17 months

He's 17 months old today and growing like a weed. A cute, chubby weed...

We took Pop to the airport today to fly back out to Washington, and as soon as he got out of the van and said goodbye, Dennis began to cry. He cried for 15 minutes and nothing I could do or say stopped him. He even cried at Gran over the speakerphone, and Caedmon tried to talk to him as well, but he was not to be consoled. He loves his Pop very much and didn't like him leaving, not one little bit (wow, someone's been reading too much Dr. Seuss).

My intent was to take him to the mall and entertain him until it was time to meet Ellen and Chloe at the playground. We got to the mall and he'd fallen asleep in his car seat, and I hated to wake him. He needed lunch, though, so I loaded his stroller full of baby gear and then got him up and loaded him as well. We went inside, and he seemed to enjoy looking around. We got lunch and ate by the carousel, and I changed his diaper (just slightly wet) before we rode the carousel. We got on and chose a nice white pig with black spots to ride, and as soon as I plopped his little rear end in the saddle, he pooped. Big. Explosive. Poop. And we were trapped on a moving ride. He cried a little but then the little boy riding the bear next to us began entertaining him. When the spinning stopped (after dispersing the smell throughout the entire Food Court), we got off and I held him while I pushed the stroller to a store with a nice big bathroom. The first diaper change happened in the Food Court restroom and it was tight quarters.

We got to Belk (formerly Parisian) and I was accosted on the way through by the Clinique makeup people and someone with perfume samples (this I understood). Finally we got to the restroom and I changed him, and he chattered happily again as we were leaving. I thought we'd take a little time to shop, so we went to the toy store and the Disney store, and when we walked into Children's Place, he rose up out of the seat of his stroller, screamed and pooped again. Explosively. Uh-oh. I only brought two diapers into the mall. He cried and cried, so we went back to the parking deck and I changed him again and settled him happily in his car seat. I thought we'd go on to the playground and hang out for a while and maybe he'd nap in the car on the way. Five minutes down the road, another scream, another explosion... So I canceled his play date and headed home. As soon as he got a clean diaper on, it happened AGAIN. He was miserable. I'm thinking we shouldn't have let him eat that entire box of raisins last night despite his insistence to do so.

The poop fest stopped after that, and he was busy getting into stuff, so I set up the sprinkler and let him play. This kept him entertained for about six minutes, and then he climbed up the steps to go back inside. He had a snack (not raisins) and played with his toys, and then he came over and snuggled on my lap like he does when he doesn't feel well. We spent the remaining time until David got here with supper watching Sesame Street and the Berenstain Bears. He ate supper like a champ, though, and since he got it all over him, I started a bath for him. He was delighted and kept sticking his hand in the flow to check the progress of his bath water. He giggled all through the bath, which lasted until David pointed out a tiny little poop nugget that escaped when Dennis passed gas in the tub, just floating along. Grossed out, I scooped Dennis up and wrapped him in his towel, and we put on his pajamas and put him to bed. He was ready. I sure hope his little tummy feels better tomorrow. It wasn't a very nice way to spend a 17 month birthday.