Diary of Daniel

Nick took the kids to sweet berry farms today. Danny got his face painted with a ghost.
Danny has an orange t-shirt with a glow-in-the dark ghost in it, I gets washed and he wears it the next day!

Danny started swimming with the school age kids (6 and up) at Nitroswim today. He still enjoys swimming and says that can't wait to go to swim team so he can race.

Danny finished the first grade reading material of hooked on phonics. He picked a lego race car as his price. The next thing will be to tackle the second grade material. Way to go Danny boy!

We took the kids to the miniature golf today. Danny was so excited! He is so easy to entertain and amuse. The pot-pot we went to wasn't very exciting, but he thought it was the greatest thing and enjoyed himself very much. Though at the end he said it was harder that what he thought it would be.

I had started Danny on his Zyrtec because Ragweed season always hits at the end of August, but it hadn't been very bad yet. It only took for me to forget to give him his zyrtec a couple of days for the ragweed pollen to be everywhere. Danny has a runny itchy nose now, hopefully it won't take long for the zyrtec to work and let the little buddy breathe again.

Danny had his first soccer game and really liked it. Nick took some pictures and you can see him running and in some of the pictures he even has his wrinkled "pirate" nose. He scored a goal (in his team's side, but oh well, it was still a goal).
After the game Nick took Danny and Paula to six Flags to NI's picnic. Danny liked seeing the Warner Brother's characters (especially Scooby-Doo) and riding the bumper cars.

Danny finished level two in the hooked on phonics series (this goes half through the first grade reading material). We went to get a lego set to celebrate his accomplishment.

Danny moved to level 10 in swimming lessons; this is the last level in the preschool class, after this he gets to swim in Alex's class so he can learn breast stroke, butterfly, turns, side kick, etc.

Danny started Pre-K today. His teacher is Ms. Noel, she seems very nice and excited about teaching. Danny likes her and was definitely happy to go back to school.

We went swimming to a pool that has a one meter diving board. Danny loved jumping off the diving board. He was very proud of himself because he "didn't even get a little bit scared" he said.

Danny can read well enough now that he can pick up and read regular kids books (not just the phonics ones). He has always been into books, but now that he can read what they say, he is very interested in readying.
A couple of times this week, when I told Danny that it was time to leave, he showed up with a book on his nose trying to finish it before leaving the house. It is a good thing if you have to fight your kid so he can put a book down to walk down the steps without killing himself in the process.

Danny finished level 8 today after swimming 20 meters alternating between freestyle and back stroke. He'll start with level 9 next week.

Danny has been asking to play soccer for a while. So we enrolled him in the Town and Country league for this Fall. We got his soccer shoes, socks and shorts today. He put them on and wanted to go play soccer outside right away. He is so excited to start playing!

We flew back from Mexico today. Danny was very happy to see his cousins from Mexico City, Luis, Daniel y Aurora. He kept hugging Daniel the whole time. He also got to play with Jorge and Yoli (Monica's aunt and Uncles), went to San Miguel de Allende and visited with tio Felipe.
Danny kept trying to talk to everybody in English even though other kids would stare at him wondering what he was saying.

We flew to Queretaro, Mexico today! Danny behaved really well in the airplane, he wasn't interested in coloring on playing with the stuff I had taken to keep him busy, he just sat quietly and enjoyed the ride, I suppose!

Danny moved to level 8 on swimming lessons today. We are going to take a break from swimming until we come back from our vacation in Queretaro.

Danny's swimming instructor told me today that he could go straight level 7. He'll be learning backstroke in this level.

Nick took away Danny's bike's training wheels and pedals about two weeks ago so that he could learn how to balance in the bike. Today he was able to go down a driveway and cruise without putting his feet down, so Nick put the pedals on his bike and he was able to ride his bike without training wheels. Danny is very happy and proud of himself, and so are we. A big boy riding his bike without training wheels!

We got back from Rockport today. Danny had a good time looking for crabs in the sand with uncle Bob and then throwing them to the seagulls. He dug holes in the sand and then filled them up with water. He also liked floating on his raft in the water. The beach in Rockport is in a bay, so there are hardly any waves and it is knee deep for a long distance.
The three kids made home made ice cream with aunt Linda and uncle Bob.

We went to the botanical gardens this morning, Danny enjoyed looking hanging around the Japanese garden and then the butterfly garden. He insisted on taking some pictures of the family, so Nick let shoot with the big camera, he was able to get everybody in the center of the picture!
After that we went to the Austin Nature center and the kids played in the dino pit where they excavated sand looking for dinosaur bones, fun, fun.
Danny also went to the movie theater for the first time to see Wall-E.

We are back at Nitroswim, Danny is taking lessons twice a week for the next month. Today, he was able to swim on his back the length of the pool, so he was moved to level 5!

Today was the last day of swimming with Ms. Pam. Danny has almost mastered floating on his back and he can come up for air when he needs it. If he remembers, he also uses big arms.

Danny kept saying that he wasn’t going to jump off the diving board. When we arrived at the swimming lesson Ms. Pam explained to Danny that she wanted him to jump off the diving board so he could practice in case he ever fell from a dock. He said he would do it. He kept saying that he was scared, but he did jump from the diving board and did just fine swimming back to the side. We are proud of our brave Danny boy.

Danny swam all the way to the rope (across 5 or 6 lanes) during his swimming class. He was so proud an happy. He had to take about 4 breathes to be able to make it.

