ear cramps

Have you ever had ear cramps? When Dennis told me this, he was actually sitting on the toilet. I thought he'd invented a new way to tell me his ears hurt, so I was all set to break out the emergency antibiotic. Upon further interrogation, he said that "ear cramps are when your ears go like this" (and he made his hands into puppets, opening and closing them) and he said "and they go cramp, cramp, cramp" in a funny voice. I asked if he was hearing his heart beat in his ears and he said "yes, sometimes when you have to poo-poo really bad you hear that and it's called ear cramps". Well, I learn something new every day! He assures me the cramps are gone now and his ears are just fine. Excellent.

We wrapped up November with "I'm thankful for rectangles and triangles", and after he went to bed, I got out the Advent calendars and the tree for the Advent calendar ornaments. Tonight was the first night we were all together around the table, so we lit the first candle in our Advent wreath and read some verses and a prayer. Dennis loved that but most especially loved blowing out the candle! We had some Christmas festivities tonight--we had a pizza party and watched The Grinch and then we began assembly of our gingerbread house (which should conclude tomorrow night after the purchase of more icing and a more favorable squeezing apparatus). Lots of fun, and lots more to come!

super fun bath

I heard happy screams and delighted laughter from the tub this morning. David came in to tell me that he let Dennis put on his snorkel gear to take his bath this morning. He told me all about his scuba bath, so proud that he was "a real scuba diver now". Didn't tell him about air tanks and regulators and certification classes--he's got a few years yet!

Today I spent coughing so much that I actually hurt. Dennis was again patient with my need to lie around. He napped easily and long today, so I wonder if he's a bit under the weather as well. It could just actually be the weather, rainy and cold, depressingly gray out--he's always subdued on rainy days. When he did wake from his nap, David was home for lunch break and heard him calling me (I didn't hear). When I noticed the light on, I went in and Dennis told me "I called and called you Mommy" and I apologized for not hearing him when he asked "were you too busy coughing to hear me?". Yep, that's about right.

Today he was thankful for "the drinks that I drink". Yesterday it was his wagon. It's nearly time to take down the November 'thankful' tree and put out the Advent calendar (which I organized yesterday). Time's just racing toward Christmas now!

yo-yo bedtimes

I am suffering from Deep Chest Crud, so I certainly appreciate that Dennis was able to largely entertain himself today while I reclined on various horizontal furnishings nearby. We watched way too much television, of course, but we also played pirate (my nice log four poster bed was a pirate ship, and he marched around, saying he was trimming the sails) and fireman (where he donned my black high heeled dress boots along with his helmet and jacket and periodically asked me if I'd heard the alarm go off yet). I dozed off, and when I woke, he'd watched an infomercial. He said "I just learned how to make a Big Top Cupcake--we need to buy the kit and make one!". Fabulous. I'll let Santa know.

Dennis did show an extraordinary amount of patience with my being too sick to play with him today, but he wasn't so great about napping or going to bed. I'd put him down only to have him popping right back up moments later with some silly excuse for his inability to sleep. Down to bed, up again, down again, up again--we must have spent two hours on getting him to stay in bed today and tonight. I've got to come up with a better plan! And I've got to get over this cold, which was not totally unexpected given that It always happens to me with major sudden climate change (Thursday--nearly 80 degrees, Friday--nearly 50 degrees).

salvation according to Dennis

Every day something happens, and I think 'yep, that's it, that's what I'll blog about today.' And it just happened. Dennis is lonely for company besides mine, and he misses his Gigi. I decided to let him open a gift from her, one of the boxful she sent for Christmas. It's a box of miniatures of the Toy Story toys, and his joy upon opening it was amazing! He asked to make her a thank-you video right away, so we did and emailed it to her. Then he said "I am thankful for all the people that I love." I told him he was my favorite person and he said "Mommy, I just love you. But sometimes you are bad and you need to be in Time Out, and sometimes I am bad and need to be in Time Out, too. Jesus doesn't like it when we do bad things. But it's okay because God sent His son to take away our bad things. And Jesus tells us the things we should do. And God tells us what we should do, too. I sure do know a lot about Jesus!". Yes, he does. And I am thankful that he has such an understanding of these concepts! What a blessing he is to me every single day.

missing them already

It took a wagonload of patience and understanding to get Dennis to take his nap today. He threw a screaming and kicking tantrum, got back up and came downstairs, and cried that he just wanted to go home. I wanted to stay and enjoy the family, so I made him nap at Gran's today. After the screaming didn't work, he wailed pitifully for 10 minutes and finally admitted that he just really missed his cousins (who had just left). He wailed "why can't they just stay here?". (I remember feeling that way when Michael left for Utah years ago!). I had to rub Dennis' back and play soothing music and snuggle til he fell asleep. He called me from his phone when he woke up, and we returned from shopping to spend time with him.

