Reset Button?
I've noticed that everything these days seems to have a 'Reset' button. Computers have one, although they call it a 'Reboot', PDA's have one, TV's, Cable Boxes and even some home appliances these days have one. This Reset feature is provided on all of these items to allow the user to reset the unit back to it's original default settings - say, after you've messed something up playing around with the settings and the unit no longer works.

Where is Aidan's Reset button?!!!

I, as a new parent, need this button! Each time I mess up the internal programming of Aidan - 'Beep' reset.

Each time Aidan starts climbing up the stairs - 'Beep' Reset. (Note: Simply placing a baby gate across the stairway would prevent this from happening, however I haven't been able to muster up the nerve to go back to the Evil Baby Empire - Baby's R Us.)

Each time Aidan makes his way over to the indoor, potted tree and starts burying his tiny little fingers in the dark potting soil - 'Beep' Reset - restore defaults to prior 'dirt is not fun indoors' setting.

Each time Aidan starts displaying his displeasure for no immediately apparent reason - even if it might be a valid reason but I as a parent can't figure it out 'Beep' Administrative Reset.

I can't believe that nobody has developed this yet. In the age where pets are tracked by GPS locator chips in their necks - we haven't developed a Reset button for infants yet? Shocking. Maybe what is actually needed is a Baby Radar jamming device (note previous blog entry concerning Radar). 'Target: Plant Dirt, Locked On.... Wait! target lost, move to alternate plastic building block target....'

Of course, in time, I'm sure Aidan would begin to wonder where my reset button is. I'm sure my lovely bride already does.

Baby Radar
How is it that babies know exactly where NOT to go? Is there an inherently provided 'Baby Radar'? Aidan seems to certainly have, and makes continual use of, this feature.

Last night, as my lovely wife was off enjoying some baby free time with her girlfriends, Aidan and I were left home, alone. After looking at each other, each trying to figure out what to do with the other, Aidan determined that I was not interesting enough to play with and ::Beep Beep Beep - Target in sight...::: immediately headed towards the stairs. Aidan has learned that he is able to climb the stairs, slowly, one at a time, pausing at each step to be sure that someone is watching his each small accomplishment during the vertical ascent.

I headed Aidan off at the pass, er, bottom stair and brought him back to his toy depot in the middle of the floor. After discovering that there were no new toys to play with :::Beep Beep Beep - Target Aquired::: off he headed to the indoor potted tree in the far corner of the family room. The pot, being full of dark, damp dirt is certainly fun to dig one's hands into and play with. Once again I swooped in and interceeded much to the disgust and subsequent verbal complaining of Radar Aidan. Having cleaned his forward based crawling appendages providing, what I was to find out, better traction for faster mobility, Aidan was again placed on the toy laden reservation where he sat - for nearly 5 seconds.

:::Beep Beep Beep... something on the outer reaches of the radar, better investigate::: And off Aidan went towards the kitchen, banking right, around the island based oven/stove, and then straight into the laundry/utility room where, ::: Beep Beep Beep, Target Locked on ::: sat Mocha's food and water dishes. With sloth like reflexes I manouverd around the seemingly laser guided Aidan and picked up the food dishes before he was able to arrive. Clean up on isle 5 averted. No sooner had I placed the dog food dishes on the counter... ::: Beep Beep Beep... ::: Thunk! Damn! A sneak attack! The large cardboard box, formally holding Aidan's new booster car seat and currently staged to be broken down and hauled off to the recycle bin, had been pulled down and the corner of it was currently being subjected to large amounts of drool and the gnawing of tiny teeth. I think the run for the food dishes was just a cleaver ploy to divert my attention from the real target. At a young eight months Aidan is already outsmarting me - No real surprise there.

The rest of the Aidan/Dad bonding time was spent eating cheerios, chunks of banana and the ever popular formula - every once and a while I let Aidan have some too.

Cheerios - Not just for old geezers cholesterol reduction any more - Which is good because I was getting tired of buying cheerios just for my own consumption.

In our first experience giving a cheerio to Aidan we experienced the less then desirable phenomenon of instant gag reflex followed immediately by the ever popular stomach content purging. Over the past two days Aidan seems to have developed a liking for the little tike finger food. Here an 'O' there an 'O' everywhere an 'O-O'. Adian is actually doing pretty well trying to feed himself the golden colored baby snack. Every once and a while he will actually get one into his mouth the first time, slobber it up for a while then have it dribble over his lower lip and on to his bib as he tries to put the next one in - looking slightly confused as the new cherrio is stuck to his hand and doesn't make it to his mouth.
But, he's a determined little guy and after a few more attempts in goes the whole grain oat gem of 14 essential vitamins and minerals. Plus, those that don't make it in Aidan's mouth and instead find the floor after a minor free-fall, are an instant snack for the Mocha, the smaller then a breadbox, fluffy haired pooch we're currently dog-sitting for.

