first ride

I've been hearing it all day. "We going to the fair, Mommy" and "Let's go to the fair" and other variations on the same theme. He had to wait several hours, though. David got home from work and opened up our pop-up camper to begin preparing for our upcoming camping trip. When we discovered an entire planet's worth of different experimental molds growing in the thing, we cancelled our plans. It's going to take some real clean-up and possibly some plywood to make it campable again, which was disappointing but not devastating (because now we can remodel it just like we want to but probably can't use it for the rest of this camping season due to a hundred other more important projects on our list). When we were assessing the damage, we rescued the vintage Fisher Price toy camper set from inside it. Dennis was thrilled to be reunited with it and spent two entire hours playing with it exclusively, including making the Little People say phrases like the following plus hundreds more:

"Let's go on a picnic"; "Want some more corn--here you go"; "let's ride the motorcycles"; "this steak is deewishus"; "everybody get in the boat"; "Hey, Dog, are you okay? Woof woof, I'm okay thank you". It was enchanting just to watch and listen. And it was major trauma to separate him from the toys to go to the fair, so we shamelessly bribed him with supper at McDonald's. We took Uncle Denny to the fair with us, and when he pointed out the approaching midway lights to Dennis, Dennis said "look at the BIG playground!". He loved looking around and dancing along and jumping up and down, just enchanted with all the sights and smells and sounds of the fair. He played a game of 'turn-over-a-duck' and won a little stuff orange dog. He rode the teacups and LOVED it. He didn't want to at first--he spotted the bigger and scarier rides on either side of the teacups and wanted to ride those instead, the ones that went fast and upside down and had strobe lights and sirens and VERY loud music. Since he is not quite 42" tall, he had to settle for riding the teacups with Mommy and Daddy. We sat down in our blue cup and he began to grin and giggle and say "we're going to go around and around!". Another little boy hopped in with us, and he and Dennis laughed and smiled at each other and 'helped' us spin the wheel to make the cup spin around faster. He loved it for 90% of the ride, and then he said "STOP" and then "turn it off, Mommy" until I told him that it would be over soon. Then he said "okay" and began spinning the wheel again. After this, he told us "it's time to go home now" and we did. Sure was a fun evening, and we're tickled that he loved his first amusement ride. We're hoping he'll grow up to ride the coasters with us!

popcorn construction

A few cute things happened today, of course. First, during one of the five times I tried to convince him to nap, he told me as I lay beside him "Hey, Mommy, I have a good idea." I asked him what it was and he said "let's go ride the Pumpkin Train". This was impressive to me because I have not talked to him about riding the pumpkin train for several weeks, and I mentioned it in passing when I did say something. He remembers everything. It was a good idea, too, and we'll be riding that train on a weekend very soon.

He was happy to reconnect with his toys after a long weekend away from them at the lake, and he commenced to big construction projects with the bulldozers and front end loaders and dump trucks (all imaginary, at first). He got hungry for a snack and asked for goldfish crackers, and I couldn't find any and told him we had left them all at the lake. I offered popcorn instead, and he was delighted with my suggestion. He hid from the noisy air popper while it was going but reappeared when he saw the bowl of popcorn headed to the den. I got a phone call, so I left him with it since I saw that he was happily sitting on the couch and eating it. When I returned to the den, I came in just as he was dumping the entire bowl onto the floor. I might have gotten angry if I hadn't watched what he was doing. He began scooping up the popcorn with all his construction vehicles, dumping it from truck to structure, driving it all around. His Little People were having Dennis-voiced conversations that basically consisted of "We got to move all this popcorn, let's get to work, okay get ready for this load" and things of that nature. It was fascinating and very creative, and I didn't say a word about food on the floor or ants. I played with him until he tired of it, and then I swept and vacuumed the construction zone. It was magical!

snippets

He said so many cute things today, so many hilarious things, I couldn't get to my computer fast enough. I wish I'd had the video camera on all day long. This stuff was golden.

Let me say, we've noticed an extreme leap forward in his conversation skills in the past couple of weeks. We think it's PBS, truly. He was so amazingly verbal all day today, too, and I was constantly suppressing laughter at how funny he is. His Gran and Pop showed up down at the lake after we'd had our sandwiches for lunch and he marched himself right outside and said "I go see Gran and Pop". They told him they were headed to the dump, and he said "I get in carseat, I go too" and he sure enough did. They reported that he entertained them the whole time.

Once he got back from his trip with them, it was non-stop (except for naptime) chatter and fun. It was so beautiful outside that I suggested we go for a walk. Dennis lobbied hard for a golf cart ride but settled happily for the walk. I thought we'd take the short walk to the marina and Dennis said "yes, Mommy, we go to turina" (which means marina in dennis-speak). I commented on what a beautiful night it was for a walk and Dennis said "yes it is bootiful, good idea, Mommy". Once at the marina, we looked at the water, sat on a bench, looked at some boats, petted the cats, and then walked back. Dennis commented on all of this. When we were on our way back, he said "let's go fast, ready, set, go" and we took off running. He announced "that was so much fun. Now let's go backwards." He began walking backwards and told us "turn around Mommy and Daddy, go backwards". When we did, he watched us and then said "bye!" with a big grin on his face and headed the other way! He got us!

