elmo knows

We didn't have much energy around here today. We got to bed late after coming home late, and we slept late on top of that. Our major event was a trip to Prattville to buy lumber at Lowe's. Dennis spent a good bit of the day in the car, poor fellow, but we did break up the monotony by 1) switching up vehicles (he got to ride in Grandma's truck) and 2) stopping at Bass Pro Shop to look at the fish and boats. He got his first pair of real Crocs today--his feet are finally big enough to somewhat fit into the smallest size. We got him a brown camo pattern because that's what was his size, but thinking about it, they will match his fall clothes pretty well. That is, they'll match the kinds of clothes I plan to outfit him in this fall. I don't have many fall clothes for him yet save what Caedmon has passed down to him and a few awesome long-sleeved t-shirts that Gran picked up for him at the end of last season. I suppose we'll need a couple of pairs of khaki pants and another pair of jeans, and maybe a button down or two, and that should take care of it with what he already has, unless he has a major growth spurt. I'm not overly worried about shopping yet, as it will be shorts weather for some time to come. And he's still wearing 9 month and 12 month shorts, some of which he wore last summer! They are shorter on him this year, but still almost knee length. He is not a long legged child.

The highlight of his day was his visit to his Grandma's house where he ran around and around, playing with the toys in the grandchildren's closet. She had bought him a special board book about Daddy kisses and he gave it a cursory reading before tossing it onto the floor, which is how he treats most of his new things these days. It's a good book, though, and I imagine we'll add it to the board book rotation. He spent much of his visit trying to wreak havoc with the kitchen trash can. It has one of those swinging lids and it just fascinates the heck out of him. There wasn't any trash within reach, but that didn't stop him from walking in there every 6 minutes or so to check and then try to add things that weren't actually trash. He managed a juice box all on his own today without wearing it all, and I was so proud. I shared my glass of ice water with him (always risky--he's bad to backwash), and after the third sip, he pulled away and pursed his lips and spit water out all over my leg. It was more a concentrated stream than a spray, and it soaked me. I couldn't do anything but laugh because it was so unexpected, and such a good shot as well.

He played with his new Elmo learning laptop in the car pretty much nonstop, and when I was following David from the lake in the Blazer after we'd dropped off the lumber, David reached his Elmo limit. I got a desperate phone call from him asking "How many shovels are there?". There are pictures that accompany the number pad (and 8 different scene cards to use) and Dennis doesn't even know what a shovel is so didn't know to press the number 2. He had pulled the lever that makes Elmo ask him a question but never answered the question, and Elmo continued to ask him over and over again how many shovels there were until David reached a moment of insanity and grabbed the laptop. He was driving and didn't have time to count shovels so he called to ask if I knew! It just so happened that I did know, because Elmo had badgered me with the same query some time earlier in the day. David pressed the 2, and all was well, and Dennis got his laptop back. We bought it because he open and close it and can push the buttons and Elmo will tell him the number he pushed, or the color, or the shape... And then will use a comparison, as in: "2, there are 2 shovels", or "red, the number 4 in the picture is red", or "circle, the wheel on the wheelbarrow is a circle". We thought it might satisfy his button pushing need and save our laptops at the same time. I just wish it was Oscar's learning laptop, or Cookie Monster's, or Ernie's, but instead we are stuck with Elmo's nauseatingly cute little monster voice. It is the first toy I've seen him spend over 30 consecutive minutes playing with, though. Kudos to Fisher Price for that.

