half-naked chef

Here he is, playing in the toy kitchen at the lake house!

The past two days have been extremely busy for us, spending some final time with Jason before he leaves and trying to help Gran and Pop get on the road for their big cross-country driving trip. I would like to say that tonight we can sit back and relax, but instead I'm doing laundry and packing for our camping weekend in Decatur. We leave in the morning. We could probably wait until Saturday to go, but then we probably wouldn't get a very nice campsite. Tomorrow it is.

Dennis was pretty irritable yesterday, and I might have gotten frustrated if I didn't give him the excuse of tiredness after playing with his cousins coupled with fairly bad diaper rash. He did enjoy playing with Gran some while I worked on cleaning their car. And then he had a nice supper with Grandma and her friend and spent the evening there as David and I actually went to dinner and a movie. That's two movies we've been to the theatre for since Dennis was born! It was a late night, and we picked Dennis up after midnight and brought him home. He had a little fever, and I checked on him many times last night. So much so that I feel like a bit of a zombie at the moment. Surely we will all sleep good tonight. No more fever today, and profuse drool, so I am left to presume that there's some tooth action going on somewhere in his mouth. Not that he'll let me see, of course, since his teeth are a closely guarded secret. We only see them when he decides to show them to us.

Today he was our little buddy. David played in his room with him this morning while I finished detailing the vehicle for Gran and Pop. Side note: Isuzu Troopers are BIG cars. BIG. It was more of a project than I anticipated, but I did enjoy watching it look better with every swipe of Armor All and every pass on the outside with Turtle Wax and the buffer. Yes, we do own a buffer. Nice piece of history behind it. Seems our 'friends' gave our old Chevy Caprice a serious decor job after our wedding, and Uncle Denny helped us get the buffer so that we could clean it up. We soon realized that we should have waxed the car BEFORE the wedding, as black shoe polish soaks into old paint (who uses black shoe polish on a pale blue car, anyway?). In the brightest sunlight, that car still said "Do The Wild Thing" on the hood, and the older gentleman we sold it to must have been the talk of his neighborhood. David swears he saw it on a truck of crushed cars one day and he reported that there were still 'happy sperm' swimming all along the bottom of the doors--our friends have such lovely and mature taste in car decor. And before I make our friends sound like total immature losers, let me report that we were 19 and 20 when we married, and most of our friends were still in their teens.

Though I might have been tempted for a minute, I did not write any phrases on the Trooper's paint job or windows. It's sparkling now, and I hope it gets Gran and Pop safely and comfortably to Washington. Dennis rode around in my car with me after I finished it, after saying goodbye to his Gran, and we slummed and ate McDonald's for supper. I was at loose ends and didn't know what to do with myself after they left, so I found myself driving us to the lake house to have a picnic on the deck and take supper to David. Becky and Bob were there as well, and Dennis enjoyed showing his Grandma how he can walk up stairs now instead of crawling, using the railing and spindles to help him step up. He was very proud.

Yesterday, he went to his bedroom door and told me he wanted to go outside (by saying "outside" of course), and I had been trying to catch him so I could put his shoes on. I got one shoe on and he escaped before I could put on the other one. He went back to the door to beat on it and ask "outside?". I told him we couldn't go outside until he had his shoes on, and he turned right around and came and sat in my lap and held up his bare foot. I was very surprised. I just told him that to make conversation with him, and I couldn't believe he understood what I meant. His comprehension increases every day along with his vocabulary. I'm trying everything I can think of to keep him interested in books and to keep naming the things he sees. He even wants me to identify the sounds he hears now. He can sure tell when a boat is coming. He hears it and announces "boat", then points to it. Today he waved at the neighbors going by on their boat. He waved first, and then I think he got a wave in return once they saw him. It's a job keeping that smart little brain stimulated, but it's a challenge I'm enjoying immensely. I can't wait to see what he learns next (and I know I may regret these words!).

afternoon letdown

Due to extreme and indescribably frustrating technical difficulties, the posts for Sunday and Monday are late, late, late! But now they are here (I checked!), so settle in and read on (or begin there and work your way up)...

Caedmon and Mirella (and Kristin) left today after lunch. The kids all had a nice morning stroll while I made breakfast (using Uncle Denny's famous homemade biscuit recipe) and then ate and played a while, then napped, then played. Like yesterday, they pooped in threes. One would go first, then the other two would follow suit. While unpleasant most of the time, this event was grossified further by the sheer volume of blueberries the three of them consumed over the course of two days. Ewwwwwwww.

We posed them together in the wagon (hoping it might contain them long enough to snap a few shots) and then fed them lunch. They played some more with the aforementioned Fisher Price camper (which you will not know about yet if you are not reading these in chronological order) and before we knew it, so much time had passed that the party had to end. They were not sad goodbyes, as Dennis will be spending the weekend with his cousins and Gran will be traveling out to see them in Washington.

After they left, Dennis didn't know what to do with himself. He didn't want to eat lunch, and he seemed kind of tired. He walked around looking for them for some time before deciding that he could settle for me. We played with his toys and then he wanted to go outside and see his Daddy. He asks to go out now, just walks up to the door and says "side?" several times until you get the message. Just getting out to the porch isn't enough anymore, especially since he knows where the sprinkler was set up. He walks to the outside door and repeats his plea. Sadly for him, we didn't go outside today. We played in the screened porch until he walked up to the door and asked to go inside (same way he asks to go outside). He said "eat? eat eat" as we were walking in, and to make sure I got the message, walked over to the refrigerator and pointed to it as he repeated himself. Then he climbed on the bottom rung of the high chair, said "high chair" and "eat". When I had him settled, he said "blueberry" as he was eating some cheese, so I got him some blueberries and added some peach slices and leftover biscuit. He ate messily and happily, and demanded "joosh" (juice) in case I was planning on sitting down at the table with him before I fixed his drink. I am happy to report that he has gotten so much better at setting his drink on the table after he drinks rather than tossing it to the floor. He still tosses food pieces he doesn't like to the floor, though. It's fine at home because we have a canine garbage retrieval and leftover consumption service, but when we're out places (like the lake house), we have lots of cleanup! Especially today, when I had to vacuum the house twice because I cooked homemade biscuits, and they crumble very appealingly when crushed by little hands.

After he ate, he played quietly with his car for a long time, putting the people in and driving it across the floor. I tried to see if I could get online to post his reports, to no avail, and while I was working on the computer, he brought me a plate and spatula from his play kitchen and set it on the tv tray I was using as a desk. I thanked him profusely for cooking me a (pretend) meal and sampled it and gave my compliments to the chef. He was very pleased with this, and pretended to eat off the plate like I did, giggling and saying "Mmmmmm....". I had to put the computer away and get down on the floor and play with him because he was being so cute and fun. When he went down for his nap, the place was so very quiet and empty, and I flirted with depression for a quarter of an hour before taking the baby monitor and phone down to the dock to David and then heading out to explore the lake on my SeaDoo. Mommy time on a high speed watercraft. Good cure for the blues. We are home tonight, and it was hard to put Dennis to bed because we were enjoying his company so much. He plopped in my lap with his Over in the Meadow book and he learned to point out the animals I was reading about. He liked to find each animal in the big picture at the end that had all the animals in it. His favorite were the bees, which he pointed to with that chubby little damp finger while gleefully buzzing and then saying "BEE". Can you even imagine the cuteness? I don't think so.

sprinkled

HOT HOT HOT! This was a scorcher. We stayed in most of the day and played. Dennis took some monster naps today, so much so that we were almost concerned. Maybe he was in reverse hibernation--sleeping when it's hot so that he can function again when it's cool. Not a bad idea. More likely he was all played out from being around his cousins nonstop.

