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!