the sweetest words

Dennis slept pretty late this morning. We heard a little peep around 7:15-ish, but he turned on his music box and put himself back to sleep. He didn't make his main appearance until after 9:00, when he heralded us (well, David, who went in there to get him) with serious crying and an even more serious stinky diaper. He played happily in his room after a diaper change, walking around and drinking his milk with the cup held to the side of his mouth.

Poor little guy was stuck running errands with us this morning, down to the lake to get the trailer of construction debris, to Whataburger for breakfast (he'd have been happy about this stop if he'd been awake at the time, but he did very much enjoy his biscuit), to Wal-Mart so Mommy could get the new Wii Fit game that came out today, back home to load more junk in the trailer(where he woke up and ate his biscuit), to the gas station, to the landfill, and to Lowe's. He was tired of being in the car, and I had to hand him non-toy objects after he tired of watching Sesame Street podcasts on David's ipod (well, when my arm got tired of holding up the ipod for him to watch). The items of greatest enjoyment and diversion? A flashlight and a half empty bottle of lemonade. And we actually spend money on toys! Go figure.

He had fun in Lowe's for the most part, but he got tired of being there as well. He was confined to the shopping cart for long periods of time, and he wanted to be walking around examining things. I did give him free run in a couple of 5 to 10 minute periods, and he enjoyed touching power tools and pulling on the cabinet knob displays, trying to climb up knob by knob. He touched every bottle of window cleaner on a low shelf, then ran and grabbed a clear plastic container that held wooden biscuit joiners. This he liked very much, because he could shake the heck out if it and the resulting noise level was high enough in decibels to please his little ears. When he saw the tubes of industrial glue, the biscuit joiner box got tossed to the floor, and suddenly he was off running with the glue. He saw a display of home improvement magazines next, and the glue was also tossed aside. I scooped him up before he got to destroy any magazines. He loudly proclaimed his protest at having his shopping interrupted, so I walked him over to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, where he consumed 2 chicken nuggets and an entire kid-sized fruit bowl! HE ATE FRUIT!!! He didn't spit out the mandarin orange slices this time, even though they have such a weird slimy texture. He ate strawberries and apple pieces and pineapples and grapes and orange slices. I'm so proud.

He seems to be grasping the concept of coming and going now. Tonight, David went to the door to let the dog in, and Dennis saw him opening the door. He yelled out "bye bye". When Honey came in, David closed the door, and Dennis looked up and said "hey!".

He had a nice time walking around in our yard today, rearranging the cat's bowls and nearly sampling some Purina Cat Chow. He followed Honey around outside for a while and then turned his attention to Marzipan (the cat), who is fortunately as patient as the dog when it comes to Dennis's affectionate gestures. Tonight while David was getting dinner ready (and Mommy was unwinding a little), he did a new thing. He played happily in his crib with his steering wheel toy. He is never happy in the crib when awake, but we needed him to stay out of trouble and it's time for him to start learning to entertain himself. I heard sirens and honking and motor revving and beeping and different characters talking, and then I heard a very loud crash, followed by a little voice saying "uh-ohhhh". (he's mastered the concept of uh-oh as well, starting this morning when he said it every time he dropped his pacifier) So we need a new steering wheel toy with no sharp broken edges on it. And maybe we need to put a soft pillow down in the toy toss zone. His toys are no match for a bamboo floor. I have decided to put a large pillow there anyway, because I heard this rumor that children not much older than him begin attempting to climb out of their cribs. I have a big rectangular dog bed that would take up the entire space. It's unused, even, because our dog has her own futon and doesn't see the need to lower herself to sleep on the floor. Not that any of the creatures living in this house are spoiled at all...

We told him we loved him as we were getting him ready for bed, and he said "ah uvv ooo". Clearly this means "I love you". We just melted. Could he be any sweeter?