The laptop stayed in the car when we came in for the evening, and tonight while getting ready for bed we had a Drive-Thru story time. I read a rather long Dr. Seuss tale (The Sleep Book), and Dennis didn't want to get out of his car and sit in my lap while I read. No problem. But then it turned into an I'll-play-with-every-toy-in-my-room-while-Mommy-sits-there-and-reads story time, and we'd just cleaned up. We paused the story for pajama and tooth-brushing time, and David was scooping him up into the crib as I read the last page. We had a quick kiss and getaway, and when I checked on him a few minutes ago, he hadn't really moved from the position he went down in. Tired little guy. Yesterday was a big day. And he's probably tired from the screaming fit he had when I put him down for his nap without Froggy. Oops. Froggy was in the car somewhere and I tried to substitute Elmo or Snoopy, but he screamed like I was killing him. I wanted to think that maybe it was time to try and substitute a replaceable stuffed friend, instead of the One of A Kind Froggy, but it was a no go. I ran to get Froggy, and when I handed him to Dennis, Dennis promptly shut his screaming mouth, clutched Froggy to his chest, sat down, laid down, then went to sleep, all while I stood there at his crib side and watched. Amazing. And scary. I'm going to have to buy fabric to make another one as well as tattoo our phone number on Froggy and offer a reward if he's ever found away from Dennis. We watch him like a hawk whenever he goes into a store with Dennis (which we try to avoid), and we always are asking each other "Do you have Froggy?". Froggy is our other child.

Now we are all in bed, recharging from yesterday because we never really got it together today. We were tired and cranky and disjointed, all 3 of us, and maybe a good night's sleep will put us all back together. The pictures! Oh, yeah, gotta explain those... He was napping and it was time for supper. I went in to wake him and he didn't want to wake up. I called his name, he opened one eye to a slit and looked at me, then closed it back and pulled Froggy up over his face. I asked him if he wanted to get up and play, and I got nothing. But then I said "Do you want to eat?" and both eyes popped open and he stood right up and held out his arms. He walked right to the kitchen for supper. I mistimed it a bit, and he was in his high chair about 5 minutes too early but was extraordinarily happy to munch on an Oreo appetizer while he waited. It's possibly the happiest he was all day.

a day at the museum

We took Dennis and Chloe to the McWane Science Center in Birmingham today and he enjoyed himself very much. We took him inside and turned him loose, and the first thing he did was find the stairs. We went to the third floor, where there's an exhibit for small children that involves lots of different activities. What he was most interested in was any vehicle that he could steer. All those neato science exhibits, and what Dennis wanted to do was drive the cars. All the cars. As many times as possible. He also liked playing with the crane and the conveyor belt at the grocery booth because both things had wheels he could turn. He got a stinky diaper somewhere in this exhibit, and we actually had to carry him out screaming because he wasn't through playing yet.

He also enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit and actually used the brush to clean off fake sand from the fake dinosaur bones in the archaeological dig site they had set up. His favorite was the giant water table, though, and this was probably Chloe's favorite as well. Fortunately for us, they had protective "stay dry" aprons for the children to wear. There were all sorts of scoops and bowls and colanders and funnels in a big water trough that the kids enjoyed playing in. And Dennis went in his first "hamster tube" type play structure today as well, and we discovered that we can actually fit in there to chase him down, thank goodness.

We totally wore out the children (and ourselves) and we're so thrilled with how much they enjoyed the museum. It was a fun day. I've never seen so many excited looks and delighted smiles. He couldn't believe he could run everywhere and touch everything! It's a place where we don't have to say no so often, a place where he's encouraged to try out and experiment and climb. We almost bought a membership but hesitated because it's still free for him to go in. And we haven't visited the museum in Tuscaloosa yet... Going to wait and see what he'd enjoy the most before joining up anywhere. I'm also going to research and see which membership offers reciprocal discounts with other area museums. We did this at the Anniston Museum of Natural History one time and enjoyed using that membership to get in other places cheap! Which reminds me... That's another great place to remember to take Dennis!

EAT cookie!!!

This post ought to be sponsored by the people at Oreo. He likes them so much that he learned to say cookie today when asking for another one. Perhaps we have erred in that his first introduction to the Oreo cookie was a Double Stuff one, so he'll have high expectations of them now. He actually said "eat cookie" today when he spied the package on top of the counter, trying to convince me to let him at it. Do you know how hard it is to clean Oreo residue off a one year old? It mixes with the drool and gets everywhere, and Dennis, thinking it was falling out of his mouth and he might miss some, shoved his hands in his mouth to make sure he got all the cookie. Picture blackened hands with Oreo creme on them, and a black ring around his mouth, with a few drops of black on the collar of his shirt. Now, picture his big toe with Oreo creme on it from where he grabbed his foot in a fit of cookie ecstasy while he was eating one. It takes a lot of wiping to clean up after an Oreo. But it's totally worth it.

