Troy had a few days off this past weekend and we were able to enjoy four days together with Daniel.
Friday with my mom's help we planted eight tomato plants, lots of green beans (Daniel's favorite), onions and lettuce. I also planted 16 dianthus plants in my walkway garden to the front porch. I am trying to cover a long area and am slowly adding in each year, plus the plants come back up every year and bush out. It's my favorite flower and the only one I've found I can grow!
Sunday we went to Discoveroo, a family music festival, which is put on by the Virginia Discovery Museum. I won a family pass for 5 tickets so we took my sister in law, Amber and my nephew, Parker and made my brother in law Stephen pay his way! There were bands, tables with crafts, drawings, and a man on stilts, among other things.
The funniest part of the day was watching Daniel with the man on stilts. While my nephew Parker was the least bit perturbed by this abnormally tall man, Daniel hung back quite a bit, eyeing him. At one point all the children were running in between his legs, like going through a tunnel, and Daniel just kept hanging back. Before I go on you have to know that my son is fearless, (or was), then finally he got the nerve up. I wish I had the video camera because once his mind was made up, he took off, kicking in turbo speeds, went under the stilt walkers legs, and then kept right on going, never looking back. Troy and I were in stitches!! At any rate, the boys had the best time and so did we watching them!
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I wanted to also give everyone a small update on Daniel's developmental progress. This will be short, but I wanted to list some things for myself as well as others.
Eating: Still doesn't eat much meat, will drink very small quantities of milk, doesn't think we should have meal time, especially when playing motorcycles or watching Elmo, stuck at 31 pounds.
Sleeping: Great – still needs a nap. He may not think so, but if not, somewhere between 4 and 6, in the words of Becky his evil twin arrives. He won't let us rock him completely to sleep anymore, but instead insists we come back to check on him after a few minutes and then waits for us. Is also trying the whole, "I need some juice" or "I need to go pee", stuff to avoid bedtime. Are they supposed to start that already?!
Speech: Daniel puts together paragraphs for us now, including very long sentences. We can hold a pretty normal conversation with him and he is now playing with his toys and having them talk, etc. Great imagination!
Attachment: Great! He does think it's okay to talk to strangers but he doesn't touch them and stays back far enough to keep an eye on us. The moment they make a move for him he bolts to us. Before you panic – we are standing very close by. For example – in the home store the other day he was about 5 feet in front of Troy and I and a lady came to the aisle and Daniel said to her that he was wearing a hat and she made to look at his hat closer and he bolted for me. A second example was after the Discoveroo event and he went walking a few feet ahead. Eventually he was walking with a group of teenagers not realizing it and suddenly he looked up and very quickly returned to my side. Again I was only feet behind him. Each time we explain that he needs to stay with Mommy and Papa and in our sight. Also, we always hold hands in streets and parking lots. Occasionally, like on these two occasions, there weren't many people around and we were within arms reach, so we let him explore his independence a little. We will however continue to work on the fact that not all strangers should be spoken to, especially if Mommy and Papa are not in sight.
This Morning: Daniel decided he didn't like the shirt I picked out for him to wear. He's never cared before but he ended up going to school in the blue pants I put on him and then he chose a bright orange shirt. I wonder if this is the first of many very interesting outfits!
I suppose that's about it. Hope every one is having a great week! I'll leave you with photos from the festival of Daniel and Parker. Pay particular attention to Daniel's distance from the man on stilts!
Friday with my mom's help we planted eight tomato plants, lots of green beans (Daniel's favorite), onions and lettuce. I also planted 16 dianthus plants in my walkway garden to the front porch. I am trying to cover a long area and am slowly adding in each year, plus the plants come back up every year and bush out. It's my favorite flower and the only one I've found I can grow!
Sunday we went to Discoveroo, a family music festival, which is put on by the Virginia Discovery Museum. I won a family pass for 5 tickets so we took my sister in law, Amber and my nephew, Parker and made my brother in law Stephen pay his way! There were bands, tables with crafts, drawings, and a man on stilts, among other things.
The funniest part of the day was watching Daniel with the man on stilts. While my nephew Parker was the least bit perturbed by this abnormally tall man, Daniel hung back quite a bit, eyeing him. At one point all the children were running in between his legs, like going through a tunnel, and Daniel just kept hanging back. Before I go on you have to know that my son is fearless, (or was), then finally he got the nerve up. I wish I had the video camera because once his mind was made up, he took off, kicking in turbo speeds, went under the stilt walkers legs, and then kept right on going, never looking back. Troy and I were in stitches!! At any rate, the boys had the best time and so did we watching them!
