Daniel is officially older than two years old...he's 25 months old today! I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep doing these Mickey pictures, but I do like looking back and thinking about how he's grown each month. And besides, Daniel still looks adorable sitting next to Mickey...so perhaps I'll do it as long as he'll let me!
So, this month, we've seen an absolute explosion in Daniel's creativity and imagination! Explosion really is the best way to describe it. He has become SO creative lately with his playing. It is so amazing. I love it. Daniel makes up games and activities for us to do- one such game lately is to go on a trip with our "suitcases" (his Elmo backpack and a zippered Disney lunch bag he found in the pantry one day) and run around our basement to "find Great Grara (grandma)" or "find Unca Brian". We never seem to find them, though...we just "keep look"-ing and looking. Lots of fun...unless you're 16 weeks pregnant and run out of steam really fast. Actually- he lets me have breaks and goes off searching by himself and loves to come back to hugs and kisses from his mommy who missed him while he was on his trip!
Daniel also has imaginary friends! Well, they're really his imaginary family- his grandmas, his pop-pops, Titi and Unca Brian. Daniel loves to have them "sit" in the shopping cart and go shopping with us, or he sits them down at his table and feeds them. I have a whole post on Daniel and his imaginary friends coming up!
Daniel also imagines basketball hoops up in the air- he'll even look up and point to them for you- and then he scores! He loves to have us make hoops with our arms so he can shoot baskets that way, too. Daniel turns his blocks into slides for his toys or even himself. He has these two cars from a block set that snap together- it's a tractor and the cart it pulls. Daniel has decided these are skateboards. Where he got THAT idea I don't have a clue! At first he tried to use them as skateboards for himself- he'd put his foot on them and say "skateboard" and once I finally figured out what in the world he was doing and saying, I of course quickly steered him in the direction of making them skateboards for his toy figures- Elmo, the Duplo Lego man, etc.
Daniel also loves Daddy's box of scrap wood pieces. We once watched a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode where Goofy builds a birdhouse. So, that's what Daniel builds with the blocks. He gets his tools out and puts the pieces together to make a house, pounding with his hammer now and then. I think it's great that he's figuring out how to do something just like he's seen on TV. He really has a good memory.
Another awesome time you can see Daniel's creativity is when we read books or even toy catalogs, aka "shop books". Daniel has taken to interacting with the pictures like you wouldn't believe! He will pretend to feed the kid in the picture, eat the cookies that he sees, drive the train around, play the drums, and so on. Daniel will even share with us! He gives us a drumstick and says "dada do" or "mommy turn" for us to do what he's doing and take turns. So cute! And at this time of year, we get lots of "shop books"...so we're having lots of fun playing with the toys in these books! No purchase necessary!
I've also noticed lately that Daniel can jump really high. And he can also do several jumps in a row- I think I counted 5 little jumps in a row the other day. The kid has lots of energy, that's for sure. He also runs really fast- and I mean REALLY fast. Oh, to have that energy!
Daniel has also become much more affectionate with his toys lately. He hugs and kisses his stuffed dolls quite often- he's giving Mickey a kiss in the bottom picture. If Elmo or another toy figure or doll fall down and "get hurt" Daniel rocks them, hugs them, and kisses them. He will say "rock", "sad" and "happy now". So sweet. His blow kisses for us are just the best, too!
Daniel's attention span for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse now goes past the first three minutes of the show. He actually watches most of an episode in one sitting and even better, he's super interactive with it. Daniel helps them pick out the Mouseketool that will solve the problem. He's actually pretty good at it, too- especially if it's something he's familiar with or I help re-describe the problem and tools in a way he understands. Daniel also loves to talk about where the characters are, or who they are and what they're doing, or he'll say "noooo" in his cute scrunchy-nose way when they do silly things. The cutest thing though is to watch Daniel do the Hot Dog Dance at the end of the show- I'm still trying to get that on video because it is too funny!
Another thing I've noticed is that Daniel laughs a lot more now, too. It's so cute. He will let out a little laugh at just about anything now. Whether he thinks he's being silly, or he's playing "hide" with somebody and they pop out, or we make a silly face, and so on. Really, just little stuff...and each little thing gets a little laugh these days. He's never been one to laugh that easily up until now, so I love this new stage of silliness. There's something so refreshing about Daniel's laughs- it's just the best sound.
Well, I didn't think I had that many stories for this month, but this turned into quite the novel didn't it?! Daniel is just so much fun and I love sharing it all with you!
Pumpkin stories coming soon!
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