Dan's First Oreo

Daniel says one word now and pretty consistently. CUKA. Or, in English, Cookie. He signs it at the same time. This is all he says. All the time. 24.7. He said it this morning through sleep bleary eyes as Mark changed his diaper. He said it during oatmeal for breakfast. He said it when I picked him up from school. He rocks from left to right and kicks his legs in the car seat when the "C is for Cookie" song comes on. This child knows no limits to the times of day when cookies are appropriate. I think he gets this from Grumpy! So, The time has come to introduce the CookieMonster to his first Oreo. Not sure what to think at first, Dan approached cautiously by shoving the whole cookie in his mouth and sucking on it for a while. But, after the first bite he was hooked... He gets that from his Daddy (who promptly helped Daniel demolish quite a few of the cookies tonight).

We're Baaaaack.....

Time for my bi-monthly post to the blog. This new year has moved by at the speed of light so far. Dan actually got some HAIR! It's like it was his present from Santa. One day he had none, the next day when we woke up it was there. Amazing. Because hair is a new phenomena for DanMan he has just now discovered hairbrushes. He gets confused though about which brushes are for what. for instance, he went into the bathroom, opened a drawer and pulled out Eric's toothbrush to start brushing his hair with it (Sorry, Woob. We will be replacing that!). When I told him that was not what it was for, he took the brush we use to clean out the showers and used that instead. He'll get the hang of it though I'm sure.

One of Daniel's favorite things to do is to watch Sesame Street. He has a routine. Normally, he runs to the chair when I ask him about Sesame Street, but I think here the camera threw him off and he just couldn't decide (notice his quick grab for the remote):

Today Dan had to stay home sick from school. I think he is having the normal reaction to the new mumps, measles, chicken pox vaccine, but I guess we'll see tomorrow. While I was making his dinner (fish sticks and mac and cheese mmmmm) I noticed he was being a little too quite. I called his name and he turned around with a funny look on his face and blue running down the corners of his mouth. His crayon was the victim. He got a good hunk of it in his mouth so lucky I found him when I did. Ay Yi Yi. Here is Dan with the incriminating evidence. I thought about taking witness statements concerning this incident, but then
I realized that Wallace and Brown Bear weren't going to rat him out...

And so it begins...

Here is Bear's newest hobby:

Frankly, I think it's about time Dan earned his keep. All those diapers cost a lot of money!

Finally, when I went to IKEA last week to help support Ken's economy, I bought a new toy for Dan's room. He loves it and chases the shapes around all over the floor.

That's it for now!

Ho Ho Ho

An update to our Christmas Eve post. All went well here for Christmas day. There was much revelry and present opening. After some initial confusion about which presents were left for Eric from Santa, Eric was very

content with his new transformer and Nintendo DS Lite. Daniel didn't quite get the present opening exercise and much preferred climbing on the boxes to unwrapping them. He was so overwhelmed that he shot back and forth through the room like a ping pong ball bouncing off people and furniture. While we were waiting to hear from Uncle Ken on Christmas Day, Daniel tried to entertain himself. And, rather than play with his toys, he went back to his old standards: his tupperware cabinet and the fridge.

Mmm... Still waiting to hear from Uncle Ken.

If Grammy ain't cheatin' at a game it ain't Christmas!


Uncle Ken? Uncle Ken? I guess it's a good thing that Santa brought some coal for Uncle Ken's stocking this year!

At Christmas Dinner, Daniel ate with his feet on the table, thus confirming that he is a true Southerner!

Of course, there were the normal bumps and booboo's that occurred with all those presents laying around. Daniel had to suck on a popsicle for yet another busted lip and he offered to share:

Hey! Notice the outline of some hair in this picture!
Just in case you thought the drama bear post on Christmas Eve was an isolated incident, we've included his "I want to use YOUR laptop, not the one I just got for Christmas" episode. Ah, these little hiccups only last for what 18 years?

Welp, that's all! Merry Christmas!!!!

Twas the night (and the weeks) before Christmas. . .

Well, we have had a very very busy lead up to this Christmas. So busy in fact, that our Christmas cards are non-existent. Just think of all the postage we saved (this is looking on the bright side). We baked lots of cookies for Uncle Ken and Uncle Mattias and spent a small fortune shipping them to Sweden. We wrapped lots of presents and then we spent time decorating. I remember fondly those competitions in our old neighborhood that I had with Mr. Chambers to see who could get their Christmas lights up first after Thanksgiving. Often we would both be on our ladders at the same time and wave to each other... then hurriedly try to get our lights up first... and the more the better. However, we have moved to a neighborhood where I just can't compete. Our next-door neighbors have SIX (yes, SIX) Christmas trees, full size and fully decorated, in their home. She started putting them up on 1 November. Now, I ask you, who can compete with that? It's a good thing they are such lovely people. Did I mention that each tree is decorated with a theme?

Eric and Dan went to visit Santa and while last year's visit went smoothly this year Daniel was not so welcoming of the big guy. It could be because Santa was a scary redneck who smelled suspiciously like "Boone's Farm" but who knows?

Uncle Ken, Notice we put up your stocking this year! I hope it gets filled (but I bought some coal just in case).

Daniel is entering his Terrible Two stage already -- we like to brag that he is ahead of his peers in many things. Mark has begun referring to Daniel as "Ursus Dramaticus" (the drama bear). Often he will just drop where ever in the house he happens to be and lay his entire body prostrate on the floor while wailing for effect. View the Ursus Dramaticus in his natural habitat:

I took the boys to the Children's museum this week. Eric and I spent most of our time chasing Dan down. Eric is a good big brother.

Grammy and Grumpy came into town last night for Christmas. Daniel wasn't quite sure who they were at first when they showed up at night in the dark, but as soon as he got close enough to see Grumpy, he LEAPED from my arms, threw his arms around Grumpy's neck and laid his head down on his shoulder.

If you ask Daniel if he wants to watch Sesame Street he usually drops everything and makes a beeline for his Swedish Chair. Today however, he took a detour to pick up a remote on his way.

Daddy and Dan and Eric like to surf along the floor... at least it keeps the floors cleaned! We miss you Uncle Ken and Uncle Mattias and Aunt Lynne and are thinking of you today! More tomorrow

You can tell that this post is made in December -- I'm considering this a "seasonal" post because it covers Halloween and Thanksgiving! (yes, I'm behind on the blogging. . . I also turn my library books in late. It's just how I am.)

This post is mostly for Uncle Kenny so he can feel like he was there for Halloween and Thanksgiving! We missed you very much.

Halloween started with a Halloween parade. Daniel was none too pleased to be stuffed in a wagon with all his classmates. He is used to a more sophisticated ride in Daddy's sportscar.

Grammy and Grumpy met us to go get ice cream and brave the Colonial street that was populated with wild animals -- like lions.

Eric came to visit the next weekend and had a good time wrestling with Daddy and Little Bear. He also got to work on cleaning some rifles with Daddy.

No, Mark is not making obscene finger gestures at the camera. . .

Daniel got to go to a pumpkin farm with his school to pick out pumpkins and gourds for the holiday table.

We have spent a lot of time recently at Home Depot for new house repairs. It's a family affair.

Grammy and Grumpy came back for Thanksgiving and it was a good thing because boy did I need them!

Woob and Dan had a good time eating all the food that we had on the table! Eric liked the rolls the best.

Jacky sent Bear a coat from London and he really likes it. It is the hit of the daycare!

I think at the end of the week Grumpy was pretty tired... he began to blend in with the scenery.