That darn toy!

The top photo is Aidan playing alone at 15 months

The bottom photo is my happy boy at 6 months old. How did he change?

We noticed around 10 months that Aidan began smiling less and he started showing puffiness around the eyes. He was not quite as engaging as he was at 8 months old and even 6 months old.

He became obsessed with this toy that had gears and it would spin in circles. Over and over again he would hit the button to watch the gears spin. He played with it so much that we had to replace it several times because it wore out from overuse. We didn't think anything of it at the time. I remember on his first birthday, the only way to get him to sit with me and look at his presents was to have the gear toy on mine or his lap. All I wanted was to have some pictures of him opening his presents. We did get some, thanks to his infamous gear toy. If you ever ask me what I've done with that toy today, you can ask the Escondido Disposable Collectors. The brand new one that was a gift for his little brother? I think I'll donate it.