Let's See...Where Were We...

Sorry for the lack of updates, kiddo!  You're second on my list of blog updates today (and by the looks of it, it hasn't been since Disneyland?!).

Where to start, where to start?!  I guess a lot of things and changes have taken place, and even more will soon!  I'll try to make this as organized as possible, but you're mommy is a slacker, so hopefully it makes sense and I don't miss the big things.

In October, you were evaluated at the speech therapist and started going to speech therapy.  It seems like now that it's helped you IMMENSELY, and I think you like that it isn't so frustrating to be understood by your teachers and friends.  You went through a little bit of a rough patch towards the end of the year at school in that you liked to "hide" behind things and kind of do your own thing in your classroom.  It didn't help that once you were finally in Preschool 1 at daycare, that you were put pretty quickly into Preschool 2 (within about 6 weeks!).  Your teacher left, and you went back to Preschool 1, only to have her leave pretty soon afterwards too!  They then moved you to Preschool 3 (aka Pre-K).  Everything was a huge change for you, and I don't think you knew what to do or where you were going each day!

December came and so did Christmas.  You LOVED Christmas this year, and loved helping with the tree, loved the presents and all of that good stuff.  We went to your Grandma and Grandpa (Coon)'s house and spent Christmas Day there, which you enjoyed too.  I think you were a bit sad to see Christmas end.  December also marked something big as well...you are going to be a big brother again!  But, more on that later!

January came, and you got back into the speech therapy every week routine, and went for an evaluation (a very LONG one) at the Developmental Psychologist.  It was terribly hard for you to sit still for that long, but we got through all of the questions and tests and things.  She diagnosed you as being on the autism spectrum, which is up for interpretation...it's a big spectrum.  But, in any case, recommended that you be referred to the school district to see if going to the preschool there might be good for you.  After several meetings with the district and your new teachers, you started half days at the school where you will attend kindergarten in the fall.  You were SO excited to be able to ride the bus (the bus picks you up from daycare and drops back off again).  I think you really like the different things that are going on at that school too.  You've already gotten to see baby chicks in your class, watch caterpillars grow into butterflies, have a Mother's Day tea party, and do Build-a-Bear.  It's going to be sad when it ends...we only wish we could have gotten you to start there sooner!

Onto the laundry list of sickness and all things health related as well!  You had your last tube removed (well, it was kind of hanging there) at the ear nose and throat doctor.  We got to keep the little tube as a sort of souvineer, which was interesting (for your parents, at least...you may find it neat later!).  You were pretty healthy until right after Jared's birthday in March...when your eardrum burst!  Once that was all fixed up, things were going alright until you got a fever suddenly one weekend, and we noticed a red rash all over your body.  We took you in and it was...Scarlet Fever with the strep throat.  You had a mild ear infection to go with it (but when your ear drum burst, it was negative for MRSA this time!).  That fixed up pretty quickly, and you were on your way until food poisoning (from pizza) hit you, me and Daddy.  Throwing up all day is certainly not fun!

Well, that appears to be that!  You missed out on spring pictures at daycare (when you were out with strep!), but your school did send pictures of you holding the baby chick (hooray!).  In April, we found out that you're going to have a little sister, and earlier this week you were pretty excited to see the ultrasound of her moving around.  It's going to be a fun summer!

Disneyland...Finally!

I think we've been hyping up Disneyland for quite some time, and so it might not have seemed real when we were finally on our way there!  We finally made it to Disneyland (or California Adventure!) and had three days to spend in the parks.  The last day we spent a little time at the beach, which you LOVED!  In a way, it was sad when you were trying to get us to go out the door on our last day...so we could go back to Disneyland...

(But the beach was better that day...having to go home...well, not so much :) )

Yet Another Daniel Funny...

Just had to jot this quick one down...

In the bathtub tonight, Jared had just climbed out (and was feeling particularly rambunctious), grabbed a sock and shoe and ran into the toilet area, pulled open the lid and plunked both into the toilet.  As both your mom and dad went "NO Jer-bear!!!", you yelled at him too, adding in "no birthday for YOU"

OK that was pretty darn funny (and repeated a few more times)...now since Jared was naughty, he can't have a birthday today... :)

Daniel Funny Again

Before I put another update (which, sadly, I've been a bad mommy...no updates for HOW long???) I'll mention the latest Daniel funny. This was pointed out by Mike (daddy!), but all of the pieces were there over the past week or so.

