Snippets

I have to say, Doug can be an interesting mix of ages anywhere from 5-95. Although I read him pretty well, you never quite know when the 5-year-old (or sometimes 2 year old!) is going to show up. A few weeks back we went shopping at Aldi's for Rachel's (my niece, his great-niece) graduation party. I'd never been to Aldi's before and did not have a quarter for the grocery cart. Holy cow!! We had a little episode out front about not getting a cart, even though we were only there for a few quarts of strawberries and some blueberries. He wanted to get a cart, was sure we needed a cart, and with his arms stretched out and his little hands spread wide, told me "EVERYBODY KNOWS IT!!!" I very calmly told him that no, everybody didn't know it, because if they did, he would have told me, and I would have had a quarter!! That stopped him momentarily, but I still got a dirty look (hey, I've been getting those from kids for many years now and they have absolutely no effect, sorry bud!) and he was grumpy for most of the trip through the store, with a little muttering going on. Later, I have been able to joke with him about the cart at Aldi's, but there was no joking going on that night! Then another night, I was teasing with him, going "Hey Doug, you're my favorite! I love you!" He replied, "I know that!" and so I asked him, "How can you tell?" He looks at me with a big grin on his face and says, "Everybody knows it!!" So, I guess universal knowledge can be both good and bad!

Really, he has come a long way with some of his behaviors. I've said that what I wouldn't put up with from a kid at school, I won't put up with from Doug, and although I can't change behavior overnight, I can change a lot of it with time and patience. This arrangement works well for us because Doug is VERY endearing most of the time, plus I have a lot of patience, as well as an almost perpetual sense of good cheer, and a good sense of humor! I was really proud of Doug last night as there was a problem with our satellite reception for the tv, which could not be resolved with tech support over the phone. Supposedly because of the storm. The tv went out right in the middle of the "wrestling" that he loves (see, there IS a God!) and I thought for sure we were going to have a tantrum. Nope! We tried fingers crossed, humming, and tapping out loud while we kept unplugging that darn box and plugging it back in again to reset the system. He was fabulous--I was so proud of him, and told him so. Today I still couldn't get it to work, so more calls to tech support, and even to super-de-doo tech support, but no luck. I was the one getting crabby today, but now I have to be careful as I have a very watchful audience! We have a technician scheduled to come on Thursday, but tonight I tried again and the silly thing worked. I'm keeping the appointment until we see how it goes tomorrow!! Their customer service has been great, but I am not impressed to be having problems with a system that has only been in for two weeks. However, if Doug is handling it, then I guess I'd better! He got no worse than a few mutterings of "stupid tv!" and that only happened tonight when he wanted to watch the weather. Weather is a BIG deal--almost as much as getting the mail!