in search of a flower

We did so much today! The Gallmans came down to do some work at the lake house today, and we met Ellen and Chloe in town at Ace Hardware to help load up some supplies to take down to Dave. We visited with them for a bit and watched the babies playing. They are beginning to learn to share, and I'm so proud that they were sweet about taking turns getting in and out of Dennis's Little Tikes car. They didn't let each other nap, however, as each insisted on being loud while the other was trying to get to sleep. When Dennis tried to fall asleep, Chloe walked around the room squealing happily and expressing her good mood as loud as she could. While Chloe was trying to sleep, Dennis (who gave up on trying to nap) discovered her xylophone in the toys she brought with her and proceeded to merrily bang out tunes. While I was proud that he has learned how to use the drumstick to bang on the xylophone, I could see where this kind of noise would be difficult to sleep through. We didn't stay too much longer after that.

Because Dennis and I are leaving in a few days on our big trip, we decided to have a little family adventure this weekend. By adventure, I mean that we made absolutely no plans. We got in the car and headed out with no real destination in mind. Looking at the map, we discovered that we live less than an hour away (theoretically) from the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge, and we had read that the Cahaba Lily was in full bloom right now. Having never seen a Cahaba Lily, we thought we should take a look. We had an atlas, and a GPS with low batteries, and we made a couple of seriously wrong turns on the little county roads that weren't well marked, but we eventually arrived at West Blocton (where we will not intentionally go again) and the refuge. Dennis was ready to get out of the car at this point, and we drove into the refuge until we found a pull-off that was located near the shoals. We could see lots of lilies blooming, and we took pictures and let Dennis walk around a bit. We pointed out the flowers to him, but I think he was less than enthused. As it turns out, the best way to see the lily up close involves a canoe. We have a canoe, but we also have a one year old. What kind of equation does that make? We figure that next year, Dennis will get a canoe tour during the lily festival.

After the Cahaba, we headed to Tuscaloosa for dinner (at Cracker Barrel, of course). Tonight, Dennis scribbled with a crayon on his kids' menu. I don't know if it's significant that he scribbled with his left hand. We put the crayon in his right hand after this, just out of curiosity, but all he did was transfer it to his left hand and then either to the paper or to his mouth. His grandma is left-handed, but David and I are not. It will be interesting to see find out which is his dominant hand!

After Tuscaloosa, we headed due north to Jasper, where are staying the night. Tomorrow is David's family's Decoration at the cemetery near here, and we thought it would be nice to spend a night. Not that Jasper is a fabulous center of cultural entertainment, but the Holiday Inn Express is quite nice, and we always like to enjoy some cable, high speed internet, and free breakfast. Tomorrow Dennis will get to see a number of his relatives, and we think that's important. My family never participated in anything like Decoration, so I am pretty new to the tradition, and it took me a long time to understand. For many people, this is the only time each year that the entire family and community are together, and they look forward to catching up with everyone every year. Dennis might be the newest Mitchell descendant, but I don't know that for sure.

Despite being stuck in the carseat a long time during Mommy and Daddy's Big Adventure Day, Dennis behaved very sweetly. There were a few times we had to resort to singing, like when he tossed his pacifier and we couldn't reach it, and he joined in the singing with us. I think he's starting to like the alphabet song even more that the itsy bitsy spider. Just for good measure, we sang a few rounds of happy birthday, and he joined in and then continued on when we were done. He liked the hotel room pretty well and explored it thoroughly when we arrived, but it wasn't too long before he was sacked out in his pod, and his Daddy was not too far behind him in falling asleep. And I am happy to report that I will soon be joining them! What a big day!

family matters

Dennis spent the majority of his day at his Grandma's house. His cousins Laine and Emily were there and all were waiting on the arrival of some relatives from North Carolina. Grandma fixed a big dinner for everyone, which Dennis certainly enjoyed. Hard to tell if his favorite was the sweet potatoes or the spice cake...

From what I hear, he played nicely with his cousins today before I got there. And he continued to play nicely after I got there, but I could tell he was exhausted. He didn't nap much today (too much going on for the little guy to get to sleep!), which is never good. He wasn't really whiny or anything, but he did get a little more upset than usual over the small things, like when Emily shoved him off the ride-on car and into a wall. Of course, I might have cried too in this situation...

He did "cook" us some dinner on the play kitchen set at Grandma's house, stirring a wooden pot with a wooden spoon and then banging all the kitchen implements together while "talking" on his cell phone. It's good to know he can multitask. He enjoyed chasing Laine around outside this evening while she collected dandelions, and he enjoyed getting kisses from all the relatives. The sweetest thing was when little Emily kissed him goodbye and he just smiled. She kissed him almost on the eyeball, but it was still sweet. Laine kissed him, too, as we were leaving, and he almost kissed her back. He has still not managed much in the kissing department, other than an open mouthed lick attack, so perhaps it's just as well that he only received kisses tonight instead of giving them.

The great aunt and uncle he saw tonight were relatives he had not seen in a year (when he was 2 months old!), but he wasn't a bit shy. He gave them all his best, smiling and talking and laughing. It's almost like he's a trained performer, but we couldn't have devised a way to train him to do this. I suppose he's just a friendly baby, at least at this time. We are learning that toddlers are unpredictable at best, and he's starting to have little bitty tantrums when we take too long to get the sippy cup or when we pick him up to get him out of trouble at a time when he is rather enjoying getting into trouble. I suppose we are in for somewhat of an awakening as he develops his own opinions about everything.

Mr. Independent

Dennis was very busy with his own agenda today. I had an eye appointment this morning, so I didn't spend any time with him until after lunch. I think he'd already written me off for the day, though, because he played pretty well independently of me. He'd come over to me every once in a while and smile, and then he'd go to the door and say "Daddy". Or he'd pull at the window blinds and say "Daddy'. See, he knew Daddy was right next door, working on the new screened porch at Grandma's lake house.

I did take him outside to see his Daddy, and this made him very happy. But it was hot and muggy, and Dennis and I don't much like hot and muggy, so we came back in. At this point, he started picking up random objects to use as 'telephones' to call his daddy. First he held the remote control up to his ear and had a conversation with Daddy, but he dropped it somewhere and instead picked up his tube of diaper ointment and called Daddy on that instead. He was so funny walking around with a yellow tube of Burt's Bees ointment held to his hear, chattering away to his Daddy. Mostly his conversation went like this:

"Dadeeeeee. Hey. Shoe. Shhhhhh. Bah. Gree. wababa en."

-pause-

"Koooo. Daddy. Car. Baahaaaa. Cold. Coe. Bye."

-pause-

"Hey dadadada Daddeeeeeeee."

Though I tried to play with him, I didn't get much interaction today. I did chase him around some and tell him I was going to get him. This cracks him up, and he runs from me when I do this, and when I catch him, I tickle him. He just howls with glee. We only played this game a few times before he was back in his Little Tikes car, driving himself over to the door to call out for Daddy again.

He didn't call for Daddy constantly all day, however. There were long periods of time where he just walked laps around the cabin, trying to get into the babyproof places. He tried all the cabinets again, put some more fingerprints on the new stove, tried the bathroom door, and went to the front door and opened it to bang on the storm door. He kept going into the room with his pod, so I presumed he needed a nap. But that nap was going to be on his terms and not mine, because whenever I tried to put him down, he didn't sleep long. He woke up and demanded freedom.

He played his own games today, scattering his menagerie of animals about, finding food particles he dropped earlier, driving or pushing his car around, and figuring out how to move the rocking chair so he could open the glass entertainment center door so that he could play with the tv receiver with the neat blue light on it. He didn't want my help playing, and he didn't want me to pick him up. So I basically observed all afternoon, occasionally naming whatever object he was interested in or holding onto at the time.

When Daddy came in for water breaks, I became completely unimportant. Daddy got the hugs and Daddy got him successfully down for a nap. I wonder if he misses the days he spent with just Daddy while Mommy was at work. Mommy hasn't worked in 2 weeks now, not at Walgreens anyway (I wouldn't say that what I've been doing hasn't been hard work), and he might be missing his guy time. I'm glad they spent the morning together. My one concern about our new arrangement was that I might be depriving the two of them from each other's company. Not so, since we've been accompanying Daddy to the job site this week and seeing him when he takes breaks. David is an incredibly wonderful father, and I am so glad that Dennis gets to be with him so much. I'm glad we're both around to watch Dennis grow through this incredibly cute and fun phase in his life.

first wheels

Funny how being a parent is making me do things I swore I'd never do. Like today, when I insisted that we purchase one of those awful brightly colored plastic Little Tikes cars for toddlers to ride in. It's not an electric car, it's one that he'll power with his feet (like Fred Flintstone). And it's just as hideous as I've always thought those things are, with its red body and yellow roof and headlight stickers.

Here's the thing. I have NEVER seen my child take to any toy the way he took to this car. All day long, he played with it. He saw a picture of it on the box as we brought it in, and he started talking to it. He was underfoot as we opened the box, and he did his best to help his Daddy put it together. He sat in the body before it had wheels and a roof. He walked around the house holding the steering wheel. He carried a tire around with him. He sat in the car after the back wheels were installed, before the front ones were on. He cried when I pulled him out so we could put the front wheels on. He got in it again when it had 3 wheels, and he didn't mind that he was essentially riding in a tripod. Again he cried when we had to pull him out of the car to put on the last wheel and install the steering wheel. And yet again when he pulled the steering wheel off in his hands and we had to flip the car over to see where we'd gone wrong. He climbed back in as soon as the car was righted, and we had to install the roof with him sitting in it. He cried when David got the drill and screwed in the 2 screws that held the roof on, but we reassured him that we were not hurting his car. He 'helped' us put on all the stickers.

