We love Thomas the Train

I didn't write yesterday because it was a horrible day with a very sick and cranky baby and I was at the end of my rope last night. I'm happy to report that he felt much better today, but that good news is tempered by the fact that I was the very sick one today. David stayed home to care for both of us. It did my heart such good to hear the happy baby shouts and chatter coming from the other parts of the house while I lay miserably in bed.

It happened very suddenly, but we have found ourselves totally immersed in Thomas the Train fandom. He wants to watch Thomas movies constantly (I once downloaded one from iTunes with four short episodes that we have now watched DOZENS of times), and we let his St. Nicholas Day gift be the Thomas movie that was originally to be part of his Christmas. Not to worry--we will certainly be buying another before then. He continually walks up to my computer and says "train movie". It started when he was so sick. He cried and cried in his high chair, miserable and not wanting to eat, and I distracted him by letting him watch Thomas while he ate (on my computer). And I also let him play with his Take Along Thomas engines--he has four of them: Thomas, Percy, Culdee, and (his first one ever) Dennis. All day long today he played with those four engines, arranging them in differing order and attaching them together with their magnetic couplings. He played so quietly and contentedly with them (but did occasionally shout out "train!" and "CHOO!" in delight) for such long periods of time. Tonight when we settled in to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special, he insisted on sitting on the couch between us with all four of his trains and Froggy in his lap.

Trains may have surpassed even Elmo in popularity in this household. We're pleased. Thomas episodes are so quiet and calming compared to Elmo's rambunctiousness. But I do think he learns more from Elmo. I am teaching him letters, but he knows a surprising amount of numbers, which I can credit to Sesame Street. At any rate, Thomas the Train helped him through the worst days of his cold, which I can only hope are behind us now. I do plan to get him to the doctor by the end of the week to check his ears and make sure they cleared up. I finally figured out they were hurting him yesterday and gave him numbing drops that helped him rest considerably better. I may be using them on myself later.

He has another way too cute new habit. He likes wearing grown-up clothes. He brought me his Daddy's shirt tonight and said "Jay" (which is Dennis for 'jacket') and then held it up to me. I held it out and he slipped his arms into the sleeves which I then rolled up for him. He was so proud walking around in that shirt, and he kept it on for a good long time while he played with his trains--he's wearing it in the picture. I'm just so glad that my happy little guy is back. Maybe his Mommy will be back healthy and happy by tomorrow. Here's hoping, anyway.

Chloe car bye go

I told him that we were going to go see his friend Chloe tonight. By late afternoon, he couldn't stop saying her name. "Chloe?" he'd ask repeatedly, as in 'when are we going to see her?'. I explained to him that we had to get in the car to go see her, and he took to standing by the door and saying "Chloe car bye go." We got ready as quickly as we could to comply with his request. He fell asleep on the way to their house, and when we woke him up in the driveway, his first word upon waking was a mumbled "Chloe?".

He was thrilled to see her and she was equally thrilled to see him. They played very nicely together with only a minimum of pushing and one toy snatch (and that was just Dennis). We had gathered to watch some Christmas programs, one of them being the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. The kids loved the Rockettes, and when they came on, Dennis stood in front of the screen, dancing his little heart out. Not to be outdone, Chloe took center stage and began dancing and twirling around and around. There was much giggling and even more smiling, and there were periods of dancing interspersed with periods of strewing the toys all about the house. It was a real toddler festival of fun. They each ate over one entire piece of pizza (with gusto), almost as if they knew they'd need the fuel for all the hard playing that was to come. We adults enjoyed their show as much as the one on the television.

It's always wonderful getting together with friends, especially during the holidays. Dennis loves his Chloe time and asks for her often. And I know he'll enjoy all the time he'll have to play with his cousins when we fly to Washington next weekend. With the new baggage regulations, I'm constantly revising my in-my-head packing list, trying to get it down to the bare minimum. Our trip pictures will probably feature a good many repeat clothing choices!

Dennis is feeling better and better, and I have been doing my best to stay well myself. Colds are so miserable, and it seems like I just got over one and now another is threatening. Surely one day we will find a cure or a preventive vaccine. I have washed my hands so often that my skin is beyond chapped! Although I suppose if I'm going to come down with it, I'd prefer now rather than right before flying. Oh, if we can just stay well til Christmas!

gleefully bad

Dennis didn't get the memo that Santa is watching him to see if he's naughty or nice. He's been rejoicing in naughtiness all day long. Of course this means he is feeling lots better, and for that I'm glad, but wow what a day we've had.

All day long, I've being saying "Dennis don't touch that" or "Dennis, leave the ornaments on the tree". And as I just typed that, he brought me an ornament--the bottom part of a Christmas ball without the top or hanger, which I presume is still attached to the tree somewhere. We've had two ornament casualties now. The first was a styrofoam snowman--we found a head on the floor, and after further search, found the two other styrofoam balls that made up his body on the tree skirt, one with the button pulled off.

