Dennis wanted to be Mr. Social at the party, but when he got there, Laine (age 5) took him into the den and showed him the Toy Corner (not what's pictured, by the way). He played in that corner for hours. He came out to eat (of course), and we discovered that he is passionate about ice cream birthday cake. While Emily opened her gifts, Dennis ran into the room in periodic intervals, stayed 10 seconds, and then went back to the Toy Corner. He tried once to help open a gift (he touched some of the tissue in a gift bag), but Emily quickly curtailed that. His Grandma had brought a gift for him to open as well so he wouldn't feel left out. It took him 3 or 4 visits to fully unwrap it. O
n his first sojourn into the room, he touched it. Several minutes elapsed, and then he returned briefly and pulled one scrap of paper off the package. When he came back in 5 minutes later, he grabbed the paper and started tearing it to pieces. Then he noticed what was in the paper, which was a box of 5 little Tonka cars. He ecstatically grabbed the box and ran out of the room. He was back in seconds, trying to pry a car out of the sadistic toy manufacturers' packaging, and he handed the box back to me and stood there anxiously stepping in place and wringing his hands while I attempted the car removal. I failed miserably, so Daddy had to free the cars. He played with them for 20 seconds, maybe more but not much, before returning to the Toy Corner in the den. He did keep coming back to check on them, though, and took a couple with him to the den.We decided that Santa will be up LATE on Christmas Eve (whichever date that might be for us this year, as we might hopefully be out of town) un-twist-tying and untaping and unscrewing to install batteries. He's going to need something a little stronger than milk and cookies
to get through it!He was a little angel today. He stayed awake for the entire drive home, talking to us and talking to himself. When we got back he played happily in his room with ALL his cars including the new 5. And we had tickle fights and he climbed up on me and bounced. For Christmas last year he received an Auburn football that plays the fight song when it hits something. David dressed Dennis in orange and blue today and placed that football in a strategic location for Dennis to find (knowing that we were heading to the home of serious Alabama fans). Dennis played with that football and danced to the fight song over and over, waving his hands and stomping his feet and laughing. It must have worked. They won the game against Mississippi State, with a very impressive final score of 3 to 2. I guess I should ask him to cheer for the offense next time.
After dinner Dennis wanted some down time, and he went into his room and asked to watch a movie. We let him. After the movie, he played with his Daddy for a while and then went to bed. He had a fun day today. He's had fun all week, I think, and he seems to have learned how to play independently this week. He's entertained himself so well and has been so happy. I guess he is more like his father than I thought. The pictures show him playing in the playroom at Gran and Pop's house. I think he might just have enough toys there. Maybe.
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