Happy Halloween 2010

We didn't get pounced on this morning until just after 9. Apparently, he was in full Halloween gross-out mode because he asked me a number of rather disgusting questions. "Mommy, can I pee-pee on you?" "EWWWWW--NO!" "Mommy, can I poop on you?" "GROSSSSSSS! NO WAY!" "Well, then, can I put earwax and boogers on you?" Again I answered in the negative. What on earth is he thinking?

Tomorrow will be a letdown for him after our month long Halloween celebration. We concluded it with a very fun evening at Dave's and Ellen's church festival. We have another bucketful of candy that Dennis won as prizes for the various carnival games he played tonight. He dunked a guy in a dunking tank, he threw bean bags, he threw darts at balloons, he almost bobbed for an apple, he played ladderball, and he got a bee painted on his hand. He and Chloe bounced in the inflatables for a long time, and when they were ready to go, Dave and I were stuck in the blood-mobile donating blood after having waited kind of a long time. So I handed off my handy-dandy iPhone to Ellen and the kids watched a Scooby Doo special on my Netflix app while they waited on us to finish. We concluded our evening with a last trick-or-treat at Gran's and Pop's house that lasted much longer than I intended because Dennis lost a boot somewhere in their house. They found it after we left. It's been a weekend of missing shoes--somewhere in the world, there's a lonely silver and lime green Nike, and I hope it finds its way home to me soon!

Halloween Eve

This has been a fun-filled day of Halloween activity! Dennis went to the pumpkin patch again this morning along with some other children from our church. He had a great time on the hay ride and in the hay maze. Today his Daddy came along, and they played a pumpkin toss game (where Dennis won a giant inflatable hammer). Dennis had his first pony ride today, choosing his steed and riding like a cowboy! He spied a cowboy hat in the gift shop afterward, placed it on his head, and then insisted that he needed to go ride the horse again since he had the right hat now.

Tonight was our annual friends-and-family Halloween party. We all brought our disgustingly named delicious dishes and enjoyed the food and fellowship. We were, as always, completely charmed by the Smith twins. Jen and I happened to catch Dennis telling baby Hadden "this is a fire truck--I'm going to tell you all about fire trucks--they are loud and have sirens and go wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh" (all while waving his hands excitedly in the air). And after the party, Dennis and Chloe went to trick-or-treat at Uncle Denny's house. They were thrilled to knock and shout "TRICK-OR-TREAT" and were rewarded with Reese's and Hershey's miniatures. Too bad I forgot my bucket!

I think we've really milked this season for all its worth, but we have one more day of activity planned. Then it's on to Thanksgiving...

United States of Dennis

Driving in the car to Prattville to go trick-or-treat at Bass Pro Shop during their big Halloween festivities tonight, Dennis asked me to turn on some music. I did. Then he said "you have to dance, Mommy, because the music is on." I wiggled a bit in my seat and he laughed and then asked "do you want to see my bottom wiggle?" and I looked over my shoulder and saw him lying on his back in his booster seat, butt in the air wiggling mightily. He told me I needed to keep dancing, to which I replied "no, I need to drive." Not good enough, apparently, because he said "NO, you need to DANCE-drive." I made my best attempt. Sorry to you fellow drivers on I-65 South who might have noticed a shaking Chevy Blazer with two crazies inside.

Trying to distract him, I asked him to say the pledge of allegiance. He said "I pledge allegiance to the Dennis of the United States of Dennis and to the republic for which Dennis stands; one nation under God with liberty and justice for Mommy." He knows it's all about him.

a day in the life

7:03 AM: Dennis pounces on our bed. "Can I snuggle with you? Will you fix my breakfast? Is it Halloween yet?"

8:28 AM: finally out the door to preschool. Forgot to buy Cheetos for today's party last night. David goes on emergency chip run, gets to school in time for parade.

