the secret lives of toys

Tonight when we got home and went in to get Dennis ready for bed, we discovered this brave little pig riding on the trusty steed. We presume Dennis helped him get up there, but who knows? Where did the pig want to go? Was he an expert rider or just a novice? Do other animals from the Little People Farm occasionally go for rides as well? Only the horse knows, and he's not talking (at least where we can hear him).

Dennis was a real delight today, good company for Gran and me on our big house cleaning project. As a reward for being nice for hours and also as a reward for our hours of hard work, Gran baked a pan of brownies. Conveniently, David showed up about 5 minutes before they were done. David and I were in the playroom with Dennis when Gran brought in plates of brownies for us. Dennis was ecstatic, of course, and immediately began dancing and hovering around my plate. After I'd had 2 or 3 bites (and he'd had 5 tiny ones), he suddenly shoved his pacifier in my mouth. He brought me his Froggy and then tried to grab the plate from my hands. His logic was clear: if my mouth was full of pacifier, and I had Froggy and was ready to nap, then I didn't need the plate of brownies and therefore he could have them all. Pretty smart thinking. I thought David was going to fall on the floor laughing at it, though.

Naturally Dennis can say 'brownie' now. He learns quickest those words that name the things he loves.

my trusty steed & me

Dennis was really giving his rocking horse a workout today, so we got out David's childhood red cowboy hat and let Dennis try it on. He's worn it (briefly) before and loved it, so we thought we'd get him into the real cowboy spirit. Because surely today's cowboys ride while wearing Crocs shoes, don't they?

I'm trying to remember exactly what we did all day... David had fever and was home, but Dennis and I were fine. We played in his room for hours, of course, and he played at being a musician again today, playing and singing tunes on his xylophone/keyboard. I went to the gym while he took his afternoon nap, and he woke up long after I returned home. David said Dennis tossed and turned a lot and so David didn't get a good nap while I was gone...

We had his favorite, spaghetti, for supper, and he said a word that sounded remarkably similar to spaghetti. He got half a chocolate chip cookie for dessert, which made him practically levitate in his happiness. David was happy that he had located that plastic art smock as it's long-sleeved, comes down past Dennis' knees, and meant that we didn't have to strip him naked for supper, and we didn't have to run to the bathtub with him immediately after the meal. I bought the thing at some sale, maybe even the Unclaimed Baggage store. It's by Baby Bjorn and it does a great job at keeping the food off him.

He went to the playground at sunset tonight and there were lots of children there at the same time. David watched him play while Mom and I walked, and they joined us in time for our last lap, so Dennis got to stroll around the park one time. He kept leaning forward and grabbing his shoes while in the stroller. But he did keep us entertained!

Tonight while we were getting him ready for bed, we took his diaper off and I asked him if he needed to use the potty. He looked at me and said "pee pee potty?" I told him that was right, and immediately sat his naked self on the potty to see what would happen. He read three books while sitting there but didn't produce anything. I'm just excited that he might be starting to understand the concept. I got the potty out today after it's been hidden for weeks (because all Dennis wanted to do was dismantle it). I don't kid myself that we've even started potty training at all, and I know it could be a long and arduous process... We'll see what happens. He's a pretty smart little guy. It might not be the complete nightmare I think it will. Or it might be. Who knows?

little musician

The cutest thing Dennis did today was to bang out some tunes on his little xylophone keyboard and sing along to his playing. Melody was not involved, not at all, but the adorable factor was through the roof.

He cried a little when we left him in the church nursery this morning, but they've apparently gotten to know Dennis now, because when he teared up and the little lip poked out, the nursery worker asked him if he'd like to go and play with the trucks. She swooped him up and took him to the trucks, and he'd stopped crying before we got many steps away from the door. They told us he was very sweet this morning, and I admit that I was worried because he pushed a couple of kids last week (not like him), but he'd apparently gotten over it by this week. Since he's been in nursery lately, we knew the pastor hadn't seen him in a while so we stopped to say hello on our way out. We were waiting for him to finish up a football conversation with some folks in front of us when Dennis dove between them, climbed up the step, and ran wildly through the sanctuary. He went up one aisle to the altar, attempted to mount the choir loft steps, turned around and ran down the other aisle to the back and then headed right for his Daddy and the pastor. He was giggling as he ran, and he greeted several church members in passing. Running wildly is his new favorite pastime, I think.

Lunch at home was his favorite, red beans and rice, and he wore as much as he ate (see picture). Tonight when I got home from going to the movies with the girls, Dennis and David were seated at the table, eating and watching a movie on the portable dvd player (what a guy meal!). Dennis was wearing a plastic long-sleeved smock. I suppose David wanted to keep the food off him this time! I arrived just in time to see him toss his leftovers to the floor and demand to get down. I got to put him in his pajamas and kiss him goodnight. I love night-night time--he's so sweet about going to bed most of the time. But then I miss him just a little before I go to sleep and I go to check on him. The past two nights I've gone in to find his feet sticking out of the crib through the bars. So I move him to the middle of the mattress, hoping he'll stay comfortable through the night. I'm planning on some playground excursions this week to satisfy that running urge, and that should take care of some of that energy. Gosh, if only I could borrow some of it!

pumpkin day

We had a wonderful day at the Great Pumpkin Patch in Hayden, Alabama. Today was their opening day and the crowd was made up largely of people like us--parents of toddlers who couldn't wait to see their little ones walking around a pumpkin patch and so went to the first one in the area to open. I plan for us to visit several of them, but maybe not to bring home a pumpkin every time. We got a nice one today, though!

First we met Dave, Ellen, & Chloe in Hoover and all piled into their van. The kids thought it was fun to have a carseat buddy and they leaned forward in their seats so that they could see and talk to each other. This was great until Chloe tossed down her zoo book and Ellen handed it to Dennis. Chloe was furious, yelling "BOOK!" and "Mommy, Book!" and "ME!!!!", but she ended up having to wait her turn. Her Mommy tried to bribe her with a soft crinkly book instead but she was having none of that! She got the zoo book next and Ellen handed Dennis the soft book, and wouldn't you know it, THAT was the one she REALLY wanted, she didn't mean to throw it down like that, and didn't it just look SO interesting now that Dennis was reading it? After the book wars, they were just being funny, trying out their words together, making animal sounds, calling "Ma-ma", and then speaking in the language that the rest of us couldn't understand. Dennis pointed out every truck on the road to all of us, and eventually they fell asleep.

We arrived at the pumpkin patch and went straight for the hayride. We had the bright idea to bring the wagon this time, which worked very well for Chloe and the pumpkins, but Dennis kept attempting to climb out of it. He didn't try to climb out of the hayride, thank goodness, but held on to David's backpack and camera bag strap for dear life! He loved the Hay Maze (for kids, so it didn't mean any scary trapped moments for us as it posed no difficulty even to toddlers...), and he loved running all over the pumpkin garden. He and Chloe played in the dirt, tripped over the vines, played in more dirt, sat on various pumpkins, ran gleefully for seconds before they tripped again... It was mayhem, but it certainly was cute. No one got hurt, but we brought some dirt home with us for sure. We chose our pumpkins and rode back while Dennis watched the tractor pulling us in fascination. Chloe liked looking out at the sunflowers planted by the hundreds along the route. So beautiful!

