Daniel Goes to School

Today Daniel and I visited Grandma Mary Kay at her school for lunch. Daniel loved every minute of it and he was such a good boy the whole time. He ate a great lunch, sitting on two books so he could reach the table. And Grandma even had a special treat for him- cookies! He said hello to everyone he saw. He entertained many teachers with his adorable animal sounds. Daniel had lots of fun walking up and down the halls, and especially enjoyed pointing out all the garbage the junior high kids left on all the floors in all the halls. I think the school would have been super clean if we took the time to let him help more- but we had people to see and places to go. The band was practicing in the gym for their concert tonight and Daniel LOVED listening to the music and watching the band play. We had to look at the band in every window possible. Daniel also scored basketballs in the gym storage closet and had a lot of fun with those. Grandma also had a big red ball in her classroom (actually it was the very first thing he noticed when we walked into her room when we first arrived- and it was up high, in the back of the room, and sort of behind things, too- that would be the one thing my little guy would notice!) and he got to play with it before we left. Thanks for letting us visit, Grandma. We had a lot of fun!

Gymnastics Fun

Crawling up the ramp, getting ready to jump over the hill

Daniel shows his teacher an awesome kick!

Walking on the big squishy mat...
Daniel has great balance and loves this mat!

Daniel walks up the balance beam with his teacher's help...
AND only holding on with one hand!

Daniel loves crawling in the tunnel!

Ring around the rosies...

Pockets full of posies...
Daniel's new FAVORITE game at home!

I've been trying to get some good pictures of Daniel at gymnastics the last couple times. It's hard because Daniel still needs some support in some areas (mostly because he's the youngest and just needs more practice and balance) and the lighting there is weird because it's a huge open space...must learn how to operate camera better and become an octopus to hold Daniel's hand & take pics at the same time. Anyway, today was TONS of fun AND I got great pictures! Daniel gets more and more independent each time we go. He also gets braver and braver and usually tries one or two "new" things each time. He has no problem asking the teacher for help either. And after she helps him, he almost always signs for more to do it again! He's clearly so proud of himself and so excited. I think this was our 5th class and we still have several more to go- yay! Daniel has a ball there and you can bet we'll be signing up for the summer sessions, too.

Choo-Choo!

Wow- Look at the train up there!!

Daniel drives a train

Daniel sports his train shirt!

Daniel watches the train coming to serve food

The past couple weeks, we've joined some other moms & tots for weekly lunches and it's been fun. Today's lunch outing was at a local train-themed diner. So cute! Daniel LOVED it! Loved watching the train go around the ceiling, loved the buttons on the arcade games, loved the train you could sit in and drive (he didn't even need the quarters it took to ride it!!), and he loved the train that came out and served our food. Every time the train came out to serve food, the whistle blew- choo choo- and boy did he quickly look for that in-coming train then! Daniel also got a train-shaped whistle to take home- that kept him busy in the car! In between all of our errands after lunch, his shoes were actually still on every time we got out. I like that whistle.

Daniel's 2nd Sucker

While I was out shopping yesterday, Ben treated Daniel to his 1st sucker ever...and didn't photograph it! Ahhhh! So today, we treated Daniel to another one just so I could take pictures. I'm happy now. Yesterday's flavor was watermelon and today's flavor was rootbeer and Daniel loved both. (for the record- those are my favorite flavors, too!) He's not really sucking on the sucker per se, certainly not enough to make it get smaller or finish it...but he gets the taste of it for just a couple minutes and then he's over it and he moves on. It's pretty cute to watch him- I love the first picture. He's clapping in the second picture- also cute, especially with the fistful of sucker- guess he must like his sucker! The last picture is just another sweet expression. And just in case you were wondering-yes, he got super sticky!

Bedtime Stories

Daniel loves to curl up with his lion and his bear (he requests both of them when getting ready) every night and read stories before bed! The three of them (Daniel, lion, & bear) are inseparable for nap and bedtime these days. So sweet.

Say Cheese!

Daniel makes the cutest, silliest camera face! He makes this face when he sees a picture of a camera in a book and sometimes when he sees my camera. Today, I had the camera on the table before we went outside for the billionth time and Daniel pointed at the table and made his face, indicating to me that he wanted me to take it outside again. I managed to get him to make this face again- and I was quick enough to snap this adorable picture!

My Beautiful Boy

Take a look at those looooong eyelashes, those beautiful eyes, and that beautiful face!

Sandbox Fun

We got Daniel his own sandbox this past weekend and today we set it up and filled it with sand. (It's a turtle shaped sandbox, if you're curious about the green color!) I bought Daniel some new toy trucks and a sand mill yesterday at Target and these toys are a big hit so far. I thought it was cute, too, when Daniel went inside the house and found one of his measuring cups and a tub to use in the sand too. He's so clever and smart. Must find beach toys. (They can't have gone far after our Florida vacation!) So far, Daniel seems to like it. The sand was on the wet side today having just been dumped from the bag, so he didn't like that too much, but he's learning to brush it off himself. And he can already get in and out of it on his own. It was so nice to watch him play and explore independently today. I think we'll have lots of fun with that sandbox this summer!

