little cupid

Tonight, after his bath, Dennis interrupted his room cleaning to chase me with his bow and arrow. He shot me with a suction-tipped arrow and said "Now you'll fall in love with cleaning!". If only it were that simple!!! He told me I'll have to clean my room every night like he does. Good advice, that.

Tomorrow morning very early, he'll go to the doctor's office for his ear tube surgery. He's not nervous at all, and I'm not so nervous myself. He gets to take Froggy in with him. They said he could bring a toy, and I had to convince him NOT to take a Transformer or fire truck. I hope he reacts well to the anesthesia, that he won't be sick afterward. And I hope he's soon able to hear better. He says he'll have super hearing after his surgery, and he asked me to make him a new Super Hearing Man cape ("it needs to have a big ear on it, Mommy") for his new hero role.

Tonight he called me after my meeting at church to ask me to stop and get him some chocolate ice cream ("from the gas station") on my way home. He was very specific about what he wanted, and when he'd imparted the message, he said "okay, bye" and promptly hung up the phone. He greeted me at the door with "did you get my ice cream?". Of course I did! He's having surgery tomorrow!

a stern warning

I have not had the pleasure of Dennis' company much today. I left very early for a day of teacher training in Montgomery, and I came home completely exhausted from that and a poor night's sleep beforehand. I stared into the fire David made for us to warm this cold night for only a few minutes before I fell asleep. I napped until suppertime and napped on and off after that, roused only by the occasional and sweet "hug visits" from Dennis (who wanted to know why my teacher trainings always last "a million hours"). I did hear him tell David as he was trimming Dennis' nails before bed, "you know, Dad, if you cut my little toe off, I'll have to go to the hospital." He was spared that awful scenario. His little toe nails are difficult to trim, sure, but his toes are not in any danger!

eye drama

Yesterday I took Dennis to school with a red eye. Recently reassured by the pediatrician and the ENT that his eye troubles were allergy related, I wasn't very concerned about it. It worsened as the day progressed, and we found ourselves at the eye doctor discovering that he has viral pinkeye. Very contagious viral pinkeye, that is. The school has been notified and disinfected, and we've been washing and spraying Lysol on everything. He looks tons better today thanks to new steroid eye drops.

He had a truly awful day yesterday. He was sad from a hard week at school (more friend drama), he found out he has pinkeye, he didn't get to go to Taekwondo or to swim, and later in the day he developed a toothache (in his front tooth) and then a headache. He cried in pure pitifulness, and we attempted to cheer him with pizza and episodes of How It's Made. I surprised him with ice cream and finally got a smile. He was so worn down from his day that he fell asleep on the couch (sitting up) at 7:40. We carried him to bed where he stayed until he crawled into our bed at 6 AM. He felt much better today, thank goodness!

He's had some nice anatomy lessons this week learning about the parts of him that arent doing so hot. He loved playing with the model of the eye in the eye doctor's office, and he's learned much about how his eyes and ears work (and will soon work better, we hope). I miss my happy little superhero/pirate/magician/fireman/policeman. I hope he's all healed very soon.

party planning

Last night, on the way home from a fun night out with Uncle Denny (our Japanese night!), Dennis told us he was carsick and we gave him some of his medicine. He soon closed his eyes and laid his head against his pillow and got very quiet. David and I started discussing (very quietly) which of us had ever been carsick or seasick and when. We were basically murmuring this conversation almost under our breaths so as not to disturb a sleeping Dennis. After 5 or 6 minutes of this, we suddenly heard a very loud vomit noise from the back seat, followed immediately by gales of laughter. Yep, he got us good. He's gotten way too good at faking puke noises, and his timing on this one could not have been more hilarious.

Last night, he couldn't sleep for talk of his upcoming birthday. He enumerated a list of tasks for me. "Number one: clean every room in the house, and clean them really good so we can set them up as different Rescue Hero stations. Number two: make a Rescue Hero cake, chocolate and vanilla and red velvet and white cake layers in a big round cake on top of a big flat cake with some of my Rescue Hero toys around it. Number three: decorate the whole house with Rescue Hero stuff. Number four: send invitations to my friends (and he listed them) and tell them to dress like a Rescue Hero and to bring a Rescue Hero. Number five: decorate outside the house. Number six: set up a tent so we can go in and put on our rescue gear and be Rescue Heroes. And that's all, just six things, Mom." Whew! Good thing I have 5 weeks! He's even told me how to make the invitations (which is genius and what I'm actually going to do!).

Today he came home from school with a rock in his hand, and he held it as he prayed out loud for his friends to start playing with him at school. He talked a lot about this last night, about how no one would play with him, so I asked his teacher about it today. One kid (who was a good friend to Dennis last year) is now the ringleader of violent play on the playground, and the others follow him. Dennis doesn't like the way they play, so he doesn't join in, and he is sad that he can't get anyone to play his way (rescue heroes or superheroes). He does have kids that play with him, they just don't all follow him anymore, and this has all just happened. Anyway, during his chapel class today, he learned that he could pray about his troubles and that God would help him. Good lesson. Applied immediately and correctly. I'm so proud! And I'm sad for his sadness, but I (and Mrs. Nancy) reminded him that Brody plays with him every day, and he was cheered by this reminder. He gave Brody a big hug as we left school. And his mom and I made plans for each to attend each other's upcoming birthday festivities.

