boat child

Two boat rides today! We're never sure how he'll feel about riding on the boat, and he gets really hot in his life jacket, so we were thrilled at what a good time he had today. He even kept his sunglasses and hat on for the majority of both rides! He did nap a little during each trip, but he's apparently gotten comfortable with the boat. The first time we went out, we passed him around between David, Allison, and me, and he fell hard asleep on Allison as soon as we decided to head back to dock and he slept all the way back.

Between boat rides, he napped and played happily. He was having some quiet time in his pod when Dave and Ellen and Chloe arrived. He wasn't asleep, and he wasn't crying to get out. He was just in there stretched out, talking to himself and playing with his frog. He smiled at us if we walked by the room he was in, but he never fussed. We got him out so that he could play with Chloe while we all got ready to go out on the water again. Our plan was to take the Sea Doo, Wave Runner, and pontoon boat all out together, but at first neither the boat or Sea Doo would crank. We gave it a minute and the boat turned on easily, but the Sea Doo never got going. We are charging up the battery to try again tomorrow. At any rate, we all had a turn on the Wave Runner. Dave and Ellen got on together, and they put Chloe in between them for a few minutes. She wasn't crazy about it, so they brought her back to the boat and took Dennis out. Dennis held on tight to Dave's life jacket for awhile, and then his little hand dropped, and they figured out that he had gone to sleep. They brought him back to the boat, and he stretched out on the seat and slept awhile, until we all decided to go swimming. We had wanted to swim all day, but with the boat traffic on the holiday weekend, the water was really rough. We found a spot where it was very smooth, dropped anchor, and jumped in. Dennis was so happy to be splashing about in his float suit. He held on to my life jacket or David's, depending on which one of us was holding him. He smiled and splashed and laughed, especially when the girls decided to practice mounting the wave runner from the water (in the even that one of us should fall off while riding, it would be nice to know if we could get back up). We were mostly successful, though comical, in our attempts. Thank goodness the cameras were back at home.

I wish I did have a picture of the way Dennis looked sitting on the back seat of the boat, dressed in his lifejacket, sunglasses, and hat. He was so incredibly cute! And he was so calm, we couldn't tell if he was awake for a large part of the time, and then he would wave and smile at someone.

He learned to say "Grandma" and "don't touch" today. I don't remember what we told him not to touch, though! He also said "Chloe" and, when Chloe was trying to ride his little car (he was already on it), he yelled something that we didn't quite understand, but he said it with real feeling. He was happy and sweet all day, and he said "boat" and "wheeeeee" while we were out on the water. We all had a great day playing, and it was made even more special watching him have such a great time.

Of special note: yesterday, at Gran's house, he reached up and turned a doorknob. Pretty soon it will be even harder to contain him! Also, Chloe got his pacifier and when we took it away from her, the pacifier part (the silicone knob that goes in the mouth) was missing. She may have eaten it. We know it'll turn up sooner or later, but we're hoping it won't turn up in a diaper. Luckily, we brought a spare pacifier! Even more luckily, Chloe appears to be just fine.