8:50 AM: leave school with what felt like 750 3 year olds but was actually 4 classes of various ages on walking trick-or-treat parade through downtown Clanton. Got almost a grocery sack full of candy and lots of comments on the cute astronaut costume. Lost David to a Mommy with 3 year old and 1 year old who needed some help!

10:00 AM: Arrive back at preschool, join everyone in Activity Center for big party.

10:15 AM: watch 50 children high on cupcakes and candy create mayhem.

11:00 AM: leave preschool after wearing out some of sugar high on playground.

11:50 AM: pay power bill at Alabama Power, play in Water Course museum with Dennis--we have whole museum to ourselves.

12:30 PM: Dennis finds that his Netflix movie came when he checks the mail (Lego: the Adventures of Clutch Powers). Eats lunch while watching a movie starring Lego people.

2:20 PM: naptime!

4:00 PM: mix OxiClean in cup, attempt to scrub out purple icing stains from white astronaut suit.

4:40 PM: Dennis wakes up, catches me scrubbing space suit. "Can I eat some of my candy now?"

5:15 PM: "Can I get some water by myself?" "Sure." "This water is gross." Call Poison Control to inquire about dangers of drinking OxiClean. Give Dennis water, hope for no vomiting.

6:45 PM: string of phone calls, concluded abruptly when I hear the following: "I can't breathe through this nose (points to right nostril) because I got a piece of candy stuck in it". Attempt extraction of strawberry flavored Nerd from nostril with tweezers, push candy farther up. Ask Dennis to blow nose--Dennis sucks air into nose--explain better, then go to fetch tissue to wipe Nerd juice from face. While gone, hear "I GOT IT! I BLEW IT OUT!" and return to see offending Nerd stuck to chair. Answer return call from Poison Control, assure them Dennis is fine.

7:00 PM: Watch 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown'. Seasonal favorite!

8:00 PM: play Disney preschool learning games on computer. Watch Dennis work the touchpad mouse like a pro.

8:45 PM: assembling collection of Lego swords and knives by my computer. I think I'm about to have to participate in a miniature sword fight. Wonder how much longer til David gets home...

8:55 PM: remember to roll up car windows and return spare key to Blazer. Wonder where my keys are that I never found this morning...

masterpieces

We're starting to get really excited about Halloween around here! We still don't know what costume he'll choose. We carved our jack-o-lantern tonight. Dennis designed the face and drew it mostly himself. Just before we began carving, he decided that it had to have a mustache. I don't think I've ever had a pumpkin with a mustache, and I'm pleased by his creativity. He made the little pumpkin as well with some stick-in parts that he got last year from the Gallmans' Halloween party. And he's already decided that we should start decorating for Christmas. He watched me dip some Splenda out of the bag today. A few minutes later, he came to me and announced that he had put snowflakes all over the house. I went a bit nuts, certain that he'd sprinkled Splenda from one end of the house to the other. I was mistaken--he'd found some Christmas ornament snowflakes in with my dining table decor and placed them around. I apologized and encouraged him to decorate however he wanted.

just like a man

Tonight as we were wrestling a bit (tickle fight!), I flipped Dennis up on top of me. He managed to pass gas right when his rear end was just inches from my face. I screamed like a girl, because, hey, I'm a girl, and he belly laughed for long moments. He thought it was beyond hilarious, and he was laughing so hard he could barely get the words out to ask me "was it a really stinky one, Mom?". I told him it was indeed and he said "turn me upside down again, Mom!". I passed on that opportunity.

good witch

He caught me staring perplexedly at the rack of clothes in my closet. "What's wrong, Mom?" he asked. I explained that I couldn't find the rest of my witch costume. He took in my black skirt and bra and said "you need a dress and a witch hat" and then said "can I wear your witch costume instead of you?". So I handed over a black t-shirt and my hat, and then he grabbed up a broom and pail and asked if we could go outside and fly. I wanted a picture, so I was all over the idea of going outside to catch the last bit of daylight. He mounted the broom and hammed for the camera, but then he got frustrated over the broom's apparent lack of flight capability. He asked me to lift him (hat, broom, pail, and all) and fly him around through the air. I told him it wasn't Halloween yet. We came back inside. He didn't cast any spells, thank goodness.

