Having just been released from the hospital and with who knows how much medication in his system, he wasn’t very responsive during the short time we had with him. You’ll notice in the video below that he seems pretty distant and tired.

Back in Macon, Trey recently asked me if Peepaw was dead yet. I replied with “No, did you think he was?” Trey replied with an observation that was impressive for his age, “No, but he’s really old and misses Grammaw. I think he wants to go to heaven.”

The big question is: who looks better?

…and yes, I get bonus points for the shag rug in my portrait.

Heidi’s best friend from high school came with her husband and son who is Trey’s age. Between the two of them, the Randall’s gang of boys, and all the other kids, there was plenty of entertainment.

We had a small scale fireworks show (that still amazed the boys) and by the time the ball dropped all of the kids had passed from exhaustion at various locations throughout the house. Trey managed to hold out the longest but our little Superman finally crashed on the couch.

Being the day before the holiday the park closed early so our self-guided tour was a bit rushed. We still got to walk out on the boardwalks to an island in Lake Maggiore and spot a pretty large alligator hanging out in the sun. On the walk back we spot a gopher tortoise lumbering about. Trey had just asked me about a sign telling visitors to not bother the endangered reptiles and I told him we probably wouldn’t see one since they are so rare. Seconds later… tada!

Trey got to sail with me and his granddad and then later he and Heidi took Kenny’s kayak out for a spin as well (video below). Trey’s newborn cousin also joined us but he stayed on solid ground for the afternoon simply enjoying the fine Florida weather.

We gave Trey the job of handing out the gifts – a job he does with great excitement. He was always either jumping over himself to help Peepaw and Philip unwrap their gifts or getting a head of things and looking for the next gift.

We also got to spent a lot of time with Atticus, the newest addition to the clan. Trey felt really special getting to hold the fragile little dude in his lap.

As usual, when the whole gang is around you have to document it with the annual group photos. Here they are:

Last month Trey and I passed it again and she’s still there! Her bra and wig have been updated but she’s still there staring off into the sunset.

I was still recovering from my knee surgery just 10 days prior but I managed pretty well. Between that slowing me down and some confusion on my part of the time change to CST, we ran a little short on time. We only made it to Debord Falls, the first of the two falls. It was still a lovely walk on a crisp Fall day and the two of us had a good time.

A little factoid about the park’s name. It isn’t that they ever found a frozen head there. It’s simply that the mountain peak in the center tends to show frost in the winter and old timers thought it looked like a frozen head.

Once we made our way past the sculptures to the shoreline, he immediately forgot about them and focused all his energy/attention on playing in the water.

* photos & video from November 2011

Here are some photos from her funeral service and interment.

Trey’s lines were both in regards to a Christmas tree at the center of the production’s plot:

“Maybe we can decorate it with Spiderman.”

“I don’t think that captures the modern spirit.”

During their weeks of rehearsals Trey’s teacher had told us they were having a hard time getting him to pay attention and participate. We tried to encourage (and discipline) him into better cooperation during practice. However, after Heidi and I saw the play, we determined he was just bored. Singing hasn’t been a big interest of his and the long periods of dialogue in the play where he had to just sit there had him pretty disinterested. I kind of feel bad now for giving him a hard time about not paying attention.

When you watch the singing below, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. He really doesn’t seem to thrilled about what’s going on around him and he’s in his own little world entertaining himself.

I was taking photos for the venue so we got some great seats right up front. Trey was a little skeptical when the first 20 minutes were all about princesses: Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, Pocahontas, and more. Once Buzz, Woody, and Jessie showed up they had won him over. The show just got better and better with a great Pinocchio act, a cool Mulan fight sequence, and Trey’s favorite – the Incredibles.

Here are some of my pictures from the show. You can see more on the Centreplex’s Facebook page.

Bolingbroke is a tiny little town just across the county line from Macon’s Bibb County. The parade always ends up having quite an eclectic mix of participants. The usual boyscouts, ROTC, and high school marching band is of course present. You also get costumed members of the 1800s Club, Confederate Civil War re-enactors, a local pet cemetery, and an assortment of local churches (including the white Mt. Zion Baptist Church and the black Mt. Zion Baptist Church – seriously).

The most confusing parade float was a UFO trailer that featured Santa, the Virgin Mary, and Baby Jesus… as aliens. Weird.

Batman and Spiderman were busy fighting crime (Lord, knows Macon needs those two) so the only male characters that showed up were Captain America (who Trey calls Macon Man) and Captain Jack Sparrow – oh, and Santa Claus. Trey was still very happy to meet them and didn’t object to having his photos with a few all of the princesses, though.

The other day when Trey went out before supper to shut the coop door he was surprised to find all four hens roosting right outside on the railing of the deck! It turned out that he had inadvertently shut the door in the afternoon. Unable to get into their home, they headed up on our deck to find a comfortable spot to sleep for the night.

With my family in town Trey and I slept down the road at my great-uncle Tommy’s house. They were out of town and graciously let us use their place. Trey and I had a great time playing shuffleboard in their basement and visiting his horses in the fields out back.

Over the last year Peepaw’s mental health has deteriorated significantly. He gets very confused about his whereabouts and who people are. That sometimes leads to him getting very frustrated. He scared Trey a little on our visit when he mistook him for an unwelcome stranger in his house and gruffly told him to “Get out of here.” Trey was just as confused but seems to accept our explanation that Peepaw is just old and gets “mixed up” sometimes. Trey mostly shrugs and says “He’s just being silly.”