We all had breakfast with Granny before she headed back to Dothan, then we (Mom, Kristin, and I) tried to nap while the children napped. We weren't very successful. We just had no energy whatsoever. The children had plenty of energy, however, and we enjoyed watching them play with the new toy that arrived in the mail today for Dennis. We had e-Bayed for him a vintage Fisher Price Pop Up Camper set to keep in our camper. It has a 4WD type vehicle that pulls a camper that actually folds up into a small box just as ours does, and when 'popped' out features a sink and stove and dinette table and two tented bunkends, also just as ours does. It came with two motorcycles, a boat that fits on top of the tow vehicle, and a storage box that goes on top of the camper (which contains two lounge chairs and a picnic table and benches), and a family of 5 plus dog. For a toy made in 1979, it looks wonderful, and the kids played with it for hours. Mirella and Dennis enjoyed putting the people in the car (or their mouths) and camper, and Caedmon enjoyed folding and unfolding the camper and hooking it to the car (and occasionally trying to fold up the people inside the camper). It was money well spent, for every time they saw the set all put away in the box, they got it out again and played with it.

While dinner was grilling, I set up the Elmo sprinkler that Gran bought for the little ones to keep at her house (Pop brought it to the lake for us), and I suited Dennis up in his swim diaper, trunks, and Tevas. He took a few seconds to decide if he liked the idea of a sprinkler, but soon he was running and playing in it like children love to do. Mirella was right behind him in joining in the fun, crawling up to the jets of water and putting her hands in, then crawling her entire self in. Caedmon watched from the swing for a good while before we convinced him to give it a try, and soon enough he was giggling and soaking wet from head to toe. Daddy/Uncle David twirled the kids in the air and through the spray, doubling their fun, and then when they were done, sat in the middle of it to cool down from his hard day of dock construction. Sprinkler play followed by supper and a boat ride wore the babies out, and we put them to bed exhausted and happy. We rounded out our day with brownies and popcorn and girl talk while Pop and Daddy ran into town to take care of things for us. I'd like to think we enjoyed some lazy summer days at the lake, but laziness just doesn't happen with 3 children under 3 running around. We all had such fun, though.

wagon train

Oh the playing that happened today! Babies everywhere--Caedmon, Dennis, Chloe, and Mirella, all together. And family everywhere, too! Great Grandmother and Granddaddy and Great Granny and Uncle Denny and Gran and Pop and Aunt Kristin and Ellen and Jason (and of course, Mommy & Daddy)... It was a big, fun day at the lake.

Dennis and Chloe enjoyed a wagon ride to the end of the road and back--Caedmon visited in the wagon briefly but bowed out of the ride. And later the babies got to ride on Jason's ski boat, which they all enjoyed very much, especially the driving lessons. It was total chaos with everyone around, but we all had such a good time visiting together. Cuteness happened all around. And there were a few scary moments when Dennis got away from us and teetered on the brink of disaster, but we were so blessed that he didn't fall off a deck or knock himself out on the boat railing, and mostly we celebrated what a happy occasion it is when family and good friends can spend time together.

Dennis visited each relative individually and gave them lots of attention. And I finally got to see him playing with the toy kitchen at the lake. He and Chloe and Mirella really worked hard cooking and washing dishes and putting utensils in the freezer. I am happy to report that we are all feeling well and we all played so hard that we should sleep extra well tonight!

play right, mommy

The pictures are of Dennis playing in the toy closet at his Grandma's place last night...

Yes, today was the big family day--his cousins arrived at the lake and Chloe was also visiting at Dianne's lake place. I missed it ALL, stuck here at home in bed with a body temperature fluctuating between 100 and 104. I have no other symptoms, but everyone has big trips planned for next weekend and I didn't want to risk making anyone sick with whatever it is that's making me have a fever. I had been looking forward to seeing all the babies playing together and boat riding together, but I didn't get to see it. Fortunately, David and Dennis do not have fevers, so they went down to the lake to see everyone, and Dennis got to go on the boat with his cousins, where I hear all had a fabulous time.

There's a new play kitchen at the lake. I haven't seen it yet, but Gran assures me that all the children love it, and she was surprised that Dennis knew exactly how to play with everything. He has spent lots of time with us in the kitchen lately, but I'm not sure that totally explains it. His play has suddenly gotten very sophisticated. Today he put his farmer in the tractor and drove the tractor around on the rug. Then he took the farmer out of the tractor and made him go into the barn. Last week, he was still just tossing everything onto the floor. What really amazed me happened yesterday, when we were playing with his Little People airplane. I put a passenger in through the opening in the top and set her in a seat. Dennis looked at me as if I had made a grievous error and pulled the passenger back out of the plane. Then, looking at me as if to show me the 'correct' way to do it, he opened the door to the plane and walked the passenger through it to her seat. He all of a sudden knows how his pretend toys work! I suppose it's the same with the kitchen set, but I haven't seen him playing with this particular one. At his Grandma's last night, he put the top on the pot and put the pot on the burner on her play kitchen and said "cook". It's time to get him a kitchen for here, and I've certainly been looking. I'm trying to avoid all those plastic monstrosities out there even though they have realistic sounds and lights. I love the Plan Toys kitchen stuff, but I don't care to spend over $600 to get him a toy kitchen. It may be environmentally friendly and gorgeous in design, but it certainly isn't economically friendly! That said, I looked at the Pottery Barn website, where the kitchen set came from that started him playing with kitchen sets, and they are terribly expensive as well. There is one set on closeout, nice and white with 3 pieces, and I would love to get it for him but it won't ship until after November. While it would be a great Christmas for him, with my luck it would be backordered then and we'd end up with nothing. So I will be visiting the local store to see if they have it in stock. If I strike out there, as I did with the one from Target that got discontinued, one that I dearly loved because it was wooden and blue and not girly at all, then I will be searching online for something else. Kidkraft makes one that's a one piece set with all appliances included, and it's white and blue and red and yellow and not terrible, but now that I've seen the ones with separate oven and sink and refrigerator, that's what I would like him to have. That's what he loved playing with so much at a friend's house. Probably he would be happy with anything we got, plastic or not. He is a one-year-old, after all. And I could just suck it up and get used to something garish in my kitchen for a few years. I did get him that awful red plastic car that he loves so much! I think that kids find different items to be aesthetically pleasing than their parents do. Only natural, I suppose. It did take me 32 years to hone my preferences to what they are now!

walking ROCKS!

He behaved very nicely today, all day, and it was just fun to be around him. Constant chatter, some of it understandable, most not, kept me smiling nearly every minute. What a fun age this is, this time before the middle of his second year. He changes every day and manages to surprise and amaze me all the time.