Danny started swimming lessons with Ms. Pam today. He kept saying that he didn't want to go, but he was fine once he got in the water and saw that he was able to swim all right.

We went fishing this morning. Danny caught 3 or 4 fish, he was so proud! He loved playing in the hammock with Paula too!

We are off camping at Inks Lake today. Danny had a good time floating in the raft in the lake and also playing with the fire using a stick. He wasn't crazy about eating marshmallows, but he sure had fun roasting them.

Danny likes to read. When we are out and about he is always trying to read the signs, and at rest time, he gets books and tries to read them. I made a pile with the books that are at his level and asked him to read me two books that he hadn't read before, he was very happy to see that he could read both books by himself. He is reading at a kindergarten level or possibly a little bit higher than that. Way to go Danny boy!

Today Danny got to help Nick nail the back of a camping box that Nick is building so we can keep all the cooking stuff together and organized.

After Danny's swimming lessons we went to a birthday party for two of his friends from school at a jumping place close to our house. Danny got in there and started jumping and going down the slides right away. Ms. Ana was at the party and Danny asked her, "so what are we going to learn today?"

Today was Danny's last day at preschool. I don't think he quite gets the idea that school is going to be over until September. He likes going to school very much, he loves his teachers and likes playing with his friends at school too.

Danny had splash day at school today. He loved it. He has been talking about it since we got home. He already asked how long he needs to wait until it is time for the next splash day.

Danny is very happy to be back. He was happy to see Paula and Alex, to see his bed, play with his toys and to go back to school with Ms. Ana and Ms. Carla and his friends.

Danny got to go to COSI and to the Columbus zoo while in Ohio. He also got to play with cousins Ellie, Teresa and Joanna. This time Danny got a little homesick, he missed Alex and Paula very much.

Danny left with Papi to go to Ohio for the weekend. Nick is doing a 200 mile bike ride with his brother Chris and Danny is going to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's and play with his cousins.

Danny finished the second round of set 4 of the Bob books! There is one more set to go.

We are in the second round of set 4 of the Bob books. He is doing a really good job reading all the stories the second time around.

On the way home from school Danny told me: "When I get married, Jesus is going to convert water into wine." He learned the story of the wedding of Cana in preschool this morning.

Paula brought Danny a couple of books for him to read to her. Danny sat down and read her Does a Kangaroo have a mother by Eric Carle and a Dinosaur book. What a nice brother!

Danny is into Legos. With just a little bit of help, he was able to follow the instructions on Alex's Lego set (5 to 7 years) and put two trucks together.

Today was Danny's spring program at the preschool. He sang all the songs and followed the choreography, Nick took some video, look for it later on the video section of the website.

Danny moved up to level 4 in swimming lessons today. He is going to start learning the crawl style next week. He really enjoys his swimming classes.

Danny finished the kindergarten level of Hooked on Phonics. Way to go Danny!

Danny had his first swimming lesson at nitroswim today. He enjoyed doing all the tasks that were assigned to him during the evaluation. He will start in level 3 next week.

Danny tripped while playing outside and scraped both of his knees. Nick called right when we were coming inside. I gave Danny the phone so he could answer and he told Papi, "the ground hurt me, I scraped my knees and there is blood coming out." Poor little buddy, he didn't have a chance to put his hands down because he was holding a bat.

When Danny points at something, he points with his middle finger (it doesn't look very friendly when he is pointing up), so we've been trying to teach him to point with his index finger, but sometimes he forgets and uses the middle finger.

Danny finished the third set of Bob books today while we waited for Alex to come out of school. These books had more complex words and for the most part, he was able to sound them out and figure them out.
He has 8 stickers left and he will finish the hooked on phonics kindergarten level.

Alex let Danny play with his Legos during rest time. Danny followed the instructions and built a tractor all by himself... It took him a long time and he asked for help twice, but other than that he was able to complete the task all by himself.

Danny is still enjoying his tennis lessons! He did a real good job today, he was able to hit most of the balls and he has a big smile on his face during the class.

Danny got to bring Ted E. Bear from his class to spend the weekend with him. We took Ted. E to Rockport with us, he went to the beach to play in the sand with Danny, slept with Danny, went for an Easter Egg hunt at aunt Linda's house... It was a fun weekend.

Big cousins Luis (21), Daniel (18) and Rorrina (14) came over to visit us this week. Danny loved playing with his big cousins and would go from Daniel's lap to my uncle Luis' lap and back. If they weren't home when he got back from school he would ask: Donde estan mis primos?
He also figured out that it was fun to come downstairs and wake them up (after asking for permission).

Danny is a cuddle bug. Ms. Stone came over for dinner tonight and as soon as Danny finished his dinner he was over asking her if he could sit on her lap.

Danny finished reading the second set (advanced beginners) of the Bob books today. We'll start the third set after spring break.

Danny came to me all excited and said watch Mami, and he started counting from 1 to a 100 by 10s with a big grin on his face.

Danny has taken on a new sport: blowing up bubbles with toothpaste. Once his teeth are brushed he works on his bubbles, his record so far is a bubble the size of an orange. No need o explain how the sink looks after his experiments!

Danny had chapel today at his school, so Paula and I came over to join his class. He was happy to see us. He was paying attention to Mrs. Mary and singing all the songs.

