What are Shoes For?

Drinking from a cup

A few weeks ago, I found Dani walking around pretending to drink from a cup. So, I decided to give her a little water to practice drinking from a cup for real. She did quite well I think. We just need to practice a little more.

Birthday Cake

Dani's first birthday was a little different than most people expect for a one year old. Her presents stayed out for the whole day untouched (at least those that were wrapped). She was not all that excited about ripping paper. She was somewhat disturbed every time we tried to sing happy birthday to her.

And then, there is the cake. Dani is not a big eater. In fact, I made some cup cakes with a white cake mix and jello to have with a few adult friends before her birthday, and she just spit it out as if I was trying to give her medicine. Needless to say, I'm not going to force her to eat cake, but this was a surprise. So, for her actual birthday I tried a chocolate cake with a fudgy center. She at least had more than the cupcakes. Here is the video of the entire "eating" of her cake.

Nana's Visit

We were very lucky to have Nana come visit for Dani's birthday. Nana was a big help taking care of Jackson and Dani so I could drop Trent off and take the car. We were then able to go to the zoo together after nap time. Nana showed Dani the elephants. If you look close at the picture below, they are both making the "elephant sound". We had LOTS of fun together. Thank you for visiting Nana!

Walks

Last Tuesday Daniella learned that she could request a walk by bringing her socks, then shoes to her Daddy and then pointing at our key hooks and saying "Tees" (aka Keys). We were so awed at the cuteness of her learning this new trick that we took her on a nice long walk. We decided to try swinging her by her arms (holding onto her elbows for support). In preparation for this we would count to three and then say "wee" as we swung her into the air. We wondered if she would help count to three, but instead she just started to say "wee". The entire way home she tilted her head up towards the sky as if she was swinging herself and said "wee" requesting a repeat performance. After her bath that evening I talked to her about the walk and mentioned how she swung into the air and said "wee". She looked at me with the sweetest tone of remembrance and said with a breathy sigh "wee".

Wednesday, I asked Dani if she wanted to go for a walk with the stroller and then went to the other room to grab some socks. I heard a crash and came back to find that Dani tried to get the stroller for me, but it had toppled on top of her. Luckily it is a light stroller and she did not get hurt badly.

Friday Dani decided to escalate her request for a walk by bringing Trent his shoes. They may not have been a matching pair, but there was at least a left and a right shoe present. So he went on the walk with mismatching shoes to humor her.

Dani does not mind me playing with her hair if she can watch her TV show. While she was watching Backyardigans over the weekend a song came up that starts with "Wee! Wee!" as they are flying down a zip line. Dani got very excited at this and even sang along "Wee!" because of recently learning this word.

First Birthday Party

We didn't hold a birthday party for Dani this year, but she was able to go a friend's first birthday party a couple weeks before her own birthday. It was a blast! She was able to try watermelon for the first time, and chicken nuggets. They also had grapes, which is still one of her favorite foods. We tried a party hat on her.

She quickly tried to remove the hat.

The party was held at the park, which was a wonderful idea since everyone was easily entertained.

Dani somewhat enjoyed the swing with Dad, but she was not a fan of going on the swing by herself.

She was not sure about the playground.

The fire truck was okay for a little while.

Her favorite part of the party was just walking around playing with her shirt. Here it looks like she is on a mission.

She really liked to point out things on her shirt.

She also enjoyed the large amount of wind (which would blow drink cups off the table while they were still partially filled).

Daniella was exhausted by the end.

Overall, the party was super fun! Perhaps next year we will try to have a party for Dani with her friends. Thanks Oscar (and especially your parents) for having a great party!

Dani Shopping

Daniella LOVES the grocery store! We just have to make sure she doesn't run anyone over.

First hair cut

About a week ago, I decided to finally cut Daniella's "mullet". I just wanted to even out her layers by bringing up the bottom layer so that her hair looked more full. Here are before and after pics.

I'm grateful for curls that hide any minor differences in length. I cut about an inch off total. Before I cut it, I placed a rubberband around the bottom so that I can show her the dark tips she was born with and the light roots that grew in. Other than cutting off the tiny ponytail and straightening the rest, I left it alone. Any ideas on how to store her little ponytail? I wonder if I can find a way to integrate it in a scrapbook.

All I want is my two front teeth

For nearly two months now Dani has had her two lateral incisors and no top middle teeth. Her "two front teeth" are now coming in. Here is the best pic we were able to get of them. You may have to zoom in to see them, but they are there.

Birthday Dinner

It has been difficult lately to get Daniella to be herself on camera, because every time she sees it she wants to see videos of herself. So during Daniella's birthday dinner Trent set the camera on the table and just let it record for a few minutes. You will be able to see a couple of Daniella's new quirks.

1. She will not eat at the table unless she has a fork in her hand (though she only pretends to pick up food with it)
2. She is fascinated by her belly button, to the point that she is about to grab something to eat, but gets distracted by her belly button.

