Halloween fun

The day finally arrived, and the preparations were all made. Guests of our Halloween party this year discovered a pumpkin murder mystery and pumpkin C.S.I. lab. Much hilarity ensued, and happily enough, the crime was solved.

Costumes were fabulous, as always, and though I admit partiality to Dennis' so adorable red dragon costume, white Dave dressed and made up as a black woman clearly won the costume prize. His mannerisms even changed to reflect his new race and gender. I don't know when I've ever laughed so hard at a time when Hadden wasn't around...

Since this is Dennis' website, I'll talk more about his evening. He went trick-or-treating for the first time tonight, in downtown Clanton. Several public buildings (fire dept, city hall, police, church parking lot...) had set up trick-or-treat places for kids, and we walked around to let him visit them all. Once he learned that candy was involved, it didn't take him long to figure out how to hold up his pumpkin and say "treat" and then "thank you". He loved his costume and took pride in running all over in it, knowing he was personifying the entire concept of cute and working it for all he was worth. We got comments from everyone who saw him. At ACE hardware, he visited his fan club in costume, and they took his picture. He loved everything about Halloween, from the costume wearing to the trick-or-treating to seeing other kids and adults dressed up to the delicious meal we had at the party, and finally, to getting to play with his best friend Chloe (also adorable in her black cat costume). He didn't help much in the 'crime lab' except to occasionally run in and touch computer buttons or to mess with 'evidence', or to point to the fireplace and say "hot". He went to bed halfway through the party, happily exhausted and dressed in his bone pajamas. Chloe went to bed immediately after, and the rest of us stayed up too late having fun. No, he has not eaten any candy as of yet. There's 1/3 of a pumpkin full in the kitchen, but I am pretending it isn't there, even though I know there are miniature Snickers and Twix and various Hershey bars in there...

I can't imagine a more fun evening than this one. Happy Halloween to all!

enter the dragon

We took Dennis to Wal-Mart on a whim this afternoon because they were advertising a $4.99 picture package for many prints of one pose, and he looks awful cute in his Halloween costume. And yes, we managed to get out of there and only spend $4.99, but we probably won't do that again. They HAVE to take at least 7 poses. The photographer knew we wanted one picture, one of him in the dragon Halloween costume, but she insisted he also pose in his t-shirt and jeans. Yes, they were fairly cute pictures. But we had to sit there while she manipulated all the poses and added weird little cutesy details to them before she'd even let us look at the costume shots. Eventually we got there, and we chose the one we wanted, though I really wish she'd taken more shots of what we wanted. Guess I should have gone to Portrait Innovations, but I would have had to drive an hour each way, and there would have been at least 7 poses that I really wanted... So we'll go there around Christmas time.

We were offered a number of packages for exorbitant amounts of money, and we chose only the cheapo package, because hey, it was just for Halloween! Only, we won't get our pictures (developed there IN Wal-Mart, mind you) until November 18. So, on November 18, look for a very cute picture of a very cute dragon. And just imagine the cuteness until then. Or wait until tomorrow, when I snap dozens and dozens of pictures of Dennis in costume and Chloe in costume... and everyone else in costume...

party in my playroom

We spent the afternoon at Gran & Pop's place, starting preparations for the big Halloween party coming up. Dennis spent his day playing and dancing in his playroom there at their house. He had a great time.

The first thing he did when we got there was to climb over Gran and into their Honda del Sol (small car--very small) driver's seat and take the wheel. Gran was cleaning and defogging the windows of the car, and Dennis thought it was a prime opportunity to climb into that fun looking car and practice his driving. He also practiced his 'turn up the radio', 'turn on the windshield wipers', and 'push random driving buttons' skills while he had the chance. Pop might get a few surprises when he cranks up the car to go to work in the morning!

After the car play, Dennis and Pop went into the garden and chased the kitten around. Well, to be totally correct, Dennis chased the kitten and Pop chased Dennis, but I think fun was had by all. Dennis toted the plastic owl around a few places, hooting at it and trying to choose the prime spot for it to roost today. He got his fill of running wildly, and though I had a few nervous moments watching him through the window, he did a wonderful job of being careful around the pond. He did walk right up onto the rocks at the very edge at one point, but he looked up at his Pop, pointed to the fish and said "fu" (which is his current pronunciation of fish) and then backed away carefully, thank goodness! He now applauds himself for correctly identifying all the things he points to and names.

We played more with his Audubon birds today, and he brought me the hawk this time. He said 'hawk' and then made a screeching call noise. He sounded remarkably like the hawk's call, and I squeezed the tummy of the hawk then so he could hear it. He repeated his noise in delight that he'd remembered and gotten the call right. He was so proud of himself (and I'll admit to being impressed as well).

The last new skill I observed today? He learned to play with a walkie-talkie/two-way radio. Gran was trying to see if he could reach an object on a high table, so she put one of the handsets up there. After a big stretching reach and an accidental knocking down of the handset onto his head, Dennis found himself in possession of a neat new toy. A few minutes later we heard static followed by a cute little voice saying "hi". He repeated this a few times, and because there was an absence of static while he was talking, we can only presume that he A) figured out how to turn it on and B) learned to push the button while talking. Fortunately, no one responded today (the last time we did this, some trucker came through on the radio!), and we took it away from him after that.

Dennis and his Daddy enjoyed some guy time tonight while Gran & I ran errands and went to the gym, and I came home to see them snuggled up in the La-Z-Boy recliner watching a movie together. Dennis waved at me and said "bye bye", so I retreated and gave them their space. I was welcomed back in for the diaper change and goodnight kiss, and I happily tucked him into bed, trying to cover those toes with the afghan but knowing they'd be sticking out of the crib slats later no matter what I did.

18 month checkup

We missed the 18 month checkup due to Dennis being sick, and we were rescheduled for today. It went surprisingly well, with only one scheduled vaccine (Hepatitis A) and his flu shot. He didn't get all that upset today except when the doctor checked his ears. He always HATES that. We thought we were all prepared since we brought his Fisher Price medical bag with us, and he was wearing only his stethoscope and diaper when the doctor came into the exam room. I handed him his otoscope when she started to use hers, but it still didn't stop the big tears and cries. He got over it very quickly, and cried minimally for the shots.

He's apparently right where he needs to be on milestones, with a bigger vocabulary than many his age. We are not surprised. He names everything constantly and picks up new words every day. He can name his body parts and obeyed the two-step command the doctor gave him during the checkup, and he can eat with a utensil. All went well, and he was pleasant and chatty on the drive home.

Tonight we spent lots of time in his room, playing on the new toddler bed and looking at the photos from our camping trip on the computer. We also colored a picture and put the crayons in the box (and dumped them out) several times. He played with his farm animals, making their sounds for them, and he flew his airplane around just above the floor with several unscheduled rough landings and takeoffs for the Little People inside. The picture shows the last nightly ritual before bedtime--brushing his teeth!

not so extreme makeover

It's time to get serious about getting the house ready for the company coming for Thanksgiving. Step 1: Remove the toddler bed from the middle of the living room. I am happy to report that I have accomplished Step 1 now. The toddler bed has now moved into Dennis' room. I thought that this would have to wait until we had enclosed the garage so that we could move the playhouse out of his room, and then we'd have room to put the bed in there, but his room has a larger capacity than I first anticipated. I spent the day rearranging it. He was pretty excited about it, and we actually like the flow of things much better now.

