My love-hate relationship with Julie Aigner-Clark.

Jaysen's obsession is video tapes. More specifically, Baby Einstein video tapes. Ever since he was able to hold something in his chubby little hands, videos were his object of choice. He goes everywhere with them, sleeps with them, and lately has even made voices for them so they can interact with each other like action figures. Occasionally he'll settle for a DVD, but true Nirvana is a VCR tape.

Sometimes Jaysen will overlap into an affinity for the So Smart tapes, or Disney's Fantasia, but the underlying baseline is always Baby Einstein. He doesn't really watch them anymore, it's just the having them.

He has multiples of each one, but each one is special. There is "Black Baby Mozart" which has a white label and black writing. "White Baby Mozart" has a black label with white writing. Then the ever special "Blue Baby Van Gogh" with the white label and blue writing...you get the picture.

Jasen will also hide at things he really likes (yes, hide at, not from). I've thought this is a reaction from over stimulation- like he just can't handle the excitement, but it's not quite like that. Yes, he does get over stimulated with excitement, but when that happens, he sort of shuts down. The hiding, I've noticed, is more of a play thing. I can't quite figure it out though. He'll act scared of something, and want you to chase him around with the tape, trying to tag him with it. Or he'll want to see the same picture in a Baby Einstein book repeatedly, but then run out of the room when you show it to him. You are then expected to flash the picture at him every time he runs back in the room, and then he runs back out. this could literally go on for hours.

So, Jaysen will spend hours on the computer googling Baby Einstein titles, watching video peeks, and the latest find...YouTube. He's found out that he can connect to YouTube through the Google video site, and there, he can find more Baby Einstein videos!

In the car? Baby Einstein music. I've learned to block it out, but you can tell it still grates on Companion's nerves when we listen to "Playtime Music Box- track 8 please" for the 204th time. I know that when Rylan gets a little older it will grate on his too. So then what? Take 2 cars? They in their rock-it-out cool variety of music car, and us in our Mozart-mobile? Will he ever grow out of this? Will he one day be a teenager, begging me to go see Baby Mozart in concert? I suppose it could be worse. He could want to hear Jimmy Buffet over and over- not any disrespect to any Buffet fans out there, I just couldn't imagine hearing any song with lyrics that many times.

He hums Baby Einstein music tracks throughout the day- especially when he's concentrating on something. He will tell you what song is off of which video. And he's usually right. It's an amazing skill actually.

Maybe Julie Clark will offer him a college scolarship.