Sunday, December 27, 2009

TV is the Best Medicine

Most hits to this site come on Mondays and Tuesdays.
This coming week is a four day work week, which means most people don't do anything all week.
It's an amazing phenomenon that the thought of working less than usual leads you not to work at all.
I mean, other people think that way. Not me.

But for those of you looking to not work much, rejoice, as this post might be long.
Look.
We're already two paragraphs in and I haven't said anything of substance.
It takes training to be that evasive (they call that training law school.)


First, a follow up from last week.
I now have video proof as to why he is the metaphorical "kid who pees in the pool" when it comes to Ring Around the Rosey.





Now let's resume where we left off last week, with a sick kid.

He's mostly better now, but Joan stayed home with him on Monday.
Something about this Monday made him vigorously resist shirts, so, to keep the peace, he went topless all day.

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But he helped Momma clean up.
Not because he's helpful, but because he loves the Dust Buster.

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For most of the week, he was in a terribly foul mood that could be calmed only by the soothing powers of the idiot box.

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Until now, we've only let him watch TV on long car trips, but he parked it and watched movies all week.

Now we're trying to break his newly formed habit and he is having significant withdrawals.

One positive about the TV watching is that he is learning Disney characters.
We're planning a WDW trip next December and I want him to be somewhat familiar.

Between the movies and our Christmas tree, he knows the Jungle book characters, Mickey, Pluto, Woody and Buzz.

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He's also learned from his new stuffed Nemo, given as a corrective action.
When he went to Disney on Ice with my parents, my mom asked the merch seller for a Nemo, but received a Flounder, not knowing the difference. We had to fix the confusion, so that he doesn't make us look like fools among the other flocking tourists.

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Now we just have to fix the fact that "Nemo" is not pronounced "Elmo," as that furry red demon of commercialism is not allowed on these premises.
(Yup, Disney is acceptable commercialism, but Elmo is the devil)


Wednesday, we headed to my parents to give Anthill her gifts, so that she could head off to Texas to be with her blood fam.

Riley enjoyed watching some TV with Uncle Eli and Gramsy (my g-ma)

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And he wasn't going to let any fuss over Gavin interrupt his viewing.

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Amanda and Eli gave Riley a Sit & Spin that plays horrible techno music.

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Amanda got lots of stuff.

Here's a shot of her playing with her cans....

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...of pineapple for a cake mix, perv.


Riley finished the evening off with an extended, diaper clad, interpretive dance and a capella remix of the UL fight song. (which nearly caused Nonnie a heart attack)

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Gavin showed himself to be quite the opposite of his older cousin, and shied away from attention.

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Thursday, we had dinner at Jake and Sara's, where Riley paid progressively more attention to Gavin.
But, toys or football on TV still trump a baby in his mind.

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At church, he was well behaved.
He sang the UL fight song during The First Noel, but was drowned out by everyone else.
The same can't be said of his communion rendition of Old McDonald, but he was still one of the better behaved kids in the audience.


Friday, he slept about 45 minutes later than usual before we headed to Nonnie and Poppy's.
He wasn't really into unwrapping, but he liked his gifts, especially his new guitar. (which he plays like a drum, hence the broken string within 48 hours)

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Being a simple minded addict, he got all that he wanted when he was allowed to watch Pinocchio.

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Next it was off to Granny and Granddad's, where he scored a sweet 100+ piece train table set from Paul, Liz and Caroline.

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Fortunately, he also scored an infinitely more portable train set from Anna, Mitch and Virginia that was able to provide instant entertainment, and calm the train hungry beast.

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He still needs to learn a thing or two about track obstructions.

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For the last stop of the day we headed to Aunt Connie's in New Iberia.

There Riley taught Caroline how to make homeless baby, leaf soup, which, in addition to throwing leaves in water, involves dunking your hands in a bucket of freezing water until they are red and swollen.

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along those same lines, he added another hundred or so leaves to the swamp/pool in their backyard.

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He showcased both his roaring and mess making skills with his new set of blocks (one of a few he received.)