All day long, he climbed into the car and he climbed out of the car and into the car and out of the car. He steered the heck out of the steering wheel. He bounced up and down in the seat. He honked the horn. He can roll it backwards, but not forwards yet (in fact, we joked that we bought a model that doesn't have a forward gear). When he wasn't in the car, he was pushing the car. He opened the door and closed it at least a hundred times. Sometimes he just sat in the car and looked out the windows. He climbed out of every opening. As a matter of fact, the only times he wasn't playing with the car were the times he was eating lunch or napping. He said "car" over and over again. He smiled the biggest smiles we've ever seen. And when his grandma came over to visit, he showed off his car operating skills to her, and he was so proud of himself. He's a happy baby all the time, but this car made him exponentially happier than usual.

So I don't hate the Little Tikes cars anymore. As a matter of fact, I'd recommend the tacky things to anyone with a toddler. It kept him busy for over 6 hours in a single day.

Incidentally, he tried out his sandbox for the first time tonight when we got home from the lake. He liked it very much (though it did not make nearly the impression that the car did), and he enjoyed feeling the sand, and kept picking it up to run it between his fingers. He played with all his sand toys for a while, then climbed out of the box and headed toward the house. He got a bath, then dinner, then bed. I'll bet he's dreaming about his car right now.

sleepy boy

Dennis spent most of his day recovering from his busy weekend. He slept almost 13 hours last night, and he wasn't awake more than an hour and a half this morning before he went in to get his pacifier and frog and brought them over to me and laid his head on my leg. I put him down for a nap, and he slept for an hour, and then I heard him talking, saying "up up". I went in and asked him if he'd like to get up, and he replied "up!" So I got him up, and set him down, and after a couple of tries, he got his footing, ran into the living room, and said "yaaaay".

He played independently today. I was so sore from all the water sports that I spent a good bit of today on the couch, so I was pleased that he was so happy to entertain himself. The nice thing about being at the lake house is that he can explore without getting into anything that will hurt him. We've pretty well baby-proofed the place. He played with Noah's ark a good bit, and he talked on his cell phones some, and he even held the tv remote up to his ear and talked to it like it was a phone. He took a LONG nap after his snack. He had been up a little less than 2 hours when he started falling a good bit and whining some. He walked into the room and pointed to his pod and started to climb in, so I fetched his pacifier and frog, and he was asleep before I closed the door. He slept close to two hours this time, and that's a long nap for him. I decided to go in and check on him after 2 hours, and he was just waking up when I walked in. He slept so soundly last night that we had to check on him this morning when he didn't wake up until after 9. He was just extra tired, we think.

He certainly was cute when he was awake, though. He helped me clean the cabin by dismantling everything I had straightened. He repeatedly pulled the dvds off the shelf and spread them around, and while I had my back turned, he unpacked his toy bag that I had just packed. And his newest fun trick is climbing into the refrigerator whenever it's open. He runs over to the fridge as soon as someone heads over there to open it, and then he steps up onto the bottom shelf and touches whatever he can reach. The first time he did this, he made off with a bottle of Dale's marinade, but we managed to extricate it from his grasp and wash his hands.

He's been saying things that sound like sentences. If we say a simple sentence, he'll babble the same number of syllables and what he says sounds remarkably like what we said. Tonight he repeated something that sounded an awful lot like "Thank you for dinner, Pop!" as we were leaving Shoney's and thanking Dad for buying our supper. And when he 'reads' his books, he babbles entire phrases. I love watching his language development. It's absolutely fascinating. We played a little bit with his Leap Pad today, letting him touch the pictures and seeing what noises things make. He really liked the one with pictures of babies. He liked pointing out the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. I would really like to get him a book of activities like snapping and zipping and buttoning, and I probably should have thought of ordering this before now, because that sounds like a nifty airplane diversion activity. I've already informed Dad that he will be carrying on a bag of toys! Just a little over a week left until we travel.

Memorial Day 2008

I always think about my papa on Memorial Day. He fought in and survived WWII, and though always a patriot, toward the end of his life he became more and more patriotic. He was a war hero, sure, but he was a true superhero to those of us who knew and loved him. He was the quintessential father figure, and he lived a moral and godly life example for his descendants to follow. I was always so proud to know him, and even prouder to be related to him. Values like the ones he had and lived are so scarce in today's world. He would have loved Dennis. And Dennis would have loved him as well. I'd like to think he can see Dennis from Heaven, and I hope to raise Dennis to be the kind of man he was.

We had a nice day with our friends today, playing on the water in our various vehicles. I actually got to drive my own Sea Doo for the first time ever today, and I love it. I did fall off, but I was right here at the dock, and I knew when I slowed down to dock that falling off was a big possibility. The water was so full of waves from passing boat traffic that I didn't really expect riding it to be so easy, and I know I'll enjoy it more when the water is calm. Dennis did not go out on the water today, but he did get IN the water. We donned our life jackets and floated around the dock here at the house. He liked splashing around, but he got tired pretty soon, and we brought in to take a nap. He napped a good bit today, and he went to bed early tonight. He was so tired out from all the playing and boating and swimming.

He slept with us this morning for about an hour, until he inserted his toes in my rear end during a complicated roll maneuver. Then we were all pretty awake. I discovered that his toenails really need trimming. (for the record, in case you were thinking it, nobody in bed was naked--we're not that kind of family. eww.)

This weekend's newest trick? Dropping things intentionally just to say "uh-oh". We know this because we watch him say "uh-oh" as he's throwing his cup to the floor. We can't get mad because his "uh-oh" is so darn cute! Also, he kept saying "duck" today, and it took me forever to figure out that he was seeing the ducks in the pattern on his bath towel. He said "cheese" when he wanted cheese today, and he got thirsty and said "juice?". It pleases him so much when he successfully communicates with us, and we're so proud when we understand what he says. We kept talking about how cute he is, and he walked around saying "cute" for several minutes. He's retaining so much! Every day he repeats what he knows and adds new words. He still knows what sounds the animals make. He still knows where Mommy's nose and eyes and teeth and mouth and ears are, and he can repeat all these words as well.

Something to think about: today he upended his Noah's ark and all the jumbled up animals onto the floor in one shaking motion. When we immediately looked down at the mess, the animals were all lined up two by two except for two animals that were still in the ark. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, and wouldn't have even looked if Allison hadn't pointed it out. Interesting, to say the least!

boat child

Two boat rides today! We're never sure how he'll feel about riding on the boat, and he gets really hot in his life jacket, so we were thrilled at what a good time he had today. He even kept his sunglasses and hat on for the majority of both rides! He did nap a little during each trip, but he's apparently gotten comfortable with the boat. The first time we went out, we passed him around between David, Allison, and me, and he fell hard asleep on Allison as soon as we decided to head back to dock and he slept all the way back.

Between boat rides, he napped and played happily. He was having some quiet time in his pod when Dave and Ellen and Chloe arrived. He wasn't asleep, and he wasn't crying to get out. He was just in there stretched out, talking to himself and playing with his frog. He smiled at us if we walked by the room he was in, but he never fussed. We got him out so that he could play with Chloe while we all got ready to go out on the water again. Our plan was to take the Sea Doo, Wave Runner, and pontoon boat all out together, but at first neither the boat or Sea Doo would crank. We gave it a minute and the boat turned on easily, but the Sea Doo never got going. We are charging up the battery to try again tomorrow. At any rate, we all had a turn on the Wave Runner. Dave and Ellen got on together, and they put Chloe in between them for a few minutes. She wasn't crazy about it, so they brought her back to the boat and took Dennis out. Dennis held on tight to Dave's life jacket for awhile, and then his little hand dropped, and they figured out that he had gone to sleep. They brought him back to the boat, and he stretched out on the seat and slept awhile, until we all decided to go swimming. We had wanted to swim all day, but with the boat traffic on the holiday weekend, the water was really rough. We found a spot where it was very smooth, dropped anchor, and jumped in. Dennis was so happy to be splashing about in his float suit. He held on to my life jacket or David's, depending on which one of us was holding him. He smiled and splashed and laughed, especially when the girls decided to practice mounting the wave runner from the water (in the even that one of us should fall off while riding, it would be nice to know if we could get back up). We were mostly successful, though comical, in our attempts. Thank goodness the cameras were back at home.

I wish I did have a picture of the way Dennis looked sitting on the back seat of the boat, dressed in his lifejacket, sunglasses, and hat. He was so incredibly cute! And he was so calm, we couldn't tell if he was awake for a large part of the time, and then he would wave and smile at someone.

He learned to say "Grandma" and "don't touch" today. I don't remember what we told him not to touch, though! He also said "Chloe" and, when Chloe was trying to ride his little car (he was already on it), he yelled something that we didn't quite understand, but he said it with real feeling. He was happy and sweet all day, and he said "boat" and "wheeeeee" while we were out on the water. We all had a great day playing, and it was made even more special watching him have such a great time.

