boo-boo care

One of Dennis' favorite get-out-of-a-nap strategies is to plead grievous injury (think "I can't go to sleep--I hurt my boo-boo"). He very nicely took a morning nap today (after lying to his Grandma yesterday and telling her he didn't need a nap because he'd already had one), but by this afternoon he seemed exhausted and was rubbing his purple-smudged-underneath eyes. I thought we'd attempt the impossible: two naps in the same day. It didn't happen. I heard big noises and went in to find him doing his best to mangle the poor miniblinds hanging over the bed in the room he's sleeping in here at the lake. I stopped this and insisted he go to sleep, and he whined about it (naturally). I left him alone and heard another big noise and then the door opened. I scooped him up and returned him to the bed and he claimed "I hurt my boo-boo, Mommy" and I asked him where it was. He said "right there" and pointed to a bloody spot on his knee that I hadn't yet noticed. I sprang to action, running for the mini first aid kit that I keep in his diaper bag. I cleaned up the small cut and he whimpered a little and asked "are you a doctor, Mommy? I need to see a doctor". I told him I was going to run to the bathroom and get a heavier duty band-aid (the Snoopy ones in the kit are a little flimsy, very good for those 'imaginary' boo-boos). When I ran back, he was precisely applying a Snoopy bandage right over his wound. He'd unwrapped it, peeled the stickers off, and applied it just in the right place, and it only took him seconds to do it. Pretty darned impressive, if I do say so myself. Might even have taken me a little longer to do it!

The picture is of sweet sleeping Dennis during his morning nap. How will I ever remember how cute he is now when he's a teenager? His chubby baby wrists and hands and those adorable fingers as they hold up his age or point to the sky as he's playing superhero, the cute things he says, those giant blue eyes and killer eyelashes, his always-dirty fingernails and constantly wiggling toes (and how he tells me his toes are happy or sad), how totally cute he is singing the entire A-B-C song... So much to cherish, so much of a blessing in one slightly more than three foot tall package.

breakfast in bed

Dennis has been getting up earlier and earlier. This morning it was six o' clock, on the dot. I am not the kind of person who functions well at this time of morning, and Dennis knows this. He tried several times to get me up. At six, he came in and pounced on me and said "I'm kinda hungry, Mommy" and his Daddy, who was already up getting ready for work, fixed him breakfast. After David left, he came back in and dumped a cold can of caffeine-free Diet Coke on me and said "this will help you feel better", and had it been Coke Zero (with caffeine), I might have indeed enjoyed it and felt better, but it was one of Uncle Denny's brand of Coke and I asked Dennis to put it back for me. No caffeine, no need. A while later, he brought in a package of string cheese from the refrigerator and said "here's your breakfast, Mommy" and "can I have one, too?", so I got him a string cheese out of the bag and he put the rest back in the fridge. The last straw was when he brought in 2 Fudgesicles. I got up and put them back. It was way too early for a popsicle, way too early to watch him get chocolate all over himself, and I promised him we'd have one a little later. Mainly it's because I didn't want to eat a popsicle and I usually end up eating half of the Fudgesicle that he never finishes. Imagine my surprise when he did finish the entire thing a little later when I let him have it! It was a three-baby-wipe event, not too bad, and he jumped up and down with delight and said "I LOVE chocolate popsicles!".

He told me he'd be in the bathroom and he'd be right back (after hearing me tell him the same thing a bit earlier). I waited and became concerned after he didn't emerge for a while. I tried the knob--it was locked--and he yelled "I'm in the bathroom, I'll be out in a minute" but then fortunately unlocked the door. I entered to see him applying deodorant to his belly. There were globs of toothpaste in the sink and he had the plunger sticking out of the toilet. I'm glad to know he had such fun in there. I wish he'd use the room for its intended purpose!

his opinions

Imagine how you'd feel if your child came over and patted your belly and said "nice and squishy, Daddy". Yeah, David didn't love it either.

This morning he asked me "can we go to Granny's house?" and I replied "maybe soon". He said "maybe soon tomorrow?". I told him we'd have to see. We went home for a while today to get more toys to bring to the lake, and Dennis was happy to take his nap there. He didn't really want to nap, but when I put him in his bed, he fell right to sleep and took the longest nap he'd had in a week or two. He sure didn't want to come back to the lake house, telling us "we NOT going to the lake house--we staying HOME". I know he misses it there, misses his toys, misses the space to run, and eventually (in a few more days), we will be back there. As we were leaving he asked "are we living at the lake house now?" and we told him we were for a little while longer. Now we're having another very cold spell, cold and rainy today, cold and drier for a few more days, and we'll see some more freezing temperatures starting tomorrow night. This does not help the plumbing situation.

We had lunch with an old friend today, the first friend I ever made in Clanton. She met us at San Marcos. I hadn't seen her in well over a decade, maybe longer, and we'd lost touch except for the occasional email that we've been exchanging for nearly a year now. She was happy to meet Dennis and he was happy to meet her as well. He was very cute for most of our luncheon. He even ordered his own meal from the waiter, saying "I want a chicken quesadilla, rice and beans, and lemonade, and macaroni and cheese", and he got all of it except the macaroni and cheese. I love that he orders for himself now! He spoke clearly enough that the waiter understood everything (the waiter was smiling hugely at him the whole time).

a menace at work

Thinking we'd be moving back home today, I cleaned and washed sheets and packed in preparation for leaving the lake house. While I was standing up on the bed rehanging the curtain that Dennis yanked down, I heard him say "I paint you, Mommy" and looked down to see him holding my bottle of red nail polish, bottle in one hand and loaded brush in the other. I asked him where he'd painted me and he said "on your weg (leg), right there" and I looked to see two red dots on my favorite flannel pajama pants, blue Life Is Good pants with pink cups of hot chocolate and marshmallows all over them. I KNEW when I took that bottle of nail polish out of my purse that it would end badly, and that was next on my list to put away. Not soon enough. While I was packing up bathroom toiletries, he found his crayons and drew a picture on the television screen (which cleaned pretty easily). He told me he was bored and wanted me to play with him, and I was trying to get us out quickly so we could go hike, so I turned on one of his shows for him. I put sheets on one bed and then popped back to check on him and he happily told me "I eating a crayon, Mommy" and indeed he was, had consumed about 1/4 of the brown crayon. I made him put his crayons away and despaired of ever getting away from the house. Gran came over and played with him and read to him and ate lunch with us, and we decided to walk at Wilderness Park in Prattville, a park full of old growth, very tall bamboo trees. So I abandoned my cleaning, knowing I would come back by post-walk to finish everything when I picked up my car.

