Nicole Tasker Woods

Today was beautiful! The sun was shinning bright and hot, the wind was blowing cool and constant. Ryan, Aidan, Cali & I went to the park as a family after we had donuts for breakfast (Aidan had eggs & fruit first, Mom, don’t worry!). Aidan had a great time swinging as high as he could go, while Ryan & I both took turns pushing him. Then Ryan and I started swinging with Aidan on my lap. He held on tight while leaning back on my chest saying ‘hug’ – he’s such a lover.

Then we did a few rounds on the slide, watching with cautious, outstretched hands as Aidan climbed up the stairs, then cheered him on as went zipping down the slide.

Aidan & Cali kicked the soccer ball around a bit in the field. Cali was screaming with joy and Aidan kept saying, ‘no, no, no’ waving his hands to the side. Cali had a hard time sharing the ball with the Big A, but she did give him a few turns.

We probably spent an hour at the park, it was a blast on such a beautiful day!

I envision myself in a sun dress, sitting by the pool with a glass of wine, listening to music…

…let’s see if that happens.

Aidan got up at 1:00 am this morning. This is the first time he’s done this in a very long time. I was so not used to those twilight hours that I was totally out of it and did not know what I was doing. I somehow managed to get his milk, change his diaper and rock him in the chair (with eyes half open) then put him back to bed. He gave me a ‘mooch’ and then said ‘bye’ while waving his hand as his head turned to the side and he was undoubtedly fast asleep before I closed his door.

Then, to make it an even odder morning, he was wide awake, playing in his room at 6:45 am.  He usually sleeps until 8:30 am, but not today. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed in his high chair as he ate his breakfast. He had a huge appetite and was clearly anxious to start his day. He did hit the wall, however, around noon time. But then as if he was too tired to sleep, he played in his room from 2-4:30pm before finally going down for his nap. What an off day!

Don’t you love the heat? I’m a bit picky when it comes to the weather. I hate the rain. Period. End of sentence, I just HATE it. Snow is ok. A brisk spring breeze is ideal. The sun is my enemy.

Not only does the sun make me burn and freckle, but it also makes it ridiculously hot! We are in the midst of an extremely brutal heat wave. Last night at 7pm, it was still a toasty 88 degrees outside. And our house is rocking right around the mid-80’s because our AC is refusing to be cool and chill, honey-bunny.

We are able to get the house down to a liveable 76 degrees by 11pm when the night air is finally cool enough for us to open the windows and turn on the ceiling fans. We are lucky that Aidan does not seem bothered by the heat. That and we keep his blinds closed to make his room a cool cocoon void of any heat whatsoever.

The heat is supposed to break tomorrow night so we have to endure one more sweaty night. Hopefully the AC guy can make a stop tomorrow and fix whatever seems to be broken with our unit on the roof.

Last night, Aidan was the very best version of himself. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a pretty good kid 99.9% of the time (we lucked out in that regard!), but he was just so much fun we didn’t want to put him to bed. We played all night and laughed so hard, none of us wanted the night to end. He ate extremely well at dinner and sat quietly during the entire meal in his chair visiting with us while we ate. After dinner, he rolled on the kitchen floor, playing with pots and pans while I fed him some of his chocolate chip cookie and cleaned up the dinner dishes.

In the living room, he bounced on my tummy for about 20 minutes, with his head back and he smiled and giggled towards the ceiling.  He kept saying “hug” and laying his head on my chest as I laid on the floor.

He was just bursting with affection, Ryan & I were sad to say goodnight!

Before bed each night, Aidan & I sit together on the rocking chair in the blue room with his blanket and his sippy cup of milk. When he’s had enough of the milk, he hands me the cup and says “done.” He collects his “banket” and walks into his room. He says “Bisc” as he searches for his stuffed dog named Biscuit. When he finds him in his bed, he hugs him close to his neck and says “seep.” He lies on his back and stretches his legs out straight and asks for “coves” so I pull the covers up to his chest. He looks up at me and says “mooch” and then we kiss each other goodnight. I tell him I love him and he leans towards me and says “love” so we hug. He waves “bye” and goes to “seep.”

