Entertainment

Entertainment is the umbrella under which to post those things which my son finds entertaining. Most of his pastimes have followed him for many years, another is new within the last few weeks. We are always grateful for the new ones as over time the replaying of the old can grate on the nerves of old folks!

Credit: Dennis Full. 2002 Lyons LP

My son has Down syndrome. One of his characteristics is a fascination for movies, music, and movies with music! As a youngster he would only watch movies if they also had music. That wasn't a problem as many Disney movies also have a musical score. He also loved Barney and we have quite the collection of the big purple dino and his friendly vocal friends. Problem was, there were only parts of each movie that interested him. He would rewind and replay those segments over and over again - until in self defense the tape would "disappear" and much to his dismay another one would be substituted.

The Beverly Hillbillies

As he got older he became interested is slap stick comedy. We purchased many of the old sitcoms for him to enjoy. His favorites were Friends, I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith Show, and especially The Beverly Hillbillies. He spent many hours sitting with his "shotgun" in the old rocking chair watching Jed, Granny, Jethro, Ellie Mae, and Pearl. In fact, each of us in the family became one of those characters. He was Jed as he had the gun, Dad was Jethro as he's our driver, I ,of course, was Granny as I'm the cook, Daughter #1 was Ellie Mae as she has her rabbits, and Daughter #2 was Pearl as she loves to dress up. This phase lasted a good year and we were all ready to move on when his interest in all things hillbilly ended.

Les Miserables, The Movie

A few years ago I found the video tape of the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Celebration. This interested me as my husband and I had seen the stage production done by the traveling troupe in the late 1980s. I brought it home thinking it would be fun to watch and relive the experience. Before we had the chance, my son took it to his room, and watching it, fell in love with the production. He now knows all the parts, sings along while mimicking the gestures of the actors, all the while waving homemade flags. Then, last fall, we learned there was to be "The Movie - Les Miserables"! We all could hardly wait for Christmas Day as our entire family had tickets to attend the first showing at our local theater! Daughter #2 had cautioned that there would be no singing along with the film, and so he sat enthralled, giving me a thumbs up and big grin throughout! With the release of the film on DVD, he now has his own copy to go along with his 10th and 25th Anniversary Editions of the Musical Play.

A&E Duck Dynasty

Within the last couple of weeks we have been introduced to Duck Dynasty. Daughter #1 and her husband have been fans for the last year and my husband just recently learned of the show through a friend. In discussing the premise and characters, we concluded this might be something to check out on the internet. Many thanks to A & E for airing the weekly segments the day after they air on cable. My son is now hooked, asking far too often to use my computer for his viewing pleasure! Thankfully, with his birthday arriving this week, he now owns the first two seasons of DD and can watch them without competing with me for computer time!

And, although I am reluctant to share my computer, as the indulgent parent that I am, today I'm making a beard for him to wear while he watches the show!