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.