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Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006

Fireman Aidan Its Aidan's first Halloween! Aidan is a fireman this year because, well, we had the costume and he can't talk. I'm still not sure who gave it to us but someone gave this great little fireman outfit to Aidan. Grandpa and Nana Walker added the hat and suddenly we have a costume. I wonder if its just coincidental but the fireman costume is very fitting.

Aidan's name is an anglicized version of the Irish Aodhan or Aed. Aed means fire. St. Aidan is credited with saving a fortress from surging pagans. It seems the pagans built fires around the walls of the fort but St. Aidan prayed for a way out and the winds shifted blowing the fire and smoke over the pagans and saving the fort. So, a fireman is a very appropriate costume for our little man.

We'll be doing a small bit of trick or treating tonight and hopefully taking more pictures! 

He Gets That From His Mother

Monday, October 30th, 2006

Sitting and Plotting One of the things I've been dorkishly proud of about Aidan is his friendly nature. He never got shy or unnerved around people. After a few seconds of studying a stranger's face he'd determine that they were, in fact, not the devil and play with them as if he knew them forever. Of course, this is not really something to be proud of since A, I didn't teach him that, and B, we ain't done yet.

This Saturday he was in one of the best moods he has ever been in. We had a little father son time at the garage getting the oil changed and then later at the mall when he picked out mommy's birthday present and daddy got his watch crystal replace by a near sighted hack with a palsy. Even low on his nap juice Aidan still held up. With the folks coming by for a grandbaby fix and some birthday cake Sunday I was convinced his good attitude would vanish just in time, his little way of saying "Screw you people, I'm not your performing monkey." Yes, little man, yes you are.

Sure enough, the parents came by and Aidan turned into a cranky crying machine. We put him down for a couple of useless naps to no avail. Before everyone left we managed to get him laughing pretty good but it was an awful lot of work. We thought he might be getting sick or over tired. Then everyone left.

With mommy and daddy in the room, it was party time. Just like the day before he transformed into happy kid. Its like when Wilbur would plead with Mr Ed to show someone he can talk to no avail only to have the damn horse turn into a motor mouth the minute everyone left.

So chalk this up to Aidan's first bought with shyness. 

I've posted a bunch more pictures, including some in his fireman's outfit on his 9 Month album page. 

Long Time No Write

Saturday, October 21st, 2006

AidanAlright, even I, as lazy as I am, think a month and a half is too long to go without posting an update. The problem now is remembering all the things that have happened in that time.

Aidan is now 9 months old. Its a distinction he will have for only two more weeks. His progress is horrifying. He's crawling with a frightening proficiency and speed. He's no longer easy to track. He's also developed a Houdini-like talent for removing both his socks and pants. With all this movement, you might imagine that changing his diaper has now become an extreme sport. Its a little like trying to remove and replace a bra on a greased pig. All you have to do is add the element of poop and you'll have a pretty clear picture of the experience.

In the last few days Aidan has shown an interest in walking again. He always had been interested in walking until he got good at crawling. Once he realized he could crawl quickly, he lost interest in walking while holding mommy or daddy's hands. Now he's back into it again. He's experimenting with his balance and standing up without holing onto anything. Occasionally when he does this, he attempts a step. It usually ends up in him folding back down to the ground in a crawl.  Its hard to imagine that he won't be walking in the next month.

As for non-Aidan news, there's a bit. First, I took a trip for work to Chicago for two days. While I had been away from Jaime for a trip before, it was the first time I was away from both of them. The sleep was good but I would rather have been with them. The trip went well and Chicago is a fun town. Sadly I was the youngest one in the group and the lightest partier of the group.

 A couple of weeks later, Jaime lost my dog. She was home on a Monday and accidentally left the back door to the garage open when she went to dump some trash. The garage door was open as well and Julie took off. That was at about 10am. I printed lost fliers at work and came home a little early. We had some leads on her from neighbors so we hunted for her in the woods across the street for about three hours to no avail. We gave up for the night and hoped to find he the next day. Luckily, after making calls and faxes to the dog officer and local vets, and posting a bunch of fliers, the guys at the Carquest across the street found her and called the number on her tag! She was only gone for about 24 hours but it was tough. I don't have any idea how any parent goes through losing a child. I was a wreck over a Pug.

Last week we got a call from Pat to tell us dad was in the hospital. Now, I'm going to make a week long story short and just say that dad's alright but he had a minor stroke. What's more is that when they did an MRI on him to confirm the stroke diagnosis, the found it wasn't his first stroke but his third! So, he's met with a nutritionist and he and Pat are buying healthier foods now.

Lastly, the Fat Man Chronicles may be on their way back. I've joined the local gym and have actually started to go. Jaime has been taking spin classes and is at one as I write this. Of course, this all depends on me actually making time to write on the blog!

Dad, Can I Have The Keys?

Friday, September 1st, 2006

Practicing his Abercrombie poses As I write this, Aidan only has another 48 hours to 7 months old. Around 9:30 on Sunday night the little guy will be 8 months old. Time flies.

Some days if feels like yesterday that he was curled up in a little 8 pound ball on my chest sleeping peacefully. Other times it feels like years ago that we took that early morning drive through a snow storm to meet him for the first time. No matter how small a box we keep him in at night though, he keeps getting bigger.

I don't see Aidan in the morning most weekdays. He and mommy are off just about the time I wake up so I have to wait until I come home from work to see him. His pictures are plastered over my office walls and on the desktop of my computer but I never realize how much I miss him everyday until I come home and see him smile at me. He's often in the foulest of moods when I get him. Its close to his bed time and he's cranky so I have to play the clown just to keep him from whining but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I feel like this 8 month birthday is a little different from the others. We're not just marking it by how much he's grown or some new reaction he has to us. Its as if this birthday marks a real transition. He's not a little baby anymore. He's no longer satisfied with a smiling parent or a finger to gnaw on. He needs to explore and with his new found mobility he's doing it.

I would not be surprised one bit if, in the next 4 weeks, I had to write a post about how Aidan walked on his own for the first time. He's standing now. Not just one of those, I-prop-him-up-and-he-wobbles-while-hanging-onto-a-table-for-10-seconds-before-falling kind of stands. Nope, he's standing himself up and quickly.Truthfully, he doesn't need much help from stationary objects either, he just doesn't know that yet. He's also walking around his crib and pack'n'play. Its only a matter of time before he realizes he doesn't have to crawl everywhere.

I thought I would be a little sad at this transition. Our little baby isn't there anymore. He's being replaced by our little boy. But, I'm not sad. I'm excited. He's more fun everyday. He's showing interest in things that's a little deeper than before. He investigates new objects and systematically destroys them. He still laughs at the same tricks but now he anticipates them. If I count to three and toss him in the air, by the third time he's giggling before I get to two. That little brain in there is working and we have to fill it. I can't wait.

This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

This is all wrong!Aidan has recently proclaimed himself interior decorator at Chez Walker. This would be fine would it not be for his lack of focus. Like his nana, he excels at demolition but comes up short on reconstruction.  Very shortly after this picture was snapped, he decided my organizational skills are crap and all of those DVDs needed reorganization. Predictably, once the DVDs were in a pile around him, he found something he wanted to put in his mouth and split leaving mommy to clean up.