Christmas Kids

Another year at the Goff Christmas party proved to be even more fun than last year. Daniel got to see a lot of his friends and definitely played his little heart out. He loves getting to see other kids.

At last year's party Daniel and his friends were only about 3-4 months old and basically just sat around, drooled, and looked cute. This time they were now walking, learning to "share" and "be gentle", still drooled, and still looked cute. We loved it!

Christmas + New Toys + Friends + Limited Napping = FUN FOR EVERYONE!

Daniel's friend, Cora, graciously shows him how to use her new wagon.

Daniel got a little too enamored with the wagon so Cora decided he needed to cool off on the floor.

Cora decided that the boys had behaved themselves long enough that they could now use her wagon. Here, Daniel pulls his friend Nick around the house.

Cora and her Mommy and Daddy, Tom and Erinn, gave Daniel a very nice Jack-in-the-Box. Daniel and Cora get instructions on proper operation of the device from Erinn. They have no idea what's about to come...hehehe.

The most anticipated moment of the Goff Christmas party in the kid picture. This is the picture from last year; peaceful, beautiful, well behaved children doing exactly what their parents have politely asked of them. It took about 3-4 takes to get this picture last year. We're posting it as comparison to this year's photo shoot...which took over 18 shots with no identifiable success picture...enjoy:)

The moms and dads knew they had to act fast. Strategy: Place the children quickly, run away, and take a picture before anyone was the wiser. We underestimated how quickly the situation would deteriorate. Within milliseconds of putting Daniel on the couch he decided to show his friend Nick the backside of his hand. Notice Cora is a little angel. Things went downhill from here. Note: keep in mind that behind the camera are half a dozen moms, dads, and friends desperately attempting to get the kids' attention.

Nick politely voices his displeasure with Daniel's behavior as Daniel goes in for round two. Notice Cora is still an angel.

Nick makes a break for Dad. Daniel is close behind. Cora is still an angel.

Now Cora gets into the mix. The hand to the right is that of a desperate parent attempting to prevent futher meltdown.

Nick decides to give the picture a second chance but prefers to stand on his head. Daniel is attempting to dive off the couch. Cora wants her mommy.

Daniel takes great pleasure in having successfully brought anarchy to the situation.

Take 7. Nick is now diving off the couch, Cora is attempting to cooperate, and Daniel has been distracted by a light.

Daniel reconciles with Nick while Cora gets a pep talk from daddy.

Uh oh. It's a trap! Sorry, Nick!

Now everyone is distracted by the light. If they all gather by the light, perhaps they can all be turned around quickly for the picture.

No. Turning around leads to more chaos and falling.

With the light strategy having failed, it was decided to turn it off. Nick, distracted by something behind the couch, is oblivious to the fight breaking out between Cora and Daniel. Cora's daddy steps in to referee.

Desperate again, the light is turned on to end the fight. All is forgiven and forgotten.

A group hug is definitely in order. However, Daniel doesn't realize that you hug around a person's shoulder and NOT the neck.

Take 15. The group hug has fallen apart and Daniel now tries to kiss Cora (definitely not ok with Cora's daddy). Nick is disgusted.

Apparently this is just funny to Daniel.

The children grow tired of this "game" with all the moms and dads and make a break for it.

And then the heavens opened and an angel of the Lord appeared to the parents and said, "Do not be afraid. For today a picture will be taken, and there shall be peace."

But just in case the angel was wrong, the group decided to send in the Moms. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, the children cooperated.

(L to R)

Ashley and Nick, Michele and Daniel, Erinn and Cora, Heather and Caitlin.

The Big Snow

Everyone in Western Washington had their hands full with the snow this past week. Even at Greenlake (164 feet above sea level) we had almost 8" of snow.

Dad borrows Mom's sewing ruler to take some quick scientific snow measurements.

It snowed all day and all night.

Daniel was pretty excited to see the snow. And no, we don't let him do this...unless it makes for good photography.

The next day. A winter wonderland!

Looking out towards Greenlake.

Looking north.

Dad took the opportunity to build Daniel a snowman...with no arms, a disproportionally shaped head, and one giant torso. But we love him:)

Daniel was impressed.

The snowman provided Daniel with an ideal perch to survey the land. (And yes, Daddy is just off screen to the left).

Daddy also got pretty excited about showing off his snowball throwing arm and "laser accuracy".

"Snowy" The Christmas Tree

Daniel went with Daddy and Mommy to get a Christmas tree last week. It was all smiles when we happened upon "Snowy". Overlooked by hundreds of stressed-out Christmas tree shoppers, Snowy was stuffed in the back with some old twine piled on top of him. But underneath that twiney exterior there was a beautiful, proportional, 7' Christmas tree. And since it was in the $29 pile, Daddy was extra happy.

Discovered! Snowy is found!

"Wow. Nice job decorating the tree, Mom and Dad. Mind if I look at some of these ornaments?"

Daniel locates the weakest structural point of this wooden ornament before breaking it.

New Things

Daniel has been discovering some new things around the house to play with lately...

I'm sure mommy would love some help in the kitchen!

Are these my size?

Suddenly, the sunglasses Daniel refused to wear all summer are silly to play with.

It's going to be one cool Christmas...

Words

With each new day Daniel gets better at saying his words. He's been saying things here and there for the past month or so but now he's really starting to be able to repeat things unprompted. However, we don't think he fully understands what the word means that he's saying. Or, he believes that one word can be used to respond or converse regardless of the context. For example:

Chris: Daniel, are you still hungry?

Daniel: No, no, no. (grabs food and puts it in his mouth).

C: Then you're all done?

D: No, no, no. (pulls on bib to try to indicate he's all done)

C: Are you all done? (Chris signs "all done")

D: No, no, no.

C: Are you just saying "No" to say "No"?

D: (silence, puts more food in his mouth, pulls on bib)

C: (confused)

Then there's my personal favorite.

Daniel likes to grab everything (no surprise) and then throw it on the ground (no surprise, again), tip it over, or put it in a bag and carry it around. Obviously, this kind of behavior becomes a problem when he grabs things he's not supposed to...like the locked garbage can in the kitchen.

If Daniel attempts to touch something he's not supposed to he's told, "No, Daniel. No, thank you."

Apparently we say this often enough that now, whenever he passes by one of the "don't touch" things in our house, he stops, turns and looks at it, and says "No, no, no.", and walks away.

We can't tell if he's reminding himself not to touch it or its some kind of learned response...