Fuzzy B

FuzzyB
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden and I spent Memorial Day (and most of the weekend) with ourselves. We went shopping Saturday morning because I had to make chicken gumbo for a party at the DZ Saturday night. I have no idea if it tasted good because my sinus infection was raging again and the only thing that tasted good to me were those cheap icy-pops that Wal-Mart sells by the gross for $1.99. Plus, while I was making the roux, I didn't let it get dark enough because Brenden was standing at the kitchen gate wailing for my attention so instead of a nice chocolate brown the gumbo was an ocean-scum color. People told me afterwards that it tasted good but I think they were being polite.

Saturday wasn't all about cooking - I cleaned as well namely the pool. The pool store sold me a 50 pound bag of baking soda because the water was becoming acidic. I also bought Brenden yet another kiddie pool because he could easily collapse the walls on the one I bought for him previously. We went swimming in the big pool too, which is a quite enjoyable 86 degrees now. Brenden hates me when I take him back into the house but I'm on antibiotics and they all have vociferous warnings about sunlight overexposure. Both B and I were glopped with Sunblock 6000, but that crap washes off. Neither of us is burned, which is good because I tend to let Brenden skinny dip and I'd hate for him to have a burned willy.

Despite the relatively late hour, Brenden and I went to the DZ with the vomitous looking gumbo around 6pm and Brenden walked around the tarmac in front of the hangar and I followed until I got tired. I took him home a couple of hours later and we fought about him going to sleep. Fighting over sleep isn't as bad as it sounds, it consists of me putting him in his crib and walking away. He protests for about a minute then he finally concedes that he is indeed tired and falls asleep, on his belly but his knees pulled up so his butt is in the air. Mom told me I used to sleep like that.

We also encountered Miranda and Jason's daughter, Emma Cate, who was born 5 weeks after Brenden. She is as tall, but with super long legs whereas Brenden has these cute little legs with a long torso. She's standing up pretty well but not walking. It's tough judging Brenden's demeanor until I see him with other kids. Brenden seems to be more introverted (uh-oh). I have never seen him try to take anything from another kid (though he'll wrestle with me for the remote all the time). Emma tried to take a toy away from him (her mom stopped and admonished her). What interested me most was when Emma pushed him aside (he was sitting and toppled over) to get at a toy (it wasn't a deliberate push - he was just in the way). Brenden started crying, which I found odd - the cat could push him over incedentally, he could bonk his head off the ground, and he will laugh about it (and tackle the cat). I can't fathom his reaction to Emma. Did she scare him?

Sunday and Mondays were mirrors of Saturday with no Gumbo: playing, a little walking outside, a lot of pool time, and some dancing. Yeah, he's dancing! Well, he likes to play a song on one of his toys, then he'll look at me - if I smile and start clapping, he'll laugh, stand up, and clap and bend his knees up and down. It's awful cute.