We had spaghetti tonight and when we were finished, we needed to de-orangify his face and hands and chest. I told him we needed to wipe him off and he said "I wipe" and started to use his own hair to clean his hands. I asked him if he wanted to take a bath (which he has always answered yes to before) and he said "No, I get down and build house with blocks. Go get the baby wipes". Astonished, I did just that and wiped him down. He insisted I sit and play blocks with him, and this was the most fun half hour I've spent in ages. He built a beautiful structure right off and said "look at my building house". I raved over it, of course, and then he said "you build blocks too, Mommy, sit right here". I built a couple and he went and got the Noah's ark animals to inhabit our houses. He walked the lion over to my zebra condo and said (while growling) "Hello, Zebra, I scary lion. Come to my party. Roarrrrr". We had animal conversations and he suddenly knocked down all my structures. I announced an 'earthquake' and knocked down his structure. He looked dismayed, bottom lip quivering, eyes tearing up as he yelled "Oh NO! My bootiful building house! What happened?". I apologized immediately and rebuilt it and when I looked up I saw him laughing. He faked the upset reaction. I could hardly believe it. The animals all marched off to a party in the toy cabinet (two-by-two, incidentally, under Dennis' control) and Daddy came over to play with us. Mommy was a little punchy from not getting any sleep last night and so, for amusement, added the super ugly Star Wars Happy Meal toy featuring an AT-AT walker with a Storm Trooper bobble head attached (totally channeled my Inner Geek there--pretty cool for a girl, huh?) to the play session. David wound it up and set it loose, and it staggered there among the plastic animals. Dennis seemed pretty happy about this until David leaned over and blew it over. Dennis shouted out "WHY DID YOU DO THAT, DADDY?" over and over in a stern voice. It cracked us up, but we could tell how serious he was about it and had to stifle our giggles. It was almost a shame to put him to bed. He knew it, too. I'd tuck him in and turn off the light and he'd call out "Mommy, come back here, where's Froggy?" and I'd go in and find him. Then it was "Mommy, I want a kiss" and "Mommy, I want anudder hug". I finally had to tell him it was the last time I was going in there and he said okay and went to sleep. I have smiled so much today!

he's not sick!!

He woke up happy this morning, no fever, no illness. He's been asking me to go to the circus all day, or rather, he's been saying "We go to circus tonight Mommy" all day. The state fair closes tonight, and we had so hoped to take him there, but it isn't going to happen. We are just not all well enough yet. Not to worry--the Alabama National Fair opens in a couple of weeks and it has a big circus. Does he really know what a circus is?

I put big boy underwear on him today and we went out to the porch to put puzzles together--what a beautiful day it was, especially here at the lake. On the porch, he happened to notice the garden hose lying there and he picked it up and said "It's a fire hose, here comes the water!" He worked it enough to where water actually did dribble from the end, much to his delight, and he shouted "get ready, here comes the water, I put out the fire!". He had to stop this for a minute so he could go find his firefighter hat and put it on, and then he came back and dribbled out more water. When he had gotten all he could to come out, he looked in the hose and said "all gone, I put the fire out". And then he peed through the shorts and underwear, looked down and saw more 'wet' on the porch floor, and said "see I put the fire out". I had to be careful not to make any of the 'fire hose' jokes that ran through my mind because I could see his mind already going there on his own.

time bomb

I spent most of today waiting to find out if Dennis is going to get sick. He developed fever by mid-afternoon, a small one of 99.1. Tonight it was up to 100.4. He's been dosed with fever meds and I've gone in to check on him, and we've reinstated the baby monitor (something we haven't used here at home in a while). He ran around all day and he nearly ate us out of house and home, so I don't think he's feeling bad. I only checked his temp the first time because he told me his eyes hurt and he kept rubbing them. Poor little guy. If he can get through tomorrow without nausea, I think we'll be free of this stuff. I'm praying this is the last of it--David and I didn't get fever until after the grosser symptoms had passed.

yep, serious illness in the house

So it apparently wasn't just something that David ate. I myself was, as David put it, projectile from both ends today. What misery! Thanks so much to David for coming back home from work to rescue me (by picking up Dennis and taking him to Mom and Dad). And thanks to his Gran and Pop for keeping him while I alternated between hanging out with the toilet or writhing and moaning in the bed. Tonight I have fever and while we aren't sure that we have experienced The Dreaded Swine Flu, we had half the symptoms on the list. My only prayer is that Dennis escapes unscathed.

