A weekend with our new-look grandson

I had breakfast Sunday morning with Capt. Peachfuzz.

Actually, it was breakfast with our grandson, Aidan, but Capt. Peachfuzz is more fitting, at least for the time being.

It was monthly drill time for Aidan’s parents, so we got to baby sit our grandson for the weekend — even though we barely recognized him when he showed up with his mother Friday, all because he picked the wrong time to imitate his father.

As we heard the story, Alex was in the bathroom one morning shaving with his electric shaver while Aidan was standing there watching him.

Alex would shave part of his face, then hold it down by Aidan and pretend to shave his face, which Aidan apparently found quite entertaining.

The problem came when Alex walked away momentarily and laid the razor down — but forgot to turn it off.

Before his father got back, Aidan had given himself a reverse Mohawk, cutting a neat swath down the middle of his head.

Although that might be how new trends in hairstyles begin, Aidan’s parents decided he wasn’t ready to be a trendsetter just yet and went ahead and shaved off all his hair so that the rest of his head matched the stripe down the middle.

Thus it was that our middle grandson showed up at our house with less hair on top of his head than his father, who had his Army regulation haircut for his monthly drill.

It may well be the last time perhaps ever that Alex will have more hair on his head than Aidan. It certainly will be the last time his grandfather will have more hair than Aidan.

It does seem a little early in his life for Aidan to take up training to be a barber — at least, I’ve never heard of a child prodigy barber or hairstylist. We’ll just have to wait and see if he shows latent skills in any other areas.

That was why we were calling Aidan Capt. Peachfuzz all weekend, since he hasn’t really gone the wrong way anywhere yet and he’s way too young to remember the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

Terry had to work Sunday, so Aidan was stuck with his grandfather all morning and the early part of the afternoon. That may or may not have been more traumatic than his drastic haircut, but he seemed to be doing just fine with his new hairstyle and he seemed to survive his alone time with his grandfather just as well.

I quickly adopted the “one step behind” method of childcare. That’s the one where I stayed one step behind him, picking up whatever he left behind and cleaning up after him.

It was certainly a lot easier, a lot less challenging and less taxing than trying to stay ahead of him — or even keep up with him. At a year and a half old, he’s easily a lot more than I can keep up with or keep ahead of.

We did both manage to settle down in time to watch the Packer game right after lunch. That’s where I worked on a most important part of young Aidan’s education — making sure he grows up to be a fan of the Green and Gold.

His mother, unfortunately, is a Bears fan. She is a sweet, lovely young woman, a great daughter-in-law and a terrific mother, so I won’t hold that one character flaw against her — once football season is over, that is.

She and Alex did make a bet on the Packers first game of the season — whichever team won, Packers or Bears, Aidan would have to be a fan of for the rest of the season. And we all know who won that game, which was why Julia couldn’t say anything when she got home from drill to find her son dressed in a Packer sweatshirt. She did throw some less-than-loving looks at her father-in-law, though, but I’ll let that pass.

Aidan’s still working on talking and saying words — for instance, “pa-pa” apparently stands for both grandpa and picture — but I swear I heard him say “Go, Packers” with me, loud and clear, several times during the game.

Take that, Julia! And hopefully, long after his peachfuzz look has disappeared, Aidan will remain a Packer fan. It’s the least he can do for his dear old grandfather.