The crib has moved to a spot in front of the window, the only drawback to the new furniture arrangement (as he likes to reach through the crib bars and smack the faux wood blinds because it makes such a satisfying noise). The toddler bed occupies the corner where his crib was, and the end of the crib is pushed against the end of the toddler bed so that it provides a barrier to prevent him from falling off the end while he's getting used to the bed. The toybox used to be in front of the window and is now in the nook at the end of his room, where his chest of drawers used to be. The chest has now moved to a spot beside his changing table, so now all of his clothes are located in the same corner of his room--much easier for changing him! Everything fits just fine and he still has the same amount of open floor play space in the center of the room.

He is very excited about the new bed. He climbed in and out of it, and I kept having to remove him from the bed frame so that I could put the mattress on it. Then I had to remove him from the mattress so I could put on the sheet and quilt. He climbed on and off and on and off lots of times. We practiced tucking Froggy in under the quilt. He climbed up and jumped on the bed. He did everything but sleep in it, but I don't expect that to happen for a while. We just wanted it in there for him to get familiar with it. We're so glad he loves it! This is another hallmark of the rapidity of the growing up process, but we are looking forward to his being able to get out of bed in the morning by himself to play instead of yelling "moo" and "car" from the crib until we get in there and set him free to play with his toys.

He is so thrilled with the new arrangement of his room that he kept his toys put away this evening. He put things back after he played with them, for the most part. Let's hope that's a trend that continues. He picked up another new word today: "cake", as it is his Grandma's birthday and we baked one for her. He knew what that yummy smelling rectangle of aluminum foil contained, and David tells me he followed his Grandma and her cake into the kitchen, repeating his new word several times. And he has the cutest new habit (as do most toddlers his age) of picking up his shirt and pointing to his belly button when you ask him where it is. He does this with great enthusiasm, stabbing himself excitedly in the stomach near the region of his navel and then applauding his brilliance. He also knows the name of that boy appendage in his diaper, and likes to point and name it whenever we're undergoing a diaper change. He's very interested in learning the names and purposes of everything around him. It's an exciting time in his life, and so fun to watch. I can't wait to see what he learns tomorrow, when we are due for a doctor checkup and flu shot. He may spend tomorrow learning how to cry at excessively loud volume, but I can always be optimistic that he won't.

Sweet Home Alabama

This morning we had a nice breakfast at the campsites and then broke camp to head home. On the way out of the park, we stopped at the Treetop Nature Trail and let the kids run mad on the boardwalk. Dennis was so fascinated by the owls! He stared and pointed and even hooted at them! They loved the trail because we could let them run free--it's a boardwalk with high rails on the sides and a few benches to climb on. They were also delighted to lunch at McDonald's before heading home, and Dennis fell asleep in the car almost before we'd left the McDonald's parking lot. He was exhausted!

Once we arrived home, we put him in his crib and he stretched out to sleep another hour. We got everything unloaded and put away while he slept, and we woke him up to go to the church's Fall Festival this evening. There he waved at everyone, fell in love with Cheese Curls, and picked the floating ducks up out of the pool for 20 minutes, saying "duck" each time. There was a beanbag toss game, and I showed him how to toss the beanbag through the nose of the Jack-o-lantern. He picked up a beanbag, walked up to the board, and stuffed it through the same hole. The prizes were candy, so we skipped prizes. He never knew the difference.

On the way home from the church, Sweet Home Alabama came on the radio and Dennis suddenly started humming/singing along with it. It was so cute! He doesn't often sing along to radio songs. Once we got home, we spent an hour and a half playing in his room and putting all his things away. He had a new load of pajamas from his cousin that we added to his clothing supply, and he seems to like them very much. While we were playing in his room, he brought over one of his Audubon birds to me so that I could make it 'chirp' for him. He chose the Yellowhammer (his second favorite, the Great Horned Owl being number one). The Yellowhammer is a type of woodpecker, so when you squeeze his tummy for the call, you get tweets followed by pecking sounds. Both David and I make the bird 'peck' Dennis along with the pecking sounds, and he giggles in delight at the tickling of its soft beak. Incidentally, the Yellowhammer happens to be the state bird of Alabama, and David noted that today's post should reflect Dennis' interest in the things pertaining to his heritage, both bird and song.

Our trip is over and we're all grateful to be stretched out in our comfy beds tonight, but we had a wonderful time. We're already planning our next trip.

toddlers love the great outdoors

It could not have been a more beautiful day. Sunny, cool, breezy, leaves starting to turn colors--ahh, perfection! We spent the entire day outdoors. We had breakfast outdoors (biscuits from scratch, sausage gravy, scrambled eggs--all the luxuries of home!) together, after which the babies enjoyed a wagon ride around the campground. They had their first little tiff of the trip then because Chloe thought that Dennis' shoulder would make the absolute perfect footrest for her wagon ride and he disagreed. They halfheartedly slapped at each other and he got pretty offended (he's the more sensitive one of the two, while Chloe's been mostly successful at defending her turf all year at daycare). But they were over it quickly and none the worse for the experience.

We set up the baby containment unit (umm... large screen house!) and turned them loose with balls. Every one of us spent time in there playing and wrestling with them, and they had the best time! We liked the fact that they couldn't just run off but could be turned loose to play. We were especially glad that we could let them play in there while we set up the campfire for tonight, and we wouldn't have to worry about any fire accidents. We congratulated ourselves on our brilliance for most of the day until Dennis figured out how to unzip the door and free himself and Chloe a couple of times. Oh, well. We could have tied the zippers down, but instead just held them on our laps around the campfire. It worked.

We were delighted that Gran and Pop came up and joined us for a beautiful hike by the lake and a chili supper, followed by some campfire conversation. Shortly after they left, we put the babies to bed and then toasted marshmallows. I wouldn't have minded toasting a marshmallow for Dennis, but it seemed so much safer to keep both my hands on him at all times, so we waited until after bedtime. Didn't want them to see us putting stuff in the fire, either!

The kids seemed to really like the campfire. Chloe wanted to go to it. Dennis stared at it, mesmerized like his Mommy always is. He said "hot" often while pointing to it. And once when he said "hot", he pulled his arm out of the sleeve of his sweatshirt and poked it up through the neck hole, so he had one arm completely free (the better to cool himself with, I guess...). While staring into the fire, Dennis pointed and said "dog". Honey wasn't by the fire at the time, so I corrected him once and said "campfire", and he insisted "dog". And when we looked where he was pointing, there was a log shaped exactly like a dog head, complete with grinning mouth (with glowing coals making an orange 'smile'). He was right. There was a dog in the fire. How creative he was to spot it!

