2011 ends

All day we've been fielding questions about why the year is ending and what that means and is it going to be summer soon because he hates summer... We let him stay up late. We watched the celebration in New York City on television and I elected not to tell him it was a different time zone. I thought I might get him to sleep before midnight. I was wrong. But we blew our noisemakers and wore our silly hats and wished each other a happy new year at 11, and David went on to sleep. Dennis was up until much later!

Dennis resolves "to do great stuff and eat candy" in the new year. Sounds good to me!

A major ouch

Yesterday I stepped on a Transformer toy in our living room. Dennis has absolutely run out of space to play in his room, and all his new stuff is still in our living room. I believe it was a Dino-bot that I stepped on, and when I checked the bot for damage, I didn't see any. I never thought to check my foot, but it hurt for longer than it should have. And it woke me up this morning, throbbing, and I thought that maybe I should have checked it before being on it all day yesterday. I hobbled to the bathroom and tried my best to twist the bottom of my foot toward the light, trying to focus my bleary just-woken-up eyes on what was apparently a small puncture on my sole. I saw what might have been a black sliver of something or what might have been the beginning of a scab or a line of dirt. I cleaned it, and when I prodded it with tweezers, clear liquid gushed out, sending me into the kind of faint feeling low blood sugar moment that I get every once in a while when donating blood for tests or for needy people. I managed to apply antibiotic ointment and a big band-aid before hobbling to the kitchen in search of sugar. I really thought I might pass out, and I was scared for Dennis. I must have looked terrible because he hovered around, asking me what happened. When he found out it was a Transformer injury, he apologized dozens of times and gave me many hugs. I got over it soon enough, rested with my foot propped up for a while, and then carried on as normal. We worked some in the den, putting all our board games into our new cabinets flanking the fireplace (a hand-me-down from Granddaddy), and then we played outside, shooting hoops and exploring. We spent a nice half hour sitting on our porch and chatting, waiting for David to come home. I love our new porch!! We all do, even (maybe especially) the dogs and cat. Dennis rode around on his little ATV. Somewhere in his room he found a whistle and played coach. He directed me on our basketball court, blowing his whistle to tell me when to shoot, when not to shoot, when I scored, when Lemonade rebounded the ball for us... So it's really no surprise that I had a major migraine tonight. Whistles are SHRILL. But after all our playing, all my work in the den, when David got home, Dennis announced "Mom cut her foot on one of my Dino-bots and she had to be in bed all day long!". Grrrr. He remembers what he wants to, I suppose. I guess he's like my Mommy Time Clock, keeping track of the times when I'm not completely at his beck and call. Good thing he isn't in charge of payroll.

Hoops!

We spent lots of time yesterday clearing off a decade's worth of leaves and debris from our side patio, which is really just a large concrete slab extended from the side of our house outside our bedroom and the library. Dennis got an adjustable basketball goal for Christmas--actually it was a gift for all 3 of us--and David assembled it. Dennis will, I hope, play Upward Basketball at church next fall, and as a kindergartner, he will use a basket height of 7 & 1/2 feet. So after we cleaned off the slab that is now our family basketball court, we set up the goal (at that particular height) and shot hoops for a while. We all enjoyed it, playing outdoors together, relishing in a family day at home. David had an off day, and he did lots of projects around here. The fireplace is nearly finished. The grout is on but not sealed. The den is halfway rearranged. Dennis has a mailbox installed on his play tower. We've taken down all the Christmas decorations, and we watched Dennis ride for hours on his 4 wheeler and his bicycle (with its newly installed horn and bike bag).

He asked me today if I knew how much he loved me. I asked how much, and he told me "I love you 12 million kisses worth!". What a sweetie! I love him at least that much.

on holiday weight gain

The weather has taken a bit of a cold turn the past couple of days. As such, I've been hanging out in big cozy sweatpants and sweatshirts. Dennis was observing me in the checkout line at Walmart (along with the much thinner woman in front of me) and remarked "Mommy, you're not very straight. You're kind of bumpy." He was gesturing with his hands so I would be absolutely sure what he meant, not that I had any doubt. Time to head back to the gym!

best Christmas yet

We've had a few days filled with family togetherness and fun, worship of our savior's birth, and much Santa-related anticipation and joy. On Christmas Eve, we all attended the service at church and then gathered at Gran's for a family meal. We baked a birthday cake for Jesus and even sang to him (something new this year that I hope to do again). We opened a pile of gifts at Gran's house and enjoyed the company of Gran, Pop, Gigi, Uncle Denny, Grandma and GrandBob. We sprinkled Magic Reindeer Food on the lawns at our house and Gran's, and if you're wondering, Magic Reindeer Food consists of oats, deer corn, and silver glitter all mixed together (brought home from his preschool class). And then, once we returned home, we began the long and laborious process of getting Dennis to fall asleep (it finally happened at 12:15, whereas David had fallen asleep by 10:00). I got in bed with Dennis, telling him that I knew it was hard to fall asleep on Christmas Eve, but he replied "not for me! Now be quiet and go to sleep, Mommy, or Santa won't come."

Dennis awoke at a nice, respectable 7:44, not so early as to promote parental misery. He came straight to our room rather than checking the tree first, so we were able to see his reaction to the box that was easily five times the size of himself (wrapped, of course, and containing his new battery-powered 4 wheeler). He opened it last, prolonging his own anticipation. Of all the Rescue Heroes, Transformers, knight costumes, clothes, book & movie, Gyro Bowl, snow sled, and games (and more!) that he received, all have gotten play. I think the Rescue Heroes and their vehicles are the absolute favorites, but he's spent lots of time with his new dragon castle and knights as well. He had a GOOD Christmas. And it isn't over yet-- there are eleven more days of (small) gift giving to come.

Imagine Dennis' delight at finding a boot print in front of the new fireplace along with the cookies on Santa's plate gone except for a few crumbs. Neely apparently caught his ride back to the North Pole as expected, and he took his pajamas and sleeping bag with him. His last bit of mischief was to sit with Toy Story Jesse under the mistletoe. We found them kissing on Christmas Eve morning. Also, we found a sleigh bell outside where we'd sprinkled the Magic Reindeer Food. Dennis is certain that it came from Dasher's harness. He says he'll keep it forever.

We spent our Christmas evening in Birmingham with the Dennis family, meeting two fiancées soon to join our ever-expanding family, and wished our congrats to Alan and Melinda and Austin and Kacey. And we finally made it home late last night and just crashed into bed. We are still so exhausted even today, possibly even more so since David worked all day and Dennis and I hit the after Christmas sales with Gran. We had a low key evening at home, playing with his castle and knights and playing Candyland (the gift he opened today). It's been wonderful, and the blessings just keep coming!

where mischief abounds

Oh my goodness! Dennis totally took advantage of my not feeling well today. All the mischief he's thought of and yet restrained himself from for the whole of his existence showed itself today. Drowsily, I rested under my covers, trying to keep warm and stop coughing, and the intermittent bouts of silence concerned me. He was supposed to be playing in his room and cleaning it. That didn't happen. The first thing I found was that he'd discovered a roll of yellow streamer paper. He wrapped and tied it around table legs, the piano, the buffet, the front doorknob, and the ceiling supports in the front room (holding up what's left of the ceiling, which is soon to be ripped out and replaced--the next phase of our Great Remodel). The main living areas of the house looked like a giant crime scene. I thought it was funny and creative, and so I left it up. There were police figures and police Lego trucks patroling the area as well, and I hated to disturb their investigation. I notified Dennis that it was now naptime, and I read him a story and tucked him in. I dozed off, woken a short while later by the sound of running through the hallway. He told me he'd sent Gran a text message. Since I was in possession of my phone and his phone doesn't text, I asked him how he'd accomplished this. He told me he'd used my computer, which I will no longer leave running. I saw there on the screen a notice thanking me for extending my trial of Office X5. I wonder if this cost me anything... I've gotten no emails or anything, so who knows what he typed in! I didn't know I even had this product. He told me he clicked on the calculator icon, and that was for Quattro (and I have no idea what it does). Scary. So I tucked him back in, feeling miserable (and now a bit worried), and when he assured me of his tiredness and willingness to nap, I fell asleep again. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I heard crying soon and ran into the bathroom, where he was sniffling and applying a Band-Aid to a scrape on his thumb (no blood, thank goodness). I asked him what happened, and he replied "oh, nothing!", knowing he was supposed to have been sleeping. He finally admitted "I was trying to recycle those boxes in the living room." I went to the living room and found the shipping boxes that arrived today (that I didn't know about, since Dennis greeted the mailwoman at the door this morning and received the packages on our behalf--he set them on a chair in the front room and neglected to mention their arrival). I saw my keychain Swiss army knife open, carving a flap off a box. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt worse! This was my final warning, I'm sure, so I didn't attempt to nap again. He clearly had no nap plans himself, and I feared what else might happen. Soon David arrived home, and I saw Dennis run through the house carrying a roll of red duct tape. I warned him not to use it. David and I went to change clothes for the Christmas party with our friends tonight, and Dennis loudly announced "come see what I did with the red duct tape!". David replied "you'd better not have done anything, because Mommy told you not to!". Whatever he'd done, he quickly undid, bringing us a mostly intact roll of tape with a mangled strip attached to it. There were other things, like his bringing me a (dirty) sock filled with matchbox planes and cars because he was playing Santa, but I believe that hits the highlights. Oh! Wait! His invention! I nearly forgot about that. We went into the bathroom and found his cup, the one he uses to rinse when he's brushing his teeth, rubber-banded sideways to the handle of my water spray bottle. David asked him what it was, and he told us "that's my invention. It's a 46 Poop Sprayer--it sprays poop!". We didn't question further. The water inside still looked clear.

