water babies class

Yes, Dennis took Water Babies class two years ago, when he was a very wee one, and it was so wonderful that we took the class twice in a row with Chloe and family joining us for the second round. Since we're spending so much time at the lake, we thought it would be a good idea to enroll again in the class, since much of it is about water safety. Tonight was our first session, and I must say, it is an entirely different experience with a two year old that talks and has his own opinions about things. Dennis would have run the class himself if the teacher had allowed it! We told him to kick his legs, and he would yell "NO!!!" and "I want the ball!" and "want the cup!!". He did great, really, but protested so much of what we asked him to do. He blew bubbles and kicked his legs and laid back to float, but after 25 minutes, he announced "I want to go to the dock", which tickled me because this is what he says when he's ready to get out of the lake. When we went over to teach him how to hold on to the wall, he held on and pulled himself up out of the water and actually climbed out of the pool under his own power. He had no trouble pouring water over his face (and over my face and David's face). He was so ready to go when it was over! But just a few minutes after we left, he announced he wanted to go see Miss Donna (the teacher) and go swimming. Instead he got dinner at Gran's house and then bedtime at home.

first overnight

Dennis spent last night at Gran's house, the first time he's been away from both his Mommy and Daddy all night long. From what we heard, he did just fine. I called this morning to check on him and didn't get an answer, so I called back in 15 minute intervals until I got Mom on the phone. He had just fallen into the pond at the time. He didn't fall all the way in because she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, but he did get his clothes wet. Mom tells me she lost two pounds while trying to keep up with him all day! He was very very busy, she says.

David and I went to Six Flags today with a couple of friends, and we had a great time being kids again without having to watch kids. We rode roller coasters and walked around and stood in lines, and I got a little nostalgic for him when we passed the Thomas the Train play area (and we plan to take him there with us next time), but mostly I was glad to be free of the responsibility for the day. When you are a parent, there is always some part of your brain that is tuned to The Mommy Channel, always aware of the havoc your child is or could be wreaking at any moment. While I didn't totally let it go for the day, I did go whole hours without wondering if my house would explode at any moment. And the sleepy kisses we got when we picked him up tonight were special and sweet, always worth coming home for!

new lunch project

Dennis was delighted to see that he got a prepackaged lunch today. While I was unwrapping the Lunchable, he was giggling and screeching and dancing in his high chair. He ate some of it (and this is good because we have been having some trouble getting him to eat lunch lately) and announced "Look at the hams, Mommy, these are hams". He made a tower of ham slices and another tower of cheese slices and threw in some crackers for good measure. He was very proud of his architectural masterpiece.

This morning, instead of hearing him sing Old MacDonald, he was singing about Old Donald Duck having a farm. It was very funny!

hallway serenade

I heard the usual phrase called out to me this morning down the hallway: "Mommy! What you doing?". And then I heard, louder, "a chick chick here and a chick chick here" and I wondered what in the world when all of a sudden I heard "Old McDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-E-O" and after several choruses involving a chicken, he started saying "with a hee haw here and a hee haw here" and even eventually got the 'E-I-E-I-O' right. I joined in, singing along with him from my bed--he'd call out an animal and we'd do sing about that one together. It's a good thing we live in a house and not an apartment.

a new phrase

Conversational skills are increasing exponentially. When asked today where Froggy was (and I ask this question hundreds of times per week), Dennis replied "I don't know, Mommy, let's go find him." When he spotted him, he announced, "look, Mommy, there he is!! I found it!!". Talking to him is a real pleasure now. We walked tonight with an old friend of mine from high school and he asked her if she liked trains and asked her if she'd seen a train tonight. The track where we sometimes walks borders the train tracks and we always have to stop and watch a train go over the bridge whenever one passes while we walk. I haven't heard him say "I don't know" before, but he told her tonight "I don't know where train is. There's tracks right there. Where's train?".

he needs some control

A few days ago, David kept Dennis one afternoon while I went hiking. He discovered that letting Dennis make some decisions about where he wanted to go makes for a very happy Dennis and a much easier day. When David met me to pick Dennis up, Dennis said "want to go to lake house" and David took him there. They watched some boats go by, and they watched Mr. Hall hard at work on his tractor. They had a good time! And then, on the way home, Dennis spied the fast food restaurants by the interstate and said "I want hamburger and fries, Daddy", and David stopped to get him a Happy Meal. He was delighted with that as well. He was happy and sweet and easygoing the rest of the evening and even put himself to bed at 7:00. I suppose I'll start letting him decide more of things that we do when I can. It's a fine line to keep him happy without letting him run all over me!

i go swimming at lake house

After nagging me all morning to "go lake house Mommy, let's go", we headed down to meet up with Allison and her cousin and Gran and Pop and Grandma and Bob. I attempted to put Dennis down for a nap after lunch, but he had other ideas, so he came swimming with us in his puddle jumper life jacket and Elmo float. He's an excellent little float swimmer and can kick himself in whatever direction he chooses (and gosh, he's so FAST!), and can spin around in milliseconds and look in any direction he chooses. I'm so proud of him, and we haven't even started this year's swim classes yet!

When we were attempting the nap, he called out from the bed "Mommy, what you doing?" and I replied "Mommy is on break". He considered this for a second and then called out "Allison, what you doing?" and I called back that "Allison is putting away all the dominoes you tossed on the floor". He called out "that's right, Mommy, very good" and "good job Allison". While we were swimming he kept saying "let's go see Mr. Hall's house" or "where's Mr. Hall's tractor?" (Mr. Hall is the lake house neighbor) and then "let's go dock and see what Claire's doing" (Claire is Allison's cousin). He's become a rather excellent little conversationalist lately. I really enjoy listening to him!