Today Dennis and I decorated Gran's and Pop's Christmas tree, and we sat around by the fire and chatted with everyone for hours. What a special holiday this one has been, especially watching the three children enjoying each other so much! There were more antics today before they left, and I was amused when I caught Dennis and Mirella each holding onto an end of one of those old exercise bands made of two metal handles with springs stretched between them. They were moving it back and forth, and I heard them talking about "sawing a tree". And Dennis liked it when Caedmon came to snuggle on the couch with him as they watched PBS.

Today we have so much to be thankful for! Dennis reports that he is thankful for "the TV that I watch and the houses that I visit".

Thanksgiving gone wild

This is the first Thanksgiving holiday where we dressed up. I don't mean we wore our church clothes, I mean we DRESSED UP. We were Pilgrims and Indians, much to the kids' delight. Dennis and I were in full pilgrim garb, Mirella was in her full Indian dress, and the others were wearing accents that denoted them as either pilgrim or indian. Several of the guys wore loincloths (over their pants) and headbands with feathers. Women wore aprons or hair coverings or both, and a couple wore indian headbands. We were a festive bunch this year! Dennis spent most of his day as a pilgrim, but switched tribes for awhile after dinner and donned an indian headband. He re-pilgrimmed later, though, and we had to peel the costume off his sleeping self when we got home tonight and put him to bed.

Oh, the playing! Michael told me he found Dennis and Mirella at the top of the stairs, attempting to tie a ribbon to Gran's bedroom doorknob, with the ribbon trailing over the balcony rail to the bottom floor. Were they going rapelling? And later he saw Mirella perched at the top of the stairs on a cardboard 'toboggan' while Dennis stood lower on the stairs to catch her as she sledded down the hill. I asked him about it tonight and he said "we don't slide down the stairs, Mommy, we only slide down slides or toboggan down snowy mountains" so Michael's lecture clearly got through to him. There was much loud running going on, and a game of croquet involving the wheelchair ramp that was pretty funny, but we worried when they got quiet!

We were all so thankful for our blessings today. This morning, Dennis gave me his thankful list as soon as he woke up. He said he was thankful for "the costumes that I wear, the music that I listen to, and the bubblegum that I chew". Well said. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone--hope your day was as wonderful as ours was.

cousin fun

The buildup to the arrival of Dennis' cousins just about did me in! He told me he wanted to go to the doctor, so we got all ready and then he said he wasn't sick at all and didn't want to go anymore. He wanted to watch a Christmas movie instead. When it ended, he knew it was naptime and so cried pitifully, saying he was SO sick and needed to see his doc. We went. He isn't sick, really, but we've been given a backup antibiotic in case he gets a fever over the long holiday weekend. And he never napped, just ran around asking if we could go see his cousins yet!

We got to Gran's and Pop's house and he ran in to see Caedmon and Mirella (it's been a year and a half since they were together, I believe). He ran back out and said to me "they are here but they are singing right now and I'm kind of scared." He ran out into the garden to see them and told them he'd brought toys to share and the three of them happily played with the wooden trains and tracks. They also played roller coaster and tornado in the big Christmas tree box, and when they were in the car together, I heard Dennis and Caedmon making up fairly elaborate stories to tell. I can't imagine when he's ever had more fun.

Today he was thankful for "the games that I play".

high fashion handyman

I didn't know what I might write about tonight until I got home and David told me about his evening. I left Dennis with him while I went shopping and to the lake to deliver groceries. Sure, Dennis and I had a nice day at school, enjoying the Thanksgiving 'feast' with all the classes (popcorn, apples, cheese, cornbread). And we were honored to get a phone call from church asking us to be one of the families that will light an Advent candle in the traditional service and read a scripture or something--our week is December 5. And, after we left school, I heard Dennis find his cell phone and call Gran and invite her to eat lunch with us and I heard him say "at San Marcos, we will see you there, bye!". She called me on my phone to confirm! We had a nice meal with both Gran and Pop there, and it was all his doing (I thought we'd just go home for sandwiches, but he apparently had other plans in mind).

The best thing was tonight, though, when David told me they were watching a movie together and Dennis suddenly decided to pull David's socks off. He went to put them on himself and discovered they were very long dress socks, thigh high on Dennis, so he disappeared. When he reappeared, he'd removed his pajamas, put on the sock-hose, put on red-white-and-blue plaid shorts and an olive green t-shirt, put on his royal blue Vestavia ball cap, donned his fire boots, and had his toolbox in hand. He announced that he was dressed and ready for work. He climbed under his table and made David hand him tools from his box as he made his repairs. The difference between David and me in this situation? I'd have most assuredly snapped a picture!

