Aiden

Aiden, for some reason, calls pizza hut "pizza cabin." I'm not sure where he gets this from. No one has admitted to infecting him with this little mistake. Aiden also insists that "Burger King" is "Booger King," and if you attempt to correct him, he will shout you down. "No! it's Booger King!"

Aiden seems to be left-handed. That's the hand that he writes with, and sometimes eats with. But then again, I've seen him slide in his right hand every now and then. Granted, he's not precisely drawing or writing anything intelligible yet (his favorite recurring theme is this circular scrawl which he proudly points to and says "That's a whirlpool!"), but it makes me wonder. Left-handed kids do have to take a different path, it seems... This really gets to be a problem, now that we are trying to teach our kids to play the violin. Willow, who was initially really reluctant about playing it, seems to be now so enthusiastic that she urges us to practice violin nightly. Aiden, who was initially somewhat enthusiastic, now seems uninterested to the point where he seems ADHD... He is being encouraged to play by holding the bow in his RIGHT hand, despite his apparent penchant for preferring the left. So far, it's okay, but at times, I wonder if we're doing more harm than good...

Aiden is a real flirt. He is truly reminiscent of a puppy dog. He is playful and mischievous, but he is definitely not independent. He requires and demands a lot of attention and affection. Aiden "performs" for cute little girls, and on occasion, attractive women; he singles them out, and then rushes up to talk to them, to joke with them, to dance for them. Jeez, he's only 3. I wonder what he'll be like when his hormones really kick in... (Was I like this? Nooo....)

Aiden is Gaellic for "Fire." Ai (pronounced Ei) can be represented by a Japanese Kanji meaning "Bright, Brilliant" and Den can be represented by a Japanese Kanji meaning "Continuous, Passed on, etc." When he was born in June, Waianae was suffering yet again from one of its brush fires. I couldn't help but think that the name we chose for him, and the blazes in Waianae were somehow related (sort of in the fashion of the Police's song, "Many Miles Away"). That is, Aiden's recurrent and blazing temper tantrums manifested in another fire out on the West Side... In the beginning, I had a hard time tolerating his tantrums (ME, who pride myself as being especially patient and tolerant [read: lazy]). But Aiden has since calmed down, to the point of being willful, but not a conflagaration...