The biggest thing we did today was go on a walk. We went to the lake, trying to no avail to catch up with Gran, and we took lunch to Daddy. Dennis ate mandarin orange slices today, and he devoured them. Usually he's only half interested and spits them out a good bit, but not today. He nearly swallowed the pieces whole (they are kind of slimy) and opened his mouth for more much like a baby bird would. Just for the record, I didn't pre-chew his orange slices. That's just gross. To get back on track... After we ate, David needed some tools out of his car, parked at the end of the road. So we all walked there. Dennis was excited to be turned loose on the road (it's gravel and dirt, and very lightly traveled), and he kept picking up rocks and showing them to us (saying "Wock!" over and over). He had quite a collection going until he learned to toss them! He tasted some gravel despite our efforts to keep that little hand from going to that little mouth. Toward the end of the road, we passed a home that had a tall wooden staircase leading up to the door. Dennis wanted to climb that staircase more than anything, but we didn't want him knocking on a stranger's door. We had to pick him up and carry him past the house, and he was infuriated, until he saw the boat launch when we set him down and started heading for it, trying to touch an electric cable and a large hot metal dumpster on the way. Of course we had to carry him back to the house--he didn't do such a great job walking back on his own. He headed that way, but he was all over the place, and he really wanted to eat rocks then. We decided it was best to carry him, and he had a nice ride on his Daddy's shoulders. Dennis and I left the lake after that and came home, and we both had a nice afternoon nap. He 'helped' me cook supper, and then we went to visit Grandma for a bit since she hadn't seen him in three weeks (pretty bad when she only lives six miles away...but we were all too busy to manage to connect before today). He played and emptied the toy closet, then sat in the closet and played. He walked around and around the furniture for a while, then walked up to me and put his hand up in the air. Then he walked to his Daddy and put his hand up in the air. Then he put both hands up and said "bye bye", so we got the hint and said our goodbyes, brought him home, put on his pj's, and tucked him in. He was so ready for bed! He sat for a minute then rolled onto his side with Froggy and the pacifier and was almost asleep before we hit the door. Tomorrow his Washington cousins are coming to play at the lake. It's going to be a big family weekend!

little keymaster

Today Dennis tried to break his staying awake record. I think he's been up more hours than me today. He resisted the morning nap, so we went on to Gran's house to have lunch with her. He played happily in her den, knocking over the block towers we built and saying "boom" as they fell. He growled as he approached the towers. I suppose he was playing dinosaur again today. He did the neatest thing today. He picked up a key ring from the ottoman, rotated the keys around, said "keys", and then pulled out one key from the ring, gripped it in his fingers (just as I would), looked up at the door, and began walking over to it with the key aimed right at the doorknob. I told his Gran to look, look, look, and sure enough, he touched the key right to the knob. If it had been an outside door, I would not have been surprised to see him put the key in the lock! I must report, this is a skill he picked up strictly by watching. We did not teach him this at all! Shortly after amazing us with his key skills, we watched him walk over to the door leading to the sunroom and the garden. He said "outside", reached up, turned the knob, and opened the door. He looked back to see if we were coming as well, so we followed him out there and looked at the fish and the flowers and the trees.

His Gran wants me to report the other skill he learned today. I made brownies this afternoon when Gran and I needed a chocolate fix. I passed the batter bowl to her so she could scrape out and eat the batter remnants. Dennis stuck his fingers in the bowl, and he learned to lick each finger individually to get the batter off. He had a fudge mustache and beard for a while, and he sure got angry when I went to wipe his face! My kid loves chocolate. I'm so proud.

He didn't nap well at Gran's, so he finally collapsed at the lake for a long one, which delayed his bedtime a good bit. He finally went down at 10 pm, and I'm real curious to see what time he wakes up tomorrow. He treated his crib like it was prison tonight, and I had to go in and get him and rock him for a bit before putting him back down. Right now I can hear hard pacifier sucking on the baby monitor, so I suppose he's drifted off to baby dreamland and all is right with the world again. Kind of gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to think about it!

one hundred!

This is the 100th Dennis Report! Since I got out of my house sans camera today, these two shots were taken of him in his carseat (with my cell phone) while we were waiting for Daddy to come out of Wal-Mart. If you see them, note the bruises on his forehead and cheek. This has been a tough week for his head. Cheek bruise occurred at a friend's place on Monday night, where he was climbing up stairs for the 30th time after we'd pulled him back down. He was on the first step, so we weren't too concerned with injury and neither of us had jumped up to run and scoop him up (like we did when he was on the third or higher step). Somehow, as he was gripping the iron upright spindle to pull himself up to the next step, his foot slipped and he caught himself on the railing, but he used his face to do it. He cried some, and we didn't see any marks on him at all that night. Yesterday a red line appeared, and today it looked like he had a purple dimple.

The forehead bruise happened today. He was toddling around at the lake house and slipped on his box of Winnie the Pooh books that he had tossed on the floor just moments before. Again, he was saved from falling by hitting the large tree stump/stool that was where it always is, but he saved himself with his head, and he has a very large purplish knot that popped up immediately. We have slathered his head with Arnica cream, and that has helped, but he looks like he's been in a baby gang fight nonetheless. His Gran was a bit more concerned than me, and maybe that's bad, but I know that children his age are extremely accident prone and there will be more bruises in his future. There appears to be no significant injury, thank goodness (I would definitely be concerned then), but the timing is bad. His great Granny is coming to visit this weekend, and she's worried enough about my parenting skills without seeing him covered with bruises (in her mind, I think I'm still 8 years old). Bad, bad, bad. It's like when I schedule him for professional photos and he immediately bonks his head into a table or scratches himself majorly with his own fingernails or gets a big mosquito bite on his face. I'm trying to look on the positive side, like maybe the deep purple of the cheek bruise really enhances the beautiful blue of his eyes... Nah. That didn't work. He's a boy; boys are rambunctious; bruises will happen; I'll be strong. Enough said.

outside!

Didn't want to nap today, not at all! We gave up on the morning nap and he slept a little in the car on the way to the lake. He didn't want to eat lunch either and rejected the green beans that David cooked for him. Little stinker! After he batted away the green beans and cup of water three times, we put him down for a nap in his pod. He didn't nap well--he kept fussing and then going back to sleep. When Gran got down to the lake today, she couldn't wait to play with him, but he was napping. He finally woke up after an hour, and we let him run around a bit and play with his toys. This was highly entertaining.

First, Gran set up his Bring-Along Thomas playset (not to be confused with Take Along Thomas, which he also has...), and she would set up the bridge and wind up the train, and when it got around the track to the bridge, she would find that the bridge was out (and in Dennis's mouth). He would dismantle as quickly as she would set up, and I was entertained by just watching them. Then she helped him open his box of Winnie the Pooh books for him to take out the books. Two of the books dropped onto his foot. He didn't react until he looked down and saw books on his foot, and then he tried a cry or two, but we were laughing already so he stopped. Couldn't have hurt him at all the way they fell. He said "Pooh" today while pointing to Winnie the Pooh on his book. And when I asked him where the giraffes were in his Noah's ark set, he picked up the giraffes and said some form of a word that began with 'g'.

