We dressed Calfgrit3 in some warm, loose-fitting pajamas with a button-up top. He looks real cute in those PJs. The next morning, he came out of his bedroom missing his shirt and socks. We figured he got too warm or something.

The next night, we put him back into those pajamas. The next morning, he’s out of his shirt and socks again. Okay. Calfgrit7 often doesn’t wear a shirt or socks to bed, so we figure CG3 is just copying his big brother. (CG7 is hot natured, and his sheets and blanket are enough for him at night.)

The next night, we put CG3 in different but similar pajamas. The next morning he comes out of his room in completely different and not similar pajamas. He’s wearing tight PJs with robots on them. We already know these are his favorite, but we’re just learning how favorite.

He’s never put on his pajamas all by himself. Usually, I or his momma help him by at least holding them up and open so he can step into or stick his arms into the clothes. But he not only put them on by himself that night, he did it in the dim glow of a nightlight.

We talked to him about his pajamas, and he says he doesn’t like the loose fitting ones, and he doesn’t like the button-up shirts for sleeping in. Okay, we can work with that.

Then yesterday, his momma put him down for a nap in the middle of the day, in his clothes, like always. When he came out of his room an hour and a half later, he was in his robot pajamas. Nice. He apparently got out of bed, took off his clothes, put on his favorite pajamas, and got back in bed to sleep. You gotta give the little guy credit: he knows what he likes, and he handles it himself.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Gary Gygax died yesterday. For those of you who don’t know the name, he was the co-creator of early Dungeons & Dragons, and the main driving force of the game for the first decade of it’s publication. Gygax and Dave Arneson created the initial concept of the game in the early 1970s (first published in 1974), but Gary wrote the majority of the game rules and books through about 1985. That work became the foundation for the whole role-playing game (RPG) genre and industry, including all the current computer RPGs like World of Warcraft. He was affectionately called the “Father of RPGs.”

He was a life-long gamer — a player of all kinds of games — and a prolific writer. He had a very creative mind, and from all I’ve ever read about him, was just a fun guy to sit at a table and roll dice with. He’s one of the very few celebrity-type people I’ve always wanted to meet, just to shake his hand and thank him for creating the hobby that excited me as a young teenager and entertained me into advanced adulthood.

He was 69 years old (35 at the first publication of D&D), and he was still playing and writing games right up till the end. I occasionally visit a D&D discussion forum where he participated, and his last post there was February 21, 2008. He even responded to some of my questions on that board (he responded to everyone’s questions).

Most everyone who knew of him knew he’d been having health problems through the last few years. And although we all realized, in the back of our minds, that he wouldn’t live forever, no long-time D&D gamer wanted to think about it. But now it’s happened. The father of our favorite pastime has moved up to the big game table in the sky. Salute, Gary — your works have given me decades of imaginative, fun times.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Calfgrit7 is joinin’ the Cub Scouts. He was unsure about the idea at first, but after we met the den boys at a bowling alley one Saturday a couple weeks ago, he started thinkin’ better ’bout it. He learned the Cub Scout sign, shake, salute, and motto immediately, and he’s proud to show ’em off when I ask him to perform for someone.

And then we went to the local Scout Shop to buy his uniform. I guess there’s somethin’ about a uniform that boys just love. He was very int’rested in everything in the store, and was excited to try on the shirt. I got ‘im the shirt, a hat, a belt, a neckerchief, and the patches he needs to start off. He was so happy with it all, he asked to take a picture of the stuff sittin’ on the sales counter. I handed him my camera-phone and you see the result.

His hesitance at our initial offer for him to join the Scouts had me worried he wouldn’t take to it. But his enthusiasm has grown. I was in Scouting as a young boy — Cub through Weblos — and I remember it as some fun with other boys. I don’t remember why I dropped out of the group, but I have a feelin’ it was prob’bly because it was too organized for me. I’m not big on organized clubs and such, and I can see this aspect of me in Calfgrit7. He and I both like “free time” to do our own thing.

Well, so long as he enjoys it and has fun in it, we’ll do Scouting. I’m glad we got him to try it, but if he decides it’s just not for him, we won’t push him in it.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com