We ask Aidan these questions every day and his reply is always the same:
What’s your name?
A!
How old are you?
Two!
Who am I?
Mommy!
Who is that?
Daddy!
Who is your dog?
Cali best!
Because clearly, she is the best.
When this song comes on in the CD rotation in the car, Aidan sings, in the car “KEEP!” “POCK!” “SHOW!”
Ryan, Aidan & I took a tour of New England over Labor Day weekend. We had a desire to see some friends, the college where we met and put some major miles on a rental car. It has been a great trip and we’ve enjoyed this little vacation as a little family.
A little over a week before Ryan & I flew to Boston, my mom came to California for a few days then left with Aidan so that she (Gram) and my dad (Gramp) could get some quality time with the Big A. And I must say, they did their Grandparently duty of spoiling him because he was certainly rotten by the time we got there! But after 48 hours of his parents, he started to come around to his old ‘California’ chill self. Let’s face it, he’s supposed to be spoiled with his Gram & Gramp, isn’t he?!
It has been such a wonderful past few weeks. The first week was in California without Aidan and although I missed him a lot that first day and night that he was gone, I quickly bounced out of that funk and really started to enjoy my freedom as a mom without a baby! Ryan & I rarely saw each other as we were taking advantage of not having obligations to get right home after work. He would go out with friends and so would I. It was bliss!
We saw friends from college when we got into Boston and enjoyed a night in a hotel room with a king sized bed. We did the Nastalgia Tour of Wheaton College, had one last dinner with friends and then drove to my hometown of Northwood, NH. I texted my mom when we hit the road and told her to keep Aidan awake until we drove in at 10pm and that’s just what she did. I think we were more excited to see Aidan than he was to see us. At some level I think he realized that the fun Gram & Gramp stuff was going to come to an end once his parents came into the picture. But no matter how spoiled, he was still our sweet little boy, giving us lots of hugs and kisses. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until we were lying in his bed at my folks house with him drinking his milk and his finger up my nose.
We spent a few more days in Tasker-ville (had a cook-out-shin-dig of course) and enjoyed the homemade sand-pile, pool and bouncy house that my mom rented for 3 days.
Now we are in Franklin, MA to visit with some friends and their kids for a few days and then it’s back to reality on Friday. Best news about flying from East to West is that you get those 3 hours back once you land in LA and it’s only Friday! We’ll have the weekend to recoup from our travels. I always look forward to vacations, but I do enjoy returning to my house, my basenji and my bed.
My first night without you, Aidan, and I thought of you every single second. I miss having you near me, talking to me, smiling at me, mooching me. I drove home from dinner and the moon was lighting my way. It was so big, so bright and so close to me, that I felt like it was close to you too. Maybe we were both looking at the moon at the same time. Its glow painting the sky for you in New Hampshire and for me in California. I am counting down the days until I can hold you in my arms again and feel your head snuggle on my shoulder…your arms swing around and pat my back…your warm baby breath on my neck.
The two-syllable words that Aidan is saying these days sound A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.
I love when he rolls in our bed and says ‘covers’ and actually emphasizes the 2nd syllable. Co-VER.
He has a hard time putting an ‘s’ at the end of words, although I try to correct him.
He has a book named ‘Otis’ and he calls it ‘Tois’ like he’s saying ‘toys’ – A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.
We’ve got a busy day today!
We are going to start off with some post-breakfast cuddles and then we’ll shower and get ready for the day.
I’m bringing a change of clothes with us to lunch so that I can run off to get my hair beautified at 3 o’clock and then change for the events that follow.
But before that most-desired hour of beauty arrives, Ryan & I will take A to get some BBQ at Famous Dave’s and perhaps some dessert at Yogurt Land.
I will enjoy my 90 minutes of escape at the salon and then will meet up with Ryan at a friend’s house for a late afternoon backyard party.
Aidan will be napping while we visit with friends and his Grammy will be spending the afternoon/evening with him.
Ryan & I will part ways.
He will head home to put the Big A to bed.
I will make my way to the airport to pick up my Momma aka Gram!
Can’t wait to see A’s face when he sees his Gram from NH on Sunday morning.