He was thankful for the cars that he plays with and the food at San Marcos today.

It's the most wonderful time...

I don't know if Dennis is going to be able to hold out for Christmas! He asks me if it's Christmas yet twice a day at least! He likes to go out at night so he can see Christmas lights, and in fact makes up reasons to leave the house after dark. Tonight he told me "I really love Christmas lights--they are so beautiful!".

He's starting to get into the Thanksgiving spirit finally. He asked me if we could make "hand turkeys" today, so we traced, drew faces on, colored, and cut out our hand prints. Then he said "I meant for us to make hand turkey COOKIES, Mommy; we can't eat these paper ones and we can't put them in the oven." And I remembered us reading (weeks ago) about a recipe idea for turkey handprint sugar cookies. I'm betting there's no way he'll forget about it before Thursday, so I foresee cookie baking in my very near future. Oh, well. Good opportunity to use my new mixer...

Oh, the thankfulness! Today there were so many things! He started with "the food we eat" and as the day progressed would randomly pipe up with "Mommy, you know what else I'm thankful for?" and would tell me things like "the dog and cat we have" and "you, Mommy" (awwwww!) and "Jesus and God, too" and "the cars I play with". He said "I am thankful for lots of things!". Me too, me too. Especially for a child with a thankful heart!

stage fright

Today was Preschool Sunday at church, and Dennis stood at the front with all the other little ones from his school. The music started and he looked like a deer caught in headlights. He did some hand motions, looked around a good bit, picked his nose once, and spent the rest of his time 'on stage' staring at all the people crammed into the sanctuary. We dutifully video taped every second of it, like good parents do, but there wasn't a bit of singing from our kid's mouth! When we asked him about it afterward, he said "I was too nervous to sing!". The church kids have a performance scheduled for the evening of December 12, and I wonder if he'll be the same way then!

We returned to the church this afternoon to decorate for Christmas. I thought I'd be watching a herd of children so that other parents could decorate, but Dennis was the only little one. He helped as much as he could! He and I took the cornucopia and fruit from the altar and changed the banner from green to purple in preparation for Advent. Dennis supervised the placing of the Advent wreath and the hanging of the large wreaths on the organ pipes. And he and I put the candles and greenery on the windowsills. He helped the men assemble and decorate the tree (he hung all the ornaments on two branches at the bottom, all he could reach, and when he'd turn his back, the men would stealthily move them higher on the tree) and helped me sweep and vacuum up faux pine needles. He climbed to the balcony to see if they needed some help with draping the garland. He raided my purse for my new stash of chewing gum and took a piece to everyone that was there, solemnly informing them "we don't swallow gum" as he handed out the sticks. He played the piano and would have played the organ as well if he could have gotten it to come on! He was everyone's darling, and he loved all the praise and the opportunity to socialize with everyone.

Today he was thankful for "the food that we eat" and "for our good dog".

airport/fire station

We played outside for a nice long time today. We used Dennis' play tower as either an air traffic control tower or as the fire station. He and I took turns being either the Air Traffic Controller (who stood in the tower and directed the 'plane') or being the airplane. The 'plane' got to run around with arms outstretched like wings, making appropriate engine noises, while the controller yelled out where to land or take off. The dog was a plane each time, but he seemed to understand the game--whenever Dennis told him to land, he'd sit, prompting Dennis to encourage him by saying "good airplane". The trouble came when Dennis told him to take off again after he got comfortable! Dennis would say "that plane needs some maintenance" and would climb down and wrestle him until he began running around again. The fire station play was the same as usual: climb up the tower, sound the alarm, slide down the pole, get in the 'truck', make siren noises, arrive on scene, haul out the 'extinguishers' (toy gas pump and large watering can), douse the fire, high five each other, drive back to the station, climb up tower, repeat entire sequence... Big fun! He loves to manage our play, and I love to watch his imagination run wild, so I'm happy to be bossed!

Today he was thankful for "the pumpkins that we got." Tonight we shopped with Gran, and Dennis knows that if he behaves himself, he'll get to look at the toys. We were in Ross, shopping around, when he said "could we please go look at the toys while I'm still being sweet?". He said it was getting hard to keep being good!

early thanks

What a wonderful day the three of us spent together, David's only off day in the foreseeable future. We worked on things around our home today and spent lots of time playing with Dennis. Dennis was so happy about all the togetherness, and I think we all three feel the contentment and renewal of a day spent at home with our own little family.

