New Year's Eve

All day long I kept hearing Dennis tell me "we are having a New Year's party at the lake house!". He was correct. We were indeed planning a small party and he knew he'd get to see Chloe. He didn't want to nap, didn't want to go to Wal-Mart, didn't want to do ANYTHING except go to the lake house and go to the party. He had a great time playing with Chloe, jumping on the bed, chasing her around with his camera while trying to snap her picture (and I do mean literally chasing her... I mean he was RUNNING). They wrestled and played and chased and sang songs while rocking together in the rocking chair which was so unbelievably cute that I might have thrown up from the sweetness of it if it wasn't two children that I love. They 'counted down' to New Year's (at 9 pm--it was New Year's somewhere over the Atlantic) and yelled and screamed "Happy New Year!" and blew their paper horns. Yes, I got this on video. It is priceless. Their sugar highs carried them until about 11 pm, when they both crashed. Chloe was at the lake, David had taken Dennis on home (poor David has to work tomorrow very early). I stayed and played games with Dave and Ellen until late and when I got home, I came in and found David asleep on his side of the bed and Dennis snuggled in beside him in the middle. I woke David up (not meaning to) and asked him if Dennis had a nightmare or was scared awake by loud fireworks (living in the redneck neighborhood we live in, we hear fireworks for at least a week surrounding any holiday plus engines revving and rifle shots at various other times of year). Funny thing is, David did not know Dennis had gotten up and climbed into our bed! Dennis seemed nervous that we would make him leave, but we didn't. When I was getting ready for bed, he padded into the bathroom dragging his Froggy and hugged me and whispered "there are no monsters in Mommy and Daddy's room". I assured him there were no monsters in his own room and that he'd have to be in there tomorrow night. I don't know where all this fear has come from, and I don't know what to do, but we are going to get through it in our own respective beds!

None of our friends made resolutions for the new year, so we made a bunch of them up (Mom and I) and I put them in a big bowl and let people draw a resolution at the party. This was a huge success and very funny and I imagine we have started a new tradition. Dennis drew two for himself, the first that he would fart more quietly in 2010, the second that he would learn a new sport. Chloe drew that she would climb a tree and that she would go on a cruise. We talked about what was good about 2009 and about how excited we are about 2010. Bring it on!

the puzzle tower

I watched as Dennis painstakingly stacked all his puzzles on the table (still in their boxes, thank goodness) and counted them (14!). It was a very tall tower and he had to climb up on his chair to get the top ones on. He was very proud of his puzzle and stared at it for a while. Then he put a firefighter on top of the tower, lying face down and 'looking' down. He made him call for help on the radio and then the other firemen arrived in the fire truck and extended a ladder up to rescue him. When the ladder wasn't tall enough, Dennis said "don't worry, you can jump, we will catch you in the net" and then had the other firemen hold the trampoline while he pretended to make the stranded guy jump. I just sat back and enjoyed the show. When David got home and saw the stack, he asked me if Dennis had done it all by himself. He was impressed.

quotes

Dennis was talking about his friends and loved ones today. He told me how Gran says "yes, yes, yes" and Daddy says "no, no, no" and Uncle Denny says "oh, Dennis". Just for the heck of it, I asked him what Chloe says. He thought for a minute and then said "Chloe says BE NICE and SHARE!". He told me Allison says "be strong". I asked him what Ellen says. He thought again for a long minute and then said "Ellen says CHLOE KATHRYN!!!!". Big laugh from me. Very true. Also on the cuteness meter for today: he was asking about the Smith twins. He said "when we go see baby Haddifer?", making a combination name for both but using Jen's name instead of little Katelyn's. I knew who he meant and corrected him and he looked at me and said "I want to play with the babies". I told him I wanted to as well and that we'll have to go and see them soon.

total potty disinterest

He WILL be potty trained before our cruise in May. I insist on it. He is certainly not that interested now, telling me he likes his diapers and saying he won't potty. I have tried bribery and telling him how firefighters use the potty (this after he asked me one day who changed the firefighters' diapers at the fire station) and everything else I can think of. When the holidays are over, I'm going to have him wear regular underwear when we're at home. I hope that works. He told me he wanted to use his frog potty in front of his movie, so I brought it in the den. When I came back from loading the dishwasher, he had removed the potty bowl and was 'wearing' the support part. It may be a while yet. I even told him all the things we could do with the $50 a month we'd save if he'd use the toilet. Still no luck. We will make it, I just know it. He is not allowed to date until he can use the potty.

super batman Dennis

He climbed on the arm of the couch today and stuck his arm straight up in the air, pointed a finger to the sky, and announced "I am a superhero!". Then he said "Where's my batman cape?" and I told him it was probably in his room. He said "Okay, I'll go get it. I'll be right back." When he came back he asked me to help him put it on and then he climbed back up to the arm of the couch, assumed the same pose, and announced loudly "I'm a superhero! I'm Super Batman Dennis. Watch me fly!". This scared me, but he just jumped from the arm to the couch and then from the couch to the floor. Then he 'flew' away down the hall, cape streaming out behind him.

