more hot than peachy

This year's Peach Festival has almost ended. We had a pretty good time at the Peach Jam Jubilee tonight, as good a time as it's possible to have in over 100 degree heat. Dennis did a number of different Taekwondo demonstrations at his instructor's booth. He played some games at different booths and scored an awesome inflatable "rock guitar" (his term). It is red and black and has flames on it, and he assumed numerous rock star poses throughout the evening. He would get it out every time he heard a rock song and would faux-strum the thing and jam to the beat. A lady from church told him he played a mean air guitar and he solemnly informed her "it's an INFLATABLE guitar." He also won a light up, noise-making bubble gun with a laser sight. I have to admit how cool that thing is! He carefully lined the perimeter of the Taekwondo booth with a bubble rectangle before pronouncing us safe. Good thing we had him with us!

music lessons

I got a phone call to come down to the church office and to bring Dennis, so we headed down to see what was happening. We were treated to a psaltery concert, an instrument I'd never before seen. And Dennis had never heard of one either, but our church's office volunteer for the day had brought one along and shared it with us. She played some hymns and then let Dennis have a turn with it. She held the bow along with him and together they played Amazing Grace. He was SO proud of himself! Later, when David came by to pick him up, he found Dennis in the office where he'd returned on his own for another lesson. David got to see and hear him play Happy Birthday.

Even though he'd already had a full day of peach picking and shopping with Gran and playing the psaltery and working with me, there was more to come. The youth minister poked his head in my office to ask Dennis if he knew how to string a guitar. He took him next door to his office and let him help with the entire process (stringing and tuning) and then play the guitar some himself!

I wonder if Dennis will want to learn to play an instrument of his own soon. He loves music and tonight at home gave us one of his best ever dance shows. He invented a new "Dennis Chop" move that he's especially pleased to demonstrate.

office pranks

Back when the Staples commercials were popular, I happened on an "easy" button in the store. I bought it because it was fun (and cheap) and brought it home. I didn't do much with it, but it provided great entertainment on more than one occasion. Dennis loves the thing and will push the button again and again to hear it say "that was easy". And once, just after David and I had labored to move a very heavy piece of furniture, I bumped the table it was on and it spit out "that was easy!" only to have David and me replying "NO IT WASN'T!".

Today Dennis left it on the desk of the administrative assistant at church (who is a good friend as well) before she got to work this morning. When she rang my office, I picked up the phone and heard "that was easy!". I told her Dennis had done it and he heard me and ran downstairs to chat with her. Now the button is sitting on my desk. I wonder who it will visit next! Dennis was so pleased with himself over this that he's asked me again to take this position permanently (he adores "going to work" at church), to which I reminded him that I have not yet been asked to do so.

road hazard

I told Dennis that I couldn't turn my head to see what he was trying to show me because I was driving and I needed to watch the road. He said "why? What are you watching for?". I explained that I didn't want to hit any animal that might run out in the road, like a cat or dog or deer. He replied "and you should watch for an elephant stampede." Of course I should!

Dennis' autobiography

Dennis was excited to sit at his 'desk' in my office (a low bookshelf that we moved from an adjoining room). He noticed the office supplies--pens, pencils, paper in his paper tray, paper clips, etc, and decided he'd get to work "writing a book about my life!". I helped him with some spelling suggestions, but so far he's written "I was born" (page 1), "I learned to eat" (page 2), "I learned to walk" (page 3), "I grew" (page 4), and "I learned to talk" (page 5). Could be a long book. I can't wait til he illustrates it!

a taekwon-double

We are very near to Dennis' next testing for his new belt, and he still hadn't mastered some of the moves he needed to learn to earn it. He went to Pelham this morning for an extra class and apparently did extremely well. His class here in town is suddenly filling up with new kids, and Dennis has had lots of retraining in the basics. He outranks all the other little kids by 3 belts (soon to be 4, we hope). Next week he will test on Monday and demonstrate his moves at the Peach Jam on Friday! He's very excited about it. He did very well in his regular class tonight!

He had some moments of wildness this morning when he and his Daddy came to pick me up for lunch. Some of the staff members asked him what was going on, and he replied, "when they cut my hair, they cut off all my goodness!". But he calmed down a bit after a nap and was very sweet tonight. He's constantly hungry and tired, so I'm sure I'll wake up one day soon and he will be 4 feet tall!

office assistant

What a blessing that I get to take Dennis to work with me this summer! I am finding that I can't squeeze in all the work I need to do in part time hours, so it seems that I'll probably be increased to full time. My hours are flexible and I can work from home--fabulous!! But when Dennis comes with me, there is a room beside my office with a connecting door that he has made into his own office (he's the Assistant Children's Minister). Today the Administrative Assistant gave him some office supplies, an inbox, paper clips, pens, paper, and a basket. He was THRILLED. But today, as we were leaving, he told me he thought we needed to switch rooms next time. I think he has desk envy (there's a round table in "his office").

begging?

