little climber

He has learned to climb in and out of chairs very well. He's mastered his Cracker Barrel rocker, and now has turned his sights to the rocking chair in his room. It's an adult-sized rocker, and it's a special one. This is the chair his Grandma rocked his Daddy in as a baby, and it rocked David's sister and cousins. We have rocked Dennis in it. And now he can climb into it with no assistance and rock himself silly, and then get back out of it with no assistance. He's so proud! He walks over to it and rocks it forward with his hands on the handles, facing the chair. He reaches as far as he can and grabs hold of a side rail in each hand. He rocks the chair down lower and hikes a knee onto the chair. Then he grabs the slats on the back of the chair and hauls himself the rest of the way up. He stands up briefly, holding on to the back, then turns around. He sits down, rocks the chair, and claps his hands to celebrate his accomplishment. Next, he immediately scoots his rear end to the front of the chair, grabs the side handles, and gently eases himself out of the chair to a standing position on the floor. He walks a lap around his room, returns to the chair and repeats. And repeats. And yes, it is as cute as it sounds.

bath fun in the sink

He took a bath in the sink tonight because I didn't think my back could hold up to bending over the tub, and I didn't want to take a bath with him at the time. He was pretty disgusting after supper, so I thought I'd go ahead and wash him up in the kitchen after we finished the dishes! He thought the sink was terribly fun, especially when I turned on the faucet to rinse him. He played in the water, trying to catch the stream and taking a drink every now and again.

Tonight he fussed while we were rearranging some things in his room. We packed up some toys that don't get played with, and we stored some of the good ones to bring out again in a few weeks. The farm that has no cows is now in a cabinet, and I'm hoping Fisher Price sells replacement cows. We think he might have thrown them in his trash can and we missed seeing them when we took out the trash. Weird. Don't know why it's just the cows and not any other species... At any rate, he was happy that we were in the room, but I don't think he liked seeing all the toys moving around and not under his control. He eventually helped me clean some, but then, at the end, in a final act of rebellion, he scattered his Noah's ark animals all over the place. He threw them down to the floor aggressively, and he looked to see if I was watching. This was when we decided that maybe he was so irritated because he was hungry, and that seemed to be the case. He ate an entire Tilapia filet and some broccoli and cauliflower and nine grain bread. He finished this and his milk and then pointed to his raisin box and asked for raisins! He was a hungry little guy tonight.

His naps were off, too. No morning nap, one very long mid afternoon nap, no other naps. We put him in bed at 7:00. We'll probably regret it in the morning, but he went right to sleep, and we knew he was tired. Tomorrow we'll be working on his play room at Gran's house again. I can't wait to see it finished!

party naked

Tonight we had a fabulous home cooked supper at Dennis's Grandma's lake house. David and Jason did some major boathouse repair, and Grandma had some company visiting. She made pork roast, potatoes, corn on the cob, pinto beans, cornbread, beer bread, slaw, German chocolate cake, and blackberry cobbler, all absolutely homemade. I'm gaining weight just remembering it!

Dennis loved everything, and after he screeched to get down from his high chair, he walked around and around attempting to sample food from everyone else's plate. He really wanted more beer bread, and I think he successfully begged pieces from at least half the folks there. We were eating in the new screened porch, so he would periodically take a break and look out at the water whenever he heard a boat coming (and he'd say "boat"). He danced a lot, and he laughed a lot, and his antics made for an excellent free dinner show. When it came time to eat the blackberry cobbler, we took his clothes off so they wouldn't be permanently stained. He spent the rest of the evening in only his diaper, and he seemed so happy about it. After we were all finished eating, he kept going around the circle of people asking for tea. He got to drink some tea from Gran's cup and from Mommy's cup, and we are pretty certain that he found every unattended up and tried his best to get a swig before it was grabbed from him.

He had a great day. He loved the boat ride he went on, sitting back in his seat and surveying his surroundings through his very cool baby sunglasses, or walking back and forth in the boat, or helping Daddy drive the boat. When we got back to the dock, he walked over to the steering console and figured out how to honk the horn all by himself. He was very proud.

He didn't have to get dressed again until we went to Wal-Mart on our way home (had to buy dog food), and even though it was way past his bedtime, he enjoyed his shopping experience as much as he always does, smiling and greeting every person we saw and pointing to various unrelated objects on the shelves. He went to bed without a fuss, but I heard him in there talking to himself for several minutes before he dropped off to sleep. He was excessively cute today in everything he did. I love those days.

don't turn your back

There comes a day in every little boy's life when he feels that he must make mischief in order to feel complete. And after that first day, mischief days happen with increasing frequency as the boy grows and learns and explores new territory and re-explores old territory with a gained height of half an inch. Today was a mischief day, and Dennis did some menacing at Gran's house this afternoon.

He is not bad. He is curious. And he's fast! He did so many wonderful things today, like waiting at the bottom of the staircase for me before he ascended to great heights. He doesn't just take off and run up the stairs--he makes sure that I see where he's going and that I have time to get there and follow him up. He stands on the first step until I get there and give him the go ahead to climb. I think that is a very wonderful thing. He also has been reaching up for a hand when going down a step and when he wants to get down from a tall chair. He waits for help rather than tumbling down. Another very wonderful thing.

But there was a moment when Mommy reached an extreme frustration point, but fortunately I saw the humor in the situation and quickly managed to laugh it off. The phone rang and it was David, and while I was hanging up the phone from talking to him, Dennis managed to empty a bag of cat food onto the carpet in Gran's den. The dog, the cat, and Dennis immediately pounced on the spoils (hey, free snacks!), and I ran to intervene before that little hand managed to get a Tender Vittle into that little mouth. This was funny, if messy, and I might have been okay if the rampage had ended here. It didn't.

While I was scooping cat food up from the carpet and back into the cat food bag (she's a cat, she can eat off the floor, so she can eat food that briefly visited the floor), Dennis managed to get into the bathroom and I turned around to see him merrily splashing his hands in the toilet. So far about 30 seconds had elapsed since I hung up the phone. I left the remaining cat food for the dog and cat to clean up since they were eating it as fast as I was cleaning it anyway. I scooped the baby up and took him to the sink to wash his hands, and somehow he managed to splash around and soak us both. I needed to get him dry and change his clothes, and when I went to find the diaper bag, he squirmed away and went running through the house at full speed, wet (but fortunately not naked--he saves those moments for home) and giggling. I caught him, scooped him up in one arm, gathered the diapering supplies in the other hand and got back in the den just as I heard Gran coming in from outside and saying "What is this on the carpet?". I explained, and she checked out the puddle we left in the bathroom, and then she helped me by entertaining Dennis while I changed him because he was really trying hard to escape from the Evil Clean Diaper. He bit the clean diaper and tossed it around a bit before I got it into position, and he might have been a little more fractious than he was if I hadn't picked up his Moo Baa La La La book and began fanning his privates dry with it. He found this highly amusing. He already loved books even before we found this new thing that they can do!

He had many moments of pure sweetness today, as always, but those things are harder to remember than the things that I had to clean up after! The pictures show him discovering a new way to play with his Tonka truck first thing this morning. I'm glad we got a picture, because he fell out right after the picture was taken and he might climb in it again. He wasn't hurt, of course, but he was mightily offended that the truck would just flip over sideways like that with no provocation whatsoever. Gravity lessons are often the most painful kind to learn.

