Here I sit this morning, trying to recover from the past few hours. Gwen has an appointment with the dentist this morning to fix a tooth she chipped late last week, so I’ve taken this morning off.

Speaking of teeth, Aidan is teething again. Hopefully these ones come in quickly (although he’s been teething for the past week) since it’s messing with his sleep schedule. Plus he has a bit of a cold. Plus he’s almost 2. All of this adds up to some pretty sleepless early mornings, and as I’ve discovered, some pretty entertaining mornings.

Unfortunately, the source of this entertainment has largely been at poor Aidan’s expense.

tnt.jpgThe first source of entertainment was pure toddler frustration. Aidan has some “Mega Blocks”, acquired from various sources. In a package that Ali gave him, there were some pirates! And, we gave him a small police car that is also Mega Blocks compatible. The front and back of the car come off the “chassis”, so you can mix and match various car parts (there’s quite a series of cars) and you can add Mega Blocks parts on to the car. Yesterday, it seems that one of the pirates was driving the police car. Today, that pirate policeman had apparently arrested someone, and therefore another pirate needed to ride in the back of the car. Unfortunately, due to the size of the figures, it’s pretty much impossible to get both of them “seated” in the car.

megapirates.jpgAnd, sadly, Aidan refused to believe this fact. It seemed like a half hour that he tried to get these figures seated front and back. And tried to get me to do it for him. Most of this time was spent crying, growling, and absolutely trembling in frustration. Attempts to divert him were met with disdain. After distracting him, he’d make a bee-line right back to the car and pirates.

Eventually, I dosed him with Children’s Tylenol, and put the Mega Blocks away.

After this, then, he got into the toy box under the coffee table. Inside, he found The Bunny and another older toy, one of those baby toys (a cat in this case) that has two parts separated by an elastic bit that when you pull the two parts apart, they go back together, one side “rumbling” and “shaking”. He hasn’t seen either of these toy for several months.

The Bunny elicited quite a bit of suspicion. He wanted it turned on, but wouldn’t let it come near him. He would watch, but when it hopped towards him, he would shuffle backwards. Of course, turning it off wasn’t what he wanted either. When The Bunny would run into things or hop off into the toy box, he’d come get me and drag take me by the hand to make all right in The Bunny’s world.

jitter_bugs.jpgThe pull toy (a “Jitter Bug” according the the tag still on the toy) also was treated with suspicion. He stayed a few feet away from me while I opened it up and let it close back. At no time was the Jitter Baby to enter his comfort zone. This was pretty hilarious because he’s had this thing since he was a few months old, and it’s meant for the Very Young crowd.

Now, after a half hour of playing with these things, it’s all changed.

For one, the crying and frustration have ended. I’d like to think that this has everything to do with my superior parenting skills and little to do with the painkiller I gave him, but perhaps that’s not entirely accurate. Plus, he is now switching The Bunny off and on, moving it around to different parts of the play living room, also previous concerns apparently alleviated. He is also pulling the Jitter Baby and letting it go back, shaking and rumbling, while he holds it. While both these developments are not nearly as entertaining, I have to applaud his bravery and ability to adapt to a changing environment.