fun after dark

We are enjoying the break from the heat! We spent lots of time playing outside today here at home, and while I was at a meeting at church tonight, Dennis played with the other children at the church playground for two hours! When we got home, I noticed how cool it was out and how spectacular the stars showed tonight. Dennis and I grabbed a flashlight and took a night stroll down the street. Afterward, we climbed up in his play tower to lie back and watch the stars.

Dennis is a born explorer, and I let him man the flashlight. He enjoyed looking at shadows and then shining a light on them to see what they were. We listened to the night noises and talked about how the trees all look black against the starry sky. He pointed to a particularly bright star and told me it must have been the one that shone when Jesus came. We talked about falling stars and he told me not to worry because he would catch them all. I could have stayed out all night, but he wanted to come inside to get ready for his Daddy to come home and play with him.

Dennis was amazingly self-sufficient today. He dressed himself, poured his own juice (with no help, even got out the cup and juice and returned the juice to the fridge), and fixed his own sandwich for lunch (with a bit of supervision but hardly any assistance). He threw away trash, cleaned up his room after playing, took dirty dishes to the sink, and put all the dirty clothes that were on the bathroom floor into the hamper, none of which I asked him to do. I went into our library and found him with an open jar of acrylic paint, calmly painting a ceramic fish bank bright red. I had gotten the bank and paints for just this purpose a few months back, but he found it and did it without me. When I sat down to watch him, he said "don't watch me, please, I need a little privacy". He did let me put some paper down to catch drips and let me wash the brushes when he was done. He is a rapidly maturing, fast growing, full-on real person now, and though my first instinct was to stop him from pouring juice or painting or other things, I am learning that HE is learning to do these things and I need to let him have the freedom to learn. And to praise his efforts and boost his confidence in the process, and allow him to make the mistakes that will help him learn. He spilled some water today, and he got a towel and wiped it up. Excellent!

I don't know if I've mentioned his favorite prank (forgive me if I have). When I turn off the water at the kitchen sink, there's still one good shot of pressurized water left in the sprayer attachment. I never knew this before Dennis showed me. He somehow figured it out and one day when he was washing his hands, I turned off the water and he nailed me with the sprayer. The bad thing is, he's done it several times, and he gets me each time because I never think to expect it. I think of Hadden putting a rubber band around theirs to nail Jen when she turned on
their sink--I'm kind of proud that my little guy figured out how to do that kind of joke so young! He has to be very quick to grab and spray while the shot is still in the sprayer and to catch me unaware. I wonder what other things are in store for me in the coming years!

getting oriented part 1

What a busy day! Two Walmart visits, lots of work at the lake, and preschool parent orientation filled our to do list for the day. Dennis got lots of time visiting with all his grandparents today! And I sure appreciate Gran and Pop keeping an eye on him while I worked this morning and afternoon and Grandma and GrandBob for watching him while his dad and I went to the orientation.

He is wearing his new Safari Vest, scored for $5 on the Walmart clearance aisle, which makes me especially happy because it was labeled $10 and rang up $5 at the register! It came with a little field guide that listed some exploring rules and guidelines, and I did read these to him. The ones he read to me later in the car were some different but excellent rules. He said "number one: if your house is on fire, get out of your house and don't try to put the fire out because you could get hurt" and "number two: always wash your hands before you eat and after you go to the bathroom so you don't get germs" and "number three: look for cars when you are in a parking lot and on a road so you can make sure they don't run over you" and a couple of others that aren't coming to mind right now. I'm impressed that he's at least learned to recite these rules and hope that dependable obedience will follow.

He is going to have an incredible school year, and I can't wait to go on the field trips to the fire station and two plays and the zoo and Bud's Best Cookies and their own Halloween parade through downtown... And he'll have a Sharing Day every month (modern "show and tell" I presume) and a Cooking Day where they'll prepare their own meal. They asked us to dress our kids in stuff to run and play and get dirty in because they learn some really great things when not having to worry about staying clean. Apparently it's a very hands-on program, and at least half the learning is student-driven. The director described it to me as organized chaos. I can't wait to get started, for my work there and his schooling there! Dennis has his own orientation on Thursday morning, and school starts Tuesday!

Tonight, David read to him for nearly an hour before bed. I LOVE peeking in his room and seeing them both shirtless and wearing pajama bottoms, cuddled together in the reading chair or (as they were tonight) stretched out on the floor on their tummies reading together. As I was tucking him in tonight, we said some special prayers and I asked him if he'd had a good day. He nodded. I asked what he liked best about today and he said "eating boogers" and grinned a wicked little grin. That's our boy!

gleeful

Imagine Dennis' delight at today's events. This morning, David disassembled the play house that's been in his room for two years. He said he didn't want it inside anymore, and he doesn't need it outside, so we're hoping to sell it. He also doesn't want his tiny train table, so it's leaving as well. He scored a great little desk from Granddaddy's house today, and there it sits, in front of his window with a grown-up chair pulled up and ready to use. He'll need a little desk lamp now for his projects! And we moved a shelving unit into his closet and rearranged his toys, so he's got some much needed space to play. This was our after-dark project, everything after the playhouse removal, because we spent the large majority of our day at Granddaddy's place, moving a few pieces of furniture and joining him for a very late lunch. We didn't plan that, but when Granddaddy drove up and found us at his place, Dennis ran to him and said "Hi, Granddaddy, do you want to go eat at a restaurant with me?". Of course he did. Dennis spent the rest of the afternoon saying "call me Sugar-boy" (Granddaddy's special name for him).