Next up was the petting zoo, which Dennis liked very much. He petted the goats and saw a llama and lamb, and he wanted very much to pet the chickens and turkeys, but since we like all ten of his fingers the way they are, we discouraged this. He got very excited about the large trough of water at the entrance and David intercepted him just as he was about to plunge his hands in as deep as they would go. The petting zoo provided hand sanitizer at the exit, so Dennis had to content himself with that instead of splashing himself clean. Chloe was enjoying looking at the animals until I moved the wagon a couple of inches and she saw. She came running over to get back in before it left her! So her Daddy pulled her along in the wagon to see the rest of the animals.

We enjoyed a snack (funnel cake!) and beverages and then a little Tacky Souvenir Shopping before we left. Dennis got a pumpkin spinner flashlight and loved the fact that he could turn it on and off by himself. He walked around and around with it, and as his Daddy was paying for it, he took off out of the building. I called out to ask if we'd paid for it or was Dennis shoplifting, and Dennis heard me. He ran back inside and tried to hand the toy back to the cashier! I had no idea he knew this concept... We assured him it was his, so he commenced playing with it pretty much until we got back in the van and he went to sleep. He didn't discover the real joy of it until after sunset, when he really got to see it light up the darkness. And the most fun part about it? Setting it down on the hardwood floor to hear the very loud vibration noise it makes while it's spinning. He put it in his playhouse and then kept opening the door to peek in at it (on and spinning away, of course) and then closing it and listening to the noise. So funny, our little scientist.

He was his own person today. He wanted to decide where to walk (run, actually) and resisted our efforts to contain him. He was very lively at dinner tonight and left the biggest mess he's ever made at a restaurant. He smeared food all over the table, himself, and me, and he yelled and screeched and giggled and was just generally obnoxious. It was a stressful meal, and it made me realize that I forgot to enjoy and savor our dinner out without him last night. "Dennis, that's Mommy's plate." "Dennis, thank you for grabbing my fork and throwing it onto the floor." "Dennis, let go of your plate." "Dennis, that's Mommy's drink." "Dennis, stop throwing all your food on the floor!" Chloe had a couple of tantrums as well because all she wanted to eat at the all-you-can-eat-buffet was the clip attached to her high chair strap (ewww). I had intended to get dessert (from the buffet), but since they weren't offering a hot-fudge-and-xanax-sundae, I declined. We walked quickly out to the cars, with me ducking my head in shame about the mess on the floor and hoping a $5 tip (plus what Dave added) would put a dent in the anger of the poor server assigned to our table. Honey would have loved being under that table tonight.

We are home now, sleepy, worn out, cranky... But we made some fun memories today, and we have a very nice pumpkin to begin our Halloween decorating.

parents' night out

After being totally adorable for me and Daddy all day, Dennis spent his evening with Gran and Pop while Mommy and Daddy went bowling with some friends. He was apparently very well behaved. They took him out to eat at the Mexican restaurant with his cousins Laine and Emily and his Aunt Larissa and Grandma & Bob. He took over the bowl of cheese dip, insisting on dipping his own chips and filling the dip bowl with chips. He even dipped his pacifier in the cheese dip!

He shopped at Wal-Mart and then went back to their house, where he had a book read to him before going to sleep. He woke up minutes before we got there to pick him up, which was convenient for us, and then went to sleep the minute we put him down in his crib. What a sweetie!

I usually miss him dreadfully when we're away from him, and I admit to often thinking of him, but I tried to keep my conversation away from the topic of the babies tonight. We were having grown-up (or at least teen-aged) fun tonight with our friends, and it was admitted a relief not having to be somewhere that wasn't baby friendly and constantly worrying about what he was getting into. I knew he was in good hands, and I knew he'd have fun with his Gran and Pop. Plus, I know that tomorrow we're taking him to a pumpkin patch and it will all about him there (him & Chloe, anyway). And we'll all have family fun together. But it was nice to be on a date again. It's been a long time.

I snapped this pic earlier (with my cell phone, which explains the bad quality) when he was playing in the playroom at Gran & Pop's place.

MOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

"Mooooo" is the word that awakened me this morning as I heard it being shouted from the crib repeatedly. I don't know if he was thinking about cows or wanting to see cows or was just craving milk (which was on his Do Not Eat list today). We got him up and were pleased to discover that he clearly felt just fine. He played as usual today and was exceptionally chatty all day.

He 'helped' me in the kitchen as I prepared lunch by opening the cabinets and removing all the pots and pans and then putting them back. He repeated this with the under-the-sink chemicals as well, which made me a bit nervous, but all he did was take them out and then put them back (the bottle of dishwasher liquid and the bottle of Jet Dry)--he didn't seem tempted to taste either thing. David and I spoke earlier today about moving those products to a different cabinet and putting a child proof latch in it. We are a little late with the childproofing there, but I'll admit that he's never in the kitchen unsupervised.

He watched some movies today as well because I thought he needed some more rest after his day yesterday, and a movie was the only way I could keep him still and quiet. He watched some Thomas the Train episodes and was enthralled. I like Thomas, too, because these shows are so calm and quiet compared with, say, Dora The Explorer, which we happened to catch a few minutes of at Gran's house.

The picture shows him eagerly gnawing on his fork in anticipation of the pot roast dinner that he smelled cooking in the crock pot all day long. We put extra carrots in for him and he was delighted to eat them. Honey got most of his roast portion, and she was delighted to eat that.

I'm just glad he was feeling so much better today! And from the increasing sophistication of his babbling as of late, I'll bet he'll be talking in sentences in no time at all. I can't believe how fast they grow and change!

F.O.U.O.

Yes, that's right, it was another Fever of Unknown Origin day. We love those. Dennis gets cranky and feverish sometime around midnight and we get up with him and calm him down and put him in bed with us, where he tosses and turns and whimpers and kicks and none of us get much sleep. Many times he feels fine once the morning comes and wakes up all happy and cute while we feel cranky and irritable from lack of sleep. That didn't happen this morning. He woke up at 7 and was returned to his bed, and at 9:30, he woke up and asked "Moobee?" (which means he wants to watch a movie on his portable dvd player). We set that up for him and he promptly fell asleep again. At 10:30 I tried to feed him a little breakfast, but he didn't want it. At 11:30, his temperature had reached 103.3 and I gave him tylenol and followed it with motrin 2 hours later. He didn't want to eat and he didn't want to play. He acted like he wanted out of his crib, but he cried when I picked him up. And then he cried when I put him down. He held my hand all the way to the kitchen, crying, and I made him some Kool-Aid. All he wanted to do was drink. Once he rejected food again and cried to get down, I returned him to his room. He requested a movie again, so I set him up in the crib with his favorite stuffed animals, a few comfy pillows to lean against, and started a movie for him. Half an hour into the movie, I heard him calling me (well, I heard him calling for "joosh", which is juice) to request a drink refill, and I complied of course. He just kept on crying, and he had some chills from the fever and his little legs were shaking.

