It's Christmas Time In Texas...

Just a little shout out to any George Strait Christmas album fans. Old school.

Back to the point: Daniel's third Christmas included Christmas Eve in Arizona, followed by a fabulous 10 day trip to the Farm, complete with family, cows, bean bag chickens, crazy bubble baths, giant gingerbread houses, buggy rides, golf cart rides, plastic food love, mud puddles, tractors and a visit from Santa himself.

And since I waited until MAY to write about it, I will let the photos do the story telling. (What? Don't look at me like that. Sometimes you HAVE to post-date entries or you'll never stay on top of things. Don't judge.)

Arizona Christmas

In a way, we got the best of both worlds this year.

Because of our work schedules at church, we could not fly to Texas until the morning of Christmas Day. And due to the crazy service schedule on Christmas Eve, we celebrated with the Arizona family on December 23rd at our house.

It was a relaxed evening... lots of amazing food (thank you Gramma's recipes!) and festive music. The "smack the lightbulb" pens were a big hit, too. :)

This year, Daniel enjoyed every minute of opening presents. He had been eyeing the big blue shiny box for weeks, and watching him survive the suspense and enjoy the anticipation was so fun!

He opened it carefully, not ripping it too quickly. It was a big box of plastic play food - and could not have made him happier. He (very literally) rolled around in it, declaring "I'm swimming! I'm swimming!"

And because it's just the way he rolls, he started making giant lines of food, evenly spaced.

Bilingual Schmilingual

So, raising a bilingual child hasn't been as easy as we expected. We are both bilingual, but it's much more difficult to figure out the balance (expecially when your relationship exists primarily in English).

Daniel knows some vocabulary words, and is able to follow short commands (but we suspect this has more to do with body language than actual verbal language).

Basically, we are failing in this area... and need to correct it quickly.

So, on the way to church today, we had to pull over so that a fire truck could fly by with it's lights and sirens on full blast.

Recognizing an opportunity, I said, "Daniel, the fire truck has to put out the fire with AGUA."

He repeated the sentence, understanding.

I said, "Daniel, it has to put out the FUEGO with AGUA."

He repeated the sentence, still understanding.

Finally, I said, "Daniel, VA A APAGAR EL FUEGO CON AGUA."

He said, "Oh yes! Fuego with agua!"

Elated, I said "Si!"

And Daniel said, "Oh - Zeee!! I LOVE Zeee! Z is for Zebra... D is for Daniel... A is for Ava... M is for Mommy... F is for Fernando, right Mommy?"

My victory was so very short-lived.

Just the 3 of us...

Some days are perfect in their simplicity.

Today, we enjoyed each other. I snuck out early for a run and Daniel and Fernando got to sleep in a little. We took our time getting ready and eventually piled into our faithful blue minivan, heading towards our favorite breakfast place.

On the way, Fernando reached over to hold my hand. Daniel saw the gesture, and asked for my other hand. So there I was, twisted into a strange position but loving every minute of holding my boys hands.

We got to The Good Egg and only had to wait a moment for a table. Daniel's heart was fixed on chocolate milk, blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. While we waited for our food, he stacked jelly containers into tall towers, counting them over and over. When the food came, he prayed a sweet, long prayer involving the phrase "we don't say 'oh my gosh' we only say 'oh my goodness' or 'holy moly'..." (!) Then we ate and ate until we couldn't eat anymore.

On the way home, we had to stop at Toys R Us because I had left something there a few days back while shopping for church Christmas presents. It is possibly my least favorite store in the world, and I was planning on running in quickly while the boys waited in the car.

No such luck. Daniel had a potty emergency and he and Fernando came racing in at the speed of light, but managed to make it in time to the bathroom. And there was no way we were going to get Daniel out of there quickly after that... he wanted to see every toy on every shelf. His little voice would raise in excitement - "Oohhhhh!!! Look at THAT!" - with each new aisle.

His love/hate relationship continues with the giant dinosaur in the cage (the one where you can press the button to make it stomp and roar). He is terrified and enthralled but now also yells, "No push the button!" every time he sees any dinosaur toy. He loved all the alphabet puzzles, singing through the song with each new puzzle, entertaining everyone around us.

We headed home for a nap that didn't happen, and a trip to Urgent Care for Fernando that resulted in a strep throat diagnosis.

The evening ended quietly, all of us together, taking care of each other. A non-descript day in most ways... but perfect in it's simplicity.

