my apprentice

Last night after Dennis' bath, we were ushering him off to bed when he lodged the following complaint: "Mom, you forgot to dry my hair enough. Now it's going to look all crazy in the morning." It looked fine, by the way. Today at lunch he asked David to fix him some chocolate milk, and as he was preparing it, David was muttering about how Dennis would complain if he didn't add enough chocolate syrup to the milk. He (David) swatted me on the behind and said (jokingly) "don't know whose kid he is, being so particular about his chocolate milk." Dennis heard this and said "I believe I would be YOUR kid, Dad." Then Dennis was the one muttering about his silly Dad.

Tonight at bible school, Dennis informed me that he would be the director instead of me. We are having a jungle themed VBS, and each night the children's minister and I have dressed in our safari gear to do the opening and closing programs. Tonight Dennis brought his safari vest and park ranger hat to church and dressed up along with us. He begged for a chance to talk in the microphone, so when it came time to announce today's "take home point", the children's minister let him tell everyone what it was. He spoke clearly into the microphone and said "Jesus is the light of life that we share with others!". He was so proud of himself (as were we). But then he attempted to direct his preschool group wherever they went! Give the kid a uniform and he takes control!

Thar's gold in dat thar church

It was our first day of double vacation bible school. This morning I dropped Dennis off at the church at the end of our street for a "gold rush" themed VBS. Three hours later, I picked up a genuine gold prospector. He immediately came inside and commenced hunting for gold, loading himself up with a pretend shovel (which was actually a musical instrument which he shoved into his pants--we've got to get him some cargo shorts and pants with utility loops on them so he'll quit using his underwear as a holster) and donning his park ranger hat to look the part. He had so much fun there!

Tonight he learned about the concept of the devil for the first time and used his toy spy scope (from this morning's VBS) to look for the devil. He had lots of questions, of course! We did our best to answer. He heard 2 bible stories today: Jesus at the well and the parting of the red sea. He can tell you both stories. I love that he's learning and retaining.

Tonight as we were sitting around at Gran's, discussing our evening, I mentioned to Gran that her eyes had looked red earlier. She told me that she hadn't noticed, and Dennis said "because you can't see your own eyes, Gran." Can't get anything past him!

the jungle in there

The amount of exhaustion I feel is rather incredible. The first night of Vacation Bible School went off without a hitch, thanks to lots of hard work by our volunteers! Though I did a lot of running around, I didn't have all that much that I had to do once it actually got started. I did the opening and closing programs and made sure every teacher was happy. Dennis had a good time, I think, but was a tad whiny and clingy. His Daddy was one of his teachers in the preschool class (and there were 19 preschoolers--David's level of exhaustion is high as well) and Dennis wanted to cling to him. Before the program started, he spent the afternoon with me at the church doing last minute tasks, and was so patient and good. He learned how to collate and staple, and I learned how to collate and staple while also reading stories aloud to Dennis! I suppose once he got to the actual bible school, he'd used up all his good behavior. He bit me on the cheek as I was buckling him into the car. It hurt really amazingly bad.

Only 4 more nights of our Big Jungle Adventure! And Dennis starts his morning VBS at his preschool teacher's church tomorrow--he'll be doing 2 a day (and I expect he'll be doing some serious napping in between). That church is close enough to our house to walk to, and we could do that in the mornings. Since we're in a major heat wave, it might not happen.

It's bad to start dozing off while typing... So long!

amazing science

Dennis was totally angelic today, or at least extremely patient and well behaved. We were at church all day long to help decorate for Vacation Bible School, Dennis and I (along with the Children's Minister), and he entertained himself happily for 8 hours! We did go out for lunch to a restaurant of his choosing (3 Amigos), and he watched some movies in the church nursery, played with 2 other kids whose moms stopped by to decorate for a while (each at separate times), and played with the new fire truck we bought him last night and surprised him with at church. He did, in fact, spend the entire night at Gran's and Pop's house, and Gran brought him to church this morning and helped us for a while. He never complained, never cried, and had no tantrums--he was happy and easygoing all day. I'm so proud! As his reward, I offered to take him anywhere he wanted to go for supper, and he chose Wendy's. He was so exhausted from playing all day that he barely made it through the meal. He took my junior Frosty and ate most of it (this was what I figured would happen anyway), but he wanted it to melt so that he could drink it. He would eat his other food and then come back to the Frosty and observe "hey--even more of it melted--that's AMAZING!". I attempted to converse with him further but he said "Mommy, I really wish you would just shut down." I laughed at that, and he asked "is it still bad for me to say 'shut up'?". I told him it was, and he said "yeah, I thought so, so I said 'shut down' instead." He went to sleep in the car on our way home from Wendy's.