The sleep problem is not temporary. Lots of trouble putting him down for his nap today and even more trouble getting him to sleep tonight. He gets up out of bed, comes to wherever we are, gives us Cute Face, waves his hand, and says "Hi. I had a nice nap" after just 10 minutes in bed. It's hard to discipline something that cute who clearly just wants to be with us, so we took turns giving him Stern Face and taking him back to bed. The last time I had a serious talk with him about needing his sleep. He said he needed light and his Little People music cd playing, so I turned on the Christmas tree in his room and played his Little People Christmas cd. He settled in and went on to sleep after that. I miss the days of just tucking him in once!

not so bad for the day after

I worried about serious post-Christmas letdown, but Dennis seemed okay today. I was kind of blue myself, but he was just fine. He watched his new Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train Christmas movies and he took dozens of pictures with his new camera. He played fire station and rocket all day. He plugged in the Christmas trees all by himself (scary). And he was pretty sweet most of the day. We put puzzles together and played Uno Moo once Daddy got home from work. It was quiet and nice and very cold. I snuggled under blankets most of the day. I napped when Dennis did. Tonight he gave us trouble going to bed, lots of trouble, and when I asked him what was wrong, he said "I scared of monsters". I took his new Thomas flashlight and shined it around the room and showed him that there were no monsters. Then he told me he couldn't sleep because there were no monsters. He likes monsters. We had to put him back in bed several times. I hope it's just post Christmas stuff that's causing his difficulty.

Guilt trip today: he saw me eating a peanut butter cookie and said "Mommy, are you eating Santa's cookies?". I explained that the cookie was from the batch we made Santa, but Santa had eaten plenty of cookies and so we were allowed to eat what was left. He said "stop eating that cookie--it's for Santa". I offered him some cookie, but that didn't work either, so I quickly shoved the rest of the cookie in my mouth and apologized to him. He said to me today very sweetly "Don't you want to play with me, Mommy?". And then he gave me the face, the big-eyed, sweet, head-tilted-slightly-to-the-side, super cute look. It worked. I played with him all afternoon.

Santa visited big time

Dennis let us sleep until 8 this morning and he came to our room and climbed into bed with us. He told us "good morning--I want to watch TV in Mommy and Daddy's bed." So I turned it on and we watched for a few minutes until I saw David put on his glasses and sit up, and then I asked Dennis if he thought Santa had come. He sat straight up and said "Santa came?" and I told him to go check under the tree. He ran from the room saying "I look under the tree, I look under the tree" and I set off after him quickly. He got distracted and detoured into the den (where his new rocket from Nana Gaynell and Papa Jim waited by the nativity set--the astronauts had to visit baby Jesus last night). I told him to look under the tree because it looked like Santa had indeed come and he turned around and said "LOOK AT ALL THE PRESENTS FOR ME!!". I quickly grabbed the camera and watched as he began a festival of paper ripping. He got a book (Truckery Rhymes) and a couple of coloring books, two Christmas DVDs (Thomas the train and Bob the Builder), an Uno Moo game, a Thomas the Train flashlight, a puzzle, a Fisher Price School Desk (vintage), a new Chevron car, and the big gift: a Fisher Price Imaginext Fire Station and truck set. We managed to keep him from opening the fire station until the last gift, which is a good thing because he played with it exclusively for seven hours today. It came with 3 firemen that slide down a fire pole, a truck that has sounds and lights, axes, water cannons that shoot plastic water, fire hose, trampoline, fire jackets to put on the firement, a bunk bed, and a computer desk for the fire station. Santa did GREAT!

Gran and Pop and Grandma and GrandBob came over for Christmas breakfast, eggnog French toast with sausage and eggs and fruit, and they played with Dennis and his new toys for a few hours. After they left, he napped and then played fire station until it was time to go to Birmingham to Pop's family Christmas. The fire station came with us. Dennis enjoyed himself at Uncle Bradley's place and played with Nate until supper, and then he nagged us to open presents. The dirty Santa gift exchange was as hilarious as always and Dennis sang to us all the way home (different versions of Jingle Bells). Uncle Denny taught him to say "are we there yet?", something we will have to retaliate for in due time. It was a wonderful Christmas.

Rainy Christmas Eve

We spent the morning shopping again (mistake) and then went to church for the Christmas Eve service. No nursery for Christmas Eve, so this turned out to be an hour and fifteen minutes of torture as Dennis walked and climbed on us and asked out loud where baby Jesus was over and over and then yelled "I CAN'T BE QUIET!!" when we asked him to. Next year: Episcopal church service. It's shorter with more songs and a bit more intimate and worshipful. After church, we had Christmas dinner at Gran's house and Dennis got to open presents. He got a very nice kiddie digital camera from Gran and Pop and took some great pictures of all of us. We loved watching him find the tripod, set it up, and then carefully set his camera up on the tripod to take his own picture (note: he pretended to take his picture--he hasn't figured out the timer setting yet). He learned about this earlier when we set up the tripod at home to take our picture when we were all dressed up for church. He also enjoyed dressing up as a police officer in his new outfit from Gran and Pop, and he took turns cuffing all of us with his new handcuffs.

