such a big help today

My wonderful child did some of the most helpful things today. After I let him out of his room this morning, I went to get a clean diaper. He ran ahead of me and plopped himself up on the couch and stretched out in the diaper-changing position. I praised him for this and for being calm and still while I changed him. As it turns out, every time I changed him today, he repeated this same trick. I couldn't be more thrilled! He also put himself down for his nap this morning. He decided he was tired, went and found his pacifier and Froggy, and I caught up with him just as he was climbing into his bed. What a good boy he is!

He got a little fractious at the track after I'd strolled him around for 2 miles. He'd been in the stroller quite a while, as he'd been confined while Gran and I took turns working out at the gym and then we immediately took him to the park to walk. I wanted to do another few laps but he was having none of it. He announced "want to walk track", so we let him out of the stroller and he walked a lap with us. He was very proud of himself, marching along, following the path, checking out the other walkers, periodically saying "Dennis walk track!". I hope to make this a routine, his walking a lap or two with us when we go to walk daily. I can't believe how well he did, with only a few little detours off the path (twice because he went to hug trees while saying "hey, tree").

stroller miles

Dennis went visiting today, two visits to Uncle Denny in the hospital, a lunch with Gran and Granny and Allison, and supper with the above lunch guests plus Jon and Pop. He was so very good even being confined in his stroller as much as he was. He was in the stroller during both hospital visits (can you imagine a 2 year old loose in a hospital?). He was strapped in a high chair during both meals, though he did briefly play at the indoor playground at Chick-Fil-A at lunch. After lunch, Allison and I went walking at a nice park in Alabaster and Dennis rode in his stroller for the 2 miles we walked (he actually fell asleep). He got to walk around a little when we went shopping and then was confined to a shopping cart. He did unbuckle his strap and stand up OVER AND OVER again in the store, chanting "SIT DOWN!" each time he stood up. Then it was back to the hospital (more stroller time) and then to supper with everyone. After supper, he rode in the stroller during another 2 mile walk at a different track. I'm amazed that we had no meltdowns--he was very happy to be out and about, I suppose.

At supper tonight, he was playing with the peg board game at Cracker Barrel and suddenly announced that the pegs were "birthday candles" and then sang "Happy Birthday Bob" (note: Bob was not actually present). He also played with a drinking straw, twisting it around and putting it up to his face and saying "Dennis glasses" as he peered through the 'glasses' he'd made for himself. The 2 year old brain is fairly sophisticated!

I'm precious

Yes, he walked around saying "I'm precious" today. He picked this up Sunday after church and I think someone must have said it to him then. He was so funny! He had another happy Dennis day, walking around and giggling. He came to visit the gym while Gran and I were working out and he played with a beach ball in the center and watched Mommy successfully hula-hoop for the first time in her entire life. He got on one of the machines with his Gran and 'helped' her work out her legs. While I was stretching, he came over to the stretching circuit and asked "sit chair, Mommy" and so I put him up on the seat where you sit and lean forward to grab the handles and stretch your back. He leaned forward and gripped the leg rests (as far as he could reach) and grunted like he was doing really hard exercise. It was so cute.

he's the boss, sometimes

Today I just did what Dennis wanted to do for most of the day. He had a big list! First thing this morning, he told me "want to go see Gigi, go see Gran and Pop". I did take him to see Gran and Pop for a few minutes, which thrilled him. He told me after we got home "want to see Dave, want to see Ell-nen (Ellen), see Chloe". I had to disappoint him here. And later he said "go see Allison", and I explained that we'd be seeing her on Wednesday and that today was Monday. He started saying his days of the week then and walked around chanting different days.

He also told me which specific Thomas the Train episode he wanted to watch and which toys he wanted me to play with. He told me what he wanted for his snack: "Mommy, want goldfish crackers, cheese, grapes". He was sad when I left this evening to go work out and walk with Gran, but he and his Daddy had a good time playing together.

ready to go church

He's been asking me every day for 2 weeks (since Easter Sunday, the last time he went) "Mommy ready to go church?". Even though David had to work today, I decided to abide by his wishes and take him to church! I went to our church's contemporary service this morning and it was fun, a nice change. I could really feel God's presence in that service. I cried a good bit when a new baby was baptized and they also did a laying on of hands for his older (toddler) sister who has been suffering from leukemia and has just gone into remission and only has a few treatments of chemo left to undergo. What a blessing, and there weren't many dry eyes in the house!

After the service, I went to pick Dennis up from the nursery and he didn't want to leave! I asked him if he was ready to go home and he said "NO!" and continued playing. He showed me a truck and a phone that he was playing with. The nursery workers said he was good, that he's ALWAYS good (I got a little mommy glow from their words), and I scooped him up to leave. He insisted on giving his teacher a goodbye kiss and then waved to the room and announced "bye bye party!". So we both had a good time at church this morning.

the puppeteer

After my second attempt to put a sleepy little man down for his nap, I decided to go into his room and play with him. He likes to play in the dark when he get out of bed. Sometimes he'll pull the blinds aside, and I've put a footstool in there now so that he can reach the light switch, but he still gets up and plays in the dark. Maybe it's because he knows that he is supposed to be napping.

