Calm has returned to the household--albeit a poorly contrived tranquility.

Ya see� I, er, decided (that�s it! I thought about it. Sure.) to settle down for a nice Sunday afternoon nap with His Nibs�and we put away three solid hours of shut-eye.

Then, ignoring all reason, we headed out to do the grocery run an hour before his normal bedtime; got home 20 minutes beyond the aforementioned time for sleep, tubbed the boy, made dinner and watched the rest of a high def broadcast of the Sound of Music together�singing, laughing and hugging our way through the whole sordid film. [OK. It IS a good movie every ten years or so�but it feels sordid when a hetero-Calvinist-boy-from-Vermont revels in dat crap.]

It should come as no surprise that on completion of der Austrian Folk Fest and his evening lullaby (from yers truly) DaSon was out like a light. Now if I could only return him to his previously scheduled self. Wish me luck. Don�t wait with Baited Breath.

On a stranger note�I did meet Maria Von Trapp when I was a kid� as my mom decided to take myself and my younger sisters on a pilgrimage to The Trapp Family Lodge up in Stowe, Vermont. She was a wonderful old dame�and she and I talked for what seemed like an hour about her and her family�s trek over the mountains into Italy (and the reality behind the film.) According to my pop, the lodge is still in business with her youngest son running it to this day.

At the grocer�s (our local Japanese store) I found some of the nicest, fattiest Blue Fin Ohtoro I have ever seen. My son did his normal Charm-The-Living-Shit-Out-Of-Whoever routine and we ended up with a big-ass FREE slab of marinated Wild Canadian Salmon from the meat manager (he was asking about learning to speak Japanese and did his impression of me answering the phone�knowing it is a Nippon-raised pal on the other end.)

The view of my kid�thumb and pinkie raised to his ear yelling Mushi-Mushi! (traditional �Hullo Whadaya Want?� phone answer--phonetically spelled) had the guy guffawing�and suddenly we had a pound of salmon side on our cart marked in Kanji�saying �no charge.� He�s quite a charmer, my boy. Everything is sooo wonderfully innocent.

Recently he was telling a gentleman of the darker persuasion (in line at an electronics store) that he wished he (direct quote now,) �had more melanin so that I won�t burn in the sun.� Seeing the look on the guy�s face�then the big grin at me from the same browner individual--and hearing� �Well� there are good and bad things that come with all this sun protection, little-man. But, I understand.� Suddenly we were talking about how a five year old knew the term melanin� and another friend was made.

Rambling over here. But I do love my kid. Dearly and deeply.

Sap.

Drip.

[sheepish grin.]

--SappySauce