T'anksgibbons

All right - now that we've gone for weeks without posting, now that we've lost just about every reader of this blog, now that our ratings are in the pits, NOW is the time for massive posting. Oh yeah - that's what we call stragety. Or stagrety. Or... something. Definitely not strategy.

Anyhow, Thanksgiving was a blast. The Withers clan set up camp here at Overhill, arriving in waves. First in, Aunt Wren & Uncle Joe, followed by Grandma Marjorie... with a surprise appearance by Grandpapa Scott! Well, he called ahead, so it wasn't really a surprise, but I'm trying to build drama here.

Aden was thrilled to see each and every one of the houseguests, especially because they gave him kisses on his belly and took him from his parents whenever they needed to do other stuff (the parents liked that too!). All sorts of new developmental milestones were achieved that week, including: giving high fives, babbling in a death metal / cookie monster voice, getting everyone sick with a cold, blowing snot, throwing things at the dog, and eating delicious mashed-up "big people" food. It was pretty awesome.

On Thanksgiving day itself, Melissa, Aden & I went over to Uncle Chris & Aunt Kim's house, and had a lovely mid-day dinner with Chris, Kim, Steven and Grammy Barbara. Sadly, we don't have any pictures since I was sporting a massive migraine on the way over (which thankfully resolved itself by the time we sat down to eat) and forgot to pack the camera. But dinner was great, and Aden even tried a little pie and squash, which he enjoyed very much. Since it was unseasonably warm, we got to play on the lawn after eating, which is the first time Aden's ever gotten to crawl around on grass (that we know).

After that, we came back home to Overhill for an evening Thanksgiving dinner - by the end of the night, the turkey wasn't the only one who was stuffed!

While it was sad to see everyone go at the end of the week, Aden got some good one-on-one time with each and everyone, and had a great time.

As mentioned earlier, Aden and Nugget reached an entirely new level in their relationship this past week when Aden finally started interacting directly with the dog. Namely by draping himself over the dog, who had been sleeping, and pounding on Nugget's flank with a toy! Shockingly, the dog didn't eat him, and just laid there taking the abuse. Of course, I didn't have my camera for that... but I sure had it ready when Aden came back for round two, climbing up on the supine dog and grabbing fistfuls of fur. The dog didn't even stir for that one.

Since that formative event, the two have begun playing a game that we here like to call "slimy and slimier." It goes like this:

1. Aden puts a toy in his mouth
2. Aden takes the toy out of his mouth
3. Aden puts the toy in the dog's mouth
4. The dog chews on the toy for a second or two
5. Aden takes the toy out of the dog's mouth
6. Aden puts the toy back in his mouth
7. Repeat

So far, everyone seems pretty happy with this game, and Aden's shown no signs of lycanthropy (that's what dog drool causes, right? Just a slight case of werewolf-ism?), so we're going to let them continue building their buddyship.

Clearly, we've got plenty to be thankful for. And the gibbons aren't so bad, once you get used to all the banana peels around the house.