Today he brought me his Ernie and Bert puppets (from my childhood, actually), and I put on a puppet show for him while he sat on the footstool that he had dragged to the center of his rug to plop down on and watch me. After a while, he took the Ernie puppet from me and we made Ernie and Bert converse with each other. He thought it was hysterical when I covered Bert's mouth and nose with his hand and made him sneeze, but then he did me one better: he covered Ernie's mouth with Ernie's hand and made Ernie say "oh my gosh!". Then he made Ernie blow kisses, complete with the "mmwaah" sound. I was very impressed with his skill!

We went to the playground today and lots of little girls asked what his name was and played with him on the play structures. He didn't do much sliding down today but enjoyed climbing a good bit. I managed to snap a picture of him hanging from the rings (with my camera phone--I've got to get a better one of those when I switch to Verizon). We had a great day, and tonight we learned that Dennis doesn't care for pork chops and still won't eat broccoli. I tried ketchup for the pork chops, but he just dipped the same piece in over and over and licked the ketcup off until he decided that the pork was ruining the flavor of his ketchup and began dipping his finger instead. Maybe I can use cheese sauce on the broccoli next time. The vitamin absolutely tore up his system and we dealt with vicious diaper rash all week, so bad that he'd run from us when it was time for a diaper change and scream while it was going on. He'd scream like we were killing him, say "no, want pants ON!" and "no diaper off, want diaper ON!". He started that this morning only to realize that the rash is mostly cured and the diaper change didn't hurt. So he sang a happy song instead, and this is much preferable. Thank goodness it's cured!

carnivore

We found a meat that Dennis will eat rather consistently. He loves steak! This isn't a cheap habit to indulge him in, but since we had lots of steak for the people that didn't come to the dinner party last night, we grilled again tonight. We had steak for supper and have two more meals of it to go! Good, tender steak, too. Dennis ate every bite on his plate both last night and tonight. He didn't care at all for the lima beans. We'll be spending the next two weeks trying to find vegetables he likes (other than corn)--we grocery shopped today and have a freezer full of yummy veggies to tempt his palate.

I'm also pleased to report that he loves grapes and was more excited about the grapes than the chocolate cake last night. I hope it's not a bad review of my cake, but I'm very pleased that he showed such a preference for the fruit. He seems to love every fruit he's tried, but we aren't having near as much luck in the vegetable department.

He likes to explain things to me now, things I already know of course, but I like hearing him narrate our activities. Today it was "Daddy go outside be right back" or "Daddy works be right back" or "Honey outside play with cat". On our walk tonight, he pointed out every mailbox, every cow, several trees, red flowers, white flowers, yellow flowers; said "hey, bird" to every flying friend that went by. He talks non-stop. He talks to his toys and makes them talk to each other. And today, his "Mickey cheese" (snack cheese cut like mouse ears--the cheapest selection last time we were at the store) talked to the other foods on his plate--"hey grapes, hey bread" and they responded "hey grapes". I enjoy his chatter. It's my daily dose of cute.

happy birthday, Bob

We had Bob's dinner party tonight and I was so busy cooking that I forgot to get out the camera. I hope Becky got some good pictures of Bob sitting at his "throne" and eating his dinner of steak, eggs, and pancakes. Dennis ate almost every bit of what was on his plate and kept insisting "Bob hat on", wanting Bob to wear the birthday king's crown that we made for him. It was a royal feast for 5, rather than the royal feast for 10 that I thought we were having as of this morning, and I've spent some time trying to get over my feelings about that. I'm not having much luck.

It was a special dinner for a special new family member and it bothered me that there weren't more people here to share it with him. This was his first ever birthday party. I think he had a wonderful time, at any rate, and we enjoyed singing to him and lavishing attention on him. And there was a very good reason to eat chocolate cake tonight. Long live King Bob!

happy earth day

I had the greatest of intentions today. We were going to go to the big Earth Day parade and festival for kids in downtown Birmingham this morning. I thought we'd take some cans to the recycling plant and maybe plant a tree or some flowers. None of that happened, unfortunately. David was feeling a bit under the weather and stayed home today, nothing serious, but I wanted Dennis to get plenty of rest to keep himself healthy just in case. I had intended to get a cute picture of him in his 'earth friendly' shirt to post today but he never made it out of his pajamas. He is miserable with diaper rash as well and touching his clothes caused him major anxiety since he worked his hardest to make each diaper change impossible.

On the bright side, I got all my grocery shopping done, as I am having some folks over for dinner tomorrow night. I got some house cleaning done, and Dennis got to play happily with all his toys. I attempted to nap when I put him down this afternoon, but after listening to his fire truck siren on and on and on (because he clearly didn't think he needed that afternoon nap and therefore didn't take it), I gave up and got up and cleaned a bit.

