Big Boy Haircut

Daniel is officially a big boy, not a baby: he got a buzz cut yesterday! Unfortunately, he did NOT enjoy the experience, and he let everyone in the salon know it! Cheerios and animal crackers did not work their magic; Danny threw them on the floor and shrieked until he turned bright red. Thank goodness Lillian (stylist to nearly all the men on Eric's side of the family) thinks he's cute! She's SO patient. It can't be easy to give such a good haircut to a screaming, squirming 14-month-old. Considering he's been finding it immensely interesting to smear food in his hair at every meal, I think short hair is warranted. I couldn't help but put gel in it to spike it up a little. He's my future rockstar, after all!

We think Danny is going through a big growth spurt. He's developing in all areas. He's definitely bigger and heavier (just ask my aching back!), even other family members feel the difference. He's also teething; I can see at least a couple teeth on the verge of poking through his swollen gums. And he is standing up a lot, pulling up on furniture, our legs, anything he can grab.

Daniel has added a few more signs to his sign language vocabulary, and is getting easier to understand. For example, the other day it was earlier than I would normally give him breakfast, but he was hungry. He made the sign for "eat," led me to the kitchen, and pointed to his high chair. When I said, "Oh I get it, you want to eat" and made the "eat" sign and then put him in his chair, he grinned really big like he was so excited that I understood what he wanted.

His verbal words are pretty much limited to "Mama," "Dada" and "Hi," but he's saying "Hi" a lot more often. Last week at a Weight Watchers meeting, I let him crawl around the big empty area behind the chairs. He crawled to the far side, then started waving to me and saying "Hi! Hi!" I took him to the park the next day, and he said "Hi" to all the ducks. Too cute!

Danny continues to be very social. He's the life of every family get-together. People put music on just to watch him dance. He really gets his arms going now, in addition to bouncing. And last week, his Gymboree music teacher said he's become the "mature one" in the class; he knows what to do, and he really gets into it! He also had a very fun playdate this weekend with my friend's 2 3/4 year-old daughter. And it's been great that we've been able to leave Danny with various grandparents for a few hours at a time. Eric and I actually went to lunch and a movie this afternoon! Daniel is a real angel for his grandparents. (Boy, does he have them fooled! LOL) But it is the best feeling to see his little face light up when he sees Mommy and Daddy have come home!

Here are some recent photos of Daniel, just generally being cute! As you can see, the first several are pre-haircut. Big difference, huh?