Gran and I spent the day working on getting a playroom ready for the grandchildren, and we are looking forward to having a safe baby zone where we can put his toys and let him run free and play. We still have a couple of days of work left, but we have made definite progress. It's always fun to visit Gran's house because she has so many interesting things around for Dennis to play with. Things like important papers, staplers, pens, markers, picture frames, neat breakable objects, computers, cords, bowls of dog food and cat food, etc.... It will be great to have a room where we don't have to chase him constantly and where he can have a sense of freedom.

Important first: we found a bit of green crayon in his diaper this morning! He ate the tip of a crayon while we were waiting on dinner last night, and it has now safely made it back out of his system only to face burial in the diaper pail. Dare we hope that this will be the only crayon he eats? Time will tell.

spin me around

Woke up this morning to a crying baby, and I realized that we were missing a member of the family! David usually does morning detail, and he wasn't here. He had woken up early and went on in to work, which turned out to be a good thing. I went in to get Dennis (who didn't wake up until 9 am, which means that I got to sleep late myself) and found that he had pooped through his diaper and his pajamas. It looks like his rash is really going away, so we invested in almost a month's worth of Seventh Generation diapers. They cost exactly the same as Pampers. We just didn't know where to buy them! They were a pretty good deal at Organic Harvest, but we found them on Ellen's advice at Babies R Us for a dollar cheaper per bag, and this put them at exactly the same price we paid for the same amount of Pampers Cruisers. Totally worth it. Healthy butt, healthy environment, and NO extra cost. Maybe it IS easy being green. Sorry, Kermit.

We spent our morning with Gran, playing in her den while she finished up some business. Dennis demonstrated one of his new games that he likes to play with Gran. He spins her office chair around with her in it, and he says "wheeeee" when he does it. Too funny.

We spent our afternoon visiting a hospitalized relative of David's, and Dennis discovered that it is seriously fun to run up and down hospital corridors. He made some friends, even wandered into a patient room for a second before we caught up to him. He was all smiles, and he spread some joy around on the 6th floor.

He's getting smarter and smarter. He knows the meanings of and uses the following words consistently: hot, shoe, out, on, off, up, Mommy, Daddy, Gheeee (Gran), Pop, open, close, juice, ball, dog, cat, diaper, raisin, bread, cheese, horse, duck, sheep, cow, eyes, nose, mouth, ear, chair, fish, book, cup, flower, bird, tree, and car. I know I am leaving some out, but these all come to mind immediately. He repeats words as well, but these things he understands the word and the concept. He says Pop whenever we drive up to Gran and Pop's house. He says "nye nye" (night night) whenever he wants to go to bed. It's so fun to communicate with him now! We've been singing the alphabet song to him in the car and in his room, and we were singing "a b c d e f g" when he suddenly piped up "h i j". We were so proud! Today we were singing it in the car, and he would sing random letters out while we were singing the song, letters that he apparently liked the sound of and so tried them out.

We shopped for a kitchen for him today, and have been looking all week online. Target sold out of the kitchen we've been planning to buy him for forever, and they have discontinued it. It has to be a wooden kitchen (with NO pink parts), and we've found a number of them online, but we have totally fallen for the Plan Toys kitchen pieces. I love the 2008 series which comes out next month, but I have found last year's pieces on several websites at decent prices. We're going to watch the prices of the new things and see if our Thailand connection can get them for us at a good price. If not, we'll be buying a piece every other month or so for St. Nicholas to bring at Christmastime. Today we found the Plan Toys City Station at a very good price and bought it for him. The Fisher Price little people sets absolutely pale in comparison to the Plan Toys playsets except for one area. The Fisher Price toys do make sounds where the others don't. I held up a sheep for Dennis this morning, and he walked over to his little farm and pressed down on the hay bale, which makes the "baaaaaaaaa" sound. I'm pleased that he knows what noises cows and sheep and horses and chickens make, and we have Fisher Price to thank for that. But we will definitely be buying more of the Plan Toys sets if he enjoys playing with this one. His wooden train tracks will hook up to the station we bought today, and he didn't have a train station yet. Of course, now we'll need to also buy a few pieces of 2 lane highway track for the cars to drive to the station... Good thing we've started this early! And I sure wish I could find a place that carries that brand locally. We bought the only Plan Toys item at Homewood Toy and Hobby, and I can find no retailers in our area that have them.

We had dinner with Pop tonight and shopped some more, then came home and crashed. Dennis was so asleep that he didn't even wake up when we changed his diapers and put his pajamas on. I'm glad he got to run around today--so good for him, and he had so much fun.

blueberry giggles

Today was Mommy's day out! I went shopping with a friend today and Mom offered to watch Dennis all day. He got to spend the day playing with his Gran and Pop. They took him for wagon rides and read I Love You Through and Through to him dozens of times. They watched him climb stairs and strew paperwork and push buttons. He made some calls on the speakerphone and switched the tv input away from the satellite receiver and Pop had to figure out how to get the picture back. He played on the computer some. He napped when Gran napped and really enjoyed their company when awake.

He apparently discovered his own little internal rhythm this week, and he's been dancing up a storm. His Gran offered him juice and he danced all over the kitchen. For Dennis, dancing means stomping his feet rapidly up and down. It's very very cute.

And, he discovered that he really likes blueberries today. Gran offered him his own little fruit assortment, and to take away the tartness of it, she even gave him whipped cream. But the blueberries were the only fruit he seemed to like. She said he'd put a blueberry in his mouth and giggle and eat it, then spit out the blueberry skin. He'd giggle for every berry he ate. And after his nap, when the blueberries came back out of the refrigerator, he saw them and danced and giggled.

Dennis has been blessed with some wonderful grandparents all around, and I love that he got to enjoy some special time with two of them today.

running on empty

Dennis went too long between naps today, but this is not to say that he was badly behaved. He gets really funny when he's overtired. He laughs at everything. He's excessively silly. He falls down a good bit, kind of like he's drunk. He gets huggy and snuggly, and he walks around in circles, hugging and screeching and chattering and giggling until he finally asks to go night night. He does occasionally get fussy, but nothing terrible.

Today we went in search of chemical free diapers, in a desperate attempt to finally cure his diaper rash. His little rear end has not been free of redness since before his first ear infection 3 months ago. It's hard to find green products here in Alabama, but I located a great market called Organic Harvest, and they had the diapers at a pretty reasonable price and I didn't have to be robbed blind by Whole Foods. Sad. After spending time in a state where they recycle consciously, it's hard to come back to the wastefulness that we're so used to here. Mom and I both were commenting on this, and we're going to continue to recycle like we did when we were in Washington. I'll have to drive our recyclables to a center to drop them off, but I won't have to go too far away. I think there's a place in our town.

I bought him some crayons and wanted some paper for him to practice his scribbling. I decided I'd buy a recycled paper notebook at Wal-Mart, and this proved near impossible. An employee finally pointed out the one little notebook made with recycled paper amongst the thousands that weren't. I suppose when it comes time to shop for school supplies, we'll have to really search for environmentally conscious products.