Dennis did not nap on the way to Prattville. He sang several throaty renditions of "Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life to me" (yes, he says 'to me' and not 'for me') in full pirate voice. When we got to the park, he grabbed a stick and would periodically bend over and draw on the ground and ask something that I completely did not understand until Gran translated it as "which path should we take?" and then he'd say "this way, follow me". He told us he was a park ranger and he led the tour. He pointed out bamboo trees to us. His initial reaction to the bamboo trees? "Mommy, look at all the fireman pole trees!". After 20 minutes of park rangering, he took a break and played pirate, asking us where the treasure was (in a deep growly voice). It was a fun walk.

The shopping did not go as well. He whined his way through Target and we finally realized he was very hungry. He had some milk while we were in the store and 1/3 bag of the Cheetos he begged for afterward in the van. Gran ran into the grocery store while I sat in the car with him and she sat in the car with him while I ran into Ross for a sanity break. I came back out in time to change a very nasty diaper. He still insisted he was hungry so we went to a drive thru and only ordered for him. He nearly fell asleep while eating--he conked out very soon afterward. We came on back pretty early as the prospect of more shopping with him along was just too much to deal with. It isn't that he's bad or begs for things so much as the fact that he's loud and incessant, and after hours of that, we were just craving a little peace since it had been such an awful day otherwise for both Gran and myself. I won't elaborate, but we are not able to move back home yet and it will probably be several more days. David had a REALLY bad day, some well intentioned help turned into a costly disaster, and he's re-injured his bad knee. I'm glad today is over. Parts of it were great fun, much of it was flat depressing.

circus bound

All day Dennis was excited about going to the circus and delightedly reported to Grandma and Bob where he was going when they stopped in for a visit this morning. After his nap, I asked him if he remembered where we were going and he said "on a cruise ship!" and I said that yes, we were, but not today, and he said "I don't want to go to the circus today--I want to go on the cruise ship" and I agreed with him! I'd rather be cruising too!

He loved the circus. He loved seeing Chloe at dinner beforehand, and he was so excited as we walked up to the civic center. When we got inside, he wanted to touch all the astronomically priced for-sale toys at the vendor booths, but we soon took him inside the arena. Before the circus, everyone is welcome to come down to the floor to see the clowns, watch a few acts, try on costumes, get a temporary tattoo, etc. Dennis was completely overwhelmed, in totally sensory overload. I think he was a bit freaked out by it all, clowns, stilt walkers, loud music... He had a blank stare after we'd been there a bit and wouldn't talk. Things were better when the elephant came out. He was sitting up on my shoulders and the elephant began painting a picture. Dennis was so excited about this and excitedly yelled "LOOK, THE ELEPHANT IS PAINTING A PICTURE WITH RED PAINT" and began bouncing up and down on my shoulders. He narrated the rest of the colors as well and yelled "GOOD JOB ELEPHANT!" when she finished. He liked most of the acts in the main show as well, sitting on my lap for all of it and having me cover his ears with my hands when it got really loud. He got bored during the trapeze and high wire and contortionist acts, but he liked the pirates and cowboys and horses. And he LOVED the elephant acts, had to stand up in front of me and jump up and down and yell cute things to the elephants. It was a terribly expensive evening--we used all our Christmas money from Granddaddy to go--but it was a fun one. I caught an action shot of Chloe giving Dennis a big bye-bye kiss! On the way home, we talked about the circus and a sleepy little voice piped up from the backseat "we are NOT going to the circus now--we are going home and go to bed". That's how tired he was.

Today Dennis' cousin Caedmon turned 4. We hope he had a happy birthday! And I hope to get the card and present off in the mail soon. Bad aunt!

little host

Dennis has taken to 'hosting' duties lately. We get lots of "welcome to my room" or "welcome to Gran's house" or "welcome to Dennis' room" from him, even a "welcome to Mommy's car" when I got in it after buckling him in. Tonight when I got back to the lake house from working out and then working the closing shift at the gym, he announced "HI MOMMY! Welcome to my toys!" and indeed they were spread everywhere. He likes to say "welcome to the lake house" to anyone stopping by. Hopefully just 2 more days til we get to move back home--big plumbing project set for Thursday.

I hear that Dennis had a wonderful time running around at Grandma's and Bob's house today, outdoors even, and he sure did go to bed early tonight. I just know that will mean another early morning for me just like the 6 a.m. wakeup I got today. The picture is of Daddy reading a bedtime story twice in a row to a happy little guy.

not on the menu

It was getting close to lunchtime when Dennis announced he was hungry. I asked him what he'd like for lunch and he said "Hmmm... I want pumpkin pie for lunch!". I can't think of the last time we talked about and/or ate pumpkin pie! He ate carrots and ham and cheese and goldfish crackers--no pie for him today. Later he announced he was hungry again and I again asked him what he wanted and he replied "a chocolate lollipop". I had to think on this a minute until I realized he meant a fudgesicle (my new fave dessert at 40 calories a pop!). I asked him "you mean a chocolate popsicle?" and he said (delightedly) "yes!". I don't even get the 40 calories now because he never eats an entire one and I usually finish his leftovers. He asked for apple pie for supper tonight and I can't remember him ever in his life eating apple pie. I don't know why he's in such a pie mood.