Rockstar in the Making

Yes, I think it's time we face the facts and start planning a realistic future for Daniel.

He is destined to be a rock star.

Daniel's first ever "progress report" from school identified him as "Word Bright" and "Music Bright", citing his strong alphabet, love of books and musical interest. His teachers said he is always the first on his feet when it's time to dance or sing - that he shows a definite musical inclination.

And it's true, at home he has taken a recent interest in singing... something he didn't seem interested in for a long time. He sings all the time - Old McDonald is the newest favorite. But Happy Birthday is holding steady in a close second place. He holds the microphone from our Rock Band Beatles game and carries it throughout the house, singing to no one in particular (with the cord trailing behind him room to room). My favorite are the songs he makes up on the spot: 'Daniel, sing the I Love Mommy song!' And he does.

Last week, we attended Daniel's first performance - his stage career began as a tiny angel in his preschool production. During "Jingle Bells", mass chaos ensued. But during "Go Tell It On the Mountain", Daniel came to the front of the stage, and with the most focused look I have ever seen, sang every word and did every motion... it was beyond adorable.

We continued my family's proud tradition of technology at school functions (my parents' friends used to joke that "ABC, NBC and CBS had arrived" when my family came to dance recitals). Daniel's TK, Mema and Papa attended the event as well, also packing cameras, tripods and gear of every sort.

Daniel was beyond thrilled to see us in the audience, almost running off the stage a few times to come hug us. He yelled "That's my Mommy! My Daddy! Look - that's my MommyDaddy!" He and Ava looked adorable as angels, and stood together during the first song, jingling in unison.

After the show, we visited Daniel's new classroom for a quick "cookies & lemonade" party and had fun taking a few photos and letting Daniel show us his favorite parts of the room, including the fireplace/hearth area. (Which is apparently very romantic for little Christmas angels. We weren't trying for a kiss picture... but when Daniel went to kiss Ava's cheek, she kind of turned her head. That excuse will only last another year or two.)

Christmas is days away... but thanks to Daniel's little vocal chords (and rousing yet constantly changing renditions of "Rudolph") the Christmas spirit is already in full swing!

Silver Bells

It's mid-December, and the craziness of the season is upon us. It's so easy to get swept away in what needs to get done at the expense of what's right in front of our eyes: a 2 year old who desperately wants all of our attention.

He is jealous for us - often slowly

moving his head in between ours during conversations just to say "Hi!" or even "I want to talk too!"

He craves our every waking minute, often grabbing our hands and quite literally dragging us away from things - cooking, sitting at a computer, cleaning - to come play in his room. There isn't a bigger wake up call than realizing that I have allowed something trivial to take a precious moment hostage. I know all too well how unbelievably fast he's changing and growing and how short each stage actually is.

So, I'm trying to keep my priorities straight this Christmas. No matter what I'm doing, it can be stopped for Daniel. Stoves can be turned off and email can wait. The decision isn't always easy in the moment, but the memory it yields is always far more rewarding than the checklist item I abandoned.

It's already been a fun start to the holidays... fun Christmas photos, a cookie making session with a Texas cookie cutter and long horns, lots of new songs (read: Daniel/Mommy/Daddy the Red Nosed Reindeer), a beautiful tree that has to be literally hit from time to time in order to keep all the lights on, and nightly trips to the neighbors' houses to admire their lawn light creations (in the absence of our own).

Maybe my favorite memory this season has been Daniel's first request of Santa. He was missing 2 pieces to his wooden alphabet puzzle and we couldn't find them. Daniel said (toward the ceiling), "Santa, please bring me the G and the Q and put them right over there," as he gestured toward the counter. Fernando said, "Daniel, Santa can bring you lots of letters!" But Daniel was insistent: "No, I want the G and the Q. Only two letters. Santa bring them and put them right over there."

For a two year old, he's fairly practical.

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.

It's Easy as A-B-C

Daniel mastered his upper case letters earlier this year, and is still working on his lower case letters (almost there!)

But over the past month, a new phenomenon has captured his attention: Spelling! He loves to create words (or "build a word" as they say on Word World, his new favorite show...) and uses his favorite wooden alphabet puzzle constantly.

His repertoire includes CAT, COW, PIG, BOY, HI, UP, BALL, MEN, and STAR. He's close on "AVA" but still shaky on "DANIEL".