illness in the house

David came home early yesterday from work with major stomach trouble and I figured he ate something that didn't agree with him. But today he still didn't feel up to going in and today I felt weak and miserable. Dennis still seems fine. David cared for him a good bit today, and I feel kind of bad about that, but I just didn't have the strength. Dennis enjoyed him being home and they played together for hours. He loves his Daddy days! He has taken to slamming that hard plastic fireman hat on each of our heads and crowning us Firefighter Mommy or Firefighter Daddy. It's cute, but it does kind of hurt! He's so serious about the firefighting stuff!

questioning my intelligence

I was reading to him from his favorite book, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry, at his request (demand). Normally I like to ask him where this thing is or that thing and have him point them out to me in the book. For example, today I said "where is the pickle truck?" (referring to that giant two-page-wide pickle on wheels at the top of the page spread). He stared at me and said "It's right there, Mommy, can't you see it?". What do you say to that?

hat tricks

I'm not sure there's a more magical age for a child than two and a half. I can't begin to describe the joy and discovery and sheer imagination of my child that delights me daily. I thought things couldn't get any more fun than the singing, which is still so cute that I can hardly stand it, but now we're into playing dress-up and pretend. He dons a hat and adopts a whole new persona. He has a pirate hat and eye patch and bandana that he wears together and walks around calling himself Captain Dennis and insisting everyone say "arrrrgh" to him. Today he started with his Park Ranger Dennis phase, wearing his park ranger hat and brown ranger vest and brown cowboy boots. He also spends a good bit of his time as Firefighter Dennis with hat and axe and walkie talkie and badge and rain boots. And there's Cowboy Dennis, where he dons the cowboy hat and boots and talks about horses. When he's in one of these getups, he's careful to talk about subjects appropriate to his attire, and he pretends to talk in that walkie talkie pretty often about where the fires are and promising to be there soon. It has just occurred to me that I need to video this stuff, and perhaps he'll cooperate, though lately he's been telling me "no, Mommy, no take picture" even though he loves to look at pics of himself.

He doesn't even need a costume, really, just a prop will do. Yesterday before we headed back to Alabama, we stopped at an Alvin's Island to shop for Florida stuff. He found and picked up a plastic megaphone (and I have no idea how he even knew what it was or what it was used for) and held it up to his mouth. While I pushed him around the store in his stroller, he wore a straw hat that he grabbed off a rack along with a pair of Elton-John-esque sunglasses, and he held the megaphone up to his mouth and shouted repeatedly "wadies and genmen, welcome to show". After about six times, I understood that he was saying 'ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show'. I think he learned it from a Fisher Price Little People sketch about the circus. Too funny!

the long way home from Florida

To listen to Dennis, he was tormented much today. He had to endure shopping (tragic) at a few places and wasn't thrilled with his stroller time. I didn't let him nap today because I thought it would mean that he'd sleep the whole way home, but I was wrong. He did enjoy some play time in Gigi's backyard (as Fire Chief Dennis, and yes, he put those shoes on by himself), and he got to play with all the toys at Ross when I released him from Stroller Purgatory. He played at a nice indoor McDonald's Playplace and loved his hamburger Happy Meal, and he ran wild through the Nike Factory Outlet and even tried on a pair of shoes (he called them black Nike Shox, as in "I want the black Nike Shox, Mommy") that were not as good as the pair of Nikes he already owns and loves.

Post shopping, he watched Bob the Builder and didn't like it when they were talking about scary monsters (a phrase that is forbidden to be uttered in the Mitchell house now). We switched to Thomas the Train episodes and this calmed him down. Gigi cooked a delicious pork chop supper while we loaded the car, and we ate and ran. Dennis stayed awake until the last hour in the car, whimpering pitifully through a couple of movies and then finally giving up and dozing off. What a long day! We had a good time, though. And it's very good to be home.

he doesn't want to leave the beach!

After a leisurely morning (meaning that I made Dennis take a mid-morning nap instead of waiting til afternoon), we loaded up in Gigi's car and headed to the beach again. We went to Henderson State Park and Dennis practically ran down to the sand. We found a spot to settle in and he immediately started with his sand construction. He amused himself for hours and we girls took turns walking down to the water and fighting monster waves. Dennis got hot and red-faced (summer gave us a last blast of heat) and we asked him if he'd like to wade into the water. He insisted on changing into his swim suit and swim diaper first and then he giggled as we waded into the ocean. He liked the waves coming in and would screech with delight when one would come close. We held his hands and helped him 'jump' over the waves. After a few minutes of this, he insisted on returning to building his sand castle. We stopped for a picnic lunch up in the pavilion and then returned to the sand. We were thinking he'd never agree to leave when he announced that his face hurt (it was COVERED in sand that stuck to his sunscreen). He agreed to a quick shower off and a clothing change but wasn't thrilled about the proposed shopping trip. He was happy to have his Gigi pushing his stroller around while Mommy and Allison tried on clothes and he was more than thrilled with the new Elmo underpants that Gigi bought for him. Mommy found a great rash guard and swimsuit for him for next year and paid $5 for the set--GREAT sale!

