Today's Activity

I've been looking for more "Daniel friendly" activities to do during the days we stay home.  He seems to go from one activity to the next quickly.

I found a couple of good ideas on Pinterest, so I decided to try one of them today.  It's simple - playing with dry beans.  He loved it!  In fact, he loved it so much that when the dryer went off, he didn't want to go "help" with the laundry.  Can you believe it?!  Daniel not help with the laundry?!  If you know anything about Daniel, you know how much he likes to do laundry.  That should sum up the level of enjoyment Daniel had with the activity.

Wild Dinosaur

Thanks to a very short nap today, and then bath time this evening, Daniel was a very wild boy tonight:

More Playtime

This weekend we had our new friends Rachel and Chris and their daughter, Ravae, come over for a play date.  We had a great time!  Daniel and Ravae played really well together, and we enjoyed chatting with Chris and Rachel.

Daniel is all things project right now.  His current favorite "toy" is the screwdriver.  We watch him closely, and look forward to the next favorite toy... hopefully something more in line with a ball or something a little less dangerous.  :)

A little light reading... Daddy's Modern Physics book

Aunt Carrie Visits & A Trip to the Gym

Aunt Carrie came to visit for a couple of days this week.  Thankfully we had a couple days of nice weather. We played outside as much as we could, and took a trip to the gym to burn off some energy.  We had a great time!

(On a side note, Papa and Ann came to visit last weekend, but unfortunately, we didn't snap any pictures or videos.  It was great to see them too!)

Here are a couple of videos and photos of the fun!

20-Month Update

Daniel is no longer in his teens.  Today he turns 20 months!  It's hard to believe.

Daniel is growing fiercely independent now.  He no longer wants help with using a spoon or many other tasks he is capable of doing himself.  He is still our little helper though.  He still loves cleaning, laundry, and doing any sort of project.

We went through a rough patch a couple of weeks ago that just ended earlier this week.  He went through a stage of hitting and big meltdowns.  Hopefully we're in the clear for now, but I'm sure it will return sooner than we'd like.

Daniel has added a couple of "words" to his vocabulary.  While he's still behind in the language department, he now says "mama, dada, nana, and baba."  We discovered if you tell him "Good talking!" instead of saying "Good job!" he seems to get the idea better.  He also makes us laugh.  We taught him how to do the Dracula laugh, "Muuuahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh."  He mimics the "ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh" part.  It's pretty funny.  We'll try to get it on video sometime soon.

He's just so busy.  He hates to stop playing to eat or have his diaper changed.  He's always on the move.  We try to keep him busy by going to different activities during the day.  I'm longing for better weather so we can play outside too.

We love this little guy!

Early Easter Present

We purchased a blow-up pool for Daniel for Easter.  Realizing that we won't be home for Easter since we'll be visiting relatives in North Carolina, we decided now was a good time to let him play with it.  He seems to be a little bored with the same toys day after day, and this is just what he needed!  See the fun below:

San Diego!

We just spent a wonderful, relaxing, fun-filled week in San Diego.  It was a much needed vacation and Daniel was a ton of fun to travel with.  He was a real trooper, napping in his stroller or the car as we went from place to place, and having fun pointing out all the very exciting things (dogs, lights, garbage cans...) wherever we went.

We took a lot of pictures, and you see them all by clicking right here

Our outings included the San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway, Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument, La Jolla and the Aquarium, Coronado, and Balboa Park.  Oh, and IKEA, Target, and Trader Joe's!

And here are a few highlights of the boy on vacation:

Pointing at seals in La Jolla

Vacationing is hard work!

Our only time down to the beach all week.  Daniel had no interest in being on the sand.