The picture is from our walk tonight before supper. In an attempt to wear off some toddler energy, we took him on the walk up the big hills, a mile roundtrip, and he did great. He coached us as we walked, saying "faster" and "now walk" and "now run" to keep us going. He still had energy when we got back, though, but not quite enough to do it again since he was asking for his supper by then. What a nice day we had today, our little family together all day, enjoying each other. Dennis seems so thrilled when we're together. He says repeatedly "we're a family" and smiles so big.

power outage

We are still at the lake, still waiting for nicer weather so we can replumb and move back home... Today's weather was not encouraging. Major storms, tornado sirens, lots and lots and lots of heavy sheeting rain were the story today, so much so that we have opted not to try and dig trenches at home tomorrow to lay pipe (fearing he'll get the equipment bogged down in mud). Dennis and I were disappointed this morning when the power went out, and when we reported it, we were told it'd be back on at noon. It did come back on at noon, but only for 4 minutes and then went back out and stayed out. We napped and played in the dark and Dennis begged and begged to watch TV. I told him we couldn't because we didn't have any power. He was intrigued by the whole power outage. He said "the power is off, we can't use the lights" and I told him that was right and he said "where is the power?". I wish I knew! The best was when he said (again) "can we please watch TV Mommy, please?" and I said we couldn't (again). He was quiet for a minute and then said "can we put batteries in the TV?". I explained that it did not run on batteries. Tonight he was telling David about his day and said "Daddy, the power was off and we couldn't put batteries in the TV because it can't use them". About mid-afternoon I couldn't stand it any more and took him into town to work out with me at the gym. We had family workout day again, and all was well until Dennis locked the changing room door and closed it. It was a keyed lock and there was no key for it. David had to drill out the lock and replace the knob. He spent the rest of our time there touching things he shouldn't have been messing with and hanging from various pieces of gym equipment. I am sitting here relaxing and I am so glad he's in bed now, just so I can have a break from worrying what will get destroyed next!

please play with me

Sometimes I am starved for adult company and conversation. It happens. I get eager for David to get home in the evenings. This was one of those days. Dennis was as cute as ever, saying "will you play with me please Mommy?" many times. Each time I would stop what I was doing and sit in the floor with him and play. He destroyed the block house I built. He took away the people and Legos I was playing with. When he refused to rescue the fire dog from the 'burning building' (the one with the red legos), he got angry when I used the flying dragon to mount a rescue. He was still trying to decide which fire truck to send to the scene, so he put the poor dalmatian back in peril and rescued him his own way. Then he put it back on the same building and used the dragon himself (had to be his idea).

Last night he got out of bed several times to come and plead his case with us of why he should still be up. I asked him what day it was and he said "It's Saturday morning now, time to get up, it's not Friday night now". Yeah, he went back to bed soon after that, after I assured him that there were no monsters in the other bedroom.

This morning, he announced "Mommy I'm a real princess and you are a terrible dragon" and when I roared at him, he ran through the house screaming like a girl. We chased each other around, switched roles a few times, and generally had a good time. Tonight he demanded that we exercise together and he made up a routine of push-ups, toe touches, leg lifts, bridge pose (yoga, and he climbed underneath me while I was in this pose--very scary), jumping jacks, side twists, marching in place, and sit ups. He tells me we need to grow strong. He's right!

enforced vacation

Looks like the weather will be nice next week and David has arranged a trencher rental for Monday. We could be getting back into our house soon, and we're pretty excited. We have enjoyed staying at the lake, sure, especially since David fixed the pipes here yesterday and we aren't having to run next door to use the bathroom or get drinking water or wash our hands or do laundry. The week long freeze was hard on lots of pipes in this area. We happen to live over 600 feet from the road and David is just redoing our water pipes for that length since we found out ours are under our concrete driveway for part of their length (brilliant). Somewhere along that length, there's a break. He dug holes for a while and didn't find it so we've opted for a redo. He's gotten the first 1/3 of the distance trenched and piped already and can do a good bit more on Monday since he'll have the whole day to do it. He ran the first bit mostly trenching after dark since he did it after work. Plumbing is wonderful and we are apt to take it for granted when it's working right. I can't wait to take ours for granted again.

Dennis loves it at the lake house so he's been happy about it. The square footage is about a third of what we're used to, so keeping him active is a chore confined in this smaller space. He woke me up this morning by climbing on my head and announcing "wake up, Mommy, it's time for school" and for just a millisecond my heart did that awful panicked ka-thump thinking I would indeed be late for school. Those days are long past for me, thank goodness, and now that I've typed that, my heart goes out to my brother who will soon be starting school again. I'm sure his kids will make sure he gets up and out on time.

Dennis has learned his entire alphabet and even though it is difficult to get him to recite it on demand, he entertained us with it tonight after bedtime stories and I heard him in bed singing it to himself after we tucked him in. We applauded big time when he got every letter right (and most likely would have even if he hadn't) and he said "thank you, thank you" and took a bow. He makes me smile a million times a day (in between episodes of pulling my hair out)--I think I just summed up in one bit there what it's like to raise a toddler!

what do you know?

We had a wonderful day trip to Dothan today to see Granny and Aunt Louise and Uncle George and Uncle Kim and Aunt Robin. Dennis happily announced "we are a family!" to all that were gathered and then said "where's my cousins?". Dennis was ecstatic when Mommy finally got Granny's permission to open the Magic Toy Cabinet and he played with a Playskool Take Apart Truck and two vintage Fisher Price Little People houses, some little people, a whole village with police station, theater, garage, fire station, etc, and a Little People Children's Hospital. There are more things in the closet that I figure I'll clean up and get ready for him next time. Granny had the Take Apart Truck waiting for him and some blocks and Tinker Toys out as well, so he played happily for HOURS with toys he'd never laid eyes on before. It was difficult to get him to leave the toys there! This was fun for me to watch because these are the toys that Michael and I loved to play with when we went to visit Granny. They are all still around.