Dennis approached me a bit ago with an empty grocery bag slung over his shoulder. "This is my money bag," he informed me, "and I'm collecting money." I asked him why he was collecting and he told me that it's "to buy a Millenium Falcon." I gave him a dollar for his creativity. He used the dollar to play a form of shell game with his dad (using an array of empty drink bottle tops) that he called the "hide the money in the barrel game."

I took him to work with me today. He dropped one of his action figures down the hole in my desk that's meant for cords. After the second such "expedition" (it took serious effort to excavate the little dude from behind the bottom desk drawer) I told Dennis not to put him down the hole again. "But he's exploring a cavern, Mom," he told me. I firmly told him not to do it again when I noticed the start of Cry Face coming on. I further explained that "you can't go exploring in a deep hole without a rope!". He seemed satisfied. As I answered my phone, he ran out of the room. I presumed it was a potty break so I was surprised when he returned moments later with a length of yarn. He told me that he'd gotten it from Ms. Lynn in the church office--he said he explained to her that his man needed a rope to drop down into the hole. When I called to thank her later, she reminded me that she has raised a boy herself! Now I need to teach Dennis that repellers tie the rope at the top of the hole (because he dropped the man AND rope a few times).

active boy, active mouth

I got to sleep in a bit this morning before Batman came in to wake me up to ask for help putting on his Bat Utility Belt. He also wanted his Bat Breakfast.

We spent our afternoon swimming in the lake with Gran. It was a gorgeous sunny and breezy day, especially nice to be in the water. Dennis chased Gran and me around, blowing water through his noodle at us as he pretended it was his police gun.

He made constant noise today. He usually does, but I appreciate it more when he's actually talking (as in using real, actual words) rather than a stream of super irritating noises with random intervals of pretend vomit sounds just to make sure we were thoroughly disgusted. I think the highlight of his day was watching Gran clean the big catfish she caught. He came to give me periodic reports ("she's about to cut off the head! Want to come see?") before running back to check out the action ("Gran, is it time for its brains to fall out? Can we see its brain?"). He told me "blood is too scary for some girls to look at but boys really like that gross stuff." I suppose he deduced this by my telling him that I had seen plenty of fish guts and didn't need to stop what I was doing to go check it out. I wonder why he didn't make the connection that a girl was gutting the fish!

He's extra proud of his Junior Naturalist patch!

camp ending

Dennis is one of Oak Mountain's newest Junior Naturalists. He finished up Nature Day Camp this afternoon and is very proud of his new Junior Naturalist patch. He has had a great week of swimming and hiking, learning about nature, making friends, and playing games. He came home with a stack of very cute craft projects that he's been working on all week, and he's already making plans to return next summer.

I could tell he was feeling a bit sassy after we picked him up. He decided that we should visit Toys R Us rather than going on a family photography hike. His explanation was that he "had a leg pain while hiking earlier" and that a visit to Toys R Us would be easier on his leg. He had fun shopping there even though he'd been warned that we wouldn't be buying anything. He had a late night as we stopped by the church to get a room ready for Sunday (new decorations for children's church). He assured me he was going to go to bed "good" tonight and he did. Tomorrow we should be able to sleep in, Dennis and I, and then we plan on a fun lake day!

almost there...

This has been the longest week! All the trips up to Oak Mountain and back and all the church activities and meetings--we are just exhausted!! Tomorrow is his last day of nature camp, and I foresee a busy weekend of church activities and duties, and I'm hoping that the pace of life slows a bit next week.

Because of his exhaustion level, we kept Dennis here in town today so he could rest. He went to a vacation bible school this morning and then had a nice long nap before Taekwondo and a dinner at church. He was much more pleasant after his needed rest. He missed camp, sure, and they missed him (we got an email that he was lots of fun and very imaginative and that he was missed today). Everybody that spends any time with Dennis seems to notice how special he is. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks my kid has that special something!

Naturalist in the making

Dennis is really enjoying his Nature Day Camp at Oak Mountain (part of the Junior Naturalist program). He's learning about animals, hiking, swimming, and making crafts. They told me today when I picked him up what a good swimmer he is (and I'm SO proud--he has just learned!!). The long days are getting to him, though. He had a big meltdown last night at Taekwondo and wiggled his way through the movie we went to with Uncle Denny today after camp (Madagascar 3, the absolute best of the Madagascar movies). He fell asleep in the car both last night and tonight! He seems to be teetering on the brink of Big Kid-dom, displaying big maturity at some points of the day but still clinging to little kid-ness when he skins a knee or feels afraid. I think it's a confusing time for him. It's an adjustment for sure!

new bedtime complaint

After a busy, busy Sunday morning (and it looks like they will all be this way since I am now our church's interim children's minister), Dennis and I grabbed a pizza and hit the couch. From the couch, we went to take our naps in our beds! Tonight we've spent time getting Dennis all packed up for Nature Day Camp which starts tomorrow. He's very excited!