It isn't just the tree that has caused the trouble. He's also refused to leave the stereo buttons alone despite repeated warnings. Tonight he watched the Nativity Story with me, and I was thinking what a sweet little angel he was as I watched him watching Mary and Joseph with wonder in his eyes. Then, with one line left in the movie, he climbed down from the couch, ran over to the dvd player, and ejected the dvd.

I put him down for naps three times, and each time he refused to take one. I needed one myself today (trying to keep from catching his cold) and every time I would be just about asleep, I'd hear awful screeching from his crib. He'd thrown out his necessary crib implements (Froggy and the pacifier) and wanted down to get them. He was very demanding about it. After an hour and forty-five minutes, I gave up and let him run about the house again, destroying everything he could get those quick little hands on. We are cooking supper now, and I highly suspect that it will be an early night (He's walking through the kitchen right now, leaning his head back and gargling his milk, so I'll have some mopping to do in just a minute). The picture shows him having just climbed down from the couch with his milk, ready for more demolishing. I just turned around and saw him drinking mouthfuls of milk and then spitting it out with gusto onto the hardwood floor. And he just grabbed the entire roll of paper towels and split for parts unknown. I suspect he isn't headed off to clean the mess he just made. Seems like a good time to end the post.

I hope Santa doesn't bring him coal.

bad cold bug

We are officially in the throes of a major baby cold. The sounds of sneezes and wet coughs filled the air all day despite my trying to create a holiday mood by playing Christmas music. He was grouchy today, too, which is always fun. I decorated the tree today, putting the non-breakable ornaments nearer the bottom of the tree. Seeing the decorations cheered him up somewhat, especially since there were two Cookie Monster ornaments down in his region of the tree.

I put a little tree in his room as well, and I decorated it with Sesame Street character plastic ornaments. This is good, because halfway through the day I heard the tree come crashing down off his chest of drawers. Then I heard a little screech and an "uh-oh", and then I heard him say "Ernie" and "Elmo" and "Big Bird". The Sesame Street ornaments went on a little tour of the house then, and we didn't manage to recover them all until just before supper when David was cleaning Dennis' room. They are all back where they belong now, and we'll see how long it lasts this time.

There are two strands of colored lights on the tree this year. I got out the C7 bulb strands and replaced all the bad bulbs and was in the process of stringing them as well when I would occasionally touch a bulb that was HOT. I replaced those bulbs as well, and then they were fine. I was well into the repair and stringing of the second strand when one of the bulbs that was not yet on the tree touched another bulb and started smoking and melting. That was it for me. I unplugged both strands, let them cool, and put them right in the trash. I love those big, colorful bulbs, but I love my house as well. I'm beginning to think that Christmas lights are items that must be replaced every year. One of the strands on the tree this year is as old as the tree, and though it seems fine, I'll be pitching it out after this year. I pitched a lot of lights, one strand that was even new from last year but half of it didn't light up (arrrgh!). Dennis loved the lights. He saw strands of bright, colorful bulbs, and he was right there touching and 'helping'. And when I strung the bead garland on the tree (which is actually just a long garland composed of red Mardi Gras bead necklaces that we caught in a parade once), he was beside himself. He kept chanting "bead bead" and unwrapping them from the tree as fast as I could string them up.

We had a difficult time getting him to eat today. He wanted to eat, but when we put him in his high chair, he looked miserable, all red-nosed and watery-eyed, and he whined. We could tell how bad he felt. David made homemade biscuits and scrambled some eggs, and Dennis liked that pretty well. He didn't really calm down enough to eat, though, until I did one of those taboo parent things that are only reserved for sick days--I let him watch a movie at the table. I have some Thomas the Train episodes (4 of them--very short) that I downloaded with my last iTunes gift card, and I played those for him. He was delighted and kept saying "ter-rain". He was even more delighted when I got out his Take-Along Thomas engines and put them on his high chair tray. He brunched with Thomas and friends today and was very happy about it. David was rained out of his job this morning, so after brunch we played with the trains in Dennis' room for awhile, setting up the tracks and getting out the battery-powered engines as well. It wasn't long before the rain cleared and David headed out to work. Dennis tried for a nap but slept poorly, and this is when I got the rest of the tree decor out of the storage building. The tree decorating happened in the late afternoon.

Mom and Dad came over for dinner tonight--we had a roast cooking in the Crock Pot all day and it turned out wonderfully. Dennis cheered right up to have company at the dinner table that wasn't just David and me. He had to show them his train setup on the train table in the den, and then he had to show them his nativity sets. Yes, he has several out now! One is the Fisher Price set (the one where all the adventures take place), one is his Willow Tree set (he gets a piece yearly from his Godmother, and he doesn't play with this one!), and one is the fabric set that his Grandmother made for him last year. He loves the fabric set and several times I caught him up on the table in the den playing with it. I moved it to the floor for a few hours and then put it back on the table when we were getting ready for company. And again, he climbed up onto the table to play with it! I'm going to find a safer location for it later.

I hope his cold passes quickly, and I hope we're able to stay well until after Christmas. We're to travel to Washington in just over a week now. Sure would be nice if we are all well enough to enjoy the trip.

and the stockings were hung...