We all made some ornaments together this evening, setting up "our own Santa's workshop" as Dennis called our library/craft room tonight. David make turkey, stuffing, and green beans for supper and surprised us with some sparkling grape juice that he'd bought, turning our little family day into a real special occasion. We called it a little Thanksgiving preview, and we loved it!

The morning was spent sorting Legos into his new Lego organizer system and then riding bikes outside. Today he was thankful for "the family we got in this whole wide world." I wonder if it's a reference to Gigi going to meet family way over in Scotland--our family is spread pretty far in the world right now.

Dennis seemed to realize he was home about 4:45 this morning, and he sort of sleep-walked into our room and told us his bed had cracked. We went to check (as he climbed back in) and didn't see anything different about it. He said sleepily "there's a hole here I could fall down into" and we looked to see him indicating with his little pointing finger the inch-and-a-half gap between the mattress and headboard. We moved his pillow to cover it, assured him he wouldn't fall in, and watched as he yawned "okay" and fell immediately to sleep. I wonder what he was dreaming!

The picture is from his stay with Gran and Pop yesterday. Army Man Dennis (as we must call him when the hat is on) is in the middle of a covert op stalking Bad Guy Koi, I suppose. Looks like fun to me!

adventures with Gran and Pop

Dennis spent the majority of his day with Gran and Pop while I Christmas shopped, and I thought he'd spend the night there as well until I got a sad little phone call from him asking to come home. He had a wonderful time with them, playing Army Men in the yard, painting, helping Pop with yardwork, making brownies (and licking the bowl), helping with dinner, and sitting by the fireplace telling stories. He didn't want me to come and get him right away because he was still having fun, but he wanted to come home tonight even if we picked him up after he fell asleep. Maybe he's testing us, but he's home in his bed now and I wonder if he even knows it since he never woke up during his journey from there to here.

I heard about grand adventures in the garden, covert military ops and interrogations, story telling by the fireplace, all things instigated by Dennis. He told them a ghost story about a Dennis ghost that ate people ("because the food for ghosts is people") and pooped them out. He would point to each of them and tell them what kind of story to tell next (fireman story, train story, etc). They did this for an hour or more, and he wanted to sleep in there by the fire and wait for us to bring him home. It sounds like a rather incredible Dennis day, dictated and run solely by his imagination. Gran and Pop had a blast with him running the show, and I had a blast hearing about it from both Gran and Dennis on his periodic cell phone calls to inform me what he was doing (he's really something with his little phone!).

Today he was thankful for "the trees, the people, the planets, the sun, and the houses." I had to write fast to catch it all!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Why, yes, that IS a picture of Dennis decorating his personal Christmas tree before Thanksgiving (a violation of Daddy's sacred rule). All the ornaments on this tree are significant to him, many of them made by him, some given to him or chosen by him, etc. The Christmas anticipation is HUGE here. He asks every few hours if it's Christmas yet! Heck, I'd probably have a tree up as well if the tree farms were open yet (and I'd have one dried out evergreen come Christmas).

This morning Dennis attended (via preschool field trip) his first play. The Birmingham Children's Theater group came to a local school, and all the preschool parents (of several local preschools) brought their kids to enjoy it. Though I was disappointed to see that we were sitting on the floor of a gym to watch the play (and it was difficult to hear), the performance of The Frog Prince was quite good and held Dennis' rapt attention for the full three-quarters of an hour. David and I enjoyed it as well .

Today Dennis was thankful for "the church we go to every day." It has seemed like we've been there every day lately, but we've sure enjoyed it!

a happy heart

Tonight we wrapped up Renew 2010 at church (another one of those obscure Methodist name deals, oh how I love those), which was essentially a revival type deal where we met for 2 services a day for 3 days to renew our faith and commitment. It was wonderful, and the messages were so thought-provoking and uplifting. Dennis enjoyed his program as well, and tonight when I picked him up, he was holding a tongue depressor with a large footprint taped to it. I asked him what that was about, and he said "this means we have to go out in the world and tell people about Jesus and that He died on the cross for us." Amazed, I asked why He did that, and he told me "because He loves us and took our punishment for us." Big stuff from a 3 year old. He insisted on shaking our pastors' hands before we left (as he does at every church visit) and he showed them both his foot and told each of them his message. Brother Brian told him 'Dennis, you make my heart happy.' Dennis apparently thought about this on the way home, because some time after we got here, he said "Mommy, do you know what? God makes my heart super happy." All of it was heartwarming to me!

The picture shows him displaying his sticky Sour Straw coated hands (he calls them 'sour worms'). He wanted to know if the dog would like them, and I said that dogs don't like candy. Dennis said "well, he eats garbage! He likes everything!".

