A little about Daniel

I thought I'd share a bit about Daniel. He has grown up a lot since I said much about him (I usually just post pictures). I think the two words that best describe Daniel is precise and loving.

He is very particular about everything he does. He prefers to do things right or not do them at all. If he gets dirty at all, he immediately wants to be cleaned up. Sometimes when I hear him really frustrated I run to see if something is wrong, but usually it is just that he is trying to do something and it isn't working how he wants it to. I cannot say whether this quality is good or bad. I think it has some good aspects and some bad ones. He is going to have to learn to deal with less than perfection because you won't find it here in this world in the state it is in right now.

Daniel is extremely loving! He is so sweet! He says thank you after I do anything for him. He likes to be close to me all of the time and is very snuggly and loving. But he is not only loving with me and Ben, he is also very sweet with the kids at Nursery (the class at church for kids ages 18mo. to 3yrs). The other day when a little boy was crying for his mommy Daniel went over to him, gave him a hug, and held his hand until he was happy enough to play with the kids. I heard this from the Nursery teachers. Also, the other day I was substituting in Nursery and ended up holding a little boy who was there for the first time. He cried most of the time, and I did my best to make him happy. While we were having snacks, Daniel came over and played peek-a-boo with the boy, which helped him to stop crying. Daniel is so thoughtful about those around him. I have been told that Ben has always been this way - taking people under his wing who needed a friend.

Daniel also is learning A LOT! He can't talk a lot, but I am finding other ways to test his knowledge. Most of the time when I try to read to him he gets annoyed and just wants to point at things and I tell him what it is. Sometimes he will point at it several times until I finally realize that he wants more information about that thing (like its color or shape, etc.). For a while I was kind of annoyed that I could never read to him for more than a few minutes, but now I realize that he is really retaining the knowledge of the things he points to. I will ask him to point to different colors and he knows which one is which. He knows some of his shapes like square, circle, and star. He knows lots and lots of animals, mostly farm and jungle animals. Until about a week ago, I didn't realize that he knows so much, and he really seems to enjoy it when I test his knowledge. We are teaching him the sounds to the letters and how to count. Daniel also enjoys singing the Primary songs like "Once there was a snow man," "Popcorn popping on the apricot tree," and "If you're happy and you know it."

I guess as a summary, I have really been enjoying being Daniel's mommy - teaching him, and seeing him learn. It's more exciting than any other job I could have.