I DID use re-usable shopping bags on both my trips to Wal-Mart. And I turned off all the lights in the rooms I wasn't using. I also carefully avoided stepping on the frog in my path tonight on my evening walk. All earth friendly things, please notice, because I do care. We'll get to the recycling and planting very soon!

delight

One of my favorite things about Dennis (and as you can imagine, there are many) is his seemingly endless capacity for finding sheer delight in the simplest of things. This might be a trait that is not unique to Dennis--it might be something common among the 2 year old set--but it never fails to make me smile. He gets overjoyed by the most common things and elicits those wonderful big baby belly laughs or high pitched screeches of delight accompanied by the biggest of smiles, mouth open wide, eyes smiling as well.

Today he was just delighted with the word "Tuesday", laughing as he said it. He also proudly identified the night noises outside his window as tree frogs and was over the moon when I told him how right he was. Goldfish crackers and spaghetti and hearing a train whistle all rev up his joy level. A visit to Gran and Pop or Grandma and Bob or Uncle Denny causes great happiness. Actually, just telling him that we're going to go and see them or the Gallmans or Allison has a big effect. And going to the park may be the most fun thing in his known repertoire (after the train ride, of course), and I told him we were going this morning. On the way there, I thought we'd stop for a minute and show off his new haircut to his Gran and Granny and he noticed we were detouring from the route to the playground and said "NO! Want to go slide and swing-y". We got into Gran's house and he turned to the door and burst into big fat tears (which completely dried up when he saw his Gran and Granny). We only stayed a minute and then got back into the car, where he announced that he was "ready to go slide and swing-y park".

Imagine my dismay when I drove to the park and discovered it was CLOSED!! The gates were chained and locked and there were workmen constructing a new pavilion there on the new playground. Dennis couldn't understand why we were leaving and repeated his mantra again and again on our drive to the playground in the next town to the north. Once we arrived, he looked around delighted and announced "RIDE FROG!!" because this park had those rocking animals to ride, and he tried them all. Again he was afraid to slide and I feared that maybe a fear of heights had kicked in (or his sense of danger may be starting to emerge). Once I slid down the slide, he was all for it and he directed me "up the stairs, Mommy" and "down slide, Mommy" and we climbed and slid until he was tired and ready to go home. We went walking later and he identified each flower by color and pointed out every bird, squirrel, and truck that he saw. It was a very delightful day for both of us!

caught in a funny act

It was suspiciously quiet around here, so I went into the kitchen. There sat Dennis, in my chair at the table, with an open jar of peanut butter. He was digging out peanut butter with a butter knife and licking it off the knife. I know David and I have both been known to do this, but we usually use a spoon. And we don't do it in front of Dennis. I guess he just had a craving. I'm impressed that he found and opened the peanut butter!

When the mail arrived today there was a package that was too large for the box. The mail carrier came up the driveway and honked the horn. I left Dennis playing alone in his room while I went out to get the package (some books I had ordered). When I came back into his room, he was standing on his train table peering out the side of the blinds to see what I was doing out front.

I cut his hair tonight under much duress. He kept swatting my hand away and saying "no". We finally resorted to use of the portable DVD player and holding his head at times. The torture was over soon enough and he's a bit less shaggy looking now. I'll post a picture tomorrow because I know he won't be letting me near his head again tonight!

Blogger tells me that this is my 365th post. Hooray for me for keeping it going for a full year!!

our tornado party

Every mom dreams of the day she'll be trapped in Wal-Mart during a tornado warning, and for us that day came today. Spring in Alabama often yields exciting weather moments and we have had our share this year. Today we were shopping in Alabaster Wal-Mart after a visit to Uncle Denny in the hospital and a dinner with Allison, and just as we finished our shopping and headed to the cash registers, an announcement was made that everyone needed to go to the center of the store due to weather. David immediately visited the self checkout and checked out and wanted to leave, but we could hear the heavy rain outside and I thought we might as well stay inside for a while. An hour and fifteen minutes later, we opted to leave with our purchases. Allison had not purchased her items but opted to leave her cart and make a run for it. I should say that I called Mom and discovered that the area was all clear before we left the store--she was reporting from home where she was watching the coverage on TV.

It's very exciting trying to keep a toddler entertained for that length of time while confined in a shopping cart. We took turns holding him and giving hugs and kisses, and he counted and said animal sounds and pointed out all the Sesame Street characters featured on a t-shirt hanging nearby. He was very good if very active, and he didn't really get upset at not being able to leave. I was hoping first that we'd stay safe (especially after I heard that a tornado touched down next to our shopping center), and then I was hoping the diaper bag stayed safe (we left it in the car) and that Dennis wouldn't have immediate need for a diaper while we were confined in the store. My prayers were answered. We are in Clanton safely, visiting with Gran and Pop and Granny, joining their tornado party. We are hoping that we have electricity at home when we get there! Scary times, these, and we are thankful for our safety and the safety of those we love.

travel plans?

