whino

All Dennis did today was whine. All day. Almost non-stop. Not much else to write about.

We think he's getting some new teeth, because there are other indications that point to this. Also, we are having an incredible diaper rash problem, or rather, HE is (our butts are fine). But since he's suffering, we're all suffering.

As always, there were moments of cuteness. He was asleep in his stroller when we went to lunch, and when he woke up, he was pleasantly surprised to find himself in a toy store. We didn't know he had woken up until the stroller started to veer toward a wooden toy workbench and a pair of little hands reached out to grab whatever was grabworthy. He wanted out of his stroller, naturally, so we let him run around. I got two balls down from a display and showed them to him, and he was so excited he didn't know which one to go to first. He walked toward the balls while waving his arms up and down rapidly, saying "ball". He picked one up, then put it down and picked the other one up, then tried to pick up both up at the same time (to no avail, they were too big). In the bookstore today (where we waited while David dealt with the AT&T people about our internet connect card), he had a great time with the Thomas the Train setup. The train cars were involved in a serious gravitational accident and a mysterious force flung several entire trains to the floor. Mommy had to pick them up. Several times. He took off running down the bookstore aisle while I was restoring things to pre-disaster arrangement, and he stopped at a display of wooden train track additions. He brought the box over and laid it on top of the wooden track on the train table. I was impressed that he knew that these were pieces of track just like the ones on the table.

I must report that his running-away skills are greatly improved. I actually had to jog quickly to catch him before he took off for parts unknown in Books-A-Million. And Saturday, he grabbed 2 tubes of candy and took off for the door leading out of Cracker Barrel. He's a fast little bugger. We've been explaining to him about shoplifting, and how we can't just grab things and leave, but he might be a tad young for that concept to sink in.

As always, there was some mischief. He threw several wooden puzzle pieces in the trash can at his grandma's house over the weekend. He played in a few toilets. He nearly snatched a USB jump drive right out of the computer earlier. He drooled profusely in Daddy's shoe, and when David put his foot in later, he was horrified. It's amazing to me how someone so small can get into so many things in so little time. I think I might have just explained the essence of toddlerhood with that one statement!