Daniel and I were watching a little bit of TV for the evening, and I told him that I was getting up to go to the bathroom, that I would be right back. In that time after my departure from the couch, he got up and went to visit his dad in the computer room.

"Daddy, I want to drive the car...turn the wheel"

(insert amused, perhaps confused look from the daddy)

Daniel proceeds to put one finger up to his mouth, thoughtfully, before continuing "Hmm...but how?"

After relaying this to me after I emerged from the bathroom, I realized that Daniel has been showing us his best "thoughtful" look for the past week or two. The finger by the mouth. The "hmm...". The eyes looking up, as if the answer is written high up on the wall. The random subjects come to him at equally as random times. But it's so funny! We love you, little buddy!

Another Daniel Funny...

I'm not sure if you were doing this as of the last blog post...but here's another quirky thing that you've done lately...

Giving my hair back to me! If you find a stray piece of hair (in the shower, on the floor, on my shirt, or whereever), you offer it to me, and sometimes try to reattach it to my head. Oh Daniel, you are too much!

You Are Funny Because...

...you are Daniel...you've been funny, but now you're even funnier, and you're much more verbally funny.

A few things that you've said or done recently have really either melted my heart, been hilariously funny, or just so dang cute!

The first thing took a little bit of interpretation. We'd heard you saying something (a phrase) that sounded like it had the word "tool" in it. But that was about all we could make out...and we figured that maybe you were just saying a word, not an entire phrase. Then this past weekend it occurred to me exactly what you were saying.

We were up in our bedroom, and you went over to Jared's pack-n-play (he wasn't in it). You peeked in, almost looked like you were wanting to climb in yourself, but then you stopped. Staring right at me, you said "Hmm...I know!"...insert pause and index finger to the chin in deep contemplation..."We need a Mousekatool!". At that point, I wasn't quite sure of what you'd said with any certainty, but you continued with "Everybody say OH TOODLES!". Oh geez...you silly silly boy! Trying to do the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse thing!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and you've been imitating the things we say too. You're a goofy little backseat driver "Come ON cars...GO!" or "Dad...green...GO!". Yes, you're super cute. The funny imitation from last night was when we were picking up pizza and we parked and your dad ran in. Jared started fussing a little bit, so I spoke in a calming voice to him, saying "It's OK Jer-bear...it's OK...". No sooner than I stop talking, you start in with "It's OK Jer-bear...no cry...Daddy be right back". So cute :)

And lastly (for this post at least), the interaction with your baby brother. You're still very possessive of your toys (the ones you are playing with at that moment), and Jared tries to grab things that you have sometimes, quite innocently. The cute thing that you did, beyond trying to take your toy back, was to provide Jared with another toy..."Here Jared...play with this!".

I hope that I continue to write about these little Daniel-isms...they're so darn cute!

Games!

Well, I figured it was about time to do another blog post...it wasn't that I was particularly inspired by anything, but rather that I just felt like I wanted to write something.

So the topic at hand is games. Specifically, I could say, video games. You've always been interested in electronic gizmos and gadgets, but it was a bit random and haphazard (how you handled things). Sure, you could use a touch screen to draw. And you could flip through pictures. You could even, through lots of random trying, start videos on the phone. But this was different.

Last night, out of lack of better thing to do at the time, I handed you my phone with one of the games I'd downloaded on it. It was a "memory" type card game, and looking at it I figured that at the very least you'd like the animal noises that one of the sets of cards made. Both me and your dad showed you how to find the two cards that matched. Pretty soon, you got the hang of it...and even won the game. You've gotten better and better, and tonight you did a couple of games on the phone all by yourself!

After that, I wondered if you would enjoy your MobiGo that you got for Christmas a little more. I pulled it out (it hadn't been touched for a few months) and looked for a game that you might handle. Luckily, you took pretty well to two of the games. One was matching shape outlines to blocks, and another was controlling a Buzz Lightyear to jump over things. It was so much fun to see you actually play with intention like that.

In some ways, I find it funny, since a lot of parents try to keep their kids from playing video games...and there might come a day where we might want you to do your homework or go outside and play instead. But for now, it's exciting...it gives you something else to do too!