When David came home for lunch, he tried to get him to eat and we decided to take him to the pediatrician. We called for an appointment, but after they didn't answer their phone for 20 minutes, we went ahead and loaded up and headed north. We finally got through when we were about 10 minutes away (we'd been calling for nearly an hour). They told us they had no appointments and David vented a little frustration on the receptionist (politely, though) and got transferred to a nurse that agreed he needed to be seen today. As always, Dennis was happy and cheerful in the car, pointing out trucks to us and talking (as if he wasn't sick at all, but bored and wanted to create a little excitement). At the doctor's office they worked us in much more quickly than we'd hoped, and they tested him and ruled out strep throat, kidney trouble, or a bacterial infection. His ears were clear and his throat wasn't red. Watching him endure the strep throat test and blood draw will give me nightmares for several nights. David was holding him down, and he got a little upset as well because Dennis was screaming and struggling so hard. But it wasn't throat trouble or an infection, so we were at a loss. He was having some reflux issues but not real violent stomach trouble. So it's officially a mystery illness, and we will be waiting and hoping it goes away soon. He only ate 2 crackers today, all day, and that's part of the reason for our concern. This the first day he's ever felt too bad to eat. He loves to eat, and it scared us when he just pushed it away and cried.

He's in bed now, and we've been checking on him. He isn't running a fever anymore and we'll start him on a bland diet tomorrow. The doc said to keep an eye on him and call if there were any significant symptoms that developed (she gave us a list of things that we hope he won't exhibit), but otherwise he probably had a little virus and would be better by the weekend. I certainly hope that's the case. I felt so helpless when he was so miserable. He acted like he wanted me to hold him but then was too uncomfortable when I did. Gosh it's hard to see your child sick. He's a strong little guy, though, so I feel pretty confident that he'll bounce back soon. I'm extremely hopeful, anyway. And of course I didn't take a picture of him today when he felt so bad.

Keep him in your prayers. He's so little to be so miserable.

This was one of the harder parenting days we've been through. It's so hard when you can't fix their hurts.

guys' night in

David took over Dennis Detail this afternoon so that I could go to the gym and then have dinner in town with the girls (the local girls, meaning Mom, Becky, and Dianne) lest anyone think I ran out and got some new friends in all my spare time. I was a little reluctant to let him go because we'd had such a nice afternoon. He 'helped' us cook brownies today by putting two plastic eggs in a pot and stirring them with a wooden ruler and plastic knife while the pot sat on his play cooktop, which in turn sat on top of the recycling box. And he read his book to me today. His favorite Gran's house book is called I Love You Through and Through, and he likes to have it read to him over and over. Parts of the book say "I love your happy side, your sad side, your inside, your outside, your silly side, your mad side, your fingers and toes" etc. (not necessarily in that order). I caught Dennis flipping the book pages and saying "jibblejudawgoo side jalubeedoh side side side phoo toe nose ear jubuloobooloo book teeth eye". When I asked him to point out his toes, he went to the book and turned the page to the part about the toes. I'm just tickled that real words are mixed in with the gibberish and that those real words were mostly in the book.

He was very sweet today. He actually took two naps, and it's been a week since he's done that. I am wondering if it's time to switch to the toddler bed since he's now eaten nearly through a big section of the side of his crib. I'm surprised that he's doing this now after he's already gotten so many of his teeth. In fact, all four canine teeth have broken through the gums and are coming in right now, and I can't see how they'd drive him to teethe more than the molars did. We are up to a total of sixteen teeth now, a real mouth full!

He spent the evening playing in his room with his Daddy and I didn't get any more details than that. I suppose they were doing guy things, mysterious Y chromosome driven activities that I'm not allowed to know anything about, most likely involving wheels and destruction. It was probably good for both of them.

I went to the fair

The Chilton County Fair is in town this week, and we took Dennis out there for a nice stroll tonight. We didn't know how much there would be for him to do there, but we knew he'd like the lights and people and being outdoors.

We were pleasantly surprised by the Agriculture Barn's exhibits. Dennis got to pet a cow and a mule and he saw goats and horses and rabbits and chickens. They also had a very nice children's exhibit where Dennis planted a sunflower, picked an apple (made of paper), picked some cotton, fed a (stuffed) chicken, milked a (wooden) cow (we skipped this one), and gathered (plastic) eggs. All of the 'products' went into a basket that he 'sold' at the Farmer's Market and he took the 'money' and shopped at the general store, where he got a (real) coloring book and (real) apple. It was such a good way to teach children where food comes from and how it gets to market. Dennis participated as much as he could in between bouts of trying to run off and pet the animals again! He loved the horses, and when I told him they were horses, he smiled at them and yelled "mooooooooo". I tried to tell him that the cows actually said that, not the horses, but he was hearing none of it! For the record, he moo-ed at the cows too.

He didn't ride any rides at the fair. There were a few things he might have enjoyed riding with us, but he seemed quite happy to just look at all the rides (and all the neon) and point to them. He did go 'fishing' at a booth and won a little stuffed dog, and he was pretty happy about that. He didn't get to sample any "fair food" like funnel cake or corn dogs because we had a very nice beef stroganoff supper at Gran and Pop's house before we went to the fair and we were all stuffed. It was certainly a fun diversion from our every night routine, and we all had a good time. Just as we were leaving, my 8th grade history teacher poked me in the shoulder and said hello. I can't believe he recognized me after almost 20 years, but he did. He's still teaching, has been for 40 years. That experience just completed that hometown feel of the evening! I'm liking small town life more and more. I hope Dennis appreciates it as much as we do. I can't wait until next year's fair when he'll be able to participate in so much more.

fun in montevallo

After a big celebration service at church this morning, we went out for lunch and brought home a sleepy little tot. While he napped, we tried to decide what to do with our day. We spent time considering a visit to a farm but there were some time constraints involved with that, and then we considered a hike at our favorite state park. We ended up going to Orr Park in Montevallo, and it turned out to be a great day.

Orr Park is home to a creek, a long walking path, a very big open grassy field with a gentle slope to it and scattered shade trees, and a big Little Tikes playground. Dennis loved the smaller play structure designed for 2 year olds. It had stairs he could walk up instead of crawling up, and it had three different slides and a tube he could crawl through. He and another (slightly older) boy took turns climbing up and then walking over to the slide and sliding down, over and over and over again. He played on the big (5 year and up) structure as well, and since it was so tall, Daddy and I played on this one, too. We played until his little face got red from the exertion, and then we spread out the picnic blanket and had a juice break. He ran around and around in the grass and, to our chagrin, explored an ant hill up close and personal (only 3 bites, I think). We looked at the figures carved on the trees, a special feature at this park. I think Dennis' favorite tree was one with a big wizard face carved in it--he pointed out the eyes, nose, and mouth on it.

David's uncle and his family and also his grandmother live in Montevallo and we had a nice visit with them after the time at the park. He wanted to play with their cats, but the cats weren't baby-proof and it didn't work out so well. Let me clarify that no cats were harmed during this visit. They pretty much took a look at Dennis, hissed, and made themselves scarce.

We went for a bit of a Sunday drive to look at the land and farms near our home and we took a little longer than we anticipated. Instead of cooking dinner, we went out so that Dennis wouldn't have to wait so long to eat. He was so tired that he got silly in the car and he entertained us with his sounds and giggles. We worked on our animal sounds on the way home, and this is what our conversation was like:

Me: "What does the cow say?"

Dennis: "mbooooooo"

Me: "What does the sheep say?"

Dennis: "Baaaaaaaaaa"

Me: "What does the snake say?"

Dennis: "Sssssssssss"

Me: "What does the dog say?"

Dennis: "Ruff ruff"

Me: "What does the horse say?"

Dennis: "YAAAAYYYYY" (I suppose this is babyspeak for 'neigh')

Me: "What does Daddy say?"

