Pinball

Dani is crazy. This child is in CONSTANT motion. She's fast and is literally bouncing about the house, grabbing at everything she can. She is a trouble detector, able to sniff out anything she isn't supposed to have. In a room full of exciting, colorful toys, Dani will try to remove the cover from the outlet. Instead of pushing a car along the ground, she tries to eat a whole Duplo block. She finds your full cup of water on the counter more fascinating than any book. (Jack always says, "Dani is destructive." and we call her the "Danisaur".) She'd rather run as fast as she can, out of control, occasionally bopping into multiple pieces of furniture than sit in your lap and relax. She's all energy 12/7 (she sleeps and naps well.).

There is no halfway with Dani. If she's in, she's all in. We keep telling ourselves that this is going to be a fabulous attribute in any future endeavors but right now, we're exhausted. I actually need to start watching what I eat because the way I chase her constantly, I would drop weight pretty fast. Maybe we'll offer Dani memberships where you can pay us, chase her around for an hour, and stay fit. It would be cheaper than Lifetime and we'd make a few extra bucks. Or better yet, we'll pay YOU so we can just get one brief moment's rest.

Despite the exhaustion that the craziness that is Dani brings, it also brings us unbelieveable joy. She is so incredibly happy. Her face just doesn't seem big enough to hold her smile. She's funny and is now starting to realize that she can make us laugh. Lately, she has been fake laughing, trying to get a response from us. She loves to dance, stomping her little feet furiously and laughing. Incidentally, this is also the first indication of a temper tantrum (this foot stomping, however, is not followed by laughing. It's followed by whining and ends with her laying herself out on the floor. ). She is getting better at words. She says, daddy (da-da), more (moh!), ball (ah-bahhhh), kitty (di-deee), bye (buh-bah, accompanied by an adorable opening and closing of her little hand), hi (haaaaaaaa!), Bubble Guppies (bah guh), Elmo (ehhh moe), Thank you (deaaaaaa!). She also repeats well--Jack (gaaaaa), Mommy (meeee-meeeee), baby (Bay-beeeeee).

She's getting better at engaging with toys rather than just trying to eat them (though she sometimes still tries.) She still uses her hair as a napkin and has just started to stick her finger up her nose. It took me a day to realize she was doing this purely for effect, to get our attention. She still has the bad habit of picking up anything off of the floor and putting it into her mouth. But now she has added a cute little trick. When she does it and you catch her, she looks at you, wide-eyed, like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, turns around as fast as she can and runs away from you. It's pretty hilarious.

She's also upping the sweet quotient. She gives kisses when you ask her, which is nice because she rarely does anything you ask her to. The are big, open mouthed kisses that are adorable now but she really does need to work on them. She also gives fantastic hugs. The last couple of days she has been hugging me tight and then pulling back to look me in the face with this look like, "What did you think of that? That was pretty good, huh?" Then when you smile or laugh, she smiles back and hugs tighter. Her little game goes on and on like this and I never stop it--it's too adorable.

She definitely keeps us on our toes and brings us endless joy. I hope she always is as happy and joyful as she is now. It's hard to believe that I was once actually afraid that I couldn't love a second child as much as I loved my first. It's impossible to believe that I once thought there could be no child on Earth as cute as Jack. And I certainly didn't think my heart was big enough to hold this much love. But little, determined Dani has proven me wrong on every count.

She's adorable. She's unbelievably strong willed. She's funny. She's nuts. She's destructive. She's sweet. She's fiesty. She's opinionated. She's happy. She's our Dani and she's perfect in every way.