This morning when he woke up, he announced to me (after sleepily mumbling "Cracker Barrel?") that he wanted to go on a trip. He said "want to go beach, want to see Gigi". I don't know what prompted this declaration, though I have been toying with the idea of going next weekend to see her. I don't remember mentioning it to him, though, and I certainly didn't say the word beach in conjunction with the trip.

Chloe came down to play with him today, accompanied by her parents, of course, and they enjoyed lots of playtime at the lake. They took turns driving Uncle Denny's golf cart, which they loved, shouting "wheeeeeee" as we rolled down the dirt road. And delight of delights, Chloe's papa and gran came to visit on their motorcycle. Dennis very much enjoyed seeing, touching, and sitting on the motorcycle (a beautiful Honda Goldwing), and he really really wanted to go for a ride on it. Watching him learn to say 'motorcycle' was fun for Gran and me. He said "michael-cycle" and "motor-tractor" before finally getting "motorcycle". Very cute.

He planted his first flowers today, loving the feeling of getting his little hands in the dirt and seeing the blackness of it under his fingernails. Gran was planting begonias and snapdragons at the lake today, and Dennis liked pointing them out and saying "yellow flower" and "red flower" (correctly, I might add). He and Chloe both transplanted snapdragons to the big pot from the little containers from the store. Dennis also 'helped' water the flowers by playing in the water and said "Yay Dennis great job water flowers" when water went everywhere. He had a wonderful day today and I hope he had a wonderful evening with his Gran and Pop and great-Granny while Mommy and Daddy had a date night with their friends.

how did he do that?

We visited the playground again today and he wasn't as daredevil-ish as yesterday. He seemed a little intimidated by the slides after 1) he slid down one that was HOT from the sun and 2) he tripped and nearly fell on the upper part of a play structure. He wasn't in danger of falling off by any means, but he did almost fall down one step and caught himself with his arms grabbing a railing just in time. It upset him pretty badly and he cried and wanted down and wouldn't come down any slides after that. He'd run back and forth across the play structure (up in the air over my head) from one slide to the other, but he wouldn't slide down. I finally had to grab him when he passed by an opening where I could reach up and get him.

We spent the evening at the Gallmans' house and just after we got there, Dennis and Chloe immediately began screaming in glee and dancing and playing together. When we followed them into Chloe's room, we noticed something weird on the floor. A wet diaper, lying open. Upon closer inspection, it was a Luvs brand diaper, which Dennis wears. We checked Dennis after staring stupidly at it for long minutes and wondering how it got there. He was still in all his clothing and his overall shorts were undisturbed. But, he was totally commando under there. We have to conclude that he reached into his overalls, unhitched his diaper, and then pulled it out of the side or let it fall out a leg hole. If we hadn't seen the diaper on the floor, we'd not have known he'd taken it off. I hope this isn't a precursor to future stripping incidents (or my hardwood floors face certain peril).

channeling his inner monkey

We just left the playground. He had a wonderful time--it's been a while since we've been with all that's been going on in our lives and the weather and all. Today is a beautiful sunny spring day, and he asked very nicely (as he does daily) "Mommy go slide and swing-y?". He had lunch with his Daddy while Mommy sweated it out at the gym with Gran, and when David dropped him off with me after my workout, we went to the park. He was ecstatic, of course, and I was amazed with the new skills I saw today. He grabbed the hanging rings and dangled there, hanging from the rings and then swinging on them! I had never seen him do this before, but all over the playground he was grabbing overhead bars and hanging from them and swinging his legs. He's getting upper body strength, I suppose, and it's hardly surprising given the climbing he's been doing lately. Suddenly, he was asking me to swing on the big swings, and HE DID IT! He held on with his little hands and leaned back and forward and swung himself. I was proud of him and he was proud as well at this concrete evidence of his continuing metamorphosis into a Big Kid.

Gosh it happens fast.

on being a menace

After a lovely three hour nap, Dennis was rarin' to go. And go he did, as we packed him up in the car and headed north for the day to do some visiting. Granddaddy turned 95 today and we wanted to go see him, and we also made a visit to Uncle Denny in the hospital. Busy day for us, for sure, and Dennis was happy to see his loved ones. But he was positively WILD wherever we went. He was running and running and running and touching things and trying to push buttons and climbing and picking up breakables and opening cabinets... Gran and Pop were exhausted just watching him. David and I were exhausted chasing after him and removing from peril any precious object that he decided to hold. He made a neato new discovery at Grandmother and Granddaddy's house--he learned how to operate the water dispenser on the refrigerator door, pushing it with his chubby little hand as water ran down his arm and soaked one entire side of his shirt. We decided then to play outside.