Spinning

Here is Dani's latest dancing styles. She sure loves to spin!

Something's Cooking

I have noted on many occasions that Dani puts her baby wherever baby Jackson has been that day. She puts her in the swing, the carseat, the bumbo chair etc. But this one really surprised me . . .

I promise baby Jackson has NEVER been there!

Rock-a-bye Jackson

Every morning when Jackson comes, Dani loves to rock Jackson in his carseat while I sing "Rock-a-bye Baby".

Happy Birthday

Dani's cake was a chocolate bundt cake with a fudgy center and topping. I was a little nervous about making a bundt cake since I've never made one before, but it turned out just fine.

Here is a picture of her gifts as she greeted them the morning of her birthday. She didn't seem to notice that the bags and boxes were there, but she pushed the chairs and table all around apartment and played with the kitchen from Nana and Papa.

Dani enjoyed walking around the apartment with her tights in her hands.

" Boo! "

Dani does not like to rip paper. I can give her a pop up book to play with by herself and she will not tear it. She has only torn books (about 1cm each time) twice in her life and at least one was a complete accident. She tends to open presents like I always have, but breaking the tape.

We should have picked a different present to start with because the first present Dani opened, was the one present she could not put down. So, opening the rest of the presents became a chore.

New books from Mom and Dad.

New outfits from Mom and Dad.

Yes, she is after the phone again.

Uncle Jeffy did a great job picking out the princess pajamas!

We hid the Elmo phone behind me so that it would not distract her from opening the presents, but she just stood up, walked around the table and chairs and peeked behind me so that she could see it. She then indicated that she wanted the phone back. So then we tried to be creative and re wrap the phone under the other presents. She at least looked more interested in opening the present.




At first she wasn't too thrilled with the adorable outfits I was putting on her . . .
But, after a while she decided they would but fun to show off to Daddy too.

Valentines Day

Daniella's first Valentines Day she awoke to receive a gift from Daddy of a plush tiger holding a plush heart and yogurt melts. She was most excited about the yogurt melts and ate as many as she could before she got dressed.

We then went to take pictures outside just for fun and got a few fun shots with the rose she received from Daddy. That evening Daniella felt a little warm so we gave her some Tylenol and that seemed to help. We new she was teething and wondered if her fever was because of her teething. She fell asleep without trouble, but woke up just after midnight with a fever over 103. We gave her more Tylenol and waited to see if it would go down. It did not go down by much and we debated whether to take her in to the ER since our insurance does not cover any urgent care facilities. Since it was a Holiday weekend, and we were not sure if the doctor's office would be open on Monday, we decided to take her in to get certain tests. They eventually sent us home around 5AM with the instructions to alternate Tylenol and Motrin to keep her fever down and wait for the test results. Even with the Tylenol and Motrin, her fever was up to 104.4 soon after we got home. Two days later, we finally got the test results and antibiotics and her fever finally broke. Poor baby! She was pretty miserable! She now HATES diaper changes, and doesn't trust us when we try to feed her.

Doctor Appointment

Daniella had her 12 month doctor appointment last week. She takes after her dad and is tall and skinny. She weighed almost 20 lbs (25th percentile) and was 31.5 inches tall (95th perecentile). She lost a few ounces since she was sick a couple weeks earlier.

We are now trying to get her to eat more, and to eat a larger variety of foods.
Dani has recently discovered her belly button. If her shirt is off, she has to touch it. Every time she touches her belly button her tongue comes out. We have to watch her now when she wears certain outfits in public, because she sometimes gets the urge to pull up her shirt or dress just to make sure her belly button is still there.

Braid

Daniella's hair is now long enough to braid the top. Such fun!

Updating blog

Many people have noticed that I generally blog in spurts. I have just completed a few entries, but instead of placing them in order of occurence and releasing them all at once, I have decided to schedule them one day at a time. They are in no particular order. There are still more I need to write. I just thought it would be fun to spread the fun out for those who check my blog regularly. I may eventually change their dates after they have been up for a while to make them chronologically correct, but that is only if I feel it is worth the time.

Happy reading!

Daddy's shoes

Daniella has discovered a new "toy". At first it was fun to just carry them around by the laces as if she caught a big fish

Then it was fun to place the laces inside the vessel and then outside the vessel and repeat. This "toy" is on the same level as her dolls in that it is allowed to sit on her chairs.

She loves to hide things and this is the perfect vessel to start hiding new favorite things. . . What to put in it? A toy french fry, or maybe a sippy cup, or a toy spoon.

As we were getting ready to leave the apartment today, Daniella threw a mini tantrum because Daddy stole her new "toys" and put them on his feet. She tried very hard to pull them off of his feet by the laces, but to no avail. She was NOT happy about this but we made it up to her by going to the store.