water babies class

Yes, Dennis took Water Babies class two years ago, when he was a very wee one, and it was so wonderful that we took the class twice in a row with Chloe and family joining us for the second round. Since we're spending so much time at the lake, we thought it would be a good idea to enroll again in the class, since much of it is about water safety. Tonight was our first session, and I must say, it is an entirely different experience with a two year old that talks and has his own opinions about things. Dennis would have run the class himself if the teacher had allowed it! We told him to kick his legs, and he would yell "NO!!!" and "I want the ball!" and "want the cup!!". He did great, really, but protested so much of what we asked him to do. He blew bubbles and kicked his legs and laid back to float, but after 25 minutes, he announced "I want to go to the dock", which tickled me because this is what he says when he's ready to get out of the lake. When we went over to teach him how to hold on to the wall, he held on and pulled himself up out of the water and actually climbed out of the pool under his own power. He had no trouble pouring water over his face (and over my face and David's face). He was so ready to go when it was over! But just a few minutes after we left, he announced he wanted to go see Miss Donna (the teacher) and go swimming. Instead he got dinner at Gran's house and then bedtime at home.

first overnight

Dennis spent last night at Gran's house, the first time he's been away from both his Mommy and Daddy all night long. From what we heard, he did just fine. I called this morning to check on him and didn't get an answer, so I called back in 15 minute intervals until I got Mom on the phone. He had just fallen into the pond at the time. He didn't fall all the way in because she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, but he did get his clothes wet. Mom tells me she lost two pounds while trying to keep up with him all day! He was very very busy, she says.

David and I went to Six Flags today with a couple of friends, and we had a great time being kids again without having to watch kids. We rode roller coasters and walked around and stood in lines, and I got a little nostalgic for him when we passed the Thomas the Train play area (and we plan to take him there with us next time), but mostly I was glad to be free of the responsibility for the day. When you are a parent, there is always some part of your brain that is tuned to The Mommy Channel, always aware of the havoc your child is or could be wreaking at any moment. While I didn't totally let it go for the day, I did go whole hours without wondering if my house would explode at any moment. And the sleepy kisses we got when we picked him up tonight were special and sweet, always worth coming home for!

new lunch project

Dennis was delighted to see that he got a prepackaged lunch today. While I was unwrapping the Lunchable, he was giggling and screeching and dancing in his high chair. He ate some of it (and this is good because we have been having some trouble getting him to eat lunch lately) and announced "Look at the hams, Mommy, these are hams". He made a tower of ham slices and another tower of cheese slices and threw in some crackers for good measure. He was very proud of his architectural masterpiece.

This morning, instead of hearing him sing Old MacDonald, he was singing about Old Donald Duck having a farm. It was very funny!

hallway serenade

I heard the usual phrase called out to me this morning down the hallway: "Mommy! What you doing?". And then I heard, louder, "a chick chick here and a chick chick here" and I wondered what in the world when all of a sudden I heard "Old McDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-E-O" and after several choruses involving a chicken, he started saying "with a hee haw here and a hee haw here" and even eventually got the 'E-I-E-I-O' right. I joined in, singing along with him from my bed--he'd call out an animal and we'd do sing about that one together. It's a good thing we live in a house and not an apartment.

a new phrase

Conversational skills are increasing exponentially. When asked today where Froggy was (and I ask this question hundreds of times per week), Dennis replied "I don't know, Mommy, let's go find him." When he spotted him, he announced, "look, Mommy, there he is!! I found it!!". Talking to him is a real pleasure now. We walked tonight with an old friend of mine from high school and he asked her if she liked trains and asked her if she'd seen a train tonight. The track where we sometimes walks borders the train tracks and we always have to stop and watch a train go over the bridge whenever one passes while we walk. I haven't heard him say "I don't know" before, but he told her tonight "I don't know where train is. There's tracks right there. Where's train?".

he needs some control

A few days ago, David kept Dennis one afternoon while I went hiking. He discovered that letting Dennis make some decisions about where he wanted to go makes for a very happy Dennis and a much easier day. When David met me to pick Dennis up, Dennis said "want to go to lake house" and David took him there. They watched some boats go by, and they watched Mr. Hall hard at work on his tractor. They had a good time! And then, on the way home, Dennis spied the fast food restaurants by the interstate and said "I want hamburger and fries, Daddy", and David stopped to get him a Happy Meal. He was delighted with that as well. He was happy and sweet and easygoing the rest of the evening and even put himself to bed at 7:00. I suppose I'll start letting him decide more of things that we do when I can. It's a fine line to keep him happy without letting him run all over me!

i go swimming at lake house

After nagging me all morning to "go lake house Mommy, let's go", we headed down to meet up with Allison and her cousin and Gran and Pop and Grandma and Bob. I attempted to put Dennis down for a nap after lunch, but he had other ideas, so he came swimming with us in his puddle jumper life jacket and Elmo float. He's an excellent little float swimmer and can kick himself in whatever direction he chooses (and gosh, he's so FAST!), and can spin around in milliseconds and look in any direction he chooses. I'm so proud of him, and we haven't even started this year's swim classes yet!

