45 Weeks Old

Dear Daniel,

This week you are 45 weeks old!  We are weeks away from your first birthday!

Here are two of your favorite crib toys.  You still like the pop beads and you really like this picture book of prayers.  

This week it was summer time.  This means we spent a lot of time playing, eating, and being outdoors.  Your skin is so fair that you always must wear a sun hat and sunscreen.

One of my all time favorites of you!

We traveled to visit my parents on Friday night.  On the way, we stopped at your Dad's work to pick him up.  You crawled around his office and visited your friends there.  They dote on you and think you are so funny.  Your dad carries you around proudly to see his coworkers.  It is obvious how much he thinks of you!

We arrived at dinner time and you ate a BIG meal.  You have been eating three or four cubes of baby food for some of your meals.  I cannot believe this!  You played with your grandparents and showed them how quickly you can crawl and how close you are to walking.  They were impressed! That evening and the next morning my parents taught you how to clap. You'd been trying to do this task for awhile, and you were good at clapping my hands together and clapping your hands to your lap.  Once they taught you, you clapped and clapped!

Along with clapping, you learned to wave properly this week.  You started out by shaking toys, raising your hands in the air, pointing, and then progressed to a wave.  You sometimes wave with both hands.  Your hands are usually parallel to the ground, and you flutter your wrists up and down. It is probably the cutest thing you have done so far in your whole life.  It is just SO SWEET.

You got a new toy this week... a baby pool! You and your dad went to pick it out from the store.  Your dad said that everyone commented on how cute and sweet you were and that you had so many waves for them.   Your father was so excited about the pool that he opened it immediately and set it up.  We didn't actually have a proper swim outfit for you, so you bathed in a diaper cover.  When we put you in the pool you seemed a bit confused.  You sat near the edge of the pool and played with a toy on the sidewalk.  We aren't sure if you like it yet.  But we really get enjoyment from watching you!

You are still on the pacifier.  You must have a radar for those things.  We can think one is long lost and suddenly you appear with it in your mouth.  We have no idea where  your stash is!  I found TEN behind your crib this week.  You really enjoy these things.  They seem to keep bugs and grass and other inappropriate things out of your mouth when we are out of the home, and it also keeps you a bit more quiet when we are in church.  You sort of insist upon them during naps and story time, and because you are so persistent, we usually allow you one to hold and one to have in your mouth.  Its probably not a big deal, but we were firmly against pacifiers before you were born and thought they were germy, tacky things.  We now find them quite useful and they are probably no more germy than your thumb would be.

You played A LOT this week.  Anything seemed to be a good toy.  You played with your sippy cups and enjoyed spitting water through your front teeth.  I did not enjoy tis game very much.  You played wrestling with your dad this week.  He did enjoy this very much and it was the first thing you two did together after he arrived home from work each day.  You played with empty cardboard boxes, pushing them around the house and reaching your hands inside.  You played with an unused computer keyboard that my mom let you have.  She enjoyed listening to you click clack away on the keys.  You felt so proud of yourself and very grown up.  You played with the new ball she got you, too.  You were really interested in the colors on the ball and so it distracted you during your wiggliest and most difficult times - your diaper changes.  You also played with Aunt Rachel and your grandparents during a dinner we had for your Grandma's birthday.  You brought everyone a lot of joy from your cheerful playtime this week!

Though you are becoming more independent and need your parents less and less, we still enjoy caring for you and watching you grow.  You are still the delight of our days and help us to appreciate more of what we want for our lives.  We like our routines of wake, nurse, play, eat breakfast cereal, nap, nurse, errands/play, eat lunch, nap, play, eat supper, get messy, have a bath, nurse, play, read books, and sing a lullaby, and then expect you to sleep from around 7 to 6 AM, with one nighttime feeding around 11 PM.  Its a good routine and we three are pros at it!

Blessings to you, dear Daniel Henry.
- Mama