New Bunk Mate

Here's Daniel, hugging his newest friend, a dolphin Granny and Pap Pap bought him when they went to Marineland on Sunday. (In case you are wondering why its green - it has a hoodie on.)

He carried it around in the bag it came in while at their house, then fell asleep with it after we got home, It now joins his lamb as his bunk mate - he has slept with the lamb since he was two days old - it was even in his crib in the NICU.

He's a Natural

Just listen to my baby boy sing!

I know the volume is low - I was kind of far from him when I recorded this, so please... turn up the volume!

This is one of his favorite SpongeBob episodes. He will literally sing "best day eehh-vuhhhh..." for hours after the cartoon has ended. I was thrilled to be able to finally catch this!

He also sings SpongeBob's theme song, almost word for word now. And the other day I was watching Frasier and he started singing part of the ending...you know, about the tossed salads and scrambled eggs? I didn't realize I had watched it so much!

Fourth of July

We went to Granny & Pap Pap's for a cookout on the fourth. Daniel didn't eat much, but we made up for it, for sure! Of course Daniel had fun with Jade and Patrick, and watched SpongeBob in Granny and Pap Pap's bedroom nearly the whole time as usual.

Of course, on the way over to Granny's, Daniel decided to give Mama a heart attack by totally unbuckling himself from his car seat. We may had never realized it if he hadn't leaned forward and stuck his head between the two front seats to see what was going on. I about ran off of I295!

I got off on US17 and pulled into a gas station where Randall re-secured Daniel and then we were on our way again, and Daniel stayed out, thank goodness.

The only thing Daniel did was say "Oh, Thank you, Daddy."



We stopped at Publix on the way home and picked up some sparklers and snakes, so when we got home and lit the sparklers and burned some back snakes on the driveway. Daniel was in awe. Next year should be a real riot with the fireworks which I plan to make a point to go see.


Then our new neighbors Chris and Jo asked us over to watch him shoot off the fireworks that he bought. Daniel loved the ones that were all sparkly, and didn't even mind the noise, unlike baby Leland, who defiantly did not like the noisy ones!


It was a long evening though - Daniel was work out so bad that he cried while I changed him for bed and was asleep less than 15 minutes after we walked back inside. It was a happy fourth!

Bubbles!

Daniel loves blowing bubbles. I am just crazy enough of a Mama to let him do it in the house. We got him some new bubbles the other day and this is now a nightly ritual.....


Not only does he like to catch the bubbles, he likes to dip the wand and try on his own.....



This is my favorite shot :

Daniel's Haircut!

Its just way too hot here. Daniel needed a shorter 'do. I was really scared with his light hair he would look bald, but I had to chance it.

Randall let him listen to his new MP3 player he got for Father's Day while I snipped away. What a Godsend - first time a haircut was not a battle of - let's see if I can cut all of it without cutting his ears off!

When I was done, I took a look - he's adorable! I am so glad I did it - I know it will be cooler for him....

His sad pile of blond locks....thank goodness I know it will grow back this fall!

And Then There Was One....

During Spring Cleaning, I downsized the fish tank and placed it in Daniel's room - he enjoys the fee-shees more than anyone else, and with his new SpongeBob room, I felt it only appropriate that he have the tank.



One of Randall's co workers offered him some guppies, and we accepted, so Randall came home Tuesday morning with six, in a cookies n cream ice cream bucket. We poured them in, showed them to Daniel, and left the room. Came back about 20 minutes later, there were five. It appears that our other fish had an early breakfast. Not a good sign. But, checking on them throughout the day, the school stayed five strong, so I thought maybe....

The next morning, there were three.

Thursday morning, two.

Friday morning, one lonely lil guppy is still swimming around, probably with his life flashing before his eyes.



I am guessing tomorrow, we'll be back to our twosome in the tank.



Good thing Daniel is too little to notice. He likes big colorful fish. I think we'll be getting him some nice, chubby goldfish to put in there with Mr. Hannabal Lechter. At least they will stand a chance!

ABC's and 123's

Daniel's current favorite activity while I am on the computer is to sit on the desk in front of the monitor and point at letters on the screen and tell me what they are.

This morning, apparently the website I was on was not interesting enough so he leaned over and started pointing out the letters for me on the keyboard.

He can count to 10, too.