So cheers to Cheerios - the tiny bits of wholesome goodness that provides minutes of entertainment and occasional nutritional value when one actually makes its way down Aidan's gullet.

All the news that snot fit for print
Well, this past few days have been a bit trying on Aidan's parents. Aidan came down with another cold which caused him to be cranky, irritable, restless and not able to sleep soundly. All this caused his parents to be cranky, irritable, restless and not able to sleep soundly - plus each of us seem to have now caught the cold that Aidan picked up from somewhere, probably Mocha the dog. Aidan wouldn't sleep, therefore I was up anywhere from 2 to 5 times a night trying to get him to go back to sleep. Didn't do much for my demeanor. I'm sure it's just part of what being a parent is all about and I should get used to it. Fifteen years from now I'm sure I'll get a phone call, "Mr. Stutz, please come down to the police station - we have your son here having been picked up for eating pizza in public, he was driving your car without a license... and he has a cold."

The worst thing about Aidan having a cold is all the dried snot clinging to his upper lip, his nose, his right cheek, his hands.. pretty much everywhere. He looks like he's just returned home from some 'Fear Factor' episode where the contestants were forced to eat some kind of slime covered something that I've never heard of or would want to. And you can't try and wipe his face clean as that only adds to his already bad mood - shaking his head almost violently from side to side as if channeling a bewildered Washington Huskey fan watching the Notre Dame foot ball game.

Furthering Aidan's poor mood this weekend was his latest discovery - climbing up on the oven door and grabbing on to the handle can cause the door to open downwards and 'bonk!' onto his head. Maybe it's time to read him 'Hansel and Gretel'.

Tooth Update: He now has four fully visible bottom teeth, and two visible top, middle teeth. This continual process of emerging teeth has done nothing to reduce the amount of drool expelled from Aidan. Drool everywhere. Drool here, Drool there, Drool on the carpet, Drool on the floor, Drool on every magazine in the house, Drool covering the remote control for the TV - apparently a very desirable teething item, at least according to Adian.

... This just in...
News flash... We interrupt this blogging... I've just been handed a news bulletin...

Baby Aidan is expecting a sibling in May

Yes, it's true. Aidan will be looking for a little brother or sister in May 2005. This of course means that I will never, ever be seeing a little, black Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet in my garage - not that I would have ever seen it there anyway, but at least it provides me yet another excuse for why it's not in the garage.

Rock-a-bye-baby... Boy, who wrote that song - let alone call it a lullaby? Let's see.. a baby is rocking on a tree branch (how the baby was able to crawl up there, with a cradle no less, I've no idea and that part was conveniently left out of the story), the wind comes up, the cradle rocks around until it falls crashing to the ground, '...baby and all' - and the story ends there. This is the 'lullaby' that people have been using to try and put their small child to sleep with? Who's bright idea was that? 'Sit back and relax junior while I attempt to lull you to sleep with a story of someone, much like your self, falling from some undetermined height after being blown off of a tree limb.' - ya, that shouldn't cause any nightmares, phobias or cost me the equivalent of a small island in the Caribbean for therapy in his teenage years.

Sleep Update: I don't remember the last night I was able to sleep through the entire night without our little bundle of joy waking up at some point during the night and needing some kind of attention. This morning, for example, I hear him whining about 3am, I get up and go into his room to find him standing up in his crib. Sure, upon noticing that I've entered the room he gets a big smile on his face... but I'm not falling for that old trick. A good 45 minutes and a half bottle of formula later he's restlessly back to sleep. Yippee.

Would it be considered poor parenting if I tied a bungee cord around Aidan's waist and tied the other end to the bottom of the stair banister? Here we looked so forward to Aidan being able to crawl and now I realize that this was a total mistake. The kid gets into everything! By the time I'm done picking up the paper bags he's strewn about the kitchen, he's move on to getting in to some onions kept in a pantry, has peeled the outside, dry layer off of one and is stuffing it into his mouth. Aaacckk! If he were bungeed he'd only make it so far before being pulled back to his starting position... problem solved. Ok, maybe not. I'm sure that would cause other issues, like an upset baby who was denied mobility. Back to the drawing board and putting on a new pair of tennis shoes so I can keep up with Mr. Mobile.