Parental thoughts

I have been pondering the relative briefness of the three and a half years that I have been a parent while marveling at the depth of attachment that has formed in that short time. If you had asked me five years ago if I could fathom the strength and complexity of the love a parent has for a child, I would have said yes, because I loved my dog very deeply. And I would have been wrong. In the three short years that Dennis has lived on this planet, he has so firmly entrenched himself in our hearts and lives that I can hardly remember what we did during the twelve years of our marriage before he arrived. He has also thoroughly intertwined his stuff with our stuff, and I think it's symbolic of our relationship. His things are evident in every space in our home. Thoughts of him, things we do with him, for him--those things are evident in every decision we make in our lives, every place we go he is there in person or in thought. And I love that. I love everything about that. It's an awesome responsibility, but what an awesome gift! I often think God created the parent-child relationship so that we could attempt to understand a fraction of the nature of His love for us. And also so that we could understand the type of sacrifice that was made for our salvation, God's own Son. Deep thoughts for a rainy fall evening, I know, but it's been on my mind lately. Not because his behavior was flawless today (it wasn't), but more because I have been noticing things: his sock in with my clothes in the dryer, his tiny work glove peeking out from under my side of the bed (who knows how it got there), his favorite foods in the pantry, his books on the shelves in the library, Legos in the hallway, puzzles in the den, tiny toothbrushes in the bathroom and toys in the tub, a wagon in the living room. He is everywhere in this house and everywhere in my heart, and I cannot imagine a life any other way. How blessed we are, how incredibly blessed.

No, we don't have a new pet. This is Winston, a not quite four month old bulldog that belongs to a friend. We met him today and he is completely (disgustingly) adorable. He and Dennis were instant friends.

becoming Those Parents

This is a Firefly. It's a real phone and is very simple to operate. It has 5 buttons on the face: a Phone Book button in the center, the green and red buttons for starting and ending calls, and a Call Mom button and Call Dad button. Each number will turn the screen a different color. It flashes cute light shows ('firefly fireworks') occasionally and with the touch of a small button on the side. A firefly flits across the screen. Dennis adores it, and today, when it arrived in the mail, we became the people we used to make fun of, the parents who bought their preschooler HIS OWN PHONE.

There are reasons, of course; the main one being that we are locked into a 2 year contract on 3 phone lines with AT&T. Why shouldn't Dennis have the third one? The phone was around $14 including shipping, and isn't costing us any extra every month. He can only dial pre-programmed numbers, and I have limited those to David and me and Gran and Pop. He has to know how to spell/read a name in order to call anyone besides 'Mom' or 'Dad' (those keys have pictures on them), so we will add in more people when he can recognize the name on his screen to know who he's calling. He knows how to call the 4 of us, though, and he's learning how to hold the phone not smashed against his cheek, so much of the time we can understand what he's saying.

I wondered about our decision to do this, but it'll be handy for the very rare occasion when he's not with us, or when relatives want to call him directly. And he found it especially useful when I put him down for his nap. He left me 3 voicemails and left 5 for his Daddy (all just dead air and the sounds of buttons pushing). I was not with my phone, but when I finally heard it ring, I ran to it and saw it was him. He was calling to tell me he was through talking and playing and had put himself back in bed and was about to go to sleep. I went in to check, and he was all snuggled in and had placed his phone very carefully on his nightstand (just like we do).

bad boo boo

Last night, Gran presented Dennis with a little gourd that she picked up at the gourd festival last weekend. She told him he could paint a face on it, and he couldn't wait to get started. Today he gave it a base coat, mostly black with occasional splashes of red, blue, green, and yellow, and we will paint a face on it when it dries. He says our library is his special artist room.