I can only say that I hope Granddaddy's flowers recover from the trampling they took as Dennis ran around and around and around their small yard. He yanked two metal bars off the windchimes, grabbed a sprinkler about 6 times (it wasn't hooked up, thank goodness), grabbed and shook the canister of weed killer, nearly clobbered the bird feeder... Granddaddy saw the wisdom of going inside to fetch a basketball for Dennis to play with, and that at least gave him a bit of focus for a few minutes. We decided to head on out when we began to fear for their house. We had dinner with Allison at Cracker Barrel, which Dennis loved. He chanted "Hey Allison" over and over throughout the meal.

I am certain he would have been equally dangerous at the hospital had we not lashed him into his stroller. He enjoyed a brief visit with Uncle Denny, asking to "push buttons" over and over (as the medicine bag stand was there with its neat little keypad) and then finally saying bye bye and wishing Uncle Denny "sweet dreams". We're almost home now, and this would have been easier to write and post if Dennis hadn't been directing me from the back seat "Mommy A-B-C" or "Mommy Wheels Bus" so that I would sing along with David as he sang to him to distract him from the fact that Bad Mommy left Froggy at home today. Turns out I can't sing and type at the same time.

The picture shows him banging out tunes on his xylophone/keyboard, to which he was singing along "A B C D I P Q W". Very cute moment.

midnight Frog call

Last night in the middle of the night, I heard "ribbit, ribbit..... RIBBIT!" over the baby monitor. I don't know if he misplaced Froggy in his sleep and decided to call him in his own tongue or what. After that I heard that baby sigh and infrequent snoring that indicated he'd gone back to sleep. I'm not sure he ever actually woke up.

He has discovered videos of himself and LOVES to watch them. He insists "watch Dennis" and parks himself in front of the television. I recorded his egg hunts on Sunday and another movie of him playing for when Uncle Denny couldn't have him visit in the hospital, and I kept copies for ourselves. Dennis is fascinated with watching himself on television. When the movies are on, I'm never sure if I'm hearing him call me in real time or on the movie. It's Dennis in stereo (well, surround sound actually)!

I'm sorry for the poorer quality images that I post sometimes. When I don't have good signal for high speed internet, I can only post the tiniest files. The pics I snap with my cell phone do well for this but don't look as good as real camera photos. But it is a good way to illustrate my blogs, so I post them anyway!

telephone orders

He must have done a million cute and noteworthy things today, and I loved and appreciated each one. I think I'd be really lonely without Dennis in my life. Sure I have lots of family and friends who love me, but Dennis is my constant companion now, one who never despairs of talking to me, one who is always glad to see me. He always makes me smile. I love him beyond all reason and my heart just fills up with joy when I hear his happy chatter and see his smile. He is a two year old, so I do have those moments of exasperation at his constant motion and significant inquisitiveness (when we're in places where those qualities put him in danger), but he makes me happy in a way I never knew I could be happy.

I have a Garfield telephone. Remember those? It looks like Garfield lying down and the handset comprises a large part of his back. Dennis discovered it in my closet and hauled it out and set it in my bedroom floor, right in the middle of the new (to me) beige shag rug that I've put over the bare concrete (in my pregnancy, due to my heightened sense of smell, I insisted that the old carpet stank and must be ripped out or I would be moving to another house, so now my side of the room is bare concrete that I will one day paint). Dennis loves that phone. He goes into our room, plants himself on that rug, picks up the phone and says the following (with occasional slight variation):" Hey, how are you? I'm fine. Daddy works. Hello? I'm fine. I want a double stack and chicken and oranges." As often as I've heard it, it never fails to make me giggle (inwardly, so I don't appear to be making fun). He always orders food over the phone!

Happy Easter!

What a big day we had today. The Easter Bunny showed up really early this morning, as in before 8:00, and Dennis was delighted with the goodies in his basket: blue Peeps, green M&Ms, a tube of Fisher Price Little People Easter characters (Michael and a rabbit), a chocolate bunny ("hot chockey rabbit"), and eggs containing Cheetos and goldfish crackers all nestled in a bed of edible banana-flavored yellow Easter grass (yuck).

After the basket-opening party in Dennis' room, we got dressed and ready and went to church. He led us straight to the nursery and went right in and commenced playing without a second glance at us. They tell us he was very good and he was returned to us wearing a purple star sticker that said "Way to Go!". I think he actually learned something in nursery this morning. This afternoon in the car he was singing "Yes, Jesus", but that's all he said. After a few refrains of this, I decided he must have learned the song 'Jesus Loves Me' this morning. So I sang it for him and he joined in. Very cute.

