Under a Big Umbrella

[HaWho]

Roist - yes, there is GREAT music from that era! I did not mean to imply there was not. H gravitates to the depressing stuff though.

Some quirky/amusing happenings going on here. And then a setback for me.

We decorated the tree finally once I gave the ultimatum that if it wasn't done by x, I was going to decorate alone with the dog. In the end, the tree sat naked for 8 days!!!

H really does seem to have quite a teenage way about him. You know that netting that comes on the tree? Well, s13 got most of it off except for the top, where he couldn't reach. H decided to help by taking a broom handle and twisting up the remaining netting with the intent of yanking it off via the handle. After the broom handle seemed to fight with the netting, the broom won.

But then the netting was wrapped so tight around the handle! H started to cut the netting only to see it made a huge mess with shreds of netting all over. Solution? He left the netting tied around the handle and told me it made the broom festive. Oh, it was a sight to behold the whole process. Bizarre he could not "see" 5 steps ahead that this wasn't efficient. It really seems, at times, that he is re-learning some basic skills.

I went into the dorm room to discuss something kid related. H slipped up saying "hon" on several occasions. One time he apologized after saying "hon." A year ago I might have read something into. This year? I was looking at him like he was a glitchy iPhone.

Sunday he was so adult-like in the morning. He talked to the kids like a normal dad and his thinking was so rational. I listened and marveled. He's in there!

By the evening he seemed to spin back to anger and super dooper crankiness. We were decorating the tree and I won't even get into h's "strategy" for putting lights on the tree because it makes the net removal look wonderfully practical. Suffice it to say that h decided the lights should be put on without being lit?!? Of course the cord to the lights is as green as the tree so this was the absolute most difficult method to employ and it induced much crankiness in h.

At one point I was pulling out my ocean themed ornaments: glittery shells, a starfish, etc. I made quite a show of grabbing the crab and giving it to h and telling him to put THAT one on the tree. He did not spew. He settled.

He left me a post-it asking if I know how to access the password to the landline. I went over to the dorm room and said "nope." He told me he threw out the instructions. I said he could Google the manual. (This way h can check the vmail and determine exactly how many hang ups there were from telemarketers.)

Also pertaining to the landline, he mentioned s11 can use it to talk to friends. I was polite but kind of exasperated. I just couldn't take anymore. I told him it's 2016 and teens don't use landlines anymore. It's weird.

I had a few setbacks. H was showering and at an odd time like when he did in the height of replay. It just triggered me. He came out and I said "what time are you going out?" I was bristling and it was obvious. He said he wasn't and seemed surprised. Is it possible he doesn't remember all that? His showering down there at certain times brings me right back.

Also, I had a very PA comment on my part. We were talking about a certain religion and h mentioned info and it surprised me that he knew it. I said "wow, how did you know THAT?" (Probably his tanned up ow is that religion.). He said "Ohhh, I know ALL sorts of things." And I said (very PA tone): "ohhhhh, trust me, I KNOW you do." (It was a shot at all he showed me he knew in the letter.) Not proud. By the anger just jumped out of me.

He made a cameo appearance in my bedroom. He popped his head in last night with a real silly grin. I asked him what the grin was about. I was expecting him to make a jab about the size of my room: nope. He told me my room smelled "funky." Ok then.

He says goodnight almost every night now. For a while he would holler "good night boys!" Now he almost always says "good night everyone."