This ‘n That

I have a bunch of random stuff that I’ve been wanting to add…

When Brian and I moved into Camas Commons 4 years ago, cable TV was not included in the rent like the previous place, so we used antennas and watched a few select shows through fuzziness and frequent adjusting. When it all went digital last June, watching TV has become a huge headache. We lost a a few channels, including a favorite, FOX still comes in the old way, so to watch it we have to do all sorts of switching, and the rest of the channels are nice and clear, if you can get them to come in at all. (So, rather than a little fuzzy that never bothered us, it will just freeze frame or not come in at all). One night Brian was doing his usual dance of trying the antenna out all over the room. We just wanted to watch something while I gave him a haircut. He tried that thing EVERYWHERE, and the only place this particular channel it came in was suspended above the couch. One centimeter to the left, right, forward, backward, etc… and it was a no-go. This EXACT spot was the ONLY spot. (Until the next day when the hot spot is somewhere completely different). Anyway, I found a toy that was just the right size to hold it in its spot. I couldn’t believe it. And it only took 40 minutes of hunting around to find that night’s hot spot for that particular channel. Woo hoo! It was a lucky night.

The other morning when the kids got up, the train set was still out from the night before. I was so impressed watching them play with something together and not fighting. Asher has more than learned to hold his own... a lot of times he throws a tantrum when his attempt to take things away from Brennan is unsuccessful. Then he comes crying (translation - tattling) to me that "Brennan won't let him have that toy!" It's Brennan's own fault - He's been teaching by example for the last year and a half. Anyway, unless or until Asher trys pulling that stunt, they usually play really well together these days. Brennan has learned to just claim 2 or 3 toys at a time as the one's he's playing with, and knows and accepts that everything else is fair game. And Asher seems to be catching on that he is welcome to play with Brennan as long as he minds the rules (like not taking). Incidentally, this particular train set was mine as my chosen birthday present when I turned 7... or as Brennan likes to call it, "Moms train from when she was a little boy."

Asher's nap time, a.k.a. "quiet" time is not always quiet for Brennan. However, he is pretty good about settling down for some personal play time. On halloween day he was doing just that while Brian did homework and I did whatever random stuff myself. I love listening to Brennan play, the little conversations always make me laugh, but they're usually too complex to remember well enough to share. This isn't an example of complexity really, but I just got a kick out of watching him play in his own little world, hardly aware of Mom and Dad just a few feet away from him.
*Warning* you may find this boring, but as his Mother I enjoy every second of it, and I'm posting this more for me than for anyone else :-)