We did a small egg hunt here at the house after lunch (David cooked a wonderful Easter lunch for us) and then went to the hospital to see Uncle Denny, who is finally in a room that allows visitors of the very young variety. Dennis climbed all over the hospital room, happy to see his uncle again, and even more delighted to discover that the Easter bunny had also left him a prize here (Reese's eggs and a bunny car). After our hospital visit, we went to see the Dennis relatives in Birmingham and Dennis learned to say "Jake" and "Nate" after giving each of them a dozen hugs. He also learned "Alan" and gave him several high fives. Rodney and Bradley competed in teaching Dennis their names, and since they are identical twins, it was funny to watch him looking over at Rodney while Bradley was trying to convince him to say his name (we had just left Rodney after he did the same). Dennis looked back and forth at the two of them and just stared, and then shook his head. By this time he was too tired to comprehend it!

Back to Clanton and another egg hunt in Gran's garden, then off to Pizza Hut with them for supper. He's been asking for pizza for almost 3 weeks, so I'm glad he got to finally have some. It was delicious and that was one tired little boy we brought home and tucked into bed! What a wonderful day we had, seeing so much family, and what a wonderful reason to celebrate. He is risen! He is risen, indeed!!

the egg in the mail

My sister-in-law is the coolest mother. Today we got an envelope in the mail that contained a construction paper egg from Caedmon and Mirella to Dennis. He was ecstatic and held it and cuddled it, even rested it against his cheek and said "nice egg". I wish I could think of projects like this to do so that we could send cool things to Caedmon and Mirella in the mail. Dennis does color every day (and discovered that dry erase markers work on windows just beautifully and make a stained glass effect), so maybe the time will come when we'll draw something special and put it in the mail.

We had lunch with Dennis' Grandma, Great Granny, and Aunt Karen, and Dennis got yet another birthday present. He tossed the tissue out of the bag, tossed the clothes out (very cute shorts set) and homed in on the paint book and the Thomas stickers. He was THRILLED to get a Take Along Percy. We had a Percy already, but when we looked closely, the one he got today was a special Happy Birthday Percy, and he loves loves loves it. Percy is covered in stars and streamers and sports the phrase 'Happy Birthday' along his side. When we got into the car to leave, Dennis picked up the Percy that lives in the car seat and then put it back down and demanded "I want Percy stars" until I got out the new one and handed it to him. He then said "Happy Birthday" a few times. Another successful birthday present for Dennis! I think this might possibly be the last one. But the Easter Bunny comes tomorrow, so I don't think he'll be too disappointed.

purple-licious

Last night we made a new friend. After the disaster that was our attempt to go to the Maundy Thursday church service, we stopped at Burger King for supper. Dennis' kids meal came with a Sponge Bob (excuse me a moment while I report that he is right now trying to get my attention as I write this, saying "happy birthday ducks"--I don't know why). We don't really watch Sponge Bob, but he comes in two of the colors that Dennis likes to say best. He's yellow and has purple (square) pants. Dennis played and played with him and we were a little worried that he might start calling his new grandfather Sponge Bob when we got to the lake and he was holding Sponge Bob and saying "go see Bob, go see Grandma". He looked at Sponge Bob and said "Bob" and then pointed to the cabin and said "Bob", and you could see the wheels turning.

He also kept saying "purple pants". I think he likes to say the word purple very much. Today we stopped in to see Gran and Pop and Gran had on a purple shirt. Dennis said "Hey, Gran" and followed her in the kitchen and then announced "purple Gran". I had to translate a bit for her so she didn't think he was calling her 'poo poo Gran' (sometimes he garbles the word just a bit). We praised him for getting the color right and he said "Yay, Dennis!" and applauded himself.

Tonight at supper we were trying to keep him entertained and he directed all of us to play patty-cake with him, pointing to those of us who weren't clapping and insisting we join in "POP--PATTY CAKE!". This is the second dinner (in a restaurant) where he's played Patty Cake Marshall. Dare I point out that he himself was NOT clapping? Hmmm...

little helper man

We didn't head to the hospital today but things are still going very well according to all the reports I got. We stayed home, Dennis and I, and did some much needed chores. Dennis helped me empty the dishwasher and gave me a couple of scary moments watching those chubby baby hands grabbing the big stoneware dinner plates out of the dishwasher to hand them to me. There were no casualties and he was so proud of himself for helping which he let me know by repeatedly saying "thank you Dennis" every time I thanked him and a big "Yay Dennis!" when we finished.

He made me very proud when he cleaned up his toys unasked this morning. We were playing with the trains and he announced "want to play farm" and suddenly began putting all the trains and tracks away before getting the farm toys down from the shelf. When he finished playing farm, he cleaned it up before getting out the potato heads and cleaned them up before getting out the legos. I'm SO proud! And after watching him pick up after himself all morning, I picked up after myself while he was napping! I did a few loads of laundry and a load of dishes and cleaned off our table and bar, just maintenance cleaning that needed doing, and I felt so much better to see it done!