Tonight we enjoyed some movie and story time with him at Gigi's, fed him red beans and rice with sausage, and then put him to bed. Then we grilled steaks late and enjoyed some Adult Beverages and conversation. I think he had a great day. I think we all did.

another visit to Gigi's

Today we made the trip to Niceville to visit Gigi (his Godmother Janet), and this time Dennis and I rode with Allison. David is at home, enjoying some man time (and enjoying some work time perhaps a little less). Dennis didn't nap for the entire 4 hour trip here, and he actually never did nap today and was one tired little guy after his supper tonight (Gigi made some red beans and rice and sausage especially for him).

We started the morning at Whataburger (or 'Hamburger House' as Dennis calls it), and after we ordered our breakfast and sat down, Dennis got back up and walked over to the counter. He stood there just as seriously as he could said "I want a hamburger and french fries". The girl at the counter gave him a big smile. From there, we headed south with one stop at a cute little gift shop in Evergreen, Alabama. I thought it'd be a good time for a diaper change, and it certainly was. He'd dumped Cocoa Puffs all in his carseat and then spilled water, so his pants looked like several rabbits had pooped on them. He kept telling us "I want to go to Gigi's house" and when we assured him that's where we were headed, he would say "okay" and smile.

Gigi fixed us a fabulous burger lunch and then we went to Children's Park and watched an elated Dennis dance through the giant sprinklers and slide down the slides and drive the trucks and climb the climbing wall for over an hour. Then we hit the beach for just a little while where he calmly sat in the sand and played with his dump trucks, bulldozer, buckets, and shovels. He finally agreed to go and put his toes in the ocean after a half hour of sand play, and then he told us "I want to go build a sand castle". It was a big day for him and he went right to sleep after supper!

arrrrrgh

A trip to the Dollar Tree prompted this fashionable look. Dennis pointed and said "I want the pirate hat!" and since it was a dollar, why not? He was thrilled with his new wardrobe choice, and he wore the hat in the car all the way to the lake house. He told us in the car "I am Captain Dennis" and we wonder where he got the 'captain' from. We put the eye patch on him at the lake house and he walked around saying "I am Captain Dennis, aaarrrrrrggghhhhh." We didn't prompt any of this and just enjoyed the show! He came up with the bandana idea all on his own, and no, we don't know why this pirate isn't wearing pants...

get well Grandmother

We headed up to Birmingham today to see Grandmother and take them some food and flowers and peaches. She's under the weather presently, and Dennis was anxious to get there to see them. He barely tolerated the two stops for shopping before we arrived, demanding "I want to see Grandmother" or "let's go see Granddaddy now". I tried to distract him with a dinosaur book, but he said "NO, Mommy, I can't read!". We let him pick out flowers to take with us, and first we had these purple mums, but we thought they seemed kind of dried out so we picked some fresh huge bright red daisy/dahlia kind of flowers, and Dennis took them in to her and said "here Grandmother I brought you flowers". We had a nice brief visit with them, glad to see her looking well. When we left, I was worrying about her, and suddenly we saw a huge rainbow up in the sky and I felt much better. Dennis announced "look at the pretty rainbow!". He's been such fun today.

a Daddy day

Mommy volunteered her time to help out at Curves this morning, so Daddy got Dennis for the entire morning shift. He learned how Dennis climbs into bed with me and demands Dragon Tales or Caillou or Word World or Super Why (gotta love PBS), and then watches said show while pretty much dancing on my head. He learned about the loud playing and the singing and the dancing and how the Little People construction crew likes to loudly demolish things (by dumping them off the table and onto the hardwood floor). When I got home, David had a pretty bad headache, much of which he attributed to Dennis' loud play and loud voice. He has a new healthy respect for what I do every day!

When I got home, Dennis ran to meet me at the door. I could see him jumping up and down in the window and waving at me, and he said "come on in, Mommy, I'm very glad to see you!". I got a few big hugs, and a nice big kiss when I picked him up to cuddle. NOTHING beats this greeting when you get home. David loves it, too!

ready for school

This morning, Dennis was driving his Little Tikes car around and he said "I go to school, Mommy". I asked "Really, are you going to school?". He said "Wellllll, I don't know where school is." I had to laugh (quietly, of course)--it was very cute!

it's a musical life

It started this morning. David didn't have to go in to work very early today, so he took the morning shift with Dennis. I heard them happily playing with his new puzzle from Gran: "We put puzzle togevver Daddy!". Dennis has really started to sing when he's happy, and he makes up songs on the spot about whatever happens to be on his mind. He was so thrilled to have some Daddy time this morning because Daddy was the one who got up first to take care of the morning Dennis needs (diaper, chocolate milk, Pop-Tart, fire truck movie). He continued to ask for David all day, as in "Where is Daddy? Daddy go shopping?". Tonight, he was met at the door with a very exuberant "DADDY! Daddy's home!!!". David took care of bathtime as well, and I heard half an hour of joyous singing from the tub. I love that he's so happy, and he's even told me "I very happy Mommy" several times lately. Thanks to David for just making his day, especially today as I hurt my back pretty bad somehow and couldn't have played and bathed like he was able to.