We caught the elf roasting mini-marshmallows over a candle, though the flame must have gone out on him sometime during the night. And the dogs gifted us with a diaper (no, not a fresh one) from somewhere in the neighborhood. Luckily, we got to the Christmas party at the Gallmans' house safely, and the rest of our evening was fairly mischief-free (unless you count when Dennis and Chloe climbed up in her loft bed and began hurling toys all over the room from their high vantage point), and he fell asleep on the way home. When I put him in bed, he whispered "I want to play some before my nap" and I told him that was fine and brought his brand new toy Jake Justice Rescue Hero (and his motorcycle) and set it on the pillow next to Dennis, who promptly rolled over and fell asleep. How will I ever make it another 24 hours, with all this Christmas excitement and hyperactivity?

an interesting conversation

Dennis was supposed to finish cleaning his room today. I was in bed most of the day with fever and cough, and he promised me he was going to finish up. But I wasn't too surprised when he popped out of his room late this afternoon and said "I was having a conversation with my bottom just now. Guess what it said?". I presumed his bottom told him not to clean his room. He told me "My bottom said that instead of cleaning my floor, it wanted to poop on it!". Nice. I think his bottom might be a bad influence.

In other news, Dennis found his elf in a sleigh hitched up behind a reindeer ornament. And tonight, he got up to go get water in the kitchen and caught Neely hanging out of the dog food container. Dennis made me get up to go see as well. The instructions he came with said to feed him crackers, but I don't know that he finds those to be substantial enough. Dog food? I guess if you're hungry enough...

the longest night

Today was the shortest day of the year. And if Dennis continues to get out of bed and come into our room and ask for stuff, it will most assuredly be the longest night of the year. We were home all of today. David finished putting the slate tiles on our fireplace (grout tomorrow!) and I spent most of the day trying to cough out a lung. I sure would like to be well by Christmas. Dennis seems to be lots better and even cleaned up most of his room today. By himself, even. Without us asking. I am very pleased!

He wants to sleep in our bed, and he's been negotiating to do so. When I told him that I didn't want to cough on him all night, he said "you can just turn your head the other way and cover your mouth, like this--it's easy!" and he demonstrated for me. He and David spent part of the day fighting a fight that I was sure was still a few years down the road. The volume of his radio was rather significant, and David yelled at him to turn it down, and he would for a while. Then they'd repeat the cycle ad nauseum. In fact, they just did it again while I was typing that. He loves those Little People Christmas songs!

We caught the elf tangled in a small string of battery powered Christmas lights this morning, apparently attempting to festoon our toilet lid for the holidays. Yesterday we found him camped out in the bathroom in his new sleeping bag, having drawn all over the bathroom mirror with dry erase markers. Whatever will he think of next?

5 more days

We've been warned NOT to peek at all the presents Dennis put under the tree today. He spent most of his day with Gigi, and she took him shopping and out to lunch and then to her place to wrap gifts and play. They both said they had a wonderful time! I'm so glad. That's a special relationship, and he's already asked me if she can come over and play with him tomorrow after he cleans his room. I'm excited that there are gifts under the tree that I didn't purchase! I love a surprise!

I ran all over town doing errands while Dennis was with Gigi, and I'd like to think that I'm done. There are gifts in the mail to his cousins, and I finally mailed the Christmas cards! I've done lots of wrapping, but there's still more to come. I don't have any plans for the next two days (hooray!), and then we'll have a weekend of celebrations. This is the best time of year!!!!

toy insomnia

We happened to catch a brand new show on TV this morning: Transformers Rescue Bots. I didn't tell him I saw it on the listing, I just happened to turn on the correct channel before it came on. Oh, boy, did that spark a new obsession! We've been seeing the Rescue Bot toys at Walmart but didn't know what they were about. Now we do. I'm glad there's a Transformers show that isn't about fighting bad guys (less violence is GOOD). By the time David came home from his lunch break, Dennis had lined up Transformers all over the place and had been conducting imaginary rescues for hours. With David's arrival came the mail, and in that was a card to Dennis with some Christmas cash. He knew just what he wanted to buy and I could not get the boy to Walmart fast enough. I'd point out a house that was decorated on our way and he'd say "if we keep looking at Christmas lights, we'll never get to Walmart!". I'm proud that when we got there, he wanted to put all his money in the bin for needy children, but I let him know that even though that was the right instinct to have, he could spend his Christmas money on himself if he wanted to. He carefully examined each Rescue Bot set (we had to return to the toy section twice), but he got two Rescue Bots and the action figures that go with each one, and he has a little bit of money left. Those toys has been his entire focus for hours. I just had to go into his room and make him turn off his light (it's 11:00!) because he was so busy arranging and rearranging his toys on the pillow beside him in bed. The joy on his face was unbelievable. No one loves a new toy like Dennis does! He had to show them to Gran, Gigi, Uncle Denny, Pop, and Daddy, and each had to play with him with the new bots. He's too happy to sleep. And it's not even Christmas yet.... This makes me wonder if we ought to give one toy a day so he's not so overwhelmed. But I guess being overwhelmed is part of the fun.

In other news, Dennis caught Neely rearranging the star on top of the tree. Gran made a new sleeping bag for Neely today, and Dennis happily put him in it tonight. And, while in the car together, Dennis and Gran apparently sang a whole repertoire of "poop carols". I hope I don't hear them at the Christmas Eve service...

Dennis in the sermon!

I was surprised to get a call from our pastor last night. I had sent an email to a friend at church about Dennis taking money from his piggy bank on a day he knew we were going to Walmart and how I had thought he was planning to buy a toy and he told me it was to put in the "red bucket to help the people who don't have enough money." My friend forwarded this on to the pastor, and last night he called to have me tell him the story again to get it, as he said, fresh in his mind, telling me he'd like to use that particular anecdote in his sermon. We were proud to hear about it, as proud as we were when Dennis actually did it, and it was a blessing to hear the pastor tell the whole congregation that they needed to get to know Dennis because "he is a real treat, a very special young man". We agree! The message was about how we should help those that need their basic needs met, as that's what Jesus told us to do, rather than buy into the extreme commercialism of the holiday. Dennis' heart is in the right place, and he is teaching us to be the same way!

new animal

We went to a Christmas lunch with David's family today. Dennis had an excellent time sitting and chatting with his cousins and an even more excellent time opening and playing with presents. He asked Uncle Steve out of the blue "Why don't they put wheels on surfboards?" and he answered that fish would hit the wheels with their fins and tails and slow down the surfboard. This answer satisfied Dennis, though he looked skeptical and had a good laugh over it. Another excellent Dennis-ism happened in the car on the way home. He is now able to play the alphabet game with us, and we were doing animal names and then got to the letter "U". He thought for just a second before he said "U-ah-pus". Later tonight he revealed that "they don't really live, Mom, it's just a word I made up. Sometimes I like to make up words." Yes, he certainly does!

He's been happily playing with his new remote control police car, his Green Lantern action figures, and his Lego police van since we got home. He gets very focused on new toys, but he gave them all equal attention tonight, hours for each new thing!

This morning Dennis discovered Neely the Elf kneeling in front of his nativity set, his hands clasped in prayer. He ran to find us, telling us we just had to come and see what Neely did (as he does most mornings). We ambled bleary-eyes to the living room and Dennis announced amazedly "Neely is worshipping the baby Jesus! Isn't that wonderful?". We agreed that it was. I'm so glad the true meaning of the holiday is important to Dennis. At school, Mrs. Nancy asked each student what he or she would give Jesus for his Christmas birthday. She cut out large squares of wrapping paper and attached a gift tag and bow to each. She wrote their replies on the gift tags (which read: to Jesus from ...). Dennis' tag read "I would give him myself. That's what everyone should do!".

pjs and a movie!

This morning, as I was sitting in the tub and washing my hair, I heard a small noise and turned to see Dennis plastered against the shower door. I wasn't expecting to see anyone standing there, so I let out a little scream. He was pleased and laughed maniacally at his scare surprise. He came into the bathroom later, after I was dressed and fixing my hair, so that he could toss a handful of cold water on me before running away giggling. He's quite the little joker these days!

He spent his day with Gran while I went out and had lunch with the teachers to celebrate our Christmas break. Gran and he designed and made new pajamas for Neely the Elf. I had to stop by Gran's house on the way home to get Neely's other clothes from out of her washing machine where Dennis had tossed them earlier "because his clothes are very dirty". This morning Neely decorated our kitchen chandelier with snowflakes and snowflake garland and with himself. He was quite the sight!

Gran and Uncle Denny took Dennis to watch the Polar Express at the local community center. He wore his pajamas (and I presume Neely did as well) because it was a pajama event! He apparently had a wonderful time. I can't wait to hear more about it. He was too busy wrapping Christmas gifts tonight to talk to me about his day. He did a pretty good job!

Christmas break has arrived!

I'm delighted to report that I taught my last preschool class of 2011 today! I got a bunch of sweethugs and Christmas wishes from my students, and though they've been a bit trying as of late, I might actually miss the little buggers. Dennis seemed very reluctant to leave school today, very sad to walk out the door. But we'll be back before we know it. And he had a good send-off. His class, and ONLY his class, had Breakfast with Santa this morning as their party. The music and science teachers stayed in my class for a little while so I could visit at Dennis' class party, and I was tickled to see their reactions when Santa arrived! Dennis was first to volunteer to sit in his lap, and he went back to show him things and tell him various Dennis-isms during the party. The other moms remarked about how much Dennis loved Santa! Some of the kids were afraid, but not mine!

I enjoyed my class party as well and was amazed to find myself student-less at 10:30! Since Dennis wasn't ready to leave, I stayed around and organized my planning folders, putting all my December templates and plans away neatly for next year. And then we said our farewells and left. I'll see all the teachers tomorrow, as we have a staff Christmas luncheon, but this was it for Dennis. He has a fun day with Gran planned for tomorrow.