The day passed quickly in a whirlwind of Dennis chasing, trying to keep him from climbing up and falling off all the furniture. He escaped from his pea pod when I put him down for his first nap. I heard his feet stomping around and ran in to check, and his pod still appeared zipped at first glance. I wondered if he channeled Star Trek and beamed out of it, but then I saw that he'd escaped from the side zipper. He didn't have a morning nap, but took a pretty long one midday. To stave off afternoon boredom, I thought it might be nice for us to take a swim. I bundled him in a life jacket and donned one myself and we hit the water. He was happy with it for about 15 minutes before he stuck his face in the water and got upset enough to want out. Oh, well. Back upstairs and off with the swim diaper and swim trunks and life jacket and wet sandals... So much prep for a quarter of an hour of water play.

He enjoyed another spaghetti dinner tonight. He didn't say a word at dinner, just kept on steadfastly stuffing his mouth with noodle after noodle. His whole face was orange afterward, so more wiping was required. And then we took him to the playground, just as it was getting dark. There were several other children there, all a little older, and after swinging and sliding on his own, he went over to play with them. They helped him get up on the big play structure and then all slid down the slide with him. He was in the middle of a kid chain going down the slide. They were screaming, as kids do, and it must have put him over his comfort threshold, because when his feet touched the ground, he ran for the playground exit! One girl asked him if he wanted to slide again, or to swing, but he didn't even pause and just kept heading toward his stroller. He had fun, though, and we thanked the kids for helping him. He must have decided it was bedtime! We couldn't get him into the car fast enough! Now he's in the backseat chanting "eat" and "Pop" while we head for home. I'll bet he sleeps hard tonight.

17 months

He's 17 months old today and growing like a weed. A cute, chubby weed...

We took Pop to the airport today to fly back out to Washington, and as soon as he got out of the van and said goodbye, Dennis began to cry. He cried for 15 minutes and nothing I could do or say stopped him. He even cried at Gran over the speakerphone, and Caedmon tried to talk to him as well, but he was not to be consoled. He loves his Pop very much and didn't like him leaving, not one little bit (wow, someone's been reading too much Dr. Seuss).

My intent was to take him to the mall and entertain him until it was time to meet Ellen and Chloe at the playground. We got to the mall and he'd fallen asleep in his car seat, and I hated to wake him. He needed lunch, though, so I loaded his stroller full of baby gear and then got him up and loaded him as well. We went inside, and he seemed to enjoy looking around. We got lunch and ate by the carousel, and I changed his diaper (just slightly wet) before we rode the carousel. We got on and chose a nice white pig with black spots to ride, and as soon as I plopped his little rear end in the saddle, he pooped. Big. Explosive. Poop. And we were trapped on a moving ride. He cried a little but then the little boy riding the bear next to us began entertaining him. When the spinning stopped (after dispersing the smell throughout the entire Food Court), we got off and I held him while I pushed the stroller to a store with a nice big bathroom. The first diaper change happened in the Food Court restroom and it was tight quarters.

We got to Belk (formerly Parisian) and I was accosted on the way through by the Clinique makeup people and someone with perfume samples (this I understood). Finally we got to the restroom and I changed him, and he chattered happily again as we were leaving. I thought we'd take a little time to shop, so we went to the toy store and the Disney store, and when we walked into Children's Place, he rose up out of the seat of his stroller, screamed and pooped again. Explosively. Uh-oh. I only brought two diapers into the mall. He cried and cried, so we went back to the parking deck and I changed him again and settled him happily in his car seat. I thought we'd go on to the playground and hang out for a while and maybe he'd nap in the car on the way. Five minutes down the road, another scream, another explosion... So I canceled his play date and headed home. As soon as he got a clean diaper on, it happened AGAIN. He was miserable. I'm thinking we shouldn't have let him eat that entire box of raisins last night despite his insistence to do so.

