Little Things I Love About Dani

Besides EVERYTHING, here are a few of my favorite moments with her:

• When she gets so excited that she grabs a toy and just screams at it as loudly as she can


• How she smiles these big, gaping goofy grins


• That she always smells so sweet


• How those grins look like she is trying to laugh but no sound comes out


• How she loves to snuggle with your face


• When she tries to bite my face and slobbers all over my cheek excitedly


• How she intently and carefully reaches out to grab something, willing her difficult to control limbs to do what she wants them to


• How easily she smiles


• How she greets me with one of her big grins everytime I run into the room


• When she is finished eating, even though she isn't done with her bottle and looks at me and gives me this little stinker grin, as if to say, "You know I'm not eating anymore, right?"


• How she furrows her brow when presented with a strange or new situation


• How alert and in tune with sounds and people talking


• How she grabs my ring and index fingers as she drinks her nighttime bottle and falls asleep in my arms


• How lately, when drinking her nighttime bottle, she grips one finger and uses her other hand to grab my face.


• EVERYTHING

Hanging Out

Tummy Time!

Jack wants to get in on the Tummy Time too!

Dani can roll over from back to front like a pro now. In fact, it's sometimes almost like a reflex when you put her on her back. She often just can't help herself. She'll flip over and then whine because she didn't really want to be on her tummy, she just wanted to do the whole rolling over thing. I wonder if she'll just keep rolling around to get places when she figures out how to get from her front to her back?

Time for Rice Cereal

First try--Yucky!

Second attempt--Much better!

Happy Dani

Dani loves her Exersaucer!

Dani moved on to rice cereal this week. The first time, she did not enjoy it much. Then she decided that she thought it interesting. Now she screams happily until she gets some in her mouth. Why she likes it so much is beyond me--she spits so much out she can't swallow much. But I guess it's not terribly shocking that this girl likes to eat! Up next--T-bone!

Welcome to the Terrible Twos

So, I didn't believe that the Terrible Twos were going to happen to Jack. From the moment he was born, he has been the easiest, most agreeable and fun kid. And he still is but sometimes he just turns into this little mutant that I have never seen before. This MUST be the Terrible Twos.

He hates it if something doesn't go his way and starts whining and throwing things almost immediately. For example, the other day, he dropped a brown M&M on the floor. He started to whine. I said, "Jack, it's okay. Here's another one." Nope. He couldn't handle that the one was on the floor and I wouldn't get that particular one for him. It didn't matter that I was offering him another brown one. He threw his bowl (his favorite way to object is by throwing things) and the remaining was immediately removed from the table amidst even louder crying. I couldn't believe it. I mean a BROWN M&M. I would understand it more if it was one of the cool colors like a green. Then the other day, he wanted to "do stickers". This involves peeling stickers and sticking them onto paper in no discerning order or pattern. I let him pick out the stickers but when I would only give him one sheet and not hand him the entire pack, it was Meltdown City.

His tantrum throwing is annoying enough but couple it with the fact that sometimes everything is going great and he freaks out about something that he doesn't like and you have no idea what it is because everything was going his way. It's like he decided that he wanted me to say something or move a certain way and because I didn't read his mind, he throws a tantrum. It's really super fun.

Oh and he also sometimes doesn't like it if you touch, talk to or even look at his sister. Sometimes you can do it but other times it's a big no-no in Jack-Land. So we are now living with Mount Saint Jack, never quite knowing when he's going to blow his top.

However, even though he has been less amusing than usual as of late, there are still some gems in the last few days:

• I got home from work yesterday and we were playing ball. He then decided to race into my arms. On the way there, he jumped and gave me a Charlie Horse on my thigh. "Owwwww!" I said as I rolled onto my back clutching my leg. He turned to me and said, "Are you okay?" When I said yes, I got up and we did it again. This time I caught him and didn't fall backwards in pain. He looked at me and said, "Now fall down!" After I did what I was told, he said, "Now get up." Jack likes being the Puppet Master.

• Yesterday as he was running around, I noticed that his diaper was hanging low. So we had this conversation:

Me: Jack, let's change your diaper.

Jack: Noooooooo! (insert whining here)

Me: You can run a lot faster if you have a new diaper.

Jack: I don't think so. No ca-ca!

• Yesterday he also started to throw a tantrum over something silly. He went over to his blocks to begin to throw them. He grabbed three and half threw them back to the floor. When I yelled at him. He looked at the blocks and said, "Go have a blocks" which in Jackspeak means "Let's play with blocks." He was trying to scam me already, acting like he wasn't throwing them, that he just wanted to play with them.

More Recent Photos

My happy girl

Paul just told her a joke.

My little man

We decided right after this that he needed a haircut!

Dani's 4 Month Stats

Today was Dani's 4 month checkup, even though she is technically 4 1/2 months old. Weight: 17.8 lbs (97th percentile) Height: 25.5 in. (82nd percentile) Head: 88th percentile So, from this information and the doctor visit, we have learned a few things. 1) She is a big kid. 2) She is tall. 3) Unlike Jack, she does not have a puny head. 4) She's very strong. The doctor said that, from a physical development standpoint, she's the equivalent of a 6 month old. (The same goes for her size!) 5) She's perfect. (But we didn't need a doctor to tell us that one!)

How to Train Your Dragon

Dani is now sturdy enough to go in her Exersaucer. Sometimes she gets overwhelmed with all the stimuli and starts crying, however until that happens, she loves hanging out there, "standing" and playing with all the toys that surround her. Lately she seems to really be preoccupied with the attached hand puppet that is a dragon. She grabs it with both hands and screams excitedly in it's face. I can't tell if she loves it or hates him but it sure is fun to watch!