Today he was thankful for "the cars that drive on the highway."

bedtime story lessons

Our special church service ran a bit long tonight (but was SO wonderful!), and I glanced at my watch on our way to get Dennis from the children's class. They'd had him nearly two hours! I wondered how the volunteer teachers were holding up (rain = no playground time) and as I passed the 2 year old nursery, a worker called out "are they finished yet?". She looked a bit frantic. We walked into Dennis' class to see a kid in Time Out (thankfully not ours), but everyone was otherwise happy. I asked Dennis what they did and he told me about children in Mongolia who don't have enough to eat. (They are learning about missionaries this week). He said "and then we played Quiet Mouse", and David and I had to laugh! It must have gotten wild in there for a game of Quiet Mouse to be instituted. He told me later that they also played Simon Says and he really liked it.

Tonight we told him to get ready for bed and we'd read him a bedtime story as usual. He told us he was going to read to us instead. He dragged his Cracker Barrel rocking chair over to face our chairs and then said "I'll need my reading glasses and then I can read you a story." I fetched his new sunglasses, the ones that look like real glasses with flip-up lenses (bought to keep him from swiping and wearing our eyeglasses). He put them on, announced he could see better, cleared his throat, then actually read us a book (one of his short BOB books). We thanked him profusely. Then we had to read to him about the human body (like we did last night) again, so we talked about his skeleton and bones. He is so interested in this subject, and the book I ordered for him about it will be in this week! Last night we talked about everything: bones, skin, muscles, lungs and breathing, blood, ears and hearing, digestive tract, eyes, brain, kidneys and intestines, and he took in every word. I also think he took in how long we spent going over it all in the kids' encyclopedia and how many pages were involved. He saw a big opportunity to delay tonight's bedtime by asking to hear it again! It's hard to stop for bedtime when he's so eager to learn (and he knows we feel this way!).

Army dog

We were trying to get out the door to go somewhere (why is this such a Herculean effort?!) when Dennis disappeared. I muttered quietly to David "where is the little turkey now?" when a small voice piped up from the other end of our house "one turkey, coming right up!" as he ran toward us. Gotta watch what I say out loud about him!

Tonight we were at Gran's after church when Dennis announced he wanted to play Army Men. He tried to recruit all of us to his platoon to no avail, so he scooped up Hobbs and proclaimed that he was an Army Dog. Hobbs wasn't terribly interested--he wanted to sniff out chocolate rather than land mines. I did get a quick picture on my phone of their patrol unit before they were discharged to other adventures. Dennis passed gas rather boisterously then and announced it to us all. He followed that with the comment "ewwww--someone has stinky feet--it's GRAN!". She looked down at her slipper-clad feet and looked back at him in amusement, so he reached out and pulled off her slippers and said it again, adding "we can smell them now! They are so stinky!". He went to great lengths to pass the blame for his own stink, but none of us bought it! He's such a guy.

Today he was thankful for "Gran and Pop's new dog".

firsts

Raising a child means experiencing a lot of "firsts", something I didn't much think about when we decided to bring Dennis into the world. Sure, I expected first words, first steps, first day of school, all those kinds of things, but the smaller firsts are awfully rewarding as well. Last night, for instance, he did something pretty neat. He told me he wanted to go to Gigi's house today. She's about to be leaving on a big trip, so I had to tell him we couldn't, and he asked "well, can we send a letter to her mailbox?". I thought this was a great idea, even more great when I found out that he wanted to write the letter himself (his first letter!). He had to ask which letters to use to make it say what he wanted it to say (To Gigi I love you love Dennis), and it took him both sides of a sheet of paper to write his message, but he did it entirely on his own. He's very into writing now, and tonight after he read a couple of his BOB books to me, he insisted on writing the words he'd read. He decided to try writing a few numbers as well, and I just watched in amazement. Then he drew a Dennis (he likes to draw himself), and it's nice that the people he draws are actually recognizable as people.

Today we played our first game of hopscotch. We took the sidewalk chalk outside to enjoy the pretty non-November-ish afternoon, and he wrote letters and traced his handprint. Then he asked if we could "draw a hopscotch", so I accommodated him as he supervised ("now you draw a bunch of squares and you write numbers in them--I will go and find some rocks"). I'm pleased that he knows what the game is and how to play it given that it's been a few years since I have played! The dog invaded our hopscotch game, so it became more of a hopscotch obstacle course, but we had a good laugh at any rate.

