My oldest child just turned eleven.
I still remember her as the beautiful baby she was over a decade ago. Aden was the perfect training baby. She was patient, seeming to forgive all our bumbling as we taught ourselves what to do as new parents. She ate well and was sleeping through the night at about four months. She was bald for a long time and her eyes were (are) incredibly blue. And I don't care what any expert says about when children develop empathy because in Aden's case she was sensitive to the feelings of others from very early on. Anytime she saw me cry she would cry too. She's my tenderhearted girl.
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| Ready to decorate! |
We had a sleepover party for her this past weekend that included the girls making their own pizzas for dinner, a couple of games of Aden's own invention, and our own version of Cupcake Wars. That was fun. We baked a gabillion mini cupcakes and set out frosting and marshmallows and fruit and sprinkles and sugar paper and modeling chocolate and then set a timer for different decorating challenges. (One round was 'the ocean', then 'zombies', then the holiday of their choice....) They had a five minute time limit on each round and the judges were me, Mona, Quinn, and our dog Chipper (who gave everyone a ten each time which we assumed was correct based on the level of tail wagging he exhibited when we held him up to look at the cupcakes). Ian got to judge the final round of displays. The winners got to eat their cupcakes. The losers had to eat their cupcakes.
I was impressed at Aden's party how inclusive she was of her siblings. Mona and Quinn did not get pushed off to the side just because friends were over. She's a good big sister, and she may not be the best example for getting her chores or homework done without prompting, but she's wonderful about leading her little pack of siblings in a harmonious way.
Earlier this week on Aden's actual birthday she lost her final baby tooth.