Like his Mommy, he is fascinated by storms. The wind picked up and blew a thunderstorm in, and he wanted to go out on the screened porch and watch. He tugged on my pant leg and insisted "out" and "side" (though he didn't say "outside" as one word). He pointed, and made motions of opening the door and said "up" so I'd pick him up. We went out and he pointed out the boat and the trees and said their names, and then he stared in wonder at the windchimes blowing crazily and making much music in the high winds. He wanted to leave the porch and actually go out in the weather, but I didn't want to, so we didn't. He did his best to convince me, pointing to the door and insisting "SIDE!!!". Instead I made him go back inside, and he didn't like that too much. We didn't stay at the lake but a few minutes after that, then drove home in the worst weather I've driven through in a long time. But we are all here safely, all in bed, and two of us are sleeping (one is typing).

slider

It was miserably hot today! We didn't accomplish as much work down at the lake as we'd hoped to despite our best intentions. On our way to Birmingham this afternoon, we stopped in at Chick-Fil-A, where there's a nifty air conditioned indoor playground. Dennis had the run of the place for half an hour, and then another toddler and his mom came in. She said her little boy had been pointing to Dennis and saying "baby" and wanting to come see him. She explained to him that he was just two months older than Dennis, but what does that really mean to a toddler? Anyway, Dennis was excited to see him as well, and when I set him down, he went running over to the kid, put both his hands on the other kid's shoulders, and let forth with his best ever T-Rex roar. I have no idea what this was about. Dennis was smiling the whole time, but it totally freaked the other kid out. His mom said he went to day care and she was surprised that Dennis unnerved him so. I suppose we should do some more work on his social skills, such as NOT greeting other children as if he were a hungry dinosaur...

He very much enjoyed the playground. He couldn't believe we turned him loose in there (I can't believe it either, but he was just a little too short to climb the major structures, so we were safe). It's a nice playground. The 'hamster tubes' are big enough for a parent to fit in as well, so it's not the kind of playground where we'd have to offer a seven-year-old a dollar to go fetch our kid from places unreachable to us. Dennis did finally figure out that he could climb up the big tube slide and slide down, and he did this gleefully for a while, then climbed down, went to the door, opened it, and ran through the restaurant. Fortunately he stopped at the high chair of a cute female baby to visit (flirt?) and we were able to catch him.

He enjoyed some Moo Shu Pork with me tonight at a Chinese restaurant where we ate supper while either a tornado or very strong winds raged outside. We thought it was just a big rainstorm and were surprised to see large tree parts littering the roadway when we left. In the neighborhood we visited, shingles had blown off roofs and trash cans were scattered about. We're very fortunate that we missed all that. The meal was so good that we were apparently oblivious to our surroundings! I kept hearing the word 'tornado' in a Chinese accent being spoken in the front of the place, but I just thought they were exaggerating. We're very blessed.

cruisin'

He finally got his boat ride today. I didn't think it was going to happen. We had more boat issues, which makes me think hard about all those times we spent at the lake when I was in high school, just waiting for the boat to finally crank so we could go out and cruise the water. Miserable days, especially when it wouldn't crank up! David had the Ski Nautique's guts exposed, checking tubing for a blockage (which he found) after replacing the thermostat and impeller in the hopes of stopping the overheating problem. Maybe this time we got it, but when it was time to check it out, he didn't have enough juice in the battery to crank it again, and he flooded the engine (imagine a 1970's giant ford v-8 engine--that's what we have). I thought I'd take out the SeaDoo, but I forgot to take my driver's license, and when I came back to get it, the battery on it wouldn't crank it back up. I swam it back into the boat house and muttered dark comments about selling every piece of marine equipment we own, and when I got out of the water, I noticed that the top on the pontoon boat was BROKEN! Guess bad boat crap happens in threes. Meanwhile, Dennis had been saying boat and wanting to ride all weekend, and twice when Jason came by in his boat, Dennis was napping. He finally got his ride right before dinner, and he loved it. He didn't even fuss about his sunglasses for most of the ride, realizing that they kept the sun and wind out of his eyes. He drove the boat a little bit, and he climbed up and down David and me. He gazed out the back of the boat at our wake and looked around at all the houses. Many times we heard him say "wheeeee". We think he had a great time, but he was fussy by the end of the ride, and when we pulled into the marina to gas up, David decided to walk him back to the house. When Jason and I docked the boat and got inside, Dennis was sitting at the table and digging in to a plate of steak, peas, potatoes, and peaches. He wasn't fussy anymore at this point! Neither were we, actually. It was a DELICIOUS dinner, cooked by Gran and Pop, and then David and I cleaned up while they got to go for a boat ride. It turned out to be a pretty great day, after all.

underage

Dennis helped us clean out the closet at the lake house today. Here he's carrying away a bucket of pina colada mix--I guess he's getting ready fora baby bash of some sort! He was pretty tired all day after having such a long day yesterday, and he took a two and a half hour nap about lunch time.We wondered if he was going to change his nap schedule to one a day instead of two a day, but he did want a second short nap late this afternoon. He played on a boat today, too, while it was docked. We'll actually take him for a ride tomorrow, but today we were doing some boat repair and he was walking back and forth in the boat. He climbed in the seats and out of the seats, and he turned the steering wheel back and forth. He tried the switches and knobs, and when his Gran walked out on the dock, he nearly climbed right out of the boat trying to get to her. He enjoyed a spaghetti dinner at Dianne's house and played with her cats and some toys she has on hand for her granddaughter. He said "yogurt" today, and "steering wheel" and "bread". And tonight he got ready for bed before I had the pod set up, and he practically nagged me to hurry up, pulling on my leg and saying "night night" over and over and fussing. He was a little late getting to bed tonight, so maybe he'll sleep a little late tomorrow (let's hope). We shall see. He sure was cute today!

camping success!

I am happy to report that our first night in the camper was a total success. Dennis slept through the night and didn't get up until 8:30 this morning. He got out of his pod, ate some breakfast, and climbed up onto the table to dance for awhile. We ended up just letting him dance some of his energy out, being careful to keep him from falling off the table. He played with his airplane and his cars, rolling them off the table and crashing the passengers to certain death on the floor. Gran and Pop came by for a visit to the camper and Dennis enjoyed entertaining them as well. We went over to visit with the Carroccinos and watched Dennis play happily with Mirella for quite awhile. Then we ate lunch at Big Bob Gibson's (yummy barbecue) and headed back to break down camp and get on the road for home. Honey was patiently waiting for us in the camper, sprawled out on the queen-sized bed enjoying the A/C blowing on her. Dennis fell asleep in his carseat just before we got back to the campground, so he slept on while we unloaded and unpopped (?) the pop-up. This worked out well for us because we didn't have to worry about him being underfoot or running away down the road while our hands were full of camper!

We loaded up in a remarkably short time and drove south, stopping in Birmingham to spend the evening with our friends. It's great to know that Dennis enjoys the camper, and we're hoping for a repeat trip in a couple of weeks.

supertent

Tonight we are spending the night in our pop-up camper for the first time. We had intended to wait another week or two but ended up needing to make a trip near a campground, so here we are in Decatur. Kristin's grandfather passed away at the ripe old age of 100. He lived a long and wonderful life, and we were lucky to be able to spend some time getting to know him when we were here in February to celebrate his 100th birthday. It saddens me that we are back for his funeral just a few months later even knowing that he is right now celebrating in Heaven. It was an honor to know him and our lives are the richer for meeting him.

Dennis very much enjoyed seeing his cousins from Washington tonight. He seemed to remember them, especially Mirella, who he called by name many times. He kept trying to engage her in conversation at dinner at Cracker Barrel tonight, and she was certainly fascinated by his antics (waving, nodding, calling her name, pointing at her across the table, etc.). Speaking of Cracker Barrel... We kept Dennis out WAY past his bedtime tonight, and he was crying in the car after we left the funeral home. The crying had escalated when I asked him if he wanted to go to Cracker Barrel. The crying immediately stopped, and a little voice from the backseat said "Cwacker Bearrerr." And then he was all smiles.

