A Baptism Day

This was a very special and meaningful day for us. We got up early this morning and David got Dennis all ready in his black velvet suit coat and pinstriped black pants and brand new shiny black lace up shoes (We discovered today that his pale green dress shirt is too small to button the top button, so no tie, and also that he owns NO black socks and had to wear navy ones). We headed to Gran and Pop's house and loaded up in the van to head north to Pelham where Allison has begun attending Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church. She joined the church today and since she'd never been baptized, that happened today as well. Dennis has been talking about it all week "we are going to see Allison get baptized--Allison, you are going to get baptized at your church" and various other ways to phrase the same sentence. It's a very nice church and we enjoyed the service. Dennis hung on through the contemporary worship songs (he loved watching the band play and sing) and got a little chatty during the prayer ("hey, WAKE UP Mommy!") so I whispered in his ear that we were talking to Jesus. His eyes rounded in wonder and he stood up tall in my arms and demanded at the top of his lungs (still during the prayer) "WHERE'S JESUS? WHERE IS HE?". I'm sure most everyone heard, but that's not such a bad thing for a little guy to talk about. I assured Dennis that Jesus was there and he quieted right down. He was so good during the baptism, watching as Allison made her profession of faith and watching the pastor anoint her head with water. Things went a bit downhill after that, and after he got down on the floor and crawled under the pew and yelled "HEY I FOUND A M&M!", I decided it might be time to leave the service. I whispered in his ear that we were going to go out and he happily declared "I WANT TO GO OUTSIDE!". I got him out of there and chased him as he RAN around and around. I was running full speed (in high heel boots) and could barely keep up with him. Fortunately, he looked out the window and spied the playground and in doing that, noticed all the children playing in the downstairs rooms (he could see in the windows) and told me "I need to go see my friends". We found the nursery and I checked him in and got a pager (it's a BIG place). I enjoyed a very nice 40 more minutes of church before going to retrieve him. When I got back to the nursery, they handed me an adorable valentine heart with Dennis' handprint on it (he is so proud of it) and a list of the things they are teaching his age group. They also told me he used the toilet. I was FLOORED. He refused again to do it for me, but I know he's gone potty once in 2010 now! He cried hard when we left the nursery (I had to drag him out) but was mollified somewhat by the knowledge that he'd get to see Allison's nephew Trevor again (he pronounced to Trevor "you're my best friend" earlier when we'd gotten to church) and get to eat at Cracker Barrel. He was a wild man during the meal, desperately in need of a nap, and didn't protest when we got home and I put him to bed.

He got two baths today--we discovered he's suddenly developed a wicked case of cradle cap. I thought he was past that (having not had it since he was an infant), but no, there it was when I brushed his hair. Yuck. But it's all gone now, we treated it with oil and a comb and his scalp is clean and pink again. He was so sweet tonight listening to me read (and helping me with the words, actually) Where The Wild Things Are to him. And he went right to sleep, not getting out of bed. It was a special day. The twins got baptized today too, different church, and though we wanted to, we could not have made it from Allison's church to the other one in time. The Christian community can certainly claim some new very special members after today!