I am such a proud Mama!!

That little Thomas Laptop that we bought him for his birthday was the best present we could have ever gotten for him!

Now, if only he would get potty training down with this much enthusiasm....

Mr. Smarty Pants!

Last week, Daniel and Daddy went out to get the mail from the mailbox.

This has become a favorite evening activity for Daniel, since he gets to open the mailbox and carry part of the mail back in.

As soon as he rides back in in his Daddy's arms, I ask "what do you have in your hand?"

He raises the envelope and said "Mail from Geico."

I look, and sure enough, its an advertisement from Geico. You could have scooped me off of the floor. Randall swore that the response was with no prompting from him. Holy Cow.

A little bit later, we ask him again, "You got some mail?"

and again, we get "Mail from Geico." but this time Mr. Smarty Pants adds, "I seen it on TV."

Hmm...guess its about time for parental controls on the old boob-tube!

Time To Begin Again

We decided that it would be a good idea to come back to the blog update it, and actually keep it that way!

Daniel is growing like a weed and changing all the time, and we really need to capture it somehow, and we love sharing it with all of you, too.

We'll work our way backward to catch up, but first, some recent fun.

On June 6th, we had breakfast with SpongeBob! We went to Adventure Landing at Jacksonville Beach, where Daniel got to meet his favorite TV actor, live, in the sponge! He was thrilled, which is more than I can say for a lot of other kids around us who were screaming bloody murder at the sight of good ol SpongeBob.


He's definitely bigger than he appears on television!


After the meet and greet, we wandered through the game room, where Daniel found his true calling:


On the way out, we stopped and took a gander at the gators:




We really had a lot of fun! Big thanks to Granny (aka Nee-Nee) who saw an ad for the breakfast, or we might have missed it!

St. Augustine Trip

Mommy, Daddy and Daniel all went to St. Augustine for the day.


It was a lot of fun - Daniel had some gelato from The Hildago Cafe, where we get gelato every time we are in St. Austine, since the very first time we went together. We even got some when we walked St. George Street after spending our wedding night in St. Augustine, despite it being December 18th and about 40 degrees.


It was very sunny and hot, so we tried to go into a few things, like the visitor center on our way back to the car. Daniel enjoyed looking at everything in there.




Between the heat, the walking, and the sugar, Daniel took a well deserved rest on the ride home.

It was a lot of fun!

Easter 2009

Aunt Rose and cousin Abby came in the day before Easter, and Daniel and I went to the airport to pick them up. Daniel had to walk the whole way from the parking garage, all across the entire airport and walk in circles continuously for the entire hour that they waited for the late flight to arrive. He got to see all sorts of people and three dogs - it was a big day!

Then came Easter Morning. The Easter Bunny brought Daniel a basket that he really liked:




Along with the candy in it, he got a basket from Granny and Pap Pap also, when we all went down to their house for dinner. Rose bought him a great book about Jesus and what Easter really means.


Daniel had fun hiding eggs for cousins Jade, Abby and Patrick. Hopefully next year he'll be able to get in on the hunt!

Grandma

March 27, 2009, Daniel's Grandma Clark went to heaven.

We all got to see her at hospice the night before, even Daniel. She opened her eyes to see him. She had been asking to see him ever since she went to the hospital the week before, but he was just too young to be a visitor.

I am sad that he will have to grow up only hearing about her, and not remembering her, but we'll always let him know how much she loved him, and how she said on more than one occasion that there was just something special about him when talking about her grandkids.

Rest In Peace.

Daniel's Big Boy Room

We knew it was about that time, but Mommy wasn't really ready. We debated on getting him a twin bed, but when we found a SpongeBob toddler bed at Wal Mart, our decision was made for
us


Add to that the curtains that Mama made for his playroom that thankfully fit his window in his room, along with the re-paint job Mama did to the letters that spell his name (its supposed to look like the "sky" in the cartoons)...


Some HUGE, ENORMOUS, GARGANTUAN wall art....



And you have Daniel's new big boy room!


We thought it would take a while for him to get used to his new bed, but here he is, the morning following his first night in his big boy bed, where he slept all night long...


Of course, we now shut the hallway door, bathroom and playroom doors, so if he does decide to wander, he only has our room to go to.

I am glad that Daniel likes his new room, but I am so sad that my baby is growing up!