We all had such a perfect outdoor day. The chili supper was messy, of course, but Dennis learned how to master his spoon tonight. He ate an entire bowlful. The babies took long afternoon naps and got tired early tonight. It got pretty cold out, so we didn't mind putting them to bed in the nice warm campers while we all huddled around the fire to stay warm. If I'd had the energy, I could have sat by the fire all night! There's just something so calming about watching a (safe, controlled) fire. I love camping! And I think Dennis does, too.

setting up camp

After a busy morning of packing and organizing and working out and David's haircut (where Dennis sat patiently in the next chair and observed--I can hardly believe it!), we loaded up the camper (in the rain) and headed to Oak Mountain to camp for the weekend. It stopped raining as we got there, just as the forecast promised, and though it was a tad muddy, we didn't have trouble getting all set up. We checked in, drove to the two campsites, unhooked the camper, and David set up while I tried my best to entertain Dennis. A couple of hours later, I was organizing all the cabinets and drawers inside and making up the beds, and that's when Dave, Ellen, and Chloe pulled in with their new camper. They quickly set up, and we visited for a bit inside our camper, and then we ate dinner together. A trip to Wal-Mart pretty much finished up the babies' awake time for the evening, and after putting them to bed, we all sat outside and played Uno on the picnic table in the cool night air, using the light of the lantern to try and discern the colors on the cards. It was such fun.

Dennis and Chloe love the campsites. They kept running back and forth between our campers, giggling and pointing and chasing each other. They chatted with each other all through dinner, so excited to be together again. Dennis started saying "cah-bee" today, and we think it means 'camper' or 'camping', words we have used extensively today!

Even though the only campsites we could find this weekend were less than an hour from home, we're just thrilled to be out in the woods. Incidentally, we ARE in our favorite state park. It's going to be a great weekend. We just can't wait!

picture 1: Camp Mitchell

picture 2: Camp Gallman

checking it twice

Picture 1: Dennis has removed the plastic tub from his potty (the MOST important part of the potty) and is parking a car in there instead. Yesterday when 'we' cleaned his room, I noticed that I was missing several of the Chevron cars. I stumbled over the potty on the way out of the room and found them in there. Maybe he likes the secret parking garage. Maybe all his cars are spy cars and they need the privacy of parking in a place like a baby's potty. Maybe he's hiding all the most special cars in there so that Mommy won't drive them across the room--saving the best cars for himself to drive. As soon as I walked into his room tonight to help him get ready for bed, I caught him hiding cars in the potty again. We both giggled about it. At least the potty is getting used for something!

Picture 2: Dennis has gotten the pad of paper and pen away from David and is either double checking the packing list for tomorrow's camping trip or is double checking the ingredient list for David's chili and deciding whether or not he'll be eating any. Dennis accompanied me over to his Grandma's house (where the camper is parked in her garage while David replaced the water-damaged countertop that, incidentally, we didn't water damage) to load up some supplies in the camper. He danced through the camper, learned how to sit down and ease himself down onto the step and then repeat the process to get from the step to the ground. Big uh-oh. Now he can escape. At least he hasn't figured out how to unlock the door as of yet, so we can still keep him contained as long as we lock the door since he knows how to open the thing when it isn't locked.

Here's hoping we have a fabulous time this weekend, camping with our best friends and our combined two toddlers...

Slide, Mommy, slide!

I asked Dennis if he'd like to go to the park today, and he began chanting "slide" over and over and over again, all the way through getting his socks and shoes on, through me fixing a juice cup for the road, and continuing on until we drove up at the playground. At this point, I stopped the car and came around to unbuckle his carseat harness while he said "down!" and "slide". As soon as I pressed the button in the middle of the harness, he was ripping the seatbelt off, pulling both arms through, and boosting himself up out of the seat and into my arms. Suffice it to say that he was ready to play.

He walked through the playground sand, announcing "hey" loudly to the other children and their parents that were already there. He went over to one boy and patted him on the back and repeated his greeting. ALL of the children there were older than Dennis, but that didn't slow him down one bit. He climbed up and slid down many times, on the small playset and the large playset, with me running around to see where he'd be coming down and then following frantically to see where he'd want a boost up. He can climb the small playset with absolutely no assistance, but he needs help with the first step of the large structure (most likely because it's designed for older kids and that keeps the little ones from being able to get on...).

Today we learned how to climb a 'ladder' of horizontal metal bars. He learned to hold on to one bar and put his feet on the lower one and then move his hands and legs up in sequence to finally grab the upper floor of the play structure and haul himself up. Naturally I was standing very close and had a hand on him through all of it, but he was so proud of his accomplishment that he stood up at the top and yelled "YAAAAYYY!!" as loud as he could. While he was yelling, he looked around to see who all had noticed his achievement. Then he gave himself a round of applause before running to a slide and sliding down.

He ate a tiny bit of sand, which is a big improvement from the two handfuls he munched on Monday. And he played with a three year old who was making sand castles--Dennis scooped some handfuls of sand into the bucket to help. They bonded over that kid's Elmo shirt, both of them smiling at each other and saying their own slightly garbled versions of the red puppet's name. He pointed to the swing then, saying "wing" like he might actually want to do it, so I hefted him up into it (the baby swings are HIGH at this playground). He said "wheeee" and then laughed when I exaggeratedly screamed and ducked to avoid his feet on the return swing. He tolerated about ten swings back and forth before he was demanding to get down. A few more times up and down the small play structure seemed to sap his remaining energy, and he began trudging toward the exit and asking for juice. He hesitated at the exit, and when I scooped him up to carry him to the car, he screeched and cried like he didn't want to leave. Big tears when I buckled him back in, a little whining as I cranked the car, and then happiness when I handed him the cold juice cup. He identified every car and truck to me on the way home. It was a nice day to play outside!

I want Da-da!

We played nearly all day long today, zooming the cars around and playing Identify Everything. He is really learning his locations very well. When we arrived at the walking track, he announced "WALK!". When we stopped by to drop off dinner for Pop, he saw the house and said "Gran" and "POP!". And later, when we stopped by Becky's place to see David for a second, he yelled out his version of Grandma, and then "boat" because he loves to play on the boat in the garage.

At home tonight we played in his room again, this time cleaning it. He was not that interested in clean-up, but he did bring the two cars he'd hidden in his potty to me so that I could put them in their proper basket. We read a number of books also, with him doing most of the 'reading', pointing to everything and telling me what it was. He went into his playhouse and got his phone, brought it to me and said "phone" and "Gran". So we called Gran and he spoke two or three works to her and then said "bye bye". I think he just wanted to make sure she was still around! When I told her that she'd see Dennis on Friday, Dennis stood up and clapped his hands and yelled "YAAAAY!" a few times. The timing was priceless! She felt very loved.

He wanted David all day long, and David had lots of work to do today so didn't get to spend too much time with him. He'd reached his limit of Daddy-less time tonight, though, so he began demanding "Da-da" and pushing me away when I tried to cuddle him. To be fair, I'd gotten lots of hugs and snuggles all day long. But he was ready for Daddy. Daddy arrived home in time to kiss him goodnight, so he stopped begging me to watch a movie and went on to sleep!

tiny tees

I get such a thrill when I'm doing laundry and I open the dryer to pull out a load of David's or my clothes and I find one of Dennis' shirts mixed in with our stuff. Seeing his tiny shirts or little bitty pants or microscopic socks is always a reminder that we have a precious little person sharing our home with us.

