Dani 34 Months

Dani is SO much fun these days. She always surprises me with how creative she is in her play. She entertains herself with the most random of objects and entertains me in the process too.

Last Sunday while waiting for church to start and me to finish my preparation for Primary, she took a piece of paper and rolled it like a scroll and pretended it was a "telescope" and she "searched for treasure" and eventually found it, it was a bunch of cookies which she then pretended to eat.

She drags James' toys into her room and plays with them there. She made his play mat into a tent by putting blankets over the top. She loves his wubbunub and makes sure he has it whenever we leave saying, "Awww here's your wubbunub".

Yesterday her toy truck was "stuck in a ditch" (James' bouncer) and she had to "pull it out with a rope" (the vacuum cord).

She was very proud of her gingerbread house she made with grandma a couple weeks ago and after looking at it for a few minutes said "My gingerbread house is almost as big as our condo". Trent and I broke out laughing because it was hard to hold back. This was the first time Dani was a little shy at our laughing so we had to try and help her feel better.

She believes all songs tell stories. She will often ask us what a song is about while we're listening to it in the car. Her made up songs are just a string of phrases that make up a story. Here are some of the phrases I was able to make out in her song I recorded about baby Jesus.

"The baby Jesus", "The Angels give him ___", "Because Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus lived happily ever after. That morning they woke up and they lay in his bed. They couldn't sleep", "they found the truth", "and after that as a child singing all around, all around, all around, all around, all around, all around" (repeats for a while). "She got up in the music" "That could be the problem." After that they went home and took a shower. They had gone so long."

She is now reading Disney "Step Into Reading" books that my parents got her. I'm amazed that she is able to read Step 1 books all by herself and Step 2 books with a little help until she learns the book. She has an easier time reading the books that have a plot line to follow than just describing the page, such as Cars "The Spooky Sound". She LOVES to read and even reads to her baby brother.

Dani is very good with her baby brother. She loves to teach him, play with him and read to him. The other day she was so excited to teach James signs. She grabbed his toys one by one and asked me to show her the signs so she could teach them to him. We worked on "ball", "book", "bird" and "elephant".

It's so fun to see her grow. She is such a sweet and fun little girl!