Last night, I was rocking Aidan to sleep in my arms. He was drinking his milk and clutching to his blankie and my hands were wrapped around his small, sweet body. Back and forth, we rocked, his head lying on my chest, my chin resting on his soft hair. On the far wall, I saw the shadow of his tiny foot on top of my leg. I can still see it now. The moment was soft and sweet and so was that shadow of our feet.
When you are the first (and only) grandson, you pretty much get whatever your sweet little heart desires. And the Big A? All he wants to do is bounce! So his Grammy & PopPop got him another bouncy house for today. We are having a few friends over to eat, drink, bounce & swim.
Who knows, I might even bounce today!
Aidan enjoys a fake-snore no matter where he is!
The other day, A-man, Cali & I were out for a walk around the campus of Cal-Lutheran University to take in the beautiful weather, watch some baseball & look for chippies aka chipmunks. Aidan is pretty good at walking on his own, but after a while, he gets bored so he will start to weave from the side walk to the ivy to the dirt to the road. So I’m constantly slowing down to look behind me and tell him to keep moving.
He likes to kick the dirt when we transition from the cement side walk to the dirt bike path that trails along the side of a large, vacant field. I can hear him behind me scuffing the dirt and kicking little rocks with a constant dust cloud at his feet. 
I stopped walking when I could no longer hear his feet shuffling and turned around to see his back to me and his shoulders were rising and falling as he was fake-snorking. Up and down, snore in – snore out. “Come on silly boy, wake up and get walkin!” He turned around with a huge smile on his face and ran towards me to go beneath my legs saying, “Neath!”
When we got back on the cement side walk, he decided to cop a squat and proceeded to fake-snore again with his shoulders going up and down, his hands held out to his sides. Snore in – snore out – snore in – snore out. All while smiling that goofy smile.
Yesterday afternoon, I spent 2 hours wiping, scrubbing, spraying and cleaning the back seat of my car where the Big A did a 7-hurl up-chuck. His car seat will never be the same despite me removing all the fabric to give it a hot soapy treatment in the washing machine. I had to take multiple breaks because the sour smell of vomit was overwhelming.
I remember when my friend (at the time) threw up all over my apartment when I was living in Burbank — couches & carpet — and even though we had a professional cleaning crew come in to treat EVERYTHING, the smell of vomit still lingered for weeks. I think that some of those horrifying smells can never be eradicated, no matter how long you spend scrubbing and soaking the soiled areas. And after all of my cleaning and then my money spent to make things new again, that ‘friend’ refused to reimburse me for any more than 50% of the cost, claiming she was strapped for cash. Then she got a boob job. Hmmm.
Anyway, back to the up-chuck baby…
…everyone hates to throw up. But I think it’s worse for a baby like the A-man because he doesn’t really know why it’s happening and he can’t NOT think about how crappy it feels to be sick, which makes you vomit more.
The only thing I had in my car at the time of his technicolor-yawn was a stack of Starbucks napkins, which did help remove the chunks at some level. But they tore and left clumps of napkin on his arms and legs, which freaked him out. When I got most of the mess cleaned up (as well as I could with napkins), we drove the remaining 3 miles to home. On the way there, I heard him yell and I looked back at his pathetic little face to see him staring & pointing at one of the moist balls of recycled napkin on his knee.
Between the two of us, we had 2 baths & 1 shower and at this very moment, I can still smell the puke.
Aidan sings random words to this song: heart, big, crush, walls, down.
Aidan had a hard time sleeping at the hotel in Amador City when we went up north a few weeks ago. Each morning he got up around 6am. He’d stand up in his day bed and stare at us in the adjacent bed saying ‘cars’ or ‘piss’ or ‘milk.’
I’d still be in a very sleepy state and Ryan wouldn’t even be awake (unless he was just pretending to be sleeping so I’d get up with A).
One morning I picked him up, got him his milk and we’d lay in the big bed together. But if he was talking too much or being too loud, I picked him up with his milk and his blankie and headed to the balcony. The hotel we stayed in had a balcony that had 3 doors connected to it; 2 for rooms which Ryan & I and Clark & Carolyn were staying in and the 3rd had access to the hallway between the rooms. I can still remember those early morning moments of me and Aidan curled up on a wicker chair together on the balcony, looking out at the street and town below, still quiet and sleeping. We listened to the birds and watched the people and dogs out for a walk. I would whisper in his ear and he would sit quietly soaking up everything around him.
I wonder if he’ll remember that moment when he gets older.