Now we are snug in our camper, glorying in all the nice air conditioned air coming from the ceiling. We're still kind of in a tent--we can hear campground sounds (albeit somewhat muffled by the sound of the A/C) and we are surrounded by other campers. Honey the dog is even enjoying the camper. She lounged around here while we were at the viewing and dinner. Dennis was so tired when we got back that he slept through his diaper change, and when I went to put his pajamas on, he mechanically raised his arms over his head and then lowered them. He rolled over, saw his Pea Pod setup on one of the camper beds, crawled into it, grabbed his Froggy, rolled over, and went immediately to sleep. We're hoping he'll sleep through the night (as I'm sure the rest of the campground is also hoping though they are unaware of it). He watched an Elmo video while we were arranging and setting up, and we thought it was fabulous until Baby Elmo began dancing with his dad on the video and Dennis felt compelled to climb onto the dinette table and dance along with them. I'm thinking we never should have bought that Happy Feet movie! I'm fine with his dancing--it's cute, actually--but the high surfaces bother me. Going to have to teach him to keep the dancing down a little lower without dampening his enthusiasm for it. Parenting isn't easy!

alabaster or bust

Dennis was on the road all day. This wasn't my intention, by any means! We got up this morning, I fixed him a nice breakfast which included a piece of the homemade whole wheat bread I baked last night in the bread machine (do I get extra points for not using a mix?) according to the recipe that Kristin and Mom have perfected. Dennis loved the bread and the fruit and the milk, etc. He got kind of wild after breakfast. We went in his room, and he'd played with EVERY toy in the place in 20 minutes, and he was cruising for more to do. He was singing and screeching and laughing, and then he started rubbing his eyes and grabbed his Froggy and pacifier. I took the hint and put him down for a nap. Just then, David came in and told me he was going to take Dennis to Lowe's with him, and since he wasn't yet asleep, I agreed that this was a good plan. Good for me, anyway, because I got a nap and a nice long shower without having to worry about what Dennis was getting into. David reported that he had a fabulous time at Lowe's, waving and smiling and talking to everyone he met. When they got back, we fed him lunch, leftover baked chicken and brown rice casserole with mushrooms (a recipe Uncle Denny once dubbed "chicken, rice, & goo", a name we still use for it every time we make it) that David had baked last night. Yummy!

After lunch, we went to Gran's house to set off on our shopping trip, which began in Alabaster (where Lowe's is). We visited Pop at work and Dennis enjoyed a cup of fresh fruit from Chick-Fil-A while Gran ate her lunch. Then we were off to Hoover to get a picture reframed and then right back to Alabaster so that Gran could stop at Lowe's. I know Dennis must have thought he was going in circles all day, but he stayed happy and sweet in every store we strolled him through. He was asleep by the time we got back to Lowe's, though, so he didn't have to go in there twice today, as I stayed in the car with him while Gran ran in and got her stuff. We did get him out at the grocery store, though, and he rode in the stroller all reclined back and relaxed, occasionally tossing his Froggy out to explore the fresh produce or the parking lot. Not to worry, I watched Froggy like he is our second child, and I am happy to report that he made it home safely.

Now for the good part. In Hoover, in the Hobby Lobby parking lot, I stepped around to the side of the van, opened the door, stretched Dennis out on the floor on the side that doesn't have a seat in it, and changed his diaper. No problem. We went inside the store, shopped too long, came outside, and I repeated the process, as his diaper seemed to be pretty wet and heavy. Dennis and I came outside to load up while Gran was still in line to pay for her framing. I was in the process of changing him again (read: I had removed the diaper and was preparing to install the fresh one) when I glanced up and noticed that Gran was coming out of the store and headed toward us. I suddenly felt some drops of liquid hit my ankle and I JUMPED back in time to watch a fountain coming from Dennis's diaper area. My jump was not quick enough, however, and I looked down to see Dennis pee soaking through my denim shorts all around my groin area on both legs. He had apparently aimed so that it would look like I had wet myself rather than him wetting me. I had a good laugh (though not as good as his laugh or Gran's) about it, wiped him down (HIS clothes were still dry), wiped up the pee from the van trim, dried the changing pad, dressed him and strapped him in his seat, and then took a moment to uselessly swipe at my pants with a baby wipe. He fell instantly asleep when the van hit the highway and had a great nap, which I attribute to the fact that he'd completely emptied his bladder and was therefore comfortable enough to sleep the deep sleep. He was happy today, and that makes for a good day regardless of my being peed on. I'll wash just fine.

Dr. Mitchell, I presume

Last night I got the brilliant idea to get Dennis a play doctor set. Not so that he could terrorize Chloe (or Chloe's parents--they ARE a bit young to "play doctor") or the dog, but to play with the stethoscope and otoscope so he won't be so freaked out when we go the pediatrician next time. Good old Fisher Price had one at Wal-Mart, and it looks like the same play stethoscope I loved as a child (with a slightly different color scheme). We brought it home and opened it up, and I checked his ears with the big yellow plastic otoscope (don't cringe, Jennifer--It's WAY too big to fit in his ear), and he checked my ears, and we took blood pressure and took Winnie the Pooh's temperature. We put a big plastic band-aid on Eeyore. His favorites are the syringe (he gave me and Pooh and Eeyore many injections) and the stethoscope. He kept bringing the stethoscope over to me so I could help him put it on correctly. And then he'd pull it back off, look at it, and chew on the ear pieces. Funny, but I can remember doing EXACTLY this with mine. It was yellow, and I loved putting the ear pieces in my mouth and using my tongue to turn them inside out. I guess a strange tendency for tasting earwax has passed down from me to him.

A less disgusting skill he learned today: picking and eating blueberries. His Gran took him out to her garden, and he looked at the fish, walked barefoot in the grass, and then she took him over to the blueberry bush and showed him a ripe blueberry. He grabbed it and ate it and giggled. She pointed out the ripe berries to him and he picked and ate a dozen or more. After the first few berries, every time he put one in his mouth he'd say "mmmmmm" and smile.

He's beginning to learn how to put his clothes on. He puts his head into the shirt opening and then raises his hands to push them through the sleeves. Tonight, I told him we needed to put his pants on (post diaper change), and I asked him where his legs went. He placed one foot in the pants I was holding open for him. I asked him where his other leg went, and he picked up his foot and put it into the pants as well. Then stood up so I could pull the pants up. Every day he learns something new. This is an exciting time to be able to stay at home with him. So fascinating to watch him assimilating new skills and words and concepts!