Tonight we had dinner with Gran and Pop, spending a little time with them before they leave on vacation tomorrow. Just after we got there, Dennis tripped and fell on the threshold between the den and the garage, slicing his palm on an exposed carpet tack. He cried buckets, wailing pitifully for a Band-Aid. Pop and I thought he needed some New Skin since he sliced his hand right along a crease in the palm. He just wanted a Band-Aid, but Pop came up with the brilliant idea of calling the New Skin 'Super Hero Glue'. Dennis held out his hand for it and screamed a lot when it was applied. He got over it quickly enough, though, telling us he was a Transformer and his name was Broken Hand.

We picked out our carving pumpkin tonight but didn't get to the main event yet. He did get very excited when I brought the decorations in from the storage building, frantically running to and fro and saying "hurry, Mommy, we need to decorate some more!". He dug out David's Dracula cape (the one I sewed for him back in college--black satin lined with red satin) and went and draped it over David. Then he plopped a witch hat onto David's head and stood back to admire his handiwork. He said "look--Daddy's a witch! Dad, I think you need a broom." David said "no, Dennis" and he said "no, call me Halloween Dennis."

We put him to bed after that and after re-bandaging his hand (he kept pulling his Band-Aids off). David told him to hold his hand over his heart so that he wouldn't mess with his Band-Aid anymore. He said "I can't hold my hand over my heart. My manners are in my heart. I don't want to break them. If my manners are broken, I'll be broken and you and Daddy will have to fix me." I took all this in, blinked once, opened my mouth to speak, and then he asked "Could you and Daddy build another one of me?". I told him we love the one we have already, and he said "I want you to build another Dennis. I need a Robot Dennis." Whatever would we do with a robot Dennis? I'm sure he could think of dozens of things!

winter wishes

I was quite surprised to see Dennis wearing his winter hat and mittens when he appeared at the door when it was time to leave. He asked me when winter was coming and asked if it would snow. He said "I really want to go tobogganing. I could use a box as a toboggan, right?". Let's hope we get a good snow this winter! I'm just enjoying the lovely fall evenings myself, especially now that Dennis and I are feeling better.

Tonight was Open House at the preschool, and both sets of his grandparents were there. He delightedly showed off his artwork and pictures and hugged his teachers. And then he took us all to see his favorite part of school: the playground!

miracle grow

As I watched, Dennis climbed up into his car seat, pulled the seatbelt across himself and buckled it. I recalled yesterday when he unbuckled, leaned out, put our mail in the box at the post office, and buckled back up. And this morning when he checked our mail at home through the car window (especially helpful since the driver's side window and door won't open). He's so helpful! I said to him tonight as he sat in his seat, looking adorable in his Awana Cubbies vest, "you are just growing up so fast" and he said "yep, I am. In a couple of minutes, I'll be tall!".

ideas

As we cuddled together on the couch, miserable with our colds, Dennis decided we should make some calls. He told his Daddy and his Gran the same thing: "I am snuggling with Mommy and enjoying her shows." I was watching HGTV when he showed up from his nap to cuddle. He seems to like House Hunters and House Hunters International as much as I do.

After we snuggled for a while, he said "I have a great idea, Mommy. Why don't we clean up the house?". I always get the same idea when I see those houses on TV too. I asked him "are you going to help me?" and he said "no, I just want to finishing watching this show. But you could clean it by yourself." Indeed I could, and should, and most likely will when I am feeling some better.

He heard what he thought was a bad word tonight. David was looking at the TV and saw the house showing on House Hunters (a HUGE one in Denver) and said "WOW--what is their budget?!" and I was telling him $1.5 mil when Dennis said "we don't say 'budget', it's not nice." I bet lots of people think 'budget' is a dirty word!

eco-friendly transport

"Dennis, let's go."

"Mommy, can I take my scooter?"

"There won't be anywhere to ride it--we're going to Birmingham."

"Wellll... How about if you drive the car and I'll follow you on the scooter?"