When we were attempting the nap, he called out from the bed "Mommy, what you doing?" and I replied "Mommy is on break". He considered this for a second and then called out "Allison, what you doing?" and I called back that "Allison is putting away all the dominoes you tossed on the floor". He called out "that's right, Mommy, very good" and "good job Allison". While we were swimming he kept saying "let's go see Mr. Hall's house" or "where's Mr. Hall's tractor?" (Mr. Hall is the lake house neighbor) and then "let's go dock and see what Claire's doing" (Claire is Allison's cousin). He's become a rather excellent little conversationalist lately. I really enjoy listening to him!

why spanking doesn't work

I don't often spank Dennis. I've done it less than 5 times in his entire life. Today was one of those times, and today I discovered that it's completely ineffective. He was practicing some of his best "menacing" today, running all over the house and grabbing all kinds of non-kid items and relocating them. I followed him at a jog all morning but couldn't prevent the widespread destruction of our home because his path was unpredictable. I had no idea where he was going to go next. After unloading his drawers and pulling them out of the wardrobe, pouring out all the Legos and Lincoln Logs and cars and trains and train tracks and every other thing that could possibly be used to cover his floor, he ran to the bathroom and flushed the toilet over and over again, then grabbed up the plunger and began plunging to the best of his ability. He ran to the kitchen while I was mopping up water in the bathroom and began systematically emptying the silverware drawer. He pushed the water dispenser button on the fridge and created a big puddle. Just as I arrived on this scene, he ran into the den and climbed up onto the pool table and began rolling balls all around. He got an umbrella and opened it and ran around twirling it dangerously close to our few breakables, and when I grabbed it and put it away, he ran into the front room and emptied an entire bag of cat food onto the dog's bed. This was the last straw and I gave him two little taps on the bottom and told him that emptying out all that food was bad and it made a big mess. The cat, meanwhile, was plastered to the window, looking in at all that bounty and meowing her loudest to try and get in. I scooped up most of the food back into the bag and let the dog take care of the rest. Dennis didn't care one whit about the spanking, but when I said "go to your room" in my sternest Mommy voice, his bottom lip began quivering and he started to wail and he ran into his room crying his heart out. I learned something here. He reinforced it later when we were sitting together on the couch and he spanked my arm and said "Bad, Mommy, that was very bad". So it's Time Outs for Dennis as long as they will work!

morning conversation

6:15 a.m.

"Hey Mommy! What you doing?"

"I'm sleeping!"

"Come see Dennis. Bring chocolate milk."

"No, it's EARLY!"

"Come here, Mommy!"

"Mommy is still sleeping, can you play with Thomas?"

"Okay. Where's Daddy?"

"Daddy's sleeping too."

"Daddy, COME HERE!"

no answer

We got up an hour later--he was happily destroying his room. We've had this conversation for several mornings in a row now, each day it seems to happen earlier and earlier. His door opens, and he stands at the baby gate and yells his requests to us, sometimes adding "Come change my diaper please please please" (and this usually elicits a quick response, I'll admit).

family night out

Tonight we went out to dinner together after a visit to Bass Pro Shop, where Dennis played on the display pontoon boats. He picked out the one he liked best (the one that had a bench behind the steering wheel so that he and Daddy could BOTH drive) but still wanted to get on and off all the boats in the place. He watched the fish feeding with excitement and then told us he wanted to go eat. So that's what we did, and he ate a huge dinner of hamburger, fries, carrots, corn, applesauce, and strawberry shortcake. He did away with the bun, though, doesn't care for hamburger buns at all! And he didn't eat whole servings of any of that (the veggies were from my meal, actually), but I'm pleased that he ate so well. We're entering that phase of toddlerhood where it's difficult to get him to eat anything.