David and I had some lake projects to do today, and we were dismayed at the lateness of our arrival back in town. Another delay since we decided to stay home... But I'll hopefully get mine all completed tomorrow. Just before dark, Dennis was completely wild (having skipped his nap). I took him outside to play tee ball and ended up pitching balls to him while David assembled the free swingset we hauled here recently. Dennis is SO excited to have, as he calls it, "his very own playground!!!". So he, as he said "played so hard that my hair got all sweaty" before coming in to eat supper and play more while we cleaned and reorganized his room. It was all about Dennis today for sure!

a boy and his wheels

Dennis was jumping up and down in front of the window a few days ago, and then he yelled for me to come. When I got there, he yelled "LOOK! Daddy's fixing my Jeep!". The steering component had broken again a couple of months ago (we are this Jeep's third family and probably sixth kid) and Dennis has been asking David to fix it, so without telling us, he got up that morning and took care of it. Dennis was beside himself when he saw what was going on.

So we've been having driving lessons of a sort. He never really mastered it before and would just turn the wheel in one direction and drive in circles (a practice we in Alabama like to refer to as 'cutting doughnuts') But not now. Now he very carefully steers it to remain on the driveway or to avoid obstacles when driving "off-road". I made him drive on the slower setting until he learned the concept of steering (this took one day), but now he only drives it fast. I think the sudden competence might be due to his bicycle proficiency. He can ride the heck out of his bike now, steering in and out of tight spots and steering skillfully around, well, everything. What impressed me the most was how he knows to put the Jeep in reverse and correct his path when he sees he won't be able to steer around something.

Today was our longest drive (and jog, for me) yet, with numerous driveway runs and some yard cruising over to the slide and back. After he parked it (in the garage at his insistence), he said "I sure enjoyed that drive and showing my Jeep off to everybody today". I didn't see another soul. Maybe he did?

clever car commentary

The bribe for good behavior and keeping dry underpants today: a trip to Walmart to "look at the boy toys". He knew this and periodically talked about it. We were in the car, and he asked me what I was doing, and as I always do, I replied "driving the car". I asked him what he was doing, and he replied "I'm staying dry".

We dined with the gang at San Marcos tonight, and all of us went to the lake house to see the new look. As soon as we got in Allison's car, he pushed the button to roll down the window. He'd only gotten it down a couple of inches when she overrode him from the front, rolled it back up, and pushed her lock button. He laughed and said "whoa--that was fast!".

He did earn the right to go to Walmart, and on the way there, he filled me in on the plan. He told me "first, we'll stop the car and then I'll take off my seatbelt and walk in but watch for cars, and then we will walk to the boy toys and I will choose whatever I want". I had to make a correction on that last bit! I did let him choose a new set of matchbox cars, a city fleet, and he could not wait to get it home and open it. As soon as he'd gotten all the cars lined up, he stood up and announced that he was wet. I packed all the cars back in the box while he went and changed his clothes. It broke his heart and mine! He's been potty trained for six months, but in the past couple of weeks, he's been too busy playing to get to the bathroom in time. We're talking two or more incidents per day, and we are trying this new tactic to make him stay more aware of his need to go. He understands the concept and assures me he'll stay dry through tomorrow so he can get his cars back. I'd like for him to master this (again) before preschool starts in a couple of weeks!

bodily function talk

It must be a hallmark of boy conversation to discuss body functions. I was sitting quietly at my desk when Dennis awoke from his nap and crept into the library. He stood before me and announced rapidly "Mommy, my poo-poo is about going to come out really fast and it's called diarrhea". Alarmed, I ushered him quickly to the bathroom and helped him onto the seat. He peed and then a look if amazement came over his face. He said "oh, my tummy wasn't sick because it was full of poo-poo, it was sick because it was full of pee-pee". And five minutes later, he was back on the toilet, again warning me of impending diarrhea (which wasn't, in fact, the case). He said "oh, it's just a REALLY BIG POO-POO--look!". He considered his masterpiece for a moment and then said "poo-poo comes from food, where does pee-pee come from?".

Tonight in Walmart he bit David out of tiredness and irritability (we hope that's why), so we put back the matchbox fire truck we'd been planning to get him. He was very sad, of course, and was trying whatever he could think of to get us back for hurting his feelings. He suddenly turned his head to face me and said very cheekily "I just ate a booger". And then he gave me a sassy little smirk.

Just now he ran into our room clad in Elmo underwear and a Santa hat. He is jumping on the bed and just said "hi, my name is Santa Claus and we need to talk". So I have to go now so I can give him my list...

kid perspective

Today as I was lying beside Dennis as he was preparing for his nap, he complained that his room was too loud. Our central air unit internal part (insert proper technical term here) is housed in a closet in his room not far from his actual closet. He said "we need to move that heater out of my Dangerous Closet (first time I've heard that phrase)". I told him it couldn't be moved, so he began negotiating to move to the library because it's quieter. I told him that the library still had old carpet, but he had a beautiful bamboo floor that Daddy and Dave put in while I was pregnant with him. He asked me what that meant, so I told him it was when he was still inside my tummy before I was born. Horrified, he stared at me and asked "why did you ate me when I was a little bitty baby?". I explained that I didn't EAT him (though I let the 'ate' that he said go), but that babies grew that way. We agreed to let it go at that. Thank goodness!

my personal assistant

I was driving us home from the lake when I thought I'd reward good behavior with a playground stop. Burger King has a nice one, but the door to it was locked, so we tried McDonald's and found theirs closed as well, and THAT IS JUST A SHAME. It doesn't get cool enough to use a playground until sunset, and they closed the darn things. All our burgers have been Whataburgers (despite their lack of a playground) lately anyway, so those two other places will continue to miss our business. But shame on them for causing those big sad tears on his little face because he couldn't play.

