Blogservations...

Blog + Observations = Blogservations.  Remember this because I am not explaining it again.

"The Apartment Complex Playa"

We are now living in an apartment complex in Fridley, MN during our summer internship.  In every apartment complex there is always the one guy with a tricked out Chrysler 300C.  If you have lived in an apartment complex, you know this guy.  The guy with the car covered in chrome and black windows, riding on 22" dubs (rims).  And you know they are 22" rims because it says it in three different places on the car.  The majority of Playa's stereo is in the trunk, but somehow manages to cause enough vibrations that you can hear his door handles rattle as he passes you.  Livin' the dream!  

"Cartoons: Pre-school for Poor Folks"

I remember the days of Saturday morning cartoons that did nothing more than entertain. Classic example: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. He-Man did not have any ulterior motives such as teaching me to share with Baby Bop or how BJ can deal with a new baby in the hose. Nope--He-Man was all about using his powers to defend Eternia from the evil forces of Skeletor. These days, He-Man lies dormant as Barney teaches us to share, Sid the Science Kid freaks me out with his slightly slow-motion un-natural dancing, and Dora tricks us into learning Español. Por esta razón...dang it, she did it again! 

For this reason, I miss the good old days of mindless Saturday morning cartoons.  If I want my son to learn, I will send him to school.  But right now he is only two years old.  PBS needs to stop trying to help him get his GED.

So un-natural it must be evil.  

C-Monster: What are you doing!?

For those who are wondering, Cayden is now well into the two-year-old stage, and although we love him dearly, he continues to work hard to live up to the "C-Monster" name.  

We spent the last couple of days at Suzanne's parents' house during this time off between school and my internship.  The other day, Suz and I were engaged in a long conversation.  It was one of those rare moments of silence for Cayden, which was great.  But with an "active" child like Cayden, sometimes too much silence can be a problem.  It is kind of like putting a bell on a dog.  The bell helps you keep track of where the dog is.  When you do not hear the bell anymore, there is a problem. 

This moment of blissful silence was broken by a sputtering sound.  It sounded like when you squeeze a bottle of lotion that is empty and all you get is mainly air with a little splattered lotion.  Turns out, that was what it was.  Suzanne looked over and said "What the Flip?!"

Two thoughts entered my head:  

1. "There was a bottle of aloe vera lotion near the couch -- but it was full -- so it couldn't be that."  
   
   
2. "Did Suz just say 'Flip'?"

I was right on the second one but wrong on the first.  There was a full bottle of aloe vera lotion near the couch.  Now there is an empty one.  But where could all the lotion have gone?  On to the leather couch, of course.  

My thought is Cayden wanted a little bit of lotion to put on his sun burnt arms just like Dad had done the day before.  Having applied too much pressure to the squeeze tube, he ended up with more than a little bit of lotion.  The theory continues that after wiping as much lotion as possible on his arms, he choose to wipe the remaining lotion on his shirt and shorts.  When he ran out of dry space on his shirt and shorts, he started spreading it on couch.

The leather couch was slick and made spreading lotion much more fun than spreading it on skin or clothing, so the C-Monster opted for more lotion.  Eventually, the tube of lotion ran out, thus producing the sputtering sound that caught our attention.  When we arrived at the couch, the right side had a generous coat of aloe vera lotion that Cayden had worked very hard to spread evenly across the leather surface.  

Cayden looked up at Mom and Dad, who both had unfriendly expressions.  Cayden but his very moisturized hands in the air with his palms up and said "Mess?"

Yes, Cayden, that is a mess.