Knock, knock

Daniel is into knock-knock jokes! Get ready for three year old versions -

knock, knock. who's there? banana. banana who? banana elizabeth! (Daniel thinks this is hilarious.)

knock, knock. who's there? who. who who? Is there an owl at the door?

E Scott

Is large and in charge! Elizabeth has such a pleasant disposition and is a busy almost 15 month old! a great eater (well, she's not so into fruit) but will dig in to just about everything else I give to her. The latest on E -

• runs after Daniel and jumps on the bed.
• loves her babies and feeds them with the lay bottle.
• snuggles and kisses all stuffed animals and drags them all over the house and now to the car.
• will point to her belly button, eyes and when we read the book about body parts, lifts her toes and fingers at the prompt.
• enjoys books and will pull them off the shelves and entertain herself by flipping through them
• particularly like the lift-the-flap books
• knows the signs for please, more, bunny, bird, milk
• says ma ma, da da, dadel, hi, woof (oof), moo
• uses a fork and spoon
• drinks from a regular cup pretty well (she initiated this and the utensils)



• drinks from a straw
• wants to kiss everyone and all animals
• chuckles and makes jokes in her own way. She is just a very happy little person - smiling and chuckling as she plays
• stacks really well - blocks, yogurts from the fridge
• unloading and reloading the fridge is one of her favorite pastimes
• her hair is finally long enough to put into a Dr. Seuss Who pony tail on the top of her head
• is almost out of her 12 mos clothes.
• understands, "Where is...." and will help me look for shoes, keys, the pacifier
• follows commands like "bring it to me"
• is now in love with her bunny and paci
• likes toys with buttons and music
• can ride her wheelie bug as of this week! she is very proud of herself.
• rides the horsey.
• wipes her highchair tray with a paper towel.
• wants to stay at school and play with the babies and cries when I take her away from them.
• nods yes (big achievement in the last two weeks!) and shakes no
• loves to wear Daniel's baseball hats

• also has affection for Curious George; she recognizes him
• raises her eyebrows and makes an "oh!" sound when she is excited and interested (looking out the window)
• has started to color
• likes to be carried around the house when she is sleepy. my mommy muscles are looking good on my right arm and I'm doing a lot more with my left arm - cooking, in particular.
• is sleeping really well - 8 p.m. - 7 a.m. most days with a morning and afternoon nap.
• still drinks from bottles, but also does all kinds of cups. by 15 months, i think i had daniel completely off the bottle. however, elizabeth is my baby, i'll give her a bottle and snuggle her before putting her in bed at night for as long as i can!
• gets a kick out of sitting on a stool or step

Princess Wady

20 minutes of "Empire Strikes Back" over 4 months ago, and Daniel talks about Star Wars EVERY DAY. Grammy/Grandad and Santa brought him some of the new preschool versions of Chewbacca, Dark Vadar, Luke, R2D2, and C3PO. He slept with them for a while. Now, he names all of us a character. Elizabeth is Princess Wady (Lady). I was correcting him to Leah for a day or so, and he essentially told me that I don't know what I am talking about. We met our neighbor's Great Dane named Lady the other day, and later this week he was calling Elizabeth, Princess Wady, and he said, "Hey! That name matches the dog down the street!"

I won't let him watch any more of the movie or play Scott's Wii SW game, because it is too violent. My brothers, husband, and brother-in-law all had Star Wars toys, but not when they were three. I loved the movies, too. Still do, just on the prequels.

Daniel impresses us so much with his memory and vocabulary. (notice, excited, rock star, sky scratch, conveyor belt) I cannot believe some of the details he remembers for events that took place a year ago. We will drive by a venue, and he will recall the last time we were there with great accuracy. Today he was telling me about a discussion he had with his classmates about Halloween, and he told them he was a tiger and then a frog. He talk about his birthday party like it was yesterday and notices references to our trip to Wyoming and Kentucky, or Florida with my parents. Daniel has been interested in road names and directions (he must be a navigator's grandson) and will recognized them when he hears them mentioned in the traffic report on the radio. (395? That's the road we take!)

We let him stay up to watch the Super Bowl, which was a blast. He jumped around clapping and danced through the entire Springsteen concert.

He definitely likes school, but still has anxiety when I drop him off every morning. I have stuck around to see, and the other parents tell me, that he is not upset for long, but it just breaks my heart every day. I know that he has a good time, and he is always full of stories for me. If he didn't like it, or felt uncomfortable, I know he would tell us. He calls everyone his friend.

Daniel loves Elizabeth - he is, all-in-all, very sweet and caring. I know he will keep an eye out for her if I am in the kitchen (he yells, "She's going to the stairs!") That does not mean that he doesn't literally push her around or yell when she gets in his space. That definitely happens daily, but I will give him a lot of credit for his sensitivity (He will run and get his blanket for her if she gets hurt. When she had to go get her blood taken, he kissed her and said, "It will hurt." before we left.) and sympathy. Daniel is already starting to interpret for her at times, "I think she is hungry. She needs milk. She wants Daddy."

Daniel spelled his name aloud for me a couple of weekends ago when we signing Aunt Johanna's birthday cards. He picked hers out and was very excited because it plays a song. Birthdays are a big deal, and he belts out the birthday song before blowing out everyone's candles.

Chris Daughtry is Daniel's favorite music artist. We didn't listen to him that much, but his song, "More than You Know" was on the radio quite often. One afternoon a couple of months ago, he was beating on the floor with his drum sticks and singing. I asked him the song name and he said, "Newah saweh derwah." Mmm??? He said, "You know it, Mom!" and started singing, "Newah saweh derwar (gibberish), wong, wong time ago!" Then, I knew what he meant. We have listened to the CD so much it skips. For a while, no one else was aloud to sing along with it but him. He tells me, "I am a rock star." He also is now a fan of Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" song. We don't listen to regular radio all the time, but kiddie music can get a little old after a while.

Daniel still likes to read books often, watch George, and play in the dirt. He loves his Moon Sand and Football/Baseball Guys. They are great toys that were gifts. Number 11 in the baseball guys is Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals. Daniel was refers to him like a friend of the family. He and Elizabeth chase each other all over the house, to both of their glee. They dump out the baskets of blocks and play food and "make a mess." Which entertains them and lets me cook dinner or fold laundry, so I pick it up without complaining!

Uufs

Elizabeth loves dogs. She calls them "uuffs" (like woof). We had a warm day last Sunday and were outside trimming our front tree. Well, Scott was trimming the tree. Elizabeth was attempting to ride her bug with Daniel on his bike on the sidewalk. Our neighbor about four houses down on the corner rounded the corner (away from our house), and Elizabeth took off after her. You could tell she was intent on following her. I didn't know why until we rounded the corner. There stood our neighbor working on a patch of ice with her shovel accopanied by her Great Dane. Little Bit just waltzed right up to the dog leaning in and making the "mmmm" sound, which means she is going to give you a kiss.

The dog is over a head taller than her - no fear. She adored Daniel and Brooke's sweet dogs Boone and Lucy while we were in FL for Christmas. I would bring either of those dogs home with us. They are great. I told Daniel he can have a dog when he goes to kindergarten. That's still two years away - maybe he will forget?

For a while, Elizabeth "uuff"ed at any animal. Yesterday afternoon when I was reading to her, she said, "Moo" to a cow illustration. Yea!