My Favorite Part of the Day

People always ask if Daniel is excited about having a little brother. I never know how to answer that question because I'm really not sure if he understands or not. I'm guessing that he does not really understand, but sometimes he does things that make me feel differently.

Each night we say our prayers before putting Daniel to bed. We always say a little prayer and then follow it up with a bunch of, "God bless..." prayers. A few weeks ago when I said, "God bless Mommy, Daddy, Daniel, and Baby," I showed him that the baby was in my belly and asked if he wanted to give the baby a hug and kiss. He decided that it was a good idea and hugged my belly and gave it a big kiss. It was super sweet. Now every night he gives my belly multiple kisses and hugs and repeats, "Baby!" over and over again during prayers. My belly gets better Daniel kisses than anyone or anything else. Some of the funnier things about this routine is that Daniel insists that my belly must be exposed. So I end up standing next to the crib with my big belly hanging out. He also seems to think that he will be able to touch the baby if he presses on my bellybutton hard enough. I have to discourage this more because it hurts!

He is certainly more aware of babies and understands the concept of baby, but I'm not sure if he understands that there will be a baby joining our household for the long run.

Daniel the Artist

I really thought that my first blog about Daniel making art would be discussing the walls he decorated or something like that. It turns out that my busy boy really enjoys making art. He must have reached some inner peace recently because he is much calmer these days, and he has a much longer attention span. I think it might have to do with our switch in childcare. He now goes to a small daycare at a local business, and he is totally worn out when he gets home. He loves it there. Anyway, this morning Daniel was quite interested in drawing. He probably spent about 1.5 hours this morning before 10 a.m. drawing, coloring, and playing with PlayDoh. He really wanted to play with all the pens, pencils, and highlighters in the lazy susan pencil holder. I was a little nervous about letting him go at it, but he did quite well. I kept having thoughts of him grabbing the plant in the picture or climbing up on the counter to get closer to the microwave, but he just sat on the stool and worked. It turns out that he really enjoys taking the tops off and putting them back on. I made a note to get some washable markers for him. Also note the two screwdrivers on the drawing. Daniel thinks these are just as cool as the pens, and yes, I do keep a pair of screwdrivers in our kitchen writing utensil storage.

After we did some kitchen drawing time, I decided to really go out on a limb, and I set him up with a drawing station in the laundry room while I ironed. I was very nervous that it would not go well, but Daniel sat on his stool and played for another 30 minutes. Just to make sure that he did not get bored, I pulled out the PlayDoh about halfway through. I hope you enjoy these staged photos of the set up. You will have to imagine a smiling boy on the stool.

I'm planning on constructing some sort of art clothesline that I'm going to put in the laundry room or the playroom. Daniel makes lots of art at school. I thought it would be fun to have some of it on display. I wonder if his interest in art will be something that lasts for a while?

Dop

Each day I feel the dawn of toddlerhood breaking before my eyes. I've written about Daniel's mini-tantrums before, but he is starting to exert his independence in other ways, too. He has started making requests. For instance, he likes to eat many foods with "dop," which is dip to the rest of the world. I think this started in Canada when we dipped his sandwich and apple in clam chowder, and he really enjoyed it. At this point, I'll do pretty much anything to get him to eat foods with vegetables in them. Funny thing is that I love dip. I am game for almost any kind of dip and have been since I was a young child. I guess Daniel is going to be just like his mother.

I'm trying to think of which other Daniel-isms you might enjoy. Hmm... For the longest time, we would take a few minutes when we put him to bed and say prayers, cuddle, sing a song, and other relatively normal bedtime activities. A while back, Matt started saying, "shh" and blowing a kiss or two. Daniel is not the cuddliest kid around. So now when it is time for bed, he throws his blankies into the crib and tries to dive in. Then he will "shh" us and blow a kiss. I kind of miss the cuddling, but I like the quick goodnights.

Last story for today. We started Daniel at a day care a couple weeks ago. It is a really nice private day care at a local construction company. There are only 9 kids there and four are in the baby room (under 2). Daniel was really ready for more interaction with other kids and other activities. The staff there is so brave. They let him paint and use glue! Apparently he really likes using the glue, and he does not eat it. Hard to believe. Well today when I was picking him up, I witnessed a true oldest child moment. I'm starting to think that Daniel has a bit of a devious streak. Here is the scene - Daniel is playing with a doggie pull-toy and another girl is playing with a ride-on school bus. Well, we have been talking about sharing for a while, and I think he is starting to catch on. He sees the girl on the ride-on toy and immediately decides that he would rather be playing with the ride-on toy. So he goes over to her and somewhat forces the doggie pull-toy into her arms and gets on the ride-on school bus. She, being the sweet girl that she is, rolls with it, and Daniel gets away with it. But, I tell you what, I could totally see it in his eyes that this was not a fair trade.

Ok, one more. Daniel has a small obsession with golf carts. My grandparents have one at the cottage, and he loved it. Well, he is getting close to knowing how to operate it. He finds the key, puts it in, and pushes on the gas pedal. Thankfully, you have to turn the key before the cart works, and he can't do that yet. Next summer we are going to have to hide all the golf cart keys :)

Amherst Shore 2009

Here are some pictures from our vacation. We had a blast. I'll give more details later. If you want to see more pictures, check out my Mom's Facebook album. Enjoy!