I did not take a photo today. I intended to, especially when he kept walking around with Uncle Denny's pen and cane. And he was cute playing at our friend's place on the swingset and eating his yeast rolls at Logan's. He had a good day.
For your entertainment, here's a video of his Uncle Michael giving him a driving lesson on Lummi Island in Washington.

my chair ROCKS!!!

Last night, Uncle Denny (Dennis' Godfather), bought for Dennis one of those great rocking chairs that live on the porches of Cracker Barrels nationwide. Dennis tried out all the chairs on the porch, and he didn't seem to really have a preference at first. We debated a slatted chair seat versus a woven one, and whether he'd want a painted one or a varnished wood one, and if he wanted the navy blue one that had a team logo on it or if he would not want that... At the end, he turned to the navy one, screeched in delight, and ran over to it and climbed in. That sealed the deal. It's the one I liked the best after all the considerations, too. It's painted dark blue and says 'Tigers' across the back. It's an Auburn team logo, and we are Auburn fans (and they don't appear to make a UAB one, where we both earned our degrees), and we like the chair very much. We pointed out a few more things that make it appropriate. The team mascot for our town is a tiger, and the school colors are orange and blue (just like Auburn), so this chair which doesn't actually say Auburn on it will also be a chair that supports Dennis' school team. Pretty neat.

He LOVES his chair. He spent much of the day climbing into the chair and out of the chair. He learned how to make it rock. Most importantly (for him), he learned how to stand up in the chair and hold on to the back of the chair and rock standing up. He thought this was great fun, much to our exceeding nervousness, but he fortunately managed to avoid falling out of the chair. He did slip once and bump his little bottom on the arm of the chair, and it hurt enough to cause him to get teary-eyed, but soon he was standing again with glee. We rewarded him effusively when he sat down, cheering and clapping, and we thought this might work. Pretty soon he was standing up in the chair clapping and attempting to direct us to clap along with him (for him). We didn't encourage this behavior. He did so much that was cute today, though, and he played for an adoring audience of some of his biggest fans tonight, including his grandparents and Godfather (and his parents, too!). We sure do love that little guy.

Yaaay me!!!

So much self confidence today! This evening we were all sitting around at the lake after Uncle Denny (the aforementioned Godfather) arrived, just watching Dennis play. He showed off his car to everyone, demonstrated his entry and exit skills, showed us what an accomplished backer-upper he is (darn car still won't go forward!), and then walked around brandishing Uncle Denny's cane. No one got whacked, fortunately, but there were some close moments! Gran's toes might have gotten pounded.

I changed his diaper, there in the middle of everyone, and he reached out and touched my shoe, and said (in all his adorable brilliance) "shoe". We all applauded and said 'Yay, Dennis', which he loves. Pretty soon, he was walking around and saying "yay" and clapping, and we were all clapping right along with him. Everything he did was a major cause for celebration in his book. He said "Grrrr Gheeee" (which is Dennis for 'Gran'), and he clapped. He said "Pop", so we clapped and he clapped. When we stopped clapping, he'd say something else and begin clapping. It was so cute we could have let it go on for hours, but it was suppertime, so off to Cracker Barrel we went. Not to worry--he continued the clapfest at the table, applauding himself and us for all our small accomplishments. It was nice. I think everyone deserves a round of applause from time to time, and Dennis gave us and himself that very service countless times today. He's just spreading the love, I suppose. I'd like to think that we're not celebrating mediocrity, but rather bolstering his self confidence. And it's fun, all that clapping. Try it next time you're feeling blue.

THREE!

He played happily here today until we decided to head to the lake house to spiff it up in preparation for the arrival of The Godfather. When we got to the lake house, he happily played in his car for 10 minutes or so, and then he walked around and fussed at me for the rest of the hour that we were there. He fussed when I cleaned up his toys, and he fussed when I stopped him from sending the DirecTV remote on a ride in the toilet. He followed right on my tail until I turned on the vacuum cleaner. I didn't mean to startle him, honest, but the vacuum was already turned on when I plugged it in, and I admit that it startled me, too, when it came on. His eyes got so wide, and he ran across the room, stood behind a chair, and started wailing. He's seen a vacuum before, even that particular vacuum, but I think it upset him when it turned on while he was standing right next to it. He stared hatefully at the vacuum while I cleaned the carpet, still looking a little worried, crying just a little. I had a hard time not laughing. That sounds excessively cruel, I know, but he'd been driving me crazy following me and grabbing my pant leg and fussing at me while I was trying to straighten, and he'd been messing up whatever I cleaned as I cleaned it. I put the videos on the shelf, he removed them and tossed them in the floor. I put his toys in the cabinet, he opened the cabinet and flung toys around the room. I went in the bathroom to put the towels away, and he immediately opened the toilet lid and stuck his hands in. The vacuum afforded me the first peace I'd had since we got there.

Lest you think we don't vacuum at home... We actually have a Roomba, the robot vacuum, and it isn't quite as loud or as large as a regular vacuum, and Dennis has seen it, chased it, been bumped by it, and now ignores it. It runs while he's asleep and doesn't wake him up, and it doesn't bother him when he sees it running when he's awake. He just hasn't seen us actively engaged with a vacuum lately because we haven't had to be (much to our delight).

After an intense 45 minutes of cleaning and fussing, we thought that maybe he was hungry, so David gave him a piece of cheese. I saw cheese sitting on the counter, so the next time he came over to me to cry, I put a bite of cheese in his mouth. He pulled it back out of his mouth and yelled louder, and when I went to take it away from him before he tossed it onto my freshly vacuumed floor, he cried even harder. Then he put it back in his mouth, gave me a dirty look, one serious "waaah!" (which I translated to mean, "I wanted the cheese. So there. But you didn't have to take so darn long to give it to me. I'm still mad."), and walked away eating.

I decided he needed some attention when he kept trying to destroy the touch lamp in the bedroom. So I picked him up, and he cried, and I began bouncing him up and down, and counting "one, two.........THREE!". At three, I tossed him lightly onto the bed. He stopped mid-cry and began giggling uncontrollably. We did this several times, with me counting each time. Then it was time to leave, and the exit door is through the other bedroom. When we were walking by the other bed, Dennis stood there, held up his arms, looked at me, and said "THREEEEE!!!". So I bounced him again, of course. And then we rushed him to Zaxby's for dinner, and all was well. He even helped me clean his room tonight, actually putting his birds and books back on the shelf. He put a bird on the shelf, tentatively, and I praised him effusively. So he put the other birds up and a few books, all the while clapping his hands and saying "yaaaaay". Then he went to his crib and said "nye nye" and we put him to bed.

cabin fever

I didn't get much chance to observe the wild creature in action today, as my illness kept me asleep for much of the day. I did hear fussing and crying coming from the other rooms way more often than I normally do, and tonight David and I were theorizing about why that might be. I know that there have been days where Dennis has been fussy all day and when I took him out somewhere (usually Wal-Mart), he suddenly got happy. I don't know why this is, other than to say he's a social little guy, and spending too many days away from his adoring public really makes him irritable. So David tried to soothe the savage beast by taking him to Wal-Mart and for a quick visit to Grandma's house, and he came home just as fussy as before. Maybe it was cabin fever, maybe it wasn't.