He got the iPhone as a consolation measure, and he played with it all through Walmart and in the car afterwards. I heard it ring with David's ringtone, and I told Dennis to answer it. He did. I heard David ask if I was around and Dennis said "she is driving right now". He asked again to speak to me and Dennis said "umm, no, I am busy playing with the iPhone right now" and then told his Daddy "well, bye" and resumed his PBS spelling game. Luckily, I have TWO phones (one Verizon one for calls to Mom and to have service sometimes at the lake, and my iPhone), so I was able to call David back. Only three, and he's already hogging the phone, screening my calls! I had just gotten used to his "who was that you were talking to?" and "what did he/she say?" every time I talk on the phone.

Just now, he was leaning against me while sitting on my lap, and when he moved his head, he bumped my typing hand and said "hey, get out of my head's way!". He's sitting here on MY bed, in MY space, but he doesn't see it that way.

Prayers for Gran--she's going in for an angiogram in the morning. Let's hope she gets some good news and has an easy time of it.

the tool man

This morning a Bobcat was working around the house and Dennis happily watched from the window. And this afternoon, after his nap, he found and used a whole bunch of tools at the lake house. He saw the ladder set up on the porch and said "I would like to climb that ladder but it's dangerous", and we all agreed. He waited 10 minutes before he climbed it, clad only in his t-shirt and Buzz Lightyear underwear, announcing he was too busy for pants. He had lots of important work to do. He was very well behaved today except for a couple of incidents of trying to hammer a screw into a freshly painted wall, and we enjoyed his company. We certainly enjoyed his cupcakes again!

Last night, he got out of bed and came to our room, telling us that he needed his Daddy to come snuggle with him. I waited nearly an hour before going in to wake David up to see if he wanted to come back to our bed!

This has been a challenge--lately I'm blogging on my iPhone, and that means typing with one finger on a touch screen (luckily it auto corrects most of my mistakes). Today I spent several hours spray-painting, so my right index fingertip is numb. This is my blogging finger as well, so kudos to me for typing this much!

in stitches

Boy was he full of witticisms today! I wish I'd gotten the opportunity to jot more of them down before I forgot them. I do remember several things he said that made me laugh. First was this morning, when he climbed in bed for a snuggle. As I held him, I told him he was my buddy and he replied (like I was clueless) "no, Mommy, I'm Daddy's buddy--I'm your sweetie". I stand corrected.

We were headed to Wal-mart when he warned me as we walked through the parking lot "be sure to watch for gopher holes". Amused, I just laughed, so he said "are you watching? I don't think you're watching and you need to watch because gopher holes are dangerous". And I presume I would indeed be scared of a gopher that could eat asphalt.

I was tediously cutting some paper matting to frame a poster tonight and Dennis leapt up and grabbed the frame, startling me and making me mess up my cut for the third time (first two times were not Dennis related). I yelled in frustration and he informed me that it hurts his feelings when I yell, and I immediately apologized. He's right. I explained that I was frustrated and couldn't seem to get it right. He said "I think I hear Daddy's car, he must be coming home--I will go tell him you can't do it and he will help you". And Daddy was very much help, actually.

Tonight Dennis got the idea he wanted to bake cupcakes. He chose a strawberry mix, and he poured all the ingredients into the mixing bowl himself. He cracked the eggs, put papers in the cupcake pan, and when it was time to mix, announced "I am afraid if the mixer so I'm going to go to another room where it's quiet". I told him that I thought he was going to work the mixer, so he climbed back up on his stepstool and turned it on and helped spin the bowl. He spooned the mix into the cups and even decorated many of them after they cooled. He's very proud and I suppose I am as well! They are delicious, of course.

Twins' birthday party

Dennis and Chloe had a wonderful time at Hadden's and Katelyn's birthday party today. Dennis loves those little guys, and he picked out a toy garbage truck especially for Hadden and educated him on its finer play points after he'd opened it. We ALL enjoyed watching Hadden tear into his birthday cake, eating big handfuls of it while Katelyn much more delicately licked icing from her fingertips. They are such cute and pleasant babies!

We spent the remainder of our day at the lake with Gran and Gigi and the Gallmans, watching the guys install new light fixtures and hang a television. The kids played well together and most especially enjoyed spending time with Gigi. Dennis absolutely did not want to come home tonight, begging Dave to go home with them instead. We heard the same refrain most of the way home: "I really want to go to Chloe's house and then go to her Papa's house and play with his toys" (David explained that Chloe had been telling Dennis all about her Papa). And when we said he couldn't, he said he wanted them all to come stay at our house.

Dennis' bag of party favors included a little piece of construction equipment, a kind of front-end loader thing with teeth. He peeked into his bag and yelled with delight "I got a Jaws", and he would not be parted from that toy for the remainder of the day. He also kept track of the pencil and eraser, but there wasn't so much drama over it. Tonight when we were trying to convince him to come to the car peacefully to head home, he asked "are there any special toys waiting for me at home?". I replied that he had hundreds of special toys at home! This didn't stop him from asking to look at the 'boy toys' at Wal-mart on the way home.

busy bugger

I got very angry at Dennis this morning because he deleted around 75 photos and videos off the phone before I got it away from him. Cute videos, like the one of Tabasco howling at the toy fire truck, the one of the song he made up for me when I was sick, and the ones of him saying the Lord's Prayer and his goodnight prayer. I'm sure they're in the backup file on the computer, but I don't know to access them. He got his feelings hurt that I was angry, and we both had a good cry. He was very articulate when he explained how he was feeling. I was impressed. Yesterday he told David "Daddy, you broke my heart", which has been his go-to comment as if late when we don't allow him to do something he wants to do. Today he just said that he was sorry he upset me and that my yelling at him made his ears sad, and he was sad that I was sad. It was just a sad time, but we moved on.

