Chihuahua!

When I was in college and Alan was in early grade school, I got Mom a cocktail set for her birthday. She had wanted a good cocktail shaker, so I found some stirrers, strainers, and cocktail music CDs to go along with it.

Alan wanted in on the gift, so I put one of the two CDs in my Discman, and put the headphones on his head. As I laid on his bed, he stood next to it and started to dance and spin in circles. Intermittently he would yell, "Chihuahua!" I had no idea what was going on until I put the headphones on my ears.

He could almost always make me smile, even when he was older and darker. Of course as he got older and darker, he could also make me want to pull out all my hair and punch a wall.

The gift was a hit, except the CDs. Mom really didn't care for mambo.