New Year's Eve

All day long I kept hearing Dennis tell me "we are having a New Year's party at the lake house!". He was correct. We were indeed planning a small party and he knew he'd get to see Chloe. He didn't want to nap, didn't want to go to Wal-Mart, didn't want to do ANYTHING except go to the lake house and go to the party. He had a great time playing with Chloe, jumping on the bed, chasing her around with his camera while trying to snap her picture (and I do mean literally chasing her... I mean he was RUNNING). They wrestled and played and chased and sang songs while rocking together in the rocking chair which was so unbelievably cute that I might have thrown up from the sweetness of it if it wasn't two children that I love. They 'counted down' to New Year's (at 9 pm--it was New Year's somewhere over the Atlantic) and yelled and screamed "Happy New Year!" and blew their paper horns. Yes, I got this on video. It is priceless. Their sugar highs carried them until about 11 pm, when they both crashed. Chloe was at the lake, David had taken Dennis on home (poor David has to work tomorrow very early). I stayed and played games with Dave and Ellen until late and when I got home, I came in and found David asleep on his side of the bed and Dennis snuggled in beside him in the middle. I woke David up (not meaning to) and asked him if Dennis had a nightmare or was scared awake by loud fireworks (living in the redneck neighborhood we live in, we hear fireworks for at least a week surrounding any holiday plus engines revving and rifle shots at various other times of year). Funny thing is, David did not know Dennis had gotten up and climbed into our bed! Dennis seemed nervous that we would make him leave, but we didn't. When I was getting ready for bed, he padded into the bathroom dragging his Froggy and hugged me and whispered "there are no monsters in Mommy and Daddy's room". I assured him there were no monsters in his own room and that he'd have to be in there tomorrow night. I don't know where all this fear has come from, and I don't know what to do, but we are going to get through it in our own respective beds!

None of our friends made resolutions for the new year, so we made a bunch of them up (Mom and I) and I put them in a big bowl and let people draw a resolution at the party. This was a huge success and very funny and I imagine we have started a new tradition. Dennis drew two for himself, the first that he would fart more quietly in 2010, the second that he would learn a new sport. Chloe drew that she would climb a tree and that she would go on a cruise. We talked about what was good about 2009 and about how excited we are about 2010. Bring it on!

the puzzle tower

I watched as Dennis painstakingly stacked all his puzzles on the table (still in their boxes, thank goodness) and counted them (14!). It was a very tall tower and he had to climb up on his chair to get the top ones on. He was very proud of his puzzle and stared at it for a while. Then he put a firefighter on top of the tower, lying face down and 'looking' down. He made him call for help on the radio and then the other firemen arrived in the fire truck and extended a ladder up to rescue him. When the ladder wasn't tall enough, Dennis said "don't worry, you can jump, we will catch you in the net" and then had the other firemen hold the trampoline while he pretended to make the stranded guy jump. I just sat back and enjoyed the show. When David got home and saw the stack, he asked me if Dennis had done it all by himself. He was impressed.

quotes

Dennis was talking about his friends and loved ones today. He told me how Gran says "yes, yes, yes" and Daddy says "no, no, no" and Uncle Denny says "oh, Dennis". Just for the heck of it, I asked him what Chloe says. He thought for a minute and then said "Chloe says BE NICE and SHARE!". He told me Allison says "be strong". I asked him what Ellen says. He thought again for a long minute and then said "Ellen says CHLOE KATHRYN!!!!". Big laugh from me. Very true. Also on the cuteness meter for today: he was asking about the Smith twins. He said "when we go see baby Haddifer?", making a combination name for both but using Jen's name instead of little Katelyn's. I knew who he meant and corrected him and he looked at me and said "I want to play with the babies". I told him I wanted to as well and that we'll have to go and see them soon.

total potty disinterest

He WILL be potty trained before our cruise in May. I insist on it. He is certainly not that interested now, telling me he likes his diapers and saying he won't potty. I have tried bribery and telling him how firefighters use the potty (this after he asked me one day who changed the firefighters' diapers at the fire station) and everything else I can think of. When the holidays are over, I'm going to have him wear regular underwear when we're at home. I hope that works. He told me he wanted to use his frog potty in front of his movie, so I brought it in the den. When I came back from loading the dishwasher, he had removed the potty bowl and was 'wearing' the support part. It may be a while yet. I even told him all the things we could do with the $50 a month we'd save if he'd use the toilet. Still no luck. We will make it, I just know it. He is not allowed to date until he can use the potty.

super batman Dennis

He climbed on the arm of the couch today and stuck his arm straight up in the air, pointed a finger to the sky, and announced "I am a superhero!". Then he said "Where's my batman cape?" and I told him it was probably in his room. He said "Okay, I'll go get it. I'll be right back." When he came back he asked me to help him put it on and then he climbed back up to the arm of the couch, assumed the same pose, and announced loudly "I'm a superhero! I'm Super Batman Dennis. Watch me fly!". This scared me, but he just jumped from the arm to the couch and then from the couch to the floor. Then he 'flew' away down the hall, cape streaming out behind him.