Once we got home, we set up a plate of peanut butter cookies and a Coca-cola for Santa and then Dennis went to bed. Pretty soon after that, David and I came on to bed! We don't know what time the little guy will remember Santa and wake us up in the morning! Merry Christmas!!

visit from Gran

This morning Gran came over to visit briefly and Dennis enjoyed showing off his new toys to her. They put a puzzle together and he showed off his Christmas tree and his snowflake to her. She enjoyed a piece of Big Bob Gibson's chocolate meringue pie from Gaynell and Jim as well. It was a short visit as she had to go and take care of some things before the holiday, but we are glad she came over. Dennis also wanted to go and see Grandma and GrandBob and I had every intention of taking him there before I went to Curves, but he napped very late and I had to run out the door and take him to Curves with me. While he was there, no one came in to work out, and we played with his new toy from Nana Gaynell and Papa Jim for half an hour before his Daddy came to pick him up. We decided to go and finish up our shopping, both grocery and otherwise, and we wore Dennis out traveling from store to store and trying to find a citrus peeler (we didn't). He did get pretty happy when we picked up a pizza at his suggestion and he loved the balloon that the florist at Winn Dixie gave him for Christmas. I loved it too, especially since he ran wild through the store after that and the bobbing blue balloon made it easier to see where he was. I am glad the day is over! The holidays are here!!

fun in Huntsville

One more big Christmas activity--a visit to Nana Gaynell and Papa Jim in Decatur, supper from Big Bob Gibson's, and a tour of Christmas stuff in Huntsville. We saw the Galaxy of Lights at the botanical gardens, a drive-through tour of a spectacular display of lights that Dennis loved. He rode up front in Nana's lap and pointed out things to her and Papa Jim. There were lots of nursery rhyme themed displays and we had fun trying to remember our Mother Goose rhymes! Our resident librarian Gaynell was proud of us! After the gardens, we rushed downtown to catch Santa's Village, which is in Constitution Village and is SO CUTE! All the buildings have assumed Christmas identities (i.e. Elves' Candy Kitchen, Night Before Christmas Reading Room, Santa's Blacksmith Shop, etc.) and Dennis met Santa and Santa's cousin and especially enjoyed getting to drive the sleigh. Mommy really enjoyed meeting Dancer and Prancer and all of us loved getting to see actual reindeer! Back to the Kings' place for pie and Dennis' gift opening after that. He got two VERY special presents from them, ones I might not mention for a while because he has cousins that might get similar things, but just know that they were a ten on the gift-o-meter. We were spoiled rotten tonight, all three of us, with a superb dinner and great entertainment and WONDERFUL company with some very special people. They are my sister-in-law's parents and we have loved them since meeting them years ago. Their grandchildren are far away in Washington and we aren't all together this Christmas as we have been for some of them, so we wanted to share Dennis' holiday excitement with them. He very much loved seeing all of the Santas on display at the house and was so cute watching Jim's dancing Santas. Nana Gaynell showed him each of the Santas and he commented on them to her. The funniest thing he said was when he was opening his first gift and I asked him what it was. He said "I don't know, but I'm working on it!". Dennis even loved their Christmas china--each piece contains a scene and a line from Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was a very very special evening and we thank them for a great experience and Dennis' first pop-gun, a souvenir he picked out at the gift shop along with a very cute t-shirt. The Kings are such wonderful grandparents-in-law and we are so glad that they love Dennis and that he loves them. You just can't have too many wonderful people in your life!

the Little Drummer Boy

I predicted this would happen. When I mentioned to Ellen that he might like a drum and musical instruments for Christmas, I knew that I'd have to listen to the playing of said instruments. I knew that I might get serenaded first thing in the morning, and I didn't mind that. So it happened this morning. I heard the metallic ting of his triangle ringing from his room and I heard him tapping the tambourine. Then I heard the drum start up. Soon the drumbeats were getting closer and he marched into our room wearing the drum and playing it. He said "good morning, Mommy, I'm the Little Drummer Boy." I watched and listened while he played for me and then he took off the drum and set it beside my bed and said "I'll be right back, Mommy, you stay here" and he left. He came marching back in with the cymbals and said "this will be loud, Mommy" and played them for me. Then he handed me the cymbals and put the drum back on and we sang Jingle Bells while we played. He said "great job, Mommy!" and then urged me to get up and play Marching Band with him. He's a pretty decent little drummer.