Frequently we'll find Daniel in his room, surrounded by one very long line of all of his letters and other miscellaneous puzzle pieces - I can't even explain how encouraging it is to see how much he loves just playing with words and letters. Sometimes it's productive play (spelling, etc), and sometimes it's just fun with letters.

He adores the show "Word World" and constantly wants to "build a word". After watching an episode involving the duck character, he ran to his room to "build the word duck". We created the word, and I thought it would be fun to add a little something extra. So I added the word "My" above the duck...

Me: "Look Daniel! It says 'my duck' - it's your duck!"

Daniel: "No Mommy - it's MY duck."

Me: "Right - that says 'my'..."

Daniel: "No Mommy - it's not your duck, it's my duck."

Me: "Honey, it is your duck..."

Daniel: "That say 'your'?"

Me: "No, it says 'my'. Nevermind. Give me those back... we'll spell 'cat' instead."

Open Invitation

Daniel needs a sibling - pronto!

He delights in playmates, preferring company to solitude. He asks for his friends and teachers by name before and after school. And it is virtually impossible to do housework while at home with him - those big brown eyes imploring you to "Come on, Mommy! Come play in my room!" What dishes?!

We play blocks (making straight lines, towers or walls), dominoes (making stair and house formations), drawing games (usually him telling me what characters and animals to draw), happy birthday games (us putting things on our heads like a candle on a "happy birthday cake" and singing to each other, alphabet games (drawing letters, flashcards, practicing sounds, singing ABCs), and about 12 variations of hide & seek and chase. He still loves to be scared!

If we are unavailable to play for some reason, Daniel resorts to the cats. Yesterday I actually caught him trying to put a hand puppet on a sleeping Mittens. He lays on his stomach to face Max, and rolls cat toys towards him gently... or not so gently. Occasionally, he shoves books in their face to get them to read, and frequently invites them to come play in his room or in his tent.

Today on the way to school, Daniel looked up at the sun and said, "Sun, do you want to go to school too? Come here, sun! Come with me." (And he proceeded to reach towards it, clucking softly and rubbing his fingers together as if he were calling the cats.) Holy precious.

Adding another child will definitely be a challenge in a lot of ways - I know the adjustment will not be minor. But the benefit of having a "live in" peer and playmate will far outweigh the initial challenges. (And the cats will finally be able to nap in peace!)

Tis the Season

Christmas came early this year. At least, the tree did.

On a recent day off we decided to get a jump on the season and put our family tree up - and I'm so glad we did. The amount of warmth and comfort it brings to our home is unbelievable. Daniel loves it (and in particular the large orange beaded bird clip ornament). He likes to wake up early and lay with us on the couch to gaze at the lit tree in silence.

He has taken a new chore upon himself - turning the tree on each day when we come home and turning it off as we leave the house. The button is behind the tree, so Daniel lays on his stomach and army crawls his way in. I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of his little backside and legs coming out from under that thing!

We have started watching Christmas movies (Elf: perfect. Rudolph: more violent than I remembered) and singing Christmas songs (Jingle Bells: fun. Rudolph: Daniel's favorite). He loves pointing out "Santa Craus" everywhere we go, along with snowmen, rudolph, and his favorite: Christmas trees.

Christmas has always been special in my family - literally the most wonderful time of the year. The anticipation is always the best part, and this year we carved out a few extra weeks to get good and excited!

Batman, Prego & the Mexican Revolutionary

Another Halloween has come and gone, if you couldn't already tell by that title.

Daniel donned an adorable Batman costume, mistaking his black arm cuffs for fish hand puppets and singing "swimming in the water" for the first 20 minutes of being Batman. Every photo of him involves a sucker - that's just what it took to get him camera happy - and I make no apologies for my blatant bribery.

While Daniel and I were outside playing and taking photos, Fernando appeared in the doorway in HIS superhero costume - a grown man version of Superman, complete with the cape, belt and tights. It was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the year, and my two superheroes proceeded to race around the backyard faster than speeding bullets. Or at least as fast as their constricting spandex and floppy shoe covers would let them.

After the church tailgate party, we hosted yet another "Amaro Family Halloween" at our house, and Daniel's Mema (Tinkerbell), Papa (Peter Pan with hints of Robin Hood) and TK came over to celebrate with food, candy and more food. Fernando changed into his REAL costume... a (really realistic) Mexican revolutionary. Complete with fake mostache. Which looked must better than I expected.