Of special note: yesterday, at Gran's house, he reached up and turned a doorknob. Pretty soon it will be even harder to contain him! Also, Chloe got his pacifier and when we took it away from her, the pacifier part (the silicone knob that goes in the mouth) was missing. She may have eaten it. We know it'll turn up sooner or later, but we're hoping it won't turn up in a diaper. Luckily, we brought a spare pacifier! Even more luckily, Chloe appears to be just fine.

social Dennis

Our agenda was full again today. Dennis enjoyed playing in his room this morning while we were getting ready to leave the house. He had a nightmare last night and cried a good bit around 1:00 a.m., and after waiting several minutes to see if he'd go back to sleep, I had to go in and check on him. When I turned on the light, he grabbed his pacifier and inserted it but then sat there clutching his frog and whimpering. I felt bad for the little guy, so I brought him into our bed (I will never learn!). He went right to sleep, and did very well. He spent half the night plastered to my back and half plastered to David's side, but he slept until 7:30. He usually wakes up for a few minutes at this time and then goes back to sleep, but he discovered that he was in bed with Mommy and Daddy when his eyes opened, so then it was playtime! He climbed over us for a while, then we took him to his crib. He slept another hour and a half without even a whimper when we put him down.

Dennis accompanied us to the eye doctor today, and he enjoyed flirting with the opticians and trying to pull out the neat metal drawers where they store the contacts. He learned to say "eyes" while we were waiting the very short while before our appointments. We forgot to bring his stroller, so he sat in a shopping cart while we were there. We went to the walk-in vision center at Wal-Mart, and we both liked the optometrist very much. I have soft contact lenses now, and they are so much more comfortable than my hard lenses were! We spent an embarrassingly large amount of money on two exams, one pair of glasses, one order of contacts, and that's not all, because my lenses are trial lenses, and I go back in a week to actually place the order if I like them. It is nice to see, though, and when I caught a look at myself in the mirror with the new lenses in, I decided it was time to visit the makeup aisle, and that I was in serious need of eyebrow maintenance. Wow.

Today is Chloe's first birthday, and we had a very nice time at her party. It was the first time Dennis had been around 3 other children his age, and I am proud that he was mostly well behaved. We did discover that we might have to buy an Elmo, and possibly find one of those hideous plastic toy cars that kids ride in, that kind we've always hated. Chloe got a really cute pink and purple one for her birthday, and we had the hardest time keeping Dennis out of it. I don't think he'll be getting pink and purple, though, and I hope he won't be too disappointed. All the kids had a fit over Elmo, though. And Dennis was so cute walking around and saying "Ehmo" and "Elmo". Chloe has a really awesome ball pit/ball crawl, almost 4 feet by 4 feet, and all 4 toddlers were having the best time wallowing around in it. I think Dennis and Chloe are learning to be a little possessive over things, because Dennis tried to push Chloe out of her car when she climbed in and tried to push him out. And he was very excited about Elmo when he came out of the gift bag, and he ran over to investigate, much to Chloe's dismay. Ellen told him to please stay away from Elmo because she feared for anyone who got too close! He tried to sample every sippy cup at the party, and he played with all the toys. He watched closely, and when the other children were all distracted, he grabbed the toy rotary phone (remember those?) and ran like he had a treasure! For the most part, he was very sweet about sharing, and we're very glad.

He ate his fill of several good meals today, and he got to play and walk around a lot. We can't get him to sleep tonight, though, because he keeps waking up. Too much stimulation today? Maybe. He's playing sweetly with his Noah's ark set now and drinking some milk. He'll be sharing a room with us at the lake house tonight, so I hope he gets his rest. Tomorrow, we'll be riding on the boat some. He'll have a fun day, especially if he lets us get some rest tonight!

Dennis and the Busy Day

I kept Dennis busy all day today. First we had a brunch with Gran and Pop and Grandmother and Granddaddy at Cracker Barrel to with Gran farewell on her 3 week sojourn to Washington to see Dennis' cousins (and their parents). As always, Dennis loved his Cracker Barrel experience, and Gran answered our question about the weird head bobbing thing from yesterday. He's nodding. Duh. I don't know why I didn't pick up on that, but Mom said that she nodded yes a good bit around Dennis, and when she demonstrated, he began bobbing his head. So he's not head banging to his own internal rock band. He's just nodding his agreement and enjoyment of life. That sounds right.

After the meal he visited his Walgreens Fan Club when I went in to pick up my (gulp!) last paycheck. He also did some shopping. The first things he grabbed were 2 large bottles of tylenol caplets, and he walked around with one in each hand, shaking them vigorously. He got halfway to the front of the store before he was distracted by a display of pesticide sprays, at which point he tossed one then both bottles to the floor. He toured through the toys, stopping to scatter stuffed animals about in the aisle. He ended his wild run at the water guns. He found one that was taller than he is, and he pulled it out of the display. The rest of the water guns in the display started rolling out after it, and I picked up the carnage and scooped him up. We were about to leave the store and I decided I'd better go to the restroom. Naturally I had to take him in there with me, and he delighted in the echo in the room. Unfortunately, he chose this time to debut his new word: "poo". He yelled it over and over again, as loud as he could. Thank goodness we were the only ones in the bathroom, but he was so loud that I'm sure any customers shopping in the foot care/razor/deodorant section (located on the other side of the bathroom wall) could hear him. I didn't stop to see if anyone was there when we exited the restroom. I didn't really want to know!

I went to the bank and decided to go and put some gas in the car. When I arrived at Wal-Mart's gas station (usually much cheaper), I got out and noticed some metal stripping visible on my front driver's tire. Needless to say, we shopped for an hour while my car got a new pair of shoes. Dennis got a new pair as well. He picked out some sneakers, and I thought he could probably use some non-sandal footwear for our upcoming trip. He walked back and forth and back and forth in the aisle with them on, so I think they fit well. He didn't stand still long enough for me to mash his toes (I always hated when adults did that to me when trying on shoes as a kid!) and check the fit, but I think they're just fine. He would have shopped for shoes longer, but he discovered that someone had stashed a Reduced For Quick Sale Coconut Cake on the second-to-bottom-shelf in the shoe section, and try as I might to distract him, he kept going back to that cake, trying to extricate it from its shoebox prison. Yuck. Who knows how long it had been there. I guess this is why people buy their kids' shoes at Stride Rite or Buster Brown (are Buster Brown shoes still around even?). No cakes there.

We ate a late lunch, and then went to visit Allison at her place. Her apartment has a circular floor plan where the living room connects to a hallway that connects to the kitchen that opens to the dining room that opens to the living room, and Dennis treated this like the Talladega 500. He did dozens and dozens of laps, mostly in the same direction, and I began to fear that her carpet would show a wear track in it. She has a dachshund named Sadie (these dogs are well known for wearing a trail into their territory), and she and Dennis enjoyed playing together. He patted her, she licked him, she knocked him down and licked his belly, which cracked him up--all in all, they got along well. He started calling her name after we'd been there a few minutes. He'd say "Aydeeeeee" and when we left "Bye Aydeee". So cute!

Then it was time to come home, so that the cute little guy that hadn't napped all day could get some rest. He didn't last 5 minutes once he was loaded in his carseat to come home. He was OUT. He slept so hard that the pacifier fell out, and he continued sucking on nothing and didn't wake up until we got almost home. He woke for supper, which reminds me to mention the weird grunt/yell thing he's doing at some mealtimes now. We don't know if he's clearing his throat or yelling or grunting, and we give him a drink whenever he does it. Sometimes that stops him and sometimes it doesn't. It's bizarre.

Tonight he played in his ball pit (I have managed to locate 400 balls to add to the 50 that came with it). I paid $10 for the ball pit with screen tent around it, and I was thrilled at the bargain. Now I understand. Balls are $10 for a bag of 100. And the thing's not quite full yet, but every retailer everywhere is sold out of the darn balls. I found two bags at a toystore and two bags at Wal-Mart in Pelham, and found that 3 wal-marts were already sold out. When we added the two bags I found today to the two we found last night, he started crawling into the pit to play. He wiggled around in the balls, and burrowed down in the balls, and lay back spread-eagled. He loved it. He fought his way out and crawled back in a few times, laughing the whole time. We heard a gross diaper related noise and retrieved him from the ball pit because we don't want to wash 450 balls. He got a bath, a new diaper, a cup of water, and a goodnight kiss, and then he was down for the count. I can't believe he never got cranky. He was sweet all day, even with no nap. How long could he possibly be this sweet?

little headbanger

This morning, as Dennis was in his crib watching the Jungle Book, I assembled a large wooden sandbox and canopy. I began assembly in the house, and when it was time to install the vertical pieces, I carried the base outside, spread weed cloth under it, and finished installation. I was tying the canopy to the frame when I heard this child crying in the distance. I began speculating that I must have new neighbors with a small child, but I couldn't figure out who they were. I tied 2 more knots, and then realized that the crying child was mine. I rushed inside to find him angrily staring at his dvd player and crying loudly (the movie finished and he was bored). I gave him some reassurance, handed him some toys, and ran outside to finish up. I poured in 3 bags of sand and spread it around (3 bags is not enough--I had to buy more tonight) and quickly spread the cover over it since the cat was eyeing my new project with profound interest. When I went in to get Dennis, he was crying again and insisted on clinging to my leg as I changed clothes (not easy). So we didn't play in the sandbox today. I took him to have lunch with Gran and Pop to celebrate Gran's birthday. He said "happy birthday" to her, but not loudly, thank goodness. Our Mexican restaurant has a nasty tradition of singing to birthday victims and then liberally smearing whipped cream on their faces. Mom threatened us, so we kept her birthday on the down low. Not that Dennis paid us much attention at lunch--he flirted with every other person in the restaurant and we mostly saw the back of his head.

After lunch we ran errands with Gran, and the errands netted Dennis a new steering wheel toy, a much louder and more irritating one that the one he destroyed last night. He loves it. He played with it for more than 15 minutes before letting it slide to the floor of the van and saying "uh-oh." And when Pop joined us in the van, he (Pop) played with it for at least that long as well. Totally worth $6.00.