he's the boss

Sixteen months old today, and he's taken over. He let me know over and over again that he was unhappy. I agree, I should have paid closer attention. He fussed and fussed, and I tried everything. Played with him, fed him, offered him juice or water or milk... Let him have his pacifier all day... Luckily we were at Gran's and Pop's house today, and during the first fussing extravaganza, Pop said, "look how he's holding his pants, like he's gone to the bathroom and it's hurting him." I had just, 3 minutes before (I swear) put a new diaper and ointment and powder on him. No way it could be that. But after 10 more minutes of irate baby, I checked, and Pop was right. More diarrhea. Yay... While I was changing him, he stuck his Teva sandal in it and then put a poopy footprint on my shirt. And while I was yelling over that, he reached down and got it on his hand and started flailing about. This is the point where Gran came to the rescue, sort of. She offered him his frog, saying "Do you want your Froggy so you can put some poop on him as well? I think he needs some poop on him." But at least she distracted him long enough for me to finish cleaning and re-applying ointment and powder to his now vicious diaper rash. I couldn't believe I had two back to back awful ones like that. And then it happened AGAIN, maybe a half hour later. I had put him down for another nap, and he lay down peacefully and cuddled his frog. In fifteen minutes, he was standing in the crib screaming. I told everyone he would be fine, he was just tired, he needed to sleep. But his Gran couldn't stand it, so we went in there to check on him, and we got him up. He didn't want to eat the food I reheated for him (and he usually loves salmon). As a matter of fact, he went through the dish, tasting first a zucchini, then spitting it out and saying "no" and then a mushroom, which he also spit out and then said "no". He did the same for the squash and then the salmon, then waved his hand over the dish and said "no no no no no". He wasn't yelling or anything, so I don't think he was sassing me, just stating that he didn't want any of what I offered. I gave him his juice and he suddenly stuck out his tongue and screeched then stuck his finger in his mouth and cried. He tried to get the fork from me, succeeded, and then poked himself hard in the cheek with it. I gave up on the idea of dinner and took him in to play in the kitchen. He likes to sit on Gran's stool and have you spin him around while he says "wheeeeeee" over and over. But even this wasn't what he wanted, only getting through two revolutions before he wanted to get down. He walked in to see Gran and she picked him up and informed me he was wet. Sure enough, poopy diaper number 3, leading to the 3rd outfit of the day (luckily I had TWO spares in the diaper bag). This was unusual, as I almost never have to change his clothes midday anymore.

So I get home tonight and David and I both have diarrhea as well. This is the stomach virus that never goes away, apparently. Ewwwww. I love when we share things as a family. I just hope we didn't share with Gran and Pop as well.

He successfully got himself down from his table today. As incentive, I left his door open (he likes to flee his room at every opportunity and never fails to notice when the door is not completely closed) and left the room when he climbed on the table. I walked just out of sight in the hallway and waited. Sure enough, when I snuck back over and peeked in his door, he was climbing down backwards, just as we had taught him. As a reward, I let him flee his room and run down the hall to the front door. Little guy even knows how to turn the knob now, so we have to keep it locked! Pretty soon we'll have to deadbolt every time too.

I think the highlights of his day were the fresh blueberries and the wagon ride at Gran's house. He also enjoyed watching the pond guy cleaning the pond and seeing the fish get put back in. It wasn't a bad day for him, but it might have been a better one if I'd been more attuned to his poop incidents. He tried to tell me. Really he did.

table dance, anyone?

We were fever free today, finally. Maybe he'll get over his sniffles soon as well.

Dennis learned to climb up onto his play table today. He'd done it before, but he had to push another toy up to it to use as a step. Today he just hiked up a leg, laid his torso on the table, and sort of rolled on up. When he got up there, he was delighted with himself. So delighted, in fact, that he promptly stood up and Riverdanced across the table. David caught him before he danced off the edge. We tried over and over to show him how to back up to the edge of the table on all fours and swing his legs down to the floor and stand up. We're not sure how well he got it. We did learn that we can't leave him alone in there anymore until he knows how to safely get down off the table. And it is past time to secure the bookshelf, which David recently bought the necessary fasteners to do. I don't expect we have much time until he decides to try to climb it as well. Still no sign of trying to climb out of the crib, thank goodness, but I have giant pillows all around it on the floor just in case.

He ate from a bowl today without flinging it, which I consider progress. He uses his spoon more and more at every meal! I was reading up on his milestone requirements for his age, and I discovered that, by tomorrow, he should be able to imitate actions, scribble a little, and might be able to use up to six words. Check, check, and check. His word count is closer to fifty now, possibly even over that. Every day he learns new ones. I'd like to think he's brilliant for his age, like every mom thinks of their child, but I don't know any other almost sixteen month olds. This is all new territory for me. He has cousins that are older, sure, but I didn't think to really pay attention. They were the first babies I was ever around, and everything they did was enthralling to watch! I didn't associate skills with age. Heck, when Dennis was a week old, I was impressed by his ability to make spit bubbles! But I think it's perfectly ok to be thrilled with my child's accomplishments, as long as I don't brag too much around other moms, right? So is that what I'm doing with this weblog? Not intentionally! Again, I don't really think he's better that other children, I'm just so proud of him because he's mine! And because he's perfect, of course.

antics

He was feeling better most of today, but had fever again tonight. I'm sure now that it's a cold. Low grade fever, congestion, runny nose... If he's not improved by Monday or Tuesday, we'll see the doc. He was certainly feeling good enough to play, and we did plenty of that. We met Gran and Gigi for lunch and he had a fun time with them.

I suppose I'm going to have to figure out some form of discipline soon. He was a riot at supper tonight, and he kept doing funny but bad things. He emptied his bowl of black-eyed peas onto his high chair tray and then smashed the peas with the bottom of the bowl. He turned the bowl upside down on his head, thereby getting pea goop all in his hair and eyebrows. He tossed his cup in the floor repeatedly, and then would point down to it and say "Jooosh" (juice). And he did the same to his corn-on-the-cob, dropping it and then saying "kohn" (corn). The spoon hit the floor a few times as well. I debated not picking them up, but I still can't tell if it was deliberate or not. When he finishes drinking, he drops the cup, but he doesn't look to make sure where he's putting it because he's already focused on what he's going to pick up next. Same with the corn and spoon. The bowl thing was an experiment, I could tell. He was looking at me to see if I would laugh along with him, and I had to turn away so he wouldn't see me cracking up. It was FUNNY, but I don't want to encourage him to continue it. So he'd do something, I'd have to turn around and laugh, then turn back to him and ask him in all seriousness why he did it. Difficult. Made me feel like a parent.

We are having conversations now. He says the most elaborate gibberish, and says it so seriously that I of course answer, and the conversations continue. Many times I have no idea what we're talking about, but today we had the following little talk:

Dennis: "MEH-MEH" (this means mama, we think)

Me: "Yes, dear?"

Dennis: "See?" (points to refrigerator)

Me: "Yes, what do you see?"

Dennis: "Koh-wee"

Me: "okay...?"

Dennis: "Koh-wee"

Me: (looking at refrigerator) "Oh. Chloe? Yes, that Chloe's baby picture right there."

Dennis: "Baby"

Me: "Yes, Baby. Very good, Dennis."

Today when we were looking at the pictures from Michael and Kristin, Dennis looked up from his snack, saw the picture on the computer, and said "Mwehwa" (which is his word for Mirella) without us saying her name first. I'm so proud that he recognized her! And then tonight in his room, we were singing Old MacDonald (Dennis likes to sing "EE-Yie-EE-Yo-Yu" (for E-I-E-I-O), and this resulted in us making animal sounds. I said "who who", and Dennis said "owl" then went and picked up his owl off the shelf and brought it to me, saying "who who" over and over. He handed it to me and said "owl", so I squeezed the owl and made it hoot for him. The owl was sitting with all his other birds, and I am so amazed that he knew which bird to bring, and even more amazed that he can say owl. He's saying new and surprising words every day, and I can't believe how fast he's learning things. He's like a little sponge, asking what things are and then repeating them. And more than anything, he wants to sing. Whenever we sing kid songs (itsy-bitsy spider, old macdonald, a-b-c, twinkle twinkle, wheels on the bus, etc.), he stares at us entranced, and he moves his mouth along with us, trying to understand how to sing. It's the most precious thing. We have talked about getting a cd of kids singing songs (oh, how we hate those things) for all of us to sing along to, because we know he'd love it. I'll take any recommendations on which of those is the least annoying, by the way.