Danny's question: Can I please have some of those crunchy seeds?
Translation: Can I please have some Almonds?
Good thing he can now show us what he wants if we don't understand what he is talking about...

Danny has completed the first half of the hooked on phonics kit for Kindergarten. He loves to practice reading with Papi and is doing a good job! He also finished the first set of Bob books this week. He keeps trying to read whatever words cross his sight.

Danny said he wasn't old enough to read big books today, so I pulled out Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss and asked him to read it to me, he realized he could read it and read about half of the book to me. He needed some help sounding a few new words but did a pretty good job for being the first time looking at that book.

We got to go to the theater today and watch cousin Olivia on her stage debut at the Zachary Scott theater. Danny really enjoyed the play, he didn't move at all... Afterwards we went over to Kim and Dwains to have grilled Oysters and shrimp that Aunt Linda had brought from Rockport. What a fun day!

Danny had the Mardi Gras parade on his school today. He loved walking on the parade and waving to us.

Danny got to go explore stores with Grandma yesterday, he initially said he wanted to stay home, but who can refuse the offer to stop and get some ice cream on the way?

Danny comes up with really funny things to say at the strangest times. Today we were sitting watching the fish and Danny turns around and asks, "who put something yucky in my mouth?" (apparently his mouth tasted bad at that particular moment, oh well). We are going to start writing down the things he says, they are funny sometimes.

I got a call from Mrs. Ana telling me that Danny had fallen at school and had a huge bump on his head and asking if I would go pick him up. Apparently Danny slipped and didn't have a chance to put his hands down, so his head got the impact. When I got him, his bump was about the size of an egg sliced by the middle, and the teachers said that it was looking so much better. Danny was fine, just a little bit scared. He currently holds the record for the biggest head bump in the family.

Danny has been having intense bubble gum blowing lessons with Doc. He gets up at 6:30 in the morning looking for Doc ready for his lessons.

Danny started tennis lessons today. He was really excited and really enjoyed them. He was able to hit the ball when it was his turn and asked to come back to learn more tennis again.

Now that Danny is allowed to have eggs for breakfast, he is not interested in having them. He would rather eat 2 or 3 bowls of cheerios instead... At least we don't have to worry about him eating something that contains high egg concentrations.

Danny got the remote control truck he wanted, a Fire Truck that makes noises and a karaoke machine with a real microphone from Santa. The three presents were a hit.

I was making scrambled eggs this morning, so I called Danny and just rubbed a little bit of egg white on his cheek and he didn't have a reaction. So I went and got the Benadryl and gave him to bites of the eggs and sat there looking at his face, and he didn't have a reaction either. So, it looks like he has outgrown his egg allergy, yay for Danny! He was so excited to be able to have eggs that he kept telling everybody (even people he didn't know) that he had eggs for breakfast.

Danny had is 4 year checkup today. He is 42 inches long (80%) and weighs 40 lbs (75%). Dr. Ellis said it is very possible that he could have outgrown his egg allergy by now, so we get to rub some egg white on his skin to see if he reacts, if he doesn't he may try a scramble egg now.
Danny got 3 shots and was pretty sad about getting the shots, every time he remember that he had shots he would start crying all over again.

I've found the secret recipe for Danny to take a nap. I put his favorite blanket on the dryer and then cover him up; in about 2 minutes he is sound asleep!

Danny wrote his letter for Santa today. He wants to remote control trucks.

Today is Danny's birthday,he turns 4! The birthday celebrations continue... We took cupcakes to his class today so they can celebrate his birthday during snack time. Then we'll have one of Danny's favorite dinners, followed by more cupcakes and presents.

Danny went to the dentist to get a cleaning today. He behaved pretty well, and even though he doesn't like the polishing brush, he let the hygienist clean all his teeth like a brave little pirate.

We had Danny’s birthday party this morning. He was dressed up as a pirate. Most of his friends from school and a couple of family friends came to the party. Danny had a great time.

Danny is very excited that his birthday is almost here; he tells everybody that his birthday is after Christmas (before and after are still confusing words)… Anyway we are down to counting days until the big day.

We decorated the house for Christmas today. Danny helped us a lot with the tree and the decorations, but after I pulled the vacuum cleaner out, he decided it would be more fun to play with the attachments than to put up the lights.

We drove to Rockport to spend Thanksgiving Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob. Danny got to stay up late to watch Ratatouille and slept on his sleeping bag.

Danny is into pirates, I am not sure what it is about pirates that he likes, but he wrinkles his nose and pretends to be a pirate.

The kids got to have Christmas before Thanksgiving this year! Grandma brought their Christmas presents from our family in Ohio… Oh boy! That was fun, check out the video.

We went to ride the Cedar Rock train this afternoon. Danny got to ride with Grandma and enjoyed the ride and then asking questions about the train. We went out for dinner to Pei Wei afterwards, Danny loves lettuce wraps and the Mongolian chicken, he ate like grown up.

Danny got back from Ohio today. He had a great time with Grandma, Grandpa and visiting with the rest of the family. He and Ellie (his 4 year old cousin) played a lot at Grandma's house too.
I've noticed that in six days of not speaking Spanish at all, Danny forgot about half of his Spanish vocabulary... Hopefully he will remember everything as fast as he forgot it.

Danny made a foam snowman with Grandma today. He enjoyed putting the stickers on and using the glue.

Danny left this morning to got to Ohio with Papi. Nick is going to be working for a couple of days and Danny will get to hang out with the Warrens over there. Danny was pretty excited to go on vacation this morning.

