randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

My little baby angel is sick.  His tummy is not happy apparently.  He threw up a couple of times today.  He’s a little pale and a touch warm, too.  I gave him one of his pepto tablets, and I’m trying to get him to wind down and go to sleep.  It’s not working.  The cats keep coming by and stirring him up again.  I’m about to put them in Tigers crate if they don’t knock it off.

The past couple of weeks I’ve been letting Gage fall asleep on the couch and transferring him to bed.  He falls asleep between 9 and 9:30, and when I move him to his bed he wraps his arms around my neck and cuddles into me real close.  It’s so sweet it just melts my heart.  The other night he curled up against me on the couch and covered us both with a blanket and then fell asleep like that.  It was so comfy I almost just passed out right there on the couch with him.  I might have if he didn’t have school in the morning.

Gage is addicted to A New Hope.  To the point that the tape is wearing out.  Of course, these aren’t new tapes.  We got them at a pawn shop 5 or 6 years ago, and it’s the box set of the original theatrical release (digitally remastered) that was released 10 or so years ago.  So definitely not new.

Anytime I’ve tried to put Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi in the VCR he’s ejected the tape and given me A New Hope to put in.  So today I mixed them up, put the wrong movie in each case to see if I could get him to watch Empire or Jedi.  He got home, pulled out A New Hope, looked at it, and then pulled the other two movies out of the cases and put them back in the correct cases.

Now I just need to figure out if he’s actually reading the title on the tapes, or of he’s just memorized the shape of the letters.  Probably the latter, but the former wouldn’t surprise me.  I did manage to get Empire in the VCR while he wasn’t looking.  When the George Lucas interview started he gave me this look like “Do you really think you fooled me?”

He put the hood to his costume on a little while ago and was walking around with it on.  Very cute, I must say.  It fits pretty good, although it looks a little odd with his Avalanche jersey, lol.  Once I get the bottom hem on the shirt done, he can start wearing the shirt and pants to school and stuff, too.  Which will be nice.

Had a groovy chat with Rob today.  It was nice having a friend to talk to, that’s for sure.  I miss having that regularly, but I’ll take occasionally over never.

I’ve been reading this book by Jack Higgins, Dark Justice.  It’s pretty slow so far.  I’m giving it another 50 pages to grab my attention then I’m moving on.  My “They made that into a movie” bookbox arrived home about a week ago, so I’ve got some interesting stuff in there to read.  Some I’ve already read, so I’ll find places to release those.  Some I haven’t read but would really like to, like Chocolat and Little Women.

First of all, yesterday Gage wanted grapes.  Well, he ate all of the grapes that were in the fridge already but he knew that there were some in the freezer (I like frozen grapes).  So he got them out and tried to take a bite of one.  It was too hard, so he put them in the microwave.  He didn’t start it, he looked to me to defrost the grapes, but he knew that putting something frozen in the microwave could make it not frozen.  I couldn’t stop laughing.  It was cute and funny at the same time.

Tiger got in trouble the other day and was sent “to bed,”  which means that he goes into his crate.  I closed it, because he was to be grounded for an hour or so.  Gage grabbed the door after I latched it and started pulling and saying “no no no no no” and yelling at me.  So I let Tiger out and Gage gave him a hug.  Much cuteness.  Tiger got a reprieve because Gage loves him so.  He’s a lucky dog.

I sold a few things on eBay. Patterns, knick knacks… also, my french maid costume and Gage’s Tigger costume. The Tigger costume was nice. It didn’t sell, but the watcher sent me a message that she was out when the auction ended and asked if I’d relist it with a $7 buy it now (there was no BIN on the original auction, and it started at$2.50). I relisted it with a $5 BIN. I’m glad I did. When she sent the paypal payment, the note said that she showed the auction to her son who was very excited about the costume and was really excited by the idea of being Tigger for Halloween. It’s a great costume and Gage looked adorable in it, but he can’t fit it anymore… so it’s nice that it’ll go to another little boy who’s really excited about it. It’s really nice, you know?

