Mrs. Dadmanly told me some funny Little Manly stories tonight.

Little Manly has always enjoyed having his dinner on a tray while watching TV. Normally, we tolerate that habit because: we always spend A LOT of time with Little Manly, doing things together, talking; and it was usually one of the few moments in the day that the Mrs. and I can have time to talk to each other.

The other night, Mrs. Dadmanly didn't have have time and was running late and said to Little Manly at 7:10, "Sit down at the table, we are eating in here and let's get it over with." (Less extra preparation, less cleanup, less time overall.) As she describes it, "you would have thought I cut off his arm."

Another night he woke up at 3:00 a.m., wide awake, came in and started talking to his Mom. After a short conversation, Little Manly said, "How nice it [is] to have a conversation in the middle of the night, a mother son talk time."

Needless to say, Mom was thrilled. Of course, Little Manly fell directly to sleep and Mrs. Dadmanly was WIDE awake.

One of the rarest of occasions is when Mrs. Dadmanly can take a few minutes to herself. One of the nights, she takes a bubble bath, and that lasts for about 10 minutes. Little Manly, who no doubt noticed Mom's departure from his scene within a minute and has been looking for her, comes up to the door and says, "Mom, what are you doing in there?" Mom says, "Taking a bubble bath," and he quickly advises her, "That's great, good for you, Mom!"

Little Manly just turned 9 a while ago, and already answers more Jeopardy questions than the rest of us. This drives Pop Pop (Grandpa) crazy, as unfortunately Little Manly inherited my habit of jumping in on all the questions before anyone else has a chance to think about the answers.

That's all I have time for, for now. I was out at midnight visiting a new guard post we're assigned to check on two of our guys, and still have to get up early. (More on this tomorrow, I think I have a post percolating around upstairs.)