Danny was looking forward to wearing his pirate costume this year, he even asked to get a mustache and a beard. As soon as he put the costume on to go to school he wrinkled his nose so he could be a real pirate, he wore the pirate costume all day and had a good time trick or treating.

We went to a Halloween party for kids at NI, the kids got candy, snacks and got to visit several attractions, including Nick's office.

In Danny's own dictionary, vacuuminer means vacuum cleaner.

Danny went on his first camping trip this weekend to Inks lake, he enjoyed fishing and playing around with sticks, but his favorite thing of all was the camp fire.

Danny is catching up quickly for the meals he missed while he was sick. Tokay for breakfast he had two bowls of cereal, an apple, a yoghurt and two nectarines.

We are sad to announce that after the stomach bug Danny caught he has lost all the baby fat, he now looks like a boy now and has lost his squishiness.

Danny is much better this morning. He was able to keep all the liquids and his breakfast and lunch down, so we are hoping that the 48 hour mark does the trick and that he is back to his normal self tomorrow.

Danny picked up a stomach bug somewhere and he started throwing up around midnight last night. He was throwing up about every 20 to thirty minutes for the first two hours, the third our was about every forty minutes and the last stretch of the night he was able to sleep for an hour (not that I was counting). Poor little guy, he would wake up, hold his little bucket and fall right back to sleep as soon as he was done.

Part of Alex's getting ready for school routine is to make his bed. I hadn't asked Danny to make his bed, but he thinks it is a fun thing to do, so he happily makes his bed every morning and very proudly shows me his work after it is done.

Danny told me today that he wanted to be little like Paula, I asked why and he said that he wanted to be little so he could eat eggs like her. After I explained that it wasn't because of size that he couldn't have eggs but because he got an allergic reaction, he said, OK then I want to be older like Alex so I can have eggs... The little guy really wants to be able to eat eggs, hopefully he will outgrow his allergy some day.

Danny likes to sit down, play with his piano and sing the songs he makes up or put words to the tunes that the piano can play, it is quite entertaining and very cute.

Danny was sounding out letters today and trying to put them together, he can read simple words like ON and OFF by himself, and with a little bit of help he can read words like "enter", "exit".

At bedtime, Danny picked an alphabet book where each page has a letter, he was able to name all the letters (except Y - he thinks it is a V) and sound them out. Then he proceeded to sing the ABC as I pointed the letters out to him.

Today was Danny's first day of school. He enjoyed himself and he said he is ready to go back next time.

Danny got to meet his teachers, Mrs. Ana and Mrs. Carla, today. He spent about an hour in his classrooms while the parents went to a meeting. When I picked him up, Danny said that he liked his new classroom and is ready to go back to school.

Danny keeps asking when is his school going to start, he is ready to go back! His teacher is going to be Miss Ana, who was in his class for a little while last year.

Danny has really enjoyed singing “we are going bear hunting…” with Grandma this last past week… She sang the song enough times with him during the week that he already has it memorized and is able to lead the song now.

We spent the day swimming at cousin Olivia’s house. Danny had a lot of fun; he kept trying to dive for coins but he was a few inches awey from the bottom of the pool, he tried for about 30 minutes, so he gets kudos for being so persistent. Danny is also is starting to use big arms when swimming.
Besides swimming Danny also got to eat suflower seeds with uncle Bob and fish with Grandpa.

Besides Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jan and Joanna, we got to spend the day with Aunt Linda, Uncle Bob and their two dogs. Danny played Candy Land with Uncle Bob and kept asking him to talk like Donald duck

Danny went to feed the pigeons and rode Zilker park train with Grandma and Aunt Jan this morning. Mami got to babysit Joanna in the morning, that was fun too!

Nick asked Danny about his Sea World trip, he said he liked the Shampoo show. I guess shamu sounds close to shampoo!

We went to Sea World with Doc today. Danny really liked the Viva show where they have beluga whales, dolphins and divers; I don’t think he closed his mouth during the whole thing.

Danny got a dental cleaning today. His hands were sweating the whole time but he behaved pretty well and let the hygienist do her job.

Instead of saying that he wants to do the things that he likes five times, Danny now he says he wants do things infinity number of times (like going swimming, eating at Rudy’s, etc.)

We got Danny some swimming goggles and he started playing underwater and figured out how to do backwards summersaults all by himself.

Danny had lots of fun at the beach in Port Aransas with Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob pulled him in a surfing board and ran in the surf; you could hear Danny’s giggles all the way back where we were.

Danny went down the big water slides at Life Time Fitness today… We could hear him giggle on the way down.

Danny asked to go first during swimming class; he must have decided that swimming is fun!

Danny started jumping off the side of the pool and swim towards us with his head under the water

Danny decided to get dressed by himself after bath time today. He put on his pajama pants on first and then the underwear, but he did it all by himself!

Danny didn’t cry during the swimming class today; he let go of the wall and swam towards the teacher when she asked him to.

Danny read Nick a book with "_an" words, he was able to sound out and read words like can, fan, ran, and van.

Danny started swimming lessons today. He wasn’t very happy about swimming and cried every time it was his turn.

We went to the Johnson Space Center near Houston today. Danny was very interested in looking at the rockets and when we were done he said he wanted to come back 5 times... He was so tired afterwards that he felt asleep as soon as he got in the car and Nick started driving.

