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.
But he helped Momma clean up.
Not because he's helpful, but because he loves the Dust Buster.
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.
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.
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.
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)
And he wasn't going to let any fuss over Gavin interrupt his viewing.
Amanda and Eli gave Riley a Sit & Spin that plays horrible techno music.
Amanda got lots of stuff.
Here's a shot of her playing with her cans....
...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)
Gavin showed himself to be quite the opposite of his older cousin, and shied away from attention.
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.
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)
Being a simple minded addict, he got all that he wanted when he was allowed to watch Pinocchio.
.Next it was off to Granny and Granddad's, where he scored a sweet 100+ piece train table set from Paul, Liz and Caroline.
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.
He still needs to learn a thing or two about track obstructions.
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.
along those same lines, he added another hundred or so leaves to the swamp/pool in their backyard.
He showcased both his roaring and mess making skills with his new set of blocks (one of a few he received.)
but don't think that only the kids got to have fun.
The adults rode unicycles
and I played with Courtney's super-futuristic-robot-spring-stilt-thingies with the help of the always steady Uncle Rusty.
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.
Friday morning I set up Riley's new train table.
If you just look at these shots you would think he was helping.
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.
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.
