Emotional Comprehension

I promise to get back to my aforementioned postings about Raising a Child in the City...but I just had to brag on my boy a little in the meantime. 

Over the weekend, I noticed the first sign of emotional comprehension in my not-quite-two-year-old.  To begin the tale, you need to know that my husband loves Star Wars.  And you also need to know that he owns an interactive, voice-command R2D2 robot, which looks like this:

Artoo stands about 18 inches high, moves independently, and freaks my son out.  Ever since Benjamin was old enough to know his head from a hole in the ground, he's been afraid of Artoo. 

Over the weekend, we had a visit from my sister-in-law, her husband, and two kids.  Our six-year-old niece wanted to play with Artoo.  So we pulled him out, turned him on, and away went Benjamin, cowering behind Mommy.  He was the only one, however, who was disturbed by this toy.  Even his younger cousin Macy bravely went over and gave Artoo the stare-down.  At one point, Benjamin even gallantly pushed Macy out of the way when Artoo was headed towards her.

Later that day, he looked at me and clear as day said "Scared".  I was floored.  This was the first time he had ever expressed any kind of emotion to me.  I asked him if he was scared of Artoo, and he nodded and said "Scared, R2." 

But it didn't stop there.  A few hours later, after Artoo had been returned to dormancy, and the incident had all blown over, I was in the kitchen doing something.  I hear Benjamin calling out to me "Mama!  Look!"  It took me a minute, but I finally looked over at him - standing right next to Artoo, with his hand on Artoo's - head? top?  Whatever.  And with a voice brimming over with pride, he said "I touch it!"

Mama was so proud.  I told him so.  Several more times over the weekend and since, he's gone over to Artoo, given him a good pat, and told me "I touch it."  So proud of my kid, conquering his fear. 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Time for my weekend wrap-up!

Saturday night Branden and I went to a "Stock the Bar" shower for a friend of mine who is getting married on April 3. It was a really creative way to get the couple plenty of booze. The hostess mailed out a card with a drink recipe along with the invitation, and we were to buy supplies to make that drink. We lucked out getting the Cape Codder. It was super easy - vodka & cranberry juice. I found a cool gift set of Stoli vodka with two martini glasses, so I got that, plus the cranberry juice (Ocean Spray, of course!) and I even got a couple of limes for the garnish. (I'm always one for completeness).

The party itself was off the hook. (Am I too old to use that phrase?). Julia and Stuart have great friends - even a couple that I already knew from college (Stuart left A&M-Commerce right as I was getting there...and his best man's wife was in my music fraternity! Small world indeed.) Beyond the good company, there was yumm food and a nice hot tub. Branden and I were the only ones to take advantage of that, but I didn't mind that we had the hot tub to ourselves. We had to seize the opportunity since we don't have access to one where we live.

Sunday brought a nice, lazy morning. We had a late breakfast at Urban Market after sleeping in, and didn't do much until it was time to leave. A co-worker suggested to me a couple of weeks ago that we join her for a performance of "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" , which was playing at WaterTower Theatre's Out of the Loop festival. So the three of us (downtown residents all) made the trek up to Addison to check out the sci-fi nerdiness. The play consists of one man, dressed all in black, acting out the entire Star Wars Trilogy in about an hour. It was quite well done, but I'd say about 80% of it went completely over my head. Branden and Katie had a great time, though, so it was worth it. The three of us went out to dinner afterwards, and then Katie invited us up to see her (parents') fat pad at One Arts Plaza. It was AMAZING. They don't just have a view of downtown...they have THE view of downtown. You can see for miles from their huge balcony. We also had the pleasure of talking to her father for a while, which was really wonderful. He and Branden really hit it off. It just so happens that Katie's father has a degree in City Planning...which is what Branden is studying right now! It was the perfect end to a wonderful day. I leave you with a picture of the man behind One Man Star Wars. He also does One Man Lord of the Rings, which I would LOVE to see some day!