the learning curve

I don’t think I could resist making a photo collage video. This one has been bounced off formal video sites for copyright infringement. For what it’s worth, I encourage everyone to purchase a copy of Owl City’s albums. Anyway, I made this last year in March. (Another one is coming soon).

The little guy did well on the road. We triangulate the holidays, going to one grandmother, then another, then home again. It’s draining but a lot of fun.

Daniel received a number of gifts for Christmas, and he’s taken to most of them. His day care reports he “plays a lot”. We asked which toys he likes there most, the instructor replied, “all of them, basically.”

Daniel has been babbling a lot more, too. I expect he’ll get some words out soon. He seemed to shout “Milk!” during lunch time a few days ago.

Finally, would someone please give Yo Gabba Gabba another season? I read this production blog and was quietly crushed. Selfishly, it’s been fun for me to watch this with Daniel. He seems to love it. Wherever he is at home or his grandma’s house, if he hears the opening beats of the theme song, he’s right there, watching intently. He started following the dancey-dances, too. Oh, well, there’s re-runs and DVDs, I guess….

The big guy in question moved to the toddler day care room. It went smoothly, for the most part. He really didn’t want us to drop him off at the beginning of the week. By the end of the week, he didn’t want to go home. I’m told this is normal.

Also, we replaced our car. Not because we wanted to, but because I managed to somehow allow my three-and-a-half-year-old Chevy roll down a large hill and into some trees. It’s one of those weird events that doesn’t really fully make sense. Suffice to say the following are facts: I park at a designated spot near my work; that spot is on top of a hill; my car rolled down the hill after I’d left it and was at work. Campus security gave me the call, informing me, well, that my car appears to have fallen into a ravine. But, nobody hurt nor other cars were in the Chevy’s final path. We tend to expect bad things to happen this way from a distance; in this case, I really didn’t think anything of the car when I left.

Anyway, we carry the necessary insurance, and I was grateful for the result. we replaced the car in a few days.

Not really, just a move from the baby room to the toddler room. It’ll be fine.

The little guy’s bed time is now seven in the evening, and he’s taken to it much more than I ever thought. He’s tired, and he needed it. He’s happier in the day now. Of course, today, he appears to be breaking a new tooth, and so he’s got a mild fever. Poor guy… he’s powering through it, though.

The dish photo was a quick way to document Daniel’s first Thanksgiving plate. He loved, loved, loved it, and ate pretty much everything.
He’s walking more everyday, and ambulates across the living room without too much difficulty.
“Mama” and “dada” (to a lesser extent, I guess) are words that, I believe, are getting consistent, concrete use.

With getting older comes a more static sleep schedule. Daniel has done pretty well with going to bed at seven with just a little bit of fuss.

Daniel’s walking almost overshadowed a few other interesting observations. Chief among these is his fascination with my reading glasses. He really gets a kick out of me wearing them. Tonight, he could see my glasses were sitting next to the computer. He pointed at them, looked at me, and started to give me that sad, desperate face he usually saves for food. When I finally figured it out, he was overjoyed. I was happy to see his communication. More concepts from him means one less little mystery about what’s going on his mind.

Now, I get it. You’d like to tell me that some mysteries will never be cracked. Just look at the photo below and understand that I GET THAT.