The poop fest stopped after that, and he was busy getting into stuff, so I set up the sprinkler and let him play. This kept him entertained for about six minutes, and then he climbed up the steps to go back inside. He had a snack (not raisins) and played with his toys, and then he came over and snuggled on my lap like he does when he doesn't feel well. We spent the remaining time until David got here with supper watching Sesame Street and the Berenstain Bears. He ate supper like a champ, though, and since he got it all over him, I started a bath for him. He was delighted and kept sticking his hand in the flow to check the progress of his bath water. He giggled all through the bath, which lasted until David pointed out a tiny little poop nugget that escaped when Dennis passed gas in the tub, just floating along. Grossed out, I scooped Dennis up and wrapped him in his towel, and we put on his pajamas and put him to bed. He was ready. I sure hope his little tummy feels better tomorrow. It wasn't a very nice way to spend a 17 month birthday.

master of the playground

Sniff, sniff. He's big enough to climb up and slide down ALL BY HIMSELF. And he's so proud of himself for his accomplishment. I took him to the playground just to see if it was still wet and yucky from yesterday's all day rain. The sand was wet, which must have only served to enhance the taste of it, because from the time he got his hands in it, he kept trying to eat it. The playground equipment wasn't too wet, though, and he got to try out the baby swing. Someone had stolen the baby swings from our park earlier this year so we hadn't been in a while, but there they were, nice new ones. And, we were VERY pleased to discover a brand new playground being constructed with money from a federal grant from the Soil and Water Conservation people. There was a sign from the National Park Service proclaiming the new park was on land specifically reserved for recreation and naming the area the Gateway to Adventure. It's all brand new playground equipment over heavily mulched areas, and I can't wait until they finish it, which looks to be soon. It's SO big and nice, and there are play structures there that I've never seen in other playgrounds. What a fortunate little guy he is to be coming of age to play on a playground just as a wonderful one is being finished!

I can't believe he climbed up all by himself. There was a little girl at the playground just a couple of weeks older than him, and her folks had just taught her how to climb up and seat herself on the slide, and seeing her was all the encouragement Dennis needed. He climbed right up and seated himself on the slide and slid right down to me with one of the biggest smiles I've seen on him. I'm so proud. It was so cute that we had to back to the park after meeting his Daddy for supper so that we could show him the new skill. When we went back, we had the whole playground to ourselves, so Dennis got to play on all the play structures. He tried out every slide, and we think he liked the tube one the best. He ran all over the place, and I'm looking forward to all the good sleep he's going to do tonight. I'm worn out, too, from running back and forth from the steps (where I stood behind him to make sure he didn't fall backward) to the bottom of the slide so I could catch him when he came down. What fun! Tomorrow is a Birmingham day, and I can't wait to take him to a playground there on our way home!

ride the dog

We had a nice day, playing inside while it rained and rained and rained outside. David brought Honey to the lake once she got back from wherever she ran off to this morning, and Dennis was overjoyed to see her. He climbed on her and off her and over her, again and again, and she just stayed there patiently enduring it. She's such a good dog, so sweet to put up with the things dogs have to endure from toddlers.

He 'helped' David build some block masterpieces and then gleefully destroyed them, all the while saying "boom boom". He's quite the little demolitions expert. And quite the climber as well, scaling the rocking chairs with ease and standing on boxes. He's mastered the on/off switch for the television, happily and purposefully cutting off Elmo mid-song this morning.

He giggled a lot today, and that's always so much fun. Every day he seems more grown up, asking for "eat" and "juice" and "side" to let me know how he would like his day to progress. He decided when to take his own naps today, getting into his pod all by himself and waiting for us to turn out the lights. More and more he's asserting his independence and dictating what he wants, and since his demands are in line with the behavior we'd like to see, we've happily complied with his requests. He's a real little person now, with his own ideas about things and a healthy curiosity about his little universe. I really want to start taking him to the playground more often, but the weather was a bit uncooperative today. I know he's ready to start climbing the equipment and going down the slides, with careful supervision of course, and I can't wait to share his delight in outdoor fun. I'm looking forward to autumn now, with milder temps and more hiking trips.







