a Methodist plague

At last count, over 70 members of our congregation brought home more than lessons from a good sermon last Sunday. Monday we began falling ill with what we think was norovirus, a horrible intestinal virus that struck Dennis and me and to a lesser degree David and so very many others, young and old, that were in attendance Sunday. Most of us are better now, thank the Lord. It was so widespread that we canceled all of last night's planned activities in an effort to prevent any further outbreaks.

In more humorous news, Dennis announced that he had "a new rule to add to the family rule chest", that "what the kid wants, the kid gets." David had warned me that he had discussed this rule with him the evening before, so I was prepared with the knowledge that an addendum had been proposed that stated "with parental approval." I reminded Dennis of the addendum and he quickly informed me "no, I vetoed that addendum." So I inquired if the kid would be paying for what the kid wants, and he said he would. We left things at that point. I thought it might be safer to revisit the point at some future date. Though I did order him a child's lab coat yesterday and some rainboots, one being a need and the other something the kid wanted. It occurs to me that he does indeed get nearly everything he wants.

away from home

Tonight I attended the first part of a children's ministry conference that will continue through tomorrow. I'm staying at a hotel by myself. Dennis and I shared a FaceTime call earlier. He chatted with me, stuck his tongue out at me, and mooned me with his Transformer-underwear-clad bottom. I felt like I was right at home, especially when he waved his foot at me.

Overheard: Dennis was telling someone how Riley (7th grader) asked "Dennis, are you a menace?". Then Cody (8th grader, youth minister's son) said "Dennis isn't a menace." Dennis said "so Cody's like my lawyer now." Love it!!!

winter getaway

We love the Smokies! We spent a lovely day in the park yesterday alternately playing in the snow or frolicking in the sunshine as we drove to and through Cades Cove. Dennis loved it all, tossing snowballs, touring old homesteads, observing deer grazing in front of gorgeous mountain vistas.. What a perfect day! Today we discovered that snow tubing sells out very early, so we will attempt that again tomorrow morning. We shopped today and then met up with David's aunt and uncle that moved here a couple years back. It was nice to share a meal with them.

So we've brought our child, our now-can-read-EVERYTHING-child to a tourist trap. He has read every sign, building, and billboard aloud to us and has expressed interest in doing every activity he reads. He wanted very much to explore the castle, the weird illusion place, the dinosaur ride, and the haunted house. He doesn't like scary things, so we were surprised at his interest in the last thing. He said "I don't want to go in the haunted house, but I really want to know what's inside. I can be brave for long enough to do that." But we didn't. We went to our favorite shops in Gatlinburg and then the book warehouse and the Old Navy outlet (hooray! New jeans with the knees still intact!) and called it an early evening. Dinner at 4 with the relatives and then back to the cabin for board games and hot tub time, and now we are ready for bed! It is exhausting to shop with a kid in tow, especially one that likes to randomly strike martial arts poses or shake his booty to whatever song he hears. If it wasn't so crowded, I probably would have enjoyed his antics a little more. It's hard to quickly navigate him through a crowded area when he's so busy marching to his own drummer.

Mrs. God

Dennis was telling me about an argument he got into with his new girlfriend at school (Kirsten). In a side note, Addison broke up with him because her parents said she couldn't be his girlfriend, but they are still friends. Anyway, he was explaining to Kirsten that they are brother and sister in Christ because God is our father. She disagreed. So later he was telling me that he and I are brother and sister, and I said yes, because God is everyone's father. And then he asked "and why don't we all have the same mother? What about a Mrs. God?". Thought provoking, for sure.

your what hurts?

After a good Taekwondo workout: "Mom, I have a big cramp in my leg pit." He indicated his groin. And he added that his butt cheek also had a cramp. Fortunately the cramps resolved themselves soon enough.

Paint wars

Dennis used every bit of play and energy in him today. After church he accompanied the big kids on their paintball trip. He was too young to play a game but happily watched and cheered on the guys as they defeated the girls time after time. And he was beyond delighted when the paintball referee let him empty the last gun by shooting it at a target dozes of times. The ref held up Dennis' mask so he could see to shoot. As far as he's concerned, he has officially played paintball.

Tonight he had dinner and imaginative wild play with his cousins. There was much running and giggling and excited screaming going on as they invented game after game. They ended up "surrendering" each other. Not surrendering TO each other but surrendering each other as in "I surrender you...put your hands up!". I'm thinking they didn't completely get the meaning of the word. It was fun to watch, and Dennis fell asleep in the car before we were halfway home from the lake. What a big day!

Life of crime?

I picked Dennis up from school yesterday and I noticed a rather solemn expression on his face when he arrived at the car. I asked him about his day and he told me he'd gotten in a lot of trouble. I ask him to elaborate as I was checking his reading folder to see if he had homework to do. He forgot to bring the folder home on Wednesday and was pretty concerned about going to class on Thursday without doing his assignment. I saw with some surprise that my initials were actually there beside Wednesday's assignment, just as if he'd remembered the folder and done the work. I also noticed two things right away. First, my initials were not in my handwriting. Second, the teacher had also noticed that my initials were not in my handwriting, as evidenced by the frowny face she drew beside his forgery. I had a talk with him, of course, but inside my mind was reeling with the fact that my FIVE YEAR OLD had the presence of mind to try to fake my signature to avoid getting in trouble. If he'd gotten the M right, he might have even gotten away with it. He says he learned from his teacher that it's okay to forget to take your folder home sometimes but that it is absolutely not okay to sign my initials as if he'd done the work. Wow. What will he be like as a teen?

