My First Party

Well, since this is a holiday weekend, we're going to have a very special extra-large blog this week. Today is our Memorial Day cookout, and we're having 20 or so people over to celebrate. Of course, Aidan will also be there and it will be his first official party. So this should be interesting, because he loves meeting and playing with new people... I have a feeling he's going to have serious sensory overload and not be able to sleep for like a month. But we shall see... I'll be updating this entry tomorrow to give a blow-by-blow account of the party, Aidan's reactions, and the general destruction that usually accompanies these things.

In the meantime, let me relate a few minor things. First, Aidan now has a pool. It's a pretty neat inflatable one, with an inflatable half-dome to protect him from the sun. Which is crucial, because the kid is practically transparent. If he didn't have blue eyes, I'd wonder if he was an albino. Which would also be cool, but more socially crippling than anything I'll be able to muster. Second, we have discovered the game of Peek-a-boo. He seems to enjoy it.... wouldn't you think that babies would be terrified by a constantly disappearing and reappearing parent? And the version I play involves me standing behind the open pantry door and just popping my head out, so that's even more frightening. "Dad? Dad? Where did you go? ....oh, it's ok! There's your creepy floating disembodied head! Oh, how I love this game!" Then again, this is a kid who apparently thinks it's the height of humor to have us pretend to eat him. Toes, feet, legs, arms... he loves it best when I bury my face in his tummy and make very realistic wolverine sounds...he giggles maniacally. But he comes from weirdd stock, so....anyway, that's all for now. Onto the party!

Move over, Beethoven.

Another week of interesting child developments. Aidan can now sit on his own for pretty much as long as he wants. He can't raise himself to the sitting position if he's laying down to start yet, but hey, neither can I. He also finally rolled from his stomach to his back for the first time...a great relief to his mother, who of course mised it the first time. He's only done it one other time, but at least we know he can now, and isn't suffering from some strange inner-ear condition that renders him helpless when placed face down. I think there are animals like that, but I can't think of any. So I'm gonna have to say I probably made that last part up. Anwyay, he can do it.....but he has to be pretty pissed off first. However, once he's achieved the required level of simmering rage and actually rolls over, he gets a big grin on his face and acts like he's just beat up Chuck Norris. Well, I know that's not possible, but imagine it anyway.

Being able to sit up means that he is finally able to play with almost all the toys that he got for Christmas. That's kind of like another Christmas for us, in a way, because we don't have to buy him anything for a long time. Notice I said "don't HAVE to." That should not be equated with "won't". Because I already got him a bunch of musical instruments... a tambourine, a piano, sleighbells, a drum, a shaker, and a ladybug-bell-thing. The last of these is actually kind of disturbing, because to make noise with it you have to hit the bells that are mounted in the ladybug's back. That probably means that when Aidan goes to kindergarden he'll swear up and down to his classmates that if you hit ladybugs with a stick they make pleasant chiming sounds. And thus the ladybug genocide will begin. Oh, the horror. You think I'm kidding? I still think that all you need to do to build a house is find the right color Legos.

Watching him play with the drum is funny, because the drum is actually the container all the other stuff I mentioned comes in, so the top comes off. I'll hold it while he tries to hit it with his drumsticks (sometimes he really gets going... he got out the first 8 bars of Wipeout the other day) until he gets pisssed and drops the stick so he can wail away with his hands instead. This is usually followed by him diving at it to try to get part of the rim in his mouth. Then more hand drumming, followed by me giving him his stick back and him hitting himself in the face with it. That confuses him..."Hey, wait... I WAS having fun, and suddenly my face hurts. Who did that? Man , I was just sittin here having my drum circle and some ninja came up and punched me in the face. That is sooooooo uncool. Ooooh, boobies!"

That last part always distracts me too.

I'm a Real Boy Now!

It's really kind of amazing how fast babies develop sometimes. And I know everyone says that, but I always thought they were just particularly unobservant people who just didn't catch things going on. But now I know that's not true-- they reallyDO grow up so fast. One day your child is in diapers, happily crapping his brains out all over your couch, and the next he's playing Texas Hold'em, swigging crappy beer and smoking cigars in an underground tournament. Ok, well, maybe that's a bit over-simplified, but not much.

I learned two things about Aidan this week-- first, he has suddenly developed the ability to hold his own bottle. That realy blew me away... I was sitting on the couch, ready to feed him, and as soon as I putt the bottle in his mouth, his little hands came up and grabbed it from me. He did a pretty good job, too-- I only had to fix it for him once or twice. He had such a look of smug satisfaction on his face, too. Awesome. And when I tried to help him, he got all pissed off and flailed until I gave him back control. Also awesome. I think that might have been his forst official hissy fit.

I also learrned that Aidan, like his incredibly well groomed and stunningly handsome dad, loves listening to the Pogues. He's always been interested in music, but no more so than any other baby. The other day, though, I was working on the computer, and put him in his Exersaucer to play. I threw on a live Pogues CD, and he went NUTS. He was bouncing in time to the music, giggling and hitting things. You know, just like a true Irishman. Now if only I can find him a Guinness bottle....

Also, he's learned how to blow raspberries. Which is hilarious, because he sucks at it. He gets a few "pbtpbtpbtpbt"s out, and then his tongue gets stuck and he just hums and drools until he decides he's done. He gets a maniacal little twinkle in his eyes when he does it, as if he knows this behavior will be frowned upon later-- but also that he can blame me for teaching it to him. So in essence, he's learned one of the most basic lessons in life: when society doesn't accept your actions...blame your no good parents.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack....

Well, as I mentioned, I had a business trip last week. I was away from my little guy for a whole 7 days, and it SUCKED. Happily, however, he still recognized me when I got home and was very happy to see me. Which yeah, I know, it sounds stupid to worry about it, but I was pretty sure he'd forget me. He's only 5 months old, after all. And on the brainpower scale, much as I love him, I don't have a whole lot of faith that someone who is fascinated by stray piees of lint will remember my face in a week's time.

Anyway, while I was gone, Mom got sick. Thankfully, Aidan dodged that particular bullet.... it was some kind of stomach bug, and I'm pretty sure the only thing worse than a baby with a stomach bug is a baby with a stomach bug and only one available parent. Then, near the end of the week, Aidan got something from daycare...part cold, part flu, all ugly. So of course, Mom got that too. And I, lucky devil, got home just in time for her to give it to me before she started getting better. So we have all been sick, and we have all been miserable. Add to that the fact that SOMEONE (not naming names or anything) let SOMEONE ELSE (who is significantly smaller, more male, and whose name rhymes with Hayden) sleep in the Parental Bed of Blissful Snoozing all week, and you have one tired household. Because, of course, he doesn't want to go back to his crib. And really, who can blame him? It's small, has bars, and lacks warm humans to nuzzle up against.

So for the last 2 nights, Aidan has been making sure we know just how traumatic this whole thing is by waking up every 1.5 hours and crying/screaming/yodeling for 20 minutes at a time. Mind you, I'm still sick, so I'm next to useless...and Mom's so tired from last week (and now, this week after getting no help from me) that she has to literally drag her own body out of bed and into his room. Hopefully, tonight will be better. Because I'm feeling better, but could really use some good sleep.... of course, since I have tomorrow off, I have no leverage to use in avoiding the whole "getting out of bed" thing tonight.

Hmmmm. I think I feel a relapse coming on....