Tonight he partook of a Mitchell family Christmas tradition. He got one of those giant peppermint sticks, like a log of candy cane, the kind that David and his siblings got every Christmas. He started on it and of course got himself and the kitchen and several toys completely covered in sticky, but he enjoyed himself. We have saved the thing for him to enjoy again and again (will probably take a month).

true spirit of giving

I didn't know a two-year-old was capable of such generosity, such understanding of the giving nature of the season, but I was pleasantly surprised by what Dennis did this morning. He took my hand and led me to the library and pointed out the ornament shaped candle sitting on the table. He said "that's a pretty candle, Mommy" and I agreed. He said "I want to give a present to baby Jesus" and I smiled at him and said how sweet that was and that Jesus would appreciate his thoughts. Dennis was not satisfied. He climbed up and grabbed the candle and said "Mommy, I want to give this present to baby Jesus" and I was stumped for what to tell him as he began walking down the hall. He walked to his Fisher Price nativity set and climbed up and reverently placed the candle in front of the stable. He said sweetly "here you go, baby Jesus, I brought you a Christmas present. Merry Christmas, baby Jesus, you can open your present, it's for you." It just melted my heart to watch this. I wish there was something we could tangibly offer to our Savior. One day I'll teach Dennis that all we can give to Jesus is ourselves--and that's the gift He most wants. If only we could all love Jesus with the simplicity and wholeheartedness of a child.

our Christmas party

I was still vacuuming when the first guests arrived, but we managed to present a fairly decent house in time for the party. Allison showed up early and helped entertain Dennis while we finished up the preparations. Hadden and Jennifer and the babies were our next guests, and Dennis was SO excited to see the babies. He wanted to hold baby Hadden and kept dancing around and asking to do so. He kept insisting that the babies were hungry as well and got frustrated with us when we didn't jump up to fix bottles for them. Grandma showed up next and helped Dennis 'hold' baby Hadden. Dennis cried buckets when he wasn't able to hold him all by himself. He was fortunately then distracted by the arrival of Ellen, Diana (Ellen's mom) and Chloe and then Uncle Denny. Chloe and Dennis immediately ran off and began decimating Dennis' room and the den, scattering his toys all around. We enjoyed a lovely supper that all of us contributed to and then watched as the kids tore into their presents. Dennis got an Auburn ball cap (War Eagle!), puzzles, and assorted musical instruments (a drum that he can wear, maracas, tambourine, triangle, cymbals, etc)--all stuff that he LOVED--from our guests and then a great big Thomas the Train set from his Aunt Lulu and Uncle Robert and Uncle Phillip (we missed seeing them at the family party last week and Becky brought over their gift to him). I had planned for us to make snowflakes and gingerbread houses, but instead we just watched the kids playing with their new stuff. We talked about how we used to actually do stuff at parties before the kids came along and now we just watch them (and we have just as much fun!). Dennis is one happy toddler tonight though you wouldn't know it from the I'm-completely-exhausted-and-beyond-ready-for-bed whining that he was doing at the end of the party!

fun with scissors

Back when I was considering preschool for this year for Dennis, I learned that the skills he would have been taught included learning his shapes and colors and cutting with scissors. He knows his shapes and colors and so I decided to work with him on the scissors thing. I bought him some kid-friendly scissors and he picked right up on what to do. Later, as I was cleaning the kitchen, I realized that I hadn't seen or heard from Dennis in a while. I found him in our library/study, sitting up at the high stool at the drafting table. He was using big scissors (not kid safety scissors) to cut white paper. He smiled at me and said "Look, Mommy, I made a paper snowflake for you!". I saw what he held--a sheet of copy paper that he had made slits in all the way around the edges, a four-sided paper rectanglular snowflake I checked his little hands for any cuts and didn't see anything. He was so proud of himself and I vowed to do a better job hiding the scissors!

day of cute

This morning Dennis noticed a scratch on my elbow. He was very concerned. He first announced in a super-dramatic voice "Mommy--you've got a boo-boo on your arm!". Then he kissed it very gently and I told him it felt much better. Since he could still see the scratch, he told me "I need to go get my doctor kit--I make it all better" and off he went to retrieve his stethoscope. He listened to my elbow and told me I needed a sticker (Band-Aid) on it. I thanked him and told him I would be just fine. He said "I am Doctor Dennis to the rescue!".

Tonight he spent the evening with Gran as we had an out-of-town errand made easier by his absence. When we met up with Gran, she asked him if he wanted to go shopping and he said "YES!". She told me she didn't have a carseat with her so I got out the booster seat. When Dennis saw it, he excitedly said "My BIG BOY SEAT!!" and hurried to get in Gran's car. He told her "I want to go to Target." We hadn't mentioned Target, but she did take him there recently and he knew that he was across the street from it, I guess. Smart little thing! She tells me that they shopped for Chloe and Hadden and Katelyn and he helped wrap the gifts. I also heard that he got a Happy Meal for supper (his favorite). We just picked him up and he's exhausted and a little sad (I had to wake him), and now we're headed home. I have so much still to do and I'm out of time! Gonna be a late one tonight!