We went to a 4th of July party at Reagan's house (one of Danny's preschool friends). The had inflatable jumping toy, an inflatable slide, swimming pools for the little ones and lots of food. Much to our surprise, Danny spent a good chunk of time going down the inflatable water slide (this is the kid who 2 weeks ago wouldn't get close to any inflatable artifact). Good job Danny boy!

Instead of saying "wasp", Danny says "waspsps". It is sooo cute. I spent some time practicing with him how to say wasp without the extra spsps and he almost had it, but after Nick said "waspsps" one time, Danny went back to the old pronunciation... So we'll just enjoy the cute sound of waspsps for a little while longer before embarking in more lessons.

Nick came over to watch the gymnastics class today. Danny was very happy to see him. Danny now jumps on the trampoline without asking the teacher to hold his hand, does front and back somersaults by himself and also big jumps. Good job Danny boy! (He asked at the end of the class if he could come back mil times -- so he is having fun!).

We went to a music/puppet show by Laura Freeman at the library today; she has some cute songs about the different colors and plays a tiny guitar. The stage for the puppets was pretty nice too.
Danny enjoyed the show very much and at the end he walk towards Laura Freeman and told her "that was very nice".

We went to play to an inflatable jumping place in Round Rock with our friends the Mejias. This time Danny took off jumping right away and didn't stop until it was time to leave.

We went to play to an indoor play scape called Radijazz today. Danny spent most of the time going down slides sitting on top of some bean bags (that accelerated the descent)and playing in the foam canoes.

We went to Inflatable Wonderland at the Mall today. As soon as we got there Danny announced that he was not going to jump. But after 30 minutes of watching Alex he decided to give it a shot and he didn't stop until we left. Alex helped him climb up the ladders to go up the slides and showed him the different jumping places; Danny played along with Alex and had a good time. We are happy that Danny finally decided to join in the fun of jumping!

We went to listen to Lucas Miller at the library today; his songs are mostly about animals and really funny (and educational too). Danny was laughing hard and paying lots of attention. We got some of his CDs and he keeps asking to listen to them in the car.

We went to the children's museum today. Danny enjoyed building a roof in the construction area, playing with the trucks, playing in the dairy with the milk jugs, and also going down the toddler slide (about 50 times) with Paula.

We went to the zoo today. Danny was looking forward to the train ride and enjoyed it. He also liked petting the goats, watching the prairie dogs eat lunch, and feeding the deer. As we were leaving he asked if we could come back to the zoo "mil times" (mil is a thousand in Spanish).

This is how Danny has been answering questions about his name lately:

Stranger: What is your name?
Danny: "D" for Danny and for Doc

If you give Danny a ball he can entertain himself for a long time. Today he would throw the ball up in the air and then try to catch it first, then kick it, and then run to get it.
He also loves to play the "whacking game" (as he calls it). We have some wooden rackets and he likes it when I throw the ball at him and he "whacks" it with the racket.
His coordination and motor skills keep developing very nicely.

Danny's favorite words are "yesterday" and "because."
Here are Danny's two golden rules for speaking English:
1. Anything that happened at any point in time that is not today happened yesterday.
2. All sentences must have the word "because" somewhere in there.

Danny had his first gymnastics class today. His class is at the same time as Alex's class and in the same place, but with a different teacher. He an Alex were hugging before the class started (the Moms get to watch the action from the top).
I wasn't sure if Danny was going to like the class, because it was a little bit outside his comfort zone, but he did pretty good and has been asking if it is time to go to gymnastics again.

We were having a picnic in Windy Point, Lake Travis today... I was drinking my coke when the following conversation took place:

I put on a life vest on Danny when we went swimming this afternoon. He really liked to be able to float, kick and move around. He probably won't need one after he gets his swimming refresher later this summer.

Danny got to pet sting rays, watch the dolphin show, watch the dolphin swim, and look at a lot of fish at the Aquarium in Corpus Christi. He had a great time.
In the evening he got to ride Jet and feed him carrots (video coming up soon).

Danny caught his first fish while fishing with Uncle Bob in Rockport. It was fun to watch him learn to fish and get all excited. Check out the video .

Danny spoke with Aunt Linda today and told her that he wants to see the dolphins, pet sting rays, pick fresh farm eggs and go see Simon and Jet. Good thing we don't have a planned agenda for our weekend trip to Rockport yet!

Danny keeps asking every morning if we are going to go to school. He is just in complete denial that he is on vacation for the next 3 months.

A while ago we got Danny some Kumon books, one for tracing, one to learn to write letters and one to learn to write numbers. Danny can sit down for thirty minutes and trace letters and numbers, when he is done with a page he likes he erases it and starts all over again. He also figured out how to sharpen his pencil, so all he needs is his books, an eraser and a sharpener and he is entertain for a while.
He can recognize and name most letters and all numbers... He can write the D on his own and simple numbers.

We went to pick strawberries at Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls today. Danny enjoyed the strawberry picking; but the part he liked the best were the donkeys that we got to see at the very end, go figure!

Danny's bicycle riding, jumping and running skills have improved over the last months... He rides his bike faster, up and down the driveway; he can jump higher and runs faster.

Danny's preschool Spring festival was today. He was one of the kids that was having fun singing in the stage; he was at the back but we could see his head stick out and smile at us.

Danny likes to sit down and play his piano or with another toy that plays the melodies of kids songs and sing... Too cute.