Dennis: "No no no no no no" (David gave me the Death Glare when he heard this)

Me: "What does Mommy say?"

Dennis: "Yeah yeah yeah yeah"

It was a good day!

grape stomp!

Today we visited the Morgan Creek Winery's Annual Grape Stomp Festival in Harpersville, Alabama. I had my reservations about it, not knowing if there would be much for Dennis to enjoy there, but it turned out to be a wonderful day.

First off, it was a gorgeous day, mostly cloudy with a very nice breeze blowing, a big hint of fall in the air. It was certainly a perfect day to enjoy a picnic outside, sitting on a blanket (that Ellen had the foresight to bring, thank goodness) on a great big grass lawn and listening to live music. The little ones enjoyed running around on the grass and playing, and they went for a couple of wagon rides around the winery. They played with some pumpkins and actually got to stomp some grapes. Dennis put his purple footprints on a poster for Gran to take home to remember the day. Dennis and Chloe were so happy to see each other (it's been a month, I think) and they were so different this time than the last time we were together. They are just growing up so fast! They were running and climbing and just generally enjoying being outside (all of us enjoyed being outside today).

I can't really say what made the day so special. It was just a mix of a bunch of things like perfect weather and happy laughing babies, togetherness with friends, beautiful scenery. I'm so glad we went.

Mr. Manners

A few lessons on table etiquette from Dennis:

1. Eating utensils are optional. In fact, why not toss your fork or spoon onto the floor immediately after you begin your meal? This way it's dirty and you won't have to bother with using it to eat. Hands are very efficient at cramming food into your mouth; trust me.

2. About cramming food into your mouth: it shows your host or hostess how much you like the food. And it's a time saver--the sooner you finish your meal, the sooner you can get down and play.

3. Be kind to the animals in the kitchen. If a hungry golden retriever is lurking around your high chair, toss her down a handful of something. This works particularly well when it's something you don't like, say maybe broccoli or something. Dogs need their green vegetables too.

4. If your high chair is close enough to the table, try to put your feet on it. The table makes a handy footrest and parents like to admire your cute toes whenever they can.

5. Halfway through your meal, begin demanding a cookie. This way, if they haven't prepared any ahead of time, chances are they (your parents or whoever is hosting the meal) can bake some while you finish your meal.

6. Help your hosts burn calories during the meal: toss your sippy cup down vigorously and often. Then demand juice (or whatever you prefer to drink) so that they will pick it up quickly.

7. If you really enjoyed the meal, pick up the plate and rub it over your face and hair so that you can totally immerse yourself in the flavor of the meal. This is quite a compliment to the chef.

8. When you have finished with your plate (whether you dumped it out or emptied it, and after you've used it to coat your hair), hurl it from your high chair onto the floor. See how far you can throw it. This will make the aforementioned golden retriever under your chair jump several inches into the air and flee the area (briefly). Plus, the plate makes a very satisfying noise when it hits the floor. I would love to try this with a breakable plate at home but I haven't had the opportunity. Once at a Cracker Barrel I broke one exactly in half. Very impressive, wouldn't you say?

9. If you can manage it, dirty your diaper while your hosts are eating. If you can manage a smelly enough job, there will be more food in it for you when they lose their appetites.

10. Be sure and check the pocket of your bib after your plate and high chair tray are empty. You can always find a virtual smorgasbord in there.

11. It is considered polite to thank your hosts for your meal. Burp as often as you can.

12. If you finish your meal before the others at the table, demand to be taken out of your high chair. Bang your hands on your high chair tray. Use your outside voice. Look cute if all else fails.

I hope you have found these dining tips helpful. Happy eating!

playday at Gran's

Nothing runs faster than a wet naked baby fresh from his bath, fleeing to escape the confines of the towel and imminent diaper installation.

It was a good day. He woke up early and played and then took a very long morning nap, so long, in fact, that Mommy got a little nap in as well. Bliss! But it was good that he napped so long, because we've entered a new trend. He seems to be down to one nap a day now. For the past 3 afternoons, he's refused the afternoon nap. I suppose his little system compensated by increasing the length of his morning nap today. He did seem tired this afternoon but never did nap. Could be he's dropped it for good.

Normally this would cause me some mixed feelings. I get a lot done during the afternoon nap, so it stands to reason that I would miss it even if he didn't. But in place of napping in the afternoon, what he does now is play quietly and alone for the hour to hour and a half that he would be napping. I check in on him from time to time, but he's happy as can be just entertaining himself with books or cars. Tonight while I was preparing supper, every time I went back to his room to check on him, he was sitting it a different spot, reading a different book. He would look up at me and smile and then go back to his reading. I'm so proud!

We had a nice time playing in the playroom at Gran's house. She has a couple of dolls there and one looks like a boy baby (and even wears a diaper). There's another one almost the size of Dennis that's also a boy. He played with these little guys some this week. He put the baby in his own stroller and wheeled him around the room. And today he danced with the bigger doll. He pushed the button for music, picked up the doll, looked it in the eye, said "okay?" and then danced it up and down. It's a terrible shame that I'd put the camera in the other room.

I cooked spaghetti and meat sauce and beer bread tonight, and spaghetti night always necessitates a bath immediately following the meal. Tonight was no exception. I looked over at Dennis as he picked up his high chair tray (which is where he dumped his spaghetti halfway through his meal) and watched in horror as he rubbed it across the top of his head and then tossed it onto the floor. He calmly finished eating the spaghetti that was stuck to his bib or in his lap, and when he looked up at us, I had a sudden realization that we were, in fact, eating supper with an Oompa Loompa. With the vigorous application of soap and water, he seems to have returned to his normal skin tone rather than the shocking orange that he was post-meal. The high chair is back to normal as well, but it also required vigorous scrubbing and cleaning solutions.

After supper, we went on our nightly walk, and Dennis encouraged David the entire time. David was the one pushing him in the stroller, and David actually did some running. Mom and I walked at our pace and waved at Dennis in passing (they lapped us TWICE!). I am just happy that the jogging stroller has now officially been for a jog. It has been hiking a few times, and done lots of track and sidewalk rolling, but tonight was its first jog. Dennis treats it like his coaching seat on wheels.

future bookworm or future exercise fanatic (or both)?

Here is Dennis sitting in the rocking chair deeply engrossed in his Where is Baby's Mommy book. He likes it better than the Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa books in the same series, though I don't know why. Perhaps it's telling that after searching for Mommy in the closet and behind the plant and other places, the baby in the book finds Mommy hiding under the covers on the bed. This Mommy sure likes it under her covers, too!

It was a good Dennis day (truly, they all are). Gran and Pop returned from their trip and Dennis was so excited to see them that he ran to them. And we took him to the playground where he has now officially mastered all of the slides. He knows how to hold on, climb in, sit down, and push off on every single one. There were some other boys at the playground today as well, all older than Dennis, and I know he wanted to play with them. At one point, all the boys were on one play structure and Dennis walked right into the middle of them and sat on the step next to them. They encouraged him to go down the tunnel slide, and he was going to until the 2 year old (next youngest in the group) pushed him out of the way to go first. But then that boy didn't end up going because he was scared. Dennis walked to the other end of the structure and went down a bigger slide because they had blocked his way to the tunnel one, and they all followed him down that slide. It unnerved me that the kid had pushed him out of the way because they were pretty high up, and after that, Dennis was paying more attention to what they were doing that what he was doing, so we left the park. He'd been there close to 45 minutes, so it was time anyway. It was lovely weather, breezy with long bouts of cloud cover--a great day to be at the park.

