I made my last visit of the year to Brendon. When I see him again, it will be 2005.

I arrived about noon. Grandmaw Roberta and Brendon were the only people home. Roberta was not feeling well. So Brendon and I played quietly, well, as quietly as a two-year-old can play. He wanted to jump around. I would sit on one side of the room. He would dash across the floor and jump into my arms and I would raise him over my head. He thought this game was fun! The only problem is that sometimes he would fling himself at me when I wasn't looking.

I took a photo of Brendon and then I let him take a picture. He held the camera backwards and got a real-close up of his cheek. He loves making the camera flash. So the battery ran down quickly. I dug in my purse and retrieved another set of fresh batteries. Brendon is watching me open the compartment and replace the batteries. He took a bunch more photos of his cheek, and then I shut off the camera. He noticed something was wrong with the camera when he pushed the button and nothing happened. So he found my purse and dug out the batteries and brought them to me. He must have figured the batteries needed replacing and that's why it wouldn't flash. Then he figured out how to turn on the camera. So much for saving the batteries. I still managed to take lots of photos.

While he was digging in my purse, he found a pen. So he wrote me a note in my dayplanner. He also found a tube of lipstick. I had a hard time convincing him that he didn't want to put it all over his face. He practically emptied my purse, and then he put everything back.

Brendon was very thirsty. He drank two cups of Bob the Builder. He has a sippy cup that looks like Bob the Builder, and the lid is Bob's hard hat. I heated him some ravioli, but I think he was too full of milk to be hungry because he didn't eat any of it.

Then he wanted a drink of water. Roberta's refrigerator is the kind that has ice and water in the door. Brendon reached up on the counter and got this teeny plastic snack container. Then he filled it with water. He can climb the stairs foot over foot without even holding onto the handrail. What amazed me is that he carried it up the stairs to the family room without spilling it. Then he went across the room without spilling it. Then he dumped it over on the coffee table.

When it was time for me to go home, Brendon wanted to go with me. Roberta suggested that he climb up on their window seat and watch me go. When I got outside, he was pressed against the glass, his eyes following me to the car. I waved and he waved at me. I waved again and again.

As I backed out of the driveway and drove down the lane, I could see him watching me. I wish I could have taken him home with me.