We had birthday dessert at Shoney's, a walnut brownie a la mode for each of us and a little bowl of soft serve vanilla for Dennis. I had to spend a few extra minutes with my Wii Fit tonight! And we managed a visit to the lake this afternoon, and Dennis enjoyed toddling around on the screened porch at Mom's place and the screened-porch-to-be at Becky's. He inspected the new stove plug that was installed at Mom's and I told him not to touch it because it was hot. For the rest of the visit, he would walk over to it and say "hot hot" and walk away.

I started my quest for interesting airplane diversion toys today, and I bought him a Leap Frog Little Touch pad (because I found a lot of cartridges and books for it on the clearance rack at Wal-Mart). Whenever he turns a page, it reads the story and invites him to touch the different things on the page and describes what they are. There are songs and rhymes to go along with the basic story. We put the batteries in it and turned him loose with it in his carseat, and we heard vigorous page flipping for several minutes, but no story being read. I will have to show him how it works, but he should enjoy it because he loves to point to things in books and have me tell him what they are. The pages are guaranteed to be baby proof, and so far so good, but it looked like someone had ironed wrinkles into the pages of the book--they've since flattened back out. At any rate, he enjoyed flipping the pages until we heard him drop it and say "uh-oh."

Tonight after dinner, when we were leaving, the hostess in the restaurant asked us if Dennis could walk. We set him down, and he ran around the room. Everyone tells us he looks too little to be able to walk and they are always amazed when they see those powerful little legs churning. He's quicker every day!

Important new skill today: gargling. We didn't teach him this. He tried it with milk, and when he was finished gargling it noisily, he spit it out all over his shirt and carseat straps. Very gross. He, of course, thought it was hysterical and laughed accordingly. He can now tell you what the cow says ("mmmmmm") and what the sheep says ("bah"). He said "shoe" a lot today and kept grabbing his shoes as he did it. He started doing a weird thing today. He bobs his head a lot. He looks like a little head banger. Not sure why he's doing it, but several of the times I noticed it, he was doing it in response to music. Sometimes there was no music. He also likes to look up and then whip his head straight down. I guess he's just learning how his head works, and how things look when he moves certain ways. It's cute, but weird. Maybe he's a rock star in his mind.

the sweetest words

Dennis slept pretty late this morning. We heard a little peep around 7:15-ish, but he turned on his music box and put himself back to sleep. He didn't make his main appearance until after 9:00, when he heralded us (well, David, who went in there to get him) with serious crying and an even more serious stinky diaper. He played happily in his room after a diaper change, walking around and drinking his milk with the cup held to the side of his mouth.

Poor little guy was stuck running errands with us this morning, down to the lake to get the trailer of construction debris, to Whataburger for breakfast (he'd have been happy about this stop if he'd been awake at the time, but he did very much enjoy his biscuit), to Wal-Mart so Mommy could get the new Wii Fit game that came out today, back home to load more junk in the trailer(where he woke up and ate his biscuit), to the gas station, to the landfill, and to Lowe's. He was tired of being in the car, and I had to hand him non-toy objects after he tired of watching Sesame Street podcasts on David's ipod (well, when my arm got tired of holding up the ipod for him to watch). The items of greatest enjoyment and diversion? A flashlight and a half empty bottle of lemonade. And we actually spend money on toys! Go figure.

He had fun in Lowe's for the most part, but he got tired of being there as well. He was confined to the shopping cart for long periods of time, and he wanted to be walking around examining things. I did give him free run in a couple of 5 to 10 minute periods, and he enjoyed touching power tools and pulling on the cabinet knob displays, trying to climb up knob by knob. He touched every bottle of window cleaner on a low shelf, then ran and grabbed a clear plastic container that held wooden biscuit joiners. This he liked very much, because he could shake the heck out if it and the resulting noise level was high enough in decibels to please his little ears. When he saw the tubes of industrial glue, the biscuit joiner box got tossed to the floor, and suddenly he was off running with the glue. He saw a display of home improvement magazines next, and the glue was also tossed aside. I scooped him up before he got to destroy any magazines. He loudly proclaimed his protest at having his shopping interrupted, so I walked him over to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, where he consumed 2 chicken nuggets and an entire kid-sized fruit bowl! HE ATE FRUIT!!! He didn't spit out the mandarin orange slices this time, even though they have such a weird slimy texture. He ate strawberries and apple pieces and pineapples and grapes and orange slices. I'm so proud.

He seems to be grasping the concept of coming and going now. Tonight, David went to the door to let the dog in, and Dennis saw him opening the door. He yelled out "bye bye". When Honey came in, David closed the door, and Dennis looked up and said "hey!".

He had a nice time walking around in our yard today, rearranging the cat's bowls and nearly sampling some Purina Cat Chow. He followed Honey around outside for a while and then turned his attention to Marzipan (the cat), who is fortunately as patient as the dog when it comes to Dennis's affectionate gestures. Tonight while David was getting dinner ready (and Mommy was unwinding a little), he did a new thing. He played happily in his crib with his steering wheel toy. He is never happy in the crib when awake, but we needed him to stay out of trouble and it's time for him to start learning to entertain himself. I heard sirens and honking and motor revving and beeping and different characters talking, and then I heard a very loud crash, followed by a little voice saying "uh-ohhhh". (he's mastered the concept of uh-oh as well, starting this morning when he said it every time he dropped his pacifier) So we need a new steering wheel toy with no sharp broken edges on it. And maybe we need to put a soft pillow down in the toy toss zone. His toys are no match for a bamboo floor. I have decided to put a large pillow there anyway, because I heard this rumor that children not much older than him begin attempting to climb out of their cribs. I have a big rectangular dog bed that would take up the entire space. It's unused, even, because our dog has her own futon and doesn't see the need to lower herself to sleep on the floor. Not that any of the creatures living in this house are spoiled at all...

We told him we loved him as we were getting him ready for bed, and he said "ah uvv ooo". Clearly this means "I love you". We just melted. Could he be any sweeter?

sheared

It's been happening more and more lately. Someone passes by and notices Dennis and tells us "She's so beautiful". He is always dressed in boy clothes, but still they make the mistake of assuming that he's a girl because he is such a beautiful child. Yes, he has long eyelashes, and yes, his hair curls at the ends, but he never wears pink or purple, and his baby accessories (stroller, diaper bag, shoes) are all boy colors. So Dennis got his first haircut today. He was sporting a rather cute baby mullet before, but it was time to give him a little trim to preserve his gender identity.

Gran and I did the deed, and it was a sudden decision. I suggested at 2:15 that maybe we should cut his hair today, and by 3:15, those straggly baby curls on the back of his neck were tucked into an envelope to go in his baby book. We decided that strapping him in the high chair was the safest bet, but he knew something was up when no food was forthcoming. He regarded the scissors with serious interest. I'm sure he was thinking of how to get them away from us so he could run with them. Gran began combing his hair, which made him giggle, and then we took some pictures of us holding the scissors near his hair. When we began to actually cut, he whipped his head around to see what in the world we were doing. He kept whipping his head from side to side, looking to see where we were going with those scissors. I made the first cut, and it was a sloppy one that took a good bit more off over his ears than I intended to. This made me pretty nervous, so I turned the scissors back over to the expert (Gran, not Dennis) to even out what I had done. She declared that he needed a distraction, so I searched around and found some maraschino cherries in her refrigerator. Turns out that Dennis loves cherries, and he was so enthralled with tasting the cherry and then taking it out and looking at it and then tasting it again, slobbering red sticky juice all over his bare chest and shorts and legs and high chair. It was just the distraction we needed, and we'd finished the haircut before he'd finished the second cherry.

I was concerned about the cuteness factor. He was so cute with his long shaggy hair in the back (still thin on top!) that I worried that I might be taking away one of his cutest features. That wasn't the case. He looks so much better with his hair trimmed, so much like a little boy! It's neater not being so straggly, and the hair on the back of his head is still soft, and there's still plenty of it. I needn't have worried. He is doubly cute now, almost disgustingly so. Everywhere we went this evening, people noticed him and he gave them a real show.

He's discovered how to really work his cuteness. He spies an unwitting stranger and says "hey" loud enough so that they can't help but notice him. He gives them the big blue eyed stare followed by a lift of his eyebrow, a slight ducking of his head, all followed with a big wattage smile. He practically bats his eyelashes. It works every time. People tell him how cute he is, and he laughs and smiles at them, looks away, then repeats the routine. He is irresistible and he knows it. We are not immune to it ourselves!

Today he said "cold" and "toes" and "shop" and finally (after much prompting) "shopping". He correctly identified Mommy's nose, mouth, ear, and eyes by jabbing his chubby little finger on my face near the appropriate part. He's learning about his fingers and toes. Just after Janet left today he said "bye, Gigi" very clearly. He tossed his pacifier earlier, and his daddy asked him, "Where did your pacifier go?". He replied with something that sounded exactly like "on the floor".

Tonight at dinner, a chair slid and he toppled down onto a very hard floor, and we panicked. Everyone around us did, too. He's fine, actually, and he didn't get a red mark or knot or bruise on his head. He hit butt first, but his head hit the floor afterward. He cried pretty hard for about 2 minutes, but then he was ok. There are no lasting effects except one very scared Mommy. I was so afraid that he was hurt, then I was afraid he'd damaged some part of his very brilliant brain, but he identified all those parts of my face after the fall so I am reassured. Except now I think of how fragile life is, and how fast accidents happen, and it pains me that I will not be able to always keep him from getting hurt. I will certainly do my very absolute best, but there will be falls and bumps and topples and bruises and skinned knees. It's all part of growing up. And maybe that's why it's so hard on me. He's really growing up.

happy place

Dennis got to go to the lake houses today, and he was excited because he hadn't been in several days. He is always so happy to be at the lake. He was glad to see his Little People farm again and played with it for a long time. If you ask him what a cow says now, he says "mmmmmmm", which is pretty close to moo if you ask me. And he can say "sheep" and "horse" and "pig" and "cow" now. If you ask him what the farmer says, he says "hey". Pretty cute.