The most fun that I had today came from my conversations with Dennis. We are making sure he knows his parents' names. He knows my full name and his full name, and I asked him what his Daddy's name is and he replied "No Mitchell". On the way home from Dothan, we were talking about geography and asked him where Caedmon and Mirella live, and he said "they live in Washington" and we praised him, of course. I asked him "where do we live, Dennis" and he thought about it for a minute and then said "Wal-Mart". We all had a big laugh over that. And there's another cute thing he said a couple of days ago--I was driving him around and he removed his shoes and socks and when we got to where we were going (incidentally, this was Wal-Mart), I noticed he was barefoot. I asked him why he had taken off his shoes and socks and he said "because my toes were sad; my toes are happy now". He's definitely Gran's grandson.

gingerbread is for the birds

Today on our walk down at the lake, Gran pointed out a gingerbread man made of birdseed, left out for the birds. Dennis had fun examining it from his stroller but he couldn't understand why he couldn't eat it. He talked to himself in the bed for an hour before finally taking his nap, and this wasn't good because he very much needed a whole nap today. This afternoon, David and Gran and Uncle Denny and Dennis and I all went to Alabaster. Granny had given us money to buy tickets to see The Blind Side, and we are going to see Granny tomorrow and hadn't seen the movie yet. So we went today, Gran and Uncle Denny to the matinee and then David and I at the next one so that we could switch off Dennis shifts. We took him shopping at Target and Best Buy; they took him to Home Depot and Wal-Mart. He scored a new Batman with motorcycle (Fisher Price, on sale cheap) from us, and a new DVD and m&m's from Uncle Denny and Gran. It was a successful day for Dennis, for sure. He talked nonstop for the entire trip. We didn't really do any shopping for ourselves, but I did opt to purchase an H1N1 vaccine for myself at Target. David and I decided to get the vaccine and we're doing it over two of his paychecks. I got to go first. Normally I don't love needles, but vaccines haven't really bothered me since childhood. This one did. The needle kind of jabbed an arm nerve when it went in, and I felt a funny feeling all the way down my arm. But that wasn't so bad. Getting to the doorway of Target and passing out, yeah, that was bad. I remember telling David "Hey I feel really dizzy" and next thing I knew, he was asking if I was okay. I looked up and saw that my head was on the floor. I said "Did I fall?". Ummm, yes. I fell. But he had grabbed my arm when I said I was dizzy and held on to me as I fell, so I didn't hit the floor hard. Or at least I don't think I hit the floor hard. I'm not the kind of person that passes out often (like never), so I don't know what to think about it. It feels like my body kind of betrayed me. The pharmacist said it was a possible side effect and made sure I was okay before leaving the store. I was her first fainter. Nice. Dennis told the pharmacist "I am a police officer and I need to get my Mommy to the police car to take her to the doctor's office to make her feel better". He asked me if I was okay until he saw me get up and walk out to the car. Luckily, this was before the movie, so I had a nice long time to sit and recover. Very good movie, by the way. We kept Dennis out so late that when we got back to the lake house, he climbed up into bed, curled up on his side and asked "is it bedtime now?". I asked him if he wanted to go to bed and he replied in the affirmative, a rare event indeed!

uber sass

Dennis didn't seem to want to do anything I wanted to do today. It's kind of depressing, actually, to have all my ideas shot down. I think he was just testing out his authority, though, because the things I suggested were usually things he enjoys. I asked him if he wanted to go to the playground and he said "no, we are staying here at the lake house. We are not going to the playground" and this was shocking to me. He loves the playground. Same thing for the library. I of course didn't take no for an answer and we indeed went to the playground and the library. I had to get him to the playground. It was sunny and nearly 60 degrees today and he's been climbing everything in the house to climb, myself included. It was nice to actually see him climb on a play structure for once. He's even taken to swinging from the assist handles on the ceilings of our vehicles, standing in the seat and grabbing hold and swinging out over the street out of the parked car. It's terrifying. And he's so proud of it! He told me "I not taking a nap today; I want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich" and so I fixed one for him and he promptly ate it. But then I told him it was naptime and he said "yes, I'm tired like a baby, I take a nap now" and he went and got in bed peacefully and fell asleep almost immediately. He did the same thing at bedtime tonight. I gave him some choices to make today, hoping that would help him feel that he was getting some control over his day, like what to have for dinner and what to wear, and he picked out some new clothes tonight at Wal-Mart that Gran bought for him (he chose exactly what he wanted). He tells me "no" or "no, I can't" or "no we're not" a lot now and he looks at me with that belligerent look that his Daddy often gives me. My peaceful, easygoing little guy is changing into someone with his own opinions and his own power of assertion. I suppose it was time for it.

giving a day

Today was so rewarding! Gran and Pop and David and I all participated in the Disney Give A Day Get A Day program. We chose an outdoor service opportunity and today we spent our afternoon removing Chinese privet bushes from Moss Rock Preserve. There were many volunteers and we were able to take care of a very large section of riverbank. Because we had a number of strong guys helping out, we cleared some very large sections of very overgrown privet (they were actual trees) as well as hundreds of smaller bushes that were just starting out. It was a beautiful day spent outdoors in a beautiful park and we had a fabulous hike to get to the areas that needed clearing. We thrilled the project coordinator with all we were able to get done and we finished a bit early so he gave us a tour of some of the prettiest places in the preserve. GREAT day. We want to volunteer again even if there's no Disney ticket as a reward. Just being outside and helping out the environment was reward enough!

Dennis was not along for this adventure. He spent a lovely afternoon with Aunt Wanda and Uncle Kenny and they played and played with him. We were only able to get him out of their place by promising him dinner at Cracker Barrel. We had a great meal together and I ordered very light because I was fully intending to have some Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake (best dessert on the planet, and it will be available ALL YEAR!!!). We all got full on our supper though and didn't order any. Good for my diet, of course, but I sure do love that stuff. Next time, perhaps.

We are without water at home. A pipe burst somewhere in the .15 mile between our house and the meter and we have not yet located the source of the leak. So we're staying at the lake house which also has a burst pipe, so we are sleeping at the house with the two rooms and using the water at the other house! It's a result of the week of freezing water, I suppose, and I hope we get everything fixed soon!

wake up call

Imagine my delight this morning when the first thing I heard, the noise that woke me from my stupor, was the sound of a digital camera snapping a picture. This sound was followed by nefarious giggling and a "I take your picture sleeping, Mommy!". This super attractive photo of me was snapped by my loving son. I'm sure it would look much worse if I wasn't in the habit of sleeping with a pillow over my head! And I remember wanting to make sure he got his own camera for Christmas!

Another strange wake up phenomenon: David and I were standing in the kitchen when we heard Dennis get up from his nap. We heard his little bare feet RUNNING toward us, fast as they could propel him. He balled up his fists and ran straight to me, pummeling me with them repeatedly. I have no idea what I did to deserve this and it totally cracked David up. Dennis later said "I am a superhero--I am KNOCK MAN; I have to knock you, Mommy". Who knew? Do I get out the sewing machine and make a cape with a fist on it?