Tonight on our walk, Dennis treated us to one entire mile of him saying "WALK, WALK, WALK, WALK" from his stroller. Maybe he's aspiring to be our personal trainer? I tried to tell him that we were walking as fast as we wanted to, and maybe he thought he was encouraging us to keep it up. He certainly enjoyed the nighttime stroll, but reached his limit and said "go" and "bye" just about the time my muscles were telling me the same thing. It worked out well!

safety ambassador

Dennis would like for all of you to pause for a minute and think about safety. Despite today's strict manufacturing legislation, apparently he feels that some toddler toys are still dangerous. And in his opinion, the best way to keep safe when playing in your (babyproofed) bedroom is to wear a helmet at all times. This way dangerous stuffed Froggies and Tonka trucks and clean diapers can't catch you unaware and hurl themselves at your unprotected head. And entering your playhouse becomes so much safer when you wear a helmet, just in case you inherited some genetic malfunction from your Mommy that results in you smacking your head against many things that should never have posed a threat, or, God forbid, you fall down and land on your head while walking along on a perfectly level surface with nothing present that might cause you to trip.

Be safe. Wear your helmet whenever you are inside playing. Thank you for your attention. (apparently, shirts are optional)

A Public Service Announcement sponsored by The Dennis Report, copyright 2008.

my first place

Dennis actually got a present for turning one and a half. Ellen had a friend who was desperate to get rid of a playhouse quickly and cheaply, and 24 hours after I'd been emailed a picture of it, it was here. David set it up today, much to the delight of Dennis who finally had to watch from his crib rather than stay constantly underfoot during the setup process. Who knew $50 could delight a baby so much? Yes, it means another giant plastic toy in our home, and I am coming to terms with that fact by reminding myself that at least it's recycled (or pre-played with) and we'll donate it to another happy child in a few years when it isn't used here anymore.

We bought it thinking it would go outside. But it's in such good shape because it wasn't used outside at its previous home, so we are rethinking that. Besides, his play tower that we are building outside has a house-like place inside it, so this one would just be extra. It's in his room right now, temporarily most likely. We talked about enclosing our garage and turning it into a playroom for the big toys (car, house, etc.), and we might just do it. See, he'll be out of the crib in a few months, and the best way to keep him in his bed and asleep is to move some of the toys out of his room, and a playroom would be a good solution. We'll see what happens. It's in a great location, has a window that opens to the kitchen and a doorway that opens to the den. It would be a perfect place to put him to play and I'd be able to get some things done and still watch him.

He loves the house. I mean he LOVES it. He's spent the majority of the afternoon going into and out of it, parking his car beside it, ringing the doorbell, opening the window, closing the window, "cooking" on the little stove inside it... I put a tiny chair inside and he was thrilled to be able to go into his house and sit. There's a phone on the wall inside, and he's been making calls and talking a good bit. We donated some old pots from the kitchen for him to use in there and he's been putting them on the stove and taking them off. And all of this was accompanied by huge smiles and frequent hugs for Mommy and Daddy (when he came out of the house). He especially delighted in shutting us out and having us ring the doorbell or knock on the door. Then he'd open the door or window and peek out at us and smile and laugh before shutting the door on us again. It's pure toddler euphoria. And I'm so glad we were able to get it for him!

18 months!

A year and a half old today. Wow. I can hardly believe it! Officially he is 30 & 3/4 inches tall and he weighs 3 tons (that measurement isn't quite as exact as the height one...).

We started off the morning at church, and I'm so glad we went. Dennis spent his first ever morning in the toddler nursery. He went to infant nursery one time and then we started taking him in with us to the service. But the last few times we did that it was more like a circus than a church service. David said the last time he grabbed the back of a lady's dress in the pew in front of us and actually tugged her backward hard enough that she had to sit down! And he ran off and nearly got away! The nursery workers said that he was very good and he didn't cry when we left him, but I'll admit that I thought about him all through the service. They had our cell phone number and the phone never vibrated, so I'll presume all was, in fact, just fine.

After church and lunch with Gran and Pop, Dennis slept long and hard for half the afternoon. He missed his morning nap and probably played a good bit in the nursery. They had cars and trucks and one of those rugs with roads on it, and that's where he headed first when we set him down in the room. He was in the happiest mood today. He enjoyed grocery shopping with us and chatted with us all the way to Prattville in the car. We identified body parts, or at least the highly visible ones. I pointed to David's ear and said "Daddy's ear", and Dennis repeated "ear", same for "arm" and "hair", and those last two were new words for him today. We also pointed out all the cars and trucks on the road with us. He loves that.

Supper was an impromptu decision. We were in Prattville, and I suggested Cracker Barrel to celebrate his "birthday" (which happens to be the actual birthday of Uncle Denny, his godfather, so we can claim that we were celebrating that). Dennis loves Cracker Barrel and we hadn't been in quite a while. He still remembered how to navigate right through the store and into the restaurant, where we were able to meet up with Gran and Pop on their way south for their brief Florida trip (coincidentally, to visit Dennis' godmother). He really performed at Cracker Barrel, emanating waves and waves of cuteness that the other diners and servers responded to. Pop tried to help him color with the crayons, and he did some, but he really wanted to chew them. I had a brilliant idea to give him his pacifier and then hand him the crayon, but he promptly removed the pacifier from his mouth and set it down when handed the crayon. He's smarter than me, I suppose.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw the dessert menu out of the corner of my eye and noticed that Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream on it. I was sure it was a misprint. After all, that dessert is seasonal and only available from mid-January to mid-March, but no, there it was on the menu. This my favorite dessert EVER, and I had to eat some, of course, because we were celebrating birthdays. We all split one piece, and it was the best piece ever. Dennis even had a bite, and he savored it for quite a while before swallowing, giggling over the deliciousness of the prize in his mouth. Just in case there are other Coca-Cola cake addicts out there, the menu says it will be available until October 19. Thank you, Cracker Barrel, for running my favorite dessert in my favorite season. It will be available on MY birthday, no less. I hope this doesn't mean it won't be coming in January as well...

We're seeing the start of the two-word sentences now. He says "Daddy go" when David leaves, and he said "Mommy eye" and poked me in the eye. I have a feeling his conversation skills are just going to explode and he'll be discussing world politics with me by next week (though I seriously hope not--that's not my favorite subject for sure). What a miracle he is to us!

happy birthday to Emily

We took a trip to Dadeville today and Dennis got to see his cousins Laine and Emily. We were celebrating Emily's second birthday. We were also celebrating the announcement of the gender of the new little cousin (Jeff) who will arrive in April. Little Jeff isn't even born yet, but Dennis has contributed an entire wardrobe to see him through his first 9 to 12 months. I thought I'd be more nostalgic seeing those clothes go, but he has cute clothes now and will have more in the future, so I saved the outfit he came home from the hospital in (duck pajamas) and the outfit his Daddy came home from the hospital in (which Dennis wore for his first professional photograph there in the hospital) and I let the rest of the clothes go. If I need them later, they'll come back. And I have a thousand digital pictures of those outfits (backed up on 2 computers, cds, and an external memory book drive, some even printed), so I'll remember them always.