He must have tried his Daddy's patience beyond belief today, and when I would go into his room to see what the problem was that was causing such loud screeching, he would smile sweetly at me and come sit in my lap. And then he'd get up, walk away, and start crying again. He hated getting his diaper changed, hated being put down, hated being picked up for longer than 10 seconds... And when we were getting him ready for bed, a little earlier than usual because we needed a break, we discovered the problem. Once we got his comfy clothes on, while he cried and fussed the whole time, he picked up his pacifier, picked up Frog, and walked over to his crib and grabbed the bars. He wanted to go to bed. And when we picked him up and put him in bed, he immediately rolled onto his back and gripped Frog, and waited for us to turn out the light and shut the door so he could go to sleep.

Maybe he was as sleepy today as I was, and we didn't let him nap it out. I got to sleep all day, and I know David would have liked more rest. What a shame we didn't just put Dennis back to bed whenever he got fussy. Maybe he's still sick like I am, maybe he needed to sleep to let his little immune system fight his ear infection and prevent him from getting the crud that his parents have. That will certainly be the strategy for tomorrow if it's another day like today!

eat play sleep repeat

We established an important form of communication today. He woke up from his nap and cried. I went in and picked him up from the crib and put him down. He walked into the kitchen and cried. He patted his high chair. I asked him if he wanted a snack. He cried. I asked him if he wanted some milk. Nothing. I asked him if he wanted to eat, and he grinned hugely and replied "EAT! EAT!". So I fed him. He then asked for juice ("jooooos"). We were both happy that I was able to understand and comply with his requests. He knows "up" for when he wants to be picked up, and "on" and "off" for the lights, "out" for going outside. He's still saying "Nye nye" when he wants to go to bed (night night). I can ask him where his ball is, and he'll go and get it and bring it to me. He says "diaper" when he sees one, and sometimes just when he wants his diaper changed. Occasionally he says "Eh-mo" when he sees a diaper because Pampers have Elmo on them. He also says this whenever he sees Elmo or Cookie Monster, whether his stuffed animals or on the front of his pacifiers.

There's a big mystery tonight. We don't know where the cows have gone. Farmer Jed and the horses, chicken, pig, sheep, rabbit, duck, goose, and turkey are all safe on the farm (on his play table), and the tractor has somehow parked itself upside down inside the top of the silo, but there are no cows. Perhaps they have jumped over the moon. We asked Dennis, and he made a show of looking for them, but they are nowhere to be found. I suppose this means we are waiting for the cows to come home, ha ha. Strange.

He seems to feel better than yesterday and even better than the day before, but still not totally himself. So many naps. I haven't minded so much, because I am SICK SICK SICK myself, and I am convinced that if I get up again, I will cough my lung out onto the floor, where Dennis would probably stick his fingers in it and make a mess. We have enjoyed brief periods of play between the naps and meals, and he's still pretty snuggly. The amount of time he'll spend in a lap has diminished as the week has progressed, but he's still clingy. And sweet. And as much as I hate to see him feeling bad, I will miss the snuggles when he's running through the house independently again, hiding from me while he finds all the toxic things we thought were stashed safely away. Babyproofing is a process that is never quite finished!

superfrog

Still not himself today. He was in a great mood, but so very sleepy. He took countless naps, and did much lap-sitting. He kept coming over to each of us and actually climbing into our laps. This is something pretty new. He usually prefers walking around constantly, and we aren't used to this much still time. Many times he fetched a book from the shelf and brought it over and climbed into one of our laps, clearly indicating (demanding) that we needed to read to him. This is good for him, though, so we have no objection at all. He did manage to climb onto David's lap and catch him unprepared, though, which was quite funny. David was lying flat on his back on the floor, not really watching us, and Dennis walked over, positioned himself right between David's legs, and plopped down somewhat forcefully. David sat up quickly after this (and perhaps sang soprano for a bit), and I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably, and this set Dennis off laughing. So we had a little fun at Daddy's expense today, poor guy.

I cannot underestimate the importance of Frog during this illness. Frog has been dangling from Dennis's hand constantly. He's come to mealtimes and shared the highchair, he's been to every diaper change, he went through every nap, and he even joined in all the book reading and shape sorting today. Dennis has been somewhat fond of Frog before now, but this week and today especially, Frog has been his inseparable companion. To get a picture of Frog, I had to snatch him from the crib while Dennis slept, and I had to wait for Dennis to roll off of Frog before I could borrow him. And I had to return him quickly, because I could hear rustling from the crib via the baby monitor, and I knew that little hand would be reaching for his amphibious buddy.

We don't know anything about Frog's origins. He's an adopted Frog. He arrived at our place in a bundle of used clothing from Laine and Emily, clothing I have passed on to younger female babies. But we kept Frog, because I liked his wild coloring and softness, and somehow he's become very important to Dennis. He has no identifying tags. He might have even come from one of those claw vending machines. We have no idea. We would love to have a backup Frog, but I don't even know where to begin looking! Frog has already had some surgery on his back leg, and his pupils are wearing off, and he'll be blind before too much longer, or at least until we figure out a non-toxic way to give him renewed vision (I think Sharpie is out, at least until Frog's eyes are permanently out of Dennis's mouth). He's been a loyal Frog, and so far we've managed to keep up with him, but it sure would be nice to have a Frog II, just in case.

I wonder what things Frog knows about Dennis that we don't know...

apple-sauced

He's not quite himself yet, but things are 100% better than yesterday. He didn't spend hours crying today, and he didn't whimper much. He was still pretty cuddly, but I never mind his cuddles. Rare is the time when he's still long enough to snuggle!

When I got to the lake house today, Dennis and David were sitting together and eating lunch, and Dennis was doing his best to share lunch with David. He kept offering pieces of food to his Daddy, who of course thanked him but politely declined. Some of the food that Dennis tends to offer is pre-tasted and therefore a tad slimy. I once made the mistake of accepting one of his offerings, and then he spit out everything that was in his mouth and offered it to me. Ick!

Tonight we had supper at the table like a real family. It was fabulous. We vowed to do this nightly before Dennis came along, and we have failed miserably! We do manage family meals, but they usually don't happen at the dining table. He seemed to enjoy it immensely. He ate his cheese and applesauce and whole wheat bread and also shared some of our vegetable beef soup. He did a fabulous job feeding himself with the spoon, mostly dipping the correct end in this time. The strawberry applesauce ended up everywhere, but a good portion of it actually made it to his mouth. We're so proud.

Before the meal, I am happy to report that he played happily alone in his room for nearly an hour while we cleaned the kitchen and cooked. He threw a few toys over the gate to freedom at first, though, and shouted for us. When he got quiet, we snuck by to check on him, and he was engrossed in his wire and bead toy (where you move the wooden beads along the colored metal wire). We were quite amazed that he was so happy and playing so peacefully while sitting in one place.

He eats with his left hand. He tried it with his right hand some, managed to dip the spoon in the sauce, but transferred it to his left hand to get it to his mouth. But when he and I were 'coloring' tonight, he used his right hand to make marks with his crayons. It'll be interesting to find out which one becomes dominant.