There were, as usual, some humorous things he said. He asked if it was Christmas Eve yet (except he said "Christmas Een"), and I explained that we still had to get through Thanksgiving. He sighed heavily and said "grrrrrrrrr--I hate Thanksgiving!". I asked why and he said "it's getting in the way of Christmas." And he also told me that he wanted to be a "vampire pilgrim" for Thanksgiving (once he decided he didn't hate it anymore). I'm curious to see how this pans out. And when I was on the computer earlier to check email, he was irritated that he didn't have my full attention and so took off his socks and tossed them onto the computer keyboard. Yuck. He knows how I love dirty socks. Finally, tonight as I was tucking him in, I told him I loved him even when he was being a little monster (like he was today), and he said "and I love you even when you are a BIG monster and I love Daddy even when he's a BIGGER monster." I think he'll probably spend the rest of the night inventing excuses to get out of bed--he just wandered in to tell us that he needs a night night snack and a special night night drink. And then he said he was cold, went to my winter gear drawer, pulled out a scarf, put it on, and ran as we chased him to get it back. He says it's a superhero cape (and has the ends dangling down his back). Might be a long night.

Today he was thankful for "the firemen who spray out the fires and rescue the people."

lesser known superhero

Dennis was in the bathroom just now (because I was in there and I am NOT ALLOWED to be alone in there, EVER), and I was attempting to distract him to keep him from trying to sit on the open dryer door (because a new dryer is not on my list of things to buy in the near future and I'd like to keep it that way). I told him he was too heavy, and he wanted to know HOW heavy he was, so he weighed himself. Still 37, as he has been since spring, but that's too heavy for the dryer door for sure! He let out some nice manly farts as he was settling onto the scale, giggling as he did so. I told him he sure was gassy tonight, and he said "I AM POOPER MAN--I can poop on people because I HAVE THE POWER TO POOP" (this last said as he raised a power-fisted straight arm up in the air). The he and his Toxic Gas Cloud raced off down the hallway (presumably to terrorize nice-smelling bad guys).

First thing this morning he asked "Is it Christmas Day?", and I had to reply that no, it was November 12. He said "Oh. In that case, I am thankful for the soldiers who are keeping our country safe." What a nice thing to be thankful for--I guess the Veterans Day festivities made an impression on him!

honoring our veterans

Happy Veterans Day! We've spent more time thinking about this particular holiday in 2010 than any year I can remember. Last Sunday at church we honored our veterans, last night at church a veteran talked to all the children about his service, and today we attended the Veterans Day parade in Birmingham. I learned today that this is the oldest and largest celebration anywhere, and it certainly was a big deal! We clapped and clapped for all the soldiers and veterans, enjoyed the marching bands and floats (and the Shriners' antics), and had a very nice day downtown. I thought often of the veterans in the family and felt proud of their contribution to our freedom. Dennis clapped so hard for all the soldiers and was so enthralled with their uniforms and marching skills. We are so glad Ellen invited us to join her and Chloe there, and the kids (and mommies) had a great time together all day.

Dennis got out his nativity set this morning (he calls it his 'activity set') and set up all the figures. He even pretended to be the angel. I heard him making the angel tell Mary "Mary, you are going to have a baby. You will call him Jesus, and he will be great." So today, he decided that he was thankful for the shepherds. And he's learning to sing Away in a Manger--currently his favorite Christmas song.

Have you ever?

"Mommy, have you ever seen a space man playing a violin?" he asked, out of the blue. I turned to see him holding a screwdriver in perfect violin position, and he was playing it with a second screwdriver as a bow.

Today he said he was thankful for "the stars in the nighttime" and I agreed that they are indeed praiseworthy.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and Dennis has lots of questions about soldiers and wars and good guys and bad guys, hard questions to answer. I told him the Veterans were soldiers who kept our country safe, and he asked if we could go home and play "Army Men and Indians". As I was about to tell him that the army men and Indians didn't fight, I remembered General Custer. Granted, those army men didn't much look like his little green guys with their helmets and guns and bazookas, but yes the army fought the Indians. I'm going to have to be more vigilant with my brain.

merry November

Gigi is here for a visit, and Dennis is so excited to be with her! She came to see us before she heads off to the UK for her vacation. This is our Christmas with her, since she will be gone for the holidays. Dennis told her he had a surprise present for her as he ran out to meet her at her car, and then he announced what it was: a birdhouse that he painted for her.

Since it's our Christmas with her, we decided to take advantage of Santa's early arrival at his workshop at Bass Pro Shop in Prattville. We saw lights and trees, snowmen and reindeer, busy elves, and the Big Guy himself. Dennis told him he only wanted one thing (but we didn't hear what it was), so later he had to go back and tell him some things he forgot about. We wrote a letter (Dennis signed his own name--I'm so proud!) and put it in the mailbox there with direct delivery to the North Pole. Dennis watched a Christmas train going around the tracks, played some archery games, and made a reindeer ornament. He had a WONDERFUL time, and we enjoyed watching him have such a good time.

snotty D

This morning, he tried on his vampire costume and doctor costume, and just when I got out the phone to snap his picture, he announced "no, that game is over--no more taking pictures of my costumes. We aren't playing that anymore." So David snapped this one covertly, catching him by calling his name and snapping it as soon as he turned around. Today, he was thankful for "the trees in the fall" and I think that's a spectacular thing to be thankful for and often say thanks to God for that very thing.