This morning we caught Neely the Elf sitting amongst the patterns I was cutting out last night (for my kids to make paper angels in class today). I left all my white paper and scissors sitting out, and it must have been too much for him to resist, because there he sat with my scissors in his hands, a beautiful paper snowflake resting on his lap.

It was a long evening. I had a child care shift at the gym and no children came. Those were three very long hours, especially after Dennis left me to go to Taekwondo class and then went home with his daddy. And I learned again how Dennis has inherited my own love of the absurd. David and I were watching a show when Dennis came bounding into the room with a pillowcase on, sack-race style, giggling the whole time. I thought it was hilarious. All David could see was a now-germy pillowcase. I admit that it's good to have a serious person in the house, and every now and then, that person is me, but David is much better at it. I absolutely could not parent (much less teach two-year-olds) without a healthy sense of humor!

Oh, and Dennis snuck his magician cape and magic wand to school today. I wasn't expecting to pick up a magician from the playground, but that's what I did!

oh, the anticipation!

One more day of school until Christmas break! I can hardly believe it! I'm more excited than the students are, for sure! Dennis is excited about Christmas but not about being out of school. He loves school.

We've caught Neely the Elf doing some fun things lately. Yesterday, we found him hanging on to the beater in the stand mixer. Dennis wondered why in the world he would do that, so I turned on the mixer for a few seconds. He watched Neely whirl around like he was on a carnival ride, elf hat bobbing all over, and then he understood. This morning, we caught him dangling by one pointy shoe from the stocking hanger on the mantle, his belt stuffed with 3 lollipops. Dennis laughed at his Christmas stocking impression and then handed out the lollipops, one for each of us. We were very appreciative. And after school today, we found him on the couch, snuggled up with his arm around a small stuffed dog and his other hand resting on the tv remote. They were watching the Christmas music channel.

I did the unthinkable tonight--I cleaned out my car, or most of it. Much vacuuming is still needed. When I came back in the house, I saw Dennis run through the house wearing a Scooby Doo pajama top, Transformer underwear, and full Batman facemask and cape. I laughed and he got mad and demanded to know what was so funny. I told him seeing Batman in his underwear was funny. He said " I'm not Batman. I'm Pajama Shirt and Underwear Man. The cape is my disguise." My mistake!

Muppet fun

What a treat! Uncle Denny treated us to a showing of the new Muppet movie, and it was surprisingly wonderful! David and I enjoyed it at least as much as Dennis did, possibly even more. There were lots of references to our generation's growing-up years, lots of 80's gags. It was a fun movie for sure!

Dennis learned a new colloquialism tonight. After hearing Uncle Denny use it once, he correctly used the phrase in his own sentence half an hour later. We were almost to Alabaster when Dennis announced that his eyeballs were about to turn yellow. Uncle Denny knew immediately who to blame for this and told David where Dennis had learned it. And we had to stop at the next exit for him to go to the potty. Nice. That and some talk about picking his nose to make booger ornaments made me realize I was truly hanging out with the guys. They learn to appreciate the weird and disgusting early in life!

Claus fan

"Dennis, are you ready for bed? Do you need to brush your teeth or go potty?". "I already brushed my teeth and in the middle of brushing my teeth, I went potty. I was brushing my teeth and I stopped to go pee-pee and then I finished brushing my teeth." So now that he's done that, he's ready for bed. We just finished watching The Santa Clause 2, having watched the first one recently and discovering that Dennis loved it. He loved the second one as well, but I had to periodically pause the movie to answer random Christmas related questions (i.e. "Why was Rudolph born after the other reindeer?).

He's very excited about Christmas. Extremely excited. He wears Santa pajamas to bed every night. He wore an elf hat today when we took Uncle Denny's toy donation to the police station to add to the other donated toys beneath their tree. He asked about whether kids in Africa needed toys, too, because he knows our church has been working hard to raise money to build two wells in a village in Zambia so that the people will have access to clean drinking water. We've been hearing about it, about the village that our church has personally sponsored, watching the videos they've sent to us, all coordinated by a missionary who visited us months back and who is now there in Africa organizing the well project in many villages. Today I learned that we reached our goal, raised $11,000 plus some, and Dennis and I were so elated to learn that our church will help save many lives this way. But he thinks we need to send toys to the village children as well. He says toys are almost as important as food and water and shelter.

always good for a chuckle

The preschool kids performed at church today, all six classes of them. They sang six songs and played handbells to one extra song. Every time I chanced looking away from my class to see Dennis, he was singing every word and smiling. But I couldn't look away too often--six of my two year olds were busy on the front row, staring, playing hide-and-seek by ducking down behind the altar rail and then popping up, waving to their parents, or, in one case, bopping another child with a bell at random, clearly premeditated intervals. I loved every minute of it. I can't wait to watch the video.

David installed our "chimney" tonight, cutting the hole in the roof for the metal pipes that extend up from our fireplace unit. Naturally, it started to rain just a tiny bit after he finished, and he has more roof work to do around the pipe, but we stayed dry. Soon he'll cover the rest of the enclosure with cement board and then we'll put on the slate tiles! He has already hung our stockings from the mantel, a fact that delighted Dennis, who happily praised his Daddy for installing Santa's gateway to our home. We are all getting excited about it!

Dennis caught Neely the Elf hiding in the refrigerator in the box of Capri-suns that we put in his school snack boxes. And tonight, we had to make a special bed for Neely out of a camp pillow and a basket. Dennis fixed him a snack and tucked him in before having the same done for him. It's been such a nice, quiet, home weekend that we hate to see it end!

girlfriends rule!

Tonight was the choir Christmas program and supper at our church. We met Gigi, Uncle Denny, Gran, and Pop there, anticipating that we'd enjoy a meal and some beautiful music together. We did share a meal, but Dennis asked to go to the nursery rather than stay for the choir and orchestra performance. You see, Grace was in the nursery along with her baby brother, and Dennis can't give up an opportunity for time with Grace! We've already been passed over in favor of the girlfriend! I thought we weren't due for this particular situation for a few years yet, but I was wrong.

We had a quiet evening at home afterward, each one of us kind of doing our own thing. Dennis made great strides in his room cleanup, thank goodness, but he still has a ways to go. One of the things on his computer Advent calendar shows an elf cleaning up a bookshop, and he announced last night "I sure could use an elf to clean up my room!". Neely must not have heard. He was busy climbing our Christmas tree.

our day off

Dennis and I stayed in today. He woke up at 6:15 for some awful reason--he doesn't wake up this early on school days even and I often have to drag him out of bed. Not today! He visited me periodically but came to the conclusion that I had no intention of getting up that early! I made sure he had breakfast and then he entertained himself in his room for the majority of the day. He assures me he will clean up tomorrow. I insist he doesn't wait that long. His room had been looking so great, but he decided to get out everything at once, and now I can't even walk in there!

He spent a good half hour with his computer Advent calendar (thanks to Nana Gaynell and Poppa Jim) this morning. He's always anxious to click on the new date, and then he likes to start it over and do days 1 through whichever day we're on. He did this several times this morning. He tried to negotiate his way out of his nap, which I didn't allow, and in his anger, he pulled his wall hanging off his wall. I got angry, of course, and then he wanted a hug. I've assured him that we still love him even when we're angry or upset with him, and he wanted to test this. I happily hugged him, and he said "you really do still love me even when I do something bad!". Later, he got up and told me how much he loved me, even when he was mad at me. Then he gave me a big hug and told me I was the best mom he'd ever had. Love that kid!

This morning he found the elf with his legs sticking up out of the box of Cheez-its. I had to apologize for forgetting to feed him last night!

serious naughtiness

We were happy to discover that Dennis does not, in fact, have pneumonia. We finally heard from the pediatrician today. He's just suffering from an upper respiratory infection and the antibiotics he's already taking should clear it up. He's a coughing machine, though, and he had a tough day at school today. His teacher told me he was fine as long as he was sitting, but when he started getting up and moving around, the coughing took over.

We lunched with Gran and Pop after school. Dennis has been asking to go all week to see them, so I dosed him up with cough and cold medicine and we headed over there. I wanted to help Gran with the rest of her outdoor Christmas decor, and Dennis got busy stringing garland along the chairs on her balcony. He brought out Pop's collectible army jeep and figures and asked if he could play with it out there. I told him he could as long as he sat at the table. He did this for a short while before begging to be allowed to drive it along the floor of the balcony. Gran asked him to be extra careful while doing this. It never occurred to me what was going to happen until, moments later, he walked over to us and said "I need to go get something; I'll be right back." Suddenly, I had total clarity. He drove the jeep over the edge of the balcony and down to the ground below. I asked him if this is what happened, and he said it was an accident (this part I'm still not sure about--I think the temptation of watching the jeep and passengers soar through the air was just too great). Amazingly, we found the jeep and figures unharmed, deep in the shrubbery below, but it took some major searching and digging through wet vines and leaves. I took him home then and put him to bed where he stayed for three hours, not feeling good enough to go to his Taekwondo class. He spent the rest of his evening playing in his room and with us, and he actually asked "will you come and tuck me in now and read me a story? I'm really tired!".