Dennis wanted to be Mr. Social at the party, but when he got there, Laine (age 5) took him into the den and showed him the Toy Corner (not what's pictured, by the way). He played in that corner for hours. He came out to eat (of course), and we discovered that he is passionate about ice cream birthday cake. While Emily opened her gifts, Dennis ran into the room in periodic intervals, stayed 10 seconds, and then went back to the Toy Corner. He tried once to help open a gift (he touched some of the tissue in a gift bag), but Emily quickly curtailed that. His Grandma had brought a gift for him to open as well so he wouldn't feel left out. It took him 3 or 4 visits to fully unwrap it. On his first sojourn into the room, he touched it. Several minutes elapsed, and then he returned briefly and pulled one scrap of paper off the package. When he came back in 5 minutes later, he grabbed the paper and started tearing it to pieces. Then he noticed what was in the paper, which was a box of 5 little Tonka cars. He ecstatically grabbed the box and ran out of the room. He was back in seconds, trying to pry a car out of the sadistic toy manufacturers' packaging, and he handed the box back to me and stood there anxiously stepping in place and wringing his hands while I attempted the car removal. I failed miserably, so Daddy had to free the cars. He played with them for 20 seconds, maybe more but not much, before returning to the Toy Corner in the den. He did keep coming back to check on them, though, and took a couple with him to the den.

We decided that Santa will be up LATE on Christmas Eve (whichever date that might be for us this year, as we might hopefully be out of town) un-twist-tying and untaping and unscrewing to install batteries. He's going to need something a little stronger than milk and cookies to get through it!

He was a little angel today. He stayed awake for the entire drive home, talking to us and talking to himself. When we got back he played happily in his room with ALL his cars including the new 5. And we had tickle fights and he climbed up on me and bounced. For Christmas last year he received an Auburn football that plays the fight song when it hits something. David dressed Dennis in orange and blue today and placed that football in a strategic location for Dennis to find (knowing that we were heading to the home of serious Alabama fans). Dennis played with that football and danced to the fight song over and over, waving his hands and stomping his feet and laughing. It must have worked. They won the game against Mississippi State, with a very impressive final score of 3 to 2. I guess I should ask him to cheer for the offense next time.

After dinner Dennis wanted some down time, and he went into his room and asked to watch a movie. We let him. After the movie, he played with his Daddy for a while and then went to bed. He had a fun day today. He's had fun all week, I think, and he seems to have learned how to play independently this week. He's entertained himself so well and has been so happy. I guess he is more like his father than I thought. The pictures show him playing in the playroom at Gran and Pop's house. I think he might just have enough toys there. Maybe.

cajun in training

The picture shows the family's newest video game addict, helping his Daddy 'drive' a big rig in the video arcade at Wal-Mart. Dennis climbed up there by himself, so David put in a couple of quarters and let Dennis drive the truck around. He thought it was great fun. He played terribly, of course, and didn't finish the game before he was jumping down to go on to the next thing (the next thing being home, as we were finished shopping).

Supper was late tonight, nearly 8:00, and we sure heard about it. He complained and kept up the "eat eat" chant from 6:45 on, and though it was cooking, it wasn't happening fast enough to suit him (or me--I was SO hungry). We gave him chocolate milk as a mood enhancer/stomach empty-soother, and that gave us a few minutes, but he couldn't take it anymore and walked to his bedroom door and beat on it and cried to get out and go to the kitchen. Since it was almost ready, I put him up in the high chair and gave him some bread (12 grain whole wheat by the way, which is what we always buy) while the red beans & rice with smoked sausage was cooling. I don't know if he'd ever had red beans & rice with smoked sausage before, but I think it might have been his favorite meal ever. He was eating it with both hands as fast as he could, and he wanted a couple more helpings. Here's how I know it wasn't because he was starved: I also baked peanut butter cookies which were cooling while we ate, and when he'd emptied his plate the last time, I gave him one. He LOVES cookies and asks for them every day and everywhere but doesn't get them that often. He held the cookie in one hand, took some bites, and then, with his other hand, he turned his plate over and saw more red beans and rice underneath. He PUT THE COOKIE DOWN to eat what was under his plate. He finished that then wiped his high chair tray clean and licked his fingers (he never does this), and THEN he finished the cookie. After the cookie, he picked up any remaining pieces of rice and beans from his bib and ate them after we took away the high chair tray. We had no idea he'd like it that much. He smiled throughout dinner. I wonder how he feels about jambalaya...

growing is hard work

Another sunny sweet day for Dennis, I'm happy to report. He seemed a little more tired today than usual, but he did have a big day yesterday. We didn't do that much, just stayed home until lunch time and then went to Gran's for the afternoon. He played happily in his playroom and we danced with him and chased him around in a big circle around his toys while he giggled. And he visited us at the baby gate from time to time. He learned to pet Lady gently and remembered her name from when he learned it weeks ago. It was so sweet when he walked up to the gate, looked and saw the dog, and waved and said (VERY clearly) "Hi, Lady."

I love hearing him talk. His little voice is so high pitched and sweet sounding, and he is starting to sing to himself a little now. And we are still having long sentences of gibberish stated with all seriousness from him. We treat this very seriously and always respond to him. It seems to make him feel important, because he looks so serious and then he smiles when we agree with him.

He needed his downtime today. During lunch, he picked up two scraps of bread and actually rubbed his eyes with them. I think it was a combination of sleepiness and a desire to play peek-a-boo because Gran and I were talking to each other and not paying him 100% of our attention. He moved the bread and said "peek-boo" and grinned at us with a mouthful of cantaloupe and bread. He finished quickly after that and we let him play with the toys for a while until he picked up his Froggy and said "night night". I put him in the pack and play for a nap, but he didn't take one. He talked for 45 minutes (to himself and Froggy and various other toys) and played with Froggy while lying on his back. I went in to see what was up and discovered a horrible smell that was the source of what was keeping him awake. I changed him and let him play for a while longer, and it wasn't a half hour later that he was clutching his frog and asking to go "night night" again. After exchanging kisses with him, we put him down for a nap again. Side note: he knows how to kiss properly on the cheek now with minimal slobber and maximum sweetness. This time, he played and talked for 20 minutes and then slept for nearly an hour and a half (much of this time with his little rear end in the air for maximum airflow and total cuteness). His Daddy picked him up then and took him home while Mom and I went to the gym, and when I got home he was saying "night night" yet again.

I think he's growing. He looks taller every day and he is requiring much food and much sleep this week. I do have a small supply of clothes in the next size up, and Ellen found some things for him at the consignment sale. Maybe those will last a few months! I never did buy any bigger shorts for him because summer's almost over, but now they are marked down so cheap that I might just have to get him a couple of pairs.


The pictures show him 'helping' us sort the laundry amid much laughter. He thought it was great fun to try on Daddy's shirt.

mad morning, angelic afternoon

I woke up with a migraine this morning and the sound I awakened to hear was screaming from the baby monitor. Dennis woke up an hour earlier than usual in a very bad mood. Not crying but screaming, and he continued through the diaper change and when I gave him his morning sippy cup of milk. He was gnawing on his fingers so I was pretty sure I knew what the problem was. A dose of ibuprofen later, he settled back down. We let him fall asleep to a movie since it was so early and he didn't cry for us again for an hour and a half. Since my headache had worsened, David got up with him and I heard him screaming in the kitchen until he got his breakfast. I feared for a tough day. David played with him until it was time for him to go to work and since Dennis had gotten up so early, this was also time for his morning nap. I napped, too, and by the time he woke up, my headache was all better and I fixed our lunch while he played happily in his room.

