14 Months

Yet another month has flown by. This month Daniel started clapping his hands, popped through the rest of his one year molars and learned to come down the stairs all by himself. Daniel moved up to the young toddler room at daycare which he seems to be really enjoying. In this room there is a lot more structure and they do lots more fun activities. Daniel is now truly a toddler, throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way and thinking that he is in charge (which he kinda is!) Daniel loves to read books and he has his favorites. He brings them to me and gets up on my lap to read. He is starting to learn how to color with crayons which I'm sure will lead to a refrigerator full of new artwork! He has also started to recognize people in pictures. We have a picture cube with all his grandparents pictures and he likes to carry it around with him. Every day Daniel learns to communicate better with us. He is learning new words and other ways to get across what he wants. Each new stage is more fun than the last!

Fun with Avi and Alys

This month Cousin Avi and his parents Jeremy and Alys are moving to Seattle. We wish them all the best in their new home but we will miss having them so close. Alys and Avi came to visit one last time before their cross country move and we had so much fun. Daniel and Avi are finally old enough to really start interacting and I think they had a great time with their sleepover. Avi was excited to see a whole array of new toys and the boys had a good time wrestling, sharing toys and sharing snacks. We can't wait to see you guys in April!!

Animal sounds

I have been making animal sounds for Daniel for many months but I am never sure if he really gets it. Well now he has starting saying 'woof' when he see's a dog and yesterday he quacked like a duck at a toy duck in his room. It is only a matter of time before we are singing Old MacDonald together:-) Today he got to play with a golden retriever who is bigger than he is and he had a great time woofing at her and getting his face kissed.

Hibachi

After a few days cooped up in the house over the holidays I was itching to get out this weekend. So Saturday I suggested that we go to Hibachi for dinner. I figured it would be a dinner out for Kyle and I and entertaining for Daniel. We got there nice and early since that is Daniel's dinner time. I wasn't sure how Daniel would feel about the performance but he loved it. When the guy had the fire volcano Daniel just stared and then looked at me and said "Ooooooh". When he was tossing the eggs in the air he was pointing and saying ball. Then when the guy threw shrimp at us (to catch in our mouths) Daniel looked at him like he was nuts for throwing food at his parents. I brought Daniel his usual dinner foods but he had some of Kyle's noodles and steak and some of my fried rice and chicken. He seemed to enjoy all of it. It was a nice evening out for all of us and we will definitely go back again.