entertainment

I am sitting on the couch watching Daniel with amusement. He has flipped open the grocery cart Santa brought him for Christmas so that the basket is upside down, the wheels are vertically positioned against the floor, and he is sitting between the supports. (Not a good description, but our camera is out of juice.) He has the carbon copy I received at the doctor's office yesterday, and he is "reading" it aloud to us, jabbering away, and stopping occasionally to look up at us and giggle. Wish I knew what the story is about so I could laugh, too.

While he has definitely taken interest in lots of his new toys, I'll have you know that he spent a good 15 minutes today playing with a travel size box of tampons in my purse. He took them out individually and brought them to me, then he put them back in the box, put the box in the purse, and wanted me to up the purse on his arm. This makes Scott SO happy, let me tell you. I think it's cute.

Daniel wants to do everything he sees us doing. When we come in from outside, he prefers to walk in the door himself rather than be carried. When I'm loading and unloading the dishwasher, he helps rinse and put away silverware. While we were visiting Gramps and Gigi, he helped to stir the ingredients in one of the Christmas dinner dishes. Daniel is large and in-charge.

The week before Christmas, he started giving kisses. He'll smack you right on the mouth with them if he likes you! It is so cute. Daniel melts our hearts when he walks over, lips pursed, making the "mmmmmmm" sound aimed directly at your face. Today he pulled Scott's face over to him to give him a kiss. We should have a great photo of Daniel kissing my Dad at the rehearsal dinner last weekend.

Our other new first happened yesterday. It was the first time Daniel vomited full-blown all over the place. I am very proud because I did not gag one time! He must have had a small bug. Seems to be gone today, thank goodness. After he went to sleep last night, he vomited all over his bed. NOT FUN. I felt so badly for him.

I will post a photo from Uncle Daniel's wedding very soon.

Happy New Year!

The little boy

With Daniel's new haircut, he really looks like a little boy now! Not so much of a baby anymore, a toddler boy. We took him to Cartoon Cuts because they are all set up for kids. TV's in every vestibule and straps to keep them locked in to their seats. As you can see, Daniel did not enjoy much of his haircut. Elmo was not a very effective distraction.

As of yesterday, he is also bottle-free. He seemed to have lost interest in it, so we just decided not to give him one in the morning, and he didn't seem to notice. Daniel drank his mild from the cup. So, we gave it a go at bedtime, and again, no drama. I have the feeling that taking away the pacifier will be a MUCH different experience.

Daniel is also up to four signs now - please, more, all done, and fish. Very cool. We think he is such a brainiac. He knows where his eyes are most of the time, too. We also notice that he mimics words a lot. Every now and then, he'll repeat something once, but he does not repeat. I said "please" one day, and he said it, too. He has done that with thank you, taco, and ball (ba) also. The wheels are turning in that little head, that is for certain.

Daniel just makes us smile all of the time.

Wonder Boy

• My parents were here visiting late last week, and when the phone rang, and my mom did not go answer it, Daniel brought the phone to her! We did not know he knew to do that. More evidence that kids "get it" much more than we give them credit for.
• Daniel has been hitting his ball off of his tee for a while, but was doing it with the short end of the bat. In the last week, he's turned the bat around so that he's hitting it the correct way. Scott is so proud!
• Communication is key. The sign for "please" has helped us leaps and bounds. Daniel will do the sign for please whenever he wants something these days. It helps so much. Yesterday, he wanted to go downstairs to the playroom to play, so he went to the basement door, put his hand on it, and then signed please. He still just jabbers away at us, conversationally. You can hear the inflection in his voice mimicing conversational English.
• When we put up the Christmas tree, we moved the plant from the corner to right beside the TV. When we came downstairs the next morning, he noticed right away and kept pointing to the corner and the plant.
• Still loves the books. Will bring one to you and push in to your lap to read to him, or will sit and "read" outloud to himself.