Tonight he watched Peter Pan at Uncle Denny's house while Gran and I were out walking, and I timed my return about 3 minutes too late. He was crying at the door when I arrived, and I knelt down and scooped him up in my lap to console him. He probably would have been fine on any day in which he'd taken a nap, but that didn't happen today. They were watching the movie together and when it ended, he was ready to go and I wasn't there (guilt, guilt, guilt), but I was right outside! He calmed down some and was burrowing his head into my neck. This morphed into him rubbing his nose on my cheek, and it occurred to me that he was smearing snot on my face while he was doing so. Sure enough, when he pulled back his face, a tiny booger was adhering to the outside of his left nostril. I told him how disgusting that was (as Uncle Denny looked on in horror and agreed), and Dennis said "I'm going to write with my nose, a straight line and a half circle." Before I knew it, he was smearing his nose across my cheek in the shape of a capital D. Very nice. Sure hope Clorox wipes are safe on skin...

superfriends

What a super day we had! We had a very nice day at church that included a luncheon and a Christmas ornament painting party. Dennis was completely exhausted when we got home and he napped for a couple of hours. When he got up, I surprised him by appearing in my new SuperGirl costume. He donned his Iron Man costume and we ran around for a while, saving our home from mayhem and bad guys. Or maybe we were creating the mayhem as we were saving the earth from bad guys... Now I've got to find a coordinating hero outfit for SuperDaddy somewhere.

Today he said he was thankful for his friends. It was nice getting to see him interact with those friends at Sunday School and at lunch. They socialized while they painted, and then they watched the Grinch together while the mothers finished up the ornament work. Speaking of socializing, we almost didn't get to eat our lunch because he kept getting up and going to talk to various church members that he knows and that know him. He greeted both pastors, and talked to Brother Brian (who was in his Navy uniform in honor of Veterans Day--we honored all the vets at this morning's service). Dennis was enchanted by the Navy uniform. He walked up to Brother Brian and said "I had to come and see your soldier costume--it's COOL." They chatted about the Navy and ships and submarines, guy things, before Dennis started jumping up and down and shouting "oh yeah!", and then we were off to see everyone else. I think it's just wonderful that he is so comfortable with the church folks and so happy to speak to everyone. So many people call his name and shake his hand or high five him every time we're there! It's, well, just super!

costume sale!

Why yes, that IS a magician at my front door. Wal-Mart marked the Halloween costumes down to WAY CHEAP ($1.40 for kid costume), so we loaded up. He's been asking me for a magician set, so I was thrilled to find one his size. And for $1.40. So I went back to the racks--they were still marked $3.50 or $4.75, so it was a pleasant surprise at the register--and added Iron Man, a vampire, and a doctor to our collection. And got myself a costume as well ($3.50). Dennis was beside himself with joy when he saw his new dress-up stuff (and I am kicking myself for not adding that to his Christmas stash, but he'll enjoy them now). He BEGGED to put on Iron Man before we went to Gran's for supper, but I told him it was too cold out. He settled for the magician outfit, and he greeted Gran at her door with a wide-legged stance, wand-out, "abracadabra, al-a-kazaam, PRESTO!". He wondered why she didn't disappear. Cheap wand, I guess.

He donned the Iron Man outfit as soon as we got in the door, stripping out of his clothes in the kitchen and breakfast room. He zoomed around the house like we'd given him sugar laced with caffeine in huge doses. He climbed and jumped off furniture, telling us Iron Man could fly and was busy training to fight bad guys. He kept this up for nearly an hour. Iron Man greeted Pop at the door, and we all sat down to dinner. Gran told Dennis that Iron Man had to take off his mask to eat, she'd seen him do it. He replied, "no, he keeps his mask on to do it--I've seen him eat." I asked him when he saw this (really we don't know how he knows who Iron Man even is). He replied "on Tuesday" and began eating his supper. We had a good laugh. After supper, he was marching around the table (well, racing around the table) when Pop asked him why he was so wild. He said "I pushed my BAD button" and began shouting "BAD! BAD! BAD!" in a growly voice as he raced around. I grabbed him as he flew past my chair, poked him in the tummy, and said "there, I pushed your GOOD button." He stopped, looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, shook his head tersely one time, said "nah", and then pushed his stomach again at the same spot where I got him. Then he resumed his racing and chanting "BAD! BAD!". We have no idea where this concept came from. We've never said 'bad button' or 'good button' before. The badness took hold, though, and wrestling him out of the Iron Man costume and into his clothes so we could go grocery shopping turned into a major ordeal. And when we got outside, he said "can I take my pants off in the street?". Crazy little guy. I can see we're going to have to institute an 'all pants, all the time' rule around here.

