We just finished a fairly low key weekend.  Dex was feeling pretty crappy on Friday, with a fever of 101 and a cough, so we took it easy.  Today we hit the Pacific Science Center, and watched a cool movie about Monarch butterflies.  It was a 3D IMAX movie, and it was the first time we’d ever taken the boys to see a 3D movie, and only the 4th movie they’ve seen in a theater.  We learned from our last IMAX film and brought them earmuffs (the last one was about trains, and was LOUD).  This worked well for Dex, though the 3D glasses were a bit tight.  Anyway, I mention this because I’ve seen 3D movies before, and mostly found them a little irritating.  Okay, so Avatar made my stomach flip a little with the heights, and I remember the Terminator ride at Universal Studios, and the blade coming out of the screen at my eyes was a little disconcerting (as in, it was a good thing I’d used the bathroom before hand or I might have peed myself), but mostly it just gives me a headache and really doesn’t make me feel like I’m “in” the movie or anything.  Well, enter the young (and sort of innocent) minds of a child, and I guess things are a little different.  Nic was incredibly confused at the start, and couldn’t figure out if the guy talking was real or not (the fact that he would have been 40 stories tall if real *should* have been a clue).  When they tested the sound system, and said “we can take you into a forest, or into a cave…  Uh oh, Bats!”  Nic apparently closed his eyes and hid for a few minutes.  As the movie progressed, he flinched and hid a few times, like when a tractor swept overhead, or when a caterpillar fell from a branch.  He certainly seemed into it.  The really cool part, though, was later, as movie ended with millions of butterflies flying through a bright-blue sky, and Nic reached out to touch one, and then another, and another.  Maybe you had to be there, but it was very innocent and magical.

When we got home we mostly putzed.  I finally started trying to sort through the 4,000 photos we’ve taken this year, and succeeded in deleting about 1,800 when I get called out to “play”.  Katie and the boys are hiding on the stairs, with swords, yelling that they’re the good guys, and that I should run around and try to get them.  I started walking, slowly, and they started yelling after me, and finally stopped yelling and started asking Mommy, “is he coming?  I can’t hear him…”  Which is about when I launched 4 pillows over the wall of the staircase and onto their heads from behind.  The next time around I grabbed the toy handguns, and ambushed them.  Finally, I slipped out to the garage, grabbed a battle axe and warhammer (just to be clear, they were foam), and staged my assault.  Eventually I retreated upstairs, with one revolver, and hid.  I hid too well, and they couldn’t find me, even though Nic walked right by me once (he didn’t open the closet door, and it’s a good thing too, or I’d have let him have it).  Finally Katie calls out, “it’s okay, Joel, they’re back downstairs.”  So then they came up again, saw me, and attacked, eventually killing me, heading downstairs, and yelling at me to hide again.  That time I slipped into their bathroom and jumped into the tub, and waited.  It’s amazing how loud your breath sounds when you’re waiting to shoot your sons.  Eventually Nic ambles into the bathroom and I jump out and shoot him about a bazillion times, but he managed one shot off the him that, predictably, proved terminal for me.  Little buggers.

And finally, bedtime.  We were all a little off due to the time change, and we couldn’t tell if the boys were ready for bed or not.  We’d been giving Dex some medicine for his cough, so I asked him if he felt congested.  He answered, “I think maybe there’s 4, or 5 things in there.”  ”Five?” I asked.  ”Six,” he answered.  I’m getting a lot of practices at keeping a straight face when talking to Dexter.  ”I’m not sure if that’s a lot or not, Dex.  Do you think you need medicine?”  ”Yes.  The holes are so buggers can get up there.  Daddy, where do buggers come from?”  After we got them settled, we went downstairs, but I had to head up a couple of minutes later when it sounded like the boys ahd opened their door.  It turned out it wasn’t the door, but they’d put their reading lights on their headboards.  Dex had a book on his pillow and was looking at it.  Nic’s light was on, shining on his face, but he had no book.  I went up to Dex, and he hid his head in his bed and pretended to be asleep.  I said, “Dex, it’s okay, you’re allowed to read,” and he popped back up and started thumbing through a Clifford book.  I went over to Nic, and asked if he was okay, or if wanted his light off.  He said, “I’m waiting for my turn with the book.  Dexter said he’d give it to me when he was done.”  So I left them too it.  About 5 minutes later I went back to check on them.  Dex was pretending to sleep, with his light still on, but no book.  Nic was asleep, almost exactly where I’d left him, the light still on, but a book leaning against his head.  I went over to him, turned off his light, and took the book away gently, and kissed him good night.

Then I went over to Dex.  His light was still on, but his eyes were shut.  I put my face right up to his and waited.  A moment later one of his eyes opened, then shut tightly again.  I said, “Dexter, are you awake?”  No answer.  ”Dex, do you need anything?”  No answer.  ”Dex, I know you’re awake.”  No answer.  ”Would you like a drink of water?”  He nods his head, eyes still closed, and then opens his mouth.  ”No, Dex, you should sit up to take a drink.”  He sits up, and I hand him his bottle.  Then he lays back down and closes his eyes.  ”Would you like me to turn off your light?”  ”Yes.  But I need to put it away.”  He bends the flexible part so the light hides behind his headboard.

“Are you okay now, Dex?  Do you need a hug, or for me to rock you?”

“…  yes….”  So I pick him up, give him a hug, and rock for a moment.  Then he starts pushing with his leg, so I ask “are your ready to get back in bed?”

“Yes.”  So I put him back in bed, and am about to leave when he says, “he’s not even looking at it.”

“What’s that, Dex?”

“I gave the book back to Nicky, but he’s not even looking at it.”

“You mean the Clifford book?”

“Yes.”

“Dex, was Nicky awake when you gave him the book?”

“…  no…”

“And you set it on his head?”

“…  yes…”

<sigh>  ”You know, Dex, next time I think if Nic’s asleep, you don’t need to give him the book back.  Do you want to look at it now?”

“Yes!”

So I gave him back his book, kissed him good night, and left.  I just want to make it clear that I have absolutely no idea where my boys get their smart-ass-ness from.  Certainly not my side of the family…

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