-- New Harry Potter Movie --
Ack, a busy day after the tumult yesterday, so today's comments from the kid unit are a bit late.
The other day, I got a call from the kid unit wherein he told me he won the honor pin at school. This means he gets to participate in the flag ceremony in front of the school. He also gets to wear the pin all day long and he gets some sort of certificate too. In the past, his school usually sends out a letter informing me that he has won the honor pin, so I can make it to his school and see the flag ceremony and his huge smile as he struts up to receive his pin. This time they didn't, so I got to see the honor pin and hear all about it once I got home. Of course, at that time he was trying to play it cool, but he had trouble maintaining his nonchalance.
Today, after the now-usual morning struggle to get him up and ready for school in the morning, he announced "Harry Potter comes out today!" At that point, he found some formerly dormant source of energy and ran off to finish getting ready for school. As he was leaving for the bus stop, he tried to hop on his scooter and ride that to the bus, but I caught him in time. Laughing gleefully, he ran off to the bus stop.
Tonight, he and I are off the see the new Harry Potter movie, eat too much junk food, and chug soda. I am sure that will make for a very exciting story on Monday.
Good morning everyone!
-- Chamber of Secrets --
By the time I got home on Friday night, the kid unit was about to climb the walls because he had been waiting for me to get home so we could go see "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Of course, we had a bit of time before we had to go, so I sat around while he rode his scooter to burn off some energy (he was practicing bunny hops). Finally, to his great joy, we left for the movie.
After my driving around and muttering under my breath about there being no parking close to the theater, the kid unit and I finally found a parking space a few blocks away. He almost ran the entire way to the movie theater. We stood in a very long line, but the kid unit saw one of his former classmates ahead of us. He went to go and talk to her, and then she followed him back asking if we wanted to cut in line with them. To the anger and consternation of the people around us, the kid unit and I accepted the offer and went inside after stopping for a Twix and sour-Spider-Man-gummi-somethings for him, and nachos for me. He and I split a large Mountain Dew.
He grumbled about having to wait twenty minutes for the movie to start, but when it finally did, his eyes were glued to the screen. He didn't like the preview for "The Two Towers" (he claimed it was too scary), and thought most of the rest of the previews sucked because they were delaying the start of Harry Potter. He jumped at the scary parts, but he wasn't really afraid at all. He was one of the people clapping for Dobby at the end of the movie too.
As we were walking out of the theater, he saw that "8 Mile" was in an adjacent theater and announced with a huge grin that he wanted to see that soon. Ummmm, no.
Good morning everyone!!!!
-- Birthday Countdown --
Last Saturday marked the four week countdown to the kid unit's ninth birthday. He and I were sitting watching cartoons when I mentioned that his birthday was only four weeks away. He looked flabbergasted at first, then he got this gleam in his eye. Out the blue, he said "that means it is five weeks and four days until Christmas!"
At first I was confused, but then I realized that he had done the math faster than had I. He knows his birthday is eleven days before Christmas, so he figured out how long it will be until he gets a second round of gifts. Then he gave me snot for not figuring it out as quickly as he did.
Then the gift ideas came pouring out. I asked him if he wanted a new bike this year, and he replied with a resounding yes. I was wondering if he had any ideas about what sort of bike he wanted, and he told me he wanted a mountain bike and gave me a list of other requirements for it. Guess who is going with me to get his bike so I get it correct.
I cannot tell if he likes his birthday more than Christmas though. He gets a load of gifts during each occasion, but he seems excited about different aspects at each celebration. For his birthday, he has gone to Chuck E. Cheese's for years (usually with a contingent of his pals and cousins) and has gone almost insane with hyperactivity. That is always exciting for him, and he seems to really enjoy it. Of course, this year the Overture Christmas party is the same night as the kid unit's birthday, so I will be missing the Christmas party again this year. I have to go insane on pizza and Coke and run in the human hamster cage!
For Christmas though, I think he likes the idea of other people receiving gifts because he gets so excited watching people open certain gifts to them from him. Last year he got me a hideous-looking tie for one of my gifts, and he wanted to see my expression when I opened it. Of course, since I think hideous ties are great, I think he loved my excited response.
Of course, during the Christmas break he doesn't have to go to school and he can sleep in after trying to stay up as late as possible. Of course, the kid unit also enjoys being able to sit around in his pajamas and play video games and watch cartoons. I think Christmas wins at this time.
