Grizzly Tilley

Okay, so Ben's growing a beard again. He does this every winter under the delusion (one he willingly acknowledges) that facial hair will keep him warm. I try to tell him that that's what sweaters are for but it hardly dissuades him so I don't know why I even bother. It's not that I'm opposed to Ben having facial hair; I think he looks okay with a neatly trimmed beard. Unfortunately he isn't much into grooming the thing. At least not this year. He hasn't even trimmed it yet and he started it in November. He did let me trim his hair, though, so he doesn't quite look homeless, more like a slightly unkempt Amish man. You'd think he'd buy a clue when a friend at church compared him to the red-headed train engineer from the "Polar Express" movie. I've had to remind him not to twist his beard hairs because he always forgets when he's done it and with his little beard dreadlocks he looks slightly psycho. Especially if he runs his fingers through his hair, as it tends to stick up ala the Unabomber. He says he's going to shave the beard off in March. At that time I'll be required to shave his head as well, in preparation of summer (he says), but I know he just likes doing that for the shock value.

Well, it turns out I was a little wrong about Henry. I assumed that he'd forgotten about the Build-A-Bear bear, but he actually played with it some, which is saying something, as Henry's usually one to ignore stuffed animals and go for the toys that invite more violent play. As the photo demonstrates, Henry stripped Joe of his camouflage battle fatigues and employed him as a firefighter. He wouldn't deign to sleep with the bear that night, but instead made it comfortable in the closet with a pillow and blanket.

Henry has a habit of going "jungle," which is to say running around in nothing but underwear. I believe he was inspired by the "Jungle Book" cartoon. The other day Henry, in his jungle attire, donned his plastic knight armor from Halloween and announced that he was He-man. I suggested that He-man would be more comfortable in a t-shirt since it was winter and all, but Henry insisted that He-man had "naked muscles." That's one more thing I can thank Ben for: He-man. Ben and I had joked that we would brainwash Henry into liking the old toys that we had when we were kids to save money, etc., but sadly this has actually come to fruition. Ben's grandmother saved all of Ben's He-man toys, and now most of these have been passed on to Henry. Then Ben's mom gave Henry some of Ben's old books, three of which were all about He-man. Henry's fascination with He-man then skyrocketed and I was forced to read and reread the lame adventures He-man has as he battles the evil forces of Skeletor. To make matters worse, Ben's mom gave him a He-man DVD for Christmas. I have made it a house rule that Henry can only watch He-man with Daddy. That, and Transformers and G.I. Joe.

I was always annoyed when my mom would make fun of some of the TV shows I watched. For instance, once during an episode of Knight Rider when David Hasslehoff was fighting a bunch of black-clad ninjas, Mom commented on the unbelievability of the situation, but I was adamant that of course the Knight Rider could single handedly take on ninjas and there was no way that he would actually lose a fight. Now I find myself making sarcastic comments and rolling my eyes at the very cartoons I used to watch as a kid. I hope this means I'm not turning into my mom. Which means I probably am.