Welcome to the Daniel G. Show: School, potatoes, The Wiggles, and more

Daniel is changing so quickly, and doing so many cute things, it's hard to keep up with the blog. I kind of wish we had surveillance cameras all over the house to capture everything he does, except, of course, that would be totally creepy.

Much to our relief, Danny is LOVING daycare (aka "school"). In the morning when we ask him, "Are you ready to go to school?" he gets a big grin on his face, nods his head "yes," and points to the front door. He's all smiles when Eric takes him out of his carseat and hands him over to one of the teachers. Last week they told me that Daniel loves the one infant they have there, and is always giving him hugs, and he likes to hug the teachers, too. When I pick him up in the afternoon, I like to watch him a little bit before he sees me; it's fun to see him play. Then when he does see me, he gets a huge smile on his face, and walks over to me (with that drunken sailor toddler walk) with his arms outstretched for me to pick him up. Melts me every time! (Kind of like the popsicle he was eating when I picked him up today melted all over both of us. Did I mention how much laundry this child creates?)

Danny and I usually do something fun together before Eric gets home. One day we went to the mall to ride the big carousel, but at three bucks a pop, we won't be doing that every day! Last week we went to the park. Daniel likes the swings. But the slide? No way, man! Even when we watched another little boy (about 3 years old) having a great time on the slide, Danny wanted nothing to do with it. I asked him a few times if he wanted to try it with me holdng onto him, and every time he shook his head vehemently "no," with a look that said "Not on your life, woman!"

Sometimes we go to the grocery store or Target. Daniel is actually very good in stores. (Thank God!) Yesterday, we went grocery shopping, and Danny really, really wanted to hold the bag of potatoes. He hugged those potatoes close to him like they were his blankie. When we got to the checkout, I asked Danny if I could put the potatoes on the counter, and he shook his head "no," holding the bag even closer. Finally, when everything else was on the counter, Danny put his potatoes up there himself. Then he put his sippy cup up there for good measure, and looked very pleased with himself!

I think I mentioned in my last post that Daniel has learned to shake his head "yes" and "no." Well, this has made it a lot easier to find out exactly what he wants. He can use sign language to tell us he's hungry, but he only knows a few signs for specific foods. So now we ask him, "Do you want a banana? Cheese? Blueberries? Cheerios?" until he nods "yes."

Slightly off-topic: Daniel now wants to peel bananas himself. I just start it, and he peels the rest and practically eats it like a grown-up. I also discovered yesterday that he likes canteloupe, when he insisted on eating mine. But I digress...

The other day, he was crying and crying, and we couldn't figure out what he wanted. I asked, "Are you hungry?" "No." "Are you thirsty?" "No." You get the picture. Finally, I asked, "Do you want to watch TV?" No more crying! Danny gave me a big head nod "yes" (complete with ear-to-ear grin), and we went and watched The Wiggles. (Did I mention we are all addicted to The Wiggles?) If it's been more than 15 years since you've had a little kid in the house, you may need to Google them. They are the Beatles of the toddler set. Eric and I walk around singing Wiggles songs all day. It's frightening.

Well, that's all for now. Here are some pics:

With Elmo backpack from Grandma Jeanie & Grandpa Bernie