At first we were careful to keep his stuff in his room. No living room full of baby toys for us, no stuffed animals and toy cars strewn about in the floor. But he has gradually expanded his reach to most areas of the house. His ball pit is currently in our den. His high chair is very evident in the kitchen, though it is made in the exact wood tone of our dining set and blends nicely. His jogging stroller stays inside the front room when not in use. When we go into the bathroom, there are tiny washcloths and toy boats in the tub and a minuscule toothbrush and Thomas the Train toothpaste on the sink. We often see toy cars in the hallway. We keep whole milk, juice, and Kool-Aid in the refrigerator and applesauce and whole grain goldfish crackers in the pantry. He has infiltrated our home in the same way he has infiltrated our hearts--totally and completely--and we couldn't be happier about it.

dance dance evolution

We spent the day at home today, none of us feeling completely up to par. We aren't sick, but we were all 3 tired all day. Dennis wanted to watch movies ALL day (which is how we knew he was tired) but he did have a couple of hours of playtime fun. I will have to say that his dance technique has improved. Recently I set up his own cd player in his room and have been playing his series of classical music discs for him. He always claps his hands delightedly when I push the play button. I have all his music stored on an old RCA mp3 player, but it eats batteries something fierce, so I have resorted to playing it the old fashioned way (sort of... cds are certainly not that old-fashioned!). For travel, all his music is also stored on playlists on David's and my iPods, but he is enjoying once again hearing it in his room.

His dancing style used to involve rapid and repeated foot stomping. Now he's incorporated spinning along with the stomping, and he nods or shakes his head as well. He's a dancing fool! Though I admit, I haven't seen many folks flat out disco to Bach's Badinerie in B Minor for Flute and Strings, but that's the music that set his little feet to moving today. He threw himself into the performance and I am kicking myself for choosing today to charge the video camera battery. He was just so into it! He also spent some time today running up and down our hallway at top speed, as depicted in the picture.

Saturday Cuteness

I discovered a great Mommy tip this morning. I baked homemade biscuits (thanks again, Uncle Denny for that recipe you gave me all those years ago) for our breakfast and set the table with an assortment of honey and jellies. While Dennis was eating his biscuit and blueberry applesauce, he noticed that OUR biscuits had jelly on them. It's cherry jelly and not his favorite, so I didn't think he'd go for that, but he really wanted his biscuit to be like ours. Did you know that blueberry applesauce spread on a biscuit looks JUST LIKE JELLY and is so much better for you? He happily ate most of what was on his plate after I smeared the biscuit pieces with applesauce.

We spent some of our afternoon at Ace Hardware, and Dennis visited with his fan club members again. Since the store is decorated for Halloween, Dennis ran to and fro at top speed, running to point out each individual "po" (pumpkin) to us. He took a ride on a garden cart, climbed into some cabinets, played with a hanging toilet seat display... He had a great time. Incidentally, while he was opening and closing the toilet seats, he was saying "ba boo" (peek-a-boo) each time. He ran full speed from the back of the building to the front a number of times, giggling while he did it. It was as good as an amusement park!

Tonight he ran around at his Grandma's house, playing with the ride-on car there and playing in the toy closet. He noticed a baby on television and stood right in front of the tv, pointing and saying "baby" every time the commercial showed the baby again. Just before we went over to Grandma's, Dennis helped me walk around the park, and we went 2 miles and burned 400 calories, some handy info I learned from my Nike + iPod gadget. That is one cheap workout tool that's really worth it! Having feedback helps motivate me so much.

We played with his cars today and he finally located all the Chevron cars that we had 'hidden' on his top shelf. He would walk over and ask me for a car until I had gotten them all down, and then we both rolled them all over the room and made the appropriate car noises. He is so much fun to play with! We wrestled after that, and he pinned me to the floor and stood on my stomach, laughing down at me while the bruises formed... All day long he was all smiles and giggles and cuteness. Bedtime came much too soon.

our assistant

Dennis was a real charmer today. He and I zoomed cars around his room for quite a while, each of us making motor noises of competing loudness. And he 'helped' me with my art project--painting these two pictures for Ellen's birthday to go in their new camper. He snatched some brushes, stole my eraser, nearly pulled the paint down on himself... I decided to wait for naptime to finish up!

He tried to get his Daddy to hire him on as an assistant as well--the picture shows him trying on David's Makita tool hat, freshly coated with sheetrock dust. We told him most assistants wore pants, though, so he didn't quite qualify today. Dennis loves tools, though he rarely gets the opportunity to touch them. We are very diligent since that time we saw him carrying a full sized hammer around with him, just barely keeping from banging it on his toes as he walked.

We went to Ellen's birthday dinner tonight at Cracker Barrel, and Dennis and Chloe had so much fun playing with the peg board games. Dennis loved pulling out one single golf tee and then putting it back precisely where it was, then applauding himself and yelling "YAY!" as loud as he could. After a while he branched out, switching the golf tees to different holes and rearranging the colors to his satisfaction. He was very excited to see Chloe tonight, too, and they kept smiling and laughing at each other across the table, at least until the food came and they got busy with more serious matters. After the meal, Dennis and Pop had tickle fun--Pop would tickle his belly and then pull his hand away, and Dennis would grab his hand and pull it back over to his belly. He was screaming with laughter and Pop got covered in drool. Dennis spent some time licking the back of my hand, but my dessert came then and I was able to distract him some with chocolate (which, in my opinion, almost always tastes better than hand).

He was probably asleep in the carseat before we left the parking lot of the restaurant. He was quiet the whole way home. It is cold outside tonight! I suppose we can really say that Fall has arrived!

meeting old friends

Today we took Dennis all over the place, heading north to meet up with one friend for lunch and lots of friends for dinner, people we hadn't seen in quite a while. Add to that some diaper shopping and some looking at toys, and he had a full day! He fell in love with a couple of Elmo chairs that he didn't need and so therefore didn't get, and he cuddled a soft blue monkey for so long that I thought we might have finally found a new lovey to replace Froggy, but this was not the case. Froggy is almost completely blind now, his eye paint having been mostly loved off.

Speaking of Froggy, I got a lead on a semi-replacement. I submitted Froggy's picture to a website that specializes in hard-to-find toys, and one lady has contacted me. She has a Froggy that is a different color but otherwise the exact same stuffed animal. They won him at an arcade by trading tickets in for him. She wants $15, and I'm hesitant to do it, but it is a very close substitute. I wish there was one out there that was the same eye-bruising colors as the one we have!

Dennis worked his cute all day and people everywhere stopped us to comment on his adorableness. He played peek-a-boo at dinner for half an hour and amused our dining companions as well as a smitten older couple at the table next to ours. At the grocery store one lady pulled us aside to comment on how gorgeous he is. Of course we agreed.