I tried some cleanout today, bur Dennis kept dancing by and swiping things. Our trash is his treasure. He found an old tennis racket from the Not Trash pile and said "oh, wow, I've always wanted one of these!" and urged me to play tennis with him. I tossed Tabasco's tennis ball to him a few times and he lobbed it back, and then he found a plastic paintball gun (mostly stripped), and begged me to "play POW" with him. I took a bag of trash out, and returned to the house to find that he'd locked me out, so I rang the doorbell with what I hoped was an authoritative push of the button. He came to the door saying "oh, here comes a customer to my gun store" and then unlocked it for me. He was draped in faux artillery, saying "hello, ma'am, would you like to buy a gun today? I have some very nice guns for sale". It's hard to say no to a miniature arms dealer in a t-shirt and underpants, so I went through with the transaction (the old wooden play rifle was the only one I could afford) and we "powed" each other for a while before settling in on the couch and new ottoman for a snuggle and a book.

Sorry I don't have the usual low-res iPhone photo to add to the post, but my heart just wasn't in taking another photo for him to delete, another tiny loss to grieve. I hate losing physical evidence of treasured memories because I feel I need those little movies to remind me of how he was at this age when I wonder in the future. I'd emailed many of them, and I can probably find them in my outbox, so let me get out if this and get into that so I can get over it!

man oh ottoman

Dennis was much better today, thank goodness! We had a nice day together, played, went for a walk and such. This evening he spent time with Gigi and Gran at the lake and then with Gran and Pop at their house while David and I went to a movie. He apparently behaved remarkably well for them. I'm so glad!

It was a big day here, what with the rainstorms and a cement mixer delivering gravel next door, not to mention the joyousness I feel at our having cleaned out our garage! And we even had a date night to boot. But this is Dennis' blog, so I'll leave you with this picture of him "test driving" a new storage ottoman, one of two that are gifts from Gigi. It was a truck, a plane, and a train car tonight, all in the span of 10 minutes that we allowed him to play with them after we got home and before he went to bed. He has a red one in his room, and he decided it was a wonderful storage bin for all his cars, which is great because that's what David had wanted to put in it as well. And since it motivated him to clean up by himself, I'd like to run out to the store and buy 3 more! I propped my feet on this black one after he went to bed the first time and suddenly found myself trapped in a web of comfort, stuck on the couch in bliss, and it's crazy because we actually have a real and giant ottoman that matches our sofa set and it's been serving as a bench seat. Oh the joys of an ottoman, especially this lightweight and easy to move new one! Dennis snuck out of bed for a cuddle and found me there, trapped on the couch, and climbed up beside me and propped up his feet as well. He said "can I just sleep right here tonight?". I felt the same way.

not so perfect

Becoming a mom was the best thing that ever happened to me. That being said, I can honestly say that some days are just not wonderful or magical or even just mediocre. Some days are just plain awful. This was one of the awful days.

Yes, he's adorable, especially as pictured here, admiring his brand new Toy Story lunch box, a gift from Gran & Pop to mark the occasion of his very first school year. His behavior today? Yeah, not so adorable. I was so frustrated today, and it just wore me out to make request after request, which turned into demand after demand, and have him flat out refuse to do any one thing that I told him to do. And refuse with glee, even, happily turning his back on me and running in the opposite direction. I handled it at home, handled it not quite as well at the lake house, and was trying to hold back angry yells when we got to church. Tonight we had preschoolers through sixth graders all in the gym, rotating three groups through three activity stations. Complete chaos reigned, and my child was always running away from the adults to chase other children. I didn't spank him, but he did get a pinch that hurt his feelings enough to buy us 10 minutes of cooperation from him, but that was all.

Just when I was absolutely at the end of my rope, Dennis started helping us clean up and get ready to go. And he was so apologetic in the car, telling me how sorry he was for being bad and promising to be good (because he wanted to go out for pizza). He saw how sad and tired I was, so he would come in and see me lying on the couch and give me random weird compliments like "I sure do like that shirt on you Mommy" or "it makes me proud when you are happy, Mommy" in his very best attempts to cheer me up. And that reminds me of something he said this morning when I put my hair up into a clip and walked into his room to get him motivated to get dressed. He told a look at me and said "I don't like your hair like that, Mommy, it's too different". I'm just surprised he pays attention to my hair!

We are calm now, and somewhat happy, but it was a tough one. It isn't so much the disobedience as the combination of mischief (such as touching things he's not supposed to touch, banging on other people with toys after he's been reprimanded, and generally acting destructive) and disobedience when we ask him to stop the mischief. Things will seem better in the morning, surely. Our church is offering a Family Prayer Retreat in a couple of days, and we found out tonight that we can actually bring Dennis, so we'd like to go. But not if he can't behave himself. Maybe he got the majority of it out of his system today.

better than Legos?

We were in Home Depot (not a favorite Dennis shopping destination) when he announced the need for a potty break. I scooped him up and he asked for a piggy back ride. I suggested a piggy front ride instead, so he hung on and bounced up and down just as if he'd been on my back. Tickled, I hugged him and kissed his cheek and said "I love you, Little Bit" (referring to one of our earliest terms of endearment for him). He leaned back, smiled, hugged me and kissed me and said "I love you too, Big Bit".

Tonight he discovered the pipes that we bought today, the very ones he unloaded from the cart and put in the car all by his little helpful self, piled up in the living room awaiting their installation at our neighbor's place this week (David plumbed about 150 feet today, but that's not quite halfway). He delightedly began assembling random pipe structures, and when David tried to discourage him (fearing for the pipes), Dennis remarked "I just want to be a fixer like you, Daddy, I am trying to learn how to be just like you". Naturally, we let him pipe to his heart's content, and he made some very interesting sculptures and pipelines. It was so much fun to watch that I suddenly wanted to stock up on PVC and connectors, some for him and some for the preschool! We could certainly build some cool things with it!