Danny figured out how to whistle today.

The Easter bunny found Danny at aunt Linda and uncle Bob's house in Rockport and left a basket full of goodies. Danny also went for an Easter Egg hunt at the church in Rockport and another one at aunt Linda and uncle Bob's house.

Danny rode a horse today! Gail, Aunt Linda's neighbor has two horses, Jack and Simon. Danny fed SJack carrots and then got to ride him for a little while. Danny really enjoyed the ride.

Danny got to sleep in a tent last night. He slept out in the backyard with Papi and Alex. Danny went to sleep as soon as his head hit the sleeping bag and is ready to go camping for real.

Danny has been talking about rockets for a while. So today he went to the park to launch model rockets with Papi and Alex. He wasn't as excited about rockets afte hearing the noise they make when taking off, but he didn't mind the ice cream he got afterwards.

Danny didn't even ask about us while we were gone! He was busy playing and having fun, just the way we like it :)

Danny got back from Rockport, TX today. He and Paula went with Grandma and Grandpa to visit Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob for a couple of days. Danny got to do a lot of things during his vacation:
- Rode Gail's horse
- Visit Irene's chickens and pick fresh farm eggs
- Play in the sand by the ocean
- Go for a ride in uncle Bob's boat
- Visit Corpus Christi's aquarium and see dolphins and touch sting rays
- Ride in a ferry

Grandma and Grandpa have come to Austin to watch Paula and Danny while Mami and Papi go on vacation.

Danny made pasta with Aunt Linda, it was a fun process. We'll post the pictures eventually.

For the most part, Danny is starting to figure out how to hide and stay hidden when playing hide and seek, but the other day he decided to hide his head under a pillow and leave the rest of his body out, just like an ostrich, it was funny.

Over the last two weeks Danny has done very well playing and sharing with Paula. It used to be that if they were by themselves, I would here Paula cry after 2 or 3 minutes; now they have been playing and having fun together for longer periods of time.

Here is what Danny ate for dinner tonight:

- Entree : 2 medallions of pork tenderloin, 8 cucumber slices and a serving of couscous
- Drink: Milk
- Dessert: Vanilla ice cream
- Filler #1: Strawberry yoghurt
- Filler #2: Half of a grapefruit
- Filler #3: A banana

We'll have to see what awaits us when he hits the teenage years.

Danny hasn't asked for his pacifier in about a week; I don't even know where the pacifier went... So I guess he is weaned from the pacifier. What a big boy Danny!
The other day he found a pacifier and gave it to Paula because she is the baby.

At dinner time Danny asked Nick about his other pacifiers, Nick told him that he had used them all, so they were gone... Danny concluded on his own that the pacifiers went to some babies.
Danny still asked to have his pacifier by his night stand, but he didn't put it in his mouth. This process has worked pretty well for us, probably better than if we had gone cold turkey.

Danny decided to eat the broccoli on his plate and actually liked it, go figure!

Danny's pacifier lost another piece. At bedtime Danny declared his pacifier broken and said that he didn't want it. He asked that we put it in his night stand and he went to sleep without it without any problem.

Danny's pacifier lost a little piece on the tip... Danny still took it at bedtime but told us that it didn't work as well.

Danny decided to say hi to almost every person we ran into at the grocery store, it cracks me up!

Papi took all of Danny's pacifiers to work except one that Danny got to pick. Danny handed him the pacifiers without much trouble.

Every time we are outside Danny asks to go for a bike ride; he keeps getting more adventurous and developing new skills (like standing up on the pedals to get the bike going uphill).

Danny got another X-Ray to see if his sinusitis had cleared after his antibiotic. We were happy to hear that his infection had cleared up.

Danny got a keyboard, a doctor play set, some magnetix and arts and crafts things from Santa... He kept asking to go use his glitter glue and markers as soon as he opened them.

We had Danny's birthday party today at a park close to our house. Danny loved every minute of it and had lots of fun. He also enjoyed opening all his presents and playing with them.

Danny celebrated his birthday at school today. He got to wear a birthday hat today and eat banana bread cupcakes with his class.

Danny had his 3 year wellness check with Dr. Ellis today. He is 38 inches (75%) and weighs 35 pounds (80%). He is doing well developmentally and his stats seem to indicate that he is going to continue to be a tall boy as he grows, so watch out Alex and be nice to your brother!

Happy Birthday Danny! Our big boy turns 3 today.

After a doctor visit and an X-Ray we discovered that Danny has a sinus infection that the other two antibiotics weren't able to clear. So he is starting a 20 day antibiotic treatment today.

Danny started running a fever today as he was completing his second round of antibiotics.

Danny had a good time at COSI today. I think his favorite things were the water section and the balls on the preschool area.

Danny got a new roommate last night. He and Alex went to sleep right away and were happy about their sleeping quarters.

Danny likes pickles! I knew he liked cucumbers, but the other day he saw me eating a pickle and asked for one, and after he finished it asked for another one... Who knows where he got his taste buds, Nick and I didn't like pickles as kids.

Danny got a haircut this afternoon; he stayed still the whole time and didn't cry (even though they were out of suckers). Good job Danny boy!

Danny's favorite part of the Children's Museum was the train section, he got ahold of the choo-chooo string and didn't let go off it for about 20 minutes.

Danny is intrigued by castles and princes. He has been calling himself prince Daniel and likes to walk around with a home-made cape.