And I stuffed a pillow into a big shirt and became a metaphor for our sweet baby girl we're hoping to bring home soon. But the costume was too impressive - I posted a photo and got quite a few emails telling me how beautiful I look pregnant!

Happy Halloween... maybe by next year Daniel will grow into the Harry Potter costume we got him last year!

B E A utiful.

Daniel learns new words all the time. Some surprise me (vitamin?!), some shock me (goodness!?) and some just make me laugh (coconut?!).

But the best words are the ones that come out of left field and completely melt me to the core.

We recently purchased "Wall-E" and have been watching pieces of it every day. He was riveted from the beginning, despite the lack of dialogue. When the girl robot "Eve" appeared for the first time, we told Daniel that it was Wall-E's friend. He shook his head firmly and told us, "No, that's a penguin." It took ten minutes of debating before he would accept that the penguin was also Wall-E's friend.

But I digress.

There's a scene in the middle where the two robots swirl and play together in space, leaving long graceful trails of color behind them. While watching this scene, Daniel announced, "Oh my goodness... that's beautiful!" Fernando and I looked at each other in amazement.

Something about the sound of that little voice saying "beautiful" just slays me. It's clunky and awkward, over-pronounced and congested. And it's beyond priceless.

That evening, he walked into his room, pointed to his cars and said loudly to no one in particular, "Look at all the beautiful cars!" And since then, it's been incorporated into his daily rotation of words. Last week, I tried to convince him to tell me, "Mommy, you're beautiful!"... but he would only said "I'm beautiful, too!"

The plants in our backyard are currently struggling to survive transplant shock, and Daniel likes to water them and take care of them. Two hibiscus plants just today produced gorgeous blooms, and Daniel smelled each one, pronouncing them "beautiful". This picture is him smelling one of the flowers. (We also had to teach him not to tear the flowers off the plants... but that is an issue for another blog post!)

I knew vocabulary acquisition would be fun and exciting, but I didn't expect it to be this... beautiful!

Little Things

It's the little things that add up (all too quickly) and amount to the passing of a LOT of time.

It is entirely unfair how little control I have over how fast it all goes. In some desperate way, this blog has become my attempt to stop time and preserve the memories I imagine myself reading compulsively once Daniel has grown up and moved out. Come to think of it, that's why I obsess over photography the way I do.

But I digress. Back to "the little things" we're enjoying these days...

Big Brother. For the most part, Daniel ignores the little black baby dolls family and friends have gotten him to prepare him for his little sister. But last week, he emerged from the nursery carrying one in his arms tenderly. He held her like a prized possession, rocking her gently, and whispering "Shh, shh... I got you. It's ok... I got you." About 30 seconds later he chunked her across the room, but I'm choosing to dwell on the beautiful brother/sister moment they shared a moment earlier.

Future Artist. Two days ago, Fernando called me from home to warn me that Daniel had had an accident. I immediately feared the worst (images of broken bones and poop stains on the carpet flashed before my eyes). Apparently Daniel went to the kitchen, opened a drawer and extracted the biggest black sharpie we own. He then proceeded to color his arms, his feet, his legs, the insides of both nostrils, a Hitler-esque moustache AND giant sweeping black circles on the arm of our white couch. I'm not sure what we were more concerned with: the amount of sharpie fumes he inhaled while decorating his nostrils or the fact that we will have to permanently keep an orange throw over the right couch arm forever. I'm just surprised it took him 2.5 years to encounter a sharpie.

Chatterbox. His vocabulary is just amazing for his age. We continue to get comments everywhere we go as random people hear him chattering away about everything and the kitchen sink. My favorite thing lately has been his preference for the word "big" over "little" or "baby". While we're eating, he'll point to my food and say, "Mommy take a baby bite but Daniel takes a BIG bite!" Or if we offer a little of something ("Do you want a little snack?") he will ask for more ("No little snack... I want BIG snack!")

I love how he says "lotta lotta" when he wants a lot of something. I will be pouring a cup of milk (which, by the way, he now pronounces "meelk") and he will say, "Mommy I want a lotta lotta meelk please!"

Explorer. Every night, either Fernando or I will lay with Daniel for a little while after the lights are turned off. Sometimes we fall asleep there, other times, we just stay long enough for Daniel to wind down and get nice and sleepy. The other night Fernando was laying with a very fidgety Daniel who kept touching Fernando's face in the dark, feeling each of his features. When he got to his nose, he suddenly stuck his finger really far into Fernando's nostril and declared loudly, "Daddy, you got boogars!" Painful, yes. Priceless, definitely.

