Oh, Fine

Riley fell asleep very quickly tonight. I think it helped that we got up at 6:30 this morning to take my mom to the airport. She's back in Hawaii now for several months. We hope to make a trip to see her, perhaps in July, but it's difficult to have her leave. Especially for the whole summer. I have nicknamed the three of us The Three Amigos because we are kindred spirits and spend so much time together when she's here.

Riley kept asking where she was today. Though after awhile it became clear that he knew where she was, he just liked to talk about how she flew on the airplane over the ocean to Hawaii. At one point he even said, with a heavy sigh, "oh, fine, won't see her for awhile."

I found myself being easily agitated with Riley today and I think it was because I didn't have anyone to buffer me from him. That sounds bad, but it's true. When my mom or Neil are here I have someone to share Riley's attention. Not that I can't handle it, or don't want to, it's just that it makes life so much easier when someone can be with him while I clean up after lunch or make dinner or go to the bathroom. Nothing like having your son trying to wipe for you. It's only natural for him to try to do to me what I do to him, I suppose. Ha!

Love,
Aislinn

And Daddy's Motorcycle

It's been a busy weekend and it's only Saturday. Friday we took Riley to the Pioneer Family Festival in Oregon City. It was small, but had some really good activities for Riley. He went into the petting zoo with dad, rode a pony and drove a go-kart, which was particularly impressive as he's only two and did an excellent job manuevering the kart. Children are supposed to be four to ride them, but Riley ran right in, got in the kart and was driving it before they even found out that he was only two. Luckily, they were fine with it.



Riley also rode the Ferris Wheel with Neil. I was worried that he would get scared once he realized how hight it was, but he did great. About the third time around, though, he told Neil, "me getting dizzy now!"



Today my mom and I took Riley to the American Medical Response Family Fun Day where he got to see three firetrucks, sit on a police motorcycle and go inside an ambulance. Riley's already been in Daddy's ambulance a few times but since he constantly asks to go inside one whenever we drive by Neil's work, I figured I better get him inside a weeoo weeoo while we had the chance. (Weeoo weeoo is what Riley calls anything with sirens and lights.)



He stepped up into the back of the rig and the paramedic that was giving the "tour" said, "so, this is what the back of an ambulance looks like." Riley looked up at him and said, "daddy does." Not understand him, the paramedic kept talking and Riley again said, "daddy does weeoo weeoo". I clarified what Riley was saying and the paramedic finally understood that Riley's daddy works on an ambulance, and said, "so, this is where daddy spends all of his time." Riley was adorable, though. He is so proud that his dad works on a weeoo weeoo.

Life with Riley is full of little gems like that. Sometimes he says the cutest things totally out of the blue. I love what he said tonight while putting him to bed. Every night I say a prayer and towards the end of it I ask for protection for him and the cat and daddy and grandma and grandpa, etc. and tonight, after I got through everyone, Riley said "and daddy's motorcycle." I mean, where did that come from?

Love,
Aislinn

In With the New

I started a blog a few years ago with the intention of giving myself an outlet as a writer. You know, someplace to stretch my writing muscle by writing every day. I had just taken an online editing class and was really wanting to focus on my writing. I was also doing a lot of acting (I minored in it in college) and the blog gave me a great platform to discuss my two passions. I wrote about the things that I learned in my editing class as well as the acting class I was taking and posted about my experience with a feature film I was working on. Then I got pregnant.

Quickly, my posts went from the dramas on set to picking baby names and good baby books I had found. Baby, baby, baby. It was all I could think about. I became self-conscious, though, of my new topic when I still wanted to be seen as a writer and actress. Not that I was ashamed of having a baby by any means, but I just didn't think that anyone would be interested in my pregnancy dramas and sick days and the emotions I was going through. I've always been very self-conscious in that regard.

I tried to keep posting but struggled to find other things to talk about then the baby and eventually my posts dwindled to once a week. After our beautiful son Riley was born, I just didn't get on the computer that often. And when I did, all my posts were about him, of course. But, the experiences of being a new mother were so intimate, I had a hard time sharing my true feelings in such a public forum and eventually I stopped blogging all together.

It's been a year and a half since I've written on my old blog. As my son has gotten older and I have more freedom to be on the computer, I've been feeling the pull to write about my experiences again. Especially because some things are just too funny or cute to not share! I was still caught up with wondering who would actually care, though. I mean, how many moms blog about their children and their experience of being a mom? But, I was talking with an old friend of mine (the director of the first film I was in) and he encouraged me to start a fresh blog and reminded me why I prefer creative non-fiction writing: everyone has their own unique story, their own unique voice. People are fascinating. Children are fascinating. And though there may be many, many blogs just like mine, these are my own intimate stories and I hope that my friends and family will enjoy them.

Riley Roo is two years and two months old now and he's absolutely amazing. I've continued to write here and there, having been published a handful of times in Curve, the best-selling lesbian magazine that I interned with while I was pregnant, but I still need an outlet. This time I'm excited to focus entirely on my son and my experience as a mother.

So, welcome to Roo's Romps!

Love,
Aislinn