Sundays

Over the past month or so, mass has started to become a real struggle with Daniel. We are lucky that our church has a nursery and a cry room. Unfortunately the nursery is not always staffed and the cry room is not that pleasant. Also, mass time and nap time are difficult to coordinate. Recently we have been taking Daniel to mass with us. For the most part he is ok, but we always have one or two big squawks. Also, he has a very difficult time sitting still or relatively still for an hour.

It's normally some huge orechastration of toys, juice, books and snacks that gets him through. On weeks where there is a song sheet, it is all we can do to not have a sacrificed song sheet to Daniel's drool. He has finally reached the point where he can look at the misalette without destroying it or ripping the pages out. He also really enjoys climbing on and off the pew and over the kneeler which sometimes ends up with head bumps and big cries. If we are really lucky, there will be someone behind us who likes Daniel and will make faces at him the entire time. The only problem is that now he repeatedly says, "Hi," to people to get their attention.

My primary concern during mass is keeping Daniel quiet and somewhat entertained and still, so if we get through with mild disruptions, I'm thinking it's a victory. Matt's primary concern is allowing the people around us to have uninterrupted prayerful mass time. His stress level during mass is much higher than mine.

Hopefully our time at church will become more prayerful one of these days, but for now it is more like a circus than a time of reflection. At least being in church reminds me of all the virtues I can practice during our hour even if they are focused on Daniel and not the readings.

The Wrong Side of the Bed and Tantrums

Most of the time I think I'm better off being an adult than a toddler, but sometimes I think they have it made. For instance when Daniel woke up this morning, it was pretty obvious that he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and we would probably all be better off if he just went back down and tried again in an hour or so. He was not particularly grumpy or anything like that, he was just off. He was quite rambunctous and was not willing to concentrate for any given activity for more than 2 minutes. Normally we would get at least 5 minutes of concentration. So I decided that he needed to go down for his morning nap at 8 rather than 9. If I was having a bad day, I would love to be able to just go down for a nap and try again in a few hours.

One of the other reasons I thought he was having a bad day was because he threw a few tantrums. He has been doing this for a few weeks. It makes me nervous about things to come, but for now it's all I can do to not laugh when he does it. The reason I want to laugh if that he is super dramatic when he does it. For instance, if I have to take some contraband from him, he gets rather upset, and on occasion he will throw himself on the floor face-down and cry. This lasts for about 5 seconds before he gets up and moves on to the next thing. I guess I always thought that people didn't actually throw themselves on the floor when faced with emotional distress. Maybe people don't, but toddlers do. I'm sure that one day, I'll get fed up with the tantrums, but for now, I'm just ignoring them and moving on.

Weekend Fun

We had a busy weekend full of family and fun. Here is a little video of Daniel and his Grandpa playing in the pool. You will need to turn your volume down because my voice is extremely loud. I guess I was close to the microphone. Daniel is doing new things every day, and I think I'm having a difficult time keeping up. This baby must be growing fast because I feel pretty tired at the end of each day. The big activity for Father's Day was buying new furniture for our 3-season porch. I promise I'll get pics up soon!

Too cute!

Daniel really likes his Brown Bear stuffed animal. We'll ask him, "Where's Brown Bear?," and he will go find Brown Bear in the toy basket, pull him out, and give him a hug. It is super sweet. Thanks Antonetti's for the great gift!

Well yesterday, I was in the kitchen and I noticed that Daniel was around the corner concentrating on something. In other words, he was really quiet and I got a little scared of what he could be doing. So I peek my head around and Daniel is feeding Brown Bear a leftover piece of the napkin that he had destroyed that morning. I guess I missed a piece! It was so cute! He is just starting to do some role playing. It makes me look forward to playing pretend with him when he gets a bit older.

Big Christmas Plans

Life is changing by the minute here in the Lee house. Shortly after we settled the deal on the new house, we found out that our house is going to be a bit more full in December. We are having another baby! The baby's due December 23, so that puts me 12 weeks along. Everything has been going great so far. I've been feeling much less queasy than I did with Daniel, and I've been much less tired. I keep thinking that something might be wrong because I don't feel too much yet. We heard the heartbeat for the first time at the doctor yesterday, and everything is just fine. Daniel thought it was a song and did a little dance. I've actually been feeling the baby move a bit which has been really nice. After the first doctor's appointment, she mentioned that I might feel the baby earlier than the first preganacy, but I had no idea that it would be this soon.

So we have pretty exciting Christmas plans this year! I'm really hoping the baby comes before Christmas instead of after.

I'm sorry to those of you who I have not been able to catch on the phone. It's been difficult to get in touch with everyone.

Attached

Daniel is in a phase where he becomes very attached to things very quickly many times a day. Unfortunately, many of these items are not acceptable for him to play with. Let me think about what I've had to take away today - deoderant, makeup compacts, foundation, multiple telephones, wipes, a cup, the neighbor's Crocs, and the neighbor's glasses - just going off the top of my head. Usually we take the item away, he cries as if his life is over, and we all move on in under a minute or so.

We have given in to his whims when it comes to my toothpaste. He really likes carrying it around, and it's almost gone so the risk of danger is lower. The only problem is locating it afterwards. Every day it's in a new spot. The other thing he really likes is his toothbrush. We usually let him "brush his teeth" for the 30 minutes or so that it takes us to get ready in the morning, but I'm not really comfortable with him going on free roam around the house with it so we put it away before heading downstairs for breakfast. Every day Daniel cries a lot about giving up the toothbrush. I just feel like it would end up in the toilet or garbage or some other special place like that if I let him hang onto it.

I'm considering taking pictures of some of these treasures, but I think you all know what Crest looks like. I guess if I let him carry them around all day, he might start taking them to bed with him. Wouldn't that be the life? Snuggling up with a toothbrush, toothpaste, some makeup, and a cup. Sounds cozy?

Supposedly we have to establish our authority as parents, so at the end of the day we'll keep coaching Daniel and deal with the tears. Luckily they are short lived. Now if we could only figure out a way to childproof the drawers in the master bathroom, we could eliminate many of the hazards.

Portland Pics

The first day we went to play in the community tide pool. Daniel could not resist getting in.
Here he is playing on the rocks.

The next day, we went to the real beach.

Daniel loved eating and throwing the sand.

Daniel and Aunt Maggie playing on the beach.

Daniel being a goof with me.

This is almost a before shot of dinner one night. Spaghetti was the selection, so we decided to cut our losses and try for shirtless eating.

Good thing we did. He was covered by the end of the meal. Since returning home Daniel has moved to toddler foods exclusively.

On Monday, we went to the wine country to do some tastings. Daniel enjoyed their forklift.

We had a wonderful trip!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Daniel loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider these days. He points his fingers together anytime he wants me to do it and gives really big smiles when I do the song with hand motions. I wish I had time to clean up the house so I could take pictures and put them up, but I don't see it happening this week. Life has been great recently. We took an awesome trip to Portland, Oregon, to see Matt's sister, Maggie. We had a wonderful time, and Daniel was a great traveller. She took some wonderful pictures, but they are all on Kodak Gallery right now, and not on my computer. I'm not sure how to get them up here.

Anyway, here is a short video of Daniel requesting the Itsy Bitsy Spider.