getting the job done

We left the house after midnight, but we have finished our work on it. Dennis wasn't as happy to be there today, but he was still very good. He was tired of being in the play pen, so I let him out to wander for a while. He liked that the house has a circular route from the kitchen to dining room to living room to foyer to den to kitchen, and he walked the circle many times. I was sitting in the living room and I could hear him giggling from the den as he came into the kitchen and prepared to 'sneak' up on me in the living room.

Another reason he enjoyed the freedom to walk the circle: Daddy's tool box was in the den. On the first go round, he brought a screwdriver with him. Gran had stopped by and was sitting on the floor in the living room with me, and she grabbed it from him. On the next pass, he brought a hammer. I am amazed that he didn't hurt himself with it. He dropped it but missed his little toes, thank goodness. He picked it right back up (though it was half his height), and I was too worn out to chase him, so I said "Take that to Daddy." I heard David groan when Dennis got to him, and then I heard the sounds of tools being put away.

He wanted to help us today. David had to install a fireplace mantle, and Dennis walked into the den and found the mantle on the floor, face down, ready for David to work on it. Dennis circled it and tried to climb on it first, then grabbed a toy car and rolled it around on the mantle. He abandoned the car on the back of the mantle when he found a chisel, which he picked up and waved around then applied to the mantle. The pictures show him with the chisel. He left the car on the mantle, and I decided to leave it there too, so that David could find it when he came back in to work on the fireplace. It was a statement for sure, one that said "Dennis was here."

He also tried to help when David was grouting the tile he installed in the shower. By helping, I mean that he stepped right in the grout and then walked on the marble a couple of steps, leaving Dennis toe grout prints in his wake. David trapped his foot and held it up for me to wipe, but it was more than a paper towel kind of job. I had to hold his leg over the sink and run his foot under the faucet to de-grout him completely. He's like a tornado of catastrophe and mess, exactly what you want on a job site. But at least he's fun. He laughed so much today, and I couldn't help but laugh along with him. He also learned to say "ice cream" but I don't want to talk about why he knows it now, because as you know, I never let Dennis eat junk food. Not. He enjoyed that ice cream right along with me this afternoon. He appreciates the finer things in life.