I tried a wicked new bedtime strategy tonight. He started in with the usual "but I don't want to go to bed" refrain when I told him to brush his teeth, and I didn't want to spend the usual half hour arguing with him. After a bedtime story (he thought he was being all sneaky, bringing a book to the living room, asking me to read it to him), he piped up again about not wanting to sleep. I looked over at David and said "let's just let Dennis stay up and we'll go to bed". Dennis stared in amazement as we put the dog to bed and turned off all the lights. He ran to our room, but we got there first and closed him out. He stood crying in the hallway for half a minute and then ran to his room. David felt bad, so he followed and saw him in bed, turning off his lamp. So he read him a bible story and tucked him in, which probably killed my whole strategy that seemed to working so well! But Dennis went right to sleep, didn't get up even once. I'm not saying we'll regularly torture him this way, but it made for an interesting experiment in parenting. Parenting is a bit like a science lab course, now that I think about it. You try lots of different things to produce a desired result!

late night surprise

I managed to convince Dennis to get dressed this morning, and had just tied his sneakers when he took 2 steps and then sat down to remove his shoes and socks. The shorts and shirt quickly followed, and he said "I just want to stay here today, Mommy" and so he spent the day hanging around the house in his underwear. He insisted he was too hot to even wear a shirt.

He put puzzles together and lined up cars all day after a quiet morning of reading and watching his PBS shows. I don't think he felt very good, and he took his nap a bit earlier than usual. David read to him and played with him for a couple of hours after supper, and we put him to bed before 10 to much protesting. Then we sat around and talked about how hungry we were, and David went in to get Dennis back up around 10:30 with the news that we were going to Waffle House. Dennis ran/danced through the house, yelling for me to come quick because we were going to Waffle House. Funny that he had no problem getting (and staying) dressed.

Dennis was so happy at the restaurant. He ordered his meal himself and asked if they could make him a pancake instead if a waffle. They did, just for him. He told me "I am making friends with the girl cooks here at the Waffle House". He danced when the jukebox played and announced "I love dancing to the music at Waffle House". The wait staff brought him a paper hat, which delighted him, and he did something that delighted me as well. I don't know if Waffle House waitresses everywhere call the patrons 'baby', 'sweetheart', or 'sugar', but they do here. So when ours told Dennis "here you go, baby" he said "no, call me Dennis". He told her the same thing when she called him 'sir'. He was exceedingly charming, ate half his meal, and said yes when they offered him a box (which he's not seen before). He transferred the leftover food from his plate to the box when it arrived with no prompting from us. He chattered all the way home, telling us that we'd have to go through the scary dark woods again (turns out he was referring to our driveway!). It's so fun to break the rules every once in a while, and he was so thrilled by the unexpectedness of the whole experience. I hope he remembers the fun of spontaneity. I hope we remember to keep it up.

yeah, he's cool

We spent THE ENTIRE DAY at church. David and I helped in the 'waddler' nursery again, and then he went to work. I went to the service and found Gran and Pop there, which was a nice surprise. After the service, I went to get Dennis from his service, and he insisted on seeing the pastors before we went to lunch, and he waited very patiently until it was his turn to speak to each of them. I was amazed. He just told them each hello and that he was about to go eat pizza with "all the other children" and we did just that. Today we started basic training for the Awana program that will start in 3 weeks. Dennis will get to start at the beginning and go all the way through the program, and I'm so excited about it. Awana is an intense scripture learning program that runs from ages 2 to 18, with the two year olds just getting basic picture stories. Dennis' age group will learn verses and what they mean, play games, do crafts, and earn badges and patches for their 'uniforms' as they do so. Older kids learn verses, meanings, and life applications and even do service projects. I will be teaching 5th and 6th grade girls, which frankly terrifies me because I remember being that age and I could swear that aliens had taken over my brain and personality then (and I guess those aliens would actually be hormones). Nonetheless, I am looking forward both to teaching and helping Dennis learn his way through his handbooks.

I didn't know exactly what to do with Dennis after lunch, so I fixed him a plate and took him into the room with kids in it, and they checked his name on the list and welcomed him. Later I learned that some of the ones his age were in the nursery with the paid workers, and some of the kids were with volunteers from the youth group. I left him with the youth group and when I mentioned this to the children's minister, she told me she'd put Grace (her daughter, a few months older than Dennis) in the nursery. So I went to check on him after 2 hours, and he was sitting calmly at the table with all the other children, coloring a picture. The teenaged guy behind him asked "is he your kid?" and I answered affirmatively, hoping I wasn't about to hear something bad, and he said "he's really cool--we're having a blast with him". So I didn't move him, and he played with the big kids and watched movies with them, and he did great! I'm proud of him and secretly thrilled that he's been pronounced cool by those in the know.

Earlier in the week we watched the Veggie Tales movie "Rack, Shack, and Benny" and Dennis was fascinated by the whole fiery furnace deal. We had to read the actual story to him a few times. So I was delighted to discover his take home pamphlet from Sunday School today was titled "the Fiery Furnace". I asked him what he learned and he said "about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and that they wouldn't bow down to the statue and they made the king mad and he put them in the fiery furnace and God didn't let them get burned and Mommy, what was that king's name again?". It's hard to say Nebuchadnezzar when you're three. I couldn't believe how well he said the three names he did say!