He has started to get angry when we don't pay attention to his every little utterance. We'll be talking to each other and he'll all of a sudden yell over us "LISTEN!!!!". So we listen, to silence, and when we start talking again, he'll repeat it. Then we'll ask him what we're supposed to be listening to, and he'll pick a song and tell us to sing it. I suppose these are early versions of our future family car conversations!

delinquent blogger

I inadvertently took some time off from writing this week. It isn't that Dennis hasn't done his share of cute and mentionable things this week--he has--but he has needed so much attention that I haven't taken the time to write! I'll summarize what's been going on.

Tuesday and Thursday we spent time at the lake house, playing out in the water some on Tuesday and weathering a big thunderstorm on Thursday. Wednesday we stayed home except for our walk at the track. We walked every day this week, and Dennis enjoyed an evening stroll with Uncle Denny a couple of times, with Mom and me pushing one or the other of them around the track. Friday night was movie night for Mommy and Daddy, and Dennis spent the evening with his Gran, Pop, and Uncle Denny, and they doted on him and gave him lots of attention. Yesterday was a beautiful day, cool and not very humid, so we did some fun things outdoors. We walked from Gran's house to the playground and played a while, and then we took Uncle Denny and picked up Allison and went to the Birmingham Zoo. Dennis was very excited and enjoyed seeing the animals and especially riding the zoo train. I must say, the Montgomery Zoo really has Birmingham beat, and it's so much cheaper to get in--I know where we'll be going next time!

Yesterday when Dennis woke up from his nap, he said "Mommy I want hamburger and fries and want to watch Jesus movie". I have no idea where his ideas came from, but Ellen was nice enough to stop at the Christian bookstore and pick up a Jesus movie for him, and after the zoo, we went to a barbecue joint where he indeed got his hamburger and fries. He ate almost all of it, the best he's eaten in a week.

Today we are spending a lazy Sunday afternoon at the lake. We walked down to the marina and bought an ice cream sandwich and Dennis' favorite M&M's, and we played on the screened porch for a while. It's so gorgeous out that I'd give anything to be at Oak Mountain, camping and enjoying a campfire (tonight's going to be a cool one!), but David is installing a boat lift and I'm tired of doing family activities without him, so we will wait until he is free to do our next big adventure.

two year checkup

He went to the doctor today to have his two year checkup and everything seems to be just fine with him. He's almost 36 inches tall now and weighs 32 pounds, maybe a little less since his shoes and clothes were on this time! He got one shot, which he hated, and he cried when they weighed him and cried every time he was forced to sit still. Thank goodness David was there to help me with him!

After we got home, the thunderstorm that soaked me while I was loading him into the car continued to pound us. I didn't know what to do with him! I called to invite Mom and Uncle Denny to a museum with us, but they were busy and so I elected to postpone that til another day. Instead, I set up our backpacking tent in the living room and put a bunch of pillows in it along with Dennis' table and chairs. We had a tent picnic lunch with Winnie the Pooh, which we enjoyed very much. Halfway through our meal, Dennis picked up his cell phone, said "hello" and then said "okay, Pooh, it's for you, it's Piglet, here talk to Piglet". Daddy played in the tent with him tonight after work. It turned out to be a pretty fun day!

we go church, Mommy

I did, in fact, take Dennis to church this morning, and he walked down the hall to the nursery chanting "Want to play trucks" over and over. He announced this as soon as he walked in the door and proceeded to do just that. When I picked him up after the service, he wasn't ready to leave and said "come play dinosaurs, Mommy" and I noticed him sitting at a table with a bin of rubber dinosaurs mostly emptied out. He had apparently had great fun with the dinosaurs and with the trucks, and the blocks, and even got to go outside and 'drive' a younger toddler around the playground in a play car. He sure loves church! I can't wait for him to start learning why we go. The foundation is laid--he talks about God and Jesus, and he INSISTS we pray before meals and at bedtime.

Tonight I was talking to him and his Daddy and he looked up at me and said "BE QUIET MOMMY SHH SHH". When I spoke again, he repeated it! So bossy. I know it's a reaction to me bossing him around, which is sometimes necessary even though I hate doing it. When we got to the lake today and I told him a dozen times to stop going out the door and come back and don't climb on the counters, etc, he walked through the house twisting up his little face and chanting "no no no, stop that, no no no, come here, no no no no no!". Lots of frustration to vent!

new entertainment

I forgot to mention Dennis' new form of entertainment: while I was preparing a meal, Gran was trying to distract him from all his busy antics (that often result in widespread destruction). She was reading to him and he wasn't sitting still, and then she brought out a special new book, one he hadn't read before: the phone book! He sat mesmerized while she flipped through the yellow pages, reading ads aloud to him and reading the names of local businesses. It was quite hilarious!