He walked around and around and around at his Grandma's lake place--she had totally redecorated and moved the furniture around since he was there before. I think he was trying to get his bearings. It was familiar to him, but very different than he was accustomed to. He appreciated the echo from the new floor sans carpet. He likes a good echo; it brings out the yell in him.

I think he would have eaten every morsel of food in both houses if we had given him the opportunity, and if he could have done it before he was tired of being trapped in his high chair. Lisa and Robert came to visit with mucho cajun food from the restaurant (Dennis liked the pork the best, but he also ate the bread, black-eyed peas, and mashed potatoes). And Janet (Gigi) came to visit as well, so Gran brought down barbecue and baked beans. Dennis ate more pork and some beans, and when Gigi presented Gran with a Chocolate Tortuga Rum Cake for her birthday, I thought Dennis would topple his chair in his quest to reach for some of that cake. Of course I let him taste a couple of crumbs of it. Couldn't let him eat as much as he wanted to because, hey, it was a rum cake. He's only one. Twenty more years and we can renegotiate.

Of note: we sang Happy Birthday to Mom (Gran) as she opened and cut the cake, and when we finished singing, we heard Dennis still singing "Happy Birthday to you". I hope he remembers how for Chloe's birthday party coming up very soon. I would say how soon, but Chloe's mom reads this blog, and she knows how soon it is, and she's probably stressed to the max getting ready for it, so I won't add to her stress level. I was pretty stressed about Dennis's first, but I conveniently got the flu the week before and absolutely could do nothing in preparation. Turned out fine anyway, but only because we didn't have it at our house!

Everyone exclaims over how smart a baby he is. Naturally I want to think so as well, but I haven't been around many 14-month-olds so I can't say whether he's more advanced or not. I just know that he amazes me every day, and I couldn't be prouder of him. I was proud of him when he was a champion spit-bubble producer in the early weeks of his life. I was enchanted by the dozens of silly expressions his tiny little infant face could go through in two minutes. Even if he calls a pig a dog instead, I still think he's brilliant. They both have four legs and eat a lot, don't they? I rest my case.

there's no place like home

Yay. We're back home! Dennis didn't have too many meltdowns in the car today (just 1 really), and he didn't really lose it until we were just 15 minutes from home. For the last 40 minutes of the trip, though, I had to pull out all the pacifiers, a book, a car, an entire bag of blocks, and his big yellow smiley face ball, and most of this worked for a few minutes until he tossed each item and screeched. What lasted the longest was Gran's nearly empty water bottle, which he played with for quite a while, turning it around and around in his little hands and shaking it for all he was worth. It's always the forbidden items that work the best.

He was thrilled to wake up in his pea pod and discover me sleeping on a mattress on the floor right beside him. I unzipped his tent and he crawled out and onto my bed, where he noticed that is was a bit springy. I guess you could say today was his first attempt at jumping on the bed--he bounced up and down standing up, laughing before he toppled over onto the mattress. He enjoyed the hotel suite, and he loved walking up and down the 'hallway' between the living room (where he and I slept) and the bathroom and Gran's room. This morning he got to try some of the leftover barbecue from the Memphis in May festival, and he and Gran loved it. He also ate yogurt (and said yogurt) and a banana, all while walking back and forth between me and his Gran for each of us to give him a bite of something. His portable high chair had a bit of an accident resulting in the tray snapping off, but Handyman Steve was able to fix it right up, and we retrieved it when we stopped by to see them before the drive home. Dennis was so ready for his nap by the time we got ready to leave that he was falling over himself.

We stopped off on the Natchez Trace Parkway, because we crossed it and had never driven on it before. We had no maps or info, but a minute or so after we got on the road, we saw a sign for Buzzard Roost Spring. Of course we had to stop! It was a beautiful, dark, woodsy water hole with moss all around. We walked down to it and let Dennis put his toes in the water. He liked the feel of the tiny river stones under his feet, and he kept stepping little steps to move his feet up and down in the water. We only stayed a few minutes and, sadly enough, didn't see any buzzards roosting there.

I had the worst time trying to stay awake on the ride today. Fortunately I wasn't driving. I was the mobile Dennis entertainer. We made a Wal-Mart run somewhere in North Alabama (Moulton maybe) to try to wake me up by walking around and looking at stuff. It helped amuse Dennis as well. He smiled at everyone there, much as he did at lunch at Shoney's. At Shoney's he said "pork" and attempted to say "peach cobbler", ate without spilling much on himself, and when we weren't paying close enough attention to him, goosed the waitress bending over at the table behind him. He also perfected his technique of drinking through his sippy cup while it was held to the side of his mouth (his great Granny hates this when adults do it).

I am thrilled that we had such a nice trip and Dennis did so well on his long confinement in the car. I have hope for the long flight coming up. I plan to have an entire bag of new toys that he can reach into the bag and pull out. Some of the things will be items that he likes (water bottles, papers, napkins, maybe a roll of toilet paper...) that aren't toys.

I returned home to a Guitar Hero. David played some Nintendo Wii while we were away, and he's conquered the game on the easy level. Pretty neat. The game makes me dizzy, so I suppose I'm a Guitar Wuss. But that's ok. It's good that he had a fun weekend as well, because Dennis and I sure had a great one. And it's wonderful that we're home in bed!

walking in Memphis

We are all having a fabulous time in Memphis! Today Dennis shopped with the girls and scored a new Little People playset (woodland something--it has a Robin Hood type character and a treehouse with catapult). He ate a fabulous lunch at Abbay's (home cooking/fast food that was really very good) and shopped more and then we all headed back to Steve's and Julia's for a while. He enjoyed a brownie and 'helped' Steve rake the yard and get it ready for grass seed. He played with the rake for a good while before coming inside to play with his new toys.

The word list has expanded again. Now we can add: cutie patootie, hot tea, precious, corn dog, cold, car door, cup, pig, and Charity. He's decided he can say any word he wants to now, and it's fun to watch him wrap his mouth around the new combinations of sounds and syllables.

Tonight, Dennis enjoyed a nice supper with Gran and Monte at O'Charley's and then a fun bath back at the hotel room before bed. He apparently performed a floor show at the restaurant, yelling a loud conversation to the little kid at the table behind him. Gran was nice enough to give him a bath, and he was so excited that he tried to climb in the tub a few times before the bath was ready. Mommy went out with a friend from high school (Charity) and joined Steve and Julia at the Memphis in May Barbecue festival. The food was incredible, the size of the event was unbelievable! We enjoyed the eating and the walking around to check out the booths. After we ate our fill and visited and saw everything, Charity and I headed out to tour downtown. We rode the trolley to Earnestine and Hazel's where we enjoyed some incredible music from the jukebox, blues and motown (see link at right), then rode the trolley back to where we started and walked up and down Beale Street, taking in the sights. Charity gave a great tour on our way to the barbecue, showing me the stadium and the museum and the park and Sun Studios (where Elvis recorded his first record). I experienced a tiny bit of the flavor of Memphis today, and I had a wonderful time. I can't wait to bring Dennis back to visit the Children's Museum and to ride the trolley.

Now he's sleeping quietly in his Pea Pod while I type, and soon I will be stretched out on the sofa-bed mattress (on the floor for more comfort) next to his pod, slumbering before it's time to return to real life tomorrow. Real life's going to be bit different as I settle into the routine of my new job. My new boss is less than two and a half feet tall, only has 12 teeth, and is 31 years younger than me! I can't wait!

on the road again

Greetings from near Memphis! We traveled here today to be with cousins, and we had a very nice road trip because there was a comedian sitting in the backseat, laughing and 'telling jokes' from his carseat. He was in a great mood this morning, talking nonstop and laughing hilariously at something as yet unidentified. Very fun. He napped for an hour along the way and spent the rest of the time observing the scenery and making commentary about it. Didn't even have to get out the portable dvd!

His vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds today. He said "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "cat" and "dog" and "Steve" and "Ju-Ju" (the cousins' names). He pointed to a tree and said "tree". He also said "stop" and "pop" and "thank you" and "hey" and "ball". But the big surprise was his singing the itsy bitsy spider along with us. He sang the first phrase and then sang some other words along with us earlier today. Tonight, when we were all in the car together, we sang "the itsy bitsy spider..." and stopped, waiting for him to repeat after us when instead he sang by himself "crawled up the... spout". Of course we praised him like crazy, and he was delighted with himself and his singing ability. I'm impressed that he remembered the next line of the song when we hadn't sung it for hours.

He was so social today, talking and smiling and laughing constantly. He made friends at the catfish restaurant where we ate a fabulous supper. He chattered and gurgled and rolled his 'r's (Mommy cannot do this) and said all sorts of words on the way back from supper, some of them recognizable, some of them not so much. This is one of the most fun days I've ever had with him, just because he was so incredibly happy all day. If only they could all be days like this!

Picture Day

Today we had his pictures made at Portrait Innovations. He was so cooperative! He was smiley and happy and posed up a storm. The entire picture taking session took about 25 minutes, even with a clothing change. The pictures are gorgeous, of course.

