Since Mama is still with us, BooDaddy and I took the opportunity to have a little date night last night. We went to see Syriana, and despite the fact that all I’ve heard is how confusing it is and that there’s no way to understand it, I actually enjoyed it and followed along quite nicely, thank you very much. However, the more I’ve thought about it today, the more I’ve wondered if there was some big Message that I missed altogether, given my propensity for overlooking the obvious. Regardless, it gets two thumbs up from us (disclaimer: Sister, you will HATE IT with the fury of a thousand suns, so please do not watch it / rent it / remotely consider it. You will think that it’s a bunch of morally compromised people who make bad decisions and shouldn’t be surprised when life doesn’t turn out like they’d hoped. So STAY AWAY).
Anyway, I called Mama to check on Boo in between the movie and dinner, and here was the update:
– He took his clothes off. Twice. Both times he removed his diaper, and one time he tee-tee’d on the floor.
– He figured out how to dismantle the childproof things on the doorknobs, and at one point, she looked up to find the back door wide open and Alex on the deck. But he was clothed.
– He remembered where David put the clicky-stick that we used to light the birthday candles, and the next thing Mama knew, he was at the counter, trying to ignite the candles on the birthday cake with said lighting device. I do believe child-proofing features would have prevented him from doing undue damage, although look what he did to the doorknobs, so said lighting device is now far, far out of reach.
– He wanted to go for a walk (no surprise there), so he showed Mama around the neighborhood. She said it was the most she’d walked “in years.” That child would walk to Tuscaloosa if I would only turn him loose.
– He shouted and waved at every single car that passed.
– Once they got back home and he got a bath, he walked downstairs and proceeded to take off his pajamas. The diaper, however, remained intact.
– He ran, constantly, from the den to the kitchen to the den to the kitchen, all the while shouting something indecipherable.
Alex’s Mother’s Day Out teacher told me about a month ago that his personality was changing…I guess that means he moved from being extroverted to WAY OFF THE CHARTS extroverted, because he’s always been a little people person. He has gotten considerably louder in the last month…all kinds of new noises and EXCLAMATIONS and “OH MY GOODNESS MAMA I CANNOT BELIEVE IT.” So his behavior yesterday didn’t seem all that out of line – it just sounded like he was more wound up than usual.
And why do you think that was? Could it possibly, maybe, have had something to do with what he had to eat yesterday? You be the judge.
But first, another disclaimer: I’m not complaining at all – my personal belief is that a grandparent has complete rights and entitlements to feed a grandchild whatever he or she desires, barring allergies or health issues, because grandparents are not in the business of being bad guys. Mama was quick to tell me that Alex “kept saying he was hungry.” I personally think the young lad saw an opportunity and capitalized on it.
Anyway, here’s the list:
– (2) Shipley’s donuts (BooDaddy stopped there on his way back from the surgeon’s office Monday in a fit of no-surgery glee)
– pancakes – with syrup, of course
– Cheetos – the canister is now empty, my friends
– hot dogs
– (2) 20 oz. bottles of Sprite
– Juicy Juice – I’m not sure of how much but I know there’s not a drop left
– birthday cake with chocolate icing
This information, I feel, offers some insight into all the shouting and nudity.
He was aped up on sugar. LOTS of sugar.
Which means, unfortunately for him, one thing and one thing only.
When Mama goes home tomorrow, he starts detox.
I think this is very ironic, albeit a tad hypocritical, on Mama’s part :)…You see, SHE was on the receiving end MANY times, as Papaw Sims was always the culprit when it came to sugar overload for Stacy and me. Mama would get “so outdone” (her words) each time she discovered that we had been “fed” bowls of ice cream, Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Pay Day, and Zero bars, AND that we had washed it all down with either a Nehi Grape, Seven-Up, or RC Cola, followed by several packs of Doublemint gum. After our sugar highs, we would always crash in the car and sleep all the way back to Meridian…unless our upset stomachs woke us up en route. When that happened, Mama was NEVER a happy camper…and believe me, it DID happen. :)
She told me one day after I had to be picked up at school due to stomach cramping that “you can never go back down to Laurel again!!”
Well, all I can say is that the rules DEFINITELY changed when Mama became the grandparent. She was even talking this afternoon about how HAPPY he was all day Tuesday, and I said, “Well, I probably would have been, too, if someone was giving me donuts, Sprite, pancakes and Cheetos all morning.” :-)
There must be a grandparent gene that makes you want to just load up those grandbabies with sugar. Daddy gave A. his first Coke and ice cream, remember.
Like I said in the post, though, I really don’t mind it…Alex thinks they are the cat’s pajamas, and I am happy to run the post-grandparents’-visit detox facility. :-)
These comments and your blog echo the dynamic in our household. Gaga is FOREVER giving Chan her Dove’s Promises dark chocolates because he loves them and he’s still “so skinny.” Plus, dark chocolate is “actually good for you.” Jody’s dad is no better as he routinely takes all grandchildren to the concession stand at every ballgame we attend and spends dollar after dollar on SUGAR (as in 2 or 3 treats plus drink for each child).