The scooter is not, incidentally, an electric one. It's a Radio Flyer My First Scooter, totally kid-powered. And today, it stayed home.

chocolate delivery

Every month, I am subjected to the same curse as many female members of the population. Dear David (a well seasoned PMS veteran) sees to it that chocolate is readily available in the house during these times. This month, he brought Hershey's miniatures wrapped in foil the colors of autumn. See how fortunate I am? Tonight, I caught Dennis as he ran full steam ahead down the hallway with something shiny in his fist. He said "here, this is for you, Mommy" and handed me (oh joy!) a Special Dark bar. He took one into the library and dropped it delicately in front of David's computer and told David it was for him. Then he said "and this one is for me" as he quickly unwrapped and devoured the third bar. I thanked him and told him how thoughtful he was. He said "yes, I am the best chocolate deliverer ever." I have to agree. He asked "would you like another?" and I declined, so he said "well, okay, but I'm going to get one more for me and then the teapot will be empty." Horrified, I chased him to the kitchen and saw 3 discarded wrappers on the floor and 2 bars left in the (somewhat teapot-shaped) candy jar. Fearing a wild night of sugar-induced preschooler hysteria, I asked David if he remembered the approximate quantity of chocolate left before tonight. We think Dennis only had those 3 bars. We hope it was just those 3! And we hid the candy jar.

The picture shows him in the costume he wore to our church Fall Festival tonight, where he had a fabulous time according to his Daddy. I was in bed all day myself, nursing my cough and congestion, trying to keep it from turning into full-blown yuck. Dennis has only mild yuck himself, and David is still fine.

Dennis grabbed my Martha Stewart Living November issue from the bathroom (what? Isn't that where you keep yours?) and asked me what all it said. We talked about the different Thanksgiving recipes and he informed me that he would be cooking "Daddy Booger Pie with Snot" and that we would eat it all up. I can't wait.

attachment

Kudos to McDonald's for these super cool Happy Meal Halloween buckets, the ones with blank potato heads on a Halloween scene with face, arm, hair, etc stickers to decorate yourself. Very cool, though Dennis insisted on decorating his, using every last sticker, before he'd eat. But now we have this nifty, unique trick-or-treat bucket, and it was made and printed in the USA of all places.

Dennis and I didn't leave the house today. The McD's excursion was yesterday. We didn't get out in the beautiful fall weather either. We stayed in and snuggled together for much of the day, tired from yesterday and feeling just a tad under the weather. Dennis disappeared from our bed and reappeared with a roll of black duct tape. He said "I will use this tape on us so we can always stay together." Luckily, he couldn't get it unstuck from itself to unroll a strand to bind us!

more plumbing?!

This morning Dennis pounced on us and wallowed for awhile before announcing a need to potty. I heard weird metallic banging noises from the bathroom but no sounds of biological functions. David and I stayed in bed, trying to see who would cave first and get out of bed to go see what he was doing. David was the one, and I heard him screech as he entered the bathroom. Dennis had almost successfully removed the tank from the toilet bowl. He'd unscrewed one side and was fervently working on the other when he was caught. I have mental pictures of him trying to run away with it--what a mess that would have been. David told him to stop, and I heard him reply "wait, I'm almost through fixing it and then I can use it." Terrifying!

Let me just take a second to promo the Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Chick-Fil-A. Talk about yum! If only I could get advertising dollars... The picture features Dennis way up high in the car connected via (hamster) tube to the rest of the climbing structure. So glad I didn't have to climb up there after him (though fear of that very situation was one of my motivating factors for the big weight loss).

what he said

Yesterday it occurred to Dennis that he hadn't been to school for a week, so he asked me when we were going back. I told him it was his fall break and that we were going back the next day (today). Later, I told him it was time to get ready for church, and he said "I don't want to go--I'm on fall break." He went, though, and happily recited this week's memory verse and earned his sticker and a new patch for his vest. The verse is a part of Luke 2:30: "my eyes have seen your salvation." I asked him to say it for Gran today while we were eating lunch together and he started it but then decided to be funny. He said "my eyes have seen...your plate!".

not that pair!

