Baby Blase

QUESTION: What do you get when you mix a loud-mouth momma, an industrious grandpa and an electrical engineer uncle?

ANSWER: A very happy, spoiled-rotten 1 year old.

It was around Christmas when I happened to, offhandedly, mention to Aunt Kylies that what the kid would really like is a board that had all kinds of buttons and switches and beeps and things. Because he had just discovered light switches and was pretty much convinced that they were the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his long and traveled life.

After mentioning it – I forgot it.

Until, Kylie, mom and dad arrived at the airport for H’s birthday with a really big box in tow.

Harrison had to wait until Jeff arrived three days later to open the box that was larger than he. But, finally, it was time. We cooked a beautiful meal for us the birthday boy. And then, let him go at it.

I have said it before and will say it again, the kid is BUSY – which is the politically correct term for SPAZ!!! He never plays with any toy for longer than a few minutes. But, this was different.

He dove right in – which is the norm for this kid – act first, think later.

He inspected every nook and cranny. Every button, switch, key pad and controller. He played with it for about 20 minutes. Unheard of in this kid’s life.

So, here’s the breakdown.

The joystick activates the lights in the middle. A forward thrust lights up the red lights in the silver thing (Jeff told us what that was, but, I wasn’t really listening – sorry!). Sideways movements light up the three red lights on the right and left of the silver thing. The green, yellow and red buttons at the bottom light up lines of color-coordinated lights at the top. The big black controller that H has his hands on in the photo above is an old Pong controller – it doesn’t do anything, but, it’s cool. There are also robot faces that have flashing eyes when you press them. Then, there is the little orange rectangle button. It beeps – no, buzzes – no, more like an alarm, really. Regardless – Harrison is scared to death of it. Yes, it’s sad to see your son scared, however, that jolt of fright comes with an added bonus – my son finds ME no matter who else is around him and buries his gorgeous little face in my belly.

So, thank you Kylie, Jeff and dad for creating this most amazing, one of a kind gift for our little boy. And for making countless other children all over the world envious.

Listening: Jarvis Cocker