His throwing arm is getting better. We put the gate across the door of his room, and when I walked out into the hall a couple of minutes later, a number of toys had been tossed to freedom over the gate. He rattled a toy across the gate bars, too, and I could just imagine his baby voice saying "Attica Attica". He didn't cry about the gate this morning, so that's progress.

He shopped at Circuit City today, and he picked out some nice batteries. He grabbed the expensive pack of rechargeables off the shelf and tossed them to the floor. He thought they were lonely, though, so he tossed some regular alkalines down there to join them just for good measure.

Dennis had a nice visit with his Aunt Lisa today at the Cajun place, and all 3 of us got a wonderful meal there. And then we went shopping at Toys 'R Us, and he picked out some more Little People animals to go on his ark with Paul. He really wanted a power wheels jeep, some very souped up edition that cost over $400. He gave it a thorough check, spinning the wheels and tapping the body, and he whined when we took him away from it. He saw all the Little People sets and let us know what he likes, for future birthday and Christmas ideas.

Tonight he visited his grandmothers and watched them make a big deal over his new pictures. He enjoyed the attention, and he really enjoyed walking through the house to find Pop while Gran looked at the pictures. At his Grandma's house, he found his toy stash and began busily spreading them throughout her downstairs area. It was a busy day for Dennis.

take a hike

Dennis is HEAVY. In preparation for an upcoming trip involving a hike where I will have to wear him on my back, I loaded him into our backpack child carrier this morning and took him for a walk. I have backpacked him before, but this was several months and several pounds ago. We've both gained since then! He took to sitting in the backpack very well, but when I set out on the walk, he insisted on leaning to the left for the entire walk. I think he was doing this to see around my head a little better, but he was up pretty high on my back, and I think the amount of leaning he was doing was unnecessary. My spine is curved now. When I got back to the house, David helped me get him down from my back, and suddenly it felt as if I could fly. My back and shoulders felt unattached to the rest of my body, like they could float away. If this morning's mile was any indication, I need to practice a little more in the next 3 weeks. Dennis very much enjoyed our walk and played with any leaves that were in his reach. He looked around at all the scenery, identified that he heard the birds, said "flower" when I pointed out some weed flowers along the roadside. He talked nonstop for the entire mile and I enjoyed every syllable.

Today was my last day at work, and I was a little sad to say goodbye. But I apparently missed some extreme Dennis cuteness tonight, and I'm glad that there won't be a reason for me to miss it any more. Mom and Dad (Gran and Pop) watched him tonight, and they reported that he was doing all kinds of new things they hadn't seen before, and that he made declarations all evening. Tonight he demonstrated that he knows how to make the rain come down to wash the Itsy Bitsy Spider out (cute hand motion not popular with straight guys over the age of 8 or so). I heard that he said many different words today, and he told his Gran and Pop all about Paul's ark. They asked him where Noah was, and he retrieved Noah from the ark, held him up and said "Paul".

Dennis made some friends at dinner, chatting with the other diners at Zaxby's throughout his meal. And he snuggled some with Gran tonight. The best thing, though: I stopped by their house to pick him up, and the smile I got when he saw me was luminous. It could have been a smile for the cookie bit I popped into his mouth when he got out of his baby pod tent, or it could have been a smile for Mommy. I choose to think the latter.

growing pains

Tomorrow, Dennis will be 14 months old, and though people told me how quickly the time would pass, I had no idea how correct they'd be. I barely remember the tiny little 7 lb. 7 oz. baby he was, the one who was cute from day one, the one who was so sweet and made all those funny faces and noises. Luckily, I have hundreds and hundreds of photos and some video clips of all that to remind me. Today when I was holding him, I studied the curve of his cheek and the soft roundness of his baby face, and I knew that I wanted to remember him that way forever. Just yesterday I looked into his face and saw that it was beginning to change, and that my baby boy was beginning to grow up. While I will miss so much the way he was and the way he is now, I can't wait to see what he'll be like in the months to come. Will he always be fun-loving and ready to smile and laugh, always ready to make us laugh? Will he keep his same loving, sweet personality? What will his first sentence be? I can't wait to find out.

I worked again today, so our time together was limited. We did share our lunch today. I was eating barbecue, and David was slicing cheese to send with me for a snack at work. We were at opposite ends of the lake house, and Dennis walked back and forth between us like we were his all-you-can-eat buffet servers. He'd take a bite of barbecue from me and then walk over to his Daddy and get a bite of cheese and then back to me and back to him. He probably burned off all the calories in his lunch just walking back and forth to eat it!

Tomorrow is my last day at my job. After that, Dennis will be my job for a while. I'm thrilled and terrified about it. I'm thrilled that I will get to spend my days with him. I'm terrified that I will not be as good at parenting him as David is. David is a wonderful father, and he seems to have nearly endless patience where Dennis is concerned. I am not known for my endless patience. What if I forget to teach him something important, like his colors, or his manners, or whatever? David will, for the time being, still get to see him a good bit, and I hope I can learn a few of his tricks. I have been with Dennis 4 entire days per week up til now, and small portions of the other 3 days, but after I have worked for several days in a row, I feel like I have to relearn how to be a parent. The two jobs require much different sets of skills! It takes me all of my off days to get into a comfortable parenting routine, and then it's time to return to work. I am looking forward to not having a bit of an identity crisis every week when I get off work and a crying spell when it's time to go back to work, though. That has been tough.

So, what will we do every day? Just being able to ask that question is incredible! I hope we have lots of fun exploring together in the coming months.

Paul's Ark

I left Dennis and David both sleeping this morning, as I left the house at 5:40 am. No one should be awake at this time! I said goodbye to both of them, and David mumbled something that ended in goodbye. Dennis just said "wooo"'. Neither woke up.

I didn't spend much time with him, but he did tell me about his day on the phone. I couldn't possibly repeat what all he said, but he giggled a good bit when he was telling me about it. There were a lot of "ish" syllables along with the usual "baaa" and "bay" and "daa" ones. We were working on our words tonight, and he said "Pop" very clearly, and I asked him to say Gran, and he said "g-errr".

Supper tonight was a picnic in Dennis's room. He's made a hundred or so new friends in the kitchen--the ants have found his stash of food left in the high chair. We exterminated and washed the chair cover/cushion. So we ate in his room and carefully monitored the crumb tossing. I had summer sausage and cheese, better known as "hot daaw" and "cheeeeeez", and he wanted to sample that to go along with his chicken and vegetables. YES! He ate vegetables!!!!

We played with the ark playset again tonight, and he kept grabbing Noah. Noah went on several exciting adventures in Dennis's room this evening, not the least of which was having his head in Dennis's mouth. I kept telling him that the character's name was Noah, to which he repeatedly answered "Pawl". I'd say Noah, he'd say Paul. I can see we need to get our testaments straight!

Of note: we are reading in our toddler instruction manual what to expect this month, and there are several paragraphs noting the following: bowleggedness in toddlers at this age is common and not a cause for concern; ditto for flat feet. The book mentions that toddler feet only appear flat because they have so much fat that the arch is disguised (I can think of several cases where this applies to my own body, ha ha). I think that he isn't bowlegged. His thighs are just so big that he has to walk that way to keep them from rubbing together and starting a fire. He's got typical plump baby thighs, and I know that any moment he'll be getting a growth spurt and he won't be a cute little round guy anymore, so I treasure his cuddly softness while I can. He gives hugs readily now, and I even got some kisses tonight. I can tell that we're going to have to have a talk about French kissing, though, and how it's not appropriate to lick your mom once you are past the age of 2. I wonder if baby drool is good for the complexion. Doesn't matter. If his kisses break out (or mildew) my skin, I don't even care. Totally worth it.

Happy Mother's Day

It was a very happy Mother's Day. Dennis was so sweet in church this morning. He demolished the red carnations that Gran and I were given at the door. First he ripped the heads off, then he tore some petals out, and then he broke the stems into many pieces. But he didn't cry or carry on or even fidget much. He was very happy for the whole service.

We ate Mexican food for lunch, and Dennis didn't want anything. He was so sleepy that he barely made it through the meal. He fell asleep immediately after I put him in the carseat. Brought him home and carried him directly to his crib, and he didn't even wake up when I pulled his shoes and socks off. He had a nice nap, and then we went to meet the grandmothers for a swim. He floated around in his baby float, played with his boats, splashed us all, and even went down the slide. David was stationed at the foot of the slide and caught Dennis and splashed him down in the water like he had slid down into the water himself, just like he had watched us do. He squealed and laughed in delight. We had supper afterward, and he smeared his banana all over my right side. After supper, we took him to the park to swing and slide and walk, and he had a great time. When he was walking, David told him to be careful because the ground was uneven, and Dennis said (twice) "careful". He violated a diaper there at the park, and we took him back to the car for a change, at which point we had the following conversation:

"Dennis, did you dirty your diaper?"

"Hey ha abo"

"Does it feel better to have a nice clean diaper?"

"Bay ghee"

"Did you have fun at the park?"

"Hot hot beeee ball abo bay daa dog "

"Are you ready to go home?"

"Home. Bee bay bee ghee haa hot."

