Current favorites

Elizabeth Mitchell's Little Seed CD, which we have had from library for more than six months.

"My favorite coasting hill" and riding strider bike down it

Lincoln log demolition site with dad.

Cuddling and talking to my belly, the New Baby. He always sings, I love you new baby I love you new baby I love you more than anything.

Chocolate "resserts" after dinner

Slow baths (his term for being in tub for half hour)

Playing monkey preschool math game on my iPhone

Reading

Cloudy days

Running in rain and jumping in puddles (he said this to me today that he prefers cloudy rainy days)

When I chose his clothes for him a s dress him so he can be lazy

Fish jammas- footed pjs from my mom with dr Suess characters



Explaining his ideas

Fruit punch





His coasting hill

Obsession: Tiny Babies

I am friends with Lincoln and Gregory and Elsa and basically all tiny babies. I love every tiny baby and call them my friends. They are so previous and sweet to me, and I love our new tiny baby in your tummy mommy, too.

- Daniel, on a car ride conversation

BIG Smiles for Hot Diggity

The photos below are of Daniel watching a DVD of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which might be his favorite thing he's ever experienced.  He talks to the TV, asks for specific episodes, tells me about something that happened to Donald's golf ball, and sings some songs in random times of the day.  I think his first thought in the morning is sometimes to watch Mickey because he calls out for him.

Its hard to say no when you see the delight on his face.  So he averages 20 minutes to one hour of Hot Diggity/Hot D/ Hot Dog/Hot Diggy (all the same program, he just tries different names for his whines).

Exploring Pop's Shop

Daniel loves mowers, ATVs, tractors, trucks... anything with wheels and a steering wheel that he can climb on and pretend to ride.  He often tries them out at hardware stores, but this time he got to see some in action in his grandpa's garage.

He knew where the keys should go and how to turn on the headlights.  

What a funny face.  Maybe this is how he thinks all drivers look?

Maybe one day we'll never have to do any lawn maintaining again!

Smelling.

Daniel has good ears and great vision, but I think he most enjoys his sense of smell.

He wants to smell all candles, soaps, perfumes, sprays, and cooking spices.

He also loves to smell flowers.

Anytime we are near a florist or flower display in a grocery store, this is what he spends time doing.

Smelling.

We visited his father's office and there were blooming trees.  He had to check out each tree and sample several blossoms per tree. 

It was cute.

Passersby laughed.

He was proud of himself.

First Oreo.

Well, he takes after me in one respect... a love for chocolate that his father just does not share.  He could not get enough of these oreos for snack!  Fortunately for me (because there were not too many left!) he didn't realize that one entire cookie is made of two parts, so he only had 2 cookies total when he thought he was hot stuff for getting four!  

Loves: (pretend) Talking on the Phone

Loves: Listening to other people talk to him on the phone.
Loves: Using non-phone objects as phones (calculators, remotes, etc).
Loves: Pushing buttons on the phone and trying to get the phone unlocked so he can see more screens.


Doesn't love: Actually speaking to another person on the phone.

Current Daniel Past times

Bathing.  He knows the word bath and gets very excited about bathing just as soon as he has finished dinner.  He points to the bath and runs into the bathroom.  He spends much of his time filling up bottles and cups and transferring water from one container to another.  He really likes the nesting cups we have that have different hole patterns on the bottom and enjoys watching the water run out of them.


Library - We attend a story time for new walkers at the library once a week.  He really enjoys walking around in the library, pointing to the art and clocks, and then trying to get to the play center.  He enjoys the story times less.  I think the other children are distracting.  He likes when there are stories, finger plays, and songs, but he gets too distracted by the other kids anytime puppets are involved or there is a sing and dance time with a CD.  He points to the exit and tries to leave!  He spends a lot of time playing at the library's toddler kitchen and doing their puzzles.  We do not often read at the library because there are too many fun things to see that we don't have have home (lots of books at home!).


Drumming- Daniel makes most objects into drums.  We have several old formula cans and oatmeal canisters that he uses. He lines up various sizes and plays on them with a plastic mallet and a wooden chopstick.  He enjoys making different pitches of sound, but has only mastered one volume - LOUD.  He also keeps a constant beat and does not deviate into erratic rhythms or songs.


TV - Lately, Daniel has slept through Curious George at 7 AM, so he doesn't have that show to delight him.  We usually watch an episode of Sesame Street every day, usually from DVD and from the 70s.  He enjoys the muppets and the number cartoons. I think he pays attention for about 15 minutes at a time, then does something else, then comes back to it.  He also enjoys Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but since we don't have cable, he can only watch if we get it on DVD or he is at my parents' house.  He really enjoys dancing to the Hot Dog Dance at the end of the show.


Nesting Cubes - He started to play with six boxes that we got as a Christmas gag gift (all wrapped inside another with a present in the very last box).  He likes putting them inside each other, stacking them, taking lids off and on, and putting objects inside the boxes and then trying to find them.  This holds his attention for a VERY long time.


Reading - Usually we read four times a day, but Daniel sometimes goes to get books on his own and reads them to himself.  He especially likes to read books to himself that have animals (cute, furry ones like kittens or monkeys) inside.  He brings us books that he wants to read, and he helps us pick out three books for before bed time and naps.  He often wants to start his day, even before diaper change and breakfast, by reading books.


Laughing - He makes himself laugh by tickling his belly.  He laughs when other people laugh.  He laughs at stuffed animals.  He laughs at the TV.  He laughs so often.  We sometimes encourage the laughter with tickles and silly games, and he LOVES this.  He loves chase games, sneak up on another person games, and wrestling games that are ticklish in nature.  


Pretty much, his other hobbies of sleeping, pointing, dancing and singing, and jabbering, eating and looking for snacks, watching the washing machine, and playing with my hair fixing accessories are the same as in the last three months.

New Trick.

Daniel has started to select the books he wants to read next. He dives down off our laps and sorts through a bin of books.

 He loves this book - Each Peach Pear Plum - and so his parents have it memorized easily.

Favorite Snack and Favorite Morning Activity.

Graham Crackers and Reading.

Which makes me wonder if we should have named him an alternate name - one that I loved - Graham Reid. It was on my short list of wonderful names, for sure. I liked that I met his dad at the university near Graham Hall and that each of us lived there during two years of our dating relationship.  And I love the name Reid and the way it sounds, as well as the homophone meaning.  We nixed Reid because of how it looked and was spelled compared to our last name of Haid.  It would be said Ride Haid or Reid Hayd, and both are wrong.

Here are cute photos of my little boy.

He is wearing one of his favorite outfits - Robeez dogs playing ball shoes, orange Grow Via diaper cover, and Old Navy shirt.  He also chose the book he is reading - The Best Nest which is about Little Owl trying to find a new home but discovering his nest is the best nest.  Its amazing to me that he actually chose all of these things for himself!