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!