We saw the ENT today. Dennis will have surgery on Monday to get tubes in his ears. The doctor was showing me a diagram of the ear and I noticed Dennis cranng his head and trying to see, so I picked him up and held him in front of the poster while the doctor explained what the tubes will do and where they will go. He understood and asked pertinent questions about the ear picture. He seems glad his ears will feel better after he has the procedure. He listened to every word and asked me on the way home about the gas they would give him to go to sleep. He seems intrigued rather than nervous! I'm just a touch nervous myself. Maybe I'll borrow his prayer rock.

moving right along

I'm amazed at Dennis' memory. Tonight we went to the gym for Taekwondo, a mommy workout while he played with friends in child care, and a swim with Gran. Now that he's an Orange Belt, he has to learn a new form with 17 steps. He learned the first 10 steps tonight. And he demonstrated the steps he had to learn for his current belt again and thus earned 2 stripes on his orange belt. Tonight was his first real class since the testing. Last week was the bring a buddy deal, and he acted as assistant instructor. He was back to his class of one tonight. I'm so proud of how well he's doing!

As we were changing out of our swim clothes, he saw the t-shirt I'd brought him to wear. It was his Camp Carnival shirt from our cruise (almost 2 years ago). He said "Mom, I'm ready to go on another cruise. And I want to go back to their child care thing, I think it was called Camp Carnival. Can we do that again?". It sounded good to me and I told him so. Then he said "I don't think there is a cruise ship in Mobile anymore. Where will we go to get on the cruise ship?". I named some other nearby ports, and he seemed satisfied. I'm left wondering how much he remembers about the cruise and how he remembered that the ship no longer docks in Mobile. I've always been I pressed with his memory, but it was nice to hear his Taekwondo instructor tell him that he was a very smart, very cool kid.

Tonight I got an email notifying me that I'd won a contest that I entered. We'll be getting a package soon with 4 new figures from the new Space Toy Story line along with Buzz Lightyear's Command Center. Dennis is very, very excited. He already claimed my prize for himself. He saw me looking at the picture of Woody and Buzz in their astronaut gear, and he told me he wanted them. I told him that I had won them in a drawing from Disney, and he jumped up and down on our bed for 5 minutes singing "I'm getting new toys!". I told him that I was the winner so why aren't they going to be mine? He laughed and told me that his birthday is the closest to when they are coming (it ships in the next 2 weeks). And then he told me I was "the best mom anyone could ever have, ever." Yep, he's a charmer. And he'll be getting my prize. After he fell asleep, David went in to check on him and noticed his toy rocket ship in bed with him, all ready for a mission. I suppose he's brushing up on his space play before the new toys get here. I love that he does that kind of thing. He's so meticulous about his playing that it's often comical (but I don't let him know this). And, he cleaned his room tonight without being asked. I caught him in the act and praised profusely! Now I have to figure out where the new toys are going to fit in there...

monumental task accomplished

Dennis has been subdued but sweet this weekend. We haven't been out of the house, he and I, since Thursday. Well, we've been outside, but not away from home, I should say. He's had more eye troubles, just itchiness and redness, and he's been super tired. He asked me if we could just stay home today and watch TV. We stayed home, yes, but we didn't watch a whole lot of television. We finally excavated his room. It was necessary so that we could reclaim our living room. His floor was such a mess that he was bringing all his toys to the living room to play where he had space to do so. We didn't see him for hours after his room was cleaned and reorganized! And it was wonderful to go in and tuck him in and kiss him goodnight and NOT step on Legos in the process. I'm hoping he doesn't get more giant toys for his birthday. There are 2 Rescue Heroes he doesn't have, and we have a place for those to go. He REALLY wants an "Optimus Garage" (which is what he cals the Transformer Rescue Bots Optimus Fire/Rescue Station), and that will require more shelf reorganization for sure! I'd like him to get money for soccer since he's been begging me to play it again this spring. He is counting down the weeks until his birthday, which I believe is the single most important social occasion among the preschool set. He'll have his party at school on his actual birthday, and I need to start planning his big party, and I will begin to thnk about that after our Mardi Gras party next Saturday night. At least it's good motivation for cleaning house!

Sensei Dennis

It's still bring-a-friend week at Taekwondo, and tonight, Dennis ended up as assistant teacher to 3 of his friends. He was so funny standing beside his teacher, facing his group. When Mr. Sean would explain something, Dennis would strike a teacher pose and wag one finger at his friends, as if to emphasize the point. He was a cute little instructor, that's for sure.

The groundhog has predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Dennis was sad and asked me to pray to God and ask him if spring could come early. I told him he was welcome to pray himself, and he said "I did, Mom, I just wanted you to pray it too." I also told him that the county's peach crops need lots more cold hours if we're to have peaches this year, so all those farmers are praying for cold weather to come again. He seemed a little concerned but still wants spring to come now. I wouldn't mind a snow day, myself. This hasn't been much of a winter.

Tonight at the gym, his swimming skills increased tenfold. He found a plastic stick like toy and asked me what it was. I explained that it was a diving stick, that the object is to swim down and collect it from the bottom of the pool. Naturally he wanted to try it. We submerged the stick on the lowest step, and he pretended to be a Rescue Diver. We (Gran and I) had to call him and sound an alert, and he would splash into the water and swim and grab the stick. He did it many, many times, and each time he would hold it up triumphantly before tossing it in again and scrambling up to the edge of the pool and pretending to nap as he waited for the next rescue call to come in. He did great, and as an added bonus, fell asleep tonight very easily and even admitted to his own tiredness!