired and really struggled when Benjii wanted to play with his toys.

This theme was also mentioned at Aidan's first ever Parent's Evening at playgroup. Aidan is doing very well in most ways, but he (along with most other three-year-olds!) finds sharing the toys he is playing with very difficult. At playgroup, they are actively encouraging him to play games with other children, particularly ones where he needs to "take turns". Since this time, we have noticed an improvement, and at Megan's birthday party, we noticed that he was sharing well and playing very nicely with the other children.

Reports from his Tumbletots leaders and Sunday School teachers also back this up - Aidan has really settled down and is participating well in both activities. He is starting to enjoy craft activities more now (until recently he's been far more interested in construction toys and creating electrical circuits!) and has been regularly bringing home drawings he's coloured in, or stuck things to. He's very proud of these.

One of Aidan's favourite activities remains baking, and there's nothing better (in Aidan's eyes!) than fairy cakes. He pretty much makes these himself now, and is getting good at measuring out and weighing the ingredients. He also loved making potato bread, insisting on taking turns with Mummy during the fifteen minutes of kneading!

Aidan's been to SpaceBugs with Gungle, to the park with both Mummy and Daddy, swimming and playing in the splash pool with Rachel, and to the Golf Club for lunch.

Aidan really enjoys his music, and sings a lot when he's at home. He also performed his first concert, to an audience of Mummy, Daddy and Megan and front-row guests of Clarence, Monkey, Florrie, Dolphin and Penguin, who were all carefully lined up at the end of the bed in front of the toy box. We were conducted to our seats, and then Aidan went to his toy box and, after a couple of false starts, started playing. He played his piano with his right hand, and kept time by beating his maracca on his drum with his left hand! He sang "Twinkle, twinkle little star" and "The Wheels on the Bus". Our very own one-man band!

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Image 0059-2258 Canon PowerShot S45 1/49 sec., f/2.8 2006:09:10 18:47:13 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Waving goodbye. Aidan watching from an upstairs window as Gungle goes out for the evening. He always flashes his lights to say cheerio, and Aidan always watches until the car is out of sight.

Kneading potato bread. Aidan did a fantastic job learning how to knead bread dough correctly. He's not quite strong enough yet, but he's certainly getting the hang of the technique!

Image 0060-2273 Canon PowerShot S45 1/79 sec., f/2.8 2006:09:13 14:43:48 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0060-2303 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2006:09:21 16:36:42 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Tea time! Aidan went a little overboard with the Parmesan on this occasion.

Typical tea time. Eating is not always the top priority for Aidan.

Image 0060-2316 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2006:09:22 16:50:14 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0060-2522 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2006:10:07 20:13:17 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Tired out! Aidan was so exhausted after Megan's 1st birthday party that he fell asleep where he stopped - right at the top of the stairs.