I Survived.......WOW!!!

I am reporting in to all of you who might be wondering how I am doing today.  Many of you read my last blog and you know that I was committed to having a WOW day yesterday. That’s War of the Worlds to those of you who may have missed that bit of info.  All day long, Aaron asked many questions.  Are we watching War of the Worlds?  What time are we watching War of the Worlds?  Are we watching Wheel of Fortune?  Then after Wheel of Fortune are we watching War of the Worlds?  What time will that be?    Did you know that War of the Worlds is one hour and fifty-seven minutes long?  Are you sure that one hour and fifty-seven minutes is not too long?  Can I eat my peanuts while we watch War of the Worlds? 

I was exhausted before our one hour and fifty-seven minute movie even started.

And one hour and fifty-seven minutes was looming over my head, seeming very, very long indeed.

I had told Aaron that we would watch the movie after Wheel of Fortune, which would be 7:00.  But in order to cover all my bases and to prevent a total meltdown from Aaron, I made sure he understood that IF something came up that required my attention, then we would watch the movie as soon as that something was taken care of by me.  I know that I must always give myself an out with Aaron so that he……hopefully……..will cooperate in the event of a change to our plans. 

Sure enough, we had a change in our plans.  Andrew called, so I told Aaron that as soon as Dad and I talked to Andrew, then he and I would begin our WOW evening.   Just as I expected, Aaron was soon hovering around us as we sat on the couches downstairs and talked to Andrew.  I waved my hand and shooed him off, but soon he came back……….and left the room………and came back again………several times.  Aaron thought that this phone call was taking entirely too long.  Before the call was over, Aaron was sitting cross-legged on the floor………sighing and rolling his eyes…….and making comments about how he didn’t care about Andrew calling and that he knew Mom wasn’t going to watch War of the Worlds after all.  Even my evil eye was having little effect at this point.  The zapping power of the WOW aliens was more and more appealing to me, to be honest. 

 

We started the movie a little after 8:00.  Aaron had his animal print blanket all spread out and his bag of peanuts ready and his bowl there for all the peanut shells.  Oh, and his back scratcher that he uses to whack the arm of the couch when he gets really excited……which was often on this WOW evening.   He was beside himself with excitement as the narrator began talking about those that were watching our world from outer space………watching with cruel and unsympathetic eyes. 

“See Mom?!” Aaron exclaimed.  “Now we know they’re unsympathetic!”

Yes, Aaron, they are.

“So what does that mean?” he asked.  And I tried to explain this emotion to him for the umpteenth time, as well as the concept of cruel eyes.  But he was already off on something else, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

“Mom, that’s Ray!”      “That’s Ray’s son!”    “That’s Ray’s house!”   “That’s Ray’s daughter!”

I know, Aaron.  Just be quiet and let’s listen.

“Mom!!!   That’s my favorite part!”  he yelled as the lightning started.

CLAP!!!!!!!!!!

As if the movie isn’t loud enough, Aaron.  QUIT CLAPPING!!!!

“Watch this, Mom!   That’s my favorite part!”  he yelled again as the ground cracked open.

“MOM!!!!   The alien ship is coming out of the ground!!  Now that’s my favorite part!!!”

Good grief, Aaron, how many favorite parts do you have?

“I have other favorite parts!” he declared as he rubbed his hands together again in great excitement.

“Oh, Mom!!  Look at this!  They’re going to zap everyone!”

And yes, the zapping began in earnest.

“This is my ALSO favorite part!!  Get it??!!”  he nearly yelled.

Oh my word.  How many minutes are left?  Is this just the famous chapter six out of how many chapters?!

But I did survive, along with Tom Cruise and his two children, of course.  The lightning and the aliens and the overturned ferry and the near drowning and the fires were not a big deal.  Aaron’s incessant talking and his very loud clapping and rubbing his hands together, however, nearly did me in.    My WOW evening was nearing an end when Aaron said, “Now do we understand this movie now?  They were unsympathetic and cruel!”   Aaron loves that phrase for some reason.  And I knew that I would be explaining it over and over before his fascination with this movie was over.

Earlier, he had decided to quit his rapid eating of all those peanuts.  His bowl was full of peanut shells as he set it to the side and said, “Are you glad I got off the peanuts?” 

I wish it was as easy for him to get off this WOW movie.  This morning he was at it again, asking tons of questions and clarifying all the points that I thought we had already clarified and re-hashing their unsympathetic and cruel eyes. 

He would make a statement and then say, “Is that how you would put it?” 

Oh, Aaron.  I am so ready to put it away.  Let’s talk about something else.  We had our WOW evening.  Can that be enough?

We got home from church and I heard a sound coming from Aaron’s room.  I peeked in, and sure enough, he was watching a scene from WOW. 

Wow!

When will it end?  When will he have had enough? 

Not as soon as me, I can tell you that.  We never know with Aaron.

He wanted me to come and look at this scene again with him, the one he was watching right then.

Do I tell him that at this point, I have cruel and unsympathetic eyes?   So tempting………