his date with Chloe

The little ones hadn't seen each other in a while, and they were delighted to spend a little time together this afternoon. I relaxed my swine flu visiting ban for a day (and brought along and used a giant bottle of Germ-X on us all), and picked up Gran and met up with Allison and the Gallmans to spend an afternoon shopping. We all met up at Target where Dennis spotted Allison perusing the Halloween cards and announced "there's Allison--she's a good friend!". He spotted Chloe a bit later and screeched with delight, and after her inital shyness, he convinced her to give him a big hug in his stroller. They held hands on the way through the store with her walking beside his stroller. They had a romantic dinner of Happy Meals, sitting side by side in their high chairs. And though we didn't think anything of it at first, by the end of the afternoon, we all started noticing the hand holding and the high number of full body hugs exchanged. It was like a baby date! Just before we left Wal-Mart, our last stop of the evening, I saw Dennis lean forward and grab Chloe's stroller and bring it up to his. He leaned in and said "Come on baby, I show you." I don't know what that was about, but it sure sounded like a pint-sized pick up line to me!

thievery

He got my wallet away from me again, and this time he grabbed my debit card and then returned my wallet to my purse. His Daddy caught him running around with my card and I was totally unaware. And again he got my wallet out of my purse, unzipped it, took out a dollar, zipped it back, and returned it to my purse, all with us watching. He tried valiantly to stuff the dollar into his tiny pocket and then brought it over to me and said "I got a money Mommy, please help me put in pocket". I don't know why he thinks he needs debit cards and money so much lately, and I wonder if it's tied to the extreme number of times that he's asked me to take him to Wal-Mart lately! He must have big plans.

...and now found

We had a quiet morning at home, Dennis and I, and while we were playing in his room, I just had to check his playhouse again to see if Froggy had materialized or beamed in from somewhere. The only things in his playhouse were his broom, baby couch, and his tiger backpack. Wait a minute... His tiger backpack. Zipped closed. Surely we checked that last night. Doesn't feel heavy, but I'm unzipping it just to see... YES! There in the bottom, curled all up--it's Froggy! I ran out to show Dennis, who looked bored and said "yeah, it's Froggy". He didn't take him from me. I wonder if he'll ask for him later.

He put an entire 20 piece puzzle together by himself tonight. When he finished, he stood up and said "Woo hoo! Where's Gran? I show her puzzle." So we had to go out and find Gran, and he said "come on, Gran, I have a surprise for you!". She asked him what it was and he said "a puzzle! come see!". We made the necessary Big Deal out of it, with much praise and clapping. He's thrilled. And I'm thrilled! I'm going out tomorrow to buy two more, especially if it's something he can actually sit still to do!

lost

We spent an hour and a half tonight looking for Froggy. I spent an hour earlier today looking for him. Dennis has stashed him somewhere, and though I think this somewhere is in his room, we cleaned the whole thing tonight without finding a magenta, orange, and teal stuffed amphibian. Well, we found two that fit that description, the little one that Dennis calls Car Froggy and the replacement one that looks so new that Dennis won't have anything to do with him, but we never found actual Froggy. He napped today without Froggy and didn't give me any grief about it, and tonight we were looking so long that Dennis went on to bed. He picked up the newer Froggy and said "Here he is, see Froggy? Ribbit, ribbit". He went to sleep just fine. We agonized for quite a while over where he could have stuffed him, but we eventually gave up and came to bed as well! We've checked all the drawers and cupboards and appliances we can think of, but we still didn't find him. While Dennis and David don't seem to be all that upset, my heart kind of hurts to think that we may have lost such a treasure. We know he hasn't left our house. Maybe he'll turn up. Maybe Dennis is outgrowing his dependence on Froggy. Maybe a Velveteen Rabbit event happened here and he became real and hopped away (and hopefully made it past the cat)--he's certainly been loved enough. He is missed tonight, at least by me!

I'm officially scared

I have developed a big concern about Swine Flu. It has hit our county, and one of the trainers at Curves (who is also a high school teacher) has it now. We are not afraid of Curves--the manager is a neat freak and has sanitized the heck out of the place, and I didn't actually come into contact with that trainer at all last week. But I have decreed that Dennis will not be going into Wal-Mart with me for a while. We have taken away the pacifier and he doesn't even miss it now, but those fingers are always finding their way into his mouth. We tried Winn Dixie with a shopping cart handle cover (that Winn Dixie had actually sent to me as one of the Baby Club gifts--sign up for this free service if you haven't--it's great!), but he was more interested in ripping the cover off or moving it around, and he grabbed all over the cart. I've never been very germ-phobic (and due to that usually get sick at least one good time every fall/winter), but this year I'm afraid for Dennis. He'll get his regular flu shot in a week and a half (when the pediatrician gets more in stock), and if we get a swine flu vaccine made available, he'll have that, too. David and I will get flu shots within the week. There are lots of fall activities I want us to do, but I may be limiting those to outdoor things, hoping to keep him flu-free. I sure do love that little guy, and while I don't think it could be fatal to him, it is possible. Mostly, I just don't want him to suffer any sickness at all.

