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| The Birthday Girl Between her Parents on Saturday |
I set out Saturday to join my Favorite Son’s family
to celebrate the BRS’ successful completion of her second year on earth. I hurriedly
knocked out a bunch the usual Sunday chores Saturday morning before setting out.
I arrived a couple hours before party time and enjoyed that time with my son
and the increasingly pregnant ABFA as the BRS was still napping. Riggins was
also present, at least physically. He’d awoken my son in the very early morning
with some projectile vomiting in his bedroom. When that didn’t let up my son
ended up in the doggie ER (I didn’t even know they had those) at 2am. After a
bunch of expensive tests they proclaimed that Riggins had a sore stomach, but
nothing serious. His owner’s investment in pet medical insurance sure made a
lot of sense after this episode.
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| Our Christmas Present Got Some Use |
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| Helping Grandpa Understand Technology |
They decided to go low key with the birthday celebration
with just grandparents, an aunt, and age appropriate cousin for the party. This
was a great choice since it allowed for a much more measured celebration and we
all got to enjoy the BRS as she flitted around. She also showed remarkable
progress in gift opening, even in the short time from Christmas. She opened
each of her gifts and then demanded the boxes be opened so she could play with
each item.
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| Saturday Sleigh Ride |
She flashed some of her abuela derived genes when it
came to clothing though. She immediately started to put all of her new clothes
on at once. Alright, she might get that from my annual Christmas performance.
After she had the clothes on though, she took a very definite measure of herself,
complete with extended leg pose. That’s right out of my Favorite Panamanian’s playbook.
She received a cool sled form her other grandparents and immediately enlisted
grandfathers to tow her around the ground floor to test it out. Riggins tried
to help by lubricating the floor repeatedly ahead of us as his stomach distress
continued.
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| Demonstrating her Technique |
This was followed by a pizza dinner where the BRS
displayed her chosen method of downing pizza. She turns the piece over and then
starts eating it upside down. She’ll have to modify her technique if she ever
wants to have toppings on it but she did extreme justice to the pizza. The birthday
cake candles scared her a little bit but with parental assistance extinguishment
took place. I had Facetimed my wife in from Panama and she got to sing Happy Birthday
along with the rest of us. The birthday cake and ice cream were the most painful
part of the day for me. I’m back ketoing hard to address the ramification of
overindulgence during the Christmas cookie time period so I had to watch in
pain.
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| Sunday Sleigh Ride |
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| BRS Reigning |
After the party ran down, the guests departed, and the
BRS went to bed my son and I had a fantastic time watching a college basketball
game and then a new Netflix show, Locke and Key. Horror shows are so much
easier when I have my partner in crime next to me. Sunday morning saw a return
to grandfather powered indoor sled rides. The BRS took a page out of the FBR’s
book by declaring anything less than fifty repetitions would be unacceptable.
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| Go Faster Grandpa! |
I regretfully returned home to complete the Sunday
chores ahead of the Oscar show. I really enjoyed the show again this year without
the distracting host. There was the usual political pandering but there were
also some very funny and poignant moments. Why is that the people responsible
for the shortest films give the longest speeches? One even had the temerity to close
her speech with the international communist slogan, what a creep.
I was happy
with the acting awards although I cringed when Joaquin Phoenix started his speech
out worrying about calves separated from their mothers. He got better though
and finished with a quote from his dead brother – one of those poignant moments
I was talking about. If Once Upon a Time in Hollywood wasn’t going to win Best Picture
I was ecstatic that Parasite did. Especially since I got some rest from giving middle
fingers to the screen while Jane Fonda was making the announcement. This quirky
South Korean film won over even the self-involved culture of Hollywood which
speaks volumes. In the night’s biggest upset I finally beat my daughter in the Oscar
prediction game. She routinely trounces me each year but last night I edged her
out by one, with 13 correct predictions. Probably why she didn’t take my call
after the show finished.
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| My Winning Oscar Ballot |
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RECURRING
CHARACTERS
BR3
– inbound
granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel
- second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog
Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA –
Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since
grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to
attract women; Pittsburgh College
Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two
close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd musquetera
(musketeer); Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals
– female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife
accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member, Favorite Panamanian - the
wife (of course); First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her
single days in Brooklyn
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