Adorable Christmas Faces.

Skipping With Aunt Rachie

Daniel loved when Aunt Rachie skipped with him.  He used her as a swing to launch into a skip.  He giggled the whole time!

Looking At the World Through Rose Colored Glasses (Plastic Lids)

Daniel is so curious about colors and peeking through all kinds of objects these days.  I wasn't surprised to see him be so silly with this lid. 

Happy Pudding Face!

I discovered a way to give myself at least one half hour with my child sitting in one place.  I can use this half hour for exercise, putting away laundry, mopping the floor, or pretty much anything else I need to do that requires Daniel to be still and only mildly supervised.

I let him feed himself pudding (or yogurt or applesauce, but pudding gives him the most enjoyment!) with a spoon.  I could feed him this in about three minutes, but it takes him at least times longer.  Sometimes, its closer to one hour!  

Believe it or not, no pudding ended up on the floor, and very little pudding was left on the spoon, container, or his body.  He got it all in!

Notice all those teeth?  They are all almost in!

He was so happy with this snack.  And so proud of his accomplishments!

He is really growing up!  For most of his meals, he does feed himself.  However, we speed things along by feeding foods like this to him and sometimes by loading up one fork with bites to eat and switching it with the fork in his hand.  Usually self-feeding means he eats less food per meal and more carb-type foods (muffins, crackers, fruits, etc) but we've been having good luck with bean burritos, chicken, hamburger sandwiches, and yogurt.  Obviously, we are having good luck with pudding!  If only there was a way for vegetables to make their way into pudding... he would be set!

Bath Time Show Off

Bathing is still one of Daniel's most fun activities. 

 Usually the scene looks  like this:

Daniel gets scrubbed by his father for about two minutes, and then spends over ten minutes playing with bath toys.  He especially likes playing with these cups and transferring water from one cup to the other.

He only lays down when I come in and then he starts some monkeyshine business.  He bats his eyes, pretends to sleep, giggles, beams with a big smile, and acts so sweetly silly.

He could play this game for hours.  But usually the bathwater gets chilly and his dad grows tired of this super long bath routine, and we are ready to move on to jammie and story time.

Daniel's Sledding Adventure, Take 2

Last year, we took Daniel out in the snow for a short sleigh ride.  He sat upright in his Bumbo chair, inside a laundry basket.  It was cute.  He made no real expression of delight or fright last year.

This year, he got a sled from his Haid grandparents' house Christmas.  It is a tiny little thing, a lot like a bumper car.  It requires a parent to pull the sled, too.  Its really safe and really, really silly looking to see him in it!

We were eager for him to try it out.  He looked SO CUTE all bundled up!

However, we knew we were going to have a rough time getting him to do this trick for us.  He didn't want to step a foot into the snow, and he wasn't interested in us putting him down when we were standing in the snow.

Here are the photo memories from the three rides he took down the hill.  The larger photos are my favorites!

All done, buddy.  Maybe you'll like this next year!