I love you

Daniel is repeating everything. It's great to realize what "sticks" with him and to know that we can teach him words so he can communicate more clearly with us. "Reach," "flowers (fowers)," "weeds," and "playground" (sounds like paygund) are new ones this week. As is, "I love you" (I wub ooo). We tell him this all of the time, and now he says it back, often at the top of his lungs. Does this mean he understands what the phrase means? I guess you can't really know until he says it first. No matter though - it melts our hearts to hear it.

She's Around....

I had a moment of pure sadness on Tuesday when I realized I could not call one of my grandmothers to tell her our good news. I had the same moment two years ago when we found out Daniel was a boy.


But you know what I realized later that day? Grandmother has been around all week, and I hadn't noticed. I bought spice drops, the candy always in her dish; yellow roses, her favorite; and Raisin Bran, a staple in her cabinet at the grocery store this week. I have been referring to Daniel as my "sweet thing" all week - her pet name for her grandkids.


It may have been five and a half years since she died, but life's highs were always shared with her. One of my lowest lows was losing her.

Daniel's Sister

It's a girl! Well, at least that's the way it looked to the radiologist and us! I know that some of you who read may not have received the offical word from us yet, and I apologize for that. She measured right on schedule - due date is November 28th.

21 months

The little man is fast approaching the 2 year mark! I can't believe he will have another birthday in just three months. His personality is really evolving, and we are awed everyday by his memory and intellectual development. Daniel will repeat just about anything, which has really kept us in check with words and phrases we'd rather him not pick up! He's pretty consistent with "please" and "thank you" which makes me proud as punch. He loves animals and can recognize and name dogs, cats, turtles, fish, snakes, horses, tigers, birds, frogs, and I'm sure there are some I am forgetting. He knows most of his body parts - eyes, nose, ears, tongue, teeth, arms, hands, feet, toes.....and this week he has started to recognize stars and ovals! He learned those from a book.

He loves to go outside and hit the ball off of the tee (see pic below) and play in his sandbox from Gigi and Gramps.

The temper tantrums have also begun, fun, fun! We are on the lookout for big boy furniture to transition him before Wee Dub's (as my sister calls the baby) arrival this fall. If anyone has the answer for how to get rid of the pacifier without a nervous breakdown, please fill me in!