Nicole Tasker Woods

…or a giggling baby!

Aidan has made the transition from jars of baby mush to real food…bananas, toast, eggs, yogurt, apple sauce, steak, potatoes, peas, carrots – so far so good. However, with this new food routine, we have to play a guessing game with how much food the little devil is actually eating vs. how much is down his shirt, on his lap or in Cali’s mouth.

Last night we had steak & baked potatoes, one of A’s favorite meals. But he wasn’t into eating that much of it so we topped the meal off with a single serving cup of apple sauce (which he just loves) and he allows us to shovel it into his wide open mouth without argument.

But it must not have been enough food because at 3am this morning, he was awake and crying. We did our usual wait-it-out routine and at 3:21am, the crying had stopped.  I thought he had fallen back to sleep until 3:30am when he made the ma-ma call again with wails and screams. I went in there and scooped him up and tried to rock him back to sleep. We sat together until 4am and he was so still in my arms, I was sure he was asleep.  Then he giggled.

He giggled so uncontrollably while looking at the wall that he started to snort and slightly choke on his laughter.  Then I started to laugh.  I have no idea what made him laugh, but I was so tired and sleep deprived that my imagination took off and I wondered if maybe he saw a ghost and it was making faces at him.

Since there was no risk to waking him up more than he already was, I decided to change his very full diaper and then sit with him some more, see if the giggling would subside long enough for him to doze off.  We rocked in the glider until 4:45am and after I yawned about a dozen times in a span of 60 seconds, I decided to give it another go and put him back in his crib.

No sooner did I lay him down did he start to wail again. I got one leg under the covers of my inviting bed and then got back up again. I went downstairs, filled a very large bottle with milk and brought it to him. We sat in the glider again while he guzzled down the milk in about a minute.  At 5:15am, Ryan was in the shower and getting ready for work.  He stopped in to say goodbye to us and then we glided for another 15 minutes and then he was finally showing the tired eyes:

You can’t hide – those tired eyes.

And your smile – is a thin disguise.

I thought by now – you realized…

…You can’t hide – those tired eyes.

I laid him in the crib at 5:30am and he made two very tired cries and then silence. I laid in bed for 30 minutes and then reluctantly got up at the sound of my alarm and got in the shower.

Ryan, Aidan & I spent this past weekend in Palm Springs with Ryan’s parents, his sister and Giulia, a friend from Italy who is visiting the states.  On Friday, it was a painful drive after work from Los Angeles to La Quinta where we were staying, but once we got there, it was a huge relief to get out of the car.  As with all desert climates, the temperature in La Quinta never dipped below 120 degrees and at one point on Saturday afternoon, the pool was so hot, you couldn’t even swim to get some relief from the heat!

The house we rented was on Lake La Quinta by one of the many golf courses; we had access to a boat so we boated around a bit. Aidan hated wearing the life jacket, but then calmed down once we sat him on the floor of the boat with some toys.

On Saturday morning, while Ryan & his dad got up early to beat the heat and golf, Aidan and I leisurely got out of bed and then made our way to the pool. Aidan is such a big boy now, he loves sitting on the edge of the pool and then jumping into my arms after I count: “ready, steady, go!” He’s pretty good at going underneath the water and holding his breath. The best part about this pool was they had a small Aidan-sized pool connected to the jacuzzi.  It was shallow enough so that he could stand and I could sit, both of us in the water up to our shoulders. He loved standing here and splashing the water, it was definitely the perfect pool set up for the A-man.

We spent about an hour in the pool on Saturday and towards the end of our playtime, he walked over to me while we were still in the shallow pool and put his arms around me.  It was a very sweet hug, but then he surprisingly laid his head on my shoulder and looked at the palm trees swaying up above.  I sang to him about the doggie in the window and we stayed like that for about 10 minutes.

When he was thoroughly pruned and lips turning blue, he motioned to climb out of the water. I wrapped him in a big towel and then we cuddled some more in the shade.  It was the perfect weekend get-away.

At dinner last night, Aidan clapped his hands for the FIRST TIME ever!  All of a sudden, while feeding him buttery pasta noodles, he clapped his hands and smiled. All of a sudden, he just got it.  From all the times I have been playing pat-a-cake with him as well as praising a good deed by clapping my hands, he FINALLY figured it out.  I was so impressed!

Then, to make the moment even better, he turned around in his high chair to wave goodbye to a waitress.  Yet another brand new thing that he has never done before.  Everyone at our table was so shocked! And the best part about it was that he knew how cool it was that he figured out how to do this and was waving to everyone with a huge smile on his face.

On the way home, after tossing his toys out of reach of his car seat, he just sat there clapping his hands.

Love this kid!

I can’t remember the last time Aidan slept through the night. I believe there were a few nights here and there in the last 3 months, but I’m on auto pilot when I hear him call for me in the 3am hour. Every night is pretty much the same…

• I get up, go to his room to find him standing in his crib facing the door, anxiously awaiting his momma to come and pick him up.
• I give him a hug and bring him downstairs to heat up a bottle.
• I hold him while I pee, he slaps the toilet paper unraveling the roll.
• I retrieve the bottle from the bottle warmer, go upstairs to the blue room and we lie on the couch together.
• He drinks the bottle until there isn’t one drop left then he turns his head towards me and snuggles in for sleep.
• I rub his back for a few minutes until his breathing slows and I know he’s in dreamland.
• I walk him into his room, kiss his forehead, place him in his crib on his NH afghans.
• I cover him with his favorite blankie and put his bunny lovie in arms reach.
• Then off to bed I go.

One night he got up 10 minutes after the normal nightly routine and all he wanted was to cuddle with me again on the couch. Sometimes I shake things up and rock him in the glider. He doesn’t seem to have a preference as long as he can cling to me, he’s happy.

I memorize these moments so that one day, when he’s 16 and takes my car out for the first time with his friends, I can remember how sweet and innocent he used to be lying in my arms.