Daniel is 2 1/2!

Yep, you read that right.  Daniel is two-and-a-half years old today!

Daniel's imagination is taking off!  He loves to play.  Currently his favorite toys are the farmhouse with animals, Legos, and his all-time favorite toys: his washer and "dryer" (which is really a dishwasher, but like I said, his imagination is taking off).  He also loves to color, paint, and use ink stamps.

His speech is clearer and much more understandable, even to strangers... if he would ever say hi back to them.  :)  He's our shy guy, but we'll take it.  The other day, we counted an 11-word sentence from Daniel!

He draws circles and lines, can complete a simple puzzle, plays learning games which teach sharing (a very important lesson we're working hard on right now), and matches cards/toys.

We don't let him watch much TV, but about once a day he gets to watch 30 minutes of TV.  His current favorite shows are Curious George, Martha Speaks, and occasionally Dinosaur Train (all PBS Kids shows).

As you may have read earlier, Daniel mastered his crib-to-bed transition.  He now successfully stays in bed without trying to escape for his nap and bedtime.  Honestly, the transition went really well.  The first nap was unsuccessful (meaning he didn't take one), then he stayed in bed the whole night, tried to escape a few times on Sunday and Monday, but then on Tuesday, he stayed in bed and never tried to escape again!  We bought him a clock the glows green when it's ok for him to get out of bed.  So far he can fully explain to you what it means, but he has yet to actually get out of bed when it's on.  He still wants us to come in and get him.  As I'm writing this, the green light is on and he's awake, but even if he looks at it, he doesn't get out of bed.  We've tried talking to him through the door hoping that he'll get up, but I guess it could be worse.  :)

One of our favorite parts about bedtime is when we ask him what he's going to have sweet dreams about.  The list almost always goes something like this (pretty much in order): washers, dryers, vacuums, tools, toys, rain, snow, blue doggy!

We'll have more of a physical update when he goes on Wednesday for his well-child exam - height, weight, general health updates, etc.

Here are a few pictures of our energetic, shy, sweet, smart, focused, laundry-loving two-and-a-half year old!

Playing with some of his favorite toys

His curls are starting to come back!