firsts

Raising a child means experiencing a lot of "firsts", something I didn't much think about when we decided to bring Dennis into the world. Sure, I expected first words, first steps, first day of school, all those kinds of things, but the smaller firsts are awfully rewarding as well. Last night, for instance, he did something pretty neat. He told me he wanted to go to Gigi's house today. She's about to be leaving on a big trip, so I had to tell him we couldn't, and he asked "well, can we send a letter to her mailbox?". I thought this was a great idea, even more great when I found out that he wanted to write the letter himself (his first letter!). He had to ask which letters to use to make it say what he wanted it to say (To Gigi I love you love Dennis), and it took him both sides of a sheet of paper to write his message, but he did it entirely on his own. He's very into writing now, and tonight after he read a couple of his BOB books to me, he insisted on writing the words he'd read. He decided to try writing a few numbers as well, and I just watched in amazement. Then he drew a Dennis (he likes to draw himself), and it's nice that the people he draws are actually recognizable as people.

Today we played our first game of hopscotch. We took the sidewalk chalk outside to enjoy the pretty non-November-ish afternoon, and he wrote letters and traced his handprint. Then he asked if we could "draw a hopscotch", so I accommodated him as he supervised ("now you draw a bunch of squares and you write numbers in them--I will go and find some rocks"). I'm pleased that he knows what the game is and how to play it given that it's been a few years since I have played! The dog invaded our hopscotch game, so it became more of a hopscotch obstacle course, but we had a good laugh at any rate.

There were, as usual, some humorous things he said. He asked if it was Christmas Eve yet (except he said "Christmas Een"), and I explained that we still had to get through Thanksgiving. He sighed heavily and said "grrrrrrrrr--I hate Thanksgiving!". I asked why and he said "it's getting in the way of Christmas." And he also told me that he wanted to be a "vampire pilgrim" for Thanksgiving (once he decided he didn't hate it anymore). I'm curious to see how this pans out. And when I was on the computer earlier to check email, he was irritated that he didn't have my full attention and so took off his socks and tossed them onto the computer keyboard. Yuck. He knows how I love dirty socks. Finally, tonight as I was tucking him in, I told him I loved him even when he was being a little monster (like he was today), and he said "and I love you even when you are a BIG monster and I love Daddy even when he's a BIGGER monster." I think he'll probably spend the rest of the night inventing excuses to get out of bed--he just wandered in to tell us that he needs a night night snack and a special night night drink. And then he said he was cold, went to my winter gear drawer, pulled out a scarf, put it on, and ran as we chased him to get it back. He says it's a superhero cape (and has the ends dangling down his back). Might be a long night.

Today he was thankful for "the firemen who spray out the fires and rescue the people."

lesser known superhero

Dennis was in the bathroom just now (because I was in there and I am NOT ALLOWED to be alone in there, EVER), and I was attempting to distract him to keep him from trying to sit on the open dryer door (because a new dryer is not on my list of things to buy in the near future and I'd like to keep it that way). I told him he was too heavy, and he wanted to know HOW heavy he was, so he weighed himself. Still 37, as he has been since spring, but that's too heavy for the dryer door for sure! He let out some nice manly farts as he was settling onto the scale, giggling as he did so. I told him he sure was gassy tonight, and he said "I AM POOPER MAN--I can poop on people because I HAVE THE POWER TO POOP" (this last said as he raised a power-fisted straight arm up in the air). The he and his Toxic Gas Cloud raced off down the hallway (presumably to terrorize nice-smelling bad guys).

First thing this morning he asked "Is it Christmas Day?", and I had to reply that no, it was November 12. He said "Oh. In that case, I am thankful for the soldiers who are keeping our country safe." What a nice thing to be thankful for--I guess the Veterans Day festivities made an impression on him!

honoring our veterans

Happy Veterans Day! We've spent more time thinking about this particular holiday in 2010 than any year I can remember. Last Sunday at church we honored our veterans, last night at church a veteran talked to all the children about his service, and today we attended the Veterans Day parade in Birmingham. I learned today that this is the oldest and largest celebration anywhere, and it certainly was a big deal! We clapped and clapped for all the soldiers and veterans, enjoyed the marching bands and floats (and the Shriners' antics), and had a very nice day downtown. I thought often of the veterans in the family and felt proud of their contribution to our freedom. Dennis clapped so hard for all the soldiers and was so enthralled with their uniforms and marching skills. We are so glad Ellen invited us to join her and Chloe there, and the kids (and mommies) had a great time together all day.

