Aron had a birthday some time back and I've failed to update with a blog post. I will not write much on this, just post a few obligatory pictures from his party and the following morning when he and his brothers played with his gifts like it was Christmas morning.

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Poor little guy hasn't had his website updated since February. I can't believe that and am truly ashamed of myself.

Aron has GROWN! He's almost four now and showing every sign of accomplishing great things. He's getting tall like his brothers and seems to keep up with almost everything they do.

Today as we shopped for a few grocery items, he held my list and announced the letters from each word for me. He has picked up on a lot and seems to be catching on to the sounds as well as the identity of the letters.

He is as affectionate as ever and still very much loves for me to hold him. Sometimes I think it's just to make Ivan jealous though.

Independent, sometimes loud, sweet, often demanding, social, articulate, obedient, smart and adorable, Aron is only going to be three for a few more weeks. He's anxious to start school so he can hang out with his brothers more. He knows almost everything, but never gets upset when I explain that he's wrong. He takes life in stride and I'm very happy that he's mine.

"Let's take our picture!" he said.

My little Aron turned three in September. I have intended to do an update on him since then and have only written little bits here and there.

He is such a mix of baby and boy still, always independent in his desire to reach for greater things, but never far from the need to be held, cuddled, kissed and favored.

We had a joint brother birthday celebration for all three of the boys at the park so we did not do the customary cake and ice-cream or balloons on his birthday. Well, we did have some frozen yogurt, but I'll get to that. We simply allowed Aron to choose the agenda for the day, including picking a store of his choice in which to select a toy for his birthday gift.

He chose, "Probidence." We asked where in Providence and he responded, "Probidence."

We ended up at Chick-Fil-A and he had a great time. We ate lunch and then they played on the playground for a while before we left for Target. This is where he wanted to pick out a gift and he came home with a cute little golf set.

His second restaurant choice which was Sweet Ce Ce's for dessert. Sticky!

It's been so long I can't remember exactly what we did for dinner but it was probably something that doesn't require silverware.

It's been several months since his birthday and every day he is expanding his awareness, his understanding and his expression. He REALLY surprises me at times, not with what he knows, but what he understands in conversations around him. He catches everything, processes everything and makes logical conclusions.

The other day I noticed that he talks with his hands a lot. He's always used a LOT of inflection when he talks, the past couple days he's been emphasizing everything by holding out his hands and shaking his arms around when he's explaining things to me. He gets this from his dad. He's definitely a communicator.

My very favorite thing he's ever said, happened today in the van. The older boys were saying that he didn't know as much as they do and he argued some but mostly just sat there with a frustrated expression on his face. Finally he spoke up very emphatically, "I know TWO THINGS! I know my name, and I know God loves me!"

Wow. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that. If there's anything I want for my boys it's for them to know who they are and that God loves them. Everything else will fall into place if they know those two things.

Love that God chose me to be their mom.

Aron talks. I know I've mentioned it before. He talks a lot. He talks like a child much older than he is and I am now realizing that he talks to things much less like a human than he is as well.

Of late, I have caught him talking to his food a lot.

On Saturday during our annual Button/Fadely/Kelso holiday brunch the adults were all in the living room and most of the kids were upstairs playing. Aron was taking the opportunity to scrounge around in the kitchen for goodies that had not been devoured and found himself with a bowl of fresh blueberries at his disposal. I don't know how long it had been going on but I kept hearing him screaming as if he were in trouble. Every time I would look at him he was smiling so I continued my own conversation. Finally it was getting a little irritating so I watched a little more closely to see what was happening. He was talking with his blueberries and they were trying not to get eaten. He would talk to them and then open his mouth and let out a screaming noise from the blueberries as they were tossed in. Poor blueberries.

Today it was over breakfast. He was eating his cereal and each little crunchy bite had a complaint or an appeal to remain uneaten. He would shake his head and let them know it was hopeless and then devour them.

I really do need to get video of this.

I do have an unedited video of him using his hands to have a conversation with each other. I can't post it because in the majority of it he is too aware that I have a camera on him. Once he feels that he is safe and I'm ignoring him, his hands become little characters that run toward each other, yell at each other and have little wrestling matches on the counter in front of him. One of them always ends up losing the battle and flailing backward landing palm up in disgrace. I don't know if it's possible for me to edit and post that somewhere or not, but I hope to do that at some point.

Aron continues to be, in a word, FUN!

I love being his mom.