I began decorating for Christmas today. I had hoped to get farther than I did! The wreaths are up on the windows, the stockings are hung, the nativity sets are assembled. The artificial tree is even put together. The poor tree is 14 years old and was the bottom of the line artificial Christmas tree when we bought it then. This year as I was fluffing the boughs, several pine twigs (branches?) fell off into my hands. Dennis pulled one off as well. He was very excited about the assembly of the tree. He danced around me, chanting "Cree!" over and over. I suppose this is a shortened version of the phrase Christmas Tree.

I wanted to get the tree decorated, but I didn't get all the necessary boxes out of the storage building. I got what I thought I needed, but the lights weren't in those boxes! I was trying not to drag out everything because we aren't going to be around for almost half of the Christmas season, and I didn't think it would be wise to go all out for just 2 weeks of enjoyment. But I will probably end up doing it anyway. Already in my head, I'm practicing the mantra "Leave the ornaments on the tree, Dennis".

Dennis was a bit puny this morning and whined more than usual, but he recovered nicely after his nap and was his energetic and into-everything self tonight, which was especially helpful as I assembled the tree. Dennis does have a bit of a cough but no fever or other symptoms. He slept with us last night since I was worried about him, but he is pretty much fine. He slept well and let us sleep well. I wonder how much help he'll be while I finish the decorating tomorrow.

We're back to nativity adventures: tonight I put batteries in the stable building, and we've now heard the Fisher Price instrumental version of Away in a Manger dozens and dozens of times. He likes that the star lights up, and he dances whenever the song plays, which happens whenever he pushes the button on the top (and he knows this well already). Caspar the Wise Man was found today under the ottoman. The other Wise Men were happy to see him after a 5 day absence.

bye go beach

Dennis enjoyed some time running after the birds today on the beach, and he enjoyed a nice lunch out with Gigi and David and me. He tried to help us pack up everything (by unpacking it, of course), and he was asleep before we ever left Panama City Beach.

We had a terrifying event this morning. He climbed up into a chair at the table in the suite, and I was telling him to sit on his rear end and walking over to him as he stepped backward and fell off the chair. He hit his head on the tile floor (but his head didn't hit first--his back did). I panicked and ran to him, and he was crying and getting up. I picked him up to check him out and he threw up all over me several times. I wanted to immediately go to the emergency room, but David (the paramedic) assured me that this was fairly common and that he actually seemed fine. And he did. No personality change, no weirdness, just normal Dennis behavior after the fall. I'm still going to watch him closely, but everything seems okay.

He was really sweet on the car ride home, sleeping for half of it then singing Christmas carols with us for an hour. When he was really fussy, I handed him my ipod loaded up with Sesame Street podcasts, and he watched these for the remainder of the ride home. We would hear him say "Ernie" or "Elmo" and laugh loudly. He seemed glad to get home but began searching our house for Chloe immediately upon arrival. He cried hard when we put his pajamas on, and when I arrived back home after going to pick up the dog, he was asleep in bed with David. So he'll be sleeping with us tonight, but that's really what I wanted anyway!

We had a good trip, and as we were leaving the resort, Dennis turned to look at the beach and said "bye go beach" and waved to it.

little beach walker

Dennis enjoyed a long stroll on the beach today. The wind was still pretty bad, and we're hoping it'll be nice out in the morning so he can go and play in the sand. He enjoyed a breakfast out with his Daddy and the rest of the group while Mommy had her cave time under the covers. Then we beach walked and then played in the room for quite awhile.

We took Dennis over to the shopping center this afternoon, just David and me. We strolled him along in the cool windy air, window shopping and doing a touch of Christmas shopping. He doesn't know it, but Santa bought him two items for Christmas while we were here. It's good that Santa has finally gotten started on that. He saw Santa today, sitting outside on a bench, waiting for children to come and get their pictures made. Since the price was astronomical, we didn't have his picture made, but he did enjoy waving at Santa and playing a bit of peek-a-boo with him.

The highlight of his day was the train ride he took through the outdoor shopping center. Once he saw the train (which is the reason we went there in the first place), he couldn't stop saying "train" (or "terr-rain", which is how he says it) and pointing to it. He fussed when we had to pass the train to cross the street at the crosswalk to get back over to it. He and I rode together and all he could say was "train" and "choo". He was very excited, pointing to the train cars behind us, pointing to the engine in front of us, and waving to the people we passed. He was sad to leave the train, but it was nap time and we wanted to come back to the room.

He opened the first door on his Advent calendar today and found an angel ornament. We read from the bible, Luke 1, where the angel appears to Mary to tell her that she'll be having a baby who will be the son of God. He also enjoyed having Gigi read to him and look at his picture books with him. He turned in early, most likely because he skimped on his afternoon nap. He said goodbye to Gran and Pop, as they headed for home tonight. Tomorrow will be our last day here, and it's been a nice break. We'll get home with a week and a half to spare to pack for our next vacation!