Today was a fun-filled day at the lake with Dennis' friends. He got to swim with Chloe and Ellen and Allison and me, and they took long naps afterward. We enjoyed a delicious grilled supper together and then Dennis and Chloe got to go on a long boat ride with their daddies. Summer weekends spent at the lake are so much fun!

smart shopper

Our L.L. Bean catalog came in the mail yesterday and Dennis got hold of it this morning. He flipped through it, showing me several items, like "look, Mommy, backpack" and "look, sippy cups" and my favorite "look, Mommy, Allison shoes!" (this for a page of flip-flops very similar to the kind she often wears, but I was certainly impressed that he'd even noticed!).

We spent the day at the lake, with Dennis playing in his little float with his arm wings on. He kicked and turned and leaned his head back in the water, really learning how to move and navigate and be more comfortable in the water. We had a great day, and Allison did indeed enjoy looking at the shoes he had picked out for her in the catalog when she came down to go to the lake with us!

eww gross!

He's developed a strange new fascination. He's been licking me, much like the dog licks me, big wet thorough licks. It's truly disgusting. He started it yesterday, licking my leg while I was sitting on the couch. Today he licked my arm while I was sending a text message. Tonight when David got home, he resumed the licking. I asked him to go lick Daddy instead. He stopped, turned around, looked at David, and said "Ewww.. GROSS" and wouldn't do it. We cracked up, of course, but I'm sure David is somehow wondering why his taste is less preferable to mine.

cell phone expert

So he already knows how to unlock my new phone and begin a text message. Perhaps I can use this desire to play with my phone to teach him his alphabet... We'll see! He's been picking up the phone all day and having long imaginary conversations with everyone he can think of! He'll say "hello, it's Dennis" and "how you doing" and "here talk Mommy" and "we talk later, bye" and "what's up Gran?". I've enjoyed just watching him!

new phones for Gran!

What a big day for Dennis! We skipped naptime in favor of helping Gran pick out new phones for her plan to switch cellular phone carriers. One trip around the little store in Clanton and I insisted we go to Best Buy. Dennis was as good as he could be there but did get bored toward the very end of our time there. He learned how to flip his stroller onto its side, scaring us and the other patrons mightily in the process. He kept insisting "go backpack, walk in woods, see Allison". See he knew that we were going hiking at Oak Mountain today, and he was ready to get on with it. Eventually we did just that. He got all loaded up in his backpack (gosh he gets heavier every time!) and we hiked our 3 miles. Just about 1/4 mile into the trail he announced "Mommy I take shoe off" and I told him not to. I walked on and he said "Mommy see my dirty toes!" and I reached back to feel one bare foot. Luckily the shoe was not very far behind us and I didn't have to backtrack as much as I feared. He counted the trees out loud for us, starting over each time he reached 15 or 20 depending on how high he felt like counting that particular time. Post hike we drove up to take Grandmother and Granddaddy their new phone, which they liked, and Dennis very much enjoyed seeing them and playing around at their house. It was one exhausted little guy we hauled into his bed tonight, never even waking up as he was removed from the car seat.

he's royalty

Today Dennis came strolling into the living room saying "look at me, Mommy" and "look at my crown!". Perched atop his head (he was carefully holding it up there with one hand) was what I can hardly do justice describing. First there was a yellow frisbee, and on top of that was an upside down candle holder, made to hold a glass dish that holds a candle. Stuffed inside the candle holder was a scant roll of toilet paper, the end flapping as he walked. It was certainly creative headwear, and I praised and complimented it. I also snapped this picture later with my cell phone. I just never know what to expect from him, and this was GOLDEN. I only wish I'd had the phone handy to snap a pic of him actually 'wearing' it.

a quieter day

Our company left rather early this morning and we were delighted that Dennis decided to have some alone time in his room. He took a little nap and then played quietly for a couple of hours. We napped as well. There were so many things we thought about doing today, but we mostly stayed home. We went to Wal-Mart to get a few things and then I went out by myself to shop for a bit. David made chicken spaghetti for supper and Dennis was wild over it, asking for "more ghetti".