I asked Dennis to go in the bathroom and get a clean pair of underwear from the laundry basket. I went in moments later and saw him pulling on David's underwear, laughingly asking "did you mean THIS pair, Mommy?".

dragon hunting

Today between rainshowers, Dennis appeared dressed in his gladiator helmet and carrying his sword. He invited me to join him in a swordfight. He asked if we could take it outside. It wasn't raining, so I agreed, and we donned our rainboots and headed out. We were knights on a quest--Dennis thought we should go and hunt some dragons. He said "when we find one, I will poke it in the bellybutton with my sword". I thought I spied one hiding under the pear tree, so we headed that way and saw some dragon tracks but no dragon. So we hefted our swords and headed off into our woods. We've never taken Dennis deep into our woods before, and he was a bit worried that we were lost. He placed a number of large sticks around, sticking them in tree trunks and balancing them in branches, telling me "I am putting these here so Daddy will know where to find us". We found a dragon (an old piece of metal roofing propped against a tree trunk that was actually dragon-shaped) and Dennis poked it with his sword, and our quest changed. I hauled around our knight gear while he looked for the perfect climbing tree. It made for a pretty fun adventure, actually, and Dennis was thrilled to learn that we have a sizable forest of our very own. He is still intimidated enough to stay out of the woods without one of us along, thank goodness!

musketeers

Just after we put Dennis to bed, we heard his door open and heard some faint singing. It was over five minutes later when he appeared in our room, showcasing two Transformers Band-Aids on his thumbs. He said "I've come here to give you two some hugs" and climbed into bed to wallow on us for a while. He looked at the two of us, all smiles, and said "we are three--you two and me three--we're three...umm..." and I supplied 'musketeers' and he said "yes, that's right. We're the three musketeers. Now all we need to do is make swords for you two because I already have a sword, so GO MAKE SWORDS!". We'll get right on that.

We really were the three musketeers today, all together at home. David spent hours playing Legos with Dennis this morning, then fixed our bathroom faucets and spoiled us with a super delicious dinner. We all snuggled together on the couch to watch a Disney special (Handy Manny: Big Construction Job). Dennis was so happy that he was practically euphoric, and I think it's just because we were all together today, staying in, enjoying our own company. He loves his Daddy Time and is always thrilled on the rare occasions that David is here all day. Sometimes those are the greatest days!

circus at home

We had a circus here today, and I'm not referring to the six people sharing one bathroom over the weekend! Gran and Pop stopped by just after the Gallmans left, and they shared cupcakes, Cokes, and conversation with us. We all went outside to sit in the shade and watch Dennis play, and he informed us that we were at the circus and dubbed us 'Clown Mommy', 'Clown Pop', and 'Clown Gran'. I asked who the Ringmaster was and he raised his hand and then asked "What does a Ringmaster do?". I explained that he would announce the tricks and he asked if he could do some tricks as well. He slid down his slide sort of sideways, gesturing gracefully with gymnastics hands (no idea where he saw this unless it came from the majorettes in the band Friday night). He did some bowing and more elaborate gesturing, then stood on his teeter-totter swing and moved to and fro. More gestures and slides followed, and he hung from his trapeze bar as well. The performance was paused for a potty break, and I sent him back outside while I made a phone call to report our power outage. When I returned to the circus, Gran told me that he'd done a few tricks on his swing and when he fell off, immediately got up and said "that was an ouchy trick!".

Tonight I told him to go to the bathroom and he said his customary "but I just already did". I went back there and asked him to try and he said "I just went, Mom". Then he patted his pants and said "my tank is empty, Mom". And it was.

Today, he got up shortly after I tucked him in for his afternoon nap, and he was dressed in khaki pants and a khaki striped sweater. He sat down beside me on the couch and said "so, what shall we do? We could talk. What should we talk about?". I asked him what he wanted to talk about and he said "Halloween". We talked about it on his way back to his bed for his nap.