That said, I tried to keep him in the car while we ran errands today, but his friends from Ace Hardware missed him (this is not a place I'm overly concerned about, anyway, and I had said as much to David). Mr. J.T. came to the car to visit, which Dennis loved, and then he told me "I want to go in and say hello" (a very good sentence for him). So we went in to say hello, and I discovered that "I want to go in and say hello" really means 'I want to go in so Mr. J.T. will give me popcorn', and he did, and everyone was happy. But I'm going to try my best to keep him out of Wal-Mart, and I might have to keep the family pharmacist quarantined! So scary, this stuff.

We are at the lake house, and Dennis just grabbed my wallet. I have only been a wallet owner for a week now, and it's nice to finally get my money (what little there is of it) organized. Dennis was rifling through it and grabbed my debit card. He said "Mommy's wallet--here you go, Mommy" but kept the debit card. I said "that's Mommy's debit card, too, give it back please" and he said "No, it's MY debit card, you don't need it" and he ran off with it. I gave chase, of course. And I am currently again in possession of my debit card, but I wonder how he knew that the debit card was the thing in my wallet that has the most value...

what's that sound?

When swimming with Dennis at the lake today--and I did it with no other adults in the water besides myself, so we're really making progress--he said "I hear horn go beep beep" and I told him I didn't hear it. Then he said "I hear train go choo choo, listen Mommy", and I strained my considerably older ears and heard a dove cooing across the lake. I imitated the sound and he said "that's it, Mommy, you hear it", and I taught him that it was a dove. From then, whenever he heard it, he said "hear the dove, Mommy? I hear the dove." We talked about all kinds of things while we were swimming, conversations initiated by Dennis mostly, and I can't say when I've enjoyed a swim more. He talked about the fish in the water and talked about bubbles and how the boat looked dirty and he yelled to Gran "come down here, Gran, and watch Dennis swim." When she got down to the dock, he yelled "jump in, Gran, swim with Dennis". She didn't, due to a nasty cut on her finger, but she watched and enjoyed for a while.

go jump in a lake

The clouds cleared, the little guy refused to nap (and sang songs to himself that we enjoyed over the baby monitor for TWO HOURS), the weather was perfect: doesn't that sound like an excellent time to go swimming? We thought so. Miraculously, so did Dennis! No big complaining, no screeching "I want to go to lake house" or "we go back to dock, Mommy" 15 minutes after we got in. Little man floated and splashed happily in his puddle jumper vest and Elmo float for half an hour and then said he wanted to go inside. When he got on dock, he stepped out of the Elmo float and then said "I want to get back in the water". We let him jump in with only his puddle jumper vest on, and he did great! He actually swam, REAL SWIMMING, for several minutes, and then wanted to climb out and jump in again (and did, many times). We did it just like swim class, with him counting 1-2-3 and then jumping. His jump off the dock isn't quite like ours--he sits on his bottom and kind of scoots off on the count of 3. All the same, he was delighted with his new skill, and so were we. We were careful to explain about never jumping in without 1) his life jacket and 2) the presence of Mommy or Daddy. We're so proud of him. What a great little swimmer he was today, delightedly announcing over and over "I'm swimming in the lake!" or "Dennis is swimming in the lake!". I'm hoping for warm and sunny a few more days before fall so we can reinforce his new skills.

pre-labor day

I should mention that we bought Dennis the baby doll that he wanted, and he's been caring for it sweetly since it came home. Today we fixed a baby bed for it out of a basket and some of Dennis' old burp cloths. He likes to lay the baby down and say "it's time to go to sleep, baby" and "night night, baby, do you want some covers?" (at which point he will gently tuck the baby in) or "want to ride in the shopping cart, baby?" and when the baby has an 'accident' "are you okay, buddy?" and "you are a sweet baby" (which he follows by kissing the baby's bald head). Today he told the baby "you don't need to go to the lake house--you need to get some sleep", so it stayed home while we are here.

Allison came down again today to party with us at the lake, and to help us accomplish a tiny bit of work at Uncle Denny's place. Last night we played dominos and The Game of Real Life for hours, and we had planned to do the same tonight, but it got so late that Allison left before the gaming began. Today might have been our last lake swim of the season, we thought, and we enjoyed a little over an hour of floating and paddling around on our pool noodles. Dennis didn't join us again today because he was napping, and for this reason I hope there's a little time tomorrow when we can get him into the water. He keeps asking about swimming, and talked about it when we were in the car on our way down here today.