We were at church and noticed that Danny was saying hi to someone on the oposite side from where we were sitting; it was Mrs. Janet, who teaches the 2.5 year olds across from Danny's classroom. He kept saying hi and smiling to her the whole mass.

Danny can sit for a long time coloring, painting, gluing, cutting, and then painting some more. The other day it was about an hour and a half art session before he declared he was done.

Today was Danny's Halloween festival at school, all kids dress up and they have special activities and a parade at the end of the day. Danny didn't want to dress up, he had to costumes to choose from (pirate and clown) and he just wouldn't, so he went to school with his pirate costume in the backpack in case he changed his mind... He was a happy camper in the parade still on his jeans and t-shirt; his teacher asked him if he wanted to dress up but he still didn't want to. Oh well.

Danny kept asking to paint Os. So I pulled out our art supplies and handed him a bunch of things to see if he would paint Os, circles or something... Well, after a little trial and error I found out what he wanted, he wanted the watercolors (which look like Os, I suppose); he spent about an hour an a half painting, he loves to paint, color and draw.

Danny woke up with a croupy cough this morning, he sounded like a seal and was having a little bit of trouble breathing. Nick took him outside for about ten minutes and the cool breeze helped a lot.

Seventeen was the final count of aunt bites that Danny got on Thursday at the zoo. The kids from his class were posing for a picture and Danny just took of running with a very concerned face, his shoes and socks were covered with ants; he must have stepped on an ant hill. He didn't have a bad reaction because of his allergy medicine.

Danny's favorite activity at the Austin zoo was the train ride, when we left the zoo he said "bye, bye, train"

Danny's new pickup line is "I go to school". It doesn't matter who he runs into, at the end of the conversation they learn that Danny goes to school and that he wears a backpack.
Danny likes to sing. He has been singing the songs he learns at school while he plays. We like his concerts.

Danny went bowling with aunt Jan, Papi and Alex today. He had a great time.

Danny asks every day to go to school. Waiting a year for him to start preschool really made a difference. He is very proud about his artwork and shows it to all the Moms and teachers that he sees on our way to picking Alex up to his classroom.

Today was Danny's first day at preschool. He was a happy camper.

Danny likes to use the scissors; he is able to cut straight lines around a piece of paper.

Danny has been asking to paint for a while, so we pull out the paints today and let him go at it, he had fun. The interesting part is that he doesn't like to get his hands dirty, he is a very clean artist.

During preschool orientation Danny spent about an hour in his new classroom. He waved bye-bye to me and Paula and took off to play with Mrs. Terri and his classmates. He had a good time and is ready to go back. We are so proud of our big boy.

We put away Danny's potties. He uses the big potty now. What a big boy!

We were at a picnic with Monica's friends from Queretaro and their families. We had cake for desert... Danny was missing in action while the chocolate cake was being devoured and when it was all gone, Danny appeared with his mouth covered in chocolate. Apparently, he didn't need to get a serving for himself, he just talked everybody into sharing their cake with him.

Danny was a good flyer today. He behaved pretty well and he even took a nap in the first flight. He didn't like the turbulence we experienced, but I think it helped him see Alex enjoying the bumps the plane was encountering.

Danny jumped off the one meter diving board during swimming class today. He jumped from the side of the board and swam right back up to the side. He probably landed about a meter away from the side.
He wasn't very happy the first time and fuzzed when he got out, but the second time he was fine.

Danny started liking the swimming lessons (no more crying, yes!!). After his turn today he kept telling Ms. Pam "swim please", and he kept telling me "toca a mi" (it's my turn).

Danny is not very thrilled about swimming lessons, but he is doing well. He can swim and reach the edge of the pool or the ladder when he is about a meter away.

Nick: Danny, do you want some fruit?
Danny: Yes.
Nick: What kind of fruit do you want?
Danny: Fruit Loops.
(I wonder if this has something to do that tio Felipe, his godfather, works for Kellogg in Mexico)

Danny had a blast at the Children's Museum today. His favorites were the air pipes where he could but ping pong balls, the train, and the cash register of their grocery store where he took all the bills out, put them back in, and then pushed all the buttons.

Danny keeps asking "Where is tio Felipe?" I think he enjoyed hanging out with him while he visited us.

Danny looks very handsome after his haircut today. He cried at the beginning, but by the end he was very entertained chatting with the lady that cut his hair.

We were doing arts and crafts with our neighbors this afternoon. Danny kept asking for the yoghurt over and over... If you compare Elmer's glue with apple yoghurt, you can't tell the difference until you taste it (they have the same color and consistency).

Danny asked two days ago to wear underwear instead of a diaper. He has done a very good job staying dry, he is very proud of himself and so are we.

Danny was sitting in one of the cars rides outside ToysRUs when Alex joined him and put his coins in. I wished I had a camera to take a picture of his face, he just didn't know why all of a sudden the car was moving up and down... When the ride stopped I held Danny's hands to help him get down; his hand were very cold and sweaty. I am guessing he is not going to be a big roller coaster fan when he gets older.

Danny is still very curious about bugs. If he runs out of things to talk he starts telling stories about how he got stung by a wasp, how a lady bug landed on his hand and then he put it in the grass, and about flies, spiders and rolly pollies.