Bible Scholar. He is in preschool most days of the week, and for the most part, I think it's been great for him. He's amazing with his peers, does not display separation anxiety, excels in academic areas, and looks forward to the day's activities. His favorite day is Wednesday because of the chapel service he gets to attend. On the way to school each Wednesday, he practically chants from the backseat: "You ready to have fun? I ready to have fun!" He loves the puppets that are used (Milo the Snail especially), the songs and the memory verses. He can recite, "God made me, Psalm 139:14". Except he says Psalm 149:16. No worries.

He is Perfect. Brilliant. Sweet. Strong. Hilarious. Silly. Smart. Tender.

Best of all... he's mine.

Bottomless Pit

Daniel continues to be a fan of eating. He has at least one hollow leg, and regularly out-eats me at many a meal.

Sometime this month, we passed into the era of the apple, too (goodbye, bananas!). He will carry his little seat around to the kitchen counter, climb up so he can find the fruit bowl, and help himself to an apple (which ends up getting carted all over the house for the following hour). He will eat fruit to it's tiniest core - leaving seeds and a stem, basically.

And no matter how much he eats, he just gets skinnier. (Too bad that trend stops before adulthood - I wouldn't mind having that problem!) He's suddenly taller and lankier than ever and has even begun experiencing growing pains. The other night we noticed him tossing and turning restlessly, whimpering and crying in a state of half-sleep. He kept pointing to his legs, asking me to "fix it". After a little baby tylenol, he fell back into a deep sleep.

Daniel's interest in eating has led to an even greater curiosity about what happens in the kitchen. He loves helping me cook, and prides himself in being a part of the process. He relishes the textures and smells, particularly cracking eggs and washing strawberries.

Yesterday, we took him to the movies to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", thinking he'd love seeing all that crazy big food falling from the sky. He did, but even a cartoon about food got a little intense at times, so we took turns taking him outside. Daniel shushed us a few times when we were talking in the theatre... and even scolded me for running. He apparently has a promising future as a movie theatre employee!

Our schedule has become a series of small meals, as three simply aren't enough for the ravenous beast.

After a day at preschool: "Hi Mommy!! I hungry!"

First thing after a nap: "I have a good nap! I hungry!"

On the way home from a restaurant: "Daddy... I hungry!"

I didn't realize the "eat you out of house and home" stage started this early!

Our New Room: The Backyard

How we survived four years in our home without a backyard is a mystery to me... but thankfully, those four years have come to an end!

We now have a beautiful Arizona backyard - complete with fake grass! (This is Phoenix, after all). We have an extended patio, 4 trees, 20 plants, a section for a small vegetable garden, 1 inch deep decorative rock, a bunch of boulders and a huge section of lush green grass that will never need watering or mowing!

By February, we'll have a "splash pad" installed in one corner of the backyard, which is a more affordable (and safer) water option than a pool. A lot of public parks and malls have them here - Daniel loves them, and I love the safety aspect.

Having a backyard has been wonderful so far - it feels like an addition to the house. Daniel loves playing outside and has become an expert at somersaults in the grass.

We have water fights with the hose and sprinkler, practice throwing and catching balls, wrestle until we're out of breath and even take care of the new plants together - Daniel loves to carefully pour water on each one. He's also an expert at walking the sectional curbing like a balance beam.

As soon as we buy a grill and a table set, we plan on cooking and eating most of our dinners outside as well.

It really is the perfect way to unwind at the end of the day - barefoot out back, breathing fresh air and watching the sun set.

Hooray for backyards!

I Know What It's NOT

Today, I noticed an interesting development in Daniel's logical processes.

Yes, I'm the nerd mom who really (really) enjoys watching for patterns and trends in his language acquisition. I was amazed when tenses emerged without overt prompting, and even more amazed when plural forms (and even irregular conjugations!) appeared seemingly overnight. Just incredible.

The most recent development seems to have more to do with logic than language - but it's interesting none the less.

Today after preschool, Daniel was given a "dum-dum" sucker. (The director of his preschool, like all accomplished childcare workers, knows the way to kids' hearts - she keeps a candy jar in her office). Daniel ripped the wrapper off and declared loudly, "Mommy - look! I have a blue candy!"