Today he put puzzles together while we grilled a FEAST for supper that included salmon, chicken breasts, beer brats, and mushrooms done on the grill plus black-eyed peas and corn from the stove. YUM! We marinated each meat in a different sauce concoction, and then we all ate like kings and queens. Dennis enjoyed a bit of everything as well. Mostly he wanted to get back to his puzzles. I'm impressed with how well he's doing at putting them together! There are four wooden puzzles in the box, each is 12 pieces and each depicts a different mode of transportation: airplane, ship, motorcycle, fire truck. The pieces are all stamped on the backs with a different little shape so it's easy to separate the different puzzles when all the pieces are mixed up in a big pile. I think Melissa & Doug toys are some of the best out there, and a very big thanks to Aunt Kristin and Caedmon for sending these puzzles our way--Dennis LOVES them. He opened the box from them this time and did a happy dance when he saw the puzzles inside. I love watching his chubby little toddler hands working the pieces around until they fit, that serious look on his face while he's concentrating. I spend all day every day with Dennis, and I never tire of looking at him and admiring some feature of his nicely put together toddler self. I look for the traces of baby that are rapidly disappearing, and I look for traces of the developing boy that will soon take over. I am completely head over heels for my child, and though everyone told me it would be this way, I had absolutely no idea I had this much ability to love another being. And it increases all the time! Sometimes my heart is so full it could just burst. And sometimes I would donate a kidney for two hours to myself, but those times are thankfully very rare. David let me sleep gloriously late again this morning while he breakfasted and played with Dennis, and now I feel refreshed and like I can totally enjoy being a Mommy again (hence the warm fuzziness of this post). I am enjoying this holiday weekend so much, and I just can't figure that out. After all, many people would consider most of my days to be holidays! Maybe it's because David is off work and I have child care help in him and Mom and Dad, who are also here at the lake for the weekend. At any rate, it's a good Farewell to Summer time that we're having.

last summer weekend

We're at the lake today, getting in some last summer partying and swimming (or trying to). We finally got Dennis down for his nap well after 4 pm, and we jumped in the water for about 15 minutes before the thunderstorms arrived and nixed our plans. We've been swimming a lot this summer during naptime--we'll set up the baby monitor and put it on the dock, and we'll lock the doors so Dennis can't get out of the house--one of the screened porch doors fortunately locks from the outside, and we lock all the others with hook-and-eye latches well out of his reach. It's been a good system for this summer, but I'll bet this is the last year we can do that. He might not take 2 hour naps next year, and he might be a bit more wiley about gettting out of the pack and play (and heck, he'll most likely be too big for it--he is nearly too long for it now). He has done some of his napping in the regular bed, and we listen to the monitor for him waking up. We are lucky that every time he woke up from his nap this summer, someone was already in the house to get him right up. He may never have realized that we were swimming while he slept. He asked to swim today, but I think it was so that he wouldn't have to nap. Our dream baby, the one who went to bed so easily, is starting to protest a little. He doesn't want to miss anything! Tonight when we got home, he insisted on playing with Mr. Potato Head (even though it was nearly midnight and he'd been asleep both at the lake and in the carseat on the way home). We had a little Potato Head party for 10 minutes before putting him to bed, and he cried, but only for a few minutes and then fell asleep.

This has been such a fun summer, especially all the time we've spent at the lake--it more than makes up for not having a real vacation this spring. Thank goodness for the trip to Gigi's place near the beach a couple of weeks back--that was a wonderful break. As we move into fall, we have several trips planned, plus plans to take our camper out twice a month to local state parks. We can't wait, but we can't really start this up until we've finished all the work at Uncle Denny's new house. So much to do, so little time! I can't wait for the pumpkin patch trips and the state fair and the pumpkin train ride... Now if we can only get the threat of swine flu to disappear so I lose my growing fear of taking my child to public places, it could be a wonderful autumn.

fear of fire

The Japanese steakhouse trip last night did not go as we thought it would. We thought Dennis would be totally charmed and entertained and amused, and if he had bothered to take his nap yesterday, this might have been the case. Instead, he was interested in our seating at the grill, and was 'reading' the menu to Hadden, and was generally settling in for a usual restaurant meal when two things happened. The birthday crew came out and banged a drum very loudly, and it started up right behind Dennis. When he turned his head to check out the noise, one of the other grill chefs had just set loose a giant plume of fire, which Dennis saw. Hadden and I were saying how cool it was, but Dennis had a mini-breakdown, hiding his head behind my shoulder and grabbing my hands and placing them over his ears. He stayed this way for the appetizer course (I think he got the soup course in before he became afraid), and I couldn't eat because he had both my hands. Hadden covertly requested chopsticks, and Dennis' pair came rubber-banded together with a piece of cardboard stuck up in the top, and this saved the meal. He learned to pick up rice and noodles with them and feed himself and his Thomas the Train that I found handily tucked into the front pocket of his diaper bag. The meal was fun, overall, and Hadden was the recipient of many Dennis hugs and cuddles and kisses, and this is good because it was his birthday! Dennis wanted to go back to their house after supper, and he lucked up because they are the kind of very cool hosts that have a treasure box full of Happy Meal toys for kid visitors to play with. Naturally he had a great time with these, and he has carried around his souvenir Sponge Bob all day today. The thing he's still talking about, though, and I probably should have written about it first, is his getting to see baby Hadden in the NICU. He loved this. He was not even in there for a full minute, but he was completely captivated by seeing that tiny little person in his parents' arms. We stopped by the store on the way to the lake tonight for the customary bottle of Bug Juice, and Dennis begged for a baby doll on their shelf that was about the same size as baby Hadden (and, oddly enough, wearing blue and green just as the real baby was yesterday), and said "I want the baby, the baby Hadden, please Mommy". If only I'd had more money in my pocket... Maybe tomorrow!