***********
I wanted to also give everyone a small update on Daniel's developmental progress. This will be short, but I wanted to list some things for myself as well as others.
Eating: Still doesn't eat much meat, will drink very small quantities of milk, doesn't think we should have meal time, especially when playing motorcycles or watching Elmo, stuck at 31 pounds.
Sleeping: Great – still needs a nap. He may not think so, but if not, somewhere between 4 and 6, in the words of Becky his evil twin arrives. He won't let us rock him completely to sleep anymore, but instead insists we come back to check on him after a few minutes and then waits for us. Is also trying the whole, "I need some juice" or "I need to go pee", stuff to avoid bedtime. Are they supposed to start that already?!
Speech: Daniel puts together paragraphs for us now, including very long sentences. We can hold a pretty normal conversation with him and he is now playing with his toys and having them talk, etc. Great imagination!
Attachment: Great! He does think it's okay to talk to strangers but he doesn't touch them and stays back far enough to keep an eye on us. The moment they make a move for him he bolts to us. Before you panic – we are standing very close by. For example – in the home store the other day he was about 5 feet in front of Troy and I and a lady came to the aisle and Daniel said to her that he was wearing a hat and she made to look at his hat closer and he bolted for me. A second example was after the Discoveroo event and he went walking a few feet ahead. Eventually he was walking with a group of teenagers not realizing it and suddenly he looked up and very quickly returned to my side. Again I was only feet behind him. Each time we explain that he needs to stay with Mommy and Papa and in our sight. Also, we always hold hands in streets and parking lots. Occasionally, like on these two occasions, there weren't many people around and we were within arms reach, so we let him explore his independence a little. We will however continue to work on the fact that not all strangers should be spoken to, especially if Mommy and Papa are not in sight.
This Morning: Daniel decided he didn't like the shirt I picked out for him to wear. He's never cared before but he ended up going to school in the blue pants I put on him and then he chose a bright orange shirt. I wonder if this is the first of many very interesting outfits!
I suppose that's about it. Hope every one is having a great week! I'll leave you with photos from the festival of Daniel and Parker. Pay particular attention to Daniel's distance from the man on stilts!
17 comments:
I love the last photo! I am so impressed by his speech... that is awesome that he has come so far!
great pics, especially the last one...
I think the reason he won't let you rock him to sleep anymore is because he has wised up to the fact that it puts him to sleep quickly! Smart boy.
Sounds like Daniel is doing really well! So happy for you guys! And love that mohawk look he is sporting!
It sounds like things are going great! He is such a cutie. I love that last picture :)
What a fun weekend! Loved the mohawk!
Sounds like Daniel is doing very well! He is such a cutie...I bet he keeps you in stitches!!
Sounds like things are going so well--and he looks SO happy!
The stilts guy would have freaked me out, too :-)
Wow!! What a smart boy you have!! I am sooo impressed with his progress and his speech is amazing! Paragraphs? Awesome! Loved the pictures.. he is such a cutie patootie!
He's really changing again!!! I can see it in his face!!
Looking good! Great pictures!
Enjoy the nap time while you still have it. We are thinking our girls are getting close to not needing them. We need them to have their naps though! ;-)
He is definitely growing up!
Progress of attachment sounds great to me, I think that's wonderful!
What a cutie-pie.
Sounds all pretty normal to me!! We are experiencing all of the same, especially the bed time routine. Aren't they a hoot when they don't want you to leave them in their rooms??? They'll try anything to stay up a little longer!
LOVE the mohawk! Daniel looks fabulous and looks so grown up!
Looks like he's doing just perfectly!
You guys are fantastic parents!!
Happy Mother's Day Rachel!! Your update is great. It sounds like Daniel is doing so well.
Very cute story about Daniel and the man on stilts! Also loved reading about Daniel's development, thanks for sharing! Sounds like he is doing great! Re meat, if you want him to eat meat, have you tried chicken salad? We ate there Sat and got Ashley a chicken salad sandwich and I fed her the chicken salad with a fork-she LOVED it! The chicken is shedded pretty finely... Anyway, hope all is going well and that you had a wonderful Mother's Day!
The mohawk is super cute.
Thanks for the comment. I am trying not to get to worried about court. I went back and read some of your old posts from last year and it was so helpful.
He is just too cute and I LOVE that last photo!!! :)
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