I also noticed today that his conversation is becoming much more sophisticated. He uses sounds that are so very like real words, in cadences like real sentences. We have absolutely no idea what he's saying much of the time, but he will occasionally throw in a word that we know, like 'tree' or 'Daddy' or 'outside' or 'door' or 'car'. Pretty soon he'll be telling me all about it!

infected

He woke up burning hot and crying, and the crying escalated to screaming once he got out of bed. We took him to the pediatrician, of course, and on the way there he got happy and talked and babbled to us. He weighs (gasp!) 24 pounds now. After quizzing us thoroughly to make sure Dennis wasn't having some sort of bad GI infection (lots of this going around), the doc looked in his ears for less than 2 seconds and discovered our problem. Dennis HATES having his ears looked in. He screamed like we were killing him. Yes, they are infected again. Second ear infection of his life. The first ear infection took 3 rounds of antibiotics to kill, though, so I hope this omnicef that we got today will do the trick. This go round we also have some auralgan numbing drops, and that should cut the screaming some.

He babbled happily on the way home again, and then zonked out. He has slept so much today, and I am glad, because when he's awake he's just miserable. He has no sense of balance, and it's freaking him out, and mostly he just wants us to pick him up and hold him while he cries. The fever is also making him miserable, and even though it's early, he's been dosed with tylenol and ibuprofen (2 hours apart, of course), ear drops, and antibiotic, and we're hoping he can sleep it off. Poor little guy. We've never seen him cry like this, ever, and it was so pitiful when he climbed into my lap and leaned against me and cried. His little eyes are red, and there are purple bags under his eyes--he even looks like he feels bad. I don't know where he picked up the infection, and I hope it wasn't exacerbated by the flight on Wednesday, but he never complained during the flight. He has seen his cousins (both sets) this week, and Chloe, and I hope he wasn't a little Typhoid Dennis passing something around for all to share. He didn't run fever until yesterday, though, so maybe all is ok.

I hope tomorrow is a better day to write about.

fever day

This morning we took Dennis to meet Pop at Shoney's for his Father's Day breakfast when we noticed that Dennis was acting peculiarly. He was burning up hot, and his lower jaw was trembling and his arms and legs were shaking a little. I ran next door to get him some Tylenol, and we finished the meal quickly and got him home. At first he lay in bed with us for a while, watching Happy Feet, but he got bored with it quickly, and we put him to bed in his own room. He napped all afternoon on and off, and we kept him updated on Tylenol and Motrin, and finally around 5:30 he was acting like himself again. We went in his room and played with him. We played with the animals in his barn, and we played with the Tonka dump truck, and with the ball sorter...

At dinner, he fed himself with a spoon fairly successfully, even dipping it into his applesauce and getting it to his mouth. At times he dipped one end and put the other end in his mouth, but all in all, he did very well. And after dinner, he wanted to be read to. He walked around his room, picking out books from the shelf and bringing them to David and snuggling down in his lap for a good listen. I got to read one book to him, but then he took it to David to reread. His favorites were his dinosaur color book and, as always, Moo Baa La La La. He concluded with Goodnight Moon, also chosen by him, and we put him back to bed. He seems to be feeling much better, but I know we'll be checking on him all night. It's the absolute worst when your baby is sick, and there's not much you can do to make them better when they whimper and cry pitifully because they just don't feel good. It makes us feel so helpless! I know David had a tough Father's Day worrying about the little guy. But that's what fathers do, I suppose.

15 months old!

I can't believe he's already 15 months! We spent the day at the lake and some friends came down. Dennis was excited to see Chloe after 2 weeks without seeing her. In fact, they invented a new game together today. We were all sitting on the sofas when we heard this inordinately loud bout of high pitched screeching and squealing. We jumped up, thinking they were killing each other, and Dave reached them first. It turns out that they were playing 'tag'. They were taking turns chasing each other and giggling hysterically. Dennis would chase Chloe in one direction, and she would scream, then they would switch and she'd chase him in the other direction while he screamed. And they both laughed the whole time. It was so cute!

Dennis also enjoyed some time visiting his cousins Laine and Emily earlier at his Grandma's house. And, joy of joys, he had hot dogs for 2 meals! He had them at Grandma's and again later when we grilled out. His lucky day!

He and Chloe enjoyed sharing the car today. They were very sweet about it, and each one only broke out into tears once. They took turns pushing each other around in the car. They also took turns holding each other's special security toy. When she took over the car, he grabbed her duck. She couldn't enjoy her car ride because she was so focused on watching Dennis with her duck. When she was out of the car, she got hold of his frog or his pacifier, as was only fair. And for one brief moment, he had everything, duck, frog, AND pacifier, and he was so proud of his accomplishment! Shortly after this, they both got put to bed and the adults had some prize Nintendo time. Good day!

drive naked

Dennis was reunited with his beloved car ("cahw") today for the first time since we've been back, and he was in it for a good part of the afternoon. He was so cute today, walking all over the place and talking constantly.

This morning, he developed a fascination with the broom. He kept grabbing it even though it's twice as tall as he is, and he even made some sweeping motions with it. He calls it a "bwooo". He walked all over the house with it, with me following close behind to make sure he didn't injure himself.

Tonight when we were getting him ready for bed, he insisted on driving his car around a few more times, and he even escaped during his diaper change and made a break for the car. I caught him driving naked, which he thought was hilarious.

He was happy to be at the lake house today, exploring all his favorite areas and trying the cabinets to see if maybe the childproofing had failed while we were on vacation. It hadn't. He did overcome one childproofing measure today, though. We called him and he came walking down the hall to us while holding our brand new toilet lock in his hand. He had apparently ripped it free of the toilet once he discovered that it prevented him from opening the lid and splashing in the water. I guess we're just going to have to keep the bathroom door closed!

Who are you?

I picked Christi, Gary and Dennis up from the airport last night. When I spoke to Dennis, while he was in his stroller, he looked at me like I was strange (ok, stranger than normal). Then while I was loading him into the carseat, again he looked at me like I was weird. Its really unnerving to see your own facial expressions from someone else. He didn't want anything to do with me after we got home either, he just wanted Christi.

Of course, that changed this morning when I went to get him out of his crib. It also might have had something to do with the sippy of chocolate milk I was carrying though. Not only that, he wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten how to change a diaper, so after four diapers he decided that was enought for a while. Yesterday was a long and difficult day for Dennis, because he took two long naps this morning. He also dozed a litttle on the way to Birmingham on our hunt for pillows. But he was really irritable once we got back home and was getting ready for bed. But as is normal for him, once changed, dressed, and placed in the crib with his frog, he was out like a light. Christi is dozing while reading so I get to enlighten the free world as to Dennis' exploits today. The only thing to say is that he enjoyed himself shopping. But that is pretty normal for him. And as usual, he enjoyed himself while we shopped. He's out as of right now, and with a little luck, he won't be back up until the morning rolls around.

flyboy

It was sad to leave Bellingham and the family today, but our sadness was mitigated somewhat by the news that there was room on our flight for the carseat. We were relocated to a bulkhead row and Dennis was able to sit in his carseat all the way from Seattle to Atlanta. He was very comfortable, and so were we! Lots of room in a bulkhead row! He was a dream baby on the flight, falling asleep after about 45 minutes and waking up about 40 minutes before we landed. I enjoyed watching his tiny hands and feet flexing and grasping his stuffed frog. He was smiley and giggly and so happy when he was awake, and naturally adorable when he was asleep. This flight was very comfortable, being a much larger plane. Dad and I watched free movie previews on the screens in front of us for half the flight.