"Let's go home"

"Ba ba ba ba bay ba ha haa a boo ya ya daa"

I feel truly informed now, because certainly that was important information. Tonight we played with his new Noah's Ark playset, and he loved it. He taste-tested each animal before putting it into the ark. He spent a long time putting the animals on the ark and in the ark and shaking the ark all around. He climbed up on his activity table (didn't know he could do this) and then stood up and gave us a table dance. After he was up there 10 minutes, he tried to figure out how to get down. He stuck a leg over the side while holding on, but never lowered the leg to the floor. So I asked him, "How are you planning to get down?". He grabbed my hands and put them on his waist and leaned toward me. He had apparently planned for me to get him down, which I did because he was so cute putting my hands on his waist and smiling at me. He's asleep now after a busy day. Watching him enjoy his day so much was the best Mother's Day present ever, although I do also like the shoes that I bought for myself from David and Dennis.

animal farm

Noteworthy items from today:

1. Dennis is now talking on his cell phone. He walks around with it held up to his ear and he talks to it. Granted, the times I've observed him doing this, the phone is turned backward with the screen facing out, but he's clearly observed some adults talking on their cell phones, and he's talked on a few phones himself. His play phone is a purple glitter Motorola Razor, because Mommy and Daddy have Motorola Razors, and the only phone we could find like ours was located in the Barbie accessory department. David is planning to buy him a cover for it, not because we hate purple glitter, but because David keeps his phone (which is NOT purple glitter) in a case, and Dennis likes to be like Daddy.

2. Since he's starting to pretend and imitate, we bought a Fisher Price Little People playset for him, one with farm animals and a barn and silo. The barn makes sounds when you put the animals in their spots (i.e., the barn oinks when you open the gate to the pig's mudhole, another gate moos and neighs depending on which side you open, etc.). He likes it very much and has gotten the ultimate enjoyment out of it thus far. He climbed on the box while the set was still in it, and he played with each animal as I untangled it from the parent-proof toy packaging. I'm still new at this toy-buying stuff, so I naturally forgot to buy batteries. Dave and Ellen were courteous enough to bring some, so when Dennis got up from his nap, the set that he'd been playing so well with before started moo-ing and baa-ing and oinking and neighing and cock-a-doodle-ing at him, so he had to spend more time experimenting with it. A Little People video came with it (it does not, surprisingly, feature midgets), a cute claymation collection of stories about the Little People in the playsets. Dennis was so surprised that the Farmer Jed and cow he was holding in his hands were also on the tv.

3. He showed his first little hint of possessiveness today, when Chloe came crawling for his cup of chocolate milk. He gave a short little warning screech, and she backed off for a millisecond. I took the cup away from them both. They did manage to eat their crackers separately, if a bit messily. He forgave her quickly enough (after all, he did try to get her juice cup a number of times), and they spent happy minutes together banging on the glass storm door to the screened porch. They would slap the glass with their hands, look at each other, then giggle and bang again. Then Dennis tried to shut the door and smash Chloe between the door and the screen door. I think he wanted to show her how fun it was to open and close the door, but she didn't move out of the way. He never closed it all the way, fortunately, but he didn't seem to understand why she didn't want to play open/close/open/close/open with him.

4. Dennis said "cow" and "moo" and "dog" and "barbecue" and "bean" and "thank you" and "home" today. And I was able to reason with him in the car. He tossed his pacifier and after a while began screeching for it, and I explained to him that he was the one that threw it and that I was driving and couldn't help him at the moment. I told him he had two choices. He could suck on any of the 10 fingers he had handy, or he could wait until we got home and I could fetch his pacifier. He chewed quietly on a finger for 15 minutes before whining again, and we had the same conversation a second time. He quieted immediately, and was peaceful and happy the rest of the way home.

5. Ellen introduced the babies to a snake today. We loaded them in their big jogging strollers and took off on a walk, down to the marina and up the road on the other side. There was a tiny garter snake in the road, and we gave him (her?) a wide berth, and then we thought the kids should see it. We turned the strollers around, and they weren't noticing it, so Ellen grabbed a handy branch and prodded it while telling the kids to never, ever do this. He started to slither, and the babies watched, and Ellen prodded again and he started striking, and he moved a little faster than she anticipated and got a little close to her ankle. She screamed LOUDLY, so I think the babies probably got the message that snakes are scary. The snake got the message that people are scary and slithered way away from us. We walked until we came to this giant hill and decided immediately to quit, but thought better of it and pushed those heavy babies and strollers up the steep grade. When we got to the top, we decided to go on back down it instead of going down the other side and having to climb it again. The kids seemed to enjoy the walk, and Dennis talked and yelled the whole way back. There's a nice echo at the lake, and Dennis enjoys yelling and hearing an echo.

6. We kept Dennis out way past his bedtime for a dinner date (Cracker Barrel, our family favorite) and some shopping. He was so sweet even though we knew he was exhausted. So we bought another Little People playset for him, this one of Noah's Ark. He likes his wooden ark shape sorter, but the animals and people are two dimensional, so we got him this one to play with as well. Noah and the animals are three dimensional, but they've been plumped and rounded and shortened into extreme cuteness. We hope he'll like playing with it, too. We're going to leave one playset here and one at the lake. And, when he flies next month, he'll be discovering a Little People plane for the first time (with only one passenger to fling about--I'll be hiding the others) when we board our plane.

It was a good day. It always is.

say cheese

Little guy spent almost the entire day in his carseat today. We went south with Gran to visit my Granny for Mother's Day. He was so sweet today. He endured shoe shopping and the mall with no complaints. I suppose that will change, with time. He is male, after all.

This morning we learned the word "cheese", and he said "please" for me to give him his sippy cup. He also learned the word "shoe" this morning when we were looking at his shoes and my shoes. I was thrilled when we walked into the shoe store (well, shoe shopping always excites me, but this was better) and he walked right over to a shoe and pointed and said "shoe". If he were 8 years old, this would mean nothing. But I didn't even prompt him to say it, and he knew what it was. The brain cells are working!

Yesterday it rained and rained and rained, and we went into his room to play. By coincidence, the toy he played with for over 20 minutes without interruption was his Noah's Ark play set. Or maybe it wasn't a coincidence. At any rate, he was having the best time putting the animals in the ark and taking them back out and putting them back in (the ark is wooden, and it's a shape sorter with little wooden animals and a Noah and wife). He was so involved in this that I decided to read him the story of Noah's Ark from his Bible story book (a Christmas gift from his Godfather). He somewhat paid attention, and he kept playing with the ark the entire time I was reading. It was a very nice rainy day activity!

Today he rode a carousel for the first time, and I wish I could describe the look on his face as the zebra he was riding went up and down. He held on with those tiny little hands, and he smiled a little, but mostly he just looked around at the lights and colors with those great big eyes cast in such a serious expression. I don't know if it was wonder and fascination or if it was dizziness and nausea, but he seemed to be having a good time.

Tonight at supper, he made friends with the child at the next table. That child was crying and screaming, and Dennis tested out a scream in imitation. We told him that we were paying enough attention to him without all that, so he stopped, but he did engage that other little boy in conversation. The entire restaurant heard and mostly enjoyed the exchange, which resembled the English language to a certain degree. Dennis charmed his way through Dothan today, as we were unable to go anywhere without everyone making a big fuss over him and his overabundance of cuteness. It must have been hard work, because he's so exhausted. He sacked out on the way home, and woke up briefly for a diaper change. He immediately went back to sleep. Tonight I think I might be able to do the same. I'm going to try my best, anyway.

Inspector Busybody

I think he might be destined to be a home inspector. He certainly inspected one today! His Daddy was finishing up some detail work on one of Gran's and Pop's For Sale properties, and we stopped by for a visit. Dennis gave the house a complete walk through, several times, and opened the bathroom cabinets in both bathrooms a few times. He was just making sure they worked ok. And checking the plumbing... He reached into the bathtub to jiggle the new faucet a couple of times--it held. He examined the new oven to see if it was up to code. He kicked all the new thresholds and bounced on them, to test soundness. He tried out a range of vocalizations to test the acoustical properties of the house. All in all, he pronounced the house Ready To Sell.

Gran and Pop have a tree in their house, possibly a ficus tree, and Dennis likes to pat the trunk of the tree (hmmm... new generation of tree hugger?) when he visits. His Pop saw him going for the tree and said (like you would say to correct a dog) "unh unh unh" in a guttural voice. This deterred Dennis for 3.5 seconds, and he immediately walked back to the tree, yelling "HUH HUH HUH" in his best imitation of Pop's corrections. Gran and Pop were kind enough to watch him while I ran some errands today, and when I arrived to pick him up, they looked exhausted. Toddler wrangling should be an olympic event. It's about as easy as herding cats, I think.

He's getting better and better at identifying pictures of things. He can name the objects you point out to him in a book. And today, while we were checking out Gran's Las Vegas scrapbook, he saw a picture of David and began gleefully yelling "DADDY!". We took him back over to visit his daddy (still hard at work on the house), and Dennis decided to help by picking up various tools and walking them in to David while he was installing some vinyl floor strips. This was cute, but I admit to being a bit unnerved when he picked up the hammer!

I think he walked 5 miles today, around his room, around the empty house, around Gran's house while pushing his ride-on firetruck and collecting Easter eggs to store in the space under the seat, around our yard, halfway down the driveway... He was playing with some boys at Gran's today, and they told Gran he wanted out of his high chair. When they let him down, the kids commented that it was like watching a midget running by--he moves a little faster than they expected.

He was so busy that he decided that 2 naps of 15 minutes duration would suffice for the day, and that is why he went to bed before 7 pm. I almost dread seeing what time he'll wake up in the morning, but since I conked out at 7 pm as well (I rarely nap, but today called for it), maybe it won't be so bad. We have a long car trip on the agenda for tomorrow, so I imagine I'll need my sleep so that I can keep him entertained instead of him keeping us entertained (loudly).