Then, without anyone asking, he began to list all the colors the candy was not: "It's not a red candy. It's not a lellow candy. It's not a green candy. It's not a oh-jun (orange) candy. It's not a pink candy. It's a BLUE candy."

Which reminded me that a few days ago, he resisted me trying to give a new name to his stuffed animal - a yellow version of his favorite green turtle, Diego.

Me: "Daniel, here is your new turtle! Her name can be Cali or Sandy! Which do you like?"

Daniel: "No, Mommy. This Diego. This Lellow Diego. Her not Cali. Her not Sandy. This Diego." And throughout the following days, he referred to the toy as "Diego, not Sandy, not Cali".

Last week, when we introduced an evening vitamin, he refused to call it a vitamin. "This candy. This not vitamin." Tonight, I handed him the vitamin without saying anything and he declared, "This not vitamin! This candy!"

It's interesting, is all.

The Tiny Turd

Well, he finally did it. He happily pooped in the potty on his own accord.

This may seem silly, and even petty. And the me of a few years back, the pre-child me, probably would have scoffed at reading a blog posting like this. "Who would possibly waste oxygen and energy talking about her child's excretions?! Pathetic!"

But the me of now, the me-mom-of-a-2-year-old-boy was thrilled nearly to tears (I kid you not) to see that tiniest of turds floating in the toilet.

And I am only slightly ashamed to admit the method: Blatant Bribery.

Daniel has been successfully going #1 for a while now in the potty... when he doesn't wear a diaper. (He is smart enough to know he can use a diaper. He is just lazy. Your kid might be ready to use a potty when they're smart enough to say, "Mommy, I go poopie. Can I have a new diaper please?")

But #2 has been a struggle. He has been afraid of it - and will "hold it all in" in order not to have to try.

Tonight, we introduced "potty snacks" and within three tries, Daniel had successfully (with a HUGE grin on his face) pooped in the potty.

That kid would move mountains for a snack. Tiny. Brown. Mountains.

Update: He is officially potty-trained, just one week later! He loves his spiderman and "lightming nacqueen" undies, and does well at home and at school. Diapers are only for sleeping now. And I had never noticed what a tiny butt he has until there wasn't a diaper filling out his pants!

Texan Tales of Troughs

Our latest adventure to Texas was an (all too short) five day trip to the Farm. It was wonderful in every way, and even though we found ourselves in the heat of the Summer, we found lots of creative ways of staying cool!

The most memorable of which was a cattle trough my dad cleaned out and filled up - it was our makeshift backyard pool - and it worked beautifully! Daniel loved it. We also hit up the local water park twice during our trip. Designed for young families, it was perfect for Daniel's age and energy level. There were slides, climbing structures, a lazy river and fountains galore.

We also got creative with a bunch of dollar store water guns (and 2 big green water hoses) for an hour of screaming, running, and retaliation. Even Grampa got in on the fun :) And you can imagine why there are no fancy photos of this particular occasion!

Daniel was able to spend quality time with some of his favorite people:

Gramma: Daniel's plaything for five days. He hauled her around by her hand, practicing being bossy.

Tex: Provider of all fun farm items. See: Appendix A: Cattle Trough. Appendix B: Tractors.

Grampa: They spoke their own language, almost literally. Those two existed in their own bubble, and communicated on their own level. It was precious.

Mema: She, possibly the wisest of all women, knows how to get a toddler to do something. (The answer: Tell him not to do it. For example, "Daniel don't you touch my toes!" Hilarious.)

Molly: The very senior labrador retriever who obeys Daniel's commands better than those of any adult on the farm.

The days passed all too quickly, full of ping pong, massage chairs, golf cart rides, harmonica concerts and a very special blender in the kitchen.

We can't wait until Christmas!

Captain Consideration

It's a new era, alright. Daniel was never particularly inconsiderate towards us, but he has been party to the "I'm a toddler - the world revolves around me" syndrome.

Out of the blue, he has turned into Captain Consideration.

When we sneeze, instead of saying "bless you", he urgently asks if we are ok: "Mommy! You ok?!"

He constantly invites us to play with him. It's like something clicked in his brain that we don't always have to be with him, and he needs to invite us. And let me tell you - it's absolutely irresistable when he interrupts chores with those big brown eyes... "Mommy, you want to play too? Ok! Hold me hand..." and he drags me off to his room to play.