Neely the Elf was very busy while we were asleep and away. This morning, Dennis found him in the toilet paper roll, apparently rolling around the bathroom and leaving a trail of paper. After school, we found that he and Buzz Lightyear had rigged up a climbing harness from rope and a tiny keychain carabiner. We caught him rappelling from the ceiling fan while Buzz held the belay rope on the floor. And Lemonade got into his own mischief, returning from an outside romp with a belly that looked like he might have eaten a tire. He was round and uncomfortable but soon barfed up half a crateful of grossness, so he seems to be on the mend. I'd settle for a day with a little less mischief tomorrow. Even the kids in my class were wild and naughty today, so much so that I posted this note on my door before pick-up: "Mrs. Christi's class will not be receiving progress reports this week--Santa knows what they did!". I just couldn't bring myself to write six notes home about bad behavior, though I did send prizes home with the two kids who I didn't have to correct all day.

x-ray fun

I got called in to substitute teach this morning, and David took Dennis to the doctor to get his ears taken care of. He complained of bad ear pain a few nights back, but he hasn't complained since. We knew he'd just had an ear infection, so we thought it would be prudent to get them checked, especially since he's stopped being able to hear anything we say the first time we say it. I expected Dennis to arrive at school soon after his appointment, but instead, I got a text saying that the doctor wanted to take a chest x-ray to make sure he doesn't have pneumonia. The bad news? We're still not sure if he has it or not. When we called to get the results, they told us to call back after 4. When we did, the doctor had left and no one could find Dennis' file. The nurse seemed to think that we'd have heard already if it was bad news. So we're leaning toward the belief that he doesn't have it. What he does have is a raging bilateral ear infection, so we're on for 10 days of antibiotics. He feels quite good, though, and has danced through his day, happy as always (but with a gross cough). He never did get to school, but we plan to take him tomorrow if he's up to it.

Though I was worried about my little guy having to go to the hospital and get an x-ray, he apparently had no trouble. David said that he thought the whole x-ray experience was really cool, and he loved that it wasn't scary and didn't hurt. He told me all about it. The other highlight of his day was finding Neely the Elf riding astride Bullseye (the horse from Toy Story), holding a rope with which he'd apparently lassoed a stuffed sheep. Dennis had a good cackle over this.

joy from St. Nick

Oh, the delight in this household early this morning... We left our shoes outside of our bedroom doors last night in honor of the custom of St. Nicholas Day. We woke to find our shoes filled with candy, but Dennis had a little something extra. His candy-filled Crocs were resting against a toy Rescue Hero named Roger Houston. Dennis came to wake me up, yelling "you gotta come see this, Mama!" in the most incredulous voice. He's been joyful all day long, carrying his newest treasure wherever we went. He helped to get Uncle Denny ready for Christmas, decorating his tree tonight, sharing a round of Reese's peanut butter trees with him (and me). We had a family supper together tonight, all 3 gathered around our table, Advent wreath candles lit (2 of them now). And we snuggled together on the couch to watch a Christmas special that we'd recorded. Dennis went to bed early. He's exhausted and fell asleep in the car tonight on the way home. He woke up when we arrived and was perky by supper time, but he's got a major cough and doesn't seem to be feeling his best.

Question of the day, asked by Dennis in the car on the way to the lake while we were discussing Lemonade and his siblings: "Mom, do dogs lay eggs?". I feel that it won't be too long before the hard questions come. He tells me that he knows that mommies go to the hospital to have babies cut from their tummies, which is indeed how he got here. Luckily, baby Ian arrived that way as well, so if he should ask, we're covered!

another 2 in 1

I don't know how I keep running myself so much that I'm not blogging as often, but there you have it. Last night I was completely exhausted! Not that yesterday was so big of a day, but Dennis was up Saturday night crying of ear pain, so he slept in our bed. He seemed fine yesterday morning, and so we went to church. He had a last choir rehearsal to attend, and he also came into the service at the end of it to take communion with the rest of the congregation. We lunched at Burger King with the family after church, and I made Dennis take a nap before his choir musical last night. As always, watching the preschool choir is a joy, always humorous. Dennis didn't hug Grace mid-performance (like last year), but he did chew his fingers, take some lint out of his pocket, lift his shirt up to show his belly a couple of times, and (his best move) nearly knocked a kid out after the choreography that required him to wave his hands in the air vigorously. We heard gasps and giggles echoing through the sanctuary. And we realized that we probably shouldn't have given him cold medicine right before the performance.

Today we helped Gran put up and decorate her Christmas tree, and then Gran and I went shopping out of town while Dennis and David went to Taekwondo and then came home. I got the sweetest phone call from Dennis when on my way home, and he told me good night and that I needed to put out my shoes for St. Nicholas Day (which is tomorrow). The shoes are out. I caught Neely the Elf waiting by Dennis' shoes. I hope he doesn't eat all Dennis' candy that St. Nicholas will bring... This morning Dennis found Neely in his underwear drawer, wearing a pair of Dennis' undies, two unmatched socks, and one of Dennis' ties. I heard Dennis exclaim "What in the world? You CRAZY elf!!!". This is better than when we found him Sunday morning, sitting at my computer, looking at Jingle Claus the Elf on Facebook. What was so disconcerting is that Jingle is an elf fashion designer, and we found my debit card and wallet on the computer--I wonder what Neely might have been ordering...

Dennis' Deep Thought of the Day: "What do you think Christmas was like a long time ago?". I asked him how long ago he meant, and he asked "well, how did the Indians celebrate Christmas before the other people got here?". Gran and I speculated that they might not have even known about Christmas. He thought that the Pilgrims would have told them about it, and then he wondered how the Pilgrims celebrated. Good food for thought!

Tree wishes

I was up so late hanging out with Jim, Jackie, and Zoe and Dave, Ellen, Chloe, and Ian, that I never did get to blog last night. We had a house party! The Carons came down and joined us at the Clanton Christmas parade (where Dennis came home with more candy than he did at Halloween), and then we headed home. The Gallmans came by soon after we arrived at our place, and we chatted and watched the baby and then played the board game Battle of the Sexes while Dennis and Chloe and Zoe played all over the rest of the house. Anytime you have a trio of 4-year-olds running amok in the house, things can get a bit wild, but they more mostly well behaved. Dennis watched the girl antics for a while, but we later found him vegged out on the den couch watching TV while the girls were playing kitchen and restaurant in his room. This was such a play on adult roles that I had to laugh. The Gallmans spent the night with us, and the Carons left after midnight, and much fun was had by all!

BEFORE we had the house party and BEFORE we went to the parade (and one day I'll learn to think more chronologically while I'm writing), we made a trip to Neely Choose and Cut Christmas Tree Farm, our third consecutive year to do so. We chose a lovely pine that David and Dennis sawed down, and it was shaken, wrapped, loaded up, driven home, and put in its stand with water within 45 minutes of it being cut down. We even had time to have hot cocoa and socialize a bit at the tree farm.

The Christmas parade was a big hit--we did our tradition of parking at Gran's and walking over a couple of blocks to see it. She had ordered pizza for us all to share, and the kids loved the parade. We had seen all of it and walked back before a half hour had passed. I have officially decided that I really do love small town life, all these special things we can do so close to home, seeing so many people we know all around. And the 7 minute commute to my job, well, that can't be beat!

We decorated our tree tonight. Dennis was beside himself with excitement, helping with the lights and garland, eagerly grabbing up the most fragile of ornaments and running to the tree with them. Nothing has yet broken (though Lemonade has not yet discovered the tree), thank goodness, and all our ornaments are up. As we were hanging the first of the things on the tree, Dennis would periodically dance and exclaim "it's just looking so beautiful!" and "I'm so glad we decided to pick out a Christmas tree!" (as if we wouldn't?). He lost interest before everything was up, but he was happy to admire the finished product. And even happier to have his Daddy lift him up high to put the star on top.

Speaking of stars, he spied one outside and asked us if he could make a wish. He wished for "a tree that grows lots of toys". That sure would come in handy around Christmas and birthday events...

Neely the Elf stole a bunch of my socks and bound them all together with twist ties to make a swing to hang from our living room ceiling fan last night. Dennis and Chloe found him happily swinging on it, and he'd apparently decorated our bare Christmas tree with the extra socks that he didn't use. I'm sure he'll be relieved that we've now decorated the tree. Who knows what 'elfcapade' we're in for next?

a special delivery

Imagine Dennis' surprise and delight when he opened his backpack after school and found a delivery from Santa. Santa sent Neely the Elf to be Dennis' friend and companion from now til Christmas Eve, when he'll return to the North Pole. We read the special letter and instructions that Santa sent along with Neely. Dennis has them memorized already. He is to be put on the kitchen counter at night with crackers and ice water (crackers are crunchy like North Pole ice, ice water reminds him of melting ice back home), and we've been warned that he might get into some mischief now and again, especially after we sprinkle him with North Pole Magic Snowflakes at night (Santa sent a jar of these along with him). Dennis instantly fell in love with his elf friend. He told everyone about it, took him everywhere that he went today, and was almost too excited to sleep for wondering what Neely would be up to during the night. Just before bed, Dennis came in to the bathroom and handed me a set of elf clothes, telling me that Neely had played hard today and needed his laundry done so he'd have clean clothes for tomorrow. He dressed the elf in a robe that Gran gave him, a robe that a teddy bear had worn. Neely is reclining comfortably on the kitchen counter in his crimson and gold robe, or at least he was when we went to bed...

Neely is an Elf-Magic elf, not an Elf on the Shelf (because the latter kind aren't allowed to be touched or played with and they spy on kids to report to Santa), and Dennis has already remarked that he's sad that he will go home with Santa on Christmas Eve. That was a fast attachment that he formed!

Tonight, Dennis and David joined Gran, Pop, and Gigi at the town Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and then had dinner at Gran's. I joined them there after my shift at the gym. I'm falling more and more in love with small town life, and I can't wait til the parade tomorrow night. Nineteen years ago, David and I had our first date at the Clanton Christmas parade! We love sharing it with Dennis!

November's end

I am thankful that Dennis was fine today, eating like a champ, running and playing at school. His eyes looked tired and a bit red, and he was a trifle quiet, I think. Those who know him well asked if he'd been sick or if he was feeling okay. But he really was fine, he kept insisting, so we treated him as such!