The thing on his head in the picture is the back side of his brand new floating sunglasses strap. He calls it "my immobilizer" and he wonders why it doesn't seem to work all the time. Me too. Every kid (parent) needs a good immobilizer!

total hiking immersion

We were very elated to be invited to lunch with our pastor and his wife today. He and David had a good bit of trip planning to accomplish, and Dennis and I were elated to discover that they have a wonderful swimming pool! After a superb taco salad lunch, they commenced with their maps and notebooks and much discussion and list-making occurred. Meanwhile, the wives and kids (their teen daughter was home today) enjoyed the pool. Dennis jumped from his first diving board ever and loved it. He made about 5 "last jumps" before I finally grabbed him and escorted him out of the pool at the end of our swim. He had such fun swimming and jumping and climbing on the floats and shooting a water cannon that he didn't want to get out of the pool!

After our visit there, we took Dennis to Gran's house to spend the afternoon with her so that we could go and look at hiking outfitter places to check out gear. Dennis is spending the night with Gran and Pop, HIS idea, and I never got a tearful "Mommy I want to come home" phone call. I'm so proud! And David and I spent hours discovering that all that backpacking gear we bought back in our early 20's is as good as anything out there! His Appalachian excursion will require only boots, socks, food, and a hammock with mosquito net to be purchased! He and the pastor decided hammocks would be more comfortable and lighter weight than hauling a tent and sleeping bags. They'll take lightweight backpacking tarps ($10, walmart!) to stretch over the hammocks in case of rain. We even found a good deal on hammocks--$39 online for a very nice one with a mosquito netting system attached (much more expensive in the stores tonight!). So he's going to be all set pretty quickly. Dennis is excited for him, and told the pastor's wife today "your husband is going to go on a big hike with my dad! Isn't that awesome?".

I'm still hoping that Dennis and I can go along for the ride to and from the trail and we're looking forward to seeing some mountains!

truer words

Today as I put Dennis down for his nap, he told me "if you don't read me another story, I'm going to just keep getting up and bugging you until you do." Gotta respect his honesty! I did not, however, read one to him. His Daddy did, though!

And we got a truly spectacular quote at lunchtime. He has been drinking Sierra Mist occasionally and likes it very much. Today he chose Fanta Orange instead. He was happily drinking it with his lunch (and developing the requisite orange mustache) but forgot about it afterward and left his bottle on the table. He instigated a grand shootout with Pop (Dennis had the gun that made noise, but Pop had the gun that shot water--I know who my money was on!) that lasted for a while, and in the midst of one of his "missions" into the other room, he found his Fanta. He came back in to where the rest of us were, drinking it, and suddenly he stopped and held it up and said "this is Cybertronian Mist: the Autobots drink it after they've been shooting for a long time to recharge." Impressive. I love that he named a drink Cybertronian-anything! What an awesome word! The Transformers hailed from Cybertron, after all.

And finally, an irritating new habit. Now, when we ask (tell) him to do something he doesn't want to do, instead of just saying "no", he says "NEVER!". It makes David so mad (and it makes me have to try hard not to laugh at his sassiness)!

We enjoyed a just-before-sunset swimming hour in the lake this afternoon, just the three of us. It was so nice!

the car czar

We took one demanding little tyrant shopping with us tonight. David's on a quest for hiking boots for his upcoming trip, and he did his first trying on tonight. We were at Bass Pro Shop, and while David was trying on different types (and realizing that the more expensive boots are actually very wonderful), Dennis was stalking us with a pop-gun rifle. He would jump out from behind displays and shoot us, laughing maniacally as he did so. He ran off and came back with 2 more pop-rifles (so we could shoot back) and was so disappointed when David didn't participate in the battle. He just didn't understand how important it is for his dad to get the boots ASAP, and we were working against store-closing times! He was pretty good in the store (after announcing in the car before we went in that he and I would be looking at the toys first and THEN I could go to the bathroom and THEN we could go to the shoes as long as he got to try on shoes too), but he had a meltdown as we were leaving. He was tired and cranky and still isn't feeling well. And the crying sure didn't help with his already stuffy head and runny nose. He was a little more able to control himself in Academy, but he had told us in the car that we were NOT going there--we were going to Toys R Us in Montgomery instead. He managed to suffer through. David bought a pair of boots that cost $100 less than the ones he really loved, but we plan to shop again in Birmingham just to be sure he gets some that will carry him safely and comfortably on his journey. We are not planning for Dennis to go on the next boot shopping trip! He did score a new pair of red soccer type shorts that he's been wanting, and he tried them on as soon as we got home (though it was 11 pm) and begged to sleep in them. He's been given his allergy meds and is sound asleep now, and I certainly hope he feels a bit better tomorrow!