Christmas Wonderland

We went to one of those things that's only really fun for a two-year-old tonight. We read about a Christmas thing going on at a local Baptist church with all kinds of Christmas stuff and nativity scenes and all, so we took Dennis. It was in their gym, and there was a 'trail' through the 'snow' leading to different rooms. We toured a Nativity Room, a Snowman Room, a Santa Room, a Christmas Village Room, and an Angel Room. Dennis enjoyed looking at all the figures and backdrops set up in the rooms and especially loved the train and Christmas villages. He 'posed' for pictures in one of those backdrop things with the face cut-outs (and this is the only pic he smiled for!). He got to make an ornament--the choices were Santa, a reindeer, or a snowman and he chose Santa. He also enjoyed some homemade brownies and cookies and candy there, free and delicious. There were lots of decorated trees and lights everywhere and Dennis thought it was all wonderful. They did a nice job with it, and David and I probably would have loved it more but there were children (unsupervised) running everywhere! Rude children who cut in front of Dennis and grabbed things and ran into him and tripped him in their excitement to get to all the stuff. Dennis still had a magical time, naturally, and so we are glad we went. Our other beef with the thing: the paper said Santa would be there (which I was astonished about, since it was a church function) and we had told Dennis he would. He wasn't. Dennis was very disappointed. He was happy to see all the nativity scenes, though, happily pointing out Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus and the animals, telling me "the shepherds are coming to see baby Jesus" and "the Wise Men are bringing presents to baby Jesus". It was another nice seasonal outing. We seem to be having a lot of those lately and I just love it!

lots of Advent fun

Activities in our calendar that I may have forgotten to mention (each has a corresponding ornament to hang on his Advent tree):

1. Reading Luke 2 (the Christmas story) and visiting a live nativity -- angel ornament in calendar space

2. Making a handmade ornament -- mitten ornament to hang on tree

3. Reading about the history of the candy cane and eating one -- candy cane ornament

4. Reading about the angel appearing to Joseph and counting the angels on our tree -- angel ornament

5. Putting out food for winter birds -- bird and birdhouse ornaments

6. Listening to The Little Drummer Boy and talking about it -- drum ornament

There may have been others I missed, but this gives you an idea. He loves the Advent calendar and every day asks me when he can open that day's door. He also loves the Advent wreath and hovers around as I light the candles every night. Each night after dinner he says "I want to blow out the Advent candles now!" and he helps me do just that. In our church, the candles are 1. Hope, 2. Peace, 3. Joy, and 4. Love and we light one each week (Next Sunday we light the fourth one) and there's a white candle in the center that is the Christ candle that we'll light on Christmas Eve. Dennis knows the names of the first three candles and we say them as we light them and blow them out. What a meaningful season we're having this year!

not sugar cookies!

Last night we did something special. We made Not Sugar Cookies for Granny. I found a recipe for Splenda cookies and we made a batch. They were delicious if labor-intensive, and Dennis had a great time 'helping' Daddy roll out dough. He loved cutting shapes and putting the shapes on the cookie sheet. I am surprised at how delicious the cookies turned out! I wanted to decorate them and tried coloring Splenda with food coloring (not a good plan) and instead made a 'glaze' out of Splenda and water and food coloring and 'painted' the colors on the cookies with a paintbrush. I also sprinkled some Splenda on top of them for added sweetness and they were perfect. I learned that you shouldn't store Splenda cookies in an airtight container, though, or they will get soggy (the glaze and topping Splenda kind of melts--don't know why). Strange.

Today we went shopping in the rain with Allison. Dennis was kind of bad today despite repeated warnings, running around like a madman, and I threatened to call Santa. This worked a bit but not as good as I would have liked. He endured it, though, and we endured whining as we left every store. We got a report from Granny that she loved her cookies and the 'recycled' books I sent her way. Will be making more cookies before our Christmas party so that everyone else can benefit from Diet Cookies!

finally, a present!

Big day today--Christmas party with Daddy's family at Grandma's and GrandBob's house. Dennis got to open presents, something he's been itching to do for weeks now. He caught me wrapping the gifts for his cousins and has been anxious to open his own. He wouldn't nap before the party since he knew we were going. He was irritable and whiny and worried everyone to pieces during the meal saying he wanted to open presents. He was delighted when the time finally arrived to open the gifts and he ran to tell his cousins. He helped me hand out gifts at first and then got too busy opening them and playing with what he got. It was difficult to get him to stop playing with his toys long enough to open the next gift! He took a rather long nap afterward, while we were still at Grandma's place, and then he rode drowsily in the shopping cart through Wal-Mart while we picked up a few things on the way home. He played tee ball in our living room for nearly an hour once we got home (Grandma got him a tee ball set!) and he's VERY good at it. He knows how to hold the bat and hit and I am certainly not the one who taught him this. He bats left-handed! I can't wait for it to be nice out so we can go outside and play ball (I imagine this will be a significant workout for me).

making a gingerbread house

Everyone should put a gingerbread house together with a two-year-old at least once in his or her lifetime. Today was our third such project with Dennis (we did two haunted cookie castles after Halloween) and each time he LOVED it. He does tend to frequently sample the 'mortar' and decorative elements, and he gets excited about putting the pieces together and adding the additional candies. It's a wonder the house held up to all his work. We made a fun video of him excitedly yelling about putting the house together and I managed to snap a few pics of him in action. It's messy. It's sticky. It's difficult and requires more patience than I can possibly describe. And it's totally fun!