Something I forgot to mention yesterday: when Allison was driving Dennis and me to the lake, she was telling me about a new adult beverage she'd tried. It's blueberry vodka mixed with cranberry juice. I told her "that would be good" and Dennis announced from the backseat "that sounds DELICIOUS! Mmmmmm." We had a good laugh over it. No, we don't serve blueberry vodka at our house--had never even heard of it before--but I am tempted to buy Dennis some cranberry/blueberry blend juice if I can ever find it again. Once a long time ago I endured a free tour of Ocean Spray Cranberry World and one of the test drinks we sampled was blueberry and cranberry. I remember loving it and hope that I can find it somewhere!

fourth festivities

I can't imagine a better July 4th than the one we celebrated at the lake today. What a truly perfect day! Dennis enjoyed swimming in the lake with Mommy and Gran and Allison before lunch, and just as we were getting out of the lake, the Gallmans arrived. Dennis RAN up the stairs to see Chloe, soaking wet and ready to give hugs. We dried him off and all had lunch together. After lunch, we were very fortunate that the kids were exhausted and went down fairly easily for naps in the two bedrooms. They both slept on the beds this time, no worries about pods or pack n' plays, and that was SO nice. As soon as it was apparent that they were asleep, the Gallmans and Allison and I all headed out on a beverage run, and stopped by to visit David at his work. When we got back to the lake, the kids were still asleep, so we jumped back in the water and enjoyed a peaceful swim. When they woke up, we put them in swimsuits and sunscreen, life jackets and floats, and put them in the lake with us. Dennis did so well in his puddle jumper life jacket sitting in the float. The arm wings kept him from sliding out the bottom, and the float made him feel secure enough to kick around and explore rather than holding onto me the entire time. I stayed very close of course, but it was nice not having him climb up me and attempt to drown me constantly. He was wearing his sunglasses as well, and he and Chloe looked so cute floating around with us. When they were ready to get out, we set up a baby pool and sprinkler on the upper deck and let them run. There was much squealing and giggling and they played for quite a long time. The daddies took over after that and Ellen and Allison and I had a lovely swim/float with our noodles, very good girl time. We enjoyed some superb grilled burgers, brats, and hot dogs and strawberry/blueberry trifle and ended the evening by taking the boat out to watch the fireworks display. Dennis clapped his hands and said "WOW!" whenever he saw them, and Chloe pointed out the different colors that she saw and kept asking for more purple ones. They were so very cute. I can't imagine anyone enjoying this holiday more than a two-year-old!

night boat ride!

Dennis partied on the boat tonight with all of us, and luckily we saw a few fireworks. He was very very excited about it all, so I can't wait until tomorrow night when he sees the big show. Dennis was so invigorated, pointing to the moon and the stars and to every house, shouting "look at the HOUSE!". He got lots of hugs and cuddles, and I think he just enjoyed being out late at night and being outside after dark. Very exciting stuff for a two year old!

This morning he fed the squirrels his snack granola bar while we were walking the track at the park, or rather while I walked and he rode in his stroller. I had thought I'd do five miles today, but after we had completed four, he announced "okay let's go home sit on couch watch Pooh and Thomas". He 'helped' me grocery shop and then took a very fabulous three hour nap. It was a good day for Mommy too!

special visitors

Aunt Louise and Uncle George came down to see the momentous event: Uncle Denny got his new leg today. Dennis sure enjoyed visiting with them, yelling "Hey Aunt Weeze, Hey Unk George". He was even more delighted to see Ju-Ju and Steve and Monte at the lake house tonight. We had a very big spaghetti supper with everyone and Dennis commanded his share of attention, insisting "come on Gran, come on Grandma" to make them both get down into the floor to help him put his puzzle together.

First thing this morning, we took Uncle Michael to the airport. Dennis fell asleep because it was so very early, and when he woke up, he noticed we were minus a passenger. He said "Where Uncle Michael?" and I replied that we had taken him to the airport. Dennis said "he get on airplane?" and I said yes. Then he said "he go see Kristin?", and I answered yes to that as well. Then he said "oh, okay. I had fun." He loves Michael so much and I know he'll be asking for him in the weeks to come.

helping the repairman

Sadly enough, we got home last night to discover that our A/C in the house was not working. The repairman came this morning and Dennis was fascinated by the whole process. The indoor part of our central unit is located in a closet in Dennis' room, and he stood by watching Mr. Hollon work. He would come back to the den for a while and then run back to his room and say "Hey, Mr. Holly, what you doing? Need some help?". He brought me a flashlight from somewhere and I presumed it belonged to Mr. Hollon and told Dennis as much. He took the flashlight to him and said "here Mr. Hollon here is flashlight!". It wasn't his, as it turned out, so I confiscated it, but Dennis kept finding it and taking it back to shine into the closet to 'help'. He was so sweet!