We had two meals in front of the television today, sorry folks that we are. The first was lunch. I walked by the den and saw David and Dennis in there sharing some pizza (note: David had brought me a piece to the bedroom where I had sequestered myself for an hour of reading--such bliss!) and watching Dragon Tales. His high chair was in the den already when supper was ready so we ate in there again and watched How It's Made, this time yummy chicken noodle soup that David made. How It's Made featured a section on how Nestle Creamsicles are made and luckily we had some pops in the freezer because we all wanted one after that. Dennis enjoyed one entire one by himself and then begged and got half of mine after he finished his. When I put him to bed a while later, he got up and came into our room and said "I can't go to sleep". I asked him why and he said "because I don't have any candy." I don't understand how the two are related but I appreciate that he came up with a reason for his insomnia so quickly!

random bits

Dennis is learning so much right now. He is learning to dress himself and cut his food with a knife and fork, play kickball (we are starting early because Mommy has emotional scars related to her ineptitude at kickball as an elementary student), cut paper snowflakes, etc. When I ask him lately if he needs help with something, he tells me "I've got everything under control, Mommy." This cracks me up.

We were wallowing around the house (in our pajamas by 7 pm, old people that we've become), and it was raining out. Dennis went to his room to get his doctor kit and came back with the stethoscope. He checked each one of us out, saying "I make you feel better". When we thanked him, he went for his otoscope and shot kit. He looked in our ears and then said we needed shots. We each got about 24 shots and he even followed me to the bathroom to treat me while I was on the commode (gotta fix that door). He wasn't satisfied with my reaction to this and went to his room and changed into his police officer uniform and told me to get up because he was taking me to jail. I still don't know what I did. Just so you know, Gran called and we ended up going to work out together as an extended family--no more wallowing for us! Fitness won out.

Picture is of him leaving Gran's house with me after spending the morning with them while I cooked and offered sausage samples at the grocery store this morning. My stint as Sausage Sample Chick is over! It was actually kind of fun though my hair smells like smoked sausage still. Busy days still ahead: church tomorrow and something special on Monday. We signed up for Disney's Give a Day Get a Day program and we are going Monday to remove exotic species of plants from Moss Rock Preserve. Mom and Dad are going to do it as well. We are helping a nature preserve, first of all, and as an added benefit to feeling good about doing something beneficial, we get free one day tickets to Disney World. We plan to go in September and will only have to buy a ticket for Dennis (he is too young to participate in the program). What a great program! And this is the ONLY reason that we will be able to afford to take Dennis to see Mickey Mouse this year. He is one lucky little guy.

Today is the anniversary of the day David asked me to 'go steady' with him back in high school. We have been together for 17 years, officially half my life. It is also Grandma and GrandBob's first wedding anniversary and we hear they are having a good time on their vacation to the mountains. Pretty great day.

bad bulb choice

Dennis needed light bulbs for his room. One of the two in his overhead fixture burned out, and I opted to buy more compact fluorescent bulbs, one because they are better for the environment and I am a closet tree-hugger, and two because they last so long between changes. We put these bulbs in over 3 years ago when we remodeled the room for baby Dennis. I spotted a two-pack for $6.44 at Wal-Mart and snapped it up. I noticed that it said 'daylight' on the package but this didn't mean anything to me at the time. I was feeling mighty resourceful as I climbed up the stepladder to change his bulbs all by myself instead of waiting for David. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the light was BLUE tinted. Very odd looking. Sure, it's brighter in there, but the overall effect is very strange (his walls are blue, his rug is blue, etc.). Dennis noticed after a while and said "Mommy, come here" and I followed him to his room. He pointed up at his fixture and yelled "IT'S THE GHOST LIGHT!". Fans of the movie CARS will understand. Mater the tow truck yelled this same phrase as a news helicopter shined its light down on the town of Radiator Springs, and if you happen to own the DVD, there's an entire short film called Mater and the Ghost Light (very funny). Dennis continued to refer to his fixture as the ghost light for the remainder of the evening, making sure to tell his Daddy about it when he got home. It did not stop him from going right to sleep in there, though!

Dennis spent the day with Gran and Pop again, and this time they took him up to see Granddaddy. He says he had a great time. I almost didn't know what to do with myself! I had a gig as a 'Free Sample Lady' this morning at the grocery store where David works, and I expected to pick up Dennis afterward, but I had 4 hours to myself because Dennis was still in Birmingham. I ran errands with David and then killed some time at Wal-Mart until they returned. I have to be the sausage-sample chick again tomorrow morning as well, something I volunteered for to get some extra cash (David's suggestion) for our upcoming cruise. Not a bad deal, though I admit that I'm a little sick of the scent of frying smoked sausage.

easy morning

I worked all day at Curves today, and I was delighted that Gran and Pop had offered to babysit Dennis overnight last night. It made it much easier for me to get up and out of the house on time! I had a nice day at work, got lots of things done there, and Dennis stopped by to work out as I was closing up. He and Gran did their exercises and then I brought him home. He was tired and went right to bed with no trouble, but when I went to check on him later, he gave me quite a shock. As is my routine, I turned on the light and looked over toward the bed, but Dennis was not in the bed. He was standing in the middle of his room with Froggy held down by his side dragging the floor. I was not expecting this and my heart stopped for a minute to see someone standing in the center of his room before I processed that it was him. He was just starting to cry--I must have caught him on his way to our room or maybe he was confused about where he was. I scooped him up and brought him to our bed and he snuggled in. He woke up for a second, looked at me, looked at the sleeping David, mumbled (with one eye open) "I'm going to need my sock monkey" and then fell back to sleep. My reading and computing didn't bother him one bit.

H1N1 proof (we hope)

Dennis got his booster vaccine for H1N1 today. We thought it was going to be another intra-nasal dose, but we were wrong. He was so offended when that needle went into his thigh that he reached out and grabbed the syringe. I suppose this is a natural reaction! He did manage to absorb the dose and yelled out his displeasure. He was extremely happy when the receptionist gave him a candy cane on his way out, and I was extremely happy that we didn't even have to wait--they took us right back and gave him the vaccine! Now I feel a little safer for his sake. David does not want the vaccine, but I am thinking of getting it myself. Dennis told everyone "the doctor shot me and it hurt REALLY really bad" for the rest of the day. The candy cane was quickly consumed and we had a happy, sticky passenger in the carseat.