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but don't think that only the kids got to have fun.

The adults rode unicycles

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and I played with Courtney's super-futuristic-robot-spring-stilt-thingies with the help of the always steady Uncle Rusty.

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Those things are freaky.



and in a move that would inspire confidence in anyone looking for a lawyer, Joan and I both showed our skills on the mini-clown bike.

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Friday morning I set up Riley's new train table.

If you just look at these shots you would think he was helping.

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but, in reality, he was playing where I was working and shortly knocked it all over onto my head.

Alas, the assembly is done and his room was reworked to accommodate the new toy.

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Now I'll get back to playing my new Rock Band on the PS3, since I'm not coordinated enough to play a real guitar.


No big plans for New Year's Eve, though we'll probably end up visiting Poppy in the hospital since he is having heart surgery on Wednesday.
So, if you're of the religious persuasion, do your thing. Thanks.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

The Holiday Sneezin'

Been busier than we expected today, as you'll read, so no frills.


Riley took his first steps toward potty training this week.
He's been able to tell us for a couple of months when he was about to make stank in his diaper.
Over the last couple of weeks he's been telling us "I poopoo peepee potty" but wouldn't sit on his mini toilet.

Last night, things changed and he sat and even strained a little, showing that he knew what he was supposed to be accomplishing.
Nothing happened, but it is a positive first step, initiated by him.


Early in the week, the house smelled like baked goods as Joan made Christmas themed red velvet cupcakes for her work peeps.

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Then the fun began.
on Thursday, Riley started getting sick.
By Saturday morning, he was just a walking fountain of snot and could not be entertained by anything except Pixar shorts, in short bursts.

The fight to keep him entertained led us to Veterans Park with a couple of loaves of stale bread.
He enjoyed feeding the ducks for a little while, but was quite mad when we had to leave.

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If he weren't so young, and a male, I'd swear he is pregnant, based on his moodiness.


Eventually, he had a 20 minute nap on Mommy's lap, which was the extent of his sleep for the day.

That wasn't quite enough to keep him happy at Anthill's graduation party which was held at.......... wait for it............ Johnson's Boucaniere.

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I heard a few Texans remark on how good the food was.
When multiple Texans acknowledge the quality of your smoked meat, you're doing something right.

After the meat and sides, everyone ingested huge slabs of a very nice cake from Southside.

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and Uncle Eli scored some boyfriend points with a really cool rose arrangement done by florist extraordinaire, Michael Quinones.

I couldn't get a great shot, but it is a bouquet of red roses with UL written in white roses.

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Michael did our wedding and a few others that we've been to, along with some occasional special orders from us, and he is always awesome.
Next time you need flowers, contact him at the Winn Dixie on Ambassador.
The dude is magic.


When we were able to pull Riley away from throwing rocks and sticks into puddles, he enjoyed the Johnson's Christmas tree.

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he even recognized a couple of ornaments.

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Sunday, we headed down to New Iberia for Christmas with Joan's Dad's side of the family.

Riley, despite being in full on, nose goo explosion mode, was quite excited to get to see Caroline.

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He didn't know he was also going to get to play with Cousin Eli (since he probably had no real idea who Cousin Eli was)

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Despite the fact that Riley used to wear Eli's "hand me up" clothes, (Eli is 8 weeks younger) they are pretty close in height now. (probably still no contest in weight, but that can be said of Riley compared to most small objects)

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Riley then played ring around the rosey and showed why it is much better for him to just play alone... he likes to skip straight to the end.

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Then he got his first ride-on fire truck of the season.

The other one is a Cozy Coupe Fire & Rescue Edition, from Mommy and Daddy, but shhhhh, don't tell him.

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We capped off Sunday night with a quick visit to Acadiana Urgent Care clinic in Cordoba on Ambassador.
Pretty quick in and out, but we were there at 6 on a Sunday.
The assessment is bilateral ear infection, sinus infection and a touch of bronchitis.


Happy Christmas?