It's Friday

And I feel like my to-do list is never ending! Today I get to run up to Lowe's for a stove guard and knob covers so my aspiring little chef will quit trying to turn on the gas stove. Especially after I have left pot holders or something equally flammable sitting on top of the stove! Geez, that boy is in to everything!

I was telling Brian about how Aiden looooooves to press all the buttons on our stack of electronics by the TV. Sure, he gets a kick out of turning the cable box on & off but what he really likes is the XBox. (I swear, do they engineer these things to be instantly appealing to ANYONE with a Y chromosome???) Any ways, Aiden loves to hit the big buton, see it flash green while the thing powers up and watch the disk tray open. Equally entertaining is hitting the button again to see the tray close and the XBox power down. He does this six or seventeen times in a row. I'm sure Brian doesn't appreciate the sticky fingerprints & cheerio smears Aiden leaves all over it but this little ritual of his is actually good for him. In a world where he can control so very little, the XBox responds to his every whim and puts him in charge. Bet you never thought a power button could hold the key to your child relieving some of their stress! Oddly enough, when Aiden has reached the end of his patience, usually because I won't let him pull knives out of the dishwasher to play with, I have found myself mindlessly setting him down near the XBox. Sure, his toys are close by but that big black box of boyish videogame fun with it's simple flashing buttons is a sure-fire way to give our stubborn little man something instantly gratifying that he can control. Even better, it belongs to dad and since it isn't brightly colored, it obviously is not a toy and MUST be off-limits. No wonder my little rule-breaker is so enthralled with it!

I can hear Aiden waking up from his nap. Dang. I thought for sure that playdate this morning would have knocked him out for at least two hours. Oh, well. Lowe's, here we come!