Dennis got out his nativity set this morning (he calls it his 'activity set') and set up all the figures. He even pretended to be the angel. I heard him making the angel tell Mary "Mary, you are going to have a baby. You will call him Jesus, and he will be great." So today, he decided that he was thankful for the shepherds. And he's learning to sing Away in a Manger--currently his favorite Christmas song.

Have you ever?

"Mommy, have you ever seen a space man playing a violin?" he asked, out of the blue. I turned to see him holding a screwdriver in perfect violin position, and he was playing it with a second screwdriver as a bow.

Today he said he was thankful for "the stars in the nighttime" and I agreed that they are indeed praiseworthy.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and Dennis has lots of questions about soldiers and wars and good guys and bad guys, hard questions to answer. I told him the Veterans were soldiers who kept our country safe, and he asked if we could go home and play "Army Men and Indians". As I was about to tell him that the army men and Indians didn't fight, I remembered General Custer. Granted, those army men didn't much look like his little green guys with their helmets and guns and bazookas, but yes the army fought the Indians. I'm going to have to be more vigilant with my brain.

merry November

Gigi is here for a visit, and Dennis is so excited to be with her! She came to see us before she heads off to the UK for her vacation. This is our Christmas with her, since she will be gone for the holidays. Dennis told her he had a surprise present for her as he ran out to meet her at her car, and then he announced what it was: a birdhouse that he painted for her.

Since it's our Christmas with her, we decided to take advantage of Santa's early arrival at his workshop at Bass Pro Shop in Prattville. We saw lights and trees, snowmen and reindeer, busy elves, and the Big Guy himself. Dennis told him he only wanted one thing (but we didn't hear what it was), so later he had to go back and tell him some things he forgot about. We wrote a letter (Dennis signed his own name--I'm so proud!) and put it in the mailbox there with direct delivery to the North Pole. Dennis watched a Christmas train going around the tracks, played some archery games, and made a reindeer ornament. He had a WONDERFUL time, and we enjoyed watching him have such a good time.

snotty D

This morning, he tried on his vampire costume and doctor costume, and just when I got out the phone to snap his picture, he announced "no, that game is over--no more taking pictures of my costumes. We aren't playing that anymore." So David snapped this one covertly, catching him by calling his name and snapping it as soon as he turned around. Today, he was thankful for "the trees in the fall" and I think that's a spectacular thing to be thankful for and often say thanks to God for that very thing.

Tonight he watched Peter Pan at Uncle Denny's house while Gran and I were out walking, and I timed my return about 3 minutes too late. He was crying at the door when I arrived, and I knelt down and scooped him up in my lap to console him. He probably would have been fine on any day in which he'd taken a nap, but that didn't happen today. They were watching the movie together and when it ended, he was ready to go and I wasn't there (guilt, guilt, guilt), but I was right outside! He calmed down some and was burrowing his head into my neck. This morphed into him rubbing his nose on my cheek, and it occurred to me that he was smearing snot on my face while he was doing so. Sure enough, when he pulled back his face, a tiny booger was adhering to the outside of his left nostril. I told him how disgusting that was (as Uncle Denny looked on in horror and agreed), and Dennis said "I'm going to write with my nose, a straight line and a half circle." Before I knew it, he was smearing his nose across my cheek in the shape of a capital D. Very nice. Sure hope Clorox wipes are safe on skin...

superfriends

What a super day we had! We had a very nice day at church that included a luncheon and a Christmas ornament painting party. Dennis was completely exhausted when we got home and he napped for a couple of hours. When he got up, I surprised him by appearing in my new SuperGirl costume. He donned his Iron Man costume and we ran around for a while, saving our home from mayhem and bad guys. Or maybe we were creating the mayhem as we were saving the earth from bad guys... Now I've got to find a coordinating hero outfit for SuperDaddy somewhere.

Today he said he was thankful for his friends. It was nice getting to see him interact with those friends at Sunday School and at lunch. They socialized while they painted, and then they watched the Grinch together while the mothers finished up the ornament work. Speaking of socializing, we almost didn't get to eat our lunch because he kept getting up and going to talk to various church members that he knows and that know him. He greeted both pastors, and talked to Brother Brian (who was in his Navy uniform in honor of Veterans Day--we honored all the vets at this morning's service). Dennis was enchanted by the Navy uniform. He walked up to Brother Brian and said "I had to come and see your soldier costume--it's COOL." They chatted about the Navy and ships and submarines, guy things, before Dennis started jumping up and down and shouting "oh yeah!", and then we were off to see everyone else. I think it's just wonderful that he is so comfortable with the church folks and so happy to speak to everyone. So many people call his name and shake his hand or high five him every time we're there! It's, well, just super!