Letters to Holly

Monday, August 25

Long Weekend

The daycare was closed Friday for a teacher workday, and I minded the Deputy.

He got his first haircut that morning. I sat him down on Thursday to pretend to cut his hair to prepare him. It didn't help much. He watched the barber cut my hair before he got into a chair. He was mostly OK until the barber had to bend his ears, and then he got squirmy. He also had an itchy face and shook his head a lot. I stood with him to settle him down enough for the barber to finish. We went back home to clean up before heading out to see his first movie.

I picked Guardians of the Galaxy thinking it would be enough like Star Wars to fascinate him. That kinda worked. I talked him through theatre etiquette, picking good seats, and the sensory overload of the experience. I think the latter got to him. Also the unknown characters. He didn't know who was a bad guy or a good guy, and he was suspicious of them all. About halfway through, he asked to go. It was right after a sequence of sad scenes, and while he couldn't express it, I think that bothered him. We walked around the lobby and went to the bathroom (he had eaten about a pound of salty popcorn), and I told him we would go to the toy store afterward if he saw the rest of the film. He agreed, and we went back in in time for the all-action final act. He was squirmy and talky, and I blame the sounds and editing cuts. Also the film length. If it was a shorter film by ten minutes, he would have been fine. But he made it.

I expected him to want Guardians toys, but he chose a jedi four-pack with a clonetrooper because he adores the clonetroopers. He also passed up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hulk toys. So he's consistent.

Your Sister worked the whole weekend to prepare for school. She put off the usual preparations, and she had to catch up in the last two days. on Saturday, she took him to the school to watch DVDs while I stayed home to work on the costume. I sewed Velcro to the robe layer, and that was a slow death. Black thread, and black farbic, and thick black Velcro strips and oh Good Lord. Earlier in the day I did an apheresis, and  the attendant missed the vein runway he had marked, and I think he grazed a muscle. It has never hurt like that before. Iodine pain goes away much quicker than this did. During the sewing I watched a documentary called Cave of Forgotten Dreams about a pristine cave art collection in France. It's on Netflix, and I recommend it. The art is much more refined than normal cave art.

Sunday morning, i mowed the yard and found a turtle. When the grass gets to a certain height, turtles are inevitable. I showed him to the Deputy before hiding him back in the high plants behind the house. That should have kept him clear of the neighborhood cats. I met up with an old college friend and her family later in the day. Your Sister hung out for a bit before going back to school. I made dinner for us while the Deputy ate his thawed food; we ate supper after I put him to bed.

I've prepared him for this weekend with my mom while we're in Atlanta. I ordered eclairs for my mom this morning. It's her babysitter payment and her not-so-secret weakness.He knows his routines so well, he can walk Mom through the two days easily. I'll teach her how to use the DVD player; it's easier than her trying to figure out Netflix.

Picture of the Day

I made a Hulk for my wrestling video game.