We went to the library after and the usual meltdown upon leaving occurred (because he was, as he says 'playing Thomas and Friends' on the wooden table there). I had an inspired idea. I showed him how to find books. I asked him if he wanted to see if there were any books about firefighters and he agreed. The tears dried right up. We found a book AND a movie and he wanted to hurry up and check out so we could read the book. When I told him we were going to Gran and Pop's house, he said "I want to show my book to Uncle Denny--he can read it to me", and this is indeed what happened.

We went for a walk with Gran and Pop and then home for spaghetti dinner where David joined us. David wanted to work out, so we went to the gym and had family workout time. I was using a machine that works shoulders--you raise and lower a bar in front of you, chest-to-navel. Halfway through my reps, Dennis grabbed hold of the bar and hung from it like a monkey as I raised and lowered him as well as the hydraulic resistance. Yep, he's training me like Jillian.

Feeling bold? Put your kid in an Auburn ballcap and take him out in public the week after Alabama wins a national championship. See what kind of comments you get. They all conceded he was cute, but many told him he had the wrong hat on. We think not.

resolutions?

This is apparently Dennis' year to get fit. I don't know if it's because I've been exercising more or because he's been watching The Biggest Loser with me or what, but lately I've seen him exercising diligently. He does jumping jacks and side bends and toe touches and hops and announces to me that he's exercising. Today I came into the den and saw him on the floor doing push-ups (butt high in the air, but otherwise pretty decent form). He told me he was getting stronger! I asked him later to tell his Daddy that he was doing push-ups and he said "I did push-ups, Daddy" loudly and then in a quieter afterthought said "I did push-downs, too". Well said. He's learning a healthy lifestyle, I hope!

little man's best friend

Honey has not been replaced, let me say that first and foremost. We did grant in-house status to Tabasco, our black lab, today just to see how he'd do. He's been inside during the extreme cold weather anyway, and usually he just stays in his crate. He's always just stayed in his crate, even with the crate door open--he loves it in there! Even when other people have cared for him, he was mostly a stay-in-my-cave kind of dog. He takes after David that way, I guess. Today he thought he'd be social and actually came out of his crate, and this reminded me of the other reasons why he hasn't been a house dog all along. Honey was a big dog, easily 80 pounds or more--golden retrievers are not small. In my mind, Tabasco didn't seem that much bigger--after all, he's a very similar breed. Looking at him in the house is a different matter. Yes, just like I always remember after spending much time with him, he is a BIG OX of a dog, well over 100 pounds. His head comes up over the kitchen counters. Nothing is safe. He is well behaved, though, and is house trained still, and he put up with Dennis' loving today with the same amount of patience as Honey always did. He was hugged and patted (kind of hard) and his tail was pulled, he was briefly ridden, he was yelled at and told he was bad along with a strongly extended toddler index finger pointing him to his crate (and then reassured by us that he was not, in fact, a bad dog). He wags his tail so hard that it hurts all of us when we inadvertently get in its path. And he laid at our feet while we sat on the couch and read books. There is an added bonus: Tabasco plays fetch. Honey was too smart to fetch after she turned 3--she would watch the ball sail by and give you a look that said 'what is the point? you'll only throw it away again...'. Dennis LOVES playing fetch with a dog and Tabasco happily trotted off after his toy time and again and brought it soggily back to Dennis who squealed in glee. So though I had visions of a temporarily dog-hair-free home, it is not to be. I'll now be vacuuming up black barbs of hair instead of golden tumbleweeds. And it's totally worth it.

bedtime story for my parents

I was worried about Dennis being warm enough last night in his room, so I brought him into our bed. He really didn't wake up when I did it, just opened his eyes a fraction and mumbled "I'm going to need my sock monkey". He went right back to sleep. This morning before 7 he woke up and whispered in my ear "I want to go play in my room" and I thought this was a great idea. Half an hour later, I heard a horrible furniture scraping across wood floor noise and then Dennis was at my bedside. He said "I read you and Daddy a night night story" and then he said "and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse". He repeated this a couple of times and then said "the end" and "did you like your story, Mommy?" and when I rolled over to look at him, I noticed that he had brought his chair from the den (source of scraping noise) and was sitting in it beside our bed and reading. HOW CUTE!

naps are the ultimate evil

Allison came over today and then so did Gran, and though I put Dennis down in his bed before they arrived, he heard us talking and got up several times, insisting he did not need a nap. He told us at one point that he'd had a very nice nap (sure, if it was only 10 minutes long), and he gave us Full Cute and lots of hugs. Evil Mommy still made him go to bed. Poor little guy. And then Mommy left to go and see a movie with Gran and Allison (movie: It's Complicated--truly hilarious and highly recommended)! I hear that he had a nice Guy Night with Daddy. He watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit and ate man food. David reports that he went to bed without getting up one time!

Oh, yeah, I need to add this little tidbit. When it was hard for me to get up this morning, Dennis came in our room with his flashlight and shined it under the bed from both sides. He reported that there were no monsters underneath and told me to have a nice nap. So thoughtful of him.

potty hell

Clearly he is not ready to potty train. I thought we'd try wearing underwear all afternoon so he learns what it feels like to be wet. Yeah, not a great idea. Two loads of laundry and some carpet cleaning later, we have conceded that he is not physically ready. He was wetting himself every 15 minutes. I suppose he just does not have the bladder control to hold it. I plan to ask his doctor about this at the three year checkup. I'd like to think that there's nothing actually wrong with him, that he will learn to use the toilet before he graduates from high school. I feel so frustrated, and I don't want to let him know that I feel that way. He told me "I will NOT use the potty" and I was so angry by his flat out backtalk (something new this week) that I had to take a minute to gather myself. He finally told me "I am a baby, not a big boy--babies wear diapers". We're going to give it a rest for a few weeks. But we're still going to talk about how good it is to use the potty! I'm open to tips from experienced potty training!

so much less than expected

So we didn't get snow. I was delighted this morning to see flurries coming down but felt profound disappointment when I noticed sleet and freezing rain. It was miserable outside, and it was another not-so-good day here. I was awakened this morning by Dennis standing on one side of me in bed (actually standing on a part of me that was painful for him to be standing on) and then suddenly leaping over me and landing on the other side of me and then falling onto me. This happened before 7 a.m. and I was so sleepy at that time that I'm sure I could not have told you what planet we're living on. I told him I was going back to sleep and he asked if he could bring his fire trucks and play in our room. I agreed to this and slept intermittently as trucks rolled up and down over the covers over me and sirens went off beside me in bed. And suddenly I was being shot in the head with a NERF gun Happy Meal toy, and please note that McDonald's kindly provided my toddler with a weapon that shoots hard plastic darts rather than the softer foam ones I was victimized by a few days back. Now there's a nice way to wake up.

