party in my playroom

We spent the afternoon at Gran & Pop's place, starting preparations for the big Halloween party coming up. Dennis spent his day playing and dancing in his playroom there at their house. He had a great time.

The first thing he did when we got there was to climb over Gran and into their Honda del Sol (small car--very small) driver's seat and take the wheel. Gran was cleaning and defogging the windows of the car, and Dennis thought it was a prime opportunity to climb into that fun looking car and practice his driving. He also practiced his 'turn up the radio', 'turn on the windshield wipers', and 'push random driving buttons' skills while he had the chance. Pop might get a few surprises when he cranks up the car to go to work in the morning!

After the car play, Dennis and Pop went into the garden and chased the kitten around. Well, to be totally correct, Dennis chased the kitten and Pop chased Dennis, but I think fun was had by all. Dennis toted the plastic owl around a few places, hooting at it and trying to choose the prime spot for it to roost today. He got his fill of running wildly, and though I had a few nervous moments watching him through the window, he did a wonderful job of being careful around the pond. He did walk right up onto the rocks at the very edge at one point, but he looked up at his Pop, pointed to the fish and said "fu" (which is his current pronunciation of fish) and then backed away carefully, thank goodness! He now applauds himself for correctly identifying all the things he points to and names.

We played more with his Audubon birds today, and he brought me the hawk this time. He said 'hawk' and then made a screeching call noise. He sounded remarkably like the hawk's call, and I squeezed the tummy of the hawk then so he could hear it. He repeated his noise in delight that he'd remembered and gotten the call right. He was so proud of himself (and I'll admit to being impressed as well).

The last new skill I observed today? He learned to play with a walkie-talkie/two-way radio. Gran was trying to see if he could reach an object on a high table, so she put one of the handsets up there. After a big stretching reach and an accidental knocking down of the handset onto his head, Dennis found himself in possession of a neat new toy. A few minutes later we heard static followed by a cute little voice saying "hi". He repeated this a few times, and because there was an absence of static while he was talking, we can only presume that he A) figured out how to turn it on and B) learned to push the button while talking. Fortunately, no one responded today (the last time we did this, some trucker came through on the radio!), and we took it away from him after that.

Dennis and his Daddy enjoyed some guy time tonight while Gran & I ran errands and went to the gym, and I came home to see them snuggled up in the La-Z-Boy recliner watching a movie together. Dennis waved at me and said "bye bye", so I retreated and gave them their space. I was welcomed back in for the diaper change and goodnight kiss, and I happily tucked him into bed, trying to cover those toes with the afghan but knowing they'd be sticking out of the crib slats later no matter what I did.