I know what you're thinking: "Sheesh! Is she ever gonna update?"
Not much is happening. Brenden finally had his first speech lesson. We've been instructed not to respond to him unless he uses the correct words, like I need to stop responding to him when he calls me "da-da". That's going to make for a long weekend.
Is there anything else happening? Nah, not really. Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!
I've mentioned before that el jefe and I have spent most of our outdoor time in the pool during this scorching month. Unlike previous years, I have enjoyed the pool a great deal this year. Usually around this time I would have begun to neglect the pool out of disinterest and it would be muddy green but it looks pristine blue right now.
I guess the big difference is how much Brenden enjoys it. He is comfortable with those little inflatable water wings and he paddles around like he's been doing it his whole life.
We had a thunderstorm roll through Friday afternoon and it was cool enough we went out on the front porch where I blew bubbles and he chased them. He also wanted to go run up and down the street, which we did. It was too late for us to go all the way to the park, but we ran (and I do mean run, that little guy is fast!) for a good 20 minutes or so.
Saturday was Jon's birthday so I baked him a cake and B and I spent a little time with him at the DZ. They were superbusy so we left before 10. Then we came home and swam, swam, swam. We started Sunday off with some swimming, too. Matter of fact we spent several hours in the pool. Then came lunch and some Spongebob and I finally got Brenden to nap for a while. I planned to take him back to the pool after dinner (spaghetti!).
We went out at about a quarter after five. I had not been paying attention to the weather, and it was getting cloudy. I told B we'd stay as long as I didn't hear any thunder. I was thinking the clouds would pass to the east of us, but the pattern was screwy because the clouds decided to blow from the southeast to the northwest. I heard thunder so B and I went indoors much to B's dismay. I let him play in the bathtub for an hour and he was happy.
That was our weekend; pretty much like all the weekends of this summer.
What we're watching:
Brenden doesn't insist on his train DVD so much so we're back to a steady diet of Spongebob. We've also managed to see a few movies recently:
Scary Movie IV The less said about this one the better. Hey, you watch The Alphabet Train 7,421 times in a row and see how desperate you get!
300 I knew I was going to like this movie but really I loved it! It has everything I love about movies: Men in very little clothing yelling at each other. The Spartans were wearing things kind of like tighty whiteys (except brown) and red capes, greaves, and helmets. And big honking shields. And swords and spears.
Apparently "Sparta" is a greek word meaning "badass mother[BLEEP]er" as a group of 300 Spartans, led by King Leonides, held back a bazillion Persians led by King Xerxes at the battle of Thermopylae. They held out for 3 days before being betrayed (hope I didn't spoil it for you) but Xerxes' highly disproportianate losses helped defeat his desire to extend his empire into Greece.
The movie does go into Spartan society just enough to see how such men were raised - I was surprised to discover that Spartan women held more status than I previously thought (I got that from reading, not from the movie, which I originally thought was exaggerating to make the Spartans more sympathetic). They certainly held more status than Athenian women, and could even hold land (a common occurence in societies where men died off at a pretty active clip). Women who died in childbirth were given the same honor and burials as men who died in combat.
A quick side note here: I don't mind cultures that regard women's number 1 duty is to be mothers so long as they honor their women. Cultures that insist on treating women as crap are the ones that piss me off. How anyone can justify treating their mom so bad is beyond me.
Anyways, awesome movie! Bloody, stylistic, and many buff bodies. Hoo-ra!
Little dude, why are you so stubborn? I know you can learn new words; just last night you were saying "cheep cheep cheep!" along with the little chicks in the Barnyard Dance book you like so much. Yet you will get all shirty with me if I ask you to say "mama".
So as you stubbornly refuse to learn more words, you stubbornly work on your swimming. We go into the pool every day (and in this weather, I am insanely happy we have one) and you have started to kick around the shallow end (wearing a ring floatie). You will chase me or dad in slow motion and that's more fun than a train-load of monkeys.
Our semi-impromptu trip to Chattanooga was fun. We met up with Mark, Nancy, and Anthony and ate breakfast at the hotel's restaurant (fantastic hash - how many times do you get to say that?) then missed the first train at the museum. We wandered around the parked train cars for a bit in the scorching heat then hid out in the depot for a while.
The steam train WAS!!! AWESOME!!! That wasn't B's reaction, that was mine. I've never seen a steam engine that actually ran and it was *n*i*f*t*y. Brenden got a kick out if it too. After the choo-choo ride we all went to eat lunch at an available Applebee's. Brenden decided to sleep for most of it but woke up in time to devour his corn dog. Brenden is all about corn dogs. I was totally impressed with Anthony, who wanted fries but was denied because of his peanut allergy. Me, I would have thrown a conniption fit at his age. Anthony was disappointed, but didn't go into hysterics or anything.
It was a fun, relaxed, absolutely scorching week and I always enjoy seeing my old friends.
From an old friend; the best quote about parenting. Ever.
Everybody was a baby once, Sandra. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once! Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope! And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception!
Brenden's finger is doing fine - he has a black fingernail, of course, but he's using it normally. The nail looks like it's still growing so that's a load off my mind.
We bought a new refrigerator and let me say right now I will never buy a Kenmore again. The old one's compressor went out, a couple of months after its 5 year warranty. Boo!
We discovered a new vocabulary word of Brenden's: "Boat!". It figures.
What we're watching:
While surfing around 2 weeks ago I caught a nifty little episode of 'Extreme Machines' about steam trains on the Discovery Channel. Brenden went absolutely bananas while we watched it and so far, I think I have had to watch it about 1,542 times. In desperation I bought him a DVD called 'The Alphabet Train' which is more kid oriented with a bunch of trains and have watched that about 5 times through with him. About the only way I can distract him from choo-choos is with some Spongebob, and Nickelodeon finally started showing some new ones.
