Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

I'm not gonna sit here and type out all that saccharine sweetness about how good it was to see my family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Or how much fun I had going shopping on Black Friday with my mom & sis-in-law (despite my having to drive in fog so dense the street lights appeared to be floating). Instead I'm going to tell you about the two best incidents from my trip. Both involve my two year old nephew JT.

During JT's nap on Saturday my dad and brother set up the Christmas tree. It's a pre-lit variety so there was no hilarity at watching them untangle and drape lights. Anyway, JT gets up from his nap gets to the top of the stairs, sees the tree and is Very excited. "Tree! Lights!! YAY!" and a very cute "wow" whispered in awe with wide eyes. The tree is plugged into an outlet that's controled by a switch across the room. So my dad & brother get the bright (no pun intended) idea to make it look like the lights on the tree are controlled by clapping. Dad claps, brother flips switch. JT is MUCH excited by all this and proceeds to clap repeatedly. Brother flips switch. JT squeals and giggles and shouts "Yay!" We finally get him to stop clapping by saying the tree is tired and needs a nap (JT was clapping three or four times for every one flip of the switch).

Awhile later my brother gets out his camera and I man the light switch. I attempt to flip the switch for every clap by JT. I fail miserably much to our collective amusement. JT didn't seem to mind the delay though. I haven't seen the video yet. Hopefully it's as entertaining as being there was.

The other incident which brought me Much joy and amusement was on Sunday night. Just JT, the folks and I (bro & sis-in-law went home & left JT with the grandparents for the week). Folks & JT had gone for a drive to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood so I took the opportunity to pop in the Zoo TV DVD. I thought I had resisted playing the DVD fairly well since my folks have a massive big screen TV. Folks & JT return just before Bullet the Blue Sky is coming on. JT had been known to shake his booty to BTBS so I managed to waylay his wanting of the movie Cars to be played by saying, "This is your favorite song! Remember?" JT pauses and looks at the screen and kinda smiles but no booty shaking.

We (dad, JT & I) play cars (roll cars back and forth under couch) for a bit, all the while Zoo TV is playing. I fast forward through some songs until I get to ones my mom knows (I've converted her into a U2 fan). JT and my dad climb into a recliner just before Where the Streets Have No Name comes on. As the music builds and the lights start pulsing, JT starts bouncing up and down on my dad's lap. He claps. He says "yay!" and I beam with joy. Woohooo JT!! Obviously my excellent music taste has been inherited by you :)