Gran came over to play with Dennis and work out with me and those were bright spots in the day. Dennis napped while she was here and she decided not to leave while he was asleep so that in the future he wouldn't connect his napping with her leaving. Sure enough, he came out of his room rubbing his eyes and asking in that whiny just-woke-up crying voice "Where is my Gran?". She stayed long enough to play Uno Moo and the Cars games with us (sort of--Dennis wasn't in the mood to play by any rules but his own and stopped both games early) and then bid us farewell. Dennis knew that we exercised (kudos to Gran for making it through The Biggest Loser Workout with me today) while he was asleep and later showed me numerous times his own exercise prowess. He made sure to get my attention and narrated his routine as he did jumping jacks and side bends and (the cutest) toe touches. I taught him to hop like a frog and we did that for a while, but still I couldn't burn off his energy and he climbed up David and me like we were gym equipment and all but drove us crazy. I sounded a pretend fire alarm then and told him we had to rush to dress in our fire clothes and boots and hats and then hurried him as he put his gear on. We ran from room to room, asking if there were any people in there that needed assistance and shining a flashlight around to look for possible victims, doing all of this at top speed. When I had to stop for a bathroom break, he broke in and asked me if I needed an ambulance and told me "I am here to help you get out--are you hurt, do you need a ambulance?". When I told him I was using the potty, he said "but we have to hurry and get out of the fire" and I told him I needed more assistance and to run and get the medical bag. He said "I'm not a doctor right now--I'm a fireman--the doctor bag is on the fire truck and we have to go!". I whispered that I needed some privacy and he whispered "okay, I'll go to the fire truck now, see you later" and left.

We could not get him to bed tonight. He kept getting up and saying there were no monsters in his room (which we don't understand as a reason for getting up unless he actually needs monsters in there in order to sleep). We were watching the national championship football game and Dennis kept coming in to say "I can't go to sleep because I want to watch football" and would climb up on the couch with us. We let him stay through the halftime show because he was so delighted to see a marching band and excitedly pointed out all the marching people and their instruments. We read out the numbers on the football jerseys too just so I could feel good about him watching--he read the numbers as well, getting many of them correct. So once he finally went to sleep, I watched a movie, and at the end of the movie, a guy gave a girl a great Christmas present: a golden retriever puppy (yes, bring on the tears). Honey was a gift from David and she's been on my mind all day, especially since Dennis kept asking for her. I told him she was gone, that we would not ever see her again. I told him she was with Jesus. So in his black-and-white child logic, he asked "so we won't get to see Jesus?" and I had a moment of scrambling to explain that we would indeed see Jesus one day and we'd ask him about Honey at that time. So I've been sad tonight and I ate a little too much of some bad-for-me things after supper and I hope that tomorrow is a brighter day all around. If only it had snowed. Things might have turned out so much differently, so much more fun.

snow eve

Will it snow in Alabama tomorrow? Dare we even hope? Dennis has been asking me to build snowmen for a month now and he'll glance out the window and announce "there's no snow outside, Mommy" so disappointedly. I hope for his sake we get at least 2 inches. We have braved the grocery store and stocked up (today was our planned day to shop and we were there with all the extra pre-snow shoppers). The bread selection was horrible, of course--all the good stuff was sold out before we got there. May there be enough snow to provide that kind of white, quiet, exquisite beauty that only fresh snow creates but not enough to interrupt our electrical service as that is our only source of heat in this house.

I've been missing my dog some today as expected, and Dennis was asking me this afternoon if I'd seen any sick animals. I assured him I had not. We put food out in the bird feeders this afternoon hoping to help out the little guys if it does snow. Other than the grocery shopping, it's been a peaceful and ordinary day, and tonight we had a quiet family meal and celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany in our own small way.

Last night the grandparents were over to eat a big chili supper (David had the urge to make a gluttonously huge pot of chili and we decided to share). Dennis was excited to entertain everyone and when he couldn't convince us all to come into his room after supper to watch him construct train routes, he brought the action to the living room. Immediately upon finishing dessert (Gran's yummy lemon meringue pie), he announced "let's go play trains everybody" and then turned to Mom and said "Gran you can't do dishes, you have to play with me". None of us had mentioned the dishes but loading the dishwasher is our usual after supper routine--I'm pleased that he picked up on that. But I'm not as pleased as Gran was when he told her she wasn't allowed to help out! He did another funny and amazing thing--he was playing with the Thomas Trackmaster trains and track (the electric ones) and told his grandmothers that he needed more tracks from Wal-Mart. He was ready to go and help them buy it ("we have to go pay for tracks at Wal-Mart") right then. The amazing happened when he asked for batteries for the engines. We told him we didn't have any and he went to his room and got his new Tyke Light. He brought it to Gran and said "we get the batteries out of my night light for the train" and then said "we need a screwdriver to get the batteries out". Pretty impressive thought process going on there, though the nightlight batteries were AAA and not the AA that the trains required. He went off and found a screwdriver on his own, completely unsatisfied by our insistence that the batteries were different, and he persisted so long that we took some AA batteries out of something else to let him use them in the trains. This made him pretty happy.

I caught him building train routes twice today--once it got too quiet while I was unloading the dishwasher and I found him in the middle of our bed with his wooden tracks all set up on the bed. The second time was when David and I were rearranging the den furniture and doing some vacuuming (it is still necessary for Dennis to hide from the vacuum)--I found him building a Trackmaster setup in the bathroom. Thomas was chugging mightily toward our toilet. And speaking of toilet, we did have one potty success today, but my excitement over that was tempered by a peeing-on-the-rug incident not too long afterward. Oh, well. We'll get there.

