At Home

Today we were at home, resting. The Small People were at daycare, so the adults went voting (not me; I submitted mine weeks ago and I’m out of my city anyway)  The SP erupted in after school, and I was instructed to go to my room, then to sit in my chair, to drink tea (both real and pretend) and then to make paper planes.  My boys were all doing well today, with Jerry wriggling when I talked to him.  I expect that he’ll be calling the locksmith to change the locks soon… Don has been well guarded in my absence, as Jerry won’t let him take 3 steps unaccompanied!  I’m a little worried that they haven’t been eating properly without me, but I did what I could and left food that was microwaveable for a while, plus other things that he’d enjoy.  

As for myself, I’m tired, but not in any pain worth mentioning.  I didn’t sleep well last night because of some discomfort in my hip, but I finally got a comfortable position and slept for a few hours.  I tried to get my flu shot unsuccessfully as the pharmacy was out.  We’ll try again later in the week.  The pharmacy assistant asked my age — they’re currently giving the vaccine to those 65+ and vulnerable populations (to which I belong) and he wanted to confirm my eligibility.  My sister giggled at the thought of him aging me over 10 years, while I was less amused!

I’ve been exposed to so much children’s programming lately that I’ve begun to hum tunes like “Row, row your boat,” and “wheels on the bus” when I’m on my own!  It’s almost as bad as my parents, who would watch Backyardigans even on the nights when my niece wasn’t with them!  I’ve almost automatically tuned to the kids’ channels on my streaming services — something that I never paid attention to normally! Just now, I think that I need a long break from Disney’s princesses and Mickey Mouse, and Cocomelon (a channel for very young viewers)  the animation in which I find scary.  The eyes are easily two-thirds of the face, while the nose and mouth occupy about one fifth of the whole.  Definitely nothing that exists in nature!!  I’m definitely too old to get excited by bad animations and creepy characters.  I’ve so far managed to limit my time watching these, even as the SP watch about 30 minutes every evening (I watch much less)  My time is more “productively” used in reading stories and playing tea party.  There you are; after leaving work, I’ve been gainfully employed as a dog bed, and now a jungle gym for toddlers.  

I think that my decline will be complete when I can join in the discussions on the “scandals” in kiddie entertainment — like what ever happened with The Wiggles?  Or the drama behind Tangled and so on.  Thus far, I just grunt and ignore the discussion, but if I’m here much longer, I might be able to chat about princess exercises!  They are so sweet that I don’t really mind (much) that my brain is turning into porridge!  My elder niece finds it hilarious, and she recommends videos for me to watch.  In fairness, her recommendations (when I’m not with the kids) are more interesting, and we exchange lists of what to watch (although I’m still not a fan of Korean soap operas.)  She had banned me from watching a long list of movies and shows because she said that I ask too many questions and I will point out that the kids usually cause all the problems, which makes it less fun when they solve the problems they created after endangering the lives of their families.  

Story time is about to start… I claim some pleasure in being able to say that it’s been about a week since I had to read any Frozen.  I’m now ready to retire My Little Pony and Blues Clues although I’ll take it in small steps!  Good night all.