This picture is from Fire Truck Day at school. Sure it was Thursday, but he is so cute in the shot.

pumpkin time

Dennis and Chloe sure had fun at the pumpkin patch today! They jumped on the inflatable play structures, rode the tractor train, shopped in the barn, ran around in the hay maze, enjoyed a hay ride and hay climbing, picked out their own pumpkins, and spent time in a giant sandbox. We didn't have much trouble getting them to take naps afterward. The fun continued later when they painted their pumpkins all by themselves. And we capped off our day of fun (and the Daddies finally joined us) with a lovely campfire and marshmallow roast. A good time was had by all.

As I was putting him down for his nap, he said "you know what, Mom? I like to pretend that my small Lego men are real people and they are my friends. There are spacemen and one of them has a shark submarine that goes under the water and around and around and it can even go to other planets". About the planets: he'd most like to go to Mars, he says, because "I bet on Mars there's another Dennis, and he is a Robot Dennis, and we should meet each other".

first ball game

We went to watch our alma mater play football tonight, taking Dennis to his first high school ball game. The Gallmans were with us, and both kids enjoyed it so much. They kind of parked themselves in front of the cheerleaders after enjoying the marching band performances at half time. While I wondered if watching the game might make Dennis aspire to one day play the game or play in the band, I was not prepared for the amount of influence the cheerleaders had over him. Several times we watched him cup his hands around his mouth and yell "let's go tigers" or just "go tigers", but we really saw it when he perched with arms akimbo just like the cheerleaders between cheers. When they resumed cheering, he and Chloe resumed their jumping and dancing and hand motions, with accompanying yells of encouragement. They were adorable!

What in the?

We got to Walmart this afternoon, and it was very bright outside. I forgot to find his sunglasses before we left home, and he was not very happy about it. Fortunately, he found these two 20 ounce Mountain Dew caps and said "it's okay, I'll just use these sunblocking eye-sor (visor?) protectors". He held them up to his eyes, opened the car door, jumped out, and proceeded to walk toward traffic. It was then that he realized the problem with his plan.

old macdonald's what?

On a particularly long road trip today, Dennis was in need of something to do. I asked him to sing to us. He sang the alphabet song first and then Old MacDonald. He sang about the farm and the chicks and cows, and then he invented a new verse. "On his farm he had some poop; E-I-E-I-O; with a poop poop here and a poop poop there, here a poop, there a poop, everywhere a poop-poop..." he sang. At first I had to laugh (he talks about bodily functions now to get a reaction from us, and I am usually better at being stern, but this was pretty funny), and then he asked why I was laughing. I remembered that he'd been to a farm and indeed, there was poop poop everywhere. Good observation. With that many animals, what else would you expect?

he's a cop!

Imagine Dennis' delight when the calendar revealed that today was Preschool Police Academy! I don't know what all they did, but he insisted on wearing his police jacket (from last year's Christmas). His teacher loved it. He was so proud and kept it on all day. When I saw him at the playground, he was running full tilt and yelled out to me in passing "hi, Mom, I'm catching bad guys!".

Dennis enjoyed a short visit to the library. I left him busily putting together puzzles in the children's section while I searched for some books, and pretty soon a little voice reached my ears, softly inquiring "Mommy, are you back here? I found two books for Uncle Denny!". I looked up to see that he'd found me and was carrying two Tonka truck books. He clarified "well, these are for Uncle Denny to read to me". And he did just that.