After lunch, I mopped macaroni and cheese out of his hair, put his shirt back on, and then we headed to Gran's house for more rearranging and cleaning. When we first got there, we played with Dennis for a few minutes in the playroom. Gran put down a rug on the floor, and Dennis decided that it was just perfect for dancing on. So the three of us kept pushing the button on the musical tunnel so that we'd have music to dance to, and we danced and danced. Gran spun in circles while she danced and Dennis was quick to imitate her, spinning around and around until he got dizzy. Happily enough, Dennis was very content to play with the toys in the playroom while we cleaned the den. He would come and visit us at the baby gate between the rooms every once in a while and say hello, and we would periodically look in on him, but he played sweetly and independently for a few hours. I'm so proud. He was at his sweetest this afternoon, smiling and laughing and coming over to say "hi" to us over the gate.

Tonight we had dinner at the Mexican restaurant with the Gallmans sans Chloe (and we missed her!) and Gran and Pop. Dennis insisted on dipping his chips so I put a little salsa on a plate for him. He sort of forgot himself and grabbed a big handful of salsa with the hand that did not have the chip in it, and I think it was a little spicier than he was prepared for. He made a horrible face, turned red, and coughed, and I gave him his lemonade just in time. After this he only dipped his chips in my sour cream. He nearly ate it all before our food arrived in time to distract him with his quesadilla, but he did leave me a little bit. He acted as if he hadn't eaten in 3 days when in fact he'd had a very nice snack of chicken, graham crackers, and cantaloupe at his Gran's house. Maybe he's growing again...

He was so tired after the meal that he completely conked out in the car. We went down to the lake to help Dave and Ellen move a piece of furniture from Dianne's place. I carried Dennis inside and he never woke up. I laid him down on the loveseat, and he stretched out and slept so hard his pacifier came out of his mouth and he never even knew it. Ellen, Dianne, and I were sitting right next to the sofa, carrying on a conversation and not bothering to lower our voices, and he didn't even stir. He woke up for a few seconds as we were leaving, blinking owlishly around as we walked back to the car, but soon was asleep in the carseat again. He slept through the diaper change and pajama installation (again!) and I don't even know if he's realized he's home in his crib. Maybe his teeth won't be bothering him so badly in the morning. He has 14 now and those bottom incisors are in a fierce competition with each other to see which can break through first. I hope they both win, and soon.

vroom vroom

I noticed today that while Dennis rolls his cars along the floor (or wall or door or whatever), he makes a car noise to accompany their motion. It's like a guttural raspberry sound with some zooms thrown in from time to time plus a high pitch whine for the police car. I have attempted to capture this on video, but bringing out the video camera results in film of him approaching and trying to grab the camera. So far I have not managed to be successful.

I would like to add a line here about how much I hate this computer, because here, where this sentence is, were two entire paragraphs about Dennis that the computer took it upon itself to delete. When I pause in my typing, it moves the cursor back to some point north in the body of this document, and when I resume typing, it highlights whole sections and deletes them. I HATE THIS. I think that I will now start composing in Wordpad or on paper or something. I don't know if it's this website or my stupid touchpad mouse piece of crap or what. It's enough to make me want to quit blogging--it's very frustrating to lose everything. The Blogger site is good at autosaving every few minutes, so the last couple of nights when this happened, I quickly closed the webpage so it wouldn't save the new deletes and the reentered the blog and had only lost a couple of words. Tonight the autosave got it right after it deleted my paragraphs. So I am thinking very bad language right now.

I think I had written about how Dennis rode his bicycle again today, for 3 minutes, and he had remembered how to push down the pedals. Now, he doesn't ride independently by any means, but I am pleased that he remembers to put his feet on the pedals and push. He discovered a new feature on his bicycle that he just loves. While he's straddling the bike, whether to ride or tiptoe it along, he can lean forward and teethe on the foam pad wrapped around the bar between the handlebars. How convenient!

We were at Gran's house today, and he played for a good bit before he napped. I wish we had a pedometer or GPS unit attached to him because I would love to know his actual mileage. As soon as we set him down in the playroom, he covered the whole area and turned two toys on and off, and about 30 seconds had elapsed. He's FAST! He's everywhere all at once, and the places he walks away from bear evidence of his visit. I've said it before: he's like a tornado. He whirls in, causes destruction, and whirls away to decimate order somewhere else.

Successful parenting of a child this age? I'm just trying to keep him from hurting or killing himself and teaching him the occasional word. His talking improves every day. We are beginning to wean from the pacifier (or were until the current round of teething began). Sometimes it goes well, but other times he screams for it. It helps if he can't see it. Today, post nap, he pointed to it (because I hadn't hidden it quickly enough) and I braced myself for war. But he just pointed his finger at it and said, very clearly, "pass-fyer". Of course I let him have it. I mean, how cute is that? And when he was pushing his airplane around, he said "plane" and then repeated after the plane when he pushed the button and it said "here we go". He flew it around the room saying "here we go" over and over again. Pretty soon he'll be talking in sentences. He's trying now. He'll say a word that's real and actual English but will string along several nonsense words (maybe Greek?) before and after it. He's imitating conversation. He does this when he's alone in his room, too. It's so interesting to watch him putting it together. Sometimes it's like he's this awesome science project that we are observing and then interfering with! That's one of the fun parts of parenthood. Others are playing with toys, playing on the playground, giggling, tickling... There are so many!

first bike

We had fully intended for Santa to bring a tricycle for Christmas this year. It was on the list. We found one that we really liked where Dennis can reach the pedals easily, a Radio Flyer that's more of a miniature bike with training wheels. But we started seeing less and less of it and worried that it might get discontinued like the other things we've put off getting for him and then lost out on. So Santa came a little early. Like today.

We reasoned with ourselves, of course. We can get it now and give it to him for Christmas. We could put it up and wait. But what if he's not as easygoing in 3 months? What if it's harder to teach him to ride it then? Hey, it's rated 18 months and up, and he'll be 18 months old on Sunday. What if not giving it to him now puts him behind other tricycle-riding toddlers? And won't it be nicer weather now for him to ride than after Christmas? He saw it in the shopping cart, anyway. He petted it all the way through the store. He knows we have it. We'll have to go ahead and give it to him.

The only good thing about this? The man who got it down from the ceiling rack at the store looked just like Santa Claus. He could have been Santa Claus. So Santa gave Dennis his first ever bicycle today, September 8, 2008, no special occasion whatsoever except for that of a clearance price and eager parents.

I am happy to report that he LOVES it. He scoots it along, climbs on and off, pushes it around his room... And he even pushed the pedals down with his feet a couple of times and made it move. So I guess we shouldn't have waited. He's already learning how to ride. So there. All that justification we went through! Looks like we made the right decision. Maybe he'll learn to ride it soon.