He's almost over his cold! He made it through the day with the help of Dimetapp, but he seems to be so much better. We are so glad!

adventures of the hand-me-down army

Dennis has been playing with his army men and tanks all day today, so happy with David's hand-me-downs. He figured out that the army truck from Uncle Denny would make a great transport unit, so there's been a convoy all over the house today. We've all played with him, even Tabasco (helpfully lying alongside him and occasionally arching a thoughtful doggy eyebrow), and he's spent hours on his own, lining them up. Today the army men teamed up with the cowboys and Indians to fight the dinosaurs that had invaded the living room (thank goodness, because where do you find a T-Rex exterminator in a small town?).

He's done some gymnastics as well, lots if bed jumping and chair climbing, and one incidence of somersaulting all the way down our hallway and back. And he told me "Tabasco and I are playing. I am playing fireman". I asked what Tabasco was playing, and Dennis gave me that 'well, duh!' look and said "He's playing dog!".

So he seems to feel better for spurts of time, but he's still snotty and has a yucky cough. And he's not the best nose-blower around, so he's just as likely to swipe the back of his hand under his nose (and thereby smearing the contents of it all across his cheeks) as to seek a tissue. An Uncle Denny phrase popped into my head when I saw his face after his nap, so I was mentally chanting "ick-gross-disgusting-ack-phooey". I'm not sure if the spelling is accurate, but you get the gist of the gross-out factor at any rate. Gosh I hope he gets over this soon! I felt some better today myself, just have that nagging cough still. I hope I don't get as snotty as Dennis has been.

Daddy shared!

Dennis and I didn't leave the house today. He was dripping and snotty and gross, and I didn't feel that well either. He was miserable for large portions of the day, only wanting Tabasco's company in his room, trying to lie completely in my lap while I read books to him. I baked him cupcakes after dinner, and he ate half of one, but had hardly eaten supper (2 noodles). His appetite is so off. The cupcakes were his request. The only good part to his day: David brought in three boxes of his childhood matchbox cars, trucks, and campers, plus some army men and tanks. Dennis just glowed with happiness! He said (about 8 times) "I sure do love when you share your toys with me Daddy" along with a dozen or so "thank you for sharing your toys with me"s. So he spent happy hours setting them all up on his Tonka rug with the roads on it, or lining them up across his area rug and just gazing at them in admiration. He is one happy little sick guy tonight, or at least he was until we told him he'd have to put the trucks away before going to bed.

a boy and his dog

Honey has been gone for six months now, and we miss her. Lately we've missed having a canine companion in the house with us, and Dennis has been talking more and more about missing Honey. I scoured the paper this morning and saw a listing for a goldendoodle and almost called about it. David was offered a three year old Springer spaniel/Labrador mix from a coworker. And I've been reading Dean Koontz's book "A Big Little Life", a memoir of Trixie, his late golden retriever who was so similar in personality to Honey. It occurred to me mid-morning that we have a perfectly good dog outside, one who's already housebroken and knows our house rules. He's been a quasi-inside dog before, but has a sensitive stomach and is terrified of thunderstorms, and those two things combined can be disastrous. And we haven't missed the dog hair one bit!

I gave Tabasco a bath and a serious brushing and let him in today. Dennis was delighted and played with him all day long. He was thrilled to have a dog in his room to talk to and play with, and he called me in there to see the trick they were rehearsing. Tabasco always howls when he hears a siren, so Dennis got out his electronic fire engines and pushed buttons until he found the one sound that would make the dog sing. Hilarious! I heard him tell Tabasco lots of things, my favorite of which was "don't hit me with your tail because, you see, I'm very special". And I kind of teared up when I saw him hug the dog and say "I don't want you to die, Tabasco". He's an old dog, to be sure, but if we can manage to keep him inside, his last years will be happy ones. Dennis has already claimed him as his very own dog. And Tabasco has been very happy hanging out in Dennis' room and watching him play. I guess a boy really does need a dog!

snotty-nosed kid

Darn if he isn't coming down with another cold! His nose dripped all day long, and he took two naps, so I know he didn't feel very good. He played pretty quietly today, enjoying his vintage Fisher Price School Days desk. He wouldn't eat his lunch until he'd spelled every word with his letter magnets. And later, he found a long and narrow box and had some real fun! He told me he was getting in his car and driving to the lake house, and he squeezed himself in and made the appropriate car noises and motions. He fell over (guess he took the curve too fast?) and giggled hugely. The box also became a rocket, and he blasted off to look for aliens.

I hope his cold doesn't last long. I hate when he isn't feeling his best. I was surprised to come in from outside and discover that he had woken from his nap and was running around in the house unsupervised for nearly 20 minutes. He told me he'd been drawing pictures and I panicked, worrying about the walls, but asked him calmly 'with what?'. He replied "with my markers" and my heartbeat sped up, and then he showed me a masterpiece on the dry erase board in the kitchen (put there for just this purpose). He'd even put the markers away when he was done. I complimented him on a beautiful job and mentally counted my blessings!

playing big brother

We had the most fun playing with the Smith twins today. Dennis loves those babies and they love him. There were so many cute child smiles today (probably reflected on Gran's and my faces as well). Dennis fed Hadden a good bit of his lunch, and he tried his best to teach Katelyn about hide and seek. He told us he was going to teach them to walk and also told Katelyn that whenever she needed rescuing, he would be her superhero!