Good morning everyone!!!!
-- Carnivorous Homework --
I just got this from my mother a bit ago. In lieu of a morning kid unit story, here is something she sent along to me.
-----Original Message-----
Not that writing definitions of one's spelling work isn't boring--even when one is doing so as an exercise in learning how to use the dictionary. That said . . .
I have been informed that, unfortunately, the kid unit's homework is trying to eat him. He was most disgruntled, flopping down on the couch and announcing he could NOT work under those circumstances.
Upon a moment's reflection, I told him that my homework (in the form of the book and notebook in my lap) was trying to eat me as well. However, I had a magic pen named Ingrid who, although she was almost out of ink and soon would have to be buried (with full honors, of course) in the trash, was diligently and effectively keeping my homework at bay. *add special effects of notebook flopping open and closed, a la a Captain Underpants Flip-o-rama; and Ingrid decisively whapping the notebook back into submission* I also suggested he take his pack of magical Skittles with him and take one whenever the homework acted up.
The kid unit gave me a look of total disgust and informed me I most certainly did NOT have a magical pen and the Skittles weren't magic. Those were made up and I was no fun at all; his homework really *was* trying to each him. Whereupon, he searched his outdoor toys basket until he found his Nerf arrow [Gatling gun? -- the blue and red multi-shooter that goes with the *arrow* that's permanently stuck to the inside of the living room skylight, but I digress], then he went back to his desk to deal with the situation properly.
We had a brief discussion to the effect that he was not (as he was preparing to do) going to swing the gun over his head to beat the homework into submission. So, he *gently* whapped the homework until he was satisfied. And, even though, on further reflection, he decided the Skittles might be magical if they were first chewed and then spit on the offending homework, I annoyed him further by stating that Skittles would either go in his mouth or in the trash.
He is now diligently at work, with me (and my notebook and Ingrid) next to him, just in case -- and Elvis (and "Heartbreak Hotel") inspiring him (loudly) to practice his cursive writing.
Oh, I've also decided that my hair should not be used as dental floss, even when an individual hair has been plucked completely (and with no warning) from my head.
How's yer afternoon? :-)
The Grandma Unit
----- -----
Ahhh, so I got home last night (after Christmas and birthday shopping for the kid unit -- Harry Potter Legos and some Yu-Gi-Oh cards special edition sets), and the kid unit greeted me by showing me his stuffed raccoon Robbes. (Quick story about Robbes' name. H, from Hobbes is x-number of letters after C, from Calvin, so the R in Robbes is x-number of letters after the kid unit's first name, hence Robbes the Raccoon. It was luck that the Robbes and the Raccoon both started with an R.)
Robbes has been around the rough-and-tumble block a few times, i.e. he has almost had his head ripped off, his back came open once, his tail almost fell off, and a few weeks ago his tail was smoldering from some "accident" where the tail ended up in a lamp and simmered for a few moment. Well, the kid unit decided that Robbes needed a bandage, so I came home and Robbes was wrapped in toilet paper in the gentle arms of the kid unit.
(Robbes is not always treated so well. The kid unit has decided that Robbes likes roughhousing, so there are nights when Robbes is forced into a sock or a pillow case or a boot and tossed around and about the room. There are other times when Robbes has to try to catch the kid unit as the kid unit is jumping into bed. Robbes usually ends up being squashed into a ball at that time.)
The kid unit explained that Robbes' tail hurt from being burned, so he had to have it wrapped. Then the kid unit tried bandaging several other people and objects in the house, apparently with the intent of using all of the toilet paper in the house. I guess the kid unit had a head wound and a chest wound, whereas the kid unit's grandmother needed a full-body bandage. I got a dirty look from the kid unit after I made him stop and clean up his mess, though Robbes got to keep his bandages.
Finally, the kid unit was heading into bed, and did not want anyone to follow him into his room. Before I had a chance to say it, the kid unit's grandfather said "Don't take the toilet paper into your room." There was a pause, then a very loud "Darn it!" I saw the kid unit trudge back to the bathroom with four rolls of toilet paper and put them back into the bathroom. There was some more roughhousing with Robbes until the kid unit went to sleep.
Good morning everyone!!!!