Dennis is a shoe bandit. Shoe is one of his favorite words, and if he sees shoes lying around, he'll grab them. The picture shows him with his Daddy's Crocs, which he likes to try on. He had just tried them on, walked out of them, and then picked them up and brought them over to David, saying "Daddy! Shoe!". We used to have to worry about the dogs relocating our shoes, but now we have a new shoe mover in town!

in my room

We had big shopping plans for today, but Dennis had a little fever this morning, so we stayed in today. We have all 3 been so puny this week, what with the stomach bug and then the cold and David's bad back trouble. So large parts of today were spent playing with Dennis in his room. We set up the train track and city station and watched as Dennis played Godzilla (Babyzilla?) and stomped through the town dismantling track and eating it. We played with the farm animals. We read his Touch and Feel Farm book (and touched and felt it) over and over at his insistence. We set up his racetrack and rolled cars on it, and this distracted him some, but all he really wanted to do was climb inside the big red plastic bin that the racetrack came in. He alternated between this and dismantling the cars.

We had a psychic moment today, too. Julia and Steve had some sad news--Steve's mother passed away and the funeral will be Sunday. David and I were sitting at the table wondering if Dennis was up to the trip or if he was still too sick to go. It looks like we'll be waiting to make this decision based on how he is tomorrow. At any rate, I mentioned this afternoon to David "maybe we'll go to Russellville (where the funeral is)." This was the first mention of Russellville in front of Dennis, and we didn't say Steve's or Julia's names, I just said the name of the town. Steve and Julia don't live there, so this was the first time Dennis had heard the word Russellville coming out of our mouths. When he heard it, he put down his toy, looked up at us and said "Steve. Steve?". Unbelievable!

Dennis had so much fun playing that it's hard to believe that he's actually not 100% well. He is snotty-nosed, though, which is gross. Every time I look at him, the skin under his nose is slick and shiny, and half the time has large boogerish objects plastered to it. It looked especially bad after he ate a chocolate chip cookie earlier and the chocolate mixed with drool and ran down his chin and he smeared it all around his mouth with his hand. Chocolate boogers. Very attractive. I didn't give him much chance to taste, though, as I baby-wiped him as soon as I saw what was going on. I don't know how a person so small can make so much mess so quickly. I've wondered this very thing since the first week of his life, but the mess I was thinking of then was diaper-related. These days it's his room, his clothes, his high chair... It was a 2 bath day. Spaghetti prompted the first bath and the chocolate chips the second. This is why he's in a diaper in his pictures. He demolished the outfit we had him dressed in just moments earlier!

sweet as sugar

I am ecstatic to report that Dennis is much much better today. We didn't even see the need to take him to the doctor. No more fever, not much fussiness. He slept through the night in his own bed last night, and he took one nap with no complaints. He did absolutely refuse the second nap, but this is so much better than the last couple of days that we really have no complaint. He clearly felt great today--he played vigorously and happily all day.

This morning in his room, I asked him for a kiss. I haven't mentioned kisses since early last week, and I thought I'd try to teach him what a kiss is today because I wasn't sure he'd remember. I didn't have to teach him anything. When I first said the word, he dropped what he was doing, came right over, and kissed me right on my cheek. He still gives open-mouthed kisses, with a tiny lick, so you have to be prepared. And he usually heads right for your mouth, so you have to turn your head quickly! They are very sweet kisses, even if a little wet.

We made cookies together today. While I was mixing up the ingredients, I gave him a bowl and spoon to mix as well. When I cracked the egg to go in the batter, I handed him one of his plastic Easter eggs to add to his bowl. He enjoyed stirring the spoon in the bowl along with me. This sounds like I am one of those really great moms who plans educational activities well in advance and has supplies all on hand. It wasn't really that way. Last night we finally remembered to bring home eggs to go in the cookie mix, and today after I loaded the bread machine and put some chicken breasts in the oven, I remembered the cookies. Dennis was lonely in his room and wanted company, and he'd already had his snack, so I brought him back into the kitchen and put him in his high chair and told him we would make cookies. I gave him the spoon and bowl to occupy his hands, and as I was headed to the fridge to get the egg, I saw his plastic eggs on the counter by the sink where we'd washed them and inspiration struck. We had a mini cooking lesson. He enjoyed it VERY much, giggling as he stirred the spoon in his bowl.

We went to the lake to 'help' Daddy install an icemaker line to hook up to the upgraded refrigerator, and while we were there, it stormed. Dennis and I sat on the screened porch and talked about rain and thunder and lightning. He kept pointing to the rain and saying "see?" and "rain". We went inside after a bit, and he insisted on being right underfoot, grabbing David's tools, yanking on the line, standing in the way, etc. I (gasp!) turned on the tv, to the Noggin channel where they show educational shows to preschoolers without commercials. Well, there are commercials, but they are for upcoming Noggin shows, not for actual products. A Blue's Clues short came on, where the characters were asking for help in finding their favorite pajamas. Dennis watched as they asked which was the red-striped pillow and which was the purple hat with white polka dots. Then the toy shovel asked for help finding which pajamas were yellow with white flowers AND a furry collar. They displayed 4 sets of pjs, 3 were yellow, 2 of these had white flowers, and only 1 had white flowers and a furry collar. Imagine my amazement when Dennis walked up to the television and touched his hand to the correct pair. I still don't know if it was a weird coincidence or if he actually knew what he was doing. He didn't hesitate a second. He pointed that little finger right to the screen and touched the second pair from the left, yellow with white flowers and a furry collar. I hadn't said a word during the entire little 5 minute spot, but when he did that I clapped and praised him as soon as I picked my jaw up from the floor.

He rode on his ride-on car some at the lake house, and then we left to have dinner with Gran and Pop at their house. He entertained us all during dinner with his range of noises but most of all with his broccoli face. I'll give him credit. He does TRY the broccoli every time it's offered, but he obviously hates the way it feels on his tongue. He makes the most awful sound and sticks his tongue all the way out (after spitting out the broccoli, of course) as if he's trying to get every last broccoli molecule off before he can even put his tongue back in his mouth. Truly hilarious. He rode on his ride-on fire truck some at Gran's and Pop's house, and I'm happy to report that he has finally begun to drive his cars forward some instead of backing everywhere. Progress. I'm just glad he feels so much better. He was his usual fun-loving, sweet self today, and we couldn't be more thrilled!

montezuma's revenge

This was one of the most difficult days we've spent as parents. He has apparently caught the bad stomach bug that plagued his Daddy and me yesterday and the day before, and he was ill equipped to deal with it. He would not stay in his bed last night, and he lay in ours beside us staring up at the ceiling and whimpering for hours. He cried hard, and he woke up a number of times during the night crying. None of us got much sleep. We hurt for him because he's so miserable.

We thought it was a tooth. Or that he's getting a little cold, because his nose was stuffy. And I thought his nose was stuffy because of all the crying. Or we thought it was a new phase with bad temper tantrums. It turns out that he is sick. He cried ALL DAY LONG today, and wanted to be held so he could cry on us. Tonight he was absolutely inconsolable for 2 hours, and I started to think about how different he's been the last few days. Then he had a bad diarrhea diaper and began burping up foul stuff and crying harder, and then we noticed a fever. We brought him home (he was out running errands with us because he didn't seem to want to be at home), and took his temp to find it had reached 103.7. No wonder he feels so awful. We gave him tylenol and called the nurse at his pediatrician's office, and we've been given orders to watch him tonight, make sure his fever doesn't go above 105 (and it's already come down a bit from 103), and bring him in if he keeps on crying. But right now, for the first time in days, he's sleeping peacefully if a bit stuffily (I can hear him mouth breathing on the baby monitor). The nurse believes it's bad stomach cramping that is causing the screaming and we're in no imminent danger. So off to the doctor tomorrow for us...