On our way home tonight, Dennis asked "is this a nickel?" and I turned around asking him if he had found money. Instead, what he was pointing to was a part of him revealed by the extra large armholes of his muscle shirt. I told him that no, it wasn't a nickel, it was a nipple. He said "can I peel my nipple off? Can you take it off me Mommy?". Stifling our laughter, we told him it was a part of him and needed to stay on him. Thank goodness he didn't ask me what they were for!

shark attack

David and Dennis spent some serious time playing together this morning, Dennis appeared in our room with a sword and told David "I will be the pirate and you be the shark". What followed was a boisterous half hour of David chasing him up and down the hallway and around the house yelling "chomp chomp chomp" while Dennis ran from him and screamed and occasionally fought back with the sword. As it turns out, Dennis is a champion screamer. Some were the laugh-screams, the kind where he's laughing so hard that the laugh comes out as a kind of scream. Some were pretend screams, and some were actual screams of real fright that were followed by fits of giggles. Daddy makes a good shark, and Dennis enjoys the adrenaline rush of being just a little afraid when Daddy's growls and chomps are too realistic. I enjoyed the whole show, loud as it was!

I wasn't feeling well tonight, and Dennis told me he'd sing a song to make me feel better, and he went off to fetch his guitar. He returned strumming it and singing "sick, sick, sick...when you feel sick you get a cough and you go to the doctor's office and they give you a shot and it hurts really bad" then paused for a breath and continued with "but the shot keeps you from getting sicker and then you get a sticker" and then he added a chorus of the full alphabet song for good measure. He's right. It did make me feel better.

grocery marathon

David and I helped in the Waddler Nursery this morning at church. This is the new transition nursery between infants and toddlers, and the kids are new walkers and not quite talkers. We volunteered for this particular age because I am due to watch the Smith twins this week and I was out of practice with this age group. May I just say WOW, and I have no idea how Hadden and Jennifer handle two of those things! I hadn't changed a diaper in six months, so I was surprised when it was so difficult to change the wily little guy that needed it! So now I'm reacquainted with that particular age. David and I were completely fried after an hour and a half!

Dennis learned about Moses and the burning bush this morning, a story that especially caught his attention because it involved fire. He talked about it all day. He endured a nearly three hour, three store grocery shopping marathon tonight as we utilized various sale papers to find some great deals. And he was surprisingly good! We are now on a desperate search for Silly Bandz to replace the ones he left at church this morning, 4 rubber band bracelets that were orange sharks and blue dolphins. I knew he'd leave them behind but let him wear them anyway. I didn't realize he'd be quite so upset!

grossing out Grandma

I don't know if I've mentioned our new in-car habit of grossing each other out. Dennis and I each name something disgusting and then say "ewwww" or "that's disgusting" before naming a new gross thing. This is a game he invented. He said "what about a peanut BOOGER and jelly sandwich" and dissolved into belly laughs while I offered up 'fingernail cookies' and such. We have done this on a few occasions lately, so I was amused when Becky (Grandma) called me on her way home from Laine's birthday party with Dennis and said "Did you know that Dennis' favorite thing to eat is a peanut butter and booger sandwich?". We shared a laugh over this and she told me how much fun he'd had sliding on the inflatable water slide at the party. He had a great day, and when we got home tonight, I was treated to some very nice puppet shows. Someone should tell Santa that he needs a puppet theater for Christmas!

I put him to bed early tonight because hd really needs to be on a more normal schedule (as do I). When I went in to check on him, his pj's were tossed onto the floor beside the bed and he was sleeping in just his underwear. When David got home and checked on him, he sat up for a second, so David took him into the bathroom and sat him down to pee (we think that's what he was mumbling about). He told us he was hot and just wanted to sleep in his underwear. We let him!

camping in

I went into Dennis' room and saw that he had set up his pop-up camper playset. The scene looked so inviting with the four vintage little people sitting at the picnic table while Batman and Fireman Sam occupied the lounge chairs. I had another longing for fall camping season to begin (even though we don't think our camper will be ready for a journey until nearly winter). Dennis must have noticed the dreamy look on my face as I imagined how much fun his toys were having at their campsite, because he asked "do you want to play camping with me Mommy?". I sat on the floor, about to pick up a toy when I realized that wasn't how we were going to play. He told me "here is our campfire, now I am going to go sleep over here" and he climbed into his papasan chair and commenced snoring loudly. I did the same on his beanbag chair. He jumped up suddenly and said "huh? What was that noise at our campsite?" (something I've been known to wonder myself when camping). Then we warmed our hands in front of the 'fire' and he said "oh no, I just burned myself--look, it made a blister" and I pretended to hold ice on his pretend wound. We roasted imaginary marshmallows on imaginary sticks (though I was tempted to get our new super cool telescoping marshmallow forks from the kitchen) and Dennis informed me my marshmallow had caught fire and I needed to blow it out. When I decided to warm my feet, he jumped up after a second, yelling that my toe was on fire and he needed to rescue me. He and Fireman Sam came and hosed off my toe, thank goodness. His imagination astounds and delights me!

Mine wasn't the only important rescue of the day. This morning our bathroom doorknob quit working. Dennis closed the door after he finished in there this morning, and when I needed to go I couldn't open the door. And I really needed to go, so I accused Dennis of locking the door before he closed it but when I opened the door with a credit card a few minutes later, I discovered that he hadn't locked it. It broke. An hour later, Gran got trapped in the bathroom and Dennis went to get his bike to ride to the rescue. He was so disappointed that I had already credit-carded her out when he rode up to the scene. Then he closed himself in there so we'd have to get him out as well!

He can now read the first four books in the first set of BOB books unassisted. I am so proud!

tattoo buddy

I had a half day off today! I decided to run a couple of errands up toward Birmingham, and Dennis spent time with his Gran and Granny. Apparently, they all had a fabulous time at Wal-Mart. Dennis spied a stock person at Wal-Mart who happened to be sporting some serious tattoos. He had flowers on one wrist and a dragon on his arm and Dennis asked his Gran if he could go over and see the guy. She rolled the cart over and Dennis showed off his giraffe tattoo. His new friend showed the proper amount of awe, and Dennis asked him all about his tattoos. Dennis wants a dragon tattoo now, and he told me this as soon as I got back to the lake house to pick him up!

