Nicole Tasker Woods

Aidan got up at midnight last night after being asleep for only 2.5 hours. I went in there out of habit, felt a full diaper, but in my sleepy state I ushered him to bed without changing it and tried to calm him down through his screams of ‘mom, sit couch!’ and ‘mom, sit rock!’ I went back to bed and a minute later, he was standing by his door, light on, banging to be let out. Ryan went in there and at the sight of his dad, Aidan scurried to bed knowing that dad doesn’t mess around, but he was still crying.

Two minutes later, Ryan was fast asleep, snoring beside me, but even through his snores, I could hear Aidan’s tiny hand touching the door knob in an effort to get out of his room. His persistence got the better of me and I snuck downstairs to get him his juice, turned the heat up a degree to get the warm air pumping, and tip-toed into his room. I quickly changed his diaper while he sucked down his juice and he looked up at me and hesitantly asked, ‘mom, sit…couch?’ I stared into his blue eyes and said, ‘yes baby, we can sit on the couch.’

He was THRILLED at my answer because he expected me to say no. He smiled with the sippy cup’s spout between his teeth and let me scoop him up and quietly carry him into the blue-room (not sure why we call it this, since the walls are gray). We cuddled on the couch together – his legs tucked in tight to his body – my arms wrapped around him tight.

I breathed in deep the sweet scent of his hair, soaking up the moment. He handed me the cup and said ‘done’ – I set the cup down on the floor and he said, ‘mom, sit’ and I said, ‘ok baby, we can sit together, but just for a minute.’ One minute turned into five, which turned into ten. It was only seconds before he drifted off to sleep. I took one last moment to enjoy the weight of his baby body in my arms before I carried him to his bed and tucked his covers around him.

Before I knew it, Ryan was getting ready for work and walking out of our bedroom door at 5:30am – then I heard him go into Aidan’s room and tell him to go to bed. He only cried for a minute, then we were both sleeping quietly again in our own beds. The only reason Aidan got up at 5:30am is because he thought I’d come in, for the 3rd time that morning, and give him some love and attention. Shhh – don’t tell on me!

Nothing’s worse than your child getting sick. The sniffles are one thing, but vomiting is a whole different story. No one likes puke. It’s a million times worse when it’s a 2 1/2 year old who looks up at you with wide, pathetic eyes and when you ask him, “Baby, what’s wrong?” his reply is to vomit in your lap – those are days I wish I was at the office. I love my boy and I am a firm believer in mommy-love making your sick child feel better sooner. But I do not love throw-up and I hate the sour smell of it that lingers on my hands after 12 washes.

Aidan & I had a sweet moment that is still so vivid in my mind…

I was in the midst of a head cold and called in sick to work. He was finally done with throwing up (for the morning) and we were watching Monsters Inc. He was lying in my arms and we were on the couch, cuddled up under his blankie. His tiny fingers were gripping the hand of his bunny-lovie as we napped together for an hour just like that. We were both feeling pretty awful, but lying like this together made us feel comfortable, relaxed. I slowly stood up, holding onto my sick boy and walked him to his bed so he could nap a little longer. I went to my bed and did the same.

It has been incredibly windy out here in sunny Los Angeles, making the ‘nice sunny days’ (as Aidan would call them) pretty chilly!  It’s hard for me to keep my hair in line during the windy fall days, and I’m sure most women feel this way about such unfriendly weather.  If it were up to me, it would be warm and sunny year-round, but I guess we have to break out the sweaters & UGGs every once in a while.

This weekend, we had rain on Saturday, which added to the unpleasantness of the weather, but I sucked it up and put on a baseball cap and hoodie so that my son & I could enjoy the weekend.  Sunday was dry with no rain – just unbearably cold gusts of wind.  Despite the wind, we spent over an hour at the park running around, chasing birds & squirrels, practicing tee-ball & soccer.  It was a great way to stay warm and burn off all that energy we had pent up since the rainy day before.

Ryan even met up with us towards the end of our park-time and he acquiesced to Aidan’s request for him to kick the ball into the sky.  During which, Aidan would squeal in a high pitch as the ball flew up into the air as if mimicking the motion of the ball with his voice; as the ball fell down to the ground, his squeal would turn downwards from high to low.

We have so much fun with this little boy, it should seriously be a crime.

Ryan is such a sucker! When he hears Aidan chatting away in his room at bedtime, he’ll hover next to the door and listen. If Aidan ever says ‘Dad’ then Ryan will immediately run into our bedroom and say, “He’s asking for me! I’m going to go get him…” Then he will open the door and wrap his arms around the Big A and they’ll stand in the darkness of his room talking about anything and everything. Then finally Aidan will say, “Mom come?” And that’s my cue to escape from the warmth of my bed and join the party.

Last night, in the darkness of the blue room, while we laid on the couch basking in quiet time before bed time, Aidan wrapped his tiny little boy hands around my neck.  His arms weren’t long enough to go all the way around so he pressed his hands to the back of my neck. He pulled my face close to his until our noses touched.

I said, “Mooch?”

He replied, “No. Nose.”

Then he moved his head left and right so we could rub noses.

It’s never a good sign when you’re driving to work at 7am (after being up since 5am) and you are starting to doze off behind the wheel.

When my car started to drift to the left lane, missing the car next to me by a hair, I jerked the wheel back and opened all 4 windows to let the chilly 47 degree air slap me back to a state of being alert.

Then I had to pee so bad I contemplated pulling over to the side of the road. Somehow, bumper-to-bumper traffic makes you have to pee REALLY badly.

When Aidan wakes up from sleeping, he is very vocal about what he thinks is in his diaper. Whether it is a “big poop” or “big pee-pee” – he lets us know. That way we aren’t caught off guard.

When you’re changing him, he wants to know what the verdict is and usually wants to sneak a peak at what’s inside.

Well, it’s mornings like the one I had today that I wish I was wearing a diaper because I wanted to have a big pee-pee.

I feel obligated to report that Aidan has been a delight in his weekly classes. He has turned a new leaf and is listening & participating. I’m so proud!

He’s even taken a couple of trips to the local libraries to practice whispering & reading quietly. But his favorite thing at one of the libraries is the large fish tank with a Blue Tang fish, which is the species of Dory from Aidan’s new favorite film, Finding Nemo.

He stood in front of the tank, mesmerized by the real-life Dory.

I’m not proud of the fact that my son is a terror in the classroom. He runs around the circle of kids sitting in a circle. He screams “Run! Fun!” while the rest of the class is listening to a story. He will kick a ball that everyone else is tossing with their hands. It’s downright embarrassing, but I have to remind myself he’s not even 2 1/2 years old. He’ll learn the appropriate behavior soon enough.

Last week, he has made great improvement in the classroom. He participated in story time, sat quietly & listened. I couldn’t be more proud of my terrible 2 year old, who isn’t that terrible after all!

The first thing Aidan seemed to truly out-grow is pajamas. He wore the same six sets of PJs for a LONG time and then all of a sudden, they stopped covering his belly and were like high waters as the pant legs were not long enough for his bean stalk legs. I can only hope this means he’ll be extremely tall, which will assist in his hunt for stardom as a high school first string quarterback and then he’ll take the home-coming queen to prom. A full scholarship to a college of his choosing would also be nice.

And it all started with a pair of pajamas.