Monday, February 28, 2011

Progress for our family

I want to put in a note about all the ways Daniel is growing and the new things he can do. As we get ready for James Flower, we are so thankful for all the ways Daniel is helpful and confident. Some great things he can do-
*Stay seated at the table for pleasant mealtimes
*Take his plate from the table to the sink after meals
*Put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket or washer
*Do the whole nighttime routine (bath/shower, tooth brushing, pajamas, fall asleep) with Dada [This is the biggest deal by far, and Joseph is a complete ROCK STAR.]
*Put away the toys he is playing with before he gets more toys out and pick up the family room at night
*Use the potty by himself and wash his hands

We are really excited about these things. It certainly makes life easier and more pleasant. He is even learning how to kind of hang out and play in the afternoon while I doze lethargically in the brown chair for a bit.

We are talking about how Daniel will be in "real" Vacation Bible School this summer at church. In the past, he has stayed in the nursery while I teach. This year, since he'll be three years old, he will be in his own "real" VBS group. I will be hanging with James Flower, so I really hope Daniel is going to stay excited about VBS. We'll see.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

NC Zoo trip










Beautiful day. We had a great time!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Newest Sweetheart-Valentine's Day 2011




Here is our newest sweetheart, James Flower. Daniel's little brother or sister will come in May. We are 26 weeks pregnant. We are letting it be a surprise, but Daniel is SURE it's a girl, and he's named it Flower. Our boy names is probably James, so we're calling it James Flower. Daniel can talk to the baby by putting his finger in my belly button. He teaches it words, reads books to it, and tells us what it is saying.

We are so excited! If you look back in the blog, you can see a picture of me at 26 weeks with Daniel wearing the same clothes.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Daniel's story

Daniel told me this story during lunch today. In the past fews days he has been pretending with Tinkerbell and Alice (in Wonderland).
"I had an adventure with Tinkerbell. (Tell me about it.) It was at a park playground. It had a giddy-up horse. It was a real horse. There was a slide. It was a giant one. It was a skateboard one. [note- he saw skateboarding on tv for the first time the other night when we went out for pizza.] We had a skateboard. Her brought it. You know, Alice is going to have a baby, too. (like a brother or a sister?) Yeah, her going to have a brother. I told her we might have a sister."

Country Breakfast at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church with Elaine and Bob


Thursday, February 10, 2011

We-Need-The-Pooh

I keep forgetting to post this. It happened some time in January. Daniel and I were talking about something, and I realized he was saying "We-Need-the-Pooh" instead of Winnie the Pooh. I think there may be some kind of Blues' Clues character named "Winnie" or something close to that. He happened to be talking about both of them in the same conversation, so I could tell he was saying them differently. For Daniel, "We-Need-The-Pooh" actually seems more appropriate sometimes.

Friend Lunch Feb 10, 2011


We had an impromptu friend lunch today with Aunt Jenny, Stacy, Ezra, and Buxton. We love to eat with our friends. It was a great time!

Friday, February 4, 2011

November and December 2010 pictures











Gingerbread House


GG and GrandDaddy made a sticker gingerbread house with Daniel this year. It was such a great group project. Daniel was very proud of the finished product.

Christmas Train 2010



We went on the New Hope Valley Railroad Santa Train this year. It was SO much fun. It was a cold and rainy day, but we sat in the caboose, which was covered and had a coal heater. Daniel loved it. Santa gave him a candy cane. Santa thought Daniel liked him, but really he liked the candy cane. :)

Astroknots

I wear a hooded zippered sweatshirt in the house usually to be warm. The hood has a drawstring on it that can be pulled pretty far down on either side. Daniel likes to pull the drawstring back and forth. We talked about how each end of the string has a knot on it, so that one end doesn't get lost up inside the hood when you pull on the other side.

Today he was playing with it and said, "What is this?" He was holding the string, so I absent-mindedly said, "That's the string." He said, "No, that's not what it's called." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "It's an astronaut." I said, "I don't know what you are talking about. I think that is a string." He said, "No, this little part at the end. It's an astronaut." Then I got it. I said, "That part is called a 'knot.' An astronaut is a person in space."

General Update- R sounds, Time with David and Julie (Art Museum, Alligator Show)

"R" sounds came on Dec 27th at 3pm-

We were sitting at Rita's kitchen table playing with play-doh, and I realized Daniel was saying "This one is really hard" instead of "This on is weally hawd." I thought it might be years before he could do real "r" sounds, so I am very excited. Since then, he also has started saying "milk" instead of "mook." That happened around the last week of January.

Time with David and Julie-
Our friends from Chicago, David and Julie, visited us at the end of January. Daniel did two new things with them while they were here. First, he attended his first "adult" museum--a "walking and looking" museum. We went to the Ackland Art Museum on campus at UNC.I had very low expectations for the trip. I hoped Daniel could make it five minutes, then we could go to Kidzu while David and Julie finished looking. We talked about it a lot before we left, how we would be holding hands and using our eyes to look around at the artwork and walking from one painting or sculpture to the next. There would not be any kid's area or chance to touch any of the art. He wasn't really thrilled by the idea, but he wanted to be with David andJulie. He made it the whole time, about 30-40 minutes. I was really excited.

The next day we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. Daniel checked with me beforehand "Kids can touch stuff there, right? And there is playing?" I assured him there would be lots of touching and playing. The museum was great. One of the offerings was an alligator show. I think it lasted 20 minutes. You had to sit and listen to the program, then you got to touch the alligator at the end. Joseph wanted to try it (again, I was skeptical), but Daniel made it the whole time. (I'm actually the one who had to get up to go to the bathroom). Then, he got to touch the alligator at the end.

The "real" art museum and alligator show were two big milestones for Daniel. I was really happy that he could experience them! He is growing!