three is more fun

Today we found ourselves on a hastily planned road trip to north Alabama for the funeral of the grandmother of my sister-in-law. We knew her as a very special lady, and we are so close with those in-laws that they are absolutely as family to us. And, since Dennis' cousins were going to be just two hours away, he was thrilled to be going even though he knew it was a funeral. He seemed unaffected by the knowledge that we were going to a cemetery for a graveside service--he was quite matter of fact about it all, telling us "we are going to the place where Aunt Kristin's grandmother is getting buried" and then "she is in Heaven with Jesus". You never know what to expect, I guess, but we prepared him for what was going to take place. What we didn't count on was him finding the cemetery such an appealing place to frolic with his cousin Mirella. They "put out fires" all around the graveyard until the service started, and David and I held them for most of the eulogy. They didn't pay all that much attention to what was going on, but they were pretty well behaved until the end when they were cold and a little bored. Also, they had hatched a plan to put Dennis' carseat in the car with his cousins' seats so that they could all ride together. Mirella cleaned out the space between her seat and her brother's, saying "I am making it pretty for Dennis and his seat to go in here". He 'measured' the area with his hands, tried to sit in it, and assured us that the seat would fit. When the funeral ended, the two of them were sitting in the car chatting with each other, staying warm on a very surprisingly cold morning. We ruined their plan when we saw that his booster seat would not, in fact, fit between the car seats, and much disappointment ensued until he discovered that he could see their car all the way back to Nana and Poppa Jim's house. He was happy that they would get to play together more, and that's what they did for hours, even concluding our day with a long play session at an indoor McDonald's playground (where Uncle Michael and I both proved ourselves in the 'hamster tube' area). Dennis loves his cousins, and of all his cousins, Mirella is both the closest in age (I think this is true, but Silas may actually be a couple of days older than Mirella and therefore the tiniest bit closer--both cousins were born in July) and the closest in personality by far. Or at least their personalities mesh particularly well--they REALLY enjoy each other. When we first got together today, Mirella ran right past Gran, right toward Dennis, and they caught each other in a giant bear hug, so cute and heartwarming to see!

Dennis has been very anti-Daddy this week (this happens when David works many days in a row and Dennis gets used to my company only, and it usually remedies itself on David's off days). Tonight in the car, just before he dropped off to sleep, he announced, "I changed my mind. I think I like you now, Daddy," which is such a refreshing change from the more negative remarks he made earlier. It was nice to be together today, the three of us (well, four actually, since Gran was our driver and companion), and even nicer to see the family and watch the three cousins play together. Dennis fell asleep shortly after 7:00 (after supper, before we left Decatur) and will probably sleep all the way through the night. He did not wake up when we transferred to our own car, and this was after sleeping all the way south. And David and I are suffering a big case of the sleepies as well, now that I think about it. *yawn*