We are in Atlanta now, and I don't anticipate being able to bring on the seat again, but this will be an extremely short flight. Dennis has been running up and down the B Terminal, getting rid of some energy before we board again. Pop and I took turns trying to corral him or (God forbid) hold his hand, which he hates!

We had a wonderful time, and we're almost home.

pink sunglasses

Our last day in Washington! Here Dennis is trying on Mirella's sunglasses. He looks like a mini Elton John. This is not a good thing, but wearing the glasses made him giggle. He walked around in them for several minutes, giggling mischievously.

Today we went to Hovander Park, where there was a demonstration farm that the kids enjoyed a good bit. Dennis met some cows, turkeys, peacocks, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, chickens, geese, and rabbits. He said all of those words except rabbit! He walked around so well, even though the ground was wet from all the rain yesterday and this morning. He's getting to be so mobile! He enjoyed sitting on a tractor and attempting to steer it. He also very much enjoyed the boardwalk that wanders through a bog at the park, talking the whole time, narrating our tour from his seat in the stroller.

He saw a big waterfall today, and he was very impressed. We stopped by Whatcom Falls Park to see the effects of all the rain, and the falls were powerful! Dennis was entranced, and he stared at the view, smiled, and waved at the waterfall a number of times. He talked all the way back to Gran's place.

Tonight Michael and Kristin made a delicious dinner for all of us and the children enjoyed playing with all the toys (and Dennis especially enjoyed relocating the toys). A sitter came (the nice girl that keeps Caedmon in church nursery) after the kids went to bed to watch (well, listen for) them while the adults went out for a decadent dessert date at Nimbus, a restaurant located at the top of Bellingham Towers with a gorgeous view of the bay and nearby islands and city of Bellingham. Too soon we were back here and now are in the midst of a packing frenzy. Mom (Gran) is staying another week, so Dennis and Pop and I will be flying without her tomorrow. Maybe I'll get to take the carseat on the plane in her place...

artist in training

We're taking it easy today, which has been great. Dennis and I both took long morning naps today, and afterward, Kristin brought Caedmon and Mirella over to visit. The cousins enjoyed playing together again. Caedmon worked on his puzzle while Dennis and Mirella enjoyed climbing in and falling out of the booster seat that was on the floor and again sharing sippy cups. They are all napping in their pods right now, and I can't believe how quiet it is!

It's raining here, which happens a good bit, and instead of braving it to see the sights, we've been enjoying staying around here. Mom and Dad and Kristin have just left for a walk around Our Lake, which is here in the complex and beautiful. It's like a damp winter day outside, and even that is more refreshing than the miserable 95 that David reported back home.

Dennis painted his first painting today, featured here. Gran bought canvases for each of the children to paint, and Dennis pioneered the project because he was the last to go down for his nap. He started off slow, but once he put his fingers in the paint blob, he figured out he could spread the paint on the canvas. He loved this! He completed his masterpiece by slapping his had down on the canvas many times. Not bad for his first art experiment (well, second I guess, as he wrote on the chalkboard this morning for a minute before eating the chalk).

It's so cozy here, watching the wind blowing through those extremely tall northwest evergreens, knowing it's cold outside and enjoying hot tea and wearing thick soft socks! In June, no less. It's really going to be a shock to my system to return to Alabama in 2 days. It is due to warm up here soon, and there are always 2 very hot weeks every summer made more miserable by the fact that no one has air conditioning. Michael said that everyone lives in their baby pools during those weeks, so I expect we'll be living in the water back home for the rest of the summer.

Everyone here does so much outdoor stuff, and there are so many parks around. Mom and I hope to continue our walks when we get back, and we'll be headed to the nearby mountains to find cooler spots to exercise. We're looking forward to it!

pacific Dennis

Dennis dipped his toes into the Pacific Ocean for the first time today. All of us went to Lummi Island today so that Dennis could get to ride a ferry, which he liked very much. Of all the adventures that Dennis has had, I think that he had more fun at that beach today than he's ever had. He loved running around on the rocky shore and running right up to the water line and walking in the water. He loved picking up the rocks and tasting some of them. He found some driftwood and brought it to the water after he watched Caedmon do this. He laughed and laughed and laughed today, just because he was so happy. He got soaked, of course, and absolutely filthy, but he had the best time ever. We could hardly keep up with him, and we had no luck keeping him out of the water!

Uncle Michael is proving himself to be that zany uncle that every kid loves. He tossed Dennis up in the air and tickled him, and, most importantly, gave him a driving lesson today. He actually turned loose of the steering wheel when Dennis brushed his hands off, but he managed to regain control after Dennis steered us sharply to the right, perilously close to a ditch. It was hilarious, and Dennis was so proud of himself. Caedmon drove us onto the ferry for the return trip.

It was another fabulous day here, and I love watching Dennis's eyes go wide as he takes in all the new scenery. We are having such a good time, and words cannot describe how wonderful it is to see his delight with all the things we are doing. He loves his cousins very much, and I hope we get to visit often so that they will get to know each other well. Caedmon can say "Dennis", but Dennis hasn't tried to say his name. Dennis started calling Mirella "Rella" today. They enjoyed each other's company in the back seat today, as their carseats face opposite directions. Pop had to referee some sippy cup and pacifier wars, but all in all they had a great time together.

This trip is going by entirely too quickly! But Dennis misses his Daddy, and asks for him a little more insistently every day. We'll be home in just 3 days now.

night night

Today was an easier day for Dennis since he wasn't confined to a stroller or airplane or carseat all day. We spent the morning here at Mom & Dad's place, letting Dennis walk around and play with his toys. After lunch we went a mile down the road and walked around Lake Padden and Dennis enjoyed seeing some north woods scenery. We put him in the stroller because he was sleepy when we got there, but he was so engrossed in the scenery that he didn't sleep. We strolled all the way around the lake, a nice 3 mile trail that was level enough for the stroller. Michael and Kristin and the kids met up with us at the halfway point and hiked back with us the way they had come. We turned the kids loose at the playground, and they had a great time. I got a little misty eyed watching Dennis walking around in his windbreaker, jeans, and tennis shoes, just running around like a big kid. He and Mirella enjoyed the swings and both tried to climb up the slide. Caedmon climbed all over the place and had a good time as well.

Dad (Pop) grilled out a fabulous supper of burgers, hot dogs, and sausages, and we ate together as much as a group including 3 toddlers can eat together. The babies played sweetly together and alongside each other. Caedmon was engrossed in his train number puzzle and didn't have anything to do with the little ones, but they enjoyed stealing each others' pacifiers and sippy cups and neither complained a bit. Before we ate, all 3 were sleeping in their 3 pods, and Michael referred to them as gestating Gremlins.

Tonight, just as Michael and family were leaving to handle bathtime and bedtime at their house, Dennis began very loudly saying "Nie Nie" which we figure is "night night", and he said it dozens of times. As soon as we accomplished hugs and kisses, they were out the door and Dennis actually went night night. No complaints, not even a whimper, so I suppose he was really ready to go to sleep.

Do you know how hard it is to clean up after a greasy dinner where 3 toddlers ate on a clear glass table? Fingerprints all over the table and underneath the table as well where they crawled under and peered up at us and made many handprints. Yuck.

