Saturdays with Gampaw

So Saturday morning, I got dueling messages from the kids, asking if we could watch Isaiah.  Seems that big brother had a game at the cold swamp known as Foster Park, dear ol' Dad was "barley working" (his spelling) at his job, and the Peanut was saddled with a bit of a runny nose and a cough and it was a bit cold for him to attend- particularly with rain on the way.  So, of course we said fine!

Now this was going to be our first time with him w/o the folks, so we were bracing ourselves for waterworks as soon as Mommy hit the road.  Guess what?  Nothing of the sort.

We started out the adventure watching a pixar-type Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show that entertained both he and I.  But when it was over, Grandma decided perhaps that was too violent, put the TV on PawPatrol, and left for some McDonalds.  PP got boring real fast- and when the best alternative you find is Clifford the Big Red Dog, you know these shows ain't gonna cut it for long.  So after climbing up in the chair and telling me some long involved story (in Peanutese) with a lot of arm-waving, he then evolved from climbing up on the sofa and around Gampaw (on the floor) to climb up the sofa and down Gampaw, to both up and down Gampaw, with some "Watch me jump off your leg" for good measure.  Then came, "Gampaw's got a kleenex for my runny nose, watch me run away", followed by me giving up on cartoons for the lingering semi-drama of the NFL draft, more climbing, and Grandma returning with burgers and fries.

After eating, I laid down on the floor- and that's when it really kicked off:

(Hopefully that video loaded right... I guess I'll see in a few minutes...)

It became a big wrestling/climbing/'chase me' match that lasted the better part of an hour!  It looked so fun that Scrappy even tried to be a part of it, though his part was basically coming up to me with a, "Remember when WE used to do that?" look.


Eventually, Gampaw started to wear down, and Grandma took a bit over- though it seemed like her main idea was to see what part of his remaining lunch/home-brought snacks she could talk him into eating.  Scrappy, however, was now kinda upset and needed some attention, so the two of us took out the trash as the rain began to fall...


And SOMEBODY didn't like getting left out.


He stood arms crossed and pouting when I got back in, and would only yell if you tried to do something with him.  So I would "yell" back, and we went back and forth in a test of wills until he was good and steamed.  Then, I decided to bring it to an end.  Isaiah has always wanted- and been denied- access to the upstairs, so I took his hand and led him up the stairs (a minor break in the battle, to be sure), and deposited him on my bed.  Now I have a high bed against a big sliding window.  and I thought perhaps we could dial the will down by talking about the view.  No such luck.  He stood there, arms crossed again.  Then got mad he couldn't open the windows and presumably walk out. And everytime I said anything to him, he yelled at me to "Shut up" (in Peanutese, of course).    Even trying to show him my sonic screwdriver netted the same response.  So I just dug into my Dad's bag of tricks, and decided to annoy him into submission.


I sang him My Country Tis Of Thee, followed by the Daniel Boone theme.  By the end, he was so mad he was shaking.  He took a poke at the window blinds.  I gave him the gentlest of swats on the butt, laid him down next to me.  He cried a bit, I whistled over it, and in roughly a minute he was out cold.

Win, Gampaw.

So we laid there for about 45 minutes till Mom showed up.  She pulled him to her by the foot across the bed, and his face was that eyes-half-open, hair everywhere look that I haven't seen since a far-beyond-the-legal-limit friend at my old house took his car out onto the road, spun the tires until his radiator hose blew off, came back in and passed out, and we tried to wake him by setting his leg hair on fire.

By the time she got him downstairs, he was just conscious enough to say, "Bye" (in actual English) and wave.  What a fun time!


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Now, a little announcement about this week's Time Machine.  This week, we have a LARGE Panel.  Large enough that I was actively praying we didn't end in a tie, because I would have been up half the night trying to do the run-off.

Chris, aren't you exaggerating?  You tell me.  ONE HUNDRED AND SIX stations.  THIRTY-NINE candidates, around half of which I never heard of before.

So....

What I am going to do is do a Thursday 'One-Vote-Wonders' post ONLY- with maybe a few videos and some stories behind the 20 OVWs.  Then, the regular TM on Friday.  Otherwise, Cass and Missy were going to say, "Oh, HELL no!" at doing the picks this week!  And maybe me, too!  So tune in Thursday AND Friday for TM fun!