We filled in the last pocket of the Thankful Tree tonight, with Dennis saying he was thankful for "my school, my family, my cousins, and my school friends." He asked where pockets 31 and 32 were. I explained that we were now finished with the tree, and tomorrow we'll start the Advent calendar. He's already been using his Santa counter to count down the days until Christmas, turning the blocks each morning at breakfast and today happily informing me "there are 25 days til Christmas, that means tomorrow it will be 24 days." And "what if there were twenty-hundred days until Christmas? That's way too long!!". I agree! We are noticing the Christmas lights going up all over town, and he's delighted to point out new ones each evening. It's the best time of year!

little sickie

We were getting ready for school when a sad little man wrapped himself around my legs and whined "I don't feel good, Mommy; my tummy hurts." This was immediately followed by him running to the bathroom and throwing up a couple of times. Then he said he felt better. Gran came over to watch him so I could go teach my class, and he mostly just dozed on the couch while she was here. He never threw up again, but he had bouts of pitifulness for the rest of the day. He has been able to eat just fine, thank goodness. Tonight he told me he was thankful for me. So sweet.

He was delighted that we all watched Christmas shows together tonight, snuggled up on the couch, enjoying the Grinch and some classic Mickey and Donald Christmas cartoons. His little eyes are red and he is exhausted, and he's climbed into our bed to sleep (a sickie tradition). I hope he's better in the morning.

Something I forgot to mention happened yesterday. He knew we were going to Walmart after school, so I saw him loading his pockets with some change from his piggy bank. I asked him what he was doing, and he said "getting money for when we go to Walmart." I wondered what he was planning to purchase. And then, before I asked him just that, he said "it's to put in that red bucket for the people that need money for Christmas." Sure enough, later when we arrived at Walmart, he reached in his pocket and dug out his change and put it all in the bucket. I'm humbled by his generous spirit, awed at his thoughtfulness. What a blessing he is!

taekwondo buddies

Ellen and Chloe and Ian came to visit us this afternoon! We had an awesome time, so awesome that it's turned into a spend-the-night party! We happened to remember that it's Bring A Buddy Week at Dennis' taekwondo class, so Chloe put on Michael's old karate uniform and Dennis' white belt and joined him in class. Dennis is often the only one in his class, so it was nice for him to have someone else in class with him. And Chloe has some incredibly high kicking power! They had their moments of silliness, of course, but were mostly very good. We took them out to McDonald's afterward and came home for more playtime for them (and baby snuggle time for me--Ian is a total cutie!). They got along wonderfully today, happily destroying and then cleaning up Dennis' room. And they actually played enough to go on to sleep instead of staying up giggling half the night.

Tonight he told me he was thankful for Chloe. I'm thankful for a day of catch-up time with our best friends!

Advent ninja

We didn't make it to church this morning, this first Sunday of Advent. Neither Dennis or I were up for it. It was rainy and cold and we were sniffly and exhausted. We snuggled in, took naps, and spent a lazy day at home. We lit the first candle in our Advent wreath tonight at dinner and talked about the hopes for the coming of the Savior, about the meaning of the season, the prophecy of His coming.

Dennis treated us to a ninja demo tonight, dressed in dump truck pajamas, a camouflage ninja head covering/eye mask, and boots: one brown cowboy boot and one black spider rainboot. He did some rapid spins and martial arts moves before running off to his next project. Just about bedtime, he told me "I need to shake my body now!". He put on his reindeer slippers, his superman ball cap, his batman sunglasses, some strands of Mardi Gras beads, and several rubber wrist bands. He told me to play "Rock Your Body" on my iPhone and set it on his ottomans. He danced and danced, some breakdancing, even, and indeed shook the heck out of his body for over 10 minutes. And then he had trouble getting to sleep. Tomorrow morning I'll have to peel him out of bed!

Tonight he is thankful for "every firefighter in the whole universe."

grooming revelation

I was trimming Dennis' nails tonight when I noticed that he'd been biting them. I asked him why he'd done that, and he replied "because I needed something else to eat, so I ate my fingernails." May I just say "YUCK!". I guess there are just so many Thanksgiving leftovers a person can eat.

Tonight he's thankful for Santa and for penguins. I'm thankful that we had a day together, just the three of us. We worked around the house, David building the framework for our fireplace, Dennis and me putting up Christmas decorations, Lemonade and Tabasco hanging out and keeping us company. Great day!

bargains!

No, we don't do Black Friday. I have never liked Christmas shopping in crowds and years ago began avoiding malls after Thanksgiving rolled around. And I really don't care to observe humanity at its worst at the beginning of what should be the most joyous time of the year. But I was offered a nice bargain today. Dennis told me "if you can go all day without yelling at me, I promise to clean my room tonight." I mentioned how rarely it is that I actually yell, and he clarified "I mean if you can go all day and not get mad at me." I think he was attempting to make the deal with both of us. I don't remember yelling at him, but I did ask him to sit down and finish his meal about 85 times (over the course of three meals). He was so wiggly and squirmy today! I overheard him trying to rush Granny this morning, demanding to know "why aren't you outside playing with me yet???" as she was getting ready. Oh the drama! He was either whining at me or kissing me all day long, and I'm hoping a good night's sleep will reconstruct the less whiny persona we've been working so hard to cultivate. And I hope it banishes my grouchies as well!

so very thankful

Another wonderful holiday shared with family and friends! We are so very blessed. As a matter of fact, I was delighted when Dennis said to me "when it's my birthday, I have a secret wish. I'm going to wish that my family will be all around me." Heartwarming, isn't it?

He woke up and said "this is a very special day: I love Thanksgiving!". He gave me a sweet hug and kiss and kept me company while I was cleaning house. He later dressed as Spiderman and asked if he could play outside. I told him he could, and when I happened to glance out the kitchen window, I saw Spiderman's head pop up over the top of my car, and suddenly Spiderman was all the way on top of my car. I watched him carefully climb back down, pull off his mask, and grin hugely. He ran in to tell me "you'll never guess what trick I can do!". I told him I'd seen him, and I told him his Daddy would be home soon and not to let Daddy catch him on top of the car. He agreed that this was wise. Of course we told Daddy about it later, but it would have given him a great shock to have seen it!

In honor of today's specialness, he added a clip-on tie to the front of his long-sleeved and hooded t-shirt. The colors weren't even remotely compatible. He was very proud of his high fashion look, and he received lots of compliments on his tie. It was almost as much fun as taking Flash Gordon to Walmart earlier this week (in red cape and mask). I love his creativity and individuality and try to encourage it wherever I can! How many other kids (age 4) ask for a zip line for Christmas?!

the supervisor strikes again

Procrastinator that I am, I didn't start work on cleaning my house until today. Company is coming tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be scrambling to finish, as I ran out of energy at 1:00 (that's AM). Dennis would periodically come by and survey my work and make helpful comments, as in "it's looking so much better in here, Mom. But there's still a bunch of stuff over there that needs cleaning." Yes, I know. Our house has been under construction for a year now with the front room remodel, and we've been so busy working on the outside that the inside has been majorly neglected. Dennis' room is the biggest job I have to work on tomorrow. He's promised to help clean the den (his mess, mostly) if I help clean his room (which is ALL his mess). Luckily our family meal isn't until afternoon! I should be finished bulldozing by then.

almost pitiful

Sad faced, head hung low, Dennis said "no one wants to tuck me in." He walked away sadly, bound for his bed. I followed him, of course, after waiting the usual 5 seconds to see if David was going to get up and do it. David, as usual, waited for me to make the first move and then got up also and said "I was going in there." We do this same dance very often. It isn't that I didn't want to tuck him in. I love to tuck him in. I did it this afternoon, twice, when it was time for his nap. I got him out of bed this morning. I read him bedtime stories tonight in my bed. I have been with him all day long. Again, I love to tuck him in. But I worked hard all day today, and I'm tired, and I didn't jump up as quickly as I should have, didn't rush to seize the opportunity to tuck him in as I should have. I know these days pass quickly. I will never regret tucking him in, only not doing so. And, I only waited a few seconds before I went in to tuck him in, enjoying the reward of his sweet hug and kiss. He said "you were only kidding when you weren't going to tuck me in, right?". I said "I'm tucking you in, aren't I?". He said "aren't is not a word--you're supposed to say 'an't I' (and no, he did not say 'ain't', which I HATE)". I said "no, it's 'aren't', I promise." He asked "Aren't I cute?". I told him he was, and that was the correct way to ask. He was proud.

witty Dennis

This morning, he pounced on our bed, somewhat later than usual, and announced "I've decided to switch to a Sleep Number bed." When asked why, he said "I just sink into my mattress!". Yes, all 42 pounds of him, I'm sure. At CVS, he picked up the Gyro Bowl he's just been dying to own and upon careful examination of the package, said "Mom! It's dishwasher safe!". Amazing! Later, I was recounting these things to his Daddy, even remembering when he held up the Pajama Jeans in Walmart and said "Mom--you need these. You'll LIVE in them!". He said to us both then "I don't like regular, normal commercials. I only like info-commercials." We can certainly tell.

He was wonderful at Taekwondo, obeying his instructor and doing some incredible kicks! He's really getting good at it. He'll test for his next belt in January. Afterward, we did some shopping, and though I'd told him he could pick out a little something, he elected to wait until we go to Prattville next and get a toy Rescue Hero (they don't sell them around here). Nice that he can delay gratification at age 4. We stopped at McDonald's for supper (Dennis' choice), and he ended up taking some food in the car with us after we finished (he is a pretty slow eater). He complained to us "Hey, I can't eat in the dark.... (long pause) .... or CAN I?". He's got excellent comic timing, I'll give him that.