Oh please let it snow, Lord. We are so very hopeful!

farewell beloved friend

This was a bad day from the very beginning, but I was not prepared for how bad it would get, for how our dog would suddenly leave this world. Dennis did not want to nap until a little later than usual, which in retrospect was a real blessing. Once he did get to sleep, we started the process of getting the rest of our Christmas stuff (and the tree) out of the house. During the middle of all this, our much beloved golden retriever suddenly had a seizure and died. Honey had been healthy and happy, and then she was gone. She was almost nine years old, and she was the best dog in the world. Dennis woke up from his nap and David was already taking care of her grave and burial. Normally Dennis would ask me for a drink or ask me to play fire truck after a nap, but today he said "I had a nice nap. Mommy, where's my Honey?". I had agonized over what to tell him, but I decided on the truth, Honey got very sick all of a sudden and died. I had to tell him this a few times and then I told him what I hope is true, that Honey is in Heaven with Jesus. He hasn't asked again, but I'm sure he will. I'm glad he was asleep when it happened, but he must have somehow known something was up to ask about her the way he did.

She will be missed so much. I can't imagine another dog who would be as patient with Dennis as she was, who would be as smart as she was. David said we could get another dog if I wanted, but I can't even think about that yet. I'd like to think she had a wonderful life. She was certainly a blessing to us. Tabasco (our lab) and Marzipan (our cat) seem subdued and sad, and though I could train Basco to be an indoor dog, it would most likely be a disaster. He's just so exuberant and so darn big (and loves trash just too much). Four years ago, losing Honey would have devastated me beyond rational comprehension. Now that I have Dennis, I think differently. I am sad that she is gone and I will shed more tears for her when I forget and call her name or go to let her out or see her woobies (toys) around. She won't be around the dinner table with us every night and she won't be sleeping on her futon in our bedroom. But now I can step back and think about what an incredible and adventurous life she had and remember all the special time we spent with her, the vacations and the boat rides and the hikes and the parties...

Goodbye, dear Honey, and thank you for all the love you gave us. You were the very best. You are irreplaceable in our hearts, and we will never forget you.

violent tendencies

I was afraid of the possible repercussions of a family 'gun' battle. So I can't say I was that surprised this morning when Dennis and I walked into the kitchen and he said "Mommy, I need to pow something". Sometimes I feel that way too!

I worked at Curves very briefly this evening (just the last hour and a half of the day) and Dennis exclaimed as I walked in the door "MOMMY'S HOME!!!!" and came running in (big smile on his face) to hug me like I'd been gone for a century. I just love that.

family war

We avoided the issue of violence for almost three years, but Gran introduced Dennis to gun play a little while back with a plastic toy gun (Dennis calls it a 'pow'). And we let him get a pop gun (one of those deals with the rubber stopper that pops out and makes a pop sound when you push in the trigger/plunger/whatever) when we went to Santa's Village in Huntsville. So I suppose what happened tonight was inevitable. We've been cooped up with the cold weather with no relief in sight, and though we have enough indoor square footage to adequately exhaust an active running two-year-old, he was nearly climbing the walls. So when he grabbed his pop gun and aimed it at me and yelled "POW! I got you, Mommy", I grabbed up another pop gun (we ebay-ed a second one when it seemed that David had broken the first one, but then he fixed it and now we have two) and POWed him right back and then took off running. What followed was a hilarious half hour of us chasing and hiding behind doors and furniture and 'shooting' each other and running and laughing. Dennis would say "let's go pow Daddy" and we'd sneak in there and aim at him and fire. About the third time we did this, he was hiding from us and when we found him, he had a NERF gun that shot actual foam darts. Dennis LOVED this, so David went back to his stash of toys and located a NERF dart machine gun type thing. So the guys shot darts at me, helpless with my little pop gun, and we all laughed and enjoyed the game. It took a number of books to settle Dennis back down for bedtime, and he cried a little and said he wanted the "smush-mashing gun" which I took to mean the NERF machine gun. I look forward to a rematch after I hit the NERF aisle at Wal-Mart.
We only had to put him to bed once tonight! Thank you, Tyke Light!!!

new night light

The monster-in-my-room thing is totally getting out of hand. Today we took Dennis to Wal-Mart and let him 'help' us choose a night light. We found something called a Tyke Light Jr., which looks like a little blob person with arms and a head (no features) and glows a soft green. It's battery powered and LED, and it cuts itself off after 15 minutes. Dennis is very proud of it. He shined it under the bed when he first got hold of it, announcing "there's no monsters under here" and then "monsters can't scare me!". Totally worth $10 even though he played with it for an hour after we put him to bed and we heard it thunking the walls and his night stand and heard him talking and singing to it. David said we'd just bought him a light-up toy! True. He does also have a Thomas the Train flashlight from Santa, but it makes train sounds if it moves and I know he's rolled over onto it and it woke him up. This light is at least quiet. He made me tell his night light goodnight tonight. Monsters beware--Tyke Light is on the job.

New Year's Day 2010

Today when Dennis woke from his nap I shared the happy news with him that Gran and Pop would be arriving soon to share our traditional New Year's Day meal with us (and suggesting that maybe he might want to put some pants on). He said "Gran and Pop are coming! They can play with me!!". Just then, their van pulled up out front and I frantically tried to help him into his jeans before he went running to the door. He grabbed them both and took them to the den where he'd set up his fire station on our game table. Much fun was had while David and I were finishing up meal preparations. We enjoyed taco soup, tilapia, cornbread, black-eyed peas, hog jowl, collard greens, grapes, sock-it-to-me cake, and Gran's famous lemon meringue pie. It was all fabulous! Afterward, Dennis played with them for another hour before they had to leave to go back home. Gran and I went for a nice (cold) walk at the track and then I came home and Dennis, David, and I played Uno Moo together. I tried one of my new workout videos after he went to bed. It was a very nice holiday! Dennis thought so too, frequently exclaiming "Happy New Year, Gran" or "Happy New Year, Pop" or substituting Mommy or Daddy or Honey. I wonder how he's going to make it to the next holiday.