He told us "fye uh-oh" (pacifier uh-oh) on the way home tonight to indicated to us that he dropped his pacifier, and "Froggy uh-oh" when Froggy met the same fate. And I got a "go bye-bye" when he was ready to leave dinner (the first time he was ready to leave--before the adults' entrees had even arrived!). This was followed by "Ma-ma go". We made him stay long enough for us to eat, and I had to hold him in my lap for a while and watch him dip each fry into the ketchup 40 times, licking it off each time. I think he was doing this to help Ellen celebrate her birthday, even though she wasn't with us today--she is the biggest ketchup lover we know. Fortunately he got involved in some serious peek-a-boo action and was happy for the rest of the meal thanks to a very patient and animated dining companion who played along with him and kept him giggling. He was so tired when we got home that he laughed hysterically while running around in his room, and when David played 'ride the horsey' with him, he just couldn't stop laugh-screaming. But he eventually reached his limit and demanded "teeth" and then "night night" repeatedly, so we brushed his teeth and put him to bed. He was ready. And so are we!

first explanation

After hearing an ominous crash on the other side of the wall from where I was folding laundry (i.e. from Dennis' room), I rushed in to see what had happened. Dennis met me at the door and said "train uh-oh". He seemed fine, and I glanced toward the bookcase (yes, anchored to the wall for safety) and saw his block stacker train on the floor with the blocks scattered around. It had been 3 shelves up, just barely within tiptoe reach (it was completely out of reach last month!). He must have decided he wanted to play with it and gravity helped him a little more than he intended when getting it down. But I'll hand it to him, "train uh-oh" was a completely adequate explanation, and he offered it before I ever asked him what happened.

We reassembled the train and it took me a while to figure out how all the blocks fit on it. I did notice that he'd already begun putting blocks back on it because he'd gotten the engine part of the train a little wrong, but I was just impressed that he was putting the blocks back on the wooden rods by himself. Then we demolished the train and reassembled it yet again! He was such fun today, driving his little cars around the room, talking to his farm animals in their own languages ("moo" and "baa" and "neigh"), reading Where Is Baby's Pumpkin to me. Today he learned that a ghost says "boo". He thought that was great fun.

The picture shows him helping me clean his room (the train, incidentally, is just to the left of his reaching hand). He is learning to put his toys on the shelves and his cars in their basket. Just after we finished cleaning everything, he dumped out the car basket and the farm animal basket, I think just to enjoy the chaos on his floor. I left it as is, and when I returned from the gym, I found that he and his Daddy had cleaned it up again. David said they spent the time during my workout playing, eating, and dancing, in that order.

We know he's crazy about Elmo, but he is still showing such interest in Ernie as well. He found a toy catalog that came with his Elmo laptop and there's a tiny tiny picture of Tickle Me Ernie in it. He brought me that little paper saying "Ernie! Ernie!" and I had to look really hard to see him. But Dennis was right, it was Ernie. I may have to ask Santa to bring him an Ernie of some sort.

The thing that amazed me most today happened while we were watching a Sesame Street video together because he was really tired and it was too early to go to sleep. He kept insisting "night night" and trying to climb into his crib (not a problem I thought we'd ever be having). He shoved Froggy through the crib bars as well, trying frantically to get himself ready for and into bed. I joined him after I finished cleaning the supper dishes and saw them talking about the letter "C". Dennis pointed to the letter on the screen and said "Cookie". No one on the video had said cookie, but sometimes we sing "C Is For Cookie" at home (a Cookie Monster song, one of my favorites). So he may have grasped that "C" is a very important letter for him! Amazing! I can't wait to hear what he'll say tomorrow.

19 months old

I've gone high tech with my workouts! Now, at Curves, I have a card that I insert into each machine that tells me how many reps I need to do, how many I've done, and whether or not my range of motion is enough for that machine. At the end, I get a rundown on what was good, what was not so good, how my workout compared with the previous ones, and the best news of all: how many calories I burned in the workout! And for my birthday, David bought me a Nike + iPod receiver to track my mileage and time on my walks. This is a supercool gadget with a sensor that goes on my shoe and a plug-in that hooks up to my ipod nano (for once it's good to have the nano--it's the only one that works with the Nike system except for the ipod touch). I play the music in my workout playlist and during the walk, I get encouragement from a voice telling me how I'm doing. I can press a button on the ipod and hear how far I've come at any time. At the end of the walk, I can read how far I've come and what my pace was and how it compares to previous workouts. Now I need a gadget that monitors my food intake and punishes me for my transgressions...

Tonight, I tried out the Nike gadget. Dennis and I went for a stroll under the full harvest moon, just here around our neighborhood. So I had two voices encouraging me. One pleasant female voice in my earphones, and one sweet little Dennis voice saying "walk. walk." and also pointing out the moon and trees and dogs along the way. What a beautiful fall night it is! We live very rurally, so we enjoyed the sight of the moon on the fields at the end of the road. So peaceful until we had to cross in front of the house where the Rottweiler lives, but all he did was bark threateningly tonight while Dennis pointed to him and called him a dog. No harm done.

We are having a touch of the October creepies around here, especially this week. I found a baby copperhead snake in the kitchen when I went in for a late snack (maybe this is actually more effective than a techno gadget to limit my food intake--a snake in the kitchen!), slithering around in front of the garbage can. I'm very glad I turned on the light instead of trusting my instincts to find the refrigerator in the dim room. David dispatched of the snake with a large pizza knife and I had a serious talk with the cat about falling down in her duties. As an apologetic gesture, she left a dead chipmunk right in front of my car door. I hope this means she's back on the job. The snake was enough, but today, when I was driving home, an albino jumping spider accosted me in the car. I don't know what breed it was, but it was colorless and medium-sized, and when I went to swat at it, it leaped 5 inches off the dash, prompting a girly squeal from me and causing me to do a very interesting car maneuver. Tonight as we returned from our walk, all the neighborhood dogs were howling at the moon. Halloween is clearly just around the corner.

We have a 19 month old now. It's almost unbelievable! His teeth are finally easing up a little bit and we had a day of nice and sunny personality. He slept until after 11 this morning because it was a difficult night for him, but then he ran and played happily all day and ate his meals with gusto (and significant mess). We made the obligatory mark on the door to measure his height, and he's at least a half inch taller than last month (the tape measure is still at David's job site so I don't have the accurate details). He knows so many words now, most likely near 100, possibly more. He reads to us now, pointing at animal pictures and identifying the animal and making the appropriate animal noise, pointing at faces and identifying the parts. He understands all of what we tell him, and he sat on the potty again today and used his diaper while sitting there. He's getting so smart so fast!

The picture shows him relishing his birthday Oreo cookie, with orange creme filling for Halloween (and for a more colorful messy baby face).

it's a delicacy

While we were all wrestling on the floor today, I heard a terrible noise from David and I looked up to see his toe in Dennis' mouth. Yes, Dennis eats toes. We knew he ate his own toes, and once he went after mine, but my toenails were painted a scrumptious shade of red at the time and I presumed he mistook me for food. We didn't know his toe fetish extended to other family members as well.

Naturally we yelled "STOP!" (while trying to control our horrified laughter), but he caught on that what he was doing was kind of funny and kept after it. Poor David was scrambling to recover his big toe before it became a snack! His foot was covered in drool. Yes, we know he's teething something fierce, and he's woken up the past several nights in severe mouth pain. We've been treating it as best we can, attempting to offer him suitable chewing items, but this was just too much!

