20 months

This month we have spent lots of time outside in the summer sun. A few weekends down the shore, a weekend in Ocean City Maryland and a few dips in the pool. Daniel really enjoys his time on the beach and he loved his first boat ride. He likes to go driving with Daddy out in the driveway, he can identify who belongs to each car and can even tell you which keys go with which cars, clearly a boy after his father's heart. His favorite right now are buses. Every time we see a bus he yells "CAAARRR" at the top of his lungs. It is pretty funny.

Phillies!

Although Daniel normally goes to bed around 7 (the starting time for most sporting events) we decided to give a baseball game a shot. I think Daniel's favorite part of the game was climbing up and down the steps in our section (until the usher told us he wasn't allowed to do that any more). Although I spent most of the evening trying to keep Daniel happy rather than watching and we left at the 7th inning stretch it was a fun night.

Daniel jumping and blowing kisses

19 Months

Just a week before Daniel turned 19 months we finally had his 18 month well baby checkup. He now weighs 27 lbs and is 32 inches tall! This puts him in the 50th percentile for each. The doctor said he was doing great. He was not really happy to be at the doctor's office, I think partly because his appointment was smack in the middle of nap time and partly because perhaps he remembered that most times going there means shots! He was a brave little guy though and took his 2 shots better than I did. We have also made the transition to one nap. We reached a point where Daniel was not really taking two naps, so if he fell asleep during the morning nap he wouldn't take an afternoon nap which made for a long cranky day for everyone. He is now going down after lunch and taking a nice restful nap making everyone happy. This also gives us much more time for fun morning activities!
Daniel is doing great, he is very into cars and trucks and basically anything that moves. He also likes to climb, especially up onto things like the coffee table in the living room. Then he looks at me, grins and shakes his finger while saying No no no.... He has now also become extremely picky about what he eats. All winter he ate tons of fresh fruit, now he won't go near it. Very frustrating now that blueberries (his fave all winter) are in season! He is showing interest in the potty but doesn't like to actually sit on it yet. He does enjoy flushing though and watching the water go bye bye (sometimes he even waves and blows kisses). Hope our water bill doesn't go up too much! We've been having fun playing at the park, especially blowing bubbles. Camp has begun, not much different than "school", same place, same days, same kids but lots more time outside and a little less structure. Daniel seems to enjoy his 2 days a week there and it gives me time to run errands without help! Our summer has started off well and we look forward to more outside fun!

Daniel down the shore

Here is a video put together by Uncle Jason of Daniel's weekend down the shore without Mommy and Daddy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQrr65aC-g4

Beach Baby Daniel

We have made several ventures down the shore so far. Memorial Day weekend Daniel and I headed down Saturday morning and were joined there on Sunday by Kyle. Daniel had a great time on the beach, he loved playing at the edge of the (very very cold) ocean and digging in the sand. We also had a good time just playing in the backyard blowing bubbles and splashing in the baby pool. Sunday evening we went to the boardwalk in Ocean City for the rides. After Daniel screamed on the carousel at the zoo I wasn't too sure this was a great idea but Daniel LOVED the rides. Since most of the kiddie rides are vehicles (car, boat, fire truck etc...) with steering wheels that go around in a circle Daniel was in heaven. Every time it came around to where I was standing he would look at me and scream CAR!!! So cute. I'm sure it was only the first of many trips to the rides for us. Seems like Daniel takes after his mommy and is a total beach baby!!

18 months

We have reached the halfway mark of Daniel's second year. He has developed quite the little personality. Although he says a lot of words they do kind of all sound alike. He understands everything though. His comprehension amazes me all the time. Just like his mom and dad he is also quite opinionated. He is not shy about saying no when he doesn't like something. We are still working on saying yes. His favorite toys right now are cars, trucks and balls. He likes to put things he has collected in the back of his truck and push it around the house. Now that the weather is nice we have been trying to get out more. Daniel doesn't always like new places but he is starting to get used to checking out new things. We are in a funny place now with napping. He really only needs one nap a day but he has a hard time making it through the morning with a little rest. It works out ok if we are heading out somewhere but when we are hanging out at home he really needs a little snooze. The problem is that if he actually takes a morning nap he then doesn't really nap in the afternoon which means by dinnertime he is a total mess! I'm sure that soon he will have the new nap schedule worked out and things will be easier.