walking ROCKS!

He behaved very nicely today, all day, and it was just fun to be around him. Constant chatter, some of it understandable, most not, kept me smiling nearly every minute. What a fun age this is, this time before the middle of his second year. He changes every day and manages to surprise and amaze me all the time.

The biggest thing we did today was go on a walk. We went to the lake, trying to no avail to catch up with Gran, and we took lunch to Daddy. Dennis ate mandarin orange slices today, and he devoured them. Usually he's only half interested and spits them out a good bit, but not today. He nearly swallowed the pieces whole (they are kind of slimy) and opened his mouth for more much like a baby bird would. Just for the record, I didn't pre-chew his orange slices. That's just gross. To get back on track... After we ate, David needed some tools out of his car, parked at the end of the road. So we all walked there. Dennis was excited to be turned loose on the road (it's gravel and dirt, and very lightly traveled), and he kept picking up rocks and showing them to us (saying "Wock!" over and over). He had quite a collection going until he learned to toss them! He tasted some gravel despite our efforts to keep that little hand from going to that little mouth. Toward the end of the road, we passed a home that had a tall wooden staircase leading up to the door. Dennis wanted to climb that staircase more than anything, but we didn't want him knocking on a stranger's door. We had to pick him up and carry him past the house, and he was infuriated, until he saw the boat launch when we set him down and started heading for it, trying to touch an electric cable and a large hot metal dumpster on the way. Of course we had to carry him back to the house--he didn't do such a great job walking back on his own. He headed that way, but he was all over the place, and he really wanted to eat rocks then. We decided it was best to carry him, and he had a nice ride on his Daddy's shoulders. Dennis and I left the lake after that and came home, and we both had a nice afternoon nap. He 'helped' me cook supper, and then we went to visit Grandma for a bit since she hadn't seen him in three weeks (pretty bad when she only lives six miles away...but we were all too busy to manage to connect before today). He played and emptied the toy closet, then sat in the closet and played. He walked around and around the furniture for a while, then walked up to me and put his hand up in the air. Then he walked to his Daddy and put his hand up in the air. Then he put both hands up and said "bye bye", so we got the hint and said our goodbyes, brought him home, put on his pj's, and tucked him in. He was so ready for bed! He sat for a minute then rolled onto his side with Froggy and the pacifier and was almost asleep before we hit the door. Tomorrow his Washington cousins are coming to play at the lake. It's going to be a big family weekend!