visiting baby Jesus

Dennis had been asking and asking and finally tonight was the night to go and see the live nativity. We opted for the Living Christmas Walk at Goosepond Park here in town rather than braving the frigid weather farther north (where it is a bigger event and therefore a longer walk). The production here was very nicely done but Dennis exhibited little patience for the pre-baby part of the story. Once we arrived at the place where we met Joseph building a house, Dennis insisted that he wanted to go into the house because he was sure baby Jesus was in there. We told him he couldn't and he loudly wailed "but I want to see baby Jesus!!!". He continued to say this at every different 'scene' we walked past. It became hard to hear the actors over his commentary. We finally arrived at the nativity scene and he was delighted. He announced to everyone that "there is baby Jesus! Is he hungry? Mary needs to feed him, and he looks cold!". And then "look at that donkey, Mommy, LOOK! Did he come to see baby Jesus? Where are the Wise Men?". I have no idea what we were told about the birth at that particular scene, but I enjoyed Dennis' excitement over it all. He liked seeing the shepherds and angels in the next scene (they had a campfire!) and the Wise Men with King Herod in the one after that (though he said "there's that mean king that wants to hurt baby Jesus"), but then he told us he wanted to go back and play with baby Jesus.

At the end of our walk, he cried and didn't want hot chocolate. He said "I'm hungry--I want barbecue" during the last two scenes and as we walked back to the car began to repeat his desire for barbecue over and over. He has never asked for barbecue before and I'm not sure what prompted this, but we stopped at the barbecue place and ate there. He told everyone "I went to see baby Jesus--he wanted barbecue too". He was almost too excited to go home and get in bed, but we convinced him. It was a very nice holiday family outing.

fudge for Santa

Gran kept Dennis today while I worked at Curves. He packed up his own toys this morning, joyful to be reunited with Fireman Sam (missing since Thanksgiving--turns out Dennis had taken it out to Gigi's car when he was outside climbing into everyone's car and pretending to drive) who arrived in the mail package from Gigi. When we were about to leave he grabbed the carton of fudge we made yesterday. I tried to put it back down but he said "we are going to Santa's workshop and chocolate is Santa's favorite". Can't argue with that logic, but it was difficult to tell him that he was going to Gran's house and not Santa's workshop. Her Advent calendar actually features Santa's workshop and this may be where his thought process was at the time. He then said "Gran loves chocolate--it's her favorite, I take it to her". And she was delighted to get it!

She tells me that he was on a quest for batteries all day and when she and Uncle Denny couldn't find them, he told her "don't worry Gran, I'll find some batteries" and made to head upstairs. When I stopped by for lunch, I came in the door and he yelled "GRAN--Mommy's here! Mommy, hey, where are you batteries?". I didn't know the back story and laughed and told him that yes, my batteries could indeed use a recharge.

Gran took him out shopping today and he picked out a boat and scuba diver playset and told all of Target about it. He also scored a gingerbread house that we'll be assembling later. He got a Happy Meal on the way home, so I'd say it was a great day for Dennis.

Christmas presents

Dennis woke up from his nap a little earlier than we had anticipated and he walked in and caught us wrapping his cousins' Christmas presents (he has 7 cousins--this was a load of stuff) and exclaimed "PRESENTS!" and almost got one unwrapped. We explained to him what we were doing and then he 'helped' us by picking out the paper for each person and each present and then transporting the wrapped gifts back to the back room (we think putting them by the tree would be too much temptation). He was a little sad because he wanted some of the things for himself, but he did much better than I would have expected. Luckily a big package arrived from Gigi and there was a present in it that she said he should go ahead and open. He was delighted to find a tractor ornament! She also sent another piece of his nativity set and he was happy to set it up and arrange Mary and Jesus and Joseph (who he insists on calling Joes-pha) and the angel just so. He loved the light-up snowman ornament with his name on it, too, and this snowman has ridden in the fire truck and visited the nativity scene!

Today's Advent activity was to make paper snowflakes and David did a great job on these. Dennis was only mildly interested, but he did happily eat the fudge we made. We watched Nativity Story tonight at his request and he asked a million questions while it was going on and then got concerned at the end saying "baby Jesus needs to get up and open his presents!".

Something I have been meaning to write and kept forgetting: I bought him a new pair of slippers and he calls them slipperies. Very cute.

babysitting assistant

Today Dennis helped us babysit the Smith twins, a boy and a girl not quite 4 months old. Dennis LOVED being around the babies, wanting to hold them often and telling me they were hungry and then telling me to change their diapers. It was actually not as scary as I feared--the babies were pretty happy and calm for most of our 'shift'. The major incidents were not even baby related, the first being when I locked myself in their backyard when taking the dog out. I hate those new doorknobs that open even when they are locked--they are too kid friendly, for one (kids can march right out a locked door), AND it is way too easy to lock yourself out. The second incident was when Dennis locked the bathroom door and then closed it (he was on the outside of the door, but there was no one inside to open the door)--this required a tool to fix. For these two reasons I am EXTREMELY glad that David came along with me today! We have learned a little more about the twins' personalities. Katelyn likes to make cute faces but grunts like a weasel (cute in its own way but unexpected for such a dainty and pretty girl!). Hadden makes cute baby noises but you really have to work to get him to smile. They are both exceedingly charming and cuddly but I have to say that Katelyn is maybe the cutest baby ever. She is Jennifer made over!

