Random Gibberish

Wow! Braeden is 12. He will officially be a teenager next year, and only three years before he can get a learner’s permit for driving, unless rules change before then (dare I hope on that one?). It is such a difficult age for boys, but he is doing pretty well, I think, hope, etc. Dave took him and five of his friends to play paintball in Vassalboro. I’m home with Thane and crossing my fingers that everyone has fun and behaves.

Yesterday Dave and I took Thane to the playground in Wiscasset. He went with school on Wednesday and he really wanted to go back. It was a little hard to figure out what he was thinking . . . he seems to like having the other children around, but he is almost aggressively friendly at first. When Braeden and I took him to the playground in Warren on our way home Thursday, he was walking up to people and saying “Who are you?” He meant to be introducing himself, but it didn’t fully work. So we coached him some and suggested he say, “Hi, I’m Thane. What’s your name?” What neither of us parents were really counting on his how many children won’t answer that question. Luckily Thane doesn’t really care.

It’s nice to be able to do some of this little stuff again without so much pain breathing. I am not sure I am ready to do it fully on my own because my knees still lock at bad times, but at least I am participating more in things outside of the house. A friend of mine reminded me just a little while ago about the sticks of butter comparison . . . I am down 588 sticks of butter so far. That’s pretty hard to fathom because it definitely doesn’t look like that much, and I would still like to get rid of almost the same amount again. I am just slithering past the half-way point, but I am only 3½ months post-op, so it should help me for another 3-9 months, perhaps longer.

Riley had its school auction this weekend. I proxy bid on a couple of things and won two of them. I have to figure out how/when to retrieve them. One is a painting that I just thought was pretty and wanted to go for close to its genuine value. The other is a schooner ride that I thought Braeden and Dave would enjoy.