spring fun in the sun

Dennis told me this morning he wanted to go to the playground. I happened to think that there's a playground at Peach Park, not as nice as the one he was referring to at City Park, but with excellent proximity to ice cream. I gave up ice cream for Lent, and now Lent has ended with the joyous celebration of Easter! Dennis was all for going to Peach Park as well, and we called up Gran and Pop who suggested that we have lunch there together. When we pulled up in the parking lot, I got a text message relaying that they had just left the lake house, so Dennis and I sat there a few minutes in the hot car. He rolled down his window and leaned out, talking to random passers-by. He yelled "HEY PEOPLE WALKING! It's ME, Dennis! I'm talking to you!". This brought back fond memories of my brother at this age, who often did the same thing.

Dennis ate some barbecue, visited the potty, picked out peach ice cream (I was relieved, fearing I'd have to share Tutti-Frutti or banana flavors with him, though I was hoping he'd choose blueberry), shared it with me, and then headed out to the playground. We played in the sun together and then another little boy showed up and Dennis recruited him to play instead. After the playtime, when Dennis was pink and sweaty, we headed down to the shade and just as we were leaving the final trail, he tripped and fell and skinned up his knees and one elbow. I doctored him up but noticed I was down to one Snoopy bandage in the first aid kit because he had unwrapped the rest and stuck them random places a few weeks back. I assured him that I would refill the kit with Transformer band-aids from home. He asked if he could ride in Gran's car home, and he ended up going home with them for the afternoon. When I came to pick him up later, he was asleep. I went in to watch him sleep the last few minutes, when I knew he'd already been down 2 hours, and he was wiggling in his sleep. He raised his arms and clapped his hands, still asleep, then yelled out "BOO MOMMY!", still asleep, and when I laughed out loud, he woke up. He blinked and looked around, and when I asked him how his nap was, he looked me in the eye and fake-burped. We both had a good laugh. Then he asked "did you bring my Transformer band-aids?" and I told him I did and he asked "where are they?" and I told him my purse, and he said "I need to get up and go get your purse."

Gran says he asked if they had any Easter baskets when he got to their house. He told me he shared Peeps with Pop, saying "we ate them all up and they were tasty like ice cream!". And then he said "I got my hands all sticky." He was full of coversation all day, and when David came back from their evening bath, he looked exhausted. I figured out that all the talking wears us out! We do our best to respond to everything he says and answer all his questions, and it just exhausts us, but in a good way.