I loved watching Dennis sing to the babies when they fussed--so sweet! He sang Jingle Bells to Hadden and Ring Around the Rosie to Katelyn and a loud rendition of Old MacDonald to both babies. He got more smiles than David or I did. I hope they will be good friends in the years ahead!

letter to Santa

Today the Advent calendar revealed that we should write a letter to Santa and we did just that. I plan to take him to Macy's to mail it because I saw a commercial featuring a giant mailbox for letters to the North Pole and apparently there will be a charitable donation for every letter mailed there. He told me to tell Santa that he wanted a fire truck (which is good news because Santa told me he planned to get him one). He also wanted to know what kind of cookies Santa likes and wanted him to be careful flying his sleigh. Dennis wrote some things himself and put on plenty of stickers for decoration. It was a fun project!

Dennis asked me for red beans and rice for breakfast this morning, so he was happy when Daddy brought home the makings for it for supper. We set the table with our holiday dishes and lit the Advent candles and enjoyed a lovely family supper at the table. Dennis asked if it was baby Jesus' birthday yet because he wanted to blow out the candles! Tonight we watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town and he concentrated hard on every second of it.

St. Nicholas visits

We got home so late last night that I don't think Dennis understood when I told him as I was putting him to bed that we were going to be visited by St. Nicholas this morning. We put his Crocs out in the hallway and sure enough, I heard a weak and pitiful cry at 2:30 this morning saying "there's candy in my shoes, I want my candy". I went to get him (his cold seems a bit worse today) and showed him that his shoes were indeed filled with gifts from St. Nicholas then told him that we would get into the stuff a little later. I put him in our bed to sleep for the rest of the night. We were all feeling pretty yucky this morning and hated to have to miss church but were sure that giving a cold for St. Nicholas day would not be appreciated by other church members. After sleeping in as late as we all could, we decided it was time to grocery shop (a better alternative than starving) and chose Wal-Mart because Dennis had heard that Santa might be in residence today. He was indeed there and Dennis went right up to him and sat on his lap and asked for a fire truck without wasting any time on hello or other pleasantries. We tried to get him to smile for his picture but he seemed to think conversing with Santa (who is clearly a busy man) was serious business and wouldn't give us a smile. We have a few years' worth of pics of Serious Dennis with Santa now. It's officially become a tradition!

Santa's biggest fan

He wanted to wear his Santa hat (a much too large adult sized hat that belonged to David or me and that resurfaced when we unpacked the Christmas decor) all day today. He kept saying "I am Santa. I live at the North Cold". Makes sense--the North Pole must be cold, after all. Our Advent calendar today told us today to look up the history behind the Christmas tree and to decorate the tree. Since we're about a week ahead here, we went over and helped Gran decorate her tree. This time around Dennis actually learned how to hang an ornament on a branch, though he still likes pulling ornaments off and playing with them on the floor even better. He was enchanted by the wooden toy soldiers playing instruments (calling them the marching band) and there were a couple of casualties of his enthusiasm that now need some glue.

Last year the nativity characters had adventures every day. This year, it's the ornaments from his tree that I find in strange places. When I was cleaning his room yesterday, I found Ernie and Bert in the green truck that goes with his farm. Bert was driving and Ernie had his head out the passenger window. Their gold ornament hanging strings were blowing in the imaginary breeze on what looked like a fun joyride. I just love this evidence of his creativity! And though the nativity characters haven't been all that active so far, I have found baby Jesus, manger and all, in the Fisher Price airplane (flying to Bethlehem, maybe?). And Friday I noticed that a dinosaur and a chicken had arrived at the creche and were watching the scene in wonder with the other animals and wise men. Every day is a new Christmas-related surprise (like an Advent calendar for me, I suppose)!

christmas parade fun

I think this was Dennis' first ever parade experience and I'm so glad that we got out to go see it even though I've still got this yucky cold. We bundled up so well that I never got cold and Dennis kept yanking his hat off. Before it started, we walked through town and looked at the lights and town tree and had some hot apple cider and snacks from local businesses. Then we stopped by to see Gran and Pop (who live downtown) and Dennis said "Don't you want to come with me to see the parade?" without any prompting from us. Pop initially said no because it's so cold tonight, but when he picked up Dennis and Dennis gave him Full Cute and said "Will you come with me, Pop?", he bundled up and joined us. We had so much fun together! The Clanton Christmas parade is not a huge deal (though it was very long), but it's special to us because 17 years ago, David and I shared our first kiss at the Clanton Christmas parade. It's official. We've been together for half my life. It was nice to share it with Dennis, who was very excited about the marching bands and the horses and all the lights and floats. He liked the manger scene float and also liked seeing fire trucks from every department in the county (There had to be at least 12 fire trucks there, maybe more). He saw boy scouts and pint-sized baton twirlers (and good Lord there are lots of those here in this southern town, three different schools' worth). And he saw Santa Claus who paused and waved to him especially and tossed him some treats. He got more candy tonight than he did at Halloween. He saw the Whataburger mascot, Whataguy, who was 'driving' an orange-nosed reindeer. They were handing out coupons to Whataburger and we like to eat there, so when Dennis suggested we go there afterward to eat, we happily agreed. Imagine his delight when Whataguy came in after the parade. He sat and had a long conversation with Dennis and Dennis told him about the parade and to have a Merry Christmas. They posed for a photo and hugged, and then, to complete the Evening of Toddler Fun, we took him to the Dollar Tree. He chose a Mickey Mouse figurine and we managed to get some stocking stuffers that he never saw. I'd say his first parade outing was a clear success.