Tonight our church had a special Maundy Thursday service, a living Last Supper drama that they put on every year. We enjoy it and went tonight, and Dennis was enchanted by the costumes and music, excitedly pointing out "Jesus!" (after we convinced him that it wasn't "Mary" up there). That lasted for about 15 minutes before he was yelling to get down and go see trains and fire trucks and so he and I walked the church for a while, tried again to watch, and then spent 15 minutes in the car before going in just in time for communion (where he yelled "EAT CRACKER"). No nursery available tonight. Clearly, no Good Friday service for me tomorrow! At least we'll be there to celebrate Easter. No one in the church would have gotten angry if we'd stayed, but it was intended to be a reverent and meaningful service and I wanted to guarantee that the people sitting around us had every opportunity to enjoy it as such. David certainly got a lot out of it, and I am very glad he did.

the waiting game

We spent another day in the vicinity of the hospital in the hopes that Uncle Denny would be moved out of the ICU and into a regular room. If this had happened, Dennis could have gone in to visit. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. The hospital is at maximum capacity right now--no rooms available! But I got to see him while Dennis visited with his Gran and Granny and one of Uncle Denny's good friends in the waiting room, and I was so happy to see him in such good spirits. Dennis and I walked the halls at the hospital for a while, waiting on everyone to finish their visits (only allowed 15 minute visits every two hours in the ICU) so that we could hang out together again.

Dennis enjoyed a bunch of shopping today between hospital visits and tried his best to try Gran's patience while Mommy snuck off to use the bathroom in peace. He kept throwing down the train toy he'd picked up and yelling "Mommy!" at the top of his lungs. Other than that, he was wonderful and I was very proud of him. He politely asked for more chips (constantly) at supper at the Mexican restaurant, and he sweetly said "Thank you, Uncle Kim" every time the bowl was passed his way. I know he's tired of the trips up north, and he asks over and over to "go see Uncle Denny please, Mommy". Surely he'll be able to soon.

very thankful

Another day, another trip to the hospital. I haven't written about what's been going on because I've been so worried, but today we are very thankful that Uncle Denny has come through major surgery just fine and seems to be recovering well. Hopefully soon he will be coming home to begin a long recovery process, and we pray that it will go well. We are just happy that we'll get to have him around, and we hope that he'll be with us for a long time yet.

Dennis was not allowed in the ICU to visit but sent a picture that he colored and a video of himself playing. He has been asking for Uncle Denny quite a bit and we hope that he'll be in a room soon where Dennis can go and see him.

Thank you, Lord. What a miracle You gave us today!

In other news, Dennis pinched a girl tonight at the mall and nearly got David slapped. I get the impression that David was pretty embarrassed. Dennis, of course, was not.

a little prank on Mommy

"Mommy!"

"Yes, Dennis"

"Hand"

"I see your hand."

"Hold hand."

"You want me to hold your hand?"

"Want hold hand"

"Okay, I'll hold your hand." (grabs hand, notices hand is wet, remembers seeing him emerge from bathroom moments earlier) "Did you have your hand in the toilet?!"

"Hee hee hee"

"Nice, Dennis."

"Great job. Great job. Bye Mommy"

how to get your toddler dressed and ready for the day

1. Gather everything you will need beforehand, diaper, wipes, clothes, socks, and shoes. Prepare to be a mobile dressing unit.

2. Apprehend your toddler. Be stealthy. Place him on his back quickly (or position of your choice) for pajama removal.

3. After you remove the pajama pants, gather your diapering supplies from under your leg, where you stashed them when you sat down to change him.

4. Chase down and re-capture your toddler and bring him back to the designated changing spot after he got up and ran from you while your head was turned.

5. Change the diaper. Clean the diaper area. Resist kicking feet and firmly hold him in place while cleansing. He will be wiggly.

6. Apply new diaper. Quickly grab him when he gets up to run. Tell him he needs to get dressed. Try to reason with him when he asks to wear the "fire truck shirt" for the fifth day in a row.

7. Put on the second favorite shirt (the one with the helicopters on it) and pants and offer some sort of bribery (a cookie maybe?) to convince him that he'll be happy in the helicopter shirt.

8. Gather his socks and shoes and follow him to the far end of the house with them. Wrestle him down (disguise this as a hug) and put on the socks. Put back the shoes he refuses to wear and grab the Thomas the Train tennis shoes from his closet.

9. Find him and show him the Thomas shoes and be patient while he shoves the wrong feet into them. Once they are on correctly, grab Froggy and the diaper bag and run out the door to strap him in the carseat. Kiss him on the cheek and thank him for cooperating (lie if you must). Now, keeping an eye on the car at all times (and this won't work in the summer months unless you've pre-cooled the car and won't work at all in many neighborhoods), go back in and get the cell phone you forgot and your purse and keys. Get the car in motion as soon as possible to prevent him asking for random toys that are still in his bedroom.