Otherwise, our little piranha had a nice day playing at home. He even helped us clean his room tonight before bed, putting his cars in one basket and his farm toys in another. He's even been putting his books back on the shelf. I have hope that, aside from the toe issue, we're raising a civilized little being.

Momentous Event

Today while we weren't really paying attention to him, he did a fabulous thing! I was taking a nap and David was in his room with him reading a book while Dennis played. David heard him rummaging around in the corner, and looked to see him sitting on his potty. Then there was a noise, and a smell, and we deduced that he pooped while sitting on the potty. He was still wearing his diaper, but we're pretty excited about it! He made a real connection there to figure out where he was supposed to do that.

We aren't really teaching the potty--he's a little young. Our doctor said we could go ahead and try but he wouldn't really get far until he had words for what he was doing. So every night we let him sit on the potty without his diaper and read books, but so far nothing has happened. Last week I bought a movie for him starring Elmo, his favorite character, entitled Elmo's Potty Time. We've let him watch it a few times to distract him from his teething pain this week when nothing else would work. Apparently Elmo has been able to explain to him how the potty works, because he certainly used it with intent today. Thank you, Elmo! Now if only we could rent an Elmo to teach him how to wipe himself...

we rode the train!

We started our day at home, skipping Dennis' flu shot appointment and having a nice morning to get ready for our big day out. We skipped the shot because a) he's going to the doctor in 2 weeks and can have it then and b) he was up half the night with tooth trouble and we just didn't want to give him another painful experience to add to the teething. We had a nice lunch that David cooked for us and then had to rush out the door to meet the Gallmans in Calera.

We arrived at the train depot to find people EVERYWHERE and we worried that the train was going to be very full. This was not the case, though. We were among the last people to board, and it turns out that many of the large crowd of folks we saw had been on the previous ride. We were pleased with the Pumpkin Patch Train. Our local railroad museum runs train rides every weekend, and during holiday months will run special rides (Easter, Halloween, Christmas...). The train took us through the woods for a while until we arrived at the Pumpkin Patch (which we think was on the back part of the Ozan Winery). Costumed people waved as we were pulling in and greeted everyone getting off the train. There were pumpkins all around, inflatable jumping structures, a hay ride, face painting, pumpkin coloring, and snacks and drinks available. We had elected not to purchase a pumpkin since Dennis had picked out a nice one at our first pumpkin patch visit.

Dennis and Chloe had a great time running around on the grounds and picking out different gourds and squash to show us. Dennis really wanted to climb into the jumping structure but the kids in there were all so much bigger than him, so we didn't let him. He kept running back over there, so David let him walk around and around it, watching the kids inside until he got his fill of the thing. Then we went on a hayride through the vineyards, returned and let the kids play around until it was time to board the train again. Chloe and Dennis enjoyed climbing around on the train seats and looking out the window, and Dennis briefly escaped and headed down the aisle to the front of the train car with David close on his heels. We heard a cry of "loose child!" from one of the train conductors, but he was laughing because David was chasing him pretty close. No harm done, but I wondered how many times in my life I would be the mother of the 'loose child'. Maybe he'll grow out of this running phase?

After the train ride, we shopped for a bit in Alabaster before heading to the Gallmans' home. Once there, we all loaded up in their van and went to Dave's brother's new place for a big cookout and barn dance. Dennis had a great time there, meeting the horses and dancing along to the karaoke singing of many of the guests, clapping his hands every time a new song started up. It was a beautiful night, and Chris has a wonderful big barn, and we all had lots of fun. We were out way too late, compounded by the fact that when we returned to Dave and Ellen's place, we had to check out their beautiful new (to them) pop-up camper. The kids just giggled and climbed all around in it and were reluctant to say goodbye to each other when we finally loaded Dennis in his carseat to come home. He stayed awake for half the ride back, just looking around contentedly. And then he cried hard when we put him to bed, having slowed down enough to finally notice how bad his teeth were hurting him. Once the motrin kicked in, he got to sleep, thank goodness!

This was an unbelievably fun day. I can't think of the last time we smiled and laughed and enjoyed the outdoors so much in one day! Dennis was one happy little man today.

all he wants for Christmas is his 4 back teeth

Today necessitated another trip to Lowe's. I don't love Lowe's. I don't hate it, but I don't love it like I used to. It reminds me of how many projects I'd like to do on our house. This used to be fun, but now is stressful. Who has the money or the time to do all those things to your house, especially when it's FALL outside and there are so many fun places to go?

Dennis gets easily bored in Lowe's now, so I pushed him around in the stroller and we kept in constant motion until we arrived at the Christmas decorations. His eyes just lit up looking at all the pre-lit trees and colorful yard displays. He played with a snow-globe ornament that had a button he could easily push, rewarding him with one of nine songs from the Rudolph movie and 'snow' swirling around the abominable snowman in the center of the globe. He touched the furry stockings and stared at the large inflatable lawn decor items. One of these was a helicopter with swirling blades on the top AND on the back, and Dennis watched it for quite a while.

So I've seen how big his eyes get now and I've seen the wonder in his face as he looked at everything, and I've had a little preview about how wonderful this Christmas will be. I can't wait to drive around with him and look at Christmas lights. Finally I'll have someone who might enjoy doing that with me!

In other news, he appears to be growing some mastodon teeth in the rear of his mouth. We aren't due for any teeth back there for another year or so, but he's been waking up crying HARD and drooling like a fountain. What else could it be but teeth? He puts his finger in his mouth and pushes it way back along his gum line. He's hurting so bad that he wants the pacifier, but when he puts it in it hurts, so he spits it back out and cries. Our good friend Motrin is helping some, and cold drinks seem to soothe him, but I can't wait til he has all twenty and we don't have to worry about teething for two years. These must really really hurt him because he's acting so upset and touching the side of his jaw and crying. Poor little guy. At least these are the last four.

My room, my house

Dennis had lots of playhouse time today in between two big trips to Wal-Mart (ugh!). He was very good all day long, very happy and content. He bid farewell to Gran and Pop tonight as they are leaving on vacation early in the morning, and he gave them kisses and told them "bye bye". His kisses have evolved again. Instead of mucho slobber, like in the beginning, and instead of sweet little touches of his mouth against your cheek, he now gives air kisses. He makes the kissing sound and smacks his lips together but never makes contact. It's extremely cute, and perhaps it's even more sanitary this way than him kissing everyone. We didn't train him to do it, he just started it on his own.

He didn't nap much today, and he might have gotten cranky except that we served his favorite dinner tonight. He LOVES spaghetti, and he enjoyed bath that immediately followed the meal. He almost fell asleep on my shoulder as we were shopping tonight. He has a new habit when he's tired. He grabs my hand or arm and rests his head on it. He's been doing this at restaurants when he's past nap time, and tonight he pulled my hand onto the side of the grocery cart and laid his head on my arm. It's so sweet, but he usually goes for my right hand, and his little naptime renders me practically helpless. I am learning slowly to eat with my left hand. Perhaps I could market this as a new diet plan--eat everything with your non-dominant hand.