The sleep problem is not temporary. Lots of trouble putting him down for his nap today and even more trouble getting him to sleep tonight. He gets up out of bed, comes to wherever we are, gives us Cute Face, waves his hand, and says "Hi. I had a nice nap" after just 10 minutes in bed. It's hard to discipline something that cute who clearly just wants to be with us, so we took turns giving him Stern Face and taking him back to bed. The last time I had a serious talk with him about needing his sleep. He said he needed light and his Little People music cd playing, so I turned on the Christmas tree in his room and played his Little People Christmas cd. He settled in and went on to sleep after that. I miss the days of just tucking him in once!

not so bad for the day after

I worried about serious post-Christmas letdown, but Dennis seemed okay today. I was kind of blue myself, but he was just fine. He watched his new Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train Christmas movies and he took dozens of pictures with his new camera. He played fire station and rocket all day. He plugged in the Christmas trees all by himself (scary). And he was pretty sweet most of the day. We put puzzles together and played Uno Moo once Daddy got home from work. It was quiet and nice and very cold. I snuggled under blankets most of the day. I napped when Dennis did. Tonight he gave us trouble going to bed, lots of trouble, and when I asked him what was wrong, he said "I scared of monsters". I took his new Thomas flashlight and shined it around the room and showed him that there were no monsters. Then he told me he couldn't sleep because there were no monsters. He likes monsters. We had to put him back in bed several times. I hope it's just post Christmas stuff that's causing his difficulty.

Guilt trip today: he saw me eating a peanut butter cookie and said "Mommy, are you eating Santa's cookies?". I explained that the cookie was from the batch we made Santa, but Santa had eaten plenty of cookies and so we were allowed to eat what was left. He said "stop eating that cookie--it's for Santa". I offered him some cookie, but that didn't work either, so I quickly shoved the rest of the cookie in my mouth and apologized to him. He said to me today very sweetly "Don't you want to play with me, Mommy?". And then he gave me the face, the big-eyed, sweet, head-tilted-slightly-to-the-side, super cute look. It worked. I played with him all afternoon.

Santa visited big time

Dennis let us sleep until 8 this morning and he came to our room and climbed into bed with us. He told us "good morning--I want to watch TV in Mommy and Daddy's bed." So I turned it on and we watched for a few minutes until I saw David put on his glasses and sit up, and then I asked Dennis if he thought Santa had come. He sat straight up and said "Santa came?" and I told him to go check under the tree. He ran from the room saying "I look under the tree, I look under the tree" and I set off after him quickly. He got distracted and detoured into the den (where his new rocket from Nana Gaynell and Papa Jim waited by the nativity set--the astronauts had to visit baby Jesus last night). I told him to look under the tree because it looked like Santa had indeed come and he turned around and said "LOOK AT ALL THE PRESENTS FOR ME!!". I quickly grabbed the camera and watched as he began a festival of paper ripping. He got a book (Truckery Rhymes) and a couple of coloring books, two Christmas DVDs (Thomas the train and Bob the Builder), an Uno Moo game, a Thomas the Train flashlight, a puzzle, a Fisher Price School Desk (vintage), a new Chevron car, and the big gift: a Fisher Price Imaginext Fire Station and truck set. We managed to keep him from opening the fire station until the last gift, which is a good thing because he played with it exclusively for seven hours today. It came with 3 firemen that slide down a fire pole, a truck that has sounds and lights, axes, water cannons that shoot plastic water, fire hose, trampoline, fire jackets to put on the firement, a bunk bed, and a computer desk for the fire station. Santa did GREAT!

Gran and Pop and Grandma and GrandBob came over for Christmas breakfast, eggnog French toast with sausage and eggs and fruit, and they played with Dennis and his new toys for a few hours. After they left, he napped and then played fire station until it was time to go to Birmingham to Pop's family Christmas. The fire station came with us. Dennis enjoyed himself at Uncle Bradley's place and played with Nate until supper, and then he nagged us to open presents. The dirty Santa gift exchange was as hilarious as always and Dennis sang to us all the way home (different versions of Jingle Bells). Uncle Denny taught him to say "are we there yet?", something we will have to retaliate for in due time. It was a wonderful Christmas.