well groomed

Dennis got his first professional haircut today. David needed a haircut, so we stopped in after lunch and decided to let Dennis get a trim as well. He was tired from not napping and full from devouring his kid's meal, and these are apparently the perfect conditions for a haircut experience. He was good as gold and sat happily in the booster seat on the barber chair without wiggling or complaining. He wore the smock to catch his hair without a whimper. He enjoyed watching himself in the mirror and playing with the water spray bottle that the stylist used to wet his hair pre-cut. Even the electric trimmer didn't bother him, amazingly enough. The stylist was so great with him, and she let him feel the vibrations of the trimmer with his hand before she put it up to trim his around-the-ear-hair. She also gave him a large plastic hair clip to play with, so he was well distracted. He even behaved nicely while David got his hair cut, occasionally laughing as so much hair came off Daddy's head and landed on the floor. He was a happy customer. It went so much better than when I cut his hair a few months back, which involved his Gran and me distracting him with maraschino cherries and trying to cut between vigorous head swings. Today was so much better. From now on, we're going to ask his Aunt Lisa to take care of styling his hair if she wants the job. She cut hair for years and years, and Dennis thinks she's pretty special and might behave wonderfully for her as well.

It was a rainy, rainy day here. Dennis (and possibly David) napped while I went grocery shopping this afternoon, and I returned home in time to be there when Dennis woke up. We played in his room, setting up his train tracks and rolling the cars and trains around the room. I spent a large part of the day trying to convince him that he does not need to stand on top of his train table, much less dance across it. He did fall off the table earlier today, but that didn't teach him not to climb on it. As of tonight, it has been removed from his room. I was so sure he'd miss it, but when he woke from a nap and found all that free space on the floor, he giggled and danced across his rug. I suppose we'll put the table somewhere else for a while.

He got a bubble bath tonight. Bubbles weren't my intention, but I admit to adding some Bedtime Bath to the water as I was filling the tub. It bubbled up briefly but then the water went clear again as Dennis and David got into the tub. They played with his Backyardigans Pirate Ship (can anyone tell me what a Backyardigan actually is? have never seen the show...) and his wind-up scuba diver and Dennis enjoyed splashing about as he always does. When Dennis got out of the tub (read: when I lifted Dennis out of the tub and into a waiting fluffy Rubber Duck towel), David sat back and turned on the jacuzzi jets. Dennis wanted to play in the jets, so I put him back in and he giggled as the water currents tickled him. Well, when you turn on the jets, any bath product foams and foams prolifically. Suddenly there were 3 inches of bubbly foam on top of the water. Dennis was fascinated by the way it clung to his skin. He kept holding out his hands in front of him, looking at the bubbles that coated him. He ate some of it, shook some off of himself, patted it on the water, scooped some up... It was a very scientific bath experience for him. My favorite part was when he stood up and he had bubbles covering his tummy, turning it white and soft like you might find on a teddy bear. They took a brief shower to de-bubble (and Dennis very much likes the word "bubble") before I got him back out and took him to his room to re-diaper. He smelled so sweet and his skin was so soft (you know, like a baby...), and I put his footie pajamas on him and turned him loose. We read The Foot Book and his Touch and Feel Farm Book. We colored with his crayons for several minutes before it turned into a game of Keep The Crayon Out of The Mouth. And though we were trying to keep him up until 8, he just kept rubbing his eyes. We put him down at 7:30. He said "rain" today and then "sleep", so he must have already learned that it's really nice to sleep to the sound of rain outside your window.

I decoded another Dennis word today. Lately I've been hearing a lot of the word "bah boo", and I didn't know what it meant until he covered his eyes with his hands and then spread his hands out wide and said "bah boo" and smiled. Oh! It means peek-a-boo! I get it now. It's a game he loves playing with us, and we can't help smiling when he accidentally puts his hands on his forehead or on top of his head instead of over his eyes. We still pretend we can't see him and act so surprised when he pulls his hands away. And we say "peek-a-boo" of course, which makes him giggle. It's amazing that I can spend hours doing this kind of stuff. Says a lot about the diminishment of my taste in sophisticated entertainment... Which coincides nicely with my new problem with forgetfulness and random occasions of pure stupidity. Yes, I'm a parent now! And I just love it.