In other cuteness news… Gage has begun to tickle. No seriously. He came up behind me yesterday and started tickling at my tummy and sides and saying “tickletickletickle” and giggling his butt off. It was so cute. And so much fun! So we spent an hour chasing and tickling and laughing until we couldn’t breathe and collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. THAT’s the good stuff.

Gage loves to watch the game Zoo Tycoon run.  He found the disks for the game yesterday and kept asking me “please?”  So I installed it and he’s having fun watching a huge pen of Bengal Tigers run and play and all that jazz.  I’ve seen him clicking with the mouse, and I’ve tried showing him how things work.  Eventually, I have no doubt, he’ll be changing the terrain and adding animals.  But right now he’s enjoying just watching.  It’s cute.

There are a number of toys that I’ve made a mental note of that I’d love to get Gage at some point when I can afford it. I was wondering though if anyone has gotten these toys for their kids and if they were well liked, etc.

Fisher Price I Can Play Piano - Gage has always had a thing for music (what can I say, he comes by it honestly). Pianos/keyboards in particular. We have a keyboard that he likes to plink away on. Sometimes it sounds like he’s trying to play something that he’s heard before. So I think something like this might go over well. It’s basically a video game system that’s supposed to teach a child how to play piano.

Triple Hit Baseball - We want Gage to have some manner of athletic experience, even just at home. Hitting a ball with a bat is also good for hand-eye coordination. This unit is supposed to allow for hitting off a tee, hitting balls that just pop up from the unit and hitting balls that are pitched from 10 feet away.

LeapFrog ClickStart My First Computer - As far as I know of, this is fairly new. I’ve noticed that Gage is fascinated with computers. He loves watching when I’m on the computer, and he’s loved using the computer at school since last year. So I’m thinking that this might be a good toy for him. And it looks like there’s a good assortment of learning programs available for it.

So tell me, are you familiar with any of these toys and what did you think? Honestly.

I dug some sculpey out of my craft supplies for Gage to play with.  He plays with it much like he plays with play doh and it doesn’t give me a migraine.  Also, when he does something really cool, I can bake it and keep it forever — bonus!  Actually, I thought about getting him to cover a can I saved with the scupley to bake and use it as a change can.  It took some prompting but he did it.  Now I’ve got 2 more cans that are a little bigger.  They’d be good for pencil cups or something.  I covered the inner rim with sculpey and baked it before I gave him the can so he wouldn’t cut himself.  Now I just gotta convince him to cover the other two cans.

They have this harness that they offer for kids to wear on the bus to and from school.  It goes over the shoulders, around the chest and between the legs.  Then it hooks into the seat on the bus in 4 places plus the seatbelt they put on the kids.  It apparently reduces the risk of serious injury in the event of an accident.  Makes sense.  The bus driver left one with me so I can fit it for Gage this weekend.  There’s still room to move once the child is hooked in, of course.  But they’re better restrained than just a lap belt.

Tiger mopes around the house while Gage is at school.  It’s so cute.  He misses his boy.

So, it rained earlier.  Gage went out after it tapered to a drizzle, took off his shirt and started to cover his chest with mud.  I didn’t understand what he was doing until he looked at me and said something that sounded a lot like “why am I so different?”  The line delivered by Tarzan in the Disney film after he covers himself in mud.  It’s funny, because Gage hasn’t seen that in at least a month.

No school tomorrow since it’s Labor Day.  I think I might take Gage up to the park for a little while.  I think he’d enjoy that.  He liked it the last time we went up there.  It has a nice playground.  Of course last time he was the only kid there.  This time there might be other kids playing — not having school and all.

Gage and I are watching a little Tom & Jerry.  The episode that’s playing right no is the Thanksgiving one, where Jerry has a visiting orphan mouse who eats everything.  It’s awesome.  I’ve always loved this one.  It’s once of my favorites.  Of course now I sit here and think “who the hell sets their Thanksgiving table completely and then doesn’t sit down to dinner?”   Eh, it’s still funny.

