Vignettes

A few little glimpses into our charmed daily life for which I am both undeserving and eternally grateful.

A very irritated Daniel in the parking lot when a car alarm would not shut off: "Choo choo train, shh! Be quiet! Other cars are sleeping!"

Our new favorite mode of eating meals... at our little coffee tables, me sitting on the floor and Daniel on his green stool... his arm around my neck and mine around his waist. Firmly hugging through the entire meal, only stopping to "cheers" our drink or share our bites.

Daniel's dinner prayer 12 hours after a pancake breakfast and 1 hour after a trip to PetSmart: "Dear Jesus, thank you for the birds, the pigs, the snakes, the fishies, the Christmas tree, the pizza, the orange juice, the pancakes and the movie. Amen."

One morning while helping Daniel get dressed in front of the mirror, I was buttoning his shirt

and he grabbed my arms around his neck and said, "I love your arms... I love your shoulders... I love your tummy... I love your elbows!" (I think trying to (unsuccessfully) quote "Through and Through", one of his bedtime books).

His very grown-up phrases... "How Bout..." (How bout this one? How bout your turn? How bout a cookie?) "You're right, Daddy - that's a letter B!"

The sweetest of all Daniels is the "just woke up" version. Belly sticking out... puffy face... hair in every possible direction... and usually very grumpy. The best is when he rubs his eyes and tells us "My eyes are broken..." and after a few minutes of rubbing, he says, "There - I fixed it."

Daniel's submission to our logical tricks: "I sleepy too!" "I tired too!" ("Boy, you've just been reverse-psychologied!")

The continuing adventure of potty-training. We are down to only a pull-up at night and naps at home - he's pull-up free at preschool! But he still needs help pulling his pants back up and... well... with wiping. Occasionally he will hollar from the bathroom, "I need help! My booty is yucky!" Priceless.

Daniel's imagination is taking flight. He finds animal shapes in the clouds. He pretends to be different animals and more recently, pretends to eat and share food. He will describe what he's about to eat, take a pretend bite, then describe how it was. Most often, it's a "blue happy birthday cake" that he's eating. Or blue candy.

He has also assigned us all favorite colors: Daniel - blue, Ava - pink, Daddy - green, Mommy -red. I asked for blue, but he gave me red. TK - yellow, Quito and Jesus - orange, Mema and Baby Sister - purple, Cookie Monster and Papa - black. Everything relates to these colors now - stop lights are red for Mommy, green for Daddy and yellow for TK. And last week, he insisted on us making Mema a purple birthday cake for her birthday (frozen blueberries + yellow cake mix = purple cake). He refused to try a bite until Mema has a piece - "That's Mema's purple cake!"

I love how instead of saying "I don't want to" or "I am not" Daniel simply says "I not!" in the whiniest (and most precious) voice possible.

Often when Fernando and I are hugging, Daniel will run up to us, requesting a "family hug". He either wriggles his way in the middle of our legs or we pick him up and attempt not to knock our heads together while giving a big squeeze.