We're all tired tonight, so we're all in bed. I can still hear Dennis rolling around, trying to find just the right spot in his crib. I also hear hard sucking on the pacifier, so I know he's already in pretty deep sleep. We can tell when he's really tired, because after we tell him night night, he says it back and then says "bye bye" so we'll hurry up and leave the room so he can sleep. Separation anxiety does not seem to be a problem for our little guy!

another milestone

Today Dennis pointed out his first body part on himself. He's been pointing to our eyes, ears, noses, mouths, but never his own. And tonight, while Gran was reading his favorite book ever--I Love You Through and Through--Dennis pointed to his own ear when she got to the page about ears, and he said "ear" while he did it. He pointed to his ear several minutes later when I asked him where his ear was. I didn't know this was a milestone until the pediatrician asked me if he could do it at the last checkup. She was satisfied that he could point out David's and my noses and eyes. But now he knows about his own ear. Jennifer will be proud that his ear was the first thing he learned!

As we were getting ready for bed, he was pointing out all kinds of objects to me from his Baby Einstein First Book of Colors (a big board book from Uncle Denny), and I can't believe how much he knows. For instance, when we got to the page for the color white, which he and I haven't gotten to many times before because he's always so quick to turn pages, he pointed to the sheep and said "sheep". And then he pointed to the white microwave and white stove and said "cook". Then he pointed to the white light switch plate and said "on" and "off". I was amazed. He didn't just name the objects--he knew what they did! Oh, and he pointed to the sheep again, and said "sheep. BAA!". Brilliant!

The pictures are from our shopping excursion to Whole Foods, where he loves to drive the car around (car attached to front of shopping cart) and honk the horn at fellow shoppers (perhaps a technique learned from Aunt Ellen and Chloe?). He was a lot of fun today.

Time to find my Mommy britches

The time has come. He's gotten away with all kinds of stuff because, in my mind, he's too young to know what he's doing. And I keep telling myself that, even when he's standing in a chair and giving me that look that dares me to tell him to sit down. I tell him to sit down. But I ask nicely, and he takes longer and longer to comply. So today, I demanded that he sit down, and he looked at me like I'd grown another head. But he sat down.

His Daddy actually spanked him for this a few days ago. I wasn't dialed in to the fact that we were actually going to spank him, ever, so it took me completely by surprise when it happened. Dennis cried two little 'waah's and was over it. I cried for an hour. It was 3 little taps on his bottom, but it rocked my world.

I know we agreed that we were pro-spanking (umm, not each other) before Dennis was born. But now he's here, and he's so sweet, and I can't stand the thought of ever spanking him. I always thought that it would depend on the child--some only respond to spanking, and it doesn't work for other kids. What about just using positive reinforcement? Does that actually work? I know spanking is very controversial, and I still have emotional scars from the very few spankings I myself received as a child. David thinks it's hilarious that he can snap a belt and watch me cringe in terror, a trick he performed even tonight. For years he's tried this, and I still cringe every time.

Refusing to sit on his bottom in a chair is the worst thing he's done in all his 18 months, and he'll sit if you tell him to like you mean it. But I'm realizing that the time is coming quickly when we'll have to get all our discipline ducks in a row and agree on a strategy. Do we punish him for throwing down his plate after a meal? For playing in the toilet? How do we distinguish what's simply toddler curiosity as opposed to deliberate bad behavior? Is he old enough for deliberate bad behavior? I really don't think so. And I really hope that in a couple of months, I won't be blogging about how he has completely run over me.

This is hard. I absolutely cannot stomach the idea of ever hurting him, even slightly, even for his own good. Not when he looks at me with those huge trusting blue eyes, and when I'm the one he runs to in distress, the one who makes it better. Crap. I might be raising a real Momma's boy. Or maybe I'm doing the right thing. How the heck do I know what's right? You can rest assured that I won't be spanking him myself, at least for now.

See the picture. He's climbed up a chair to turn on the lamp. Is this bad? Not really--he wanted to examine how the lamp worked. But he's not sitting down in the chair, is he? He got into this position when he was alone in his room, and I came in to find this. Instead of reprimanding him, I took a picture. Perhaps I really don't have a clue.

where's the baby?

Looking at Dennis today, it was hard to see any signs of babyhood. He's a little boy now. He gets taller every day and he's losing some of that baby roundness from all over. He's still cute as can be, but it's hard to reconcile this attractive little boy with that totally adorable chunk of baby that he was just months ago. All part of the growing up process, I presume.

This was an almost back-to-normal day for Dennis after all the weekend partying. He played with his Daddy while Mommy went to the gym and the bank, then he and I went to meet his Gran and Great-Granny for a little shopping at the flea market. Dennis scored a nice table and 2 chairs for his playroom, just his size. He enjoyed another buffet lunch at Shoney's (2 lunches in a row there) before his Great-Granny left to go back home to Dothan. He settled in for a 2 & 1/2 hour afternoon nap, stopped by to visit Gran & Pop for a while, and then went to do some shopping with Mommy and Daddy in Prattville. He had lots of fun shopping, pointing things out and identifying them to us in his own language. And he fell asleep hard in the car, exhausted from another long day.

The most fun thing from today? Tossing his car into Gran's pond. He actually turned it upside down and sent it over the waterfall. Any occupants inside would have drowned before help could reach them (I had to climb the side a bit before I could reach the car to lift it out). He also enjoyed hooting at the plastic owl standing guard over the pond. Just another day in the life of Dennis!

I love my Godfather

Dennis is very fortunate to have a very special person in his life, and that person is his Godfather, who also happens to be my uncle and his great-uncle. Uncle Denny sure got a lot of attention from Dennis this weekend--he wanted to be wherever his uncle was and he wanted to climb in his lap constantly. He loves Uncle Denny very much, but he also happens to love the fact that Uncle Denny always carries a nice ink pen in his pocket, a pen that's easily accessible to little hands. Dennis must have grabbed that pen two dozen times in the past couple of days. He didn't write with it; he just ran around the house with it, holding it alternately in his hands or mouth. Today he even started bringing the pen back to Uncle Denny when he was finished with it.

One of the pictures shows Dennis with the painting that he did for Uncle Denny's birthday gift. We celebrated our birthdays together this year and I hope we'll do so again and again in the coming years. Dennis painted the picture with his fingers and his technique has really changed since the last painting he did. He's a bit more minimalist these days, and he actually used his fingers to move the paint along the canvas this time rather than just dabbing it like before. He worked in acrylic paint again this time (it washes off baby hands with water), and he tried his best to taste each color. He chose which colors to use and where to put them, and it turned out to be a pretty interesting masterpiece. I wonder if we have a budding artist in the family. Or maybe he just enjoyed the opportunity to get messy...

Happy Birthday, Mommy

Dennis could not have been more charming or fun or cute or wonderful than he was today. We spent the day at the lake house with Granny and Uncle Denny and Gran, and later in the evening, Becky & Bob, and Dave, Ellen, and Chloe came to celebrate as well. We had an incredible dinner of fried catfish, all caught there at the lake house by the master fishermen in the family.

