take a hike

Dennis is HEAVY. In preparation for an upcoming trip involving a hike where I will have to wear him on my back, I loaded him into our backpack child carrier this morning and took him for a walk. I have backpacked him before, but this was several months and several pounds ago. We've both gained since then! He took to sitting in the backpack very well, but when I set out on the walk, he insisted on leaning to the left for the entire walk. I think he was doing this to see around my head a little better, but he was up pretty high on my back, and I think the amount of leaning he was doing was unnecessary. My spine is curved now. When I got back to the house, David helped me get him down from my back, and suddenly it felt as if I could fly. My back and shoulders felt unattached to the rest of my body, like they could float away. If this morning's mile was any indication, I need to practice a little more in the next 3 weeks. Dennis very much enjoyed our walk and played with any leaves that were in his reach. He looked around at all the scenery, identified that he heard the birds, said "flower" when I pointed out some weed flowers along the roadside. He talked nonstop for the entire mile and I enjoyed every syllable.

Today was my last day at work, and I was a little sad to say goodbye. But I apparently missed some extreme Dennis cuteness tonight, and I'm glad that there won't be a reason for me to miss it any more. Mom and Dad (Gran and Pop) watched him tonight, and they reported that he was doing all kinds of new things they hadn't seen before, and that he made declarations all evening. Tonight he demonstrated that he knows how to make the rain come down to wash the Itsy Bitsy Spider out (cute hand motion not popular with straight guys over the age of 8 or so). I heard that he said many different words today, and he told his Gran and Pop all about Paul's ark. They asked him where Noah was, and he retrieved Noah from the ark, held him up and said "Paul".

Dennis made some friends at dinner, chatting with the other diners at Zaxby's throughout his meal. And he snuggled some with Gran tonight. The best thing, though: I stopped by their house to pick him up, and the smile I got when he saw me was luminous. It could have been a smile for the cookie bit I popped into his mouth when he got out of his baby pod tent, or it could have been a smile for Mommy. I choose to think the latter.