Daniel loves to be barefoot around the house (but insists on wearing shoes outside), but this time of year his feet get cold. So I put socks on him and then I either put him into a footed jumper or I put booties over the socks so he can't pull them off. Either way, the only time he has access to his socks are when I am changing his diaper. Immediately upon his pants being removed, his favorite thing to do is pull his socks off as quickly as he can. When he does it, I say "hey!" and he thinks thats funny, so usually he will also throw the socks off the side of the changing table, prompting another "hey!" from me. This has happened so often now, that whenever he starts pulling off his socks, he also says "hey!" along with me. Then he laughs and laughs. He is such a little stinker!
He can say 'ball' and 'mama' and can sign 'more', 'milk' and 'all done.' He is also constantly jabbering. Its really adorable to hear him. I think he is the most vocal of all the kids thus far. You ask him things or talk to him and he responds in a string of animated gibberish. It sounds like hes talking back to you in another language. But lately hes started mimicking us more and more, sound-wise. The other day I was helping Will to pronounce the 'th' in the word 'the" (something he struggles with), and he and I were both saying 'th, th, th' and Daniel started mimicking that perfectly. He also likes to hide behind stuff, pop out and exclaim, "boo!" (though it sounds more like 'boe'). Lastly, when you ask him if he wants something, and if the answer is affirmative, he will say, "Ah-haaa!" The other night we were in his room, and I was nursing him in the rocker. A noise distracted him and he popped off and raised his head to look. After a moment, I asked him if he was ready to have some more milk. He looked at me and said, "Ah-haa!" and went right back to nursing. Hes such a funny little guy!
He LOVES his stuffed puppy from Ikea. So much so that we now have 4 different puppies. One stays in his crib at all times, one stays downstairs, one stays in the car, and there is one more in his closet for a backup in case something happens to the other ones. He calls it, "papapapa" and goes around searching for it any time its not within arm's reach. At night, he starts asking for his crib puppy, while I'm changing his diaper. He points to the crib and says, "papapapa?" I tell him that he can have his puppy after he has stories and milk. He seems satisfied with that and settles down. Then after nursing, he sits up and points and asks again. This time I tell him that it is indeed puppy time, and he gratefully goes into his crib, clutches his puppy to his chest, rolls over and falls asleep. Its pretty adorable!
I've been reading to him for the past 6 months or so. Until recently, he was not enamored with reading time and had a super short attention span (I could not usually even get through one baby board book before he tired of the exercise). This month however, he has suddenly become interested. He asks to read before bed by pointing at the stack of books on his nightstand. And if I forget or try to skip reading time, he wails and throws a fit until I concede. He can now make it through several books at a time and then when he is done, he usually turns to me and tugs on my shirt (his signal that hes ready for milk). His favorite books are interactive (have tabs or pulls or different textures or mirrors) and he really gets a kick out of turning the pages himself. Hes slowly turning into a kid!
Hes now napping once a day (lasts about 2 hours) and is still super into nursing lately. His base number of nursing sessions is 4 (first thing in the morning, last thing before bed and before nap and mid morning/late afternoon), but he will come up pretty much any time I am sitting down, climb into my lap, pull down on my neckline and grunt aka 'ask' to nurse. He will also make the sign for 'milk' a lot too. On days when I do not sit down much, he will nurse maybe 5-6 times, but on days when I am not well, or just have low energy, and find myself sitting down more, he will come up every 30-40 minutes to nurse. On those days he may well nurse as many as 8 times in one day! So we are not likely to wean any time soon. My rough timeline for weaning is after he turns 2 this next summer. I need to take medication to boost my milk supply, so I figure (much like what happened with Nora), that I will simply stop the meds and my milk will basically dry up on its own and he will slowly lose interest. Nora dry nursed for a few months before stopping completely. In the mean time I am trying to enjoy the snuggles. He is otherwise not much of a snugly kid so it is nice to have him relatively still in my arms for a few minutes at a time.
He loves to help sort things and put things away, including throwing things in the trash. He gets super upset if he sees a box or plastic container, ready to be thrown into the recycling bin, and he is unable to throw it in himself. He is actually really good at putting things like legos back into their box and loves to help me sort laundry. I simply have to hand him an item and point to the pile to which it belongs, and he happily throws it in. He will even put the clothes into drawers for me! Hes such a good, eager little helper!When he is not sick (unfortunately theres been a lot of that lately), hes a laid back, sweet, funny little guy. He gets along well with the other kids and just always wants to be in the thick of whatever it is that they are doing. He just wants to be big (which I am ok with for the record). But when he is sick, he is VERY whiny and needy and that gets old quick. So I am looking forward to spring and summer months that hopefully contain fewer viruses!
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