Daniel, you are now two years old! I can honestly say that this past year has been a great year with you. You’re so fun to be with, and I love watching you grow.
Here’s a little summary of the things you’ve been doing lately:
Speech – You talk all the time and speak in small phrases. You love learning new words and are willing to repeat it over and over until you know it. You’re all about things that move, and the bigger the better! Airplanes, cars, trucks, excavating equipment, tractors, trash trucks, buses, trains, and more. You will yell out these things when you see them. For example: “semi-truck,” box truck,” “pickup truck,” “race car,” “Jeep,” “helicopter,” “crane,” “front-end loader.”
You also love to talk about your people. Not just Mommy and Daddy, but also Uncle Benjamin, Grandpa, Grandma, Papa, Nene and your best buddy, Nolan. If you’d doing something, like going to bed, you’ll ask if they’re doing it as well. Each one, separately. And I reply, “Yes, son, Uncle Benjamin is going to bed.” And you go down the whole list of people. All of ‘em. Yep, they’re ALL going to bed, too. wink
Movement – You love to climb, run and jump. You’re great on the stairs – you’ll either climb up on hands and feet, or go down backwards unless someone is there to hold your hand. You’re still about one inch short of being able to hold the railing and walk down by yourself.
We go to the park often and one of your favorite things to do is to climb the rock wall. Initially, I wasn’t too sure about you doing that, but you’re actually quite focused and are getting pretty good at it.
You recently got a trampoline and you love to jump on it. Playing on it has definitely improved your jumping. Before, you’d jump and it basically looked like trotting – one foot off the ground and then the other. But now, both feet come off the ground. And you’ve gotten good at jumping (and landing) from up to a couple feet up.
Kid, you’ve also got quite the sense of humor. I remember the first time I realized it. We’d driven past a dump truck and you called it a trash truck. In a sing-song voice, I responded with, “No, not a trash truck!” You kept saying trash truck and I kept responding. About the fourth time, I looked back at you and you had the biggest smile on your face. You KNEW what it was, and you were teasing me.
You also pick up on Daddy and I are teasing each other, or you. And you’ll giggle and say, “Daddy/Mommy silly!” Your laugh is the sweetest sound.
One night recently we were sitting around the dinner table. I mentioned that ice cream sounded good, but we didn’t have any, and neither Daddy nor I wanted to go buy some. I jokingly asked you if you’d go to the store and buy me ice cream. You said, “yes!” We thought that was so cute. We laughed and moved on with finishing dinner. Shortly after, I was cleaning up the kitchen and you ran to the freezer saying, “ice cream.” “We don’t have any,” I said. Next thing I know, you’re asking Daddy to help you put on your shoes. “Why,” I asked? “Ice cream,” you said. Apparently, I still wasn’t understanding. Then, you run to the front door, opened it (which you never do) and said “truck!” At that point Daddy decided he better take you to the store. He said you repeated “Mommy, ice cream,” the whole way there and back.
We had some fun and and not-so-fun things happen this summer.
Starting with the not-so-fun: at the end of June you had a surprise five-day hospital stay at Cook Children’s. Early in the week I noticed you were not wanting to turn your head. You we getting over a cold from the week before, but I couldn’t see any other symptoms or figure out why you were favoring one side. On Friday morning, you woke with a fever and there was visible swelling in your neck. We went to the pediatrician, who immediately sent us to the hospital for a scan.
It was discovered that you had a bacterial infection in your neck – an abscess and cellulitis. The doctors immediately put you on antibiotics. They admitted you to the hospital and we were told to wait 48 hours to see if the antibiotics were working. If they did not work, it was likely you’d have to have surgery to remove the abscess. Thankfully, after the two days, it was obvious that the antibiotics were working. We had to stay three more days to ensure that all was healing well.
By the last two days, you were obviously improved and getting quite bored in your environment. Thankfully, the doctor allowed you to leave the room and we were able to roam around freely, visit the cafeteria (they had Chick-Fil-A!) and play in the ChildLife playroom. Within 2-3 days of returning home, you were acting completely normal. Which was good, because our family vacation was up next!
The week following your hospital stay we loaded up the truck and drove to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. We had rented a cabin for the week and were looking forward to a relaxing time together. After the events of the past two weeks, four days of nothing was just what we needed! We had lazy mornings, spent afternoons in the hot tub, went to the lake, did puzzles, read books, took naps and for dinner we grilled or went out to eat. It was by far the most relaxed vacation I’ve ever taken.
And finally, your second birthday. We didn’t plan a party, but we did have both sets of grandparents here for the week, so there were trips to the zoo and pumpkin patch. As well as a morning spent at our local festival and two birthday dinners! So basically, you had a birthday WEEK of fun!
I’m really looking forward to spending this holiday season with you. You’ve really gotten excited about pumpkins and I can’t wait to see what you do when you discover Christmas trees and snow!!
I sure love you, sweet boy.
XX Mommy
Weight: 28lb
Height: 35”