Daniel and Amelia on a New Year’s Day walk after church.  They are best buddies right now.  Daniel loves playing with someone big, and Amelia loves being the boss for once.

Daniel turned 3!  He is really into Charlie Brown right now.  All the kids are.

Michael is everywhere.  Quite the climber, cruising a lot, and starting to stand by himself.  And trying to mimic the sounds we all make.  Super cute!

 Богородица

When he is with me, he doesn’t stop talking.  He asks questions about everything.  All the time.  He always wants to know what we are doing next, what’s after lunch, what’s after nap, what’s after snack, what’s tomorrow and next week.  I think with my first child if they said something incorrectly, I would correct them or wish they said it correctly.  But I don’t want Daniel to ever change!  I love that I still can’t understand some things he says.  I love that he has his own accent.  Like saying “five” more like “foh-aive”.

I love that he loves Charlie Brown lately.  We have a Thanksgiving Charlie Brown show that the kids watched last month.  Now they watched the Christmas one and Daniel just loves Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

And, a product of having two older sisters and a mom, he loves to put on lotion and put mousse in his hair.  He saw me put a towel on my head this way, so he had to do it, too.

He has had way too much experience in the kitchen, but I kind of almost trust him now to not touch hot things now.  He just has to be there to help cook and see what is going on, and how we are doing it.  

I remember when Daniel was born the first time I saw him I just thought he was perfect.  It was a very special bond, different from my daughters.  Now when I see the pictures of him those first few minutes, he looks terrible!  I remember it so differently that it always surprises me to see the pictures.  He came about 51 weeks early.  A year before we had planned, but a week after the due date!

We realized today that he is the third Daniel – his grandfather and great-grandfather on my side are Daniels.  He is the third Clayton (his middle name) – his dad and grandfather have Clayton.  And he is our third child!  And he will turn three two weeks after Christmas.  His present to me will be getting potty trained – I hope!