Dominic is feeling pretty proud of himself.
This week he figured out how to crawl.
But looking back at past pictures, I see that Dominic is over a month behind Daniel, who not only was crawling by this time…
But was doing this as well!
And this!
That’s all right, Dominic, I’d rather not be chasing after you climbing up the stairs.
We’ve been trying to get Daniel to use the toilet for the last few days, and so far he’s been able to go every time he sits on it. We’ve been asking him if he needs to go to the toilet frequently, and the repetition must be getting a little boring for him, because last night he responded: “No, not today. I did that last year.”
This picture was taken about a month ago the day Johnathan began to learn cursive. He was so excited about cursive that Dad got out a few calligraphy markers to show John. Everybody wanted to try them out.
Daniel has been being a true two year old for the past few weekss. From trying to pour his own milk (thank goodness the jug was almost empty!) to drawing in school books, he has found one hundred and one ways to get into things. Here is one of his latest tricks:
Am I in trouble?
Last weekend, Dad decided we should take advantage of the beautiful weather (which will end to quickly) and take a motorcycle ride to a hilly forested area with the rest of the family following behind in the van. It was lovely, with the trees beginning to turn colors, and the whole family enjoyed it immensely. I shot these pictures:
After watching me working on my extension for ballet, Daniel decided he must join in the fun. He was adorable striking poses in his brand new pajamas.
Daniel is very fond of ‘helping’ me in the garden. He loves to tag along by my side, carrying a shovel along with him, blissfuly happy to be doing exactly what I am doing.
He will point to any plant he sees and ask, “Weed?” If I tell him he is correct, he will rip as many leaves off as he can with a disgusted face:
Sometimes he is lucky and pulls out the root as well. Other times he gets carried away-
-and doesn’t ask whether his prey is a weed or not. Here he is repentant for pulling a balloon flower bloom.
If I tell him the plant is a flower, he will bend down to smell it.
When our home was invaded by a swarm of ravenous ants, Daniel rushed to our defense. Armed with his trusty ping-pong paddle and comb, he fought and vanquished each ant single handed!
"Did I get it?"
“Uh-oh!” Daniel’s little voice called. Maria asked him what was the matter, and he proceeded to point at himself, and then at the television remote in his hands. (The remote being both one of the most coveted and the most forbidden articles in the house, surpassed only by the phone.)
It’s snowing. Again. Winter was fun at first, especially with the ice skates I got for Christmas, but now it is beginning to drag. I have found, however, that a nice, hot cup of tea really helps to warm up the whole day. Apparently the rest of the family thinks so, too, because no sooner than had I made a cup a few days ago than everyone decided they needed to have some as well. Even Daniel was in on it, saying ‘tea’ in sign language over and over again until we got him his very own cup.
Daniel signing "Tea".
If you give a baby a gingerbread cookie, he will ask for another one.
If you give him another cookie, he will hand it to you and pull you over to the nearest chair to sit and eat it with him.
If you sit next to him and begin to eat your cookie, you will become thirsty and want a cup of tea.
If you get yourself a cup of tea, the baby will see the tea cup and then promptly tell you in sign language he wants a drink. By the time the baby has finished with his drink, your tea will be done, and you will bring it over to the table and dip your cookie into it.
If you dip your cookie into your tea, the baby will want to copy you with his own cookie, and say tea in sign language.
If you let the baby climb on your lap and dip his cookie into your tea, he will then try to take a sip of your tea, but you warn him it is too hot.
If the baby is told the tea is too hot, he will bring you a spoon so that you may give him a small spoonful of tea in the spoon after blowing on it. He will want more and more spoonfuls of tea, until you begin to get frustrated that you can’t even have a cup of tea in peace.
But then the baby will look up at you and give a beautiful smile, and you will melt and let him take as many spoons of tea as he wants.