We put him to bed early, and he was fine with that, but he did get up to tell me "well, my whole body is tired except for my right hand, and it won't let me go to sleep!". I sang a lullaby to the offending hand and kissed it goodnight, and now we are listening to Dennis talk to himself in his bed. We are still worn out from our beach trip, so I hope he gets some good rest tonight!

water day

Dennis indulged his every desire today. He played in the sand and surf for a good hour and a half this morning (under a blissfully overcast sky with cool breezes) before sliding down the big inflatable waterslide at the resort (many times). He followed this with swimming in the big pool before heading to the kiddie pool to play in the fountains. He was not too interested in coming back in for lunch, but he nagged me to make him an immediate peanut butter and jelly sandwich that he devoured almost before it hit the plate. He napped (who wouldn't after all that?) and when he woke, we offered him a visit to Toys 'R Us. Bliss! He painted a t-shirt with a dead fish at the resort kids club before we headed out shopping (and this is to say that he painted on a flounder and then pressed the flounder onto the shirt). Fabulous souvenir.

We spent the rainy afternoon shopping for toys and returned to grill burgers and watch the lighted fountain show from Gigi's balcony. Dennis danced to it, giggling the whole time. I can't think of a day more perfect for him unless his Daddy had been here to play Legos with him! He's already begged me to "stay two more nights" as he tearfully wailed "I don't want to go home tomorrow!". At lunch he announced, "I've decided we're going to rent a place here, too. Daddy can come visit us often." He doesn't know if he likes the beach or the pools better!

beach break

Dennis and Gran and I arrived safely at Gigi's place for our short beach vacation. We haven't seen the beach yet, but as soon as we arrived at her place, Dennis was unzipping my camera bag and carrying the new camera out to the balcony to take some shots of the pools! He is really interested in photography, and he's really good at it! I don't know many five year olds who are comfortable at using an SLR (when I'm just getting used to it myself!).

I caught Dennis yesterday stringing a measuring tape from Gran's oven door, across the kitchen floor, and up the cabinets on the other side of the room. I exclaimed "you're up to some mischief, aren't you?" and he replied "well, what else would you expect me to be doing?". Too true!

using the force

We have unleashed a brand new Star Wars fan on the world. He could not wait to get his hands on his very own light saber. Now he wants a full Darth Vader costume to go with it. I wonder why he chose the bad guy this time... The good guys' sabers were there as well, but he only wanted Vader's. He has watched the 3 original films now and really loved them. He loved that Darth Vader turned away from the dark side at the end, wants to learn all the names of all the ships... He's hooked!

Now if someone would buy me an R2D2...

promoted again

Dennis moved up in Sunday school yesterday and began attending the older children's church service. He's no longer a part of the preschool ministry! I was sad to see him go, but he was happy to attend the new worship service with the older kids. They had music and videos, and during their break between Sunday school and the start of their service, he was happy to play with the Xbox and Nintendo and games that are on hand for the kids. I think he really feels like a big kid now.

Today he helped his Daddy work on getting Gran's pool ready for the summer. They scooped out debris and skimmed it while it was filling up, and they got the pump and filter working to clean it as well. He was so proud that he got to help!

reading milestone

Today Dennis finished his reading primer! He was anxious to go to Walmart and purchase the promised reward toy (he chose Obi-Wan Kenobe and his vehicle), but he was also anxious to start the next reading book. He has already breezed through the first nine lessons in it (because those were composed of words he'd learned in the primer). He's reading more and more things that he sees all around him, and I think it surprises and delights him when he realizes that he can figure out what something says.

a Zoe date

We had errands in Birmingham today. I don't love the traffic (and there was plenty today), and I don't love that I couldn't find what I needed to find (ugh). I did love having dinner at Cracker Barrel with Zoe and family! The kids loved seeing each other--they toured Toys R Us, but gender differences necessitated shopping separately. She wanted to look at baby dolls and Barbies, and he wanted to see Legos and superheroes. They bonded over a Nintendo game system set up for demonstration. And they really enjoyed each other at Cracker Barrel. And I got to have Coca-cola cake because one of my teacher gifts was a $25 gift card to Cracker Barrel (because my students rock!!).

Dennis acted so nuts today that I worried we might have trimmed his good sense when we cut off so much hair! He toned it down for the way home, thank goodness!