At one point Trey was showing Peepaw a Lego toy when Peepaw took it and put it in his mouth having assumed it was candy. Trey just thought that was hilarious and ran excitedly to tell me about how silly Peepaw was acting.

I do find it a huge reflection on my grandfather’s true character that as the dementia sets in, he has never become violent or verbally abusive. He sometimes get agitated but hasn’t sworn at anyone or yelled. In fact, several times he has apologized profusely after getting frustrated or being curt with someone.

You’ll notice in the video that Peepaw mentions bringing Trey home with him even though he’s already at home. That’s the biggest issue with his dementia – he usually doesn’t recognize that he is in his own house and gets upset that no one will take him home.

It’s always a bit of a downer to visit her there, but this time she is staying at the best home in the area: Wood Village. The staff are friendly and attentive, the place is clean, and it just has a brighter, more uplifting atmosphere that some of the others she had temporary stays in.

Heidi was working the holiday so only Trey and I made the trip up. We visited her twice and both times she was in good spirits and her health seemed to be improving. We’re hoping to have her home by Christmas.

On this last visit, he bothered her a bit too much one day and she bit him. He came in crying but her teeth hadn’t even broken the skin. After a stern lecture about giving the cat some space we let him go back outside. What was he doing five minutes later? Carrying her around again. I guess she needs to bite him a bit harder next time to get her message across.

Yesterday I posted some images of Trey’s awesome Tygra costume. Here are some images of him at the festival playing around.

When I was growing up I LOVED Thundercats and now Trey is following in my footsteps. We’ve got the 1985 Season One episodes and Trey has been making his way through the vast collection.

You can’t exactly buy a Thundercats costume at Walmart, Target or Party City these days, so we had to go the DIY route. Heidi made Tygra’s whip out of yarn and some styrofoam balls we painted red. I made the Thundercats logo badge and we used some blue PJs that he is about to outgrow as the base of the outfit.

Unfortunately, Heidi was on call all day & night Sunday so I had to apply the face paint myself and take him to our church’s fall festival. I did my best with the red and yellow face paint we had. The final result ended up a bit more red than it should be. Even though it didn’t look spectacular, Trey thought it was the greatest thing ever!

Watch the video below and you’ll see the face painting process and Trey singing the “Fff-undercats” theme song.

Now once a week Trey spends an hour with a class of about six 5-6 year-old boys doing stretches, obstacle courses, rings, balance beams, trampoline jumping and more.

The big benefit is that it’s fun that keeps him active and attentive. Well… we’re working on the attentive part.

About as soon and we were inside with a free admission, Trey took the garb off. Oh well. We had  great time exploring the museum. He liked the large manta rays (that do back flips) and whale sharks the best. Once he had enough, we walked across the street to the Centennial Olympic Park. After running around on the playgrounds, Trey cooled off in the fountains. It was a great day spent with my little boy, my birthday present to myself.

When we left, each parent had a car full of exhausted children.

Jym loves masks more than I do and so of course he brought a set of Mexican lucha masks for Trey to wear. Trey loved them and gave them all names. His favorite (which Jym let him keep) was an orange one with a “T” on it. Trey insists the letter stands for the superhero he transforms into when he dons the mask: THUNDERMAN.

Trey and I took them up to some of our favorite spots around Juliette and we camped in the Oconee National Forest. While in the woods of the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge we helped Jym film a segment of a documentary series he’s been working on. I’ll post it when it comes out, it’s pretty sweet.

Luckily, with him we haven’t had the issue of confidence in the water. It’s actually OVER confidence that is the problem. He *thinks* he can swim when he really can’t.

“I can swim underwater. I just don’t swim on top,” is something he often says. Yea, Trey, that’s a big problem. You can breath on top, but not underwater.

His favorite part of the swim lesson is at the end when he gets to jump off the diving board. Video below after the photos.

A couple weeks ago we finally took him in. I had my teeth cleaned first so he could see how it was done and then he followed. The dental hygienist did a great job keeping him entertained and he didn’t whimper or complain once. He did think he was pretty cool since she let him hold the water sucker-upper-thingy.

So hear’s a shout out to Liipfert Dental, Macon, GA for doing a fantastic job with the kiddo!

That night Heidi was cutting Trey’s hair and he spent most of the time fascinated by the funny pages. We thought it was great moment to capture.

One of our vacation surprises for Trey was letting him break open an old box of Playmobile toys that I played with as a child. He loved the collection of soldiers and Indians from 1974 and played with it pretty much our entire week of vacation.

Trey was still thrilled with his new Legos and t-shirt and spent most of the time talking folks into playing with him and those toys. There was also a great moment where he started explaining his ideas about Star Wars (he has never actually seen the movies or any cartoons about them). He was showing off his lightsaber skills to Grammaw and she joined in on the sword swinging action from her wheel chair. I grabbed my camera and only caught the last bit of it on video.

The museum’s most impressive feature is EDDIE®, “the world’s largest child.” He’s a 40 foot tall (100ft if he were standing) and 17.5 ton statue that you can climb inside and explore his anatomy (see video below). On a sidenote, Heidi figured his BMI is 17.1 making him grossly underweight. He really needs to see a physician.

Here are some photos and videos of our fun at EdVenture. We can’t recommend this place enough to other parents. If you are in or near Columbia, South Carolina definitely check it out!

*Note: I did take a 1 hour nap in the car while Heidi continued to chase Trey around the museum

We decided to have him sit in the same place to recreate the old image this time as we strolled through downtown. When you see the two photos together it really sinks in how much our little boy has grown!