Also today he learned that he can grab Mommy's leg and pick it up and make her walk in the direction of the kitchen. This is especially helpful when he thinks it's mealtime and I don't necessarily agree. But tonight we got supper ready before he was ready to eat it. He was napping and we woke him up and brought him into the kitchen and he was pretty unhappy about it. We set him in the high chair and he cried. David handed him his sippy cup and he threw it down. I handed him a plate of spaghetti and he started to throw it down until he saw what it was. At that point he set it nicely on his high chair tray, stopped crying, and shoved a handful of noodles into his mouth. He was all smiles after that. He had a nice bath, which is nearly always the sequel to a spaghetti meal since orange is not his natural color. We played with the cars and then he went happily to bed. He was in a much better mood today than he was all weekend, so maybe whatever it was that was wrong has passed. Thank goodness!

silly sunday

As I hoped, things went much more smoothly today. Dennis was still as irritable as could be this morning, but I was sick and so poor David had to deal with it. I can't tell if I'm having a fall allergy attack (because a heck of a lot of grass was mowed around here this weekend) or if I'm coming down with a cold. Dennis and I both have itchy eyes and tiredness and he is coughing a tiny bit while I have a sore throat. I have wanted to sleep all day except for when I wanted to eat, and Dennis napped a good bit as well. We realized about 7:30 that his afternoon nap had actually stretched to his bedtime without him waking up, so we got him up and fed him and played with him for a long time before putting him back down. I can hear him walking around in his crib right now.

He was in a sweet sunny mood this afternoon and we played with his cars for hours. He wanted to snuggle a little and we indulged him in that as well. The cutest things he did today were 'helping' us with the laundry (meaning he snatched clean clothes from the pile to play with) and twirling around in circles in his room and then staggering drunkenly until he fell down in a fit of giggles. I don't know why dizziness is such a fun experience for him, but apparently it is. Strange. But very cute.

He doesn't have fever and he seems to feel okay, but I think he's got itchy eyes from the way he's scratching them and he's been swiping at his nose a bit so it must be runny. Very mild, whatever it is, and I'm hoping that's the reason for yesterday's terrible moods. And I'm proud to announce the arrival of tooth #14 (the second upper incisor, so now he has fangs), which might also explain some of the moodiness as well. I have no excuse for my own moodiness and will just have to plead female hormonal-ness.

We are holed up in this house with all our healthy groceries, and we are taking our vitamins and hoping for the best. It's going to be too nice outside this week to be sick. So we won't be. I just know it. We rested all day while David took care of us (such a great Dad and husband he is!) and we'll be rarin' to go in the morning (but not early).

domestic hostility

All week I've been feeling like a successful housewife and mother. Every day I have cleaned and done laundry, played with Dennis, cooked our meals... This domesticity is relatively new to me. Yes, I've been away from work for almost 4 months now, but I have been spending my time at the lake or going shopping or with my mother... I don't know where the time has gone. But now we are settling in to a home routine. We've nearly stopped eating out, which we did WAY too much before, and we've been keeping healthy groceries in the house and a few snack things that aren't so healthy because occasionally we need those, too. And it's been so fulfilling, cleaning out stuff that's been needing it for a long time, rearranging rooms, all during naptime and all while keeping laundry going. I never dreamed of being a housewife and stay-at-home mother, having always pictured myself as a career woman, and I never considered stopping working at all until this year. Granted, I work very hard at raising Dennis, but I never thought I'd be doing this.

There is still much to be done. I have baby stuff to pack away in storage and my closet to go through. We have a junk room that I would much prefer to be a library and intend to start on that when I can. And we're planning the greenhouse garden, which is also a very big project. All in all, I've been very excited about staying home especially now that I'm actually staying home instead of going out somewhere every day.

But today I cracked a little. We were out too late last night grocery shopping and Dennis didn't get to bed until nearly midnight. I paid for it all day. He was cranky and whiny and irritable. I really wanted to reorganize our den and create some play space in there for him so we aren't always in his room. I already have a toy box full of toys in there, random stuff that David and I collected earlier in our marriage. Dennis has a table and chairs in there, so I thought today he could play at the table while I rearranged. He, however, had other ideas. Yes, he was delighted to sit at the table, and he sat there in 4 minute increments. But in between these increments, he was everywhere. He thought that today would be a perfect day to reprogram the stereo and I absolutely could not keep him away from it. All those lights and buttons--irresistible to a toddler! I turned my back and lost him, only to discover him in the bathroom opening the toilet and saying "down". I don't know what went down. I never heard a flush, but I know he was playing in the water. Thank goodness I scrubbed it well this morning! He's contained when he's in his room, but I wanted to start to allow him some freedom. And he certainly wanted the freedom!

I tempted him with toys. He played with the Chevron cars that we collected from the gas station years ago. I had no idea we had so many of the things, but we do. He was very excited when I unboxed some of them today and presented them to him. There's a major traffic jam in the den floor now. And when I was trying to convince him to sit at the table, I let him play with his Fisher Price Nativity set, which he had never seen before today. It isn't a Christmas present but something I bought for him to have to learn about Christmas. It's designed for a 1 year old and is babyproof, and he was very excited about it. He loved the baby Jesus figure, placing it carefully in the stable and saying "baby" over and over. I hadn't intended for him to start playing with the set in September, but he found the box and was intrigued, so I opened it up and let him see ALL the pieces. He played with it a good bit, but it wasn't enough to keep him from wandering the house and getting into mischief. I even brought out David's Green Giant toy 18 wheeler, and I've never seen Dennis so excited about a rolling toy. He kept saying "truck" and rolling it all over the room. He did play a good bit today.

But every minute he wasn't playing, he was fussing at me. He wanted to go outside and help Daddy cut grass and of course I wouldn't let him. He wanted to mess with the stereo all day and I wouldn't let him do that either. When I started cooking, I had to put him in his room for a minute and he was FURIOUS and let me know it. He didn't want to sit in his high chair, he didn't want what I fixed for lunch and threw it down, and he didn't want milk to drink... So much whining and fussing from him is very unusual, but I got it in spades today. Today was the first day I ever wanted to spank him. I didn't, of course, but it was the first day he was deliberately doing what he wasn't supposed to, and it was the first day he knew he was doing it. He KNEW not to touch the stereo but would not stop opening the cabinet and going to it, and each time I picked him up and moved him to something else. The last time I picked him up, he screamed and smacked my arm and then pinched me. I am not obsessed with the stereo, by the way. It's old, and we almost never listen to it in this age of the iPod, but he doesn't need to learn that it's okay to mess with things like this because he might do it at someone else's house and ruin something. I know he wanted to push the buttons. I don't know what a happy compromise would be. He could have pulled the thing over on top of himself the way he was climbing up to push the buttons, and it scared me.

Dennis got tired of me today, too. After I repeatedly denied him the opportunity to do what he wanted, he went to his room. I followed him after a minute, and he pointed to his crib and said "night night". Since he'd just had a nap, I wondered what he was up to. He pointed to his dvd player and said "movie" and then "Elmo", so I put in a Sesame Street dvd and let him have some alone time. He was a bit happier afterward and I got a good bit done while he was on his break!

It was a difficult day. Tonight I cooked supper, put him in the high chair, and when David came into the kitchen and started to fix a plate for Dennis, I just had to get out of there. I had intended to eat with them, really, but I needed a break and escaped to the shower while they ate their supper. I cried a little to let off some steam and then gradually relaxed. When I joined them again, they were happily playing together in the den, but David looked a little harassed as well and admitted to suffering some of the same treatment I'd been getting all day. We put him to bed at 8 despite his protests (he wanted to play in his car some more; we wanted to read the bedtime story and put him to bed--we're bigger, we won) and he went right to sleep. Let's hope he's well rested tomorrow!