I never had a baby monitor with Aidan. We lived in an apartment, and I could pretty much always hear him when I needed to. Now we have one set up in our bedroom with the speaker part in the kitchen. The sounds that come through it are fascinating. It must be set up to amplify certain frequencies more than others because voices come through it with more clarity than if you were sitting right there.

The best thing about it is I can hear Aidan playing. He talks the whole time he is playing and through the monitor I can listen to his play from downstairs and hear what he is saying incredibly clearly. I'm afraid that part of this phenomenon is that I tune him out a little bit when I'm in the same room with him, but it's also like listening to talk radio while you are doing dishes or folding laundry, except the topic isn't politics or health or car maintenance. It's the story of how Zurg is sad because his missile blew up and Jessie is in jail because the bath toy puppet isn't very nice and he put her there and how is she going to get out and... it's a constant narration. I wish that I was better at remembering the specifics of it.

When Aidan has a friend over I can hear both of them. They are young enough that it doesn't feel quite like eavesdropping and it's terribly cute. I don't warn them that I can hear them, I guess I can't imagine that they care. I wouldn't be able to hear them if they would just play in Aidan's bedroom, but for some reason my bedroom holds an attraction.

It's not just kids voices that get picked up though and the other day Steve overheard me talking to Tyson on the phone through the monitor. There was a bit of a misunderstanding about something he heard me say. It wasn't a big deal, but the potential for problems is pretty huge. I always forget when it is on, maybe in time I'll develop more of an awareness of the potential for broadcast.

The whole point of the monitor is to hear the baby, but more than once I haven't recognized the sound of him when he starts to get fussy. I'll be listening and identifying different sounds - the train, cars going by, the dog's toenails on the floor - and he'll make a little barking sound and I don't recognize it as a baby sound at all.