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.