his own interpretation

Dennis learned an important lesson tonight at AWANA about building people up and tearing them down. On the way home, he informed me that he'd thought about it and every time we tell him that he can't do something, we are tearing him down. I tried to explain the difference between discipline and tearing down, even citing some examples, but he still insisted that when Daddy uses a mean voice, it's tearing him down. I told him that sometimes we talk mean when we are frustrated, that parents aren't perfect, and he said he would help us work on that. It's like living with a talk show host some days.

passport appointment

Dennis was thrilled to be checked out of school early to go to his appointment to renew his passport today. We had planned to return him to school afterward, but one of the teachers told us that he just had snack left and then lining up to go home. He missed story time, but we took care of that by reading to him. He is again exhausted. While I was busy at work, he ate the centers out of a dozen generic Oreos and was vibrating with sugar overload. He held it together well for Taekwondo and then went to bed early. He told me that he thinks it's probably more exciting to be a kid than to be a dad. He looks forward to being a dad one day, he says, but it won't be as exciting as being a kid.

learning man things

Last night I was at the height of irritability and Dennis insisted on being plastered to me. I love his cuddliness, I really do, but after he'd wallowed on me for hours and inadvertently kicked me a dozen times, I was not in the nicest of moods. He was undeterred, but I still felt bad for being grouchy so, in my sleepiness, I apologized and mumbled something about PMS. First thing this morning, he came in to jump on me in bed and asked "Mom, is your PMC all better now?". I laughed and made the correction and now I'm wondering if he will teach the kids at school a new concept today.

Mini David

Yesterday Dennis made the observation that David likes to say "we will go from there" when Dennis asks step by step what will happen next for the upcoming evening. Tonight we were on our way home from a dinner when David asked him if he planned to play in his room for a while or put on his pajamas and go straight to bed. He answered "I will put on my pajamas and we'll go from there".

Today was his first ever Upward Basketball game at the church. His team is called the Cougars and they did pretty well. They don't keep score for the younger players, so I couldn't tell you if they beat the Dragons or not, but I was proud of Dennis for staying with the game and running the ball down the court and passing. He's quite good at defense as well. I'm proud of him and he certainly played hard for the entire game! It's no wonder he needed a nap before we went to our dinner party tonight.

Negotiating

This morning Dennis was excited to take his very own wallet (a recent gift) to school today. He had his tooth fairy money in it and his money to buy a snack from the snack cart. As he packed it in his back pack, he looked at me oh-so-angelic and said "I wonder when I'll get my very own debit card. I know how to use one--you just swipe it at the store!". Scary. I attempted to explain how you must have money in your account to be able to use it, but he wasn't so interested in that part. So it will be several more years for sure!

Impishness

Dennis had a wonderful day at school. He had some big news that he couldn't wait to share. "Addison is OFFICIALLY my girlfriend now," he told me. Apparently she decreed it was so. I was more excited about the perfect report card and his high reading level and perfect test scores. I'd have taken him out for ice cream but I went to the doctor instead. I have double ear infections and a shriveled up eardrum that's taking its time to heal. I got painful shots in my hips that Dennis tried to protect me from, but I assured him that I wanted them so I can get better sooner. Taking Dennis with me to the doctor was like taking a busy octopus--he was everywhere and grabbing everything! He's been in constant wiggle motion since he left school. I can tell how tired he is from his return to school. I have enjoyed his weird little jokes all afternoon.

heavy on the spoiling

Dennis embraced his last day of Christmas break. We visited his favorite stores, bought stuff at each one (wow at the sales right now!), cruised the mall and played on the escalators... It was a very Dennis-centered day. He loved it all, of course. Tonight when I put him to bed, he pulled out a colored die and said "okay, if I roll the dice and it lands on red, that means it is NOT bedtime." Despite his careful maneuvering and the desired red result, he still went to bed.

He was scheduled for a bath, but the house was very cold tonight and I told him it was too cold to sit in the tub for a long time. He looked at me like I was completely stupid and said "well of course I would want warm water." So sassy, my kid.

game prowess

Tonight we enjoyed a traditional New Year's Day meal with Grandma and GrandBob.  Dennis tried the collard greens and didn't hate them, but he did whisper to me "Mom, these look like leaves" before tasting one.  He ate peas and cornbread, ham, and hog jowl, and he finished off his meal with some sweet potato pie.  I appreciate that he's open to tasting more foods these days. Tomorrow is his last day of Christmas break, and he wants to go to the Lego store bright and early in the morning, stop by Target, and eat at a Chinese buffet somewhere.  He needs new jeans, so we are most assuredly going to do some kind of shopping.

We drew New Year's resolutions again this year.  Dennis drew "I will build a Lego masterpiece" and "I will read my Bible more" and "I will dance with joy" and "I will wear something red" and "I will watch less TV".  We just bought him a new Bible, and the other things certainly apply, so he drew well.

Tonight we had a wonderful time playing board games, just the 3 of us.  We bought some after Christmas clearance games, and we tried a couple of them out tonight.  We bought Cranium "Brain Breaks" because we love the real Cranium game, and we were thrilled to discover that it's a game of 200 1-minute challenges for the family to complete together.  It was nice to not be competitive.  We had to each draw a train car and connect our drawings, announce a number of activities we'd like to do on a free day, draw a picture for the others to guess, memorize a pattern in 10 seconds and work to recreate it with blocks (provided).  After this game, we played Apples to Apples, a game David and I have always loved.  It's for much older folks than Dennis.  We had looked for Apples to Apples Jr but couldn't find it, so we got the regular version.  He was AMAZINGLY good at it.  He won the game, in fact.  We couldn't believe how well he understood it and how funny and accurate his choices were.  I can't wait to play it with him again.

I'm sad to see the end of Christmas break.  I had planned for so much for us to do during this time, but I was sick for most of it.  I did enjoy all the time at home with Dennis, though.  He's pretty good company.  And he's certainly enjoyed his time with his new toys.