Dennis enjoyed playing with the moss on the side of a tree that was within stroller range today, and he tried his best to touch some lichens on a fallen log. I think he was amazed by the sheer enormity of the trees here. His big eyes were open wide the whole time, taking everything in! Can't wait to see what he does tomorrow.

oh Canada

Dennis left the U.S.A. today for the first time since he's been born. Technically, he was in Canada while in utero when we were touring Niagara Falls, but today he saw a little bit of British Columbia. A very little bit of British Columbia. Ok, to be honest, he saw IKEA. And some cows and farmland, and much of the town of Langley, some distant mountains, a big bridge, and the duty free store. We weren't in Canada very long, just went to get Gran some decor items for her place in Washington. I don't know what Dennis thought of Canada. He said "Canada" and he looked around a good bit, but he had a meltdown in IKEA and another meltdown at the duty free shop, and then he slept for the rest of his visit. Perfectly understandable when he had 4 bad poopy diapers on top of the kind of diaper rash that bleeds--I would melt down, too.

Dennis played with his cousins very sweetly today, taking toys over to them and offering them to them. He's very good at sharing. He wasn't so nice to his 'cousin' Willow (the cat). He was gleefully excited to see TWO cats at Caedmon's and Mirella's place. He kept saying "cat" and then went over to them. Inky, the intelligent one, knew to get out of his reach. Willow stayed put and took a few beating attacks, meowing pitifully but not running away and (thankfully) not attacking back. He was petting Willow, but petting for Dennis is mostly equivalent to vigorous slapping. We have large dogs at home. They can take it. Cats won't. Our cat does, but she's really a dog in a cat suit. Poor Willow. Dennis was really rough on him. And he had no clue that he was hurting the cat, he was just excited and wanted to pet him. This wouldn't have been so awful if he hadn't then gone over to Caedmon to pet his hair, but he was considerably more gentle by then, and I scooped him up before tears were shed. And Willow went to have some cave time in a room with no babies in it.

Dennis loved his cousins' toys and books and shoes. He played so much that he didn't want to stop to eat. He had a few bites of pancake for breakfast, which is a shame because the pancakes were incredible and if he weren't so ready to play, he would have really enjoyed savoring them. I would have liked to savor them a little more myself, actually, rather than rushing through breakfast so that I could keep a watch on Dennis. It worked, though. I don't think anyone made anyone else cry. Pretty good for 3 kids that young (2 & 1/2, 11 months, and 14 months).

Washington is beautiful! I can't wait to get out and see more of it. I know Dennis will like seeing the huge trees and pretty flowers and incredible ferns everywhere. And I can't describe how great it is that the high temp tomorrow will not top 55 degrees. It might rain some, but who cares? Tomorrow back home it will be 95 degrees and sunny and HOT!

I am also happy to report that we have luggage. They did not deliver it, as promised, and instead I had to make a trip to the Bellingham airport to get it, but we have it now, and Dennis is resting comfortably knowing he has a good diaper supply and clothes and pajamas that fit a little better (though I can't wait to see him in the ones from Caedmon when he grows into them).

Looking forward to more adventure tomorrow!

flight day

We have arrived safely in Bellingham, WA. Dennis is here, Pop is here, I'm here. Our baggage is NOT here, however. And our flight was 2 hours late in landing. This means that we were on the plane for 2 and a half hours longer than we anticipated being on the plane. Words cannot describe the way I feel about Delta at the moment. (Delay Everyone's Luggage Through Atlanta) We were among the first people at the gate in Atlanta, where we had a 3 hour layover. Must have been the folks in Birmingham that messed things up. And we were delayed because of all those bad storm systems that were over the west today.

Dennis behaved beautifully. He was very sweet and made some new friends in the airport. He got tired of being in Atlanta, though, and we had to walk laps for the last 15 minutes before we boarded. The flight was FULL. And we had the pleasure of sitting in the exact last row with a stranger (who fortunately was pretty nice). On the long flight, he watched his dvd for 20 minutes, talked and flirted for another 15, then fell asleep across our laps and slept in various weirdly contorted positions for the next 4 hours. Then he woke up, because his little internal clock knew that we should have been landing at this time. Except we didn't. He watched more sesame videos and podcasts for awhile, and climbed up on my head and Pop's head and banged on the guy's head who was sitting in front of us. He threw Elmo and Frog to the floor repeatedly, ate some goldfish crackers, tossed some goldfish crackers, ate some raisins, drank some juice...typical toddler stuff. No major meltdown, and I'm so proud, because I would like to have a major meltdown myself.

We're looking forward to a nice vacation now, and I hope that leg of the return flight doesn't have us trapped in a plane for over 7 hours takeoff-to-landing.

Just checked Delta's website. Our baggage is at the airport. We should have it delivered to us within 12 hours. I have 4 diapers to get me through until then... And no extra clothes... And our jackets are in the luggage...

Dennis got to borrow a pod from his cousins to sleep in, and he's out now. I will be too, almost immediately!!!

ready to go

The bags are packed. Dennis is asleep. Tomorrow we fly all the way across the country! I packed a number of baby diversions in the carry-on luggage. I was still shopping for blue jeans and a rain coat at 10:00pm! Nothing like waiting til the last minute!

He was very very very sweet today, and I am encouraged because he wanted to sit in my lap a good bit. This is something he'll be forced to do tomorrow unless the good folks at Delta let me bring on the carseat (please, God).

Lots of hugs, lots of kisses, and lots of conversations today. And he's starting to be like his Daddy, needing "cave time". He wanted to be alone in his pod, not necessarily to sleep, but to lay back and enjoy talking to his frog in the nice cool air conditioned room. He took 3 naps today! He didn't sleep the whole time, but he seemed to enjoy just being sprawled out and relaxing.

He is already losing some of his baby look. Still adorably cute (as evidenced by every person we saw yesterday making a big spectacle of him), but starting to look like a little boy rather than an infant. Hard to watch them grow up, but fun at the same time.

Tomorrow we'll post from the West Coast!!!!

all smiles

I'm happy to report that my sweet little guy was back in residence today. That little whiny guy from yesterday wasn't around today, thank goodness. I'm glad those days are more the exception than the rule.

He was in such a great mood all day. I suppose we can attribute it to lots of rest, because he slept quite well and took nice long naps as well. We played with his farm this morning, and when I stepped out to go to the kitchen for his juice cup, I heard a crash. A cyclone hit the ole' farmstead while I was out, and cows, horses, geese, apples, and farmers (plus a couple of barns) were whisked to all corners of his room. Dennis really seems to be into catastrophe playing these days. Guess we'd better warn the pets.

He talked a good bit today, and he's starting to ask for specific things. When we were in the car headed to have lunch with David, he kept asking "Daddy?". And later when we left there without David in the car, he again insisted "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy?" until I had to roll down the car window and have David assure him that he was coming home as well. When he woke up from his nap, he said "Mommy. Daddy? Cheese." So I took him to see David and fed him some cheese crackers, and he couldn't have been happier.

