Ahhh, latkes....

Happy First Night of Chanukah!  Ben's big present tonight was a V-Tech Inno Tab, which beat out the competition (the LeapPad) for three reasons:  (a) It has better drawing resolution.  (b) We don't need the camera, because Ben already has one.  (c) It was available.

Here are his exact words after he opened it:  "Well, I would rather have a cheese board."

[There's a backstory on that one, but I'll spare you the details this time.]

Anyway, once he realized that he could watch ABBA videos on it, he was much more enthusiastic, as you can see here:

Of Germs and Grinches

Well, we're a household full of germs this week.  Ben has pink-eye and a cough.  I have strep.  Neil has stayed healthy so far, which puts him in the role of General Caretaker.

Here are two quick Bennyisms:
1.  Ben, cuddling in my lap:  "Mom, you are my wife.  Someday we will get married."
2.  After enjoying the book for a couple of years, Ben finally got a chance to watch the animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Towards the end, after his miraculous heart expansion, it is claimed that the Grinch suddenly acquires the strength of 10 Grinches plus 2.  Ben:  "That makes 12 Grinches!"

I'll never get caught up!

I'm so far behind on reading friends' blogs -- all those titles on the sidebar look soooo tempting, and I just haven't had time, folks, I swear.

Well, I got my fall semester grades turned in last night, so things should begin to loosen up a little.  I'm down to about 500 things left on the old to-do list, so hopefully by Monday I can devote a few good hours to some Serious Blog Action, both give and take.

Here's one Ben tidbit to tide us over:  I have this longish grey cardigan that Ben likes to wear -- it drags on the floor and gives him a bit of a wizard look.  So the other night after his bath, he was parading around wearing the sweater and absolutely nothing else, singing, "Monostatos is my name, catching people is my game!"

Okay, so there's a backstory (you were afraid of that).  Ben has an English-language version of Mozart's The Magic Flute on DVD (gift from Neil's parents), which he loves.  Monostatos is an evil guy from the opera who wears this weird bat-like costume and he's always raising his wings and flashing his rather unattractive beer belly at people, and he's constantly trying to recapture the heroine Pamina.  Meanwhile, Papageno is this bird catcher character who sings, "Papageno is my name, catching birds is my game."  So as soon as Ben saw in the mirror that he could achieve a similar effect by raising his arms and revealing his little all, he naturally thought of Monostatos and adapted the lyric.

When the backstory is longer than the tidbit, that's clear evidence that my narrative style leaves much to be desired.  You'll just have to believe me that it was pretty funny at the time.