Gage keeps filling the bathtub and playing in the water.  Not getting in, but using his toys (plastic dinosaurs and such) to play in the water.  It’s cute.

I was talking to the neighbor the other night, nice guy.  They have 2 gorgeous dogs — a shepherd and a dalmatian.  The shepherd likes to try and get aggressive with Tiger through the fence, which is apparently funny because he gets put in his place by the [female] dalmatian all the time.  Really cute dogs, though.  If Tiger’s outside and I hear them getting ready for a walk, I try to bring Tiger inside so they can get started out in peace.

Or “This is the night…”  Gage is watching Lady & the Tramp and singing along.  It’s terribly cute.  He’s also got the keyboard and is banging on it along with the music.  I’m thinking it might be worth it to get that video game that teaches piano.  I can’t remember what it’s called.  I bet he’d enjoy that, though. Heck, I’d probably enjoy it too.  What can I say, I’m just a big kid.

Did you know that you can make fried chicken in the rotisserie?  No, I’m serious.  I suppose that technically it’s not fried chicken, but damned if it didn’t come out just like fried chicken but a little less oily.  I prepared the chicken just like I normally would for fried chicken.  Flour, egg wash and my breading mixture.  Put it into the rotisserie basket (after rubbing the basket down with a little vegetable oil to prevent sticking) and cooked it according to the directions.  See, as it turns and the fat cooks off, the fat rolls over the outside of the meat before it drips off.  That’s part of what helps keep it moist and helps it sear.  I lost very little breading in the cooking process and had what was essentially fried chicken.  It was pretty damned cool.

Got his bus assignment Wednesday so he went to school yesterday.  It was so cute when he got on the bus.  He was all kinds of eager.  He had his little Batman lunch bag and hopped up on the bus.  Then he sat right down in the same spot he sat on the bus last year.  I talked to his teacher, he did pretty good except for a few fits at school.  Those were expected.  He had a few fits at the start of last year, too.  I also found out that he used a urinal all by himself.  As far as I know, he’s never seen a urinal.  So I’m guessing that seeing a peer use it was encouraging to him.  Got some information about the class, and his teacher is going to call me after school everyday next week to discuss his progress and adjustment and stuff.

Gage still doesn’t have a bus assignment.  When I talked to them last week they said 5-7 working days.  Well, Monday was 7 working days.  I’m irritated as hell, to say the least.  I have another call into transportation.  They only check voice mail twice a day and will get back to me the next day, according to the message.  So I should hear from them today.  If I don’t hear from them by 2, I’m going to call and express my irritation more aggressively.  I just have to try and avoid 4-letter words while I’m doing it.

I was watching Les Miserables in Concert yesterday.  Gage seemed to enjoy the music.  He was humming along.  I’ve been working on getting him to say a few more words.  Particularly to vocalize the things he wants.  Instead of just bringing me something he wants and saying please, I’m trying to get him to say “waffle please” or “movie please.”  I’ll work on the specific names of the movies later.

and by the trilogy, I mean THE trilogy — there’s only one “The Trilogy.”  Star Wars, of course.  I put in A New Hope yesterday to see if Gage would watch it.  Lo and behold, he did.  Intently.  He even hummed along to the music and mimicked light saber noises.  A couple of hours after watching it, he brought me the tape and handed it to me — his way of telling me he wants to watch a certain movie.  So I put it in again.  He watched again.

Today he asked for it again.  Instead of A New Hope, I put in Empire Strikes Back.  There was humming, light saber noises even blaster noises.  So when Empire ended, I put in Return of the Jedi.  Again, Gage watched.

Now he’s humming the Imperial March — indeed, he is my boy!*  It’s so very cute.  I could certainly deal with an addiction to Star Wars.  Personally, I could watch the trilogy over and over again (oh wait, I have).  Maybe he’ll get some Star Wars toys for christmas or something.

* - for those of you who don’t know, when I got married I walked down the aisle to the Imperial March, and I woud do it again.