Granny bought him a set of construction vehicles with a bulldozer, dump truck, steamroller, excavator, and front-end loader. He has been busy playing "building a skyscraper" with his "construction 'quipment" for the entire afternoon and evening!

demolition observation

Remember back in June when our neighbor's house burned? Today the dozers came to smash it and move it behind the foundation. Dennis enjoyed observing them in action for a while but then told me that he wanted to go back inside because "it's loud and I don't want to get smushed". Tonight we walked down the drive to watch the rubble pile burning, and though he told us he wanted to see it, he got unnerved by the big smoldering mess. He can't figure out why the fire trucks aren't here putting it out. I don't know that I'll rest all that easy myself tonight knowing that there's a fire going on at the end of our driveway, but it's a long driveway, thank goodness.

We salvaged enough wood and insulation to enclose our garage, and we're thrilled! We have been wanting to turn it into our home gym, and now we have everything but nails and siding, and it's mostly recycled! Recycled door, windows, studs, and insulation! Or maybe the correct designation would be 'reused' or 'reclaimed', but it means less waste and less cost to us. Now if only someone would throw out some perfectly good solar panels...

Big news: Dennis and I will start preschool next month. He'll be attending on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and I'll be working there a few days a month. The preschool's at our church, and we are very excited that he'll get to attend this year!

am I really?

I wasn't a bad guy today, but he did come up with new descriptive terminology for me at supper. He stuck his finger in his nose while watching me looking at him and then put same finger in his mouth. He knows I hate this. I pointed my finger right in his face (which he hates) and said that he was being disgusting. I suggested a more proper and private method of booger disposal. He pointed his finger right at me and said "you are disgusting, Mommy" and then kept insisting "you are YUCKY". So I made my very best Quasimodo face and thrilled him to pieces. He would laugh until he hiccuped and then say "be disgusting again, Mommy". We had an extended silly face contest, and I experienced that special joy that I feel when he laughs like he does, loud and long and happy.

Found at the library: one book (out of a dozen we checked out for him) about a Tonka Mighty Dump Truck just like his. We checked it out just before noon. We've now read it six times, along with at least half of the other books, at his request. He had to hold that book in the car every time he got in.

Did you notice the vibrant color of the icing on the cupcakes a couple days back? It came that strong blue color--we added nothing. It was Technicolor Toilet Day around here, and that's way gross to blog about, but it's relevant because Dennis told several people about his bright green poop today. Nice.

indoor sports spectacular

It's that time of year when Alabama suffers extreme stay-in-your-house weather advisories. I guess we southerners hibernate in summer! Dennis and I have been spending most of our time indoors, but we did go out in the heat a few times today. First, we loaded up the trash and drove it to the road (yes, our driveway is THAT long) and checked the mail. Then, we heard a bunch of noise outside and went to see our future neighbor's new trailer being delivered. Dennis rode his bike on this particular outing, over a half mile round trip. I walked (and ran) alongside and grabbed him when his extreme momentum was going to cause him to fly out into the road. This caused him to fall off (hard) onto our concrete drive. I felt awful and prepared to scoop up and console, but he burst out laughing and yelled "Wow I really fell that time!". He got right up, still laughing, and got back on the bike. He thought the new trailer was very cool and was very excited when we met Gran and Pop and the new neighbor there later (and that time we walked over) this afternoon.

The rest of our day was a mixture of book reading and indoor sports. We played a couple of rounds of basketball with his indoor hoop set, and we played LOTS of baseball with his soft souvenir Montgomery Biscuits ball and his tee ball bat. He can occasionally hit the balls I toss to him, and he is so thrilled when he manages to really whack one.

His kitchen skills are improving. He set the table for dinner and requested a candle be lit. And now when he wants something and I say no, he goes and gets it himself. I told him that he could only have water to drink for the rest of the day, and a while later, I heard the kitchen stepstool scraping across the floor. I got there in time to see him standing up on it and very carefully pouring himself a cupful of orange Kool-Aid. He didn't spill a drop at all, and he fetched it from the fridge and climbed up the stool holding a half full pitcher. I was so amazed, first that he snuck in there to get it for himself and then that he did such a good job. I let him drink it because I am a total pushover at times. Later tonight, he asked for a chocolate Popsicle from both his dad and me (we both said no) and I caught him helping himself to one from the freezer. I took it away and he was pretty upset, but it was past 10 pm! We need to stock a little less junk in the house, I suppose. They are low sugar low calorie fudgesicles, a treat for me, but I guess I need to set a better example!

junior chef

This is another souvenir of our shopping trip yesterday. Dennis picked out icing and sprinkles that had been marked down to $0.25 and $0.49 respectively and I grabbed a box of yellow cake mix while we were still at ALDI. Tonight we baked cupcakes together and Dennis told us he was a chef. He licked the beaters from the mixer (same beaters I licked as a child) and helped me frost and sprinkle the cupcakes. Eating them was his favorite part.

Dennis read an entire book by himself this weekend. It's a tiny book, the first in the first set of BOB books, but he read every word. We are so thrilled! He read most of the words in the second one, too, and I can't wait to watch him progress through the series. Books are his passion now, and he can sit through the longest stories now! Gran and Pop got library cards so that they can keep getting new books to read to him, and he was delighted with today's selections, a book about dirty feet and one called Night Lights. At home, he listens to as much Dr. Seuss as he can convince us to read to him and helps us read them by reading aloud the words he knows. Now how do I start teaching him math?