If you're lucky, you might get out the door and down the road without having to turn around and come back too many times (it helps if you've remembered to brush your own hair and teeth before you attempt to get your toddler ready).

fun with Ju-Ju and Steve

We stayed at home as long as possible today to let Dennis recover a bit from this very exciting week he's had. He took a very long morning nap, but as soon as he woke up, he was demanding "want to go to lake house, want to see Ju-Ju Steve, want to see Gran Pop, want to see Judy Don, want to go see Grandma Bob, want to see Uncle Denny". (need to teach him how to say 'and')

So of course we went to the lake house to see everyone and Dennis enjoyed a boat ride and some fishing with everyone. We had a big fish fry supper and Dennis was so anxious to eat it that he danced around the place telling everyone "ready eat" or "ready to eat". Waiting for everything to be cooked was tough on the little guy. Supper was late enough that he was sleepy, and that of course means he was completely wired. He ran into things and tripped and fell, and at one point, he slammed into his rocking chair and turned and said to it "I sorry, know that hurts". It tickles me every time he apologizes to inanimate objects! Every time Steve brought in a new platter of fish or hush puppies cooked next door, Dennis piped up "thank you, Steve".

He was happy to have a brownie for dessert, munching happily and saying "hot chockey cake, thank you Daddy" with his chocolate encrusted smiling mouth. David took him home immediately after supper and he kept pulling on me and trying to get me to come as well, but I stayed long enough to finish my supper and visit for a last evening with our guests. Tonight Dennis patted me on the shoulder and said "sweet girl, Mommy". I took it as a compliment even though that's what he says about the dog! He was full of sweetness and cuteness all day--all week, really. It just makes my heart full to bursting seeing him so happy.

my day with Thomas

I am one of those sucker parents now--I took Dennis to the big Day Out With Thomas event at the local railroad museum. That's a big moneymaker for sure! But I must admit, for the amount of joy he got from his train ride, it might have actually been worth it. I could have just gone to the event and not bought a train ticket and he would have seen Thomas and had his picture made and had a balloon animal made and watched the movies and heard the storyteller and met Sir Topham Hatt. But when we arrived this morning at 8:52, there weren't many folks there and I went right to the ticket window and we were on board the 9:00 train (even after having our photo made). Dennis said "Dennis ride train" and "choo choo" and "ride Thomas", and he danced in his seat and waved at the conductors and had a generally wonderful time. We were on board a wonderful old car built in 1910 (the Frisco Coach). The Cahaba lilies were in bloom all along the low areas in the woods--Dennis pointed them out saying "look that" and "white floweys" (his word for flowers). It was cloudy and cool this morning but not a bad morning at all for a train ride. And as soon as we got in the car afterward (after he said "thank you Tommy" and "bye bye Tommy" to the train as we were leaving), he said "lake house Ju-Ju Steve" and that's where we headed.

This afternoon, Dennis went for a ride in Uncle Denny's new golf cart. He LOVED it. We had the most difficult time getting him out of it after three trips around to the marina. He wanted to drive it and even put the keys in the ignition after we'd gotten out while looking over at his Gran and patting the seat beside him and saying "sit down, Gran". He went fishing today, too, and is now FINALLY napping. I don't know what he's going to do next week after all the excitement of this week, what with the zoo trip and the train ride and the Ju-Ju and Steve visit. I hope life won't seem too dull for him back at home with Mommy! Maybe he'll be excited to rediscover his toys after being away from them for a few days.

rain boots!

Steve and Julia and Judy and Don came to visit us at the lake today. Dennis was so excited to see his 'Ju-Ju' and Steve again, and since he knew they were bringing his birthday gifts, he had been walking around and saying "Ju-Ju present" all day. He sang happy birthday to himself a few times and LOVES his gifts, a pair of Cars rain boots and a dump truck that also converts to a shovel for his sandbox. He was so ecstatic to see everyone that when I asked him if he was happy, he said "happy Dennis".

Here he is modeling his new boots, which he insisted on putting on immediately. It's raining now, so we'll have to go find some puddles to tromp through later. He'll be delighted!

zoo fun

Happy April Fool's Day. We didn't play any tricks around here--everything I could think of was too cruel. And David was running a chainsaw all day, so I appreciate him abstaining from ER humor as well.

Dennis and I visited the Montgomery Zoo with my friend Allison. It's a beautiful zoo and we had a great time. Dennis loved the giraffes and elephants and the black bear and otters, and he especially loved the giant playground. He happily pointed out animals to us and talked to them ("bear come back" and "hey, otter"). He liked riding the zoo train but tried to jump out when we passed the playground. And when we left the zoo, there was a fire truck in the parking lot and they appeared to be training new firefighters on how to raise and lower the ladder. We all enjoyed watching, but Dennis was especially excited to see it. We couldn't have programmed a better day for him.

He accompanied us shopping after this and a saleslady greeted him and asked how he was doing. He replied "E-I-E-I-O". He also helped us shop for footwear, pointing at all the boxes and saying "nice shoes". He slept hard in the car and slept even harder once he got in his bed. It was an incredible day, and I can't believe he was so good all day long. What a lucky Mommy I am.