Oh, and today he was thankful for "all the places we go to". Nice one!

Not so much, no

This is the newest addition to the family. Not at my house, no, but Gran's and Pop's. He's a Malti-poo and he'll be moving in with them next week sometime. We went to meet him today. He and Dennis became instant friends.

Today, I was recovering the socks that Dennis and I argued about from under the bed clothes. I told him to take them off before his nap, he screeched and tucked his feet under his rear end and insisted that he needed to keep them on. Naturally, he got hot during his nap and pulled them off and tossed them (as he does every time). I searched the covers and he finally pointed to where he'd flung them--the corner of the room. I handed them to him and watched him put them on, telling him "you have the cutest toes". He replied "yep--AND I have the cutest poop". Yeah...no. Cute isn't a word that comes to mind.

Today he's thankful for his pirate sword. I don't know that I'm all that thankful for it, though!

the gratitude project

A few days back I wrote about the great Thanksgiving tree calendar that Grandma made for us. I've asked Dennis each day what he's thankful for, written it on a scrap of paper, then had him find the pocket with the corresponding number to the day of the month and insert the paper. This is what we've gotten so far. On the first day, he was thankful for his Legos. On the second day, he was thankful for his snack. On the third day, he was thankful for his eyeballs. And today, he said he was thankful for "all the people that live in Alabama." He is spending the night with Gran and Pop tonight. Sure is quiet here at home!

little writer!

Dennis learned a new skill today. He told me late this afternoon that he wanted to learn to write his name. We worked on it for a little while before we went to church, and when I picked him up from his class, I saw that he had written letter D's all over his papers. In the car on the way home, he was saying "D-E-N-N-I-S" and writing his name in the air with his finger. He put pen to paper (or dry erase marker to dry erase board, as it were) when we got home, and with a little more coaching and a little more practice, he wrote his name completely by himself, twice. We are so proud! Maybe it's typical for a three-year-old, we don't know, but we think he's phenomenal! He also remembered one time a few months back when he was asking me for a cake at Wal-Mart and I told him we would let him choose his own one day when he learned to write his name by himself. It happened sooner than I anticipated, and we found ourselves at Wal-Mart pretty late this evening. He picked out a miniature Black Forest cake. He told the greeter on the way in that he was getting a cake to celebrate learning to write his name by himself (and he called Gran and told her the same thing). When the cashier asked him what his cake was for, he said "dessert!" and grabbed the bag and took off. The little bit he shared with us was delicious, and he insisted on saving the rest to share with Gran and Pop tomorrow.

election day

I asked Dennis to accompany me to the courthouse to vote today. He wanted to know what voting was, so I told him we were going to choose the people who are going to be in charge of the state of Alabama and the people who will make the rules. He said "I will do that--I can be in charge. Vote for me, Mom." He'd probably do a better job than some! He helped me mark the ballot where I told him to and put the completed ballot into the machine. He turned in our folder and pencil to the volunteers, who were completely charmed by him and insisted on giving him an "I voted" sticker. He's so proud.

teaching gratitude

A new holiday season is here! Thanks to Grandma's incredible sewing skills, we have a beautiful new November calendar in our house. It's like an Advent calendar, 30 pockets for the 30 days of the month. The premise is that we write something on a piece of paper each day, something we're thankful for, and put it in that day's pocket. Today Dennis said he was thankful for his Legos, so that's what we put in today's calendar pocket.

We had some projects to do today, the major one being a 'feather' that we had to decorate for preschool. Each family got a paper feather to cut out and decorate with things we are thankful for, and tomorrow all the feathers will be put on a turkey on the bulletin board in the hallway. Dennis painted our feather red (his favorite color) and we decorated it with a picture of us and various stickers and scrapbook things. Dennis is very proud of it and can't wait to take it to school tomorrow. The other thing was a nature walk to find 10 signs of autumn--an activity we had to do for his AWANA Cubbies class Wednesday night. We had a nice time playing outside and talking about fall. We pointed to different colors of leaves and crunched through the ones on the ground. Dennis said "and pine trees don't lose their leaves, right Mommy?". We also had to draw pictures representing the six days of creation, and Dennis did a nice job with that. He's getting pretty handy with a crayon these days! Question of the day: "Mommy, have you ever seen a parrot eating ice cream?".