We've enjoyed a good bit of summer water play, and we'll continue for at least another month, but I'm starting to anticipate the return of my favorite season. I can't imagine a more fun outdoor buddy than Dennis, and I can't wait to take him to the pumpkin patch and to the fair and everything that comes with fall. All the kids are back in school around here, and I can't help but think that next year he will be old enough to start preschool a couple of days a week. I'll bet that year passes more quickly than I can even imagine.

Rip Van Tinkle

He slept a good bit today. I awoke at 9 am, wondering why I hadn't heard anything from his room, and so we went to check. He was lying there, quietly playing with his Froggy, and he was happy to get up when we went in there (nearly 14 hours after he went to bed). His Daddy fixed him a nice breakfast and played with him some, and then I got up and played with him as well. He acted sleepy again around 11, so I asked him if he wanted to nap, and he voluntarily got into his pod and snuggled in. Still a little sleepy myself from staying up too late last night, I napped, too, and was surprised when David came in to say he had to leave for his appointment--I had napped nearly 2 hours, and Dennis had been down that long as well. He was happy to wake up and have lunch, and we played and played while David was gone. Around 3, I thought it was probably time to change the diaper, so I got out the supplies and realized that Dennis only had 1 diaper left in his bag. Scary. But David was going by the house and was due back within a short time, so I put that diaper on him and then called for backup. Dennis promptly pooped in the last diaper and it was FOUL, and after 10 minutes I couldn't stand it anymore. Just then David called and said he had to go show a rental house and would be delayed. Having just removed the poopy diaper, I was in a bit of a panic. I thought he could just run around diaper free for 10 minutes or so, and all would be fine.
This was not the case. I put him outside on the porch for a second while I went to gather some toys for us to play with out there, and when I walked out 10 seconds later, he had peed on the outside of the door and on the porch, a fairly large puddle that I promptly attacked with the hose. I thought we were safe to come inside then since the puddle was so large, and surely David would be back very soon. So we came in and I blocked off the vents on the floor (just in case) and watched him play. Moments later I noticed 2 droplets on the lower rung of his rocking chair and moved it to discover wet carpet underneath. I soaked it up with paper towels and cleaned the carpet and took Dennis into the bathroom to sit on the toilet and talk about pee pee. Nothing happened, and so we came back out and played more, and after a minute, I worried about it so wrapped his lower half in a towel and held him on my lap. After 2 minutes, I felt the towel growing warm and wet and so rotated it around to cover him (and protect myself) with a dry part of the towel. Just then, David had arrived with the diapers and I begged him to quickly diaper Mr. Hose, which he did. While he was lifting him from my lap and covering him with a diaper, I looked down and noticed what I'd missed before. The box that his Elmo sprinkler came in had a large puddle on top of it and there was another puddle on the blocks in his box, all of which we quickly cleaned and disinfected. We were horrified at the volume and speed with which he marked all this territory. He peed at least 4 times in a 20 minute time period. I suppose I should be glad he's so well hydrated. I had thought we'd take the time and work on potty training, but he's way too prolific for that to occur yet!
He was ready to nap when he got the new diaper on, and he was headed for another 2 hour nap easily. When we were cooking supper, I decided to wake him up so that he'd be awake when the food was ready and so he'd have time to play before bed. After the meal we played for a while on the screened porch and he picked up the end of the hose and stuck it in the watering can like he'd seen me do yesterday. And then he took the two can citronella candles and stacked them in various configurations before grabbing the lighter off the table and bringing it to me. Scary that his reach has gotten long enough that he can get dangerous things off the table now, but fortunately he wanted to share his find with me! We came inside to get ready to go to bed while David was doing a bit of laundry, and as soon as the dryer was empty (it had not been on, so wasn't warm at all), Dennis climbed into it and closed the door! We watched in shock and then quickly grabbed the camera. David got him out of the dryer and he turned right around and got back in. He is not able to open it when it's closed yet, so I am not overly worried about losing him in the dryer. He IS able to open it from the inside when it's closed, though, as he aptly demonstrated once he closed it and we asked "Where's Dennis?" so that he'd play peek-a-boo with us.
He wasn't awake for long periods of time today, but I think he well utilized his alert hours. I hope we don't EVER run out of on-hand diapers again. And we're going to have to padlock our dryer, I suppose.