Locked Out!

Daniel locked me out of the house today. I couldn't believe it. We were playing on the porch, he went inside and closed the door, and then he locked it. Just like that, I was locked out. Luckily Matt was home and the garage door was open, but otherwise, I would have been in trouble. I didn't even know he was tall enough to reach the lock. I better hide a key somewhere right away :)

Big Boy Bed Update

Daniel has chosen to sleep in the big boy bed every night except one since we brought it into the room. We had a bit of a rough patch the first night between midnight and 1 am, but other than that, he has been sleeping wonderfully. This must be a big milestone for me because I think about it all day every day, and I want to tell everyone about it. Maybe I just need more hobbies or something.

Now I have been thinking that Daniel is quite safely contained in his room when he sleeps with the gate over the door. Well, I might have to rethink that. This morning Daniel was playing in our room and in the hall and the gate was still over the doorway to his room. Well, I go to check on him in the hall and he is holding the gate and moving it from the doorway to along the wall where I keep it when it's down. I'm not quite sure how he got ahold of the gate, but I couldn't help but laugh at him 'putting it away.'

First Haircut

We went to get Daniel's haircut this week. It was getting a little shaggy. You would think that he sat still looking at the first picture, but there was no chance of him sitting in the chair. Most of the haircut took place with Daniel in my arms. The girl did manage to get all sides cut before we had to make a quick escape. Thankfully Peggy came along to take pictures otherwise, there would have been no chance that I could get one. The first picture is a before shot and the second two are almost after shots. I'll have to take another one soon of the finished product.

I've also included a couple pictures from our trip to Florida last month at the end of this post.

Big Boy Bed

We are going to try to get Daniel to sleep in a big boy bed instead of moving into the world of two cribs. My plan is to have a twin mattress on the floor and the crib both available in Daniel's room until he is ready to give up the crib. Over the past few weeks, I picked up linens for the bunk beds, and I picked out a mattress for Daniel. Matt's parents were kind enough to pick up the mattress and deliver it today. We set it up in the corner of the room and put the new sheets and comforter on it. Daniel was excited about the bed right away. He climbed up on it and laid down on the pillow. I was sitting on the bed, and he came over and kind of pushed me off. He wouldn't even let his monkey hang out on the bed with him. Outside of the sharing issue, I took these all as good signs that he liked the bed. I'm not quite ready for him to sleep in the bed since I don't have the room totally toddlerproofed and we don't have a bedrail yet.

Well, it came time for nap, and Daniel went straight to the bed. He got in and laid down on the pillow, so I decided to give it a try. He fell right asleep. He slept in the big boy bed for 1.5 hours quite happily. I tried to snap a picture of him sleeping in the bed, but with the dim light and no flash and my nerves about waking him up, it did not turn out clearly. I'm sure you get the idea. He was so cute, but so grown up looking. While he was asleep, I went out and bought a bedrail.

I'm sure this is just beginners luck, but it is an encouraging start.

Update: Daniel insisted on sleeping in the big boy bed tonight. I put him in the crib and he kept walking around looking for a way to get to the bed. He then asked to be picked up and proceeded to point at the bed until I put him down in it. He went down without a sound. We'll see how the morning goes. I told him he needed to call for me and couldn't get out until I came. I seriously doubt that he will remember that advice 11 hours later after a night of sleep.

18 Months Old

Daniel turned 18-months old this week, and Matt turned 29. We have been enjoying the fall so far, but it is going to be unusually cold this weekend. It is amazing to see Daniel learning new things everyday. His most recent request is, "Up, up, up..." It is nice to have him need us, but I must say my belly is starting to get in the way a bit. Here are a few recent photos with stories.

Daniel and Matt reading this morning. Daniel insisted on having the bat and ball with him for the story. He loves his bat and ball!
Daniel watching the Verona homecoming parade. I think he was watching the dance team here.

Some nice person gave him a pencil. I thought it was a better choice than the lollipops. It only took him a couple minutes to bite off the eraser and give it to me as a gift. Afterwards he amused the neighbors by collecting trash and putting it in the bin. He is quite the good citizen.

Daniel loves Sesame Street. I think he would watch four episodes a day if I let him. He stis on the couch for almost the entire hour. He likes to stand for Murray and Elmo, and he goes up to the TV and waves goodbye to the characters during the closing credits. It is amazing how he actually sits still for the show.

Daniel is fascinated with rain. This was his first opportunity to 'feel' the rain. The only problem with letting him do this is that I now have to chase him down to prevent him from running out into the rain when we are getting in or out of the car. The kid loves water whether in the bath, at swimming lessons, rain, or puddles. I have a feeling that I am going to have to have lots of spare clothes around during the wetter parts of the year.

Hey You!

Life with Daniel is pretty nice these days. He is still a very busy boy, but he is so interested in things and can do so much more on his own that it's a little less exhausting. It is also really fun to hear all his new words. One of the more recent additions is, "Hey you!" He will repeat it back to us over and over. He even got to say it to Aunt Kelly on the phone today when we called to wish her happy birthday.

Now that we are down to one nap a day consistently, he is going down for naps and bed like a dream. It makes life easier to have a good sleeper. I would say that meal times are one of our more challenging times of the day. He rejects much of the food that we offer him and won't eat veggies to save his life. It also feels like some days he eats nothing. I guess that's just part of toddlerhood.

I've been so bad at taking pictures recently. I decided to just take some everyday life ones today.

Daniel insisted that he needed to use the big fork for his oatmeal this morning.

He had to concentrate extra hard to make bites.

Here he is enjoying sitting at the dining room table.

Carrying his music sticks at the music class this morning.

Digging for dinasour bones.

September Fun

We have been busy busy this month. We headed to South Bend for the first weekend, had lots of Madison events the next weekend, and last weekend we were in Jacksonville for a family wedding. This weekend we have picnics both nights one being at our house with 60 people coming! Wish me luck. I don't know where everyone is going to go.

I'm sorry about the lack of pictures and videos recently. I guess I'm having to do much more hands on parenting and can't capture all the moments. The picture above is from Jacksonville. Daniel has learned how to pose for pictures. It kind of makes me laugh.