Just now, as he was supposed to be brushing his teeth, he was stalking David in the hallway with his "spray eliminator", his "new invention" made up of my water spray bottle with my deodorant rubber banded to it. He came in to demonstrate its operation to me. He said "watch this--you spray it on someone's neck and they are eliminated." He sprayed his neck and fell to my floor, tongue lolled out. I love this kid more than I ever knew it was possible. I knew I'd love my child, but I had no idea I'd be so entertained by him!

my little performer

Dennis sang along with the Preschool Choir and Children's Choir this morning during two church services. I dropped him off at the gym for practice for his first performance, and somehow he escaped after the practice, crossed the street, and came to find me in his Sunday School class (where I had to teach and couldn't watch his first performance). Scary! He got to walk BACK across to the gym for his performance, this time escorted by the Children's Minister. He'd thought he was all done after they practiced and somehow missed the fact that he had to stay and actually perform during the service! I did get to see him sing at the Traditional Service, and he was making his customary joyful (loud) noise. He sang every word and did every hand motion. I'm so proud, especially since we've missed so many practices with the illnesses lately!

We treated him to lunch at Whataburger, where he asked the profound question "is there a cloud machine up in the sky?". He was treated to a more scientific explanation and paid attention to every word. We rushed back to church for the "hanging of the greens", a tradition we participated in last year for the first time. Dennis loved it, so this year, we invited his friend Marshall and his family to join us. Marshall is also age 4, and those two guys had a rip-roaring good time decorating the tree, pretending to give church announcements into the microphones, playing a duet on the piano, having free roam of the sanctuary and balcony, and eventually playing "superheroes" all over the church. Dennis wanted to distribute peppermints to the others there for the decorating, so we'd stopped to buy a tub of the soft ones to give out. Marshall followed him around, and Dennis would announce "here's a peppermint for you!" and Marshall would pipe up "they're the GOOD kind!"--they did this to every person present, more than once. They were so funny! They also helped me prepare the altar, cleaning off the Thanksgiving decor, packaging up the fruits and nuts that were in the cornucopia (and eating all the grapes), and helping me hang the purple banner to signify the season of Advent (just a week away!).

This morning in Sunday School, Grace brought her shiny pink diary and shiny pink feather pen over to me, turned to a blank page, and asked if I'd write "I love Dennis" in it. I was happy to do so. She was happy to show Dennis afterward. He was very cool about it, too, not making a big deal about it. She asked him to sit by her at the older children's musical performance tonight, and we took him there just so he could. And we watched a number of the children we've gotten to know perform in their show--SO much talent! Who knew we had so many little violinists? And we were so surprised by Dennis' friend Laura (neighbor at the lake) and her beautiful solo of Silent Night! We baked sugar cookies for the kids' Star-Studded Social for after the peformance (star-shaped, of course), and Dennis socialized with all his good friends at church (from age 2 to age 80+ as he's a pretty popular guy!). What a blessed day it was!

missile launcher

Dennis leaped onto our bed this morning, waking us up by delightedly announcing "I'm a missile launcher! Push this button right here" (pointing to his belly) "and see what happens!". He then spit a plastic missile at us, one from his happy meal toy launcher.

Later, he was helping Gran mix some mortar for the stones for the front of our house. As he was mixing it, some of the mortar got on his Shrek watch, down inside on of the ear stalks. He studied it for a moment and then told Gran "hey, Shrek has an ear infection!".

He's thankful for Jesus and thankful for the world tonight. Me, too.

giant storybook

Dennis tried his hardest to keep my attention on him today. It mostly was, but I also had a big project to work on. It's that time of year when I like to put my Christmas playlist on my iPhone, and due to problems with a computer virus, I hadn't synced the thing in six months. I also thought I might as well update the operating system while I was at it, and this turned into a 24 hour ordeal (and is still going). Ugh! While I was continuously restarting my iTunes every time it stopped responding, Dennis was running in and out, telling me things, doing tricks, asking for food, you name it! He tried doing somersaults in the hallway in front of my doorway, and said "I can't do that anymore--this floor is kind of hard!". I offered his KinderMat, resting neglected in my bedroom since we discontinued afternoon care at the preschool. He delightedly spread it out and rolled across it many times. Then he folded it, accordion-style, and carried it around. He brought it in and told me "this is my giant storybook--it has over 60,000 stories in it! Would you like me to read you some?". I agreed, and I heard "this is story 61,008: it's about a silly robot that disobeys." It was a short story. He danced back out of here after telling it to work on cleaning his room. I'm feeling the pressure of the upcoming holiday just a bit. I've got some big housecleaning to do this weekend, so I'm pleased that Dennis has started on his own stuff. We are spending the daylight hours working on the outside of the house, and the inside is looking REALLY neglected, but I'll be able to pull it together.

In other big news, Dennis got mad at David during lunch, and he disappeared to his bedroom. After 20 minutes of intense quiet, David checked in on him when he was on his way back to work. He'd put himself down for his nap. Very surprising. He's had a two hour nap almost every day this month! I guess he's been needing his rest.

earning more stripes

Dennis is on the mend, we think. Tonight he went to the bathroom without his panicked "I need to go poop!" cry yelled out beforehand. He was happy to inform us "it was mostly solid this time!". And he's been a hungry bear for two days, constantly asking for food.

Tonight at Taekwondo (where he went by himself as I was keeping child care kids at the gym tonight), he apparently did very well--he came back to me with two stripes added to his belt! He's really working his way up through the ranks, and we're so proud. Lots to be thankful for tonight! Dennis fell asleep before we did our Thankful Tree tonight. I wonder what things he'll come up with tomorrow.

blessing a home

I am thankful that the tornadoes of today passed us by, causing no damage other than making our pets a bit mental! Dennis said he was thankful for his toys! He took his bicycle helmet to school today and wore it when the tornado siren sounded and all the children were shuttled to the hallway. His choice. I'm glad he's protecting his brain! He came home singing "I'm glad I'm not a turkey this Thanksgiving!", a funny little number he learned at school this morning.

We took him to the doctor this morning, trying to discover how we can remedy his intestinal woes. We didn't get much help in that department other than to be assured that we are doing everything right and that it should run its course soon. We are still awaiting the lab results from the weekend. We did discover that he has an ear infection, which was a surprise. The dilemma: how to treat the ear infection while not exacerbating the original problem. Could be an interesting few days coming up. The doctor told us to keep him home, and I asked "why, is he contagious?" and she said "it isn't that--if he has an accident, it could really embarrass him." He spoke up then and said "no it wouldn't! I'd just change my clothes! I have spare underwear in my backpack!". So we returned to school, and he played superheroes with his friend Maddox while David watched (while the teachers had our staff meeting). I came out to see the Flash and Green Lantern flying around the playground in their capes. So fun!

We attended Gigi's house blessing this afternoon, a very special service by the priest and deacon of her local church (same priest who blessed Lemonade). Afterward, she served us a super gourmet soup meal--SO delicious! And then we headed to church. Dennis pretended to be a robot during his lesson, and he even stood and blinked rhythmically and moved his arms robotically during their song time. He didn't sing. "Rescue hero robots don't sing!" he said. He announced in robot voice a number of times "I. Am. Irv. I. Am. A. Rescue. Hero. Robot." to anyone who would listen. So we didn't watch Rescue Heroes tonight. And we talked about paying attention to the teacher. He did take in everything that was taught tonight, though, and proved it by reiterating the lesson to me! Love that kid. He's got the most sparkling personality!

open house fun

I didn't write yesterday because I just couldn't bring myself to write about poop again, and that's really the only thing of consequence that happened yesterday. Lots of times. There was much crying and whining, and my heart just broke for him, for his misery. He did go to school with me and took care of himself there with no trouble. He did the same today, and I'm troubled to report that he still isn't better. We will consult the pediatrician as soon as we can get an appointment.

Despite his GI tract woes, he had a good day. He helped me at school this morning, getting ready for our open house and art show tonight. He enjoyed a lunch at the newly remodeled Burger King (and tried out the brand-spanking-new indoor playground!). And he was thrilled to show his artwork to his family members--lots of them came to see it and then take him out to dinner (while I was still working at the open house). It was his special day, he said. He even read me a story when we got home. If only his tummy would clear up he'd be an even happier camper.

closer to a diagnosis

We've crossed yet another threshold of parenthood. We left the hospital yesterday with instructions to bring back a sample. They had enough poop for the in-house lab tests, but there wasn't quite enough to send out for more tests. Though we waited all day yesterday, no more was forthcoming (which was actually a relief, given the morning he'd had). We had a few almosts today, and then tonight, during his bath, he yelled for both of us. The hospital sent us home with a tray for over the toilet and a specimen jar and biohazard bag labeled with his info. Without getting any more graphic, let's just say that I had a very gross job to perform and I'm glad there were disposable gloves on hand. David handled delivery of the grossness to the hospital immediately afterward. Dennis observed all from the tub where he returned after the Main Event, making the necessary "ewww" sounds to help my job along. He said "wow, I guess I am still a little bit sick!". Not that you'd have been able to tell--he played outside all day long and ate and drank normal stuff. He wasn't whiny or pitiful and was full of his customary energy. Perhaps his rear end will soon get the message that he's well. At any rate, I'm glad there will be tests to make sure it was nothing really bad, despite what had to happen here to ensure that the tests could be performed. This was way more disgusting than a diaper change!

Tonight he's thankful for his family and "for all the drinks!" (the latter said while admiring his large bottle of blue Gatorade).

the hospital cure

Dennis was so sick this morning that he actually asked to go to the hospital. I feared that we weren't, after all, going to escape the stomach virus. He had diarrhea a few times last night, and when he woke up this morning, he yelled "Mommy, I feel like I need to throw up!". No words could get me awake and out of bed faster than those. I flew to the bathroom, and just as I reached out to hold him, he grinned up at me and said "I'm just kidding!". He must have been. He never did vomit or even claim any nausea. He did have very bad stomach pain and horrible, frequent diarrhea, so off we went to the emergency room at his request. We were there over 3 hours, and he continued to be sick until they decided they wanted a sample. He was only able to provide them with a small one and then he downed a Pedialyte (slowly) and kept it down and felt GREAT. He danced all over the hospital room after that, happy to be feeling better, 100% different from the child I brought to the ER hours earlier. He asked everyone who passed if we could leave yet. They presume it's a virus that's running its course quickly, so he was prescribed rest and a liquid diet. He wasn't supposed to eat food, but I kept catching him doing just that, and he's had no more trouble today. In fact, he even played outside all afternoon. It's supposed to be nothing we can catch from him, but we'll have test results in several days that will let us know what it really was. It's just amazing to me how he went from completely pitiful to completely better while we were at the ER. He wasn't given any medication at all, just an electrolyte drink that had magic of some sort in it. I'm glad to have my Dennis back.