We had one cute happy moment today. While we were waiting in the nice air conditioned car for David to finish something, I let Dennis hang out in the front seat with me while we were parked. He was getting a little tired of his car seat. He played 'driver' with the steering wheel, turned on the windshield wipers, turned on the turn signals, relocated the rear view mirror, locked and unlocked the doors, repositioned the side mirrors, played with the air vents, and nearly shifted us out of park. This was great fun for him, and I was so happy that he wasn't crying for once that I just let him run with it. He laughed and did a little dance in the driver's seat.

Goodness I hope he feels better tomorrow! We'd have acted sooner, but we suspected that we were experiencing the delayed results from his immunizations that we'd been warned about. I no longer think this is the case, but will know more tomorrow. Going to be a long night.

most anticipated word

He finally said it today. His Gran called to check in on us since the 3 of us were cooped up here at home with a wretched lower intestinal virus of some vile sort. The worst seems to have passed us now, but none of us had much energy for anything today. We just sort of snuggled up together and watched movies. By the way, I highly recommend Bee Movie, which I didn't think I would like. All 3 of us liked it very much. At any rate, when she was on the phone, I asked if she wanted to speak to Dennis, and she said she did, so I passed the phone to him. He gave her an adorable earful of happy chatter, and after his initial "hey gheee" greeting, he actually said "Gran", which thrilled all of us beyond belief. He was so happy to talk to her, and he said a lot of words to her, so much more than he usually says to anyone on the phone. After their conversation, she said to tell him that Pop said hello as well, and he began saying "Pop", one of his favorite words. He is getting so much better on the phone. Earlier, when he was dialing numbers on our phone that fortunately didn't get connected, he would put the phone up to his ear and say "hewwo" and it sounded very very close to hello.

Also today he had a massive temper tantrum. We are not used to this (who is?), and we tried to let him cry it out and calm down in his room, but he cried so hard he made himself sick. So we relented, and he got away with only taking one nap today, but after 45 minutes of yelling and screaming and crying so hard he was gasping, it was pointless to hope that he'd fall asleep. I got him back up and let him play in his room alone for a bit before going in to spend time with him. I fed him dinner then, and afterward he helped me pick up all his toys. We read a couple of stories, and then we got ready for bed. I asked him where his toes were, and he showed me, and then we put the toes into his footie pajamas. He actually helped me put on his pjs tonight. He went to bed without a fuss, and I'm glad, because it was hard on me to hear him so upset earlier. He cried so hard that his tears mixed with oodles of snot. When he was wiping at his face, he managed to ground this mixture of yuck into his eyebrows, which he inadvertently groomed into stiff and wavy awkward shapes held fast in their positions by hardened snot. When I went in to get him up, he looked like he had deranged caterpillars over his eyes, and there were boogers in his hair. His little face was red and splotchy as well, and while my heart went out to him, part of me was a little bit tempted to laugh at the after-effects of his mad fit. He was back to his usual sunny self pretty much immediately, and is sleeping peacefully now. So is David, incidentally, and I presume I soon will be as well. Surely tomorrow will be a wonderful day.

fun with science

Dennis performed lots of experiments today. He played with water, as shown. He toyed with gravity. He learned a few of the basics of Newton's Laws. Surprisingly, he didn't injure himself. He was highly amused by what he learned, and the worst that happened was that he got a little wet. It was a good day for Dennis, and not so bad for us in that the things he dropped and flung were not breakable ones. He may be beginning to learn his colors, but it's hard to tell. We worked on his colors some, and when I asked him to point out various objects in a picture book, he correctly identified them all: shoes, flowers, pig, dog, ball, horse, cow, etc., and he didn't require any prompting. I just asked him if he saw any flowers and he pointed to them, and it was the same for many other objects. It's so great how he understands how real flowers and picture flowers are called by the same name. Interesting concept, and one I never would have considered before parenting.

Last night I had to go in and watch him sleep, something I compulsively do from time to time. I like to watch him breathing, and I will occasionally slide a finger into his hand just to enjoy his reflexive grasp. There's nothing like the feeling of a tiny little hand holding yours, and he's been so good about reaching up for a hand when he needs help over a rough spot of ground or up or down a step or even when he wants to get down from a high surface. I did watch him toss and turn for a few minutes, so I rubbed his back and he settled down without ever waking up. He looks so sweet and peaceful when he's asleep, and there's just something so endearing about seeing those long, long lashes resting on the curve of his soft baby cheek. I am hopelessly addicted.

take a hike

Today Dennis hiked his first trail on his own two feet. We took him to Wilderness Park in Prattville, where there are tremendous bamboo trees standing in a pine forest along a rough 0.33 mile trail. Dennis walked the entire trail, stumbling a few times, but generally doing a wonderful job staying on the trail and following it. He stopped to examine some trees and a few fallen logs, and he relocated a few pine cones and rocks and pieces of bamboo. He was so proud of himself, and we were so proud of him. He fussed a few times when he wanted to backtrack, and he didn't seem to understand that the trail was a loop and that eventually we would end up back at the places he wanted to see again, despite my efforts to explain it to him. We all enjoyed walking through the woods before the sun came out and it got extremely hot.

We escaped the heat in Bass Pro Shop, where I have never had the pleasure of seeing so many rednecks gathered in one spot. It was sort of like a zoo exhibit. We do live amongst the wild redneck here in our town, but the people at this store today represented a sample of the most extreme of the species. Mostly we encountered them in the fishing equipment section and speed boat and fishing boat section, where I actually heard the phrase, "Hey, Cletus, come here" (which sounded a bit more like 'kuhmeeer'). We found ourselves in a virtually redneck-free zone once we reached the hiking and canoeing/kayaking sections, as these border an electronic shooting range which serves as a redneck diversion (trap) that few escape. We added a wood duck to Dennis's collection of Audobon stuffed birds that make actual bird calls, as this was his favorite after comparing it to the loon, Canada goose, pheasant, and snowy owl. He knows to say "duck" when referring to this particular bird in his collection! Dennis enjoyed the large aquarium in the store, pointing and saying "fish" when appropriate. And he was ready to leave when we left, heartily enjoying a Bass Pro Shops bottle of water in the checkout line. Today we learned that those sport water bottles (with kind of a plastic nipple attachment) work along the same lines as a sippy cup, and he thought it was great fun to drink out of a grown-up bottle. The fun lasted until his Daddy showed him how to squeeze the bottle and make a fountain of water shoot out on Mommy in the parking lot.

We concluded our Prattville mini-vacation with a brief trip to Target, where we distracted a ready-for-nap Dennis by letting him ride in the main part of the shopping cart standing up instead of seated in the baby seat in front of the push handle. He giggled and said "wheeeee" and, when we got to the checkout line, began tossing our selected items over the side of the cart and onto the floor. He conked out in the car as soon as we hit the highway, and this was the start of a 2 and a half hour nap. We woke him in time for a spaghetti dinner and the resulting necessary bath, and then we played in his room with him until bedtime. Very fun day spent with our little family of 3!