the Advent wreath

This morning I remembered that I had wanted an Advent wreath for our table this year. Better late than never, I suppose, and I researched them online and then decided it was best to get a wreath and add small candle holders. And then I remembered that I had a table centerpiece wreath, and I found 5 small candleholders to insert. Now I just need to buy purple, pink, and white candles. Tomorrow night (hopefully) we'll be teaching Dennis about the lighting of the first candle. We decided to open Door #3 on the calendar and found a wreath ornament and a note I had written about how the tradition of the Advent wreath began in Germany and what it stands for, a circle for God's unending love for us and the eternal victory over death through Jesus, evergreen for faithfulness, and candles to remind us that Christ is the light of the world. Dennis told me to stop talking midway through and asked to open another door.

Tonight we watched the Polar Express and Dennis spent the commercial breaks sliding down our bedpost while pretending to be a fireman. He liked the movie, though. Then we cleaned up his room and read him stories and put him to bed. He kept asking me if Santa was up in the sky with the reindeer. And he wants to go Christmas shopping at the Dollar Tree tomorrow. I hope I am over my cold tomorrow. I want to get out and enjoy our polar weather!

Dennis was beyond excited to see the inflatable Santa and snowman get set up today. He insisted on posing for this picture. Then he wanted to carry them around the house and play with them. For the record, I hate the new inflatable decor, always have, but when I saw them marked down and could spend $5 for both a couple of years ago, I predicted that Dennis would love it. I was right. Totally worth it.

calendar day 2

Dennis went to the pediatrician this morning after stating to us very plainly "I am sick, I need to go to the doctor to make me better." His ears are clear, thank goodness, but his throat was red and raw upon the doctor's examination, so now he's on an antibiotic (his second one of 2009--not too bad as the first was for a tick bite). He suffered through a haircut tonight and enjoyed the bath afterward, and he wanted to open more than one door on the calendar yet again. After we opened Door #2 to reveal a snowman in a train car, we read a note I had written about how people often travel during the holidays and then we looked at our travel pics from last Christmas in Washington. Dennis sadly wailed "I want to see Caedmon and Mirella--let's go to their house" about 20 times, and when I explained that we'd have to take an airplane because they live so far away, he said "then let's get on the airplane--I want to see Kristin and Uncle Michael too." (haven't managed to get him to pick up the 'aunt' title for Kristin yet) He was disappointed that we couldn't go visit so then asked "Can we open Door 3, Mommy? I want to open number 3". Evil Mommy is making him wait until tomorrow but is very impressed that he made the connection that 3 is the next numbered door.

If you happen to notice the lovely beaded garland on my trees (all 4 of them in the house!), I'll let you in on a thrifty secret: it's made of mardi gras beads! I cut the necklaces and twisted the ends together to form as long a garland as I needed. We have a red one, gold one, blue one, white one, and I'm thinking of silver for the next one I make. Gluing the strands might have been more attractive, but you don't notice the ends where I've twisted the beads together. Cheap (well, free actually) and easy!

hooray for Advent

The day arrived that Dennis has been anxiously awaiting: time to open the first door of the Advent calendar. David brought home a nice pre-lit tabletop tree specifically for our Advent ornaments, and tonight we hung the first ornament, the one behind Door #1. It's an angel, which we put on the top of the tree. Today's activities: read the verses at the end of Luke 1 where the angel appears to Mary and tells her that she will have the baby that will change the world, and watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special. You may have noticed that we have now watched this 3 times according to what I've written, but it's actually been more than that. He loves this so much, and it has such a nice message that I let him watch it whenever he asks. (We also watched 'Shrek the Halls', not that it related to our Advent activities.)

I put up the rest of our decorations this afternoon when I was feeling pretty good (I don't feel so good tonight, unfortunately, but whatever it is seems to be passing on by fairly quickly as I am MUCH better than yesterday) and Dennis was entranced by everything and had to check it out. He loves Christmas. He kept shouting at me "Happy New Year" today and I tried to explain that we still had a month to go before that holiday so he shrugged his little shoulders and yelled instead "Happy Merry Holidays, Mommy!". Seeing Christmas through his eyes is going to be incredible. He loves the lights and the colors and baby Jesus and Santa Claus--it's all new and wonderful to him. What a season to be a Mommy!