Aidan would not go down for his nap, instead he explored in his closet & toy chests searching for the perfect thing to fill the nap-time hours…

He ended up with 11 books, 8 stuffed animals and 2 matchbox cars.

Tonight, Ryan & I are going to see The Killers at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. I have never seen them in concert, but I love their music and have always wanted to see them perform live. Ryan saw them before and said they were so good, he had to take me. So here we are, going to see The Killers.

I’m always excited for a night out. I love my Aidan, but I need my adult time to keep me sane. As a precaution to staying up all night at a concert, I took Friday off from work and I’m so glad I did. Now today is my fake-Friday, oh how I love fake-Fridays!

The weatherman is predicting some ridiculously high temps on my day off so I am planning on taking Aidan with me to the beach. It will be my 2nd trip to the beach in Los Angeles, and Aidan’s 3rd. I can’t believe my 23 month old son has been to the beach more than his 31 year old momma!

I wish I could take Cali with us, she would enjoy the beach for sure. But I just can’t handle a dog and a baby all on my own. But I do love reminiscing about the days before Aidan, when I would take Cali with me on trips to the beach. She’ll always be my first born, that’s for sure.

While we are at the beach, Ryan & Brady will be driving to Las Vegas to spend a few days with Clark at the Variety World Conference. Honestly, I think I’m getting the better end of the deal on this 3-day weekend, just me & A.

A & I found ourselves wandering the aisles of the CVS Sunday morning after we finished grocery shopping at the Ralph’s next door.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when Aidan got side tracked and pulled down the toy aisle like it had a tractor-beam lock on his tiny baby body. He found four trucks that he was immediately in love with. He held up the excavator and the fire engine to me and said, “Buy?” He truly is his mother’s son.

I told him that he could only get one. So he looked at all four trucks – the two on the floor and the two in his hands. He placed the two in his hands on the floor as well so he could examine them all. One by one he put them back on the shelf until he finally landed on the fire engine – that’s the one he just had to have.

He carried it with pride to the check out where I told him to put the truck on the counter so the woman could scan it and we could pay for it. He did it so well, holding it up high while on his tippy toes. After she scanned it, he kept pointing at the truck on the counter saying, “Off! Off!” After paying, I handed him the truck and he followed me out of the store. Then he held up the truck again and said “Off! Off!” I looked at the truck and realized it still had the price tag on it, and he wanted it off damnit.  So I pulled it off and my boy was happy.

Then we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and yet again, I decided to forgo the shopping cart. He proceeded to test out every single patio set on display (with his new fire engine in hand). Every time he sat down, he would point to one of the other chairs and say, “Sit! Sit!” Being a good mommy, I played along for about 10 minutes. Then when I thought I couldn’t do it for one second longer, I told him we had to shop.

“Shop?” he said, questioning it’s meaning.

“Shopping is what you do when you want to look for something to buy.” I said.

Aidan seemed pleased with that idea and went running down a random aisle. I was happy to chase him away from the patio display. After I found what I wanted, we made our way to the check out and Aidan dutifully set his truck on the counter so it could be scanned. Being a good sport about the whole thing, the guy at the check out stand did scan it, which prompted Aidan to snatch the truck back in his possession, pleased with himself for “buying” the truck a second time.

I bought a bench for my front porch a few weeks ago and now I plan my days around when I can sit on it and listen to my wind chimes, which hang a few yards away on my kitchen’s balcony.

It gets just the right amount of sun in the morning when it is still cool. And it gets just the right amount of shade in the late afternoon when it is warm.

Aidan enjoys sitting on it as well.

This morning, he laid his head on my lap while we sat on the bench. He drank his milk and I drank my coffee. Both of us looked up at the sky, watching the birds, planes and helicopters.