Dennis and Chloe enjoyed playing together and delighted all of us with their antics. Dennis said so many new words that I've completely lost count of all the things he knows how to say. And Chloe is growing so fast, and she's getting the cutest little curls in the hair on the nape of her neck. They don't look like babies anymore, not at all. They are real little people, with real opinions and real personalities. And they are so darned cute!

So I'm another year older now, and my life is so full and rich now that I can hardly believe it. I am so thankful for the blessings in my life--my wonderful family and incredible caring friends. It was a great birthday.

big talker

Dennis discovered the art of true phone conversation today. For months he's been putting his play phones up to his ear (usually backwards) and walking around and talking gibberish. Today I saw him walking around with the real phone and doing the same thing. Somewhat later, after his nap when he was a little upset at waking up, he kept walking back and forth to the doors and looking out and calling for "Da-da". He was inconsolable, and just when I picked up the phone to call his Daddy so he could hear his voice, the phone rang. It was David, and I explained to him that Dennis was asking for him, and then I put the phone on speaker and handed it to Dennis. He walked around with it up to his ear, chattering away to his Daddy. It was, hands down, the cutest thing Mom and I had ever seen. They had a very long conversation, occasionally punctuated by Dennis pressing some buttons on the phone and then returning to the call.

A couple of hours later, he wanted the phone again, so we called his Pop and let Dennis talk to him. It was a repeat performance and it thrilled Dad to hear what all Dennis had to say. Not that we understood what all Dennis had to say, mind you, but it was sure fun to listen to. Again, much later, we decided to call Uncle Denny (who was on his way here to visit) to let him know that Dennis had just licked the mayonnaise off his piece of sandwich bread (something Uncle Denny was known for as a kid). Dennis got the phone again and had another conversation, this time with a lot more button pushing. What was so cute about it was the way he walked around and around the lake house with the phone up to his ear, talking away and then pausing to listen and then talking again.

In other news, Froggy took his first ever swim in the toilet today. He recovered just fine and is sleeping underneath Dennis right now. They looked cozy when I went in to check on them a few minutes ago. Dennis felt fine all day, no sign of fever, no sign of illness. It must have been another mystery fever yesterday or it was tooth related. Thank goodness all seems well.

that nice couple at the lake

Dennis and I headed to the lake house today to make sure everything is in tip top shape for the company coming over the weekend. He took several naps and vegged out on the couch for hours, which is not like him. We were up late last night listening to him toss and turn and whine and brought him to bed with us. At 5:40 this morning, he rolled over onto me and nearly set me on fire, so we took his temperature and discovered a slight fever. We dosed him with meds and he went back to sleep fitfully, and in the morning he was his usual self. He seemed tired this afternoon, which was not surprising since he didn't sleep well, and I kept checking him. Gran and I both checked him and he was fine, and then 45 minutes later, he felt really hot. Temperature was 103 then. I dosed him with tylenol and he dozed and lazed around and when we got home he seemed fine. No other symptoms except for a sneeze, but we're all sneezing in this house this week. I got on the hotline to Ellen to find out if we should be expecting more teeth in now, and it's entirely possible. But just in case, we gave him a baby dose of Airborne tonight and will keep it up according to the package directions so that we can ward off anything that isn't teething related.

Before the fever hit, we were all playing on the screened porch, and a pair of mallard ducks swam up to the dock below. Gran went down first with a handful of potato chips and Dennis and I followed her. He enjoyed watching the ducks very much. He waved to them and talked to them and kept pointing and telling me "duck". Then he pointed to the water and said "cookie?" and I explained that we were feeding them chips, not cookies. I know chips are probably not located anywhere on the mallard duck RDA food pyramid, but we wanted to attract them close enough so that Dennis could see them. I pointed out the distinction between the boy duck and the girl duck (the color, of course), but I think he's just a little young to understand that. The ducks swam away and we went back up to the porch and we saw them later visiting the neighbor's reedy area and doing a little fishing. They seemed like a friendly pair and we didn't see any other ducks anywhere in the vicinity, so I wonder if they've taken up residence nearby. I hope so, as mallards are neat and I like the soft chatter they make (as opposed to the geese and their much louder volume). We also saw a flock of Canada geese flying by at sunset, low and close to the water--so beautiful in their perfect formation!

Tonight Dennis seemed fine and happy, but I know I'll be checking in on him all night. I just hope he sleeps a little better tonight. He is drooling a good bit, so I know his teeth hurt some, and I gave him some motrin just before he turned in. That should help. These random weird fevers always scare me, and I know he's probably just fine, but I'll be glad when tomorrow comes and shows me how he's doing.

Three nights in a row he's wanted to sit on his potty and read books, so we've obliged him. He's not deposited anything in the potty as of yet, but he's very interested in it, and we're happy to indulge his interest. I bought him the Elmo's Potty Time video, and he loved watching that, so we'll add it to his learning movie rotation. He has actually learned some things from Elmo, so even though I previously found Elmo extremely annoying, he's growing on me. Dennis really likes Elmo, but he has recently discovered Ernie and talks about him just as much as Elmo. Ernie was my favorite Sesame Street character when I was younger, but I really like Oscar the Grouch the best now. He reminds me of someone special that I know.

doing toddler things...

What a beautiful sunny fall day it was here today! Dennis enjoyed running and playing in Gran's garden several times. The first time was when I dropped him off with Pop on my way to the gym. Pop took him out into the garden and gave him a wagon ride. After the ride, Dennis went over to hoot at their plastic owl (to keep the hawks away from the koi in the pond), and in a surprise move, picked up the owl and chucked it into the pond. While Pop was fishing it out, Dennis took his toy car up to the waterfall and tried to see if it would float down. When it didn't, he threw it into the pond as well.

After lunch, Gran and I took him back out there, and he identified things to me by name. He pointed to the owl and said owl and then said "who who who". He pointed to the waterfall and said "waarful" and then to the water and said "wa-err". He showed me flowers and a chair and some rocks as well, naming each thing correctly. Then, just as I was reflecting on what a brilliant child he is, he shoved a handful of pea gravel into his mouth and took off. He spit it out as I caught up to him, of course, but this reassured me that he is, in fact, a normal toddler. Not that toddlers are normal in any way...

This morning it was quiet in his room as I was cooking breakfast, so I went in to see what he was up to. He was sitting in the big rocking chair in his room, reading a Bob the Builder book. I had to look for a few minutes before I realized what was so interesting about finding him that way. The lamp above the chair was on. I still can't fathom how he managed to turn it on, because he would have had to climb up the back of the chair and reach pretty high and turn a twist knob. But he clearly did it, because we were the only two humans in the house and the dog was in the kitchen with me. I guess he decided he needed a little more light to read by.

Tonight as I was getting him ready for bed, my stomach growled, and it was kind of a loud moaning sound. Dennis didn't respond right away so I figured he ignored it or didn't hear it, and then suddenly he looked me straight in the eye and said "moooooooo" very loudly. I don't know what else I could say that could possibly top that, so I'll sign off here!

The picture was snapped as he was rapidly driving a car toward the camera--very rapidly--so it's really only a half shot of him. But you get the idea.