playing with my cars

I awoke this morning (way too early) to the sound of a little voice calling "hellooooo" over and over. I don't know if he was calling me, his Daddy, the dog, aliens... But I'm the one who responded, and as soon as I walked in the door, he said "Hey. Car." And then he pointed to his car. He wanted to get up so he could ride in his car. Since it was STILL DARK OUTSIDE, I changed his diaper, kissed him, and put him back in the crib. He cried two measly little cries and then fell back asleep. He didn't wake up again until almost 9:45! This time he woke up saying "EAT EAT!", and we went in there and got him up and fed him breakfast. He dawdled over breakfast (and so did we) so long that we didn't make it to church this morning. After breakfast, he got to play with his cars, which he happily did for an hour or so. He climbed in the Little Tikes car and backed it all over the room and then climbed back out and rolled his Hot Wheels and Mega Blocks cars down the ramp his Daddy helped him build. I think he could roll cars down that ramp all day if given the opportunity. He loves it, and he says "yaaaayy" when they roll down. He is only 1, though, and sometimes the poor cars skid all the way down the mountain on their sides instead of on their wheels. Still working on those fine motor skills...

Speaking of wheels, we had a lesson about them this morning. I identified the wheels on his toy cars and then on his big car and showed them how they spin around. He touched each wheel and spun it himself, then said something that sounded very close to the word wheel. Gosh he loves cars. And trucks, too, as he let me know when he saw one on a poster today, pointing vigorously and saying "truck, truck". It sounds a little more like "kwuck", but we know what he means.

He helped us grocery shop today, and he was very very sweet. We let him ride the little automated put-2-quarters-in-it-and-sit-in-it-while-it-rocks-and-goes-nowhere car in the arcade after we were done. He liked it okay, but really preferred the actual sit-in video games. He climbed up in the seats and steered for all he was worth. His favorite was the 18-wheeler type game because it had the biggest steering wheel. He had to stand up to steer, which he thought was hilarious and he giggled the whole time.

We had dinner at the lake with Gran and Pop and Becky and Bob, and we enjoyed ribs and Boston butt, peas, rice, potatoes, rolls, carrots, and German chocolate cake. Dennis ate himself silly again and was in such a good mood after dinner that we just enjoyed watching him. Gran and I took a short boat ride and returned to play with Dennis. He kept putting our shoes on our feet for us, and after a while started marching around the room and saying "bye bye" and waving. We got the hint and packed him up and brought him home. He stayed awake for the long car ride back and joyfully headed for his cars as soon as we got him into the house and into his room. We let him play for just a second before getting him ready for bed, and he went right to sleep. I suppose I should find pajamas with cars on them so he'd get excited about putting them on. Today he wore his overalls that have the blue and white stripe pattern like a train engineer's. He chose them because he wanted to wear his engineer cap and was pleased to see that the overalls matched. He looks good in overalls, just like an all-American little boy, and the hat was just too much cuteness. He mostly liked putting it on and removing it, so I didn't manage to snap a photo while it was on his head. I did catch him playing with his cars, though...

What I forgot to mention yesterday: We ate lunch at Shoney's and our waitress/server/whatever came by to refill our drinks, and she picked up first my glass to fill it and then David's. Dennis watched with big eyes while she took our glasses, and he stealthily but quickly grabbed his sippy cup and hugged it to his chest while warily watching the waitress. We assured him that she wasn't going to take away his juice, but he wouldn't let go of the cup until she was well out of sight. He didn't even take a drink from it until he was sure she was gone, and even then it was a while before he put it back down on the table!

Pretty soon it will be time to go in and check on him and put the little blanket over his legs while he sleeps (my favorite nighttime activity). He doesn't look at all like a baby anymore except when he sleeps. It's then that you really notice the sweet curve of his cheek and those long, long eyelashes resting on it. He sleeps hard and every night in a different position so I never know what to expect when I go in. He doesn't often sleep with his little butt in the air these days, but sometimes he still does and it always makes me smile. I can't imagine how that's comfortable, but he must think it is! I love going in there and watching him sleep. He's so peaceful and happy, and some nights I can hear him laughing in his sleep. Watching him just makes my heart fill up with love for him. I still can't believe I'm a mom sometimes, but sometimes I can barely remember life before. I wouldn't have it any other way now.