Daniel advice

Daniel has been developing the habit of giving us "advice" before we leave for work. Some of his "advice" has recently turned foreboding. For example, he's literally said,

"Bye Mommy...be a good girl."

"Have a good day at work Daddy...(pause)...don't fall down..."

"Bye Mommy, have a good day at work...(pause)...make good choices..."

Just Matthew

We know, we know, most of our posts seem to be about Daniel. So here's one of just Matthew. Matthew is now 8 months old (!) and on the verge of lots of things. He isn't "crawling" per se, but pivots and rolls and can basically get to where he wants to be. He's been found a few times standing in his crib...

He has 5 teeth and LOVES to eat. We've found only a few things so far that he doesn't really like, but for the most part, he'll eat till there physically isn't room left in his belly (which isn't pretty...). He also likes to whistle, and if we're lucky, we'll get it on on video and post it. In the meantime, here are some of our favorite recent photos of Matthew:

A fuzzy picture of Matthew performing his tongue trick.

New toys from Grammy and Grampy!

Just sitting here. Everything's fine.

On the move.

If you look closely, you'll see the tip of Matthew's head and his feet. Photo courtesy of Daniel.

Cold outside, but warm in my bunting and hat!

"Surprise!"

Bathtime. (Ok, so Daniel snuck his way into the post, but the picture was too cute to leave out. Plus, Matthew is really starting to enjoy bathtime--especially splashing.)

Trying on a hat from Grandma. (There's that tongue again!)

Post-bath snuggles with Auntie Laura. (This kid clearly doesn't eat enough...)

Spelling

Tonight, Daniel spontaneously started spelling "America" off of one of Michele's cookbooks. He did it perfectly.

We congratulated him, naturally, then this...

Daniel: " 'America' has two 'As' in it."

Chris: "That's right Daniel, good job!"

Daniel: "Ya, it also has a lot of 'Ks'."

Ooooo, so close. Good thing the Spelling Bee is about 5 years away.

Daniel's Take on Groundhog Day

We have a magnetic calendar where there are magnets specific to differenet holidays throughout the year. Today being Groundhog Day, Daniel had lots of questions about the groundhog magnet and what we "celebrate" today. After a few times of telling the shadow/no shadow story, Daniel created his own version of the story.

According to Daniel, on Groundhog Day the groundhog "pops up out of his hole, waves a flag and says 'ten more days of Easter, one more week of men, and one more week of fall!' "

I like the flag part (it's festive!), but I'm a little concerned about the one more week of men...

Christmas

Belated, as usual, but here are some pictures from Christmas.

Daddy and Daniel cut down the Christmas tree at a very rainy tree farm.

All of the kiddos at the Goff Christmas party.


Auntie Laura and Daniel making cookies for Santa.

Christmas Eve Mass.

Christmas morning feet in socks knitted by Grandma.

(Daddy, Matthew, Daniel, Mommy and Auntie Laura)

Matthew was pretty happy about the presents.

Daniel had a very musically-themed Christmas. The saxophone was an instant favorite.



Matthew and his very own Teddy.

Merry Christmas!

non sequitur

At dinner Michele and I usually go over our day, and Daniel sometimes chimes in with what he's been up to.

Today, Michele finished explaining a new piece of the research project she's been working on when Daniel, not wanting to be left out of the grown-up talk, popped into the conversation with this:

"I watched Bob the Builder a couple days ago."


Note: For those of you who don't know, Bob the Builder is a children's show.

Daniel Box Boy

YUM!

Matthew started eating "solids" a little while ago. He is a much better eater than Daniel was, already pulling the spoon into his mouth (which makes him a much messier eater than Daniel was). He also hasn't met a food he doesn't like. Here he is after enjoying some yummy butternut squash.

Urgent coloring update

Daniel has lost interest in the "ink pencils" and we've gotten out the chalkboard instead. He's been coloring by himself for a few minutes, but then came running into the room yelling "Mom! Come quick! I drew a rainbow!"

Ink Pencils

are what Daniel calls pens.