Nicole Tasker Woods

Dear Aidan,

I can’t believe that you are 3 years old today! At this very moment 3 years ago, you were born and it was one of the happiest days of my life. You were so small and cute and I wanted to hold you forever.

I remember telling someone that I couldn’t imagine ever loving someone or something as much as I loved my brand new baby boy. To this day, I still feel the same.

One day you will be all grown up. But you will always be mine – my Big A – my first and only son – my baby – my boy – my little buddy – my Aidan. Love you kiddo!

XOXOX

Love,
Mommy

When I was young, our family vacations were primarily in Florida in the month of February. My memories of these trips are all rolled into one big cloud, so I can’t differentiate which year we did what, but it always started with the mini van.

We’d all load up into that mini van at the crack of dawn; me in the way back, Curt & Kyle in the middle, then Mom & Dad in the front. Dad did all the driving, which consisted of twenty-some-odd hours from New Hampshire to Florida. He would drive all night! Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and everyone else would be sleeping except me & Dad. I’d watch him driving in the dark, some years it would be a blizzard or torrential rain and would take us a lot longer to get to to the sunshine state. I remember one trip down south when I saw Dad sniffing a bottle of glasses cleaner to help keep him awake & alert.

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Aidan has gotten used to receiving packages in the mail – thanks to Grammy D! Now, he thinks that EVERY package is for him. Even when I adamantly tell him, “no, it’s something for mommy” – he won’t believe me until he sees it for himself. He was pretty upset when I opened up a box and it was a bright pink bra! But his sad face wore off with a sigh when he said, “just boobs.”

He was visibly displeased when we opened a flat package that had a book inside. I took the book out and showed it to him…what does he do? Put his hand inside the empty package and says to me, “no toy?”

Sorry, buddy, you don’t always get a new toy!

Ryan & Aidan have begun looking at eBay together at all the Disney Pixar cars that are for sale.  They never buy any, just scroll through the pages. Aidan asks, “what his name?” And when they get to one he really likes he says, “let’s go to mailbox to get it.” Ha! If only it were that simple.

…but I call it getting a helping hand!

I’ve decided to stop trying to clean the house with one hand and manage a little boy doing laps around me with the other. I used to freak out when he’d rub his hands in fresh windex spray on the coffee table, but now I give him a paper towel and make him wipe it up! He’s grown very fond of the hand-held dust buster so when it’s time for me to vacuum, I give him the task of sucking up dog hair off the stairs. Cleaning toilet bowls are also one of his favorite pastimes, using the toilet brush and swirling the water around and around.

He isn’t an ace at cleaning (not yet anyway) but practice makes perfect!

At first I was surprised how well he listened to what I said. He was doing exactly what I asked without talking back or saying no. It was like a light bulb went off above my head!  Now I just stand there and tell him what to do. Love it!

I hate running, but it’s the only exercise I have time to get at 5am, Monday through Friday. I rejoice at the end of my Friday morning run because I know I get the next 2 days off. Recently, though, I went for a run at 7:45pm when it was still sunny & warm (Aidan hit the hay early that night) and I enjoyed it immensely. I think that I might have to work that into my nightly routine once or twice a week to up my mileage. I love food and I just don’t burn calories like I used to when I was in my 20’s. I do hate getting old. But I think I hate running more.

If this isn’t an ad for pure relaxation, I don’t know what is!

I put Aidan down for a nap on Saturday and I hopped in the shower. Then when I came out of my room 20 minutes later to go downstairs and get some chores done around the house, I saw a picture that had been slid underneath his bedroom door. It was a picture of my mom & Aidan from last summer that is supposed to reside on his dresser. It is displayed in one of those picture holders that has a wire clip sticking out of a base (this ones base is Eyore from Winnie the Pooh).

Aidan managed to reach up on his tippie toes, grab that picture and stick it under his door.

I put my ear close to his door and didn’t hear a thing so I figured he stuck it under his door and THEN went to sleep. Wrong!

On my way back upstairs with laundry to put away, I see short, pudgy Aidan fingers underneath the door, trying to grasp the picture. I slowly opened his door and he jumped up from the ground and said, “Mom! Aidan got poop!!!” I smiled and told him, “Yes you do, I can smell it!”

He picked up the picture and said, “Aidan got picture of Grammy D!” He held onto the picture, looking at it intently, while I changed his poopy diaper.

We went to Target this past weekend so that Aidan could pick out a plate he liked, around which I would build a theme for his birthday party next month. The party store was overwhelming: between the balloons & candy on display, he had a hard time focusing on the plates & napkins. Who could blame him!

Target had less stuff and more of a unique selection so after much debate, he chose the dinosaur plates. Dino party it is!

I picked out some big & small dino plates as well as matching napkins. Now I’m running wild with ideas for the decorations, the cake, a bouncy house & party favors for the kiddies who come to the party. Ryan is in charge of the BBQ food and I’m doing everything else–yay! I’m having fun ordering things online like small, colorful dinosaur figurines, bubbles with dinosaurs on the caps, and a triceratops pinata (of course). They have these pinatas that come with a 19-pull-string kit so that no one has to smack it with a bat to crack it open – which is pretty hard for a 3 year old. Instead, all the kids line up & each one takes a turn pulling a string; only one string will release the candies & tiny toys to the ground.

The bakery I used last year for Aidan’s car-themed party did a great job making a landscape/race-track with cars on top that I had provided them.  So I’m going to see if they’ll do something just as cool for a dino cake. I already bought a dozen small palm trees as well as a dinosaur figurine that can be put on the cake. Maybe they can make a volcano too? Who knows! The possibilities are limitless!