He's thankful for pigs and horses, he says. I'm thankful for his health!

Seuss surprise

After playing outside for much of the early part of the day (and riding his bike and scooter), he fought me big time about taking a nap. When he got up, he was very excited to go and see Uncle Denny. But first, he had a prank to play on Pop. He found a huge black rubber spider and held it behind his back as he crept toward the woods behind the greenhouse where Pop was working, humming innocently as he walked. When Pop wasn't looking, Dennis tossed the spider onto the ground in front of him and yelled "oh no! Pop, LOOK!" as he pointed to the faux arachnid. Pop let out a yell of surprise before he laughed, and Dennis dissolved into big belly laughs, delighted with the success of his joke. David tried to hide a smirk of pride at his antics!

We took Lemonade with us to see Uncle Denny, and he whined in the car a good bit on the way down. I admit to feeling a bit disappointed--we've never had a dog that didn't love car rides! Dennis felt the need to inform me "Lemonade is crying again" whenever there was a whine (so helpful). When I stopped for gas, I bought Dennis some cheese puffs. At the next pitiful puppy moan, Dennis fed him a cheese puff. There were no more whines, not even on the drive back! Who knew that a cheese puff would be the solution? Now I'm hoping we can take him more and more places! On the way to the lake, though, Dennis did tell me "Lemonade has to go potty really bad!". Since I heard no whining from the crate, I asked "and how do you know that?". Dennis replied "because he's holding himself!". I cracked up laughing, but Dennis said "hey, I'm serious!". Oops.

Uncle Denny had a special surprise for Dennis, a book of the lost stories of Dr. Seuss. Dennis told me on the way home what a special day this was and how Uncle Denny made it special. He is so appreciative of everything we do for him, and I'm sure he's realized that just makes us want to do more things to delight him! I love that kid!

batman's misdeeds

Dennis came running to my classroom after school got out, and he promptly informed me "I was really bad today." I already knew this. I'd walked by his classroom twice and glanced in to see him in action during the day. The first time, I caught him pounding a kid's ear with a toy hammer. I yelled at him from the hallway and his teacher promptly took action. I saw him again during his snacktime, and I walked by just in time to see him lightly smack the kid next to him. I sent him my "I'm very disappointed" glare and called him out on it. His teacher told me later that he just couldn't keep his hands to himself today, that he wasn't malicious per se, but he was pretty physical. He confessed this to me and David AND to his Taekwondo teacher (who gave him a stern talking to and extra push-ups). He's lost his opportunity to see Santa again this weekend. He cried a good bit and promises to be better. He also asked me tonight if he could apologize to Mrs. Nancy and his friends. I will remind him of this next week at school.

Once we got home from school, Batman came out to play on the playground. He performed his death-defying stunts on the swingset. His Daddy stopped him from jumping out of his climbing tree and removed his cape before it could get hung. He's just a mess of sneezing and snot, and I hope that when he gets better, his violence might also improve. We've cut all violent cartoons, have for a few weeks now, and though we wonder about the Taekwondo lessons, he learns nonviolence there. And the stuff I saw him do was definitely not learned in Taekwondo, looked nothing like it. I heard him say to his preschool teacher "but Mrs. Nancy, I didn't mean to hurt them--those were just love taps!". I don't know where he got that particular terminology from, but we don't do 'love taps' or 'love hits' or 'love kicks' (all his words)!

biker dude!

I'm happy to report that his confidence on his bicycle has been restored! After I picked him up from school today he rode the entire driveway again and again, often with Lemonade running along beside him. I'm so proud! He fell a time or two but was not hurt or scared about it.

David and I took Lemonade to school today when we picked Dennis up (as a surprise), and Dennis was ecstatic to see his puppy coming toward the playground fence! All his friends saw and petted his puppy--he was proud to show him off! Mrs. Linda was happy to see him as well--he's grown a good bit since he left her house 6 weeks ago.

Tonight after church we stopped at Winn Dixie so Daddy could run in and buy more cold medicine for me (this illness keeps going and going!). On our way home, Dennis saw the local rescue training tower and asked "do the policemen use the training tower, too, to go in and get bad guys? And do they throw the bad guys out the windows?". We assured him that they didn't, and he said "oh, so they carry the bad guys out, like firefighters carry people out of a fire?". We enjoyed the mental image of bad guys being tossed out windows, but we decided that truth was a better option for Dennis!

He just walked into our room clad in his t-shirt, socks, underwear, sporting a shoebox over his head. He'd drawn a face on the shoebox, and came in giggling. He said "I fooled you! I drew my face on the box so you would think it was me!". Funny kid! He told me he was thankful for gummy worms, and then said "well, just write that I'm thankful for food!".

rolling around

Having been blessed with some gorgeous and very un-November-like afternoons lately, we've been spending some serious time outdoors. Dennis has been playing on his playground, and today he asked to roller skate. He skated a bit and then rode his scooter all around. We bought some brand new training wheels for his bike. He'd been falling a good bit because the training wheels were so small and flimsy, so we bought a new set today. I installed them (which took some doing) and he rode it just a little bit to test them out. He says they're better, and I'm glad because he'd stopped even wanting to ride his bike because he was scared. Even today he would pedal and then brake, never building up any speed to speak of, and I hope his confidence will soon return. After all his rolling, he took a LONG nap. After that he alternated between cleaning his room and coming in to tell me new items for his Christmas list. He's been appropriating catalogs from the mail and searching them for ideas. He reviews the Walmart Toy Book one daily, and he's added a new Optimus Prime (fortunately the $15.97 one and not the $59.97 one) to the list. He really really wants the new Rescue Heroes Billy Blazes Fire Truck ($36), and I told him no more fire trucks were coming to this house until he got rid of some. He said, "well, I hate to do this, but I can donate one to Mrs. Nancy's class, the one with the really long ladder." I approve of his choice--I got that one for $3 at a flea market. But I'm not in any hurry to go out and get the new (very large) one. His poor Billy Blazes figure can continue to straddle his current fire trucks (he doesn't fit inside any of them) unless someone else surprises him with that particular truck. He also wants a bike basket that fits his bike (and it's hard to find a small and masculine bike basket!) and a mini pillow pet panda and about 15 other things. Whew!

Tonight he's thankful for policemen. He said he wanted to grow up and be a policeman ("the kind of policemen that sleep at the police station").

snowball fight

Dennis was in such a funny, giggly mood tonight that it drew a most immature response from me. Our tickle fight evolved into a chase-each-other-and-hide-and-pop-out-and-scare-each-other fight, and we followed that up with a 'snowball' fight with wadded up bits of (clean) toilet paper. David looked at us as if we'd lost our minds, but he had a tiny half-smile on his face. After our snowball war degraded to a "let's throw dirty socks at each other" war (which I'm ashamed to admit that I initiated), my parent gene finally kicked in and we settled down to read bedtime stories. I think that I got so tired from working and having this awful cold that I just got a bit delirious and possibly a touch hysterical, but I'll bet I'm firmly cemented in Dennis' mind as "the fun parent" tonight! Sometimes it's just fun to be silly.

Yes, the exhaustion is total. I was called into work to substitute in a 3 year old class today, and it went very well, but I didn't get the rest I'd planned to get today. Dennis stayed home with David, and when Dennis napped, David and I worked on the house, then we all went to Taekwondo, then grocery shopped, and then I baked a couple of cakes for the church fundraiser tomorrow! I attempted to shut myself off in my room for a little downtime, but the little person that lives here kept beating on the door and asking to be let in (and that's when our evening of silly craziness started).

Last night we watched The Great Muppet Caper together, and Dennis loved it! I was reminded of watching Muppet movies with my favorite uncle when I was growing up. So I was surprised and excited to see that a new Muppet movie is coming out in theaters on Thanksgiving! Now that Dennis has seen and loved a Muppet movie, it'll be fun to share a new one with him AND the favorite uncle. I think Dennis has finally learned to say "Miss Piggy" instead of "that pig lady" or "Lady Pig".

Last night, Dennis said he was thankful for our church, and tonight he's thankful for Jesus and what He did for us. Powerful stuff. That's the best thing we all have going for us in this world, and I'm thankful that Dennis reminded me of what I myself should be most grateful for.

seriously busy Sunday

I got called to substitute teach the Preschool Sunday School class, and though I had planned to sleep in just a bit, Dennis is still set for Daylight Savings Time. Even so, he didn't force me out of bed until 7:45. He visited me several times prior to then, but 7:45 is when he insisted that he was starving and just had to have his breakfast! He didn't eat much of his breakfast, and so he and the others in his class reached a point where they nearly staged a coup, demanding for me to go and get them a snack because they were SO hungry. I held my position, though, and I heard later that when they got to their children's service that the teacher rewarded them for good behavior with Skittles. I bet they worked extra hard for those, given that they were so hungry!