I don't know if I've mentioned it or not. He sings now. It's the Cutest. Thing. Ever. Maybe I can catch it on video soon.

rubber ducky, you're the one

Today we discovered all the fun things a one year old person can do with a bean bag chair. We can sit in the chair, climb on the chair, stand in the chair and flirt with ourselves in the mirror, and, most fun of all, slide down the chair as if it were playground equipment. We have a neat beanbag chair from Target, actually shaped like a chair with a back and arms but filled with beanbag filling, which, I guess, is beans. Styrofoam beans, maybe, because I wouldn't want a chair that could be a snack to anything (known or unknown) living in this house.

"Duck" was the new word of the day, and luckily for us, he enunciated it well enough for it not to be mistaken for another (rhyming) word that I hope he doesn't learn for a few years yet. He brought his rubber ducky to each of us in turn, and we sang the Rubber Ducky song.

Rubber Ducky, You're the one!

You make bath time so much fun.

Rubber Ducky, I'm really fond of you...

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I'm sure I've botched the lyrics, and I could have taken the time to research them on the net before typing them here, but, hey, I didn't. This is the way we sang it to him anyway. Maybe Ernie will forgive us. Turns out, Dennis really likes the Rubber Ducky song, so we sang it a lot. And he walked around saying "duck, duck" at the top of his lungs.

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Dennis has a really awesome rocking horse that his grandmothers painted for him, and he loves to ride it even though his feet won't reach the ground (as in, his feet are over a foot off the ground, so we have to hold him up there). He walks over and pets the horse when he isn't riding it, and today, he pulled the first hair out of the horse's mane (we may all be bald by the time Dennis graduates--he loves to pull hair). He has started trying to climb on the horse, but all he can really do is stand up on the rockers and hold on. I need to get him some sort of safe climbing structure (is than an oxymoron?).

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He brushed his teeth again this morning (gotta put that toothbrush up a little higher), this time with 2 toothbrushes at the same time. Double the plaque-fighting, I suppose. And, while I was in the bathroom this morning for, um, some personal time, Dennis escaped from his room and came to surprise me. I think he had a little help from Daddy, who found the whole thing a little too funny.

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I'm getting ready for bed now so the cacophony of snores may begin. We moved the baby monitor to my side of the bed instead of across the room, so I fell asleep last night to the sweet sounds of baby snores mixing with the scary, log sawing, dog scaring, otherworldly sucking and snarling sounds coming from the other side of our bed. And judging from the dryness of my mouth (and funk therein) this morning, I was contributing to the choir. I wonder if the dog is getting any sleep at all!

sweet as pie

Surely one of the greatest blessings in this life is the love of a child. I used to thank God every day for my dogs, because they were so affectionate and always happy to see me. It does something nice for your ego when another being is so delighted by your very presence. This is nothing, however, compared to the way I feel when Dennis smiles at me when I walk into his room. Dennis's smile lights my universe.

Dennis is a very affectionate child. I don't know if all children are this way, but many are. He likes to give hugs and kisses (a Dennis kiss is an open-mouthed gnawing of your cheek, and it involves much slobbering), and he likes to share his toys and books and food and milk with his Daddy and me. He shares his delight in the world with us, and it has made us happier people. There's something about that little voice that makes us smile whenever we hear it.

I thank God every day for blessing us with Dennis. I am more of a praying person now than ever. I am learning the tradition of morning prayer, and I have an Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. I also download the Morning Prayer podcast from the Episcopal Church of Garrett County Maryland (this is a wonderful resource for newbies to the prayer book ritual), a church I have never seen or attended. I like to listen and pray along on my way to work in the mornings. This is such an incredible free service that I found on iTunes, and there's a prayer and scripture reading every single day, about 12 to 15 minutes worth, and the minister (rev. Chip Lee) allows time for personal intercession and thanksgiving during the podcast, though I often have to pause my ipod to allow ample time for saying thanks for all that is good in my life (and I'm still thankful for my dogs).

Again this morning we read Moo, Baa, La La La over and over, and Goodnight Moon (which he only likes in the daytime) at his insistence, and he "read" them back to us. Today's bird was the cardinal, and Daddy does a cardinal call very well. I think it's interesting that he pulls a different one off the shelf every day to play with. He heard the birds outside this morning, stopped playing to say "bur", and then went and got a bird from his collection to bring to us. I love watching his mind work! Every day he seems to understand a little bit more than the day before. Parenting is the best thing I have done with my life, hands down.

screech, screech

The bird of the day was the red-tailed hawk. He brought it over to me, and we pushed the button for the bird call, and I screeched along with the hawk. Dennis thought this was hilarious, of course, and he imitated the screech along with me. So we screeched for a while until he brought over the yellowhammer, and we played its call. Not as interesting to him as the hawk was, so we went back to that.

David set up his mega blocks car track this morning, and he sent the two cars spiraling down the track a few times. Dennis enjoyed rolling the cars, as well, and then he grabbed the traffic light and pulled it off the track and brought it over to me. I told him it was a traffic light and that it told us when to stop and go, and Dennis said "stop go". He went back over to the track and began demolishing it (we refer to him as Babyzilla when he destroys towns and train and car tracks). He climbed on top of the big red plastic crate that the mega blocks set came in, and he sat up and smiled at us like he was so proud of himself.

We read "Moo Baa La La La" (Sandra Boynton) many times this morning. He kept bringing it over to me to read, and I'd finish it, and he'd reopen it. He attempted to make some of the animal noises. When we got to the 3 little dogs that say "ruff ruff ruff", he pointed to the dogs' noses and said "ball". (well, they ARE round). He took the book over to David to read, then brought it back over to me to finish.

He picked out his own outfit today. He grabbed a blue onesie from the basket and brought it to his Daddy to dress him in. When he turned around, I noticed that it was the one that said "I Love Mommy". Once he was dressed, he came over to hug me, and I told him how sweet he was for wanting to wear that. He just smiled. He scored big points with me over that one! Mother's Day is still several days away!

After several laps (25, as compared to 202 yesterday), he was ready to nap, and we put him down with his pacifier and his frog, and tuned in a little Bach on his music box. I'd like to be tucked in like that! Instead, I get all comfortable and then I have to get up for something, like I left a light on, or I have to go to the bathroom... Not everyone gets to sleep like a baby!

goodnight moon, goodnight tooth

The new teeth are killing us. None of us are sleeping, and one of us is in pain every night (probably because he's not up moving around, distracted from the pain by his surroundings). Come on, darn it. Grow. Come on through those gums. Get it over with. Wish there was a tooth fairy that brought teeth instead of taking them.

Dennis had a very important job today. Gran and Pop were trying out the new soft serve ice cream machine, and Dennis was the taste tester. When I stopped by to pick up supplies (ok, a toilet seat) for the house we were working on, Dennis's pack n' play was in the kitchen, and he was in it. I suppose he'd been helping a little too vigorously with the ice cream making process. He ate ice cream, played with toys, opened Easter eggs, and even took a nap, all in the kitchen in his pack n' play. Then Gran took him to the lake, where he was the recipient of much grandmotherly attention (his Grandma was at the lake already), and I'm sure they spoiled him rotten before we arrived to pick him up and gratuitously watch some cable at the lake house. I won't get cable at home, because then we'd watch it all the time, but I'll sure watch it when I'm somewhere that has it! Hypocritical? You betcha. But we read books at home or watch dvds instead of tv, and sometimes we play board games, although less now since we have a Nintendo Wii and since I'm now on the internet every night.

He wanted to drink from a water bottle today. Gran was sharing hers with him. I was sure he was going to drown himself, and I would have been so embarrassed explaining to the ER that he was just sitting there drinking water and we don't know how he drowned... He tipped the bottle all the way up every time he took a sip. And he drenched himself and splashed his Gran and me pretty well in the process. We were laughing, so he laughed too. He turned the bottle up, got a face full of water, sputtered, then giggled. And repeated. We had to change his clothes when the bottle was finished. At some point today, he apparently tried to break into the oven with his head to see if there were cookies in there. His grandmothers had slathered his head with Arnica to prevent a bruise, and I never even knew he had fallen and hit his head until David told me just now. It'd be hard to notice a red spot from that, what with the two mosquito bites already announcing their presence so noticeably on his forehead. Some days I think he needs a helmet. Actually, most days I think he needs a helmet. And we've actually bought him a helmet now (to go with the bike trailer), a cute gray one with rocket ships on it. He looks just like a mushroom when we put it on him. If he were in a Super Mario game, he'd be a character that Mario would jump on and get a coin. But he's a CUTE mushroom.

Dennis has an alphabet foam play mat in his room, and the letters are removable. This morning and yesterday he was gated in his room, and he kept bringing me letters that he'd pried from the mat. "K" jumped the gate yesterday, and today "I" and "J" ran off together. We apprehended "I", but "J" is still missing. Gotta watch those "J"s. Sneaky little buggers. Since "J" and Snoopy and Ice Bat are all on vacation somewhere, it makes me think ahead to our upcoming vacation. How can I train a one year old to fly well? Do I sit with him held prisoner in my lap on the couch while I hold his portable dvd player for him to watch? Any suggestions? He was 7 months old when we flew before, and he slept for most of the flights. When he wasn't sleeping, he was eating his Southwest Airlines cardboard snack container--not the snacks, the actual container. I hope Delta passes out edible entertainment as well. I would like to bring toys and books along, but anything I bring has the potential to be tossed into the nether areas of the plane. Do I dare let him walk around? Would he go up to strange airline passengers and smile charmingly and say "hey" before he licked them or grabbed their drinks? Scary. I have one month to come up with some strategies. I don't think they sell baby straightjackets.

Right now he's snoring to beat the band. He's coming through loud and clear on the baby monitor. He even snores cute.