Daniel loved his first Craig's ice cream, but...
he liked Dad's chocolate better.

He also liked the sand. What a goatee!

I promise he does not have a black eye ;)

Time to go up for a nap.

The giant bathtub provided days of entertainment.

Our little beach bum.

In heaven with two dogs and another boy!

So you just go beyond the point for a few miles...

Hanging with Grampie!

On the sandbars.

Daniel pulled these out of the ground daily.

This was his first experience with the water. He jumped right in and wanted to swim. It was absolutely freezing that day. What a nut!

This is fun!

Can we go swimming?

Bunkbeds or Lots of Pink?

Today we had the 20-week ultrasound, and after much debate, we decided to find out the sex of baby number 2. Matt still was not 100 percent sure if he wanted to know, but I really wanted to know. He capitulated, and let me find out. The most important thing is that the baby is healthy and looking great. The ultrasound technician actually asked if we thought the baby looked like Daniel. I don't have nearly enough experience reading ultrasounds to come up with that sort of conclusion.

Leading into today, I've kind of built up the sex issue down to a relatively simple equation. If it's a boy, we are getting bunk beds, and they are going to share a room eventually. If it's a girl, I'm going to have to beef up our pink and purple inventory. So it looks like we will be shopping for bunk beds in the upcoming months! Daniel is going to have a little brother.

This weekend we are headed to our cottage in Nova Scotia for a week. Hopefully we will have great weather. I can't wait to see Daniel on the sandbars. He will be able to run forever! Did I mention that he runs now? Well, he does. It is really funny to watch his little legs go. He can't really move them like an adult yet, so he sort of wobbles back and forth as he moves forward. Of course, there are the periodic falls that disrupt his running, too. Thank goodness it takes a big fall to make him cry.

Daniel the Athlete

Daniel has been acheiving new athletic feats daily. He climbs in and out of the big bathtub, he can climb in and out of his highchair, and he can climb onto the stools in the kitchen, just to name a few. Yesterday he actually climbed up to and went down the big corkscrew slide at the park by himself. I always wonder whether or not to let him do these things. Normally, I just let him go unless he is in serious danger or is doing something totally inappropriate like getting on the kitchen table.

Daniel has a few favorite things. He loves the bathtub in our bathroom. He will throw all his 'toys' in and climb after them. You can see some of the items in the little video below. Thankfully he is not too adept at turning the faucet on yet. The bathtub gets really slippery when it's wet. Yesterday he decided that he wanted to crawl down the edge of the tub. You can see that in the video, too. For those of you wondering, he did eventually make it all the way down the side. Shorty after this, I decided that going to the park and playing on the balance beam might be a fun activity.

Another favorite thing of Daniel's is brushing his teeth. I'm pretty sure it's just for the toothpaste, but it seems to keep him busy for a few minutes in the morning. Daniel also enjoys Sesame Street. He will sit or stand and watch almost an entire episode. It is a savior on the days that he skips afternoon nap.

On the pregnancy front things are going well. I was feeling pretty worn out for a couple weeks, so I started taking iron supplements and have regained my energy. Next Wednesday we have the 20-week ultrasound, and we have decided to find out the sex of the baby. I'm looking forward to knowing whether it's a boy or girl.

Last thing, check out the Gagnon's blog, All Things Baby Gagnon, linked on the right to see a few pictures from the SFD weekend.

Sick

We have the flu. It has really taken the wind out of our sails. This is really not what I thought my next blog post would be like. We have had so many exciting things happen recently. We painted the exterior trim of our house. It used to be mint green, now it is cream and sage.

Also, we hosted my girlfriends from ND here last weekend. There were 23 people here for the weekend! The house worked out great for our huge group. We had 11 people sleeping in the basement, and I don't think they felt like sardines. At least that is what they told me. It was an amazing weekend. I have not received the pictures from our historian, Allison, so you will have to wait to see full footage. I have included a little video of Daniel and Grace on Sunday. We had a fun filled weekend. I think the highlight was the SFD (Sunday Family Dinner - our unofficial name) 5k. The neighbors did not know what was happening when 11 girls and their spouses took off running down our street in pink t-shirts. Being the pregnant gal in the group, opted for the 20-minute walk so that I could see the finishes.

It was really awesome for Daniel to spend time with his SFD cousins. There are three within six weeks of each other. It is really fun to see their personalities developing. Daniel is definitely the most active baby but has the smallest vocabulary. Over the weekend, I think he learned about 30 new words. Being with the other kids really inspired him to talk more. Thanks Will and Grace!

Ok, back to the flu. Daniel was a little off Sunday morning. I thought he just had stress induced vomiting since he was sick after we hosted people for Easter, too. Well, I'm guessing I was wrong since Matt and I both have fevers today and just generally feel yucky. I'm hoping that all of our guests didn't go home with the flu. That would be really bad. Parenting with two sick parents is kind of rough. Hopefully we will snap out of this sooner rather than later. We are going to run out of Sesame Street episodes if this lasts too long.