I dashed out between Sunday School and church to get snacks for our function afterward, and I made it back just in time for the service. I dashed out again to collect Dennis from his children's service in time for Communion, which he'd asked to attend. I opened his classroom door and he hopped up, asking "is it time for Communion?". Then he RAN to the sanctuary, threw open the door, and dashed to the front pew. He sat there beside Uncle Denny and folded his hands in a prayer position as he listened to the Communion readings and prayer. He solemnly walked up with me and took the elements. When we returned to our seat, he whispered conversationally "the blood tasted like wine today!". Though I assured him it was grape juice, he repeated "well, it sure tasted like wine." To my knowledge, he's not tasted wine, but I know he's smelled it.

After the service, I was in charge of the Christmas ornament painting party, and Dennis helped me host (when he wasn't busy painting). And then he helped me clean up our Sunday School classroom and do my Walmart run. At Walmart, we were passing the floral department when he said "those are sure pretty flowers--I think we should get some for Gran. She's been sick, and I want to get her red roses to help her feel better." He picked up a big bouquet (expensive), and I had to downsize his thoughtfulness just a bit. So he chose a small bouquet (and gave it a sniff test). We got a text message from Gran that she was at Walmart, so we quickly paid for the roses and Dennis ran out to present them to her. I love his thoughtfulness!

We spent the rest of our afternoon resting! It was a BUSY day!

Surprise! It's Santa!!

When we received the circular from Bass Pro Shop that announced Santa would arrive on November 5, we made plans to go. We didn't tell Dennis. This morning I told him we were going to visit someone very special and that it was going to be his surprise. He asked us all the way there who it was and where we were going. When we got to Prattville, he asked if we could stop at Bass Pro Shop on the way to his surprise, and we were happy to tell him yes. When we got to the door, he asked if he could see the toys, and I told him that he needed to walk to the back of the store first. When he arrived at the back of the store and saw Santa's Wonderland all set up, he began jumping up and down and said "THIS is my surprise!!". He was so right! We played with trains, remote control cars, race cars, bows and arrows, toy rifles with targets; he wrote a letter to Santa and dropped it in the special mailbox and then colored a stocking. He had his picture made with Santa and looked at all the toys he wanted to look at. And then he was treated to a dinner of his choice, which turned out to be McDonald's (mmmmmmmmmmmm.... McRibs for us, Happy Meal for him). He made some friends on the playground, and he was rather amazingly well-behaved during the whole evening!

He chose a collar and new toy for Lemonade at PetSmart, and we went shopping at Target where he looked at all the toys and scored a super cheap Ironhide costume (his second favorite Transformer) and a new Billy Blazes action figure (leader of the Rescue Heroes, his favorite show). He said (even before we went into Target) "this is a very special night!". He chattered excitedly all the way home, playing with his new toy. He's been bouncing around the house delightedly since we got home. It was a really fun night for him and for us as well! We have another Prattville trip tentatively scheduled for next Friday, this time with Lemonade along. There's a free puppy class at PetSmart, and we are going to attempt a photo with Santa with Dennis and his puppy.

Tonight he's thankful for our dogs. I am as well. I spent a happy couple of hours romping with them this afternoon. Lemonade took off after a neighbor chicken but stopped and immediately returned to me when I called his name. I'm so proud!

surviving the week

We did it. We made it through 5 school days in a row while suffering from bad, bad colds. Dennis and I came home today with a big desire to sit around and do nothing, which we were happy to indulge. After his nap, we snuggled together on the couch and watched movies. We played with the dogs, and we laid around. It was fabulous! As my cold is beginning to wane, Dennis' seems to be amping up. And he's been complaining of a number of tummy aches lately, so many that we might make a trip to the doctor on Monday. From his description, it sounds like it's just gas, but I'm beginning to think it's time to be sure.

Today he said that he was thankful for God. And he wants his Gran to know that he's thankful she takes care of him when Mommy has to go to meetings.

And he told me, upon noticing that I had removed all my toenail polish, "hey--it looks like you have Daddy's feet!". I assured him I would repaint them tomorrow. He was glad.

new rank: yellow!

Dennis was presented with his brand new yellow belt tonight at Taekwondo. He's so proud of himself--he worked pretty hard and tested in front of judges to earn it! We're proud of him, too!

He was very speculative tonight in the car. He posed the questions "what if all the grownups in the world were kids and kids were the grownups? And what if all the dogs were cats and the cats were all dogs? That would be weird!". We got in the car tonight and he noticed the rain, and he said "is it raining all over the world?" which led to an interesting discussion on weather. Then he said "are there pizza restaurants all over the universe?", to which I answered "probably" and he replied "probably so, and probably there are McDonalds all over the universe, too. And Walmarts." Again, I had to agree!

After we watched an episode of his new favorite show, Rescue Heroes (the first television he's seen this week!), I told him it was bedtime. He laid himself across my lap and said "I'm too tired to walk to bed, but I'm not too tired to climb." I informed him that it takes a lot more energy to climb than it does to walk. He promptly replied "I only have a tiny bit of energy--just enough to climb and to wallow, but not enough to walk to bed." I carried him giggling to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and he was suddenly revived (or so I pointed out when he walked to our room after cleaning his teeth). He said "I drank some water--it revived me!". Tonight he is thankful for "being upside down", so I carried him thusly to the Thankful Tree hanging in the kitchen entrance so we could write that down put it in today's pocket. He crawled back to his bedroom, saying he was a little crane and I was a big crane. When we arrived at his doorway, I lifted him (crane-style, with appropriate mechanical noises) deposited him in bed. I am thankful for the hundreds of smiles he brings to my face each day!

is that Spiderman on the swingset?

"Dennis, don't wipe your nose on the bottom of your shirt!". "But, Mom, that's what YOU do!". Busted. His Daddy hastened to my defense, remarking that Mommy wouldn't do that if there were tissues or napkins or any available alternative! But yes, I've been known to do such on a hike or in desperation on the playground (though it's not the bottom of my shirt!).

After our super fun day at school, where we painted with dried corn on the cob, dug for acorns and peanuts in a giant tub of dried beans (because I was the super awesome Discovery Zone substitute teacher today), and joined herds of children from all over town to watch the Birmingham Children's Theater production of Cinderella in our school gym. Again Dennis was tired enough for a 3 hour nap, but not before he donned his Spiderman costume and played on his swingset. I looked out to see him standing on top of his Dad's old Mazda (our lovely lawn ornament), and I told him to get down. He yelled "I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm Spiderman, and Spiderman has to climb things." He did a stint as Batman, too, but that ended when David told him to stop throwing sticks and hitting things and he answered "you can't tell Batman what to do." Batman was stripped of his cape and promptly escorted to bed. He CLEARLY needed a nap!

Tonight we had a family project to work on, decorating a paper turkey feather with things we are thankful for this year. We had great fun working on it all together. He will turn it in to go on his class turkey, and I'm excited to see how all the feathers turn out! For his Thankful Tree today, he said he was thankful for the cat.

better than Black Friday

This was my first day to be free of afternoon care. Though I will probably stay a few minutes late many times in the future (to do lesson prep and such), Dennis and I got out of there at 11:59 today. We were in a terrible hurry to get to Walmart to buy discounted Halloween costumes (the day after Halloween being our favorite shopping day!). We were unsuccessful getting a Green Lantern one, which he really wanted, but we did score a Spiderman costume and a Batman Dark Knight costume for cheap! He giggled with glee as we put the costumes in the shopping cart, giggling the whole time he was touching the packages, and did some serious giggling while trying on the Spiderman mask. He wore the Batman mask and cape in the car. He put on the full costume upon our arrival home, whereupon he flew around the yard until Gran arrived to admire his super-ness. He did NOT want to remove it at naptime, but I insisted. When I got home tonight from my errands, Batman and David were watching guy shows together on the couch (and David happened to find the Looney Tunes episode where the coyote wears his Acme bat suit, which is almost as good as my all time favorite, the one with the earthquake pills).

It's November now, so we hung up our Thankful Tree. Dennis said "today I am thankful for Gran and Pop" so I wrote that on a slip of paper, and he happily found the pocket with the number "1" on it and slipped the paper inside. I am thankful for his Grandma who made our beautiful Thankful Tree!

He played a prank on me this morning. I went to wake him up, and I opened his door to find his light on and him lying face down on the floor, eyes closed, very still. I thought that he'd gotten up to play in the middle of the night and had fallen asleep amongst the scattered Legos, and I just felt awful that I hadn't checked on him in the middle of the night (thank you, Nyquil, for a great night's sleep!) and made him more comfortable! I yelled his name and crouched down as he opened his eyes to giggle at his joke, telling me "I heard you coming and I got down here and pretended I slept here all night." He sure fooled me!

trick-or-treat fun

Happy Halloween! We've had a couple of days of big fun. Last night we had our family & friends Halloween party at the lake where we ate spooky foods and toured a crashed alien space ship (complete with a Probe Room). This scared Dennis a good bit, even though he knew it was Gigi's house and not a real ship, even though we assured him it was all make believe, even though we all wore tin foil on our heads so the aliens couldn't invade our minds. Dennis quizzed us about extraterrestrial phenomena and its possible truthfulness all the way home. And he ended up sleeping with us because all he could think about was aliens coming to get us.

Today he toured the pumpkin patch again on his midday date with Gigi and Gran. They picked him up from school early and took him to have some fun. They had so much fun that he took a three hour nap before Transforming into Optimus Prime to go trick-or-treating tonight. This was his first year of honest-to-goodness, actual house-to-house trick-or-treating (and yes, I've now officially hyphened myself to death). We've done the trunk-or-treat before where you go from car to car, and we stopped at one of those at a local church before heading to the subdivision most popular with kiddos on Halloween night. Things have changed. We didn't march house-to-house and ring doorbells. Instead, all the homeowners sat outside to greet passing children, HUNDREDS of passing children, and hand out candy. We saw tons of people we knew, people from church, people from Preschool... We admired costumes and enjoyed watching Optimus run up to houses to give his greetings and thanks, shopping bag slung over his shoulder. He scored some serious chocolate. I hope he shares. We did some serious walking!