Tonight in the car, he delightedly pointed out Halloween decorations on the houses we passed. He asked if it was Halloween yet, and I asked him if he knew what day it was today. He said "it's October five" and I told him that Halloween is on October 31. I asked him if he wanted to go trick-or-treating on Halloween and he said "yes, and I want to go tonight, too" and I asked him if he remembered what to do. He said "you take a bucket and get candy" and I asked him if he remembered what to say. He considered this and said "ummm... Please may I have some candy?". Cute, and it would probably work well but I told him he could just say 'trick-or-treat'. Then I said "say trick-or-treat" and he said "silly Mom--it's not Halloween yet!".

facing 35

This is the laziest day I've spent in a while! I didn't bother to go anywhere or clean anything, indulging in some serious sloth to celebrate my birthday. Dennis sang to me and gave me lots of hugs, and my Facebook page is full of birthday wishes from the people in my network. It was a beautiful day outside and we spent hours out enjoying it. Last night we had my 'party', a campfire and marshmallow roast in the yard for just the three of us. This picture is also from yesterday--Dennis tested out the lick-worthiness of a KitchenAid beater as compared to the old Sunbeam beaters. He approved, and the pear cake was delicious.

Dennis didn't want to stop playing with his bus to take his nap today, so when he got up, I asked him if he was going to play with his bus. He said "no, I'm going to play with my butt!" and wiggled said butt around. Crazy kid. He doesn't ever use the word 'butt' (he tells me it isn't a nice word), so it was funny tonight when he did.

Does anyone else think it's getting dark way early? We took candle lanterns outside with us to play tonight, kind of fun, kind of different, and we stayed out in the dark a full fifteen minutes before Dennis said it was just too dark and wanted to come back in. It was a slow-paced day, but it was a nice one.

it's great outdoors

What a truly beautiful, totally fall day it was today! We made the most of our time outdoors, beginning with the new trash receptacle project. David announced that he had to go and build a box for our trash cans and said he sure did need some help. Dennis said "oh, I have to stop being Pirate Dennis now so I can go and be Handyman Dennis" and took off the pirate hat and sword scabbard (another David project). He emerged moments later from his room with his hard hat on, boots on, and carrying his toy toolbox. He ran to David and helped him carry wood down to the foot of our driveway, then he drove the tools and drill down the drive in his jeep. He told me "Daddy and I are going to work outside--you can go work inside" and then he told me I could take a picture first, so I did. They built a very nice lattice box for the garbage cans, and we are all hoping this will solve the problem we've been having, namely one large black dog that lives here with us and is perfect in all ways except for his affinity for strewing trash across the yard after muscling over the garbage cans and pulling out the bags to empty.

There was also much outdoor play today, and tonight we sat around in front of our newly discovered iron campfire ring, enjoying the warmth of a fire and toasting marshmallows together. We bought the thing years ago, and today found it still in the box, pristine, unassembled, and we put it together and put it to good use!

I harvested the pears from our tree, all four of them (after over a hundred last year, wonder why that is...), and used my handy dandy new mixer to make pear cake. Boy did our house smell good this afternoon! It was one perfect fall day.

new friend

Behold Mommy's gorgeous birthday (and Christmas) present! I have wanted one of these for a long, long time. It's metallic chrome in color, and it looks gorgeous with my stainless steel canisters and brushed nickel cabinet knobs. And tonight, it mixed the ingredients for lemon squares while all three of us gathered around to watch it work. For some reason, Dennis LOVES this mixer. He has been helping me bake a good bit lately, but whenever it was time to run the Mixmaster, he would run from the kitchen and tell me he had to go somewhere quieter. Not with the KitchenAid. He was standing there running the show, turning it on, switching out the beaters, and he finally let David and me touch it when it was time to bake what he'd mixed. Dennis was the one who put the ingredients in the bowl, carefully adding them through the pouring shield. He says he loves this mixer and our other one was just too old and loud! Poor old Sunbeam. I almost hate to see it go, since I grew up with it! But goodness I love this new one--just in time for fall baking! And I'm glad to have an interested little kitchen helper, but I don't know how I'm going to keep his hands off my mixer when we aren't cooking!

Quotes

In the bathroom, just after he pulled up his pants: "well, my work here is done!".

At Lowe's after listening to the overhead announcement too many times: "special assistance needed in the EATING area".

At the barbecue restaurant where we had supper "I want a booger-cue sandwich please".