PS- Can you guess what Daniel is pointing at in the sky in the last picture? Of course it's an airplane! Being near a small airport is such fun for Daniel- we get to see airplanes ALL the time and they're usually getting ready to land so they're pretty low and you can really see them well. Daniel will stop whatever he is doing and look for the airplane, even if he has to walk around the house to get a better view of it!

Daniel's Big Wheels

That's a BIG wheel!

Scoopin' Daniel up!

Daniel drives a police car!

Beep, beep!

Firefighter Daniel to the rescue!

Daniel checks out the very big dump truck

Driving a tractor

This is one of my favorite pics!
I'm loving how Daniel has to stoop to drive the water tank truck.

Daniel rides the train with Daddy!

Our Park District had an outdoor truck exhibit today and we took Daniel to check it out. He LOVED it! He got to sit in all the trucks and "drive." We had fun watching him check out the inside of all the trucks. (I think Daddy was jealous that Daniel got to sit in all the trucks!) The whole time we walked around, Daniel kept saying, vvvv and signing for more. He and Daddy got to ride a mini-train around the parking lot. He wasn't too sure what to make of the train ride while it was going, but when he got off he had a big grin and signed for more. So cute! Daniel also got a toy helicopter of his very own, too. We had so much fun!

AND this afternoon, while Daniel was out playing in the front yard with Daddy, one of our very nice neighbors gave Daniel his very own tricycle! Talk about big wheels! Their little boy just turned 4 and got a new, bigger bike and they thought Daniel would enjoy his tricycle. Daniel wasn't too interested in sitting on it today- I'll try to get a picture some other time. He did however quickly fill the "trunk" (yes, there's a compartment in the back) of the tricycle with rocks! His feet barely touch the pedals of course, but we're thrilled with the bike and with our neighbor's generosity and I'm sure the bike will be a hit someday.

A Wagon o' Fun

We're borrowing Grandpa Larry's wagon this weekend and having fun so far! Daniel enjoyed pushing and pulling it on our driveway. We tried taking Daniel for a ride in it, but as soon as we were a couple houses away from our house, he wanted out of it. (This tells us we're smart to wait a while before getting a big wagon!) Daniel did help me pull it down to the end of the block- doesn't he look so cute helping out?! This also lasted only to the corner, so then we headed back- it was a brief walk, but still great fresh air!

Oh- and no we're not Cubs fans- like I said, it's a borrowed wagon!! Go Sox!

Daniel Rules the Kingdom! (His Shirt Says So!)

Daniel checks out the camels

Daniel watches a playful penguin

Fun pushing buttons!

Watching the water splash and fall in The Living Coast

Daniel pets a baby chick- it was soooo soft and so cute!

Daniel brushes a goat in the Children's Zoo...

But mostly he was interested in "sweeping" the ground!
My boy LOVES to sweep at home.

Daniel's 1st Carousel Ride!
This is his first reaction once it started...

Sweet picture!

I love Daniel's watching & thinking expression here!

More, more, more!

The weather was unseasonably warm and beautiful today (80 degrees- in April! Wow!) so we decided to head to the zoo and we even took Grandma Cheryl with us. It was a perfect day- not crowded at all, so many animals to see, beautiful weather...we just had so much fun and we got to do a LOT. We were so busy! Daniel enjoyed looking at all the animals- he kept signing more, more, more. There was a very playful penguin in The Living Coast that kept swimming up close and Daniel loved that. He also made friends with the little boy in the corner of that picture above- he kept saying "ha" (hi) and waving and he was very curious about that little boy. The splashing water in The Living Coast building startled him at first and he clung to me, but then, since it was "wawa" (water) and he was safe in my arms, he of course wanted more, so we waited and watched it come again to his delight. Daniel also had lots of fun pushing buttons and opening doors in the exhibits. After we ate lunch, we walked around Tropic World to see some monkeys and then headed to the Children's Zoo, where Daniel got to pet a baby chick a couple times- it was cute to watch him be so gentle with it (he's not so gentle with our cats at home- something we are working very hard on). Daniel also got to pet goats and brush them, too- although he was mostly interested in "sweeping" the ground with the brushes. It will be interesting to keep visiting the Children's Zoo and see how he catches on to the whole concept. Before we left, Grandma Cheryl also treated Daniel to his first Carousel ride! We picked a cute turtle to ride. Waiting for it to start was not so easy (he was pretty tired by this point anyway), but once his turtle went up and down and all around, he was pretty delighted. I loved watching him- he was so interested in the other animals going up and down and he was watching the ceiling and the designs and all the movement. At one point, he even made the more sign- I took that as a good sign. Can't wait to ride the Carousel again another time! After our very busy day, Daniel fell asleep before I was even out of the parking lot. He sure was tired. We took the long way home...more naptime that way! Thanks for joining us for such a fun & beautiful day, Grandma!