He was very affectionate today, climbing in my lap and kissing me with a "mmmwwaaaaa" sound. So sweet. He's very hard to resist like this, and he knows it! He also invented a new game today, but I have serious concerns for his safety while he plays it. He found a pillowcase when he was rearranging the linen cubby, and I draped it over his head. He pulled it back off and I said "peek-a-boo", and then he was off and running. He covered his head with the pillowcase and took off, and I followed and said "peek-a-boo" whenever he peeked. He has not realized that it's not safe to walk with your eyes covered up, and he bonked his head on the table, a doorway, and the dryer. It didn't even slow him down, he just backed up and took off in another direction, still with his head covered. Though it's hilarious, I don't know how I feel about mobile peek-a-boo.

He was funny in his bath tonight too, talking and splashing nonstop. David took a bath with him (one of us always does) tonight, and he (Dennis) learned how to open and close the sliding shower doors. He thought this was great fun, and he stood up, slid open the door, looked at me, yelled "DAY" as loud as he could, gave me his most solemn and serious expression, then sat down and smiled at me. I'm sure this meant something extremely important, but I don't know what it could be.

He talked all day. We identified trees (not tree varieties, mind you, we just pointed to any tree and said "tree") and dogs because he likes to say "tree" and "dog". He also asks for juice now when he's thirsty. As far as we know, "jooooss" refers to any liquid in his sippy cup. He can repeat many words that we say now, and when I was singing the alphabet song to him, he would pronounce random letters that he heard. The one he picked out and kept repeating was "w", and that's a hard one to say ('dubbayew' is how he said it).

Tonight he watched me blow on a piece of chicken to cool it off before I put it in front of him, so he picked up all his food and blew on each piece before he ate it. He made a big production of the blowing, too. Very cute. He ate some English peas without balking, and I am mildly horrified that he rejected broccoli but ate those yucky peas. Ewwwwww. I suppose he has his Daddy's taste buds. My taste buds won't tolerate those things.

He was fun today. I love those days where he's full of smiles and laughter, when he is happy with himself and the world. I suppose there has to be a bad day every now and then just to make me appreciate all the good ones we have, and there are so many good ones!

whino

All Dennis did today was whine. All day. Almost non-stop. Not much else to write about.

We think he's getting some new teeth, because there are other indications that point to this. Also, we are having an incredible diaper rash problem, or rather, HE is (our butts are fine). But since he's suffering, we're all suffering.

As always, there were moments of cuteness. He was asleep in his stroller when we went to lunch, and when he woke up, he was pleasantly surprised to find himself in a toy store. We didn't know he had woken up until the stroller started to veer toward a wooden toy workbench and a pair of little hands reached out to grab whatever was grabworthy. He wanted out of his stroller, naturally, so we let him run around. I got two balls down from a display and showed them to him, and he was so excited he didn't know which one to go to first. He walked toward the balls while waving his arms up and down rapidly, saying "ball". He picked one up, then put it down and picked the other one up, then tried to pick up both up at the same time (to no avail, they were too big). In the bookstore today (where we waited while David dealt with the AT&T people about our internet connect card), he had a great time with the Thomas the Train setup. The train cars were involved in a serious gravitational accident and a mysterious force flung several entire trains to the floor. Mommy had to pick them up. Several times. He took off running down the bookstore aisle while I was restoring things to pre-disaster arrangement, and he stopped at a display of wooden train track additions. He brought the box over and laid it on top of the wooden track on the train table. I was impressed that he knew that these were pieces of track just like the ones on the table.

I must report that his running-away skills are greatly improved. I actually had to jog quickly to catch him before he took off for parts unknown in Books-A-Million. And Saturday, he grabbed 2 tubes of candy and took off for the door leading out of Cracker Barrel. He's a fast little bugger. We've been explaining to him about shoplifting, and how we can't just grab things and leave, but he might be a tad young for that concept to sink in.

As always, there was some mischief. He threw several wooden puzzle pieces in the trash can at his grandma's house over the weekend. He played in a few toilets. He nearly snatched a USB jump drive right out of the computer earlier. He drooled profusely in Daddy's shoe, and when David put his foot in later, he was horrified. It's amazing to me how someone so small can get into so many things in so little time. I think I might have just explained the essence of toddlerhood with that one statement!

Elmo loves Dennis

Dennis enjoyed spending time with his extended family today. He walked around the cemetery with his Aunt Karen and smiled and talked to his Great Granny and his Grandma and his Aunt Melissa. He enjoyed being the center of attention today and not having to share his Grandma with those girl cousins of his.

He charmed everyone at the hotel during continental breakfast, and he loved helping us get packed up to check out. His specialty is grabbing bags and unpacking them quickly while our backs are turned. I think he could have a good future as a baggage inspector.

He wasn't so happy on the drive home, though. He slept until we arrived in Birmingham, when we so rudely awakened him to make him go inside the AT&T store with us to inquire about high speed internet, which we can get via a mobile internet card at comparable rates to what cable or DSL would cost (neither of those is available out in our area of the woods). He was extremely bored with what little selection there was at AT&T, and I didn't turn him loose for fear he'd find an iPhone and break it (who in the world could afford for that to happen?)! After we were hooked up with our card and software, we were off to find a WiFi connection to find the drivers to make it work with Vista, ha ha ha, and some lovely people at Best Buy solved the problem, mostly. The software is installed. The card that we were sold, however, is not the one that fits with our computer, and the AT&T store, of course, closed early today, so we will be redoing this whole deal tomorrow, unfortunately. Dennis pretty much lost it in Best Buy. He was exhausted, he hadn't napped enough, there were no kid friendly areas, he got tired of playing with and dropping my cell phone... Granted, he did manage to take a nice picture of my left breast with my camera phone (clothed, of course!!!). When I heard the camera noise, I grabbed the phone away from him and saw the picture, which was already set up to go out in a message. I don't know who he was planning on sending it to, but those were some lucky button pushes he had accomplished thus far, and I'm glad I intervened before the people on my contact list were left scratching their heads over that particular photo. Poor Dennis. He was so bored, and we were in there for 5 forevers while they tried to wrangle Vista into cooperating. He cried and I nearly cried, and then finally it was over and we were out of there. We checked another AT&T dealer in the mall to see if they had the right card, but they were sold out. Dennis wasn't so upset about being in the mall, especially since he got to have a cookie and milk from the cookie place there. He slept hard on the way south, and then we were at his Grandma's house to visit the family.

He was the floor show. He played with the wooden kitchen, and he held his phone up to his ear and talked, and he giggled. He successfully grabbed the bottom of a bag of Fritos and dumped them across a wide area of floor. He walked dozens and dozens of laps around the open floor plan at his Grandma's. He exuded cuteness for all to enjoy until he nearly conked out from exhaustion. Tonight he went down in his crib with nary a whimper.

Cute things of note today: He has been trying on Daddy's shoes. It's so cute to watch him try to turn the shoe and his foot in the same direction while saying "shoe" over and over again. And we have managed to find him an Elmo, and he's constantly saying "Elmo" now. We were in a bookstore today for a minute (they have nice bathrooms, okay) and he passed by a display of jumbled up stuffed animals in the children's section, grabbed a red furry limb and exclaimed "Elmo!!". When he pulled it free, it sure enough was an Elmo. I was so proud. But then he grabbed a Cookie Monster and said "Elmo" (sacrilege!!). They do look alike except for fur color, especially in a small stuffed animal type representation. I just let it go. I'm happy to report that we found a soft cuddly Elmo for him that doesn't say or do anything! We call him the Elmo Be Quiet model. Highly recommended.