Two trips to the Ace hardware store today gave Dennis the opportunity to show off how much he has grown. It's really a small town institution, that store, and the kind folks that work there have been watching Dennis grow up from almost birth. The first 14 months of his life, David took him to work with him every day, and David's work involved many trips to the hardware store. They are always so excited to see Dennis, and the first day he ever walked in the door under his own power was a real milestone that they got to see. Now that I'm David's occasional assistant, I get to go in with them and see every employee take time out to come up and talk to Dennis and try to get a smile from him. It's like he's visiting his fan club, and he does some random act of cuteness just for their benefit whenever he goes in.
This morning, he was wearing brand new overalls with tools embroidered on them. He looked unbelievably adorable, and all the people in the store commented on his outfit. He was so cute that we had to stop by so he could see his Gran (who bought the outfit for him) for just a minute. It's a good thing we did, because he wet the overalls while he was napping, and we had to change him into his Shrek t-shirt and shorts. He was wearing that outfit the second time we visited Ace, and they all noticed that he'd changed. He did some serious shopping, walking around and picking up items and contemplating them before putting them back. My favorite part of the day was watching him walk up and down the aisles, talking to himself very seriously and choosing very carefully a plumbing turn-off valve from one aisle and a 120 watt halogen floodlight bulb from another aisle. I don't know what he had in mind to do with these items, but they were very important to him, and he carried them all over the store. When we were about to leave, I had to put them back, and he got very upset until David handed him the toilet repair kit we'd come there to purchase. He studied it very seriously and barely looked up from 'reading' the directions on the back in time to say "bye bye" to his fan club.
He supervised my work again today, hanging out in his pack and play in the kitchen. He watched a movie when I had to be otherwise occupied in another room, and he played with his shape sorter and some toy cars. He was very very sweet again today, and I have hopes that he will supervise us right into finishing up the house we are working on by the end of the week.
An interesting note: he wore his Teva sandals today, and he grew out of them while I was watching. I am perfectly serious. They fit this morning when we left home, and tonight his toes were hanging over the ends of them. They went straight from his feet to a shipping box to send to Mirella. They were Caedmon's originally, and it will be nice that all 3 kids will have enjoyed them. We already know that they make great Pacific beach shoes--Caedmon and Dennis both used them for this! Thankfully enough, we have the next size up already, also from Caedmon, and we tried them on him tonight and his feet are just now big enough to start wearing them. He has plenty of growing room left, and I know these sandals will take him on as many (or more) adventures as the first pair. He wore them in the lake, at the water park, at the beach, around town, in the sandbox, at the playground, in the sprinkler... I suppose it's more evidence that he's growing up, and I hate that I got a little nostalgic over shoes, but I did. I remember picking out that pair of sandals when Caedmon was a tiny baby, never even thinking that one day my own would be wearing them. And now they are moving on, for Mirella to enjoy.
Maybe tomorrow's post won't have anything to do with feet. But I'm not promising anything.
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