bad cold bug

We are officially in the throes of a major baby cold. The sounds of sneezes and wet coughs filled the air all day despite my trying to create a holiday mood by playing Christmas music. He was grouchy today, too, which is always fun. I decorated the tree today, putting the non-breakable ornaments nearer the bottom of the tree. Seeing the decorations cheered him up somewhat, especially since there were two Cookie Monster ornaments down in his region of the tree.

I put a little tree in his room as well, and I decorated it with Sesame Street character plastic ornaments. This is good, because halfway through the day I heard the tree come crashing down off his chest of drawers. Then I heard a little screech and an "uh-oh", and then I heard him say "Ernie" and "Elmo" and "Big Bird". The Sesame Street ornaments went on a little tour of the house then, and we didn't manage to recover them all until just before supper when David was cleaning Dennis' room. They are all back where they belong now, and we'll see how long it lasts this time.

There are two strands of colored lights on the tree this year. I got out the C7 bulb strands and replaced all the bad bulbs and was in the process of stringing them as well when I would occasionally touch a bulb that was HOT. I replaced those bulbs as well, and then they were fine. I was well into the repair and stringing of the second strand when one of the bulbs that was not yet on the tree touched another bulb and started smoking and melting. That was it for me. I unplugged both strands, let them cool, and put them right in the trash. I love those big, colorful bulbs, but I love my house as well. I'm beginning to think that Christmas lights are items that must be replaced every year. One of the strands on the tree this year is as old as the tree, and though it seems fine, I'll be pitching it out after this year. I pitched a lot of lights, one strand that was even new from last year but half of it didn't light up (arrrgh!). Dennis loved the lights. He saw strands of bright, colorful bulbs, and he was right there touching and 'helping'. And when I strung the bead garland on the tree (which is actually just a long garland composed of red Mardi Gras bead necklaces that we caught in a parade once), he was beside himself. He kept chanting "bead bead" and unwrapping them from the tree as fast as I could string them up.

We had a difficult time getting him to eat today. He wanted to eat, but when we put him in his high chair, he looked miserable, all red-nosed and watery-eyed, and he whined. We could tell how bad he felt. David made homemade biscuits and scrambled some eggs, and Dennis liked that pretty well. He didn't really calm down enough to eat, though, until I did one of those taboo parent things that are only reserved for sick days--I let him watch a movie at the table. I have some Thomas the Train episodes (4 of them--very short) that I downloaded with my last iTunes gift card, and I played those for him. He was delighted and kept saying "ter-rain". He was even more delighted when I got out his Take-Along Thomas engines and put them on his high chair tray. He brunched with Thomas and friends today and was very happy about it. David was rained out of his job this morning, so after brunch we played with the trains in Dennis' room for awhile, setting up the tracks and getting out the battery-powered engines as well. It wasn't long before the rain cleared and David headed out to work. Dennis tried for a nap but slept poorly, and this is when I got the rest of the tree decor out of the storage building. The tree decorating happened in the late afternoon.

Mom and Dad came over for dinner tonight--we had a roast cooking in the Crock Pot all day and it turned out wonderfully. Dennis cheered right up to have company at the dinner table that wasn't just David and me. He had to show them his train setup on the train table in the den, and then he had to show them his nativity sets. Yes, he has several out now! One is the Fisher Price set (the one where all the adventures take place), one is his Willow Tree set (he gets a piece yearly from his Godmother, and he doesn't play with this one!), and one is the fabric set that his Grandmother made for him last year. He loves the fabric set and several times I caught him up on the table in the den playing with it. I moved it to the floor for a few hours and then put it back on the table when we were getting ready for company. And again, he climbed up onto the table to play with it! I'm going to find a safer location for it later.

I hope his cold passes quickly, and I hope we're able to stay well until after Christmas. We're to travel to Washington in just over a week now. Sure would be nice if we are all well enough to enjoy the trip.