wishing for snow already

This morning I was greeted with "good morning, Mommy. You need to brush your teeth." Nice. I immediately ran my tongue over my teeth, trying to detect anything gross and failing. It must have been my breath. A little later, we were playing in the living room and he suddenly ran back into his bedroom. He came back in seconds, sporting his yellow toboggan cap with one ear flap over his eye (his apparent preferred method of wearing a winter hat). He said "it snowed, Mommy, I need my mittens and shoes". The shoes he brought were sandals, so I told him he really needed some snow boots. He said "yeah, snow boots" and then said "I can't open the closet, the snow boots are in there". I went to open it and saw only one snow boot. He said "where the other one?" and I told him to find it and went back to the living room. He appeared a few minutes later with his Crocs (must have given up on the search) and said "I wear Snow Crocs" and proceeded to put them on the wrong feet then said "I ready to go".

We've had to call Poison Control today--he came to us carrying an open bottle of calcium tablets, saying "I eat one" and with white goo around his mouth. No harm done, and at least it was calcium. Now we are on our way to see Jennifer and Hadden and the babies and to celebrate a special occasion with Dennis' first visit to a Japanese steak house (which should give me plenty to write about tomorrow). Happy birthday, Hadden! Dennis is currently amusing himself in the back seat, and he is pointing out clouds. We were both shocked a minute ago when he said "look at that cloud, Mommy, it's shaped like a turtle" and then "that looks like a elephant" and "look at the seahorse in the sky" and "there's a kite cloud". Neither of us have played the cloud game with him yet--we tried it half a year ago and he wasn't interested--and we looked at each other in wonder and then David revealed that the dragons on Dragon Tales played the cloud game. Aha! I spent an hour this morning praying about ways to help him develop his incredible brain, feeling some guilt about the tv shows he's watched lately, and now I found out he's actually learning. He sang Old MacDonald in its entirety and then sang the first half of the Thomas the Train opening song--he sang "they're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight, shunting trucks and hauling freight, red and green and brown and blue, they're the really useful crew". That's a pretty decent memory developing in his little head. I'm such a proud Mommy!

home, not home, home

We spent Sunday night at the lake, Monday night home, and last night at the lake. Dennis seems to be adapting well to the back and forth nature--the lake house is kind of his home away from home anyway. I guess it's time to make the official report. There has been no pacifier use since Saturday. That's 4 nights without, many car rides without, and 4 naps without. So far, so good, though he asks for it repeatedly in the car. No problems going to sleep or anything, and I feel only mild guilt for removing his mouth plug during the height of the swine flu scare. I guess we'll stay quarantined and carry hand sanitizer and/or Clorox wipes for those times we have to go to public places. Scary.

He wanted to look at pictures nearly all afternoon, pictures of himself. We looked at a zoo album from April, and he remembered at a glance "That's where the monkeys are" (not that any monkeys were evident in the photo). He also remembered his visit with Thomas the Train, back in March, and was happy to see the photos. And of course he remembered our trip to Gigi's recently, and Caedmon and Mirella's visit at the end of May. We looked at all those pictures, and I came across this one of him helping his Mommy. It made me reflect on how sweet he really is--he carries in bags for us and he actually pulled out the chair at his tiny table and said "sit here Mommy" as he held it. He says "thank you" and tonight when David passed me a french fry, Dennis looked at me sweetly and said "please please can I have french fry Mommy?", so as you know, I didn't eat it. He's a good diet helper as well!

learning to drive

Two milestone wheel-related events today! First, he got out his little trike and I saw him actually pedaling it around the living room. He asked me "How 'bout my bike helmet, Mommy?" so I went and got it for him. He pedaled forward and backward ("look at me go backward Mommy"), and he was as proud of himself as I was of him. After this, I asked him if he wanted to go outside and drive his Jeep (helmet still on), and he excitedly danced to the door. When we got out into the Jeep, he pushed the gas pedal voluntarily and drove the thing all over the place. He's still a bit sketchy on the steering, so David and I got a workout chasing him and correcting his steering, but he's getting it. Today was the first time he wasn't afraid to hit the pedal!