When we are at the dinner table, if he is done before us and goes to play, he approaches the table every three minutes and very politely asks each of us: "Mommy, you all done? You want to play cars too? Daddy, you all done? You want to play?"

When he plays with a toy, he insists on giving one to us as well. He is intent on making sure we have as much or more in our hands as he has in his. If we set it down - he runs over and "re-gifts" it to us: "Mommy, here. This mommy's toy... and this Daniel's toy." He even gives us Zona from time to time - and she's worth the world to him.

He congratulates us constantly - I'm sure it's because we praise his every effort. If we are helping him spell letters, he'll turn to us beaming: "Mommy! You DID it! Yay!" The most recent episode of this happened at the Wal-Mart Customer Service Counter. He was spelling "Customer Service" and I was repeating each letter. After a very loud congratulations from him to me, a few of the people in line even turned, laughing, and applauded my spelling efforts. Nice.

He made a huge mess in the bathtub the other night (which he had to help clean up). But the next morning he ran to the tub, saw it was clean, and turned to me: "Mommy! You clean it! Good job!" (My favorite: Sometimes he'll walk in on us using the toilet, and no doubt as a reflection of our potty training efforts with him, he'll "high-five" us and congratulate us on the effort. Hilarious.)

And maybe the sweetest development has been his sympathetic tendencies. Last night I banged my knee in the garage and it kind of knocked the wind out of me. I was bent over, trying not to a) cuss or b) cry... and Daniel ran up to me: "Mommy! You ok?! Mommy! What happen?!" I told him I got an ouchie, and he immediately dropped to his knees, stood up and said "My got ouchie too!"

Ready for the kicker? He grabbed my hand, led me inside and said, "We got ouchie together."

Melt me.

"It's not WHAT you say...

...it's how you say it."

As Daniel's vocabulary continues to explode, I have noticed that what brings me the most joy (or laughter, depending on the situation) is not so much the new words he can say, but the pronunciations that are evolving over time.

Here is a short list of some of my favorites:

3, 4, 5: Inexplicably, these previously correct numbers have become: "Threef, Fourf, Fife"
"Hold Me Hand" ... I will be sad the day he fixes this.
"Mommy, wha-you doooing?" He delivers this question with a HEAVY Irish accent.
Orange: "O-Jun"
Elephant: "Epotent"
Blueberries: "Boo-berries"
Harmonica: "Mon-ca"
"I gone get you!" In that perfect little sing-song voice... when he wants to be chased.
"Ah - more!" Somehow, these two syllables became permanently linked in Daniel's mind.
MommyDaddy (When he's crying, we apparently become one person to him...!)
"I got TWO" When he discovers 2 of his bedtime animals at the same time... this is a rare treat.
Cracker: "Crackter"
"That's a BIG one..." Regarding anything and everything larger than Daniel expected.
Lightning: "Lightmeen" (Usually followed by "That's a BIG lightmeen!")
"You're Mine" / "I'm Yours": Wrestling phrases used by both father & son.
"I'm Mine": Wrestling phrase used by Daniel when he gets confused.
Chuckie Cheese: "Chuckie Chickie"
"It's funny" or "That silly" with his super cheesy, squinty laugh.
"My do it!" Usually about getting into the car seat. Sometimes about picking a boogar.

Blanket: "Blankeen"

Helicopter: "Hepicopter"

"Listen... Shh, Listen!" He is always silencing us to hear what's in the background.

"Vrilll": What he thinks the letter "V" sounds like. Don't ask.

"One...More...Time!"

Stuck: His favorite verb. "It's stucking!"

Cereal: "See-rolls" (Always plural).

Here It Comes: (in sing song) "Heeee Cubbs!"

Movie: "Moomie"

Nothing: Nuffing! (What are you doing, Daniel? Um...Nuffing!")

"Cheers!" "Bing!" (Since our glasses don't really clink, we have to make the noise ourselves!)

Clean Up Song: "Cwean Crup, Cwean Crup, Everybody Everywhere...!"

"Moe Ghen": More Again... As in, play that tractor scene of Cars "moe ghen" :)

"Togeder": I love that this word has entered his vocabulary.

Spoon: "Poon". Until tonight, when he finally got the "SP" nailed. With emphasis!

His Name: "Dano Maro" :)

I could go on forever! If we ask him, "Daniel, what are you doing?" He always conjugates his answers twice, including the word "doing": "I doing the eating the cereal!" It's fun to hear how he's acquiring language, piece by piece.