a man and his 'dog and his remote

We recently went to the international festival held at Overature Center.  Elias really liked the theater performances but all the time between them he kept asking to go home.  As for cultural experiences, perhaps the most significant was actually his first (I think) American hot dog.  He's had hot dogs plenty of times, but never with the bun.  Handled it like a pro.

I taught Elias how to use the remote control on Saturday so that he could play the "bonus features" games on his Thomas DVD's.  Up until now Mommy has been the ultimate controller for the TV.  He must've spent 2 hours assigning numbers, colors, and names to his favorite engines.  He did have fun, and it did provide entertainment while I continued to try to recover from a really nasty flu, but that single-minded focus on the TV screen still bothers me.  It's not a very good remote, and I see he's already developed rituals to get it to work better, like waving it around in front of him before pushing the button.  He also got a little possessive of it--surely a taste of things to come.