Kyrie, one of our favorite babysitters, came over this morning to watch Paula and Danny while Alex and I went to the doctor. Danny kept talking about Miss Kyrie (he calls her Miss Kerry) all day. It is nice to know that Danny is getting comfortable spending without family members (Paula napped most of the time Alex and I were gone).

Danny has pretty much figured out how to poop in the potty. Special thanks to his 4 year old dedicated couch, cheerleader & M&M provider!

I thought that Danny was done napping for good because over the last month he had only taken 2 or 3 naps, but the last 3 days he has taken a nap. We took the bookshelf out of his room because he started tearing the books during nap time, so that now that he doesn't have anything to do he must fall asleep out of boredom. He still sleeps about 11 or 12 hours at night.

We went out to dinner to Whole Foods downtown tonight. The boys picked chocolate mousse for dessert and were having a good time eating it. Danny decided to eat it like an ice cream, so a good chunk of his face was covered with mousse... As I was observing them eat it occurred to me to look at the ingredients of the mousse to see if it had eggs, and it did! (of course). As soon as I finished looking at the label I noticed that the parts of Danny's face that had mousse over them started to turn red and he started to scratch... So no need to wait to see how his egg-white allergy is doing when he turns three, he still had a mild reaction.
The moral of the story is: "No more eggs for Danny and more culinary training for his parents so we are more careful about what we feed him".

Danny has a personal potty trainer. If he says "necesito hacer pupu" (need to go poo poo), Alex takes him to the bathroom, helps him pull his pants down and makes sure he is sitting down in the potty before leaving the bathroom. And when Danny is done then Alex runs to the bathroom again and gives him lots of praises; and while I get him all cleaned up, he runs to the kitchen to get his M&Ms. Maybe this thing about only having to potty train the first kid is right.

The proper way of eating a chocolate doughnut according to Danny:
1. Lick the chocolate on the top just a little bit.
2. Proceed to eat all the frosting, give consecutive bites until all circumference is covered.
3. Repeat step 1 and 2 until all chocolate is gone.
4. Eat whatever is left.
5. Make sure that there is chocolate all over face and hands.

Danny has a good sense of direction. When we drive by Cypress Creek in one direction he says Muppets movie (there is a Blockbuster in that shopping center) , if we go on the other direction he points to the dry cleaners and says "paleta" (they always have suckers for the kiddos). And the other day we drove on 620 past El Salido and he said "swimming pool" right as we drove by the street where we had to turn to go to the pool. I am not sure if he got his sense of direction from a male only chromosome, or if he inherited from Nick, but I now for sure that he didn't get it from me.

We went to ToysRUs yesterday and the kids were playing at the playscape. A lady arrived with her son and she was eating an ice cream bar; Danny saw it and went to sit right next to her.
So here is Danny's strategy to see if he could get some candy:
1. Sit down right next to the lady and look cute.
2. Point to the ice cream bar and say "dessert".
3. OK, go to play for a little while and come back later.
4. Say "it's mine"
The lady probably thought that Danny hadn't had any food during the day. He only gave up after the lady said "all gone."

Danny wants to enter his own blog: gg (of course now that I told him that he can press keys on the keyboard he only types two letters)

Danny got a "candle" hairstyle today. He wanted all his hair sticking up, when he was all done he touched the ends and said that they were candles.

Danny's new pickup lines are: "I go church" and "pico avispa" (I was stung by a wasp). He still uses the "I pushed a button" line when he runs into any other people at Alex's school though--he loves to push the elevator button there.

Danny got stung by a wasp today. We found that the wasps had built a nest in a vent close to the deck. He scream and said, "spider", "ant", "fly"... He didn't know what got to him but he knew it was a bug.

When Danny sees Alex's teacher walk into the classroom, Danny runs, gives her a hug and says "Ms. Cathy, Ms. Cathy..." It is really funny.

Over the last week Danny has started to take his diaper off right after getting his diaper wet. So we have been visiting the potty a couple of times a day and he has done a good job going in the potty. I don't think he has the bladder control to hold it when he needs to go yet, but he can sure go on command.

Danny had his first dentist visit today. He had some tartar on his bottom teeth and the dentist removed it and put fluoride, he stayed still and let her do all the cleaning job. Good job little buddy...
We saw Michelle Freeze, she is a pediatric dentist, awesome with kids, I highly recommend her.

Danny is starting to dislike full diapers. Today we were outside playing with our neighbors and he started trying to pull his pants down (step #1 before removing diaper --skill that he has mastered over the last couple of weeks); I checked him, and sure enough, his diaper had just gotten wet...

Danny got a haircut today and he sat still through the whole thing. He only cried in the beginning, but a sucker and an Elmo video kept him occupied enough that he stopped crying and just sat on his car.
Usually Nick takes the boys for haircuts, but I got adventurous today and learned some things I didn't know about buzzers... The lady that was cutting Alex's hair used a 1.5 inch buzzer, which looked nice on Alex, so I asked for the same for Danny and when I turned around I realized that a 2 inch would have been better on him, I don't know if it is the lighter hair, or the thinner hair, but Danny looks like he is ready to wear military uniform, I am afraid that if he is out on the sun his head is going to get a sunburn, ooops. The moral of the story... Let Papi be in charge of boy haircuts, he seems to know the drill better than me.

4 days without a nap! I think Danny is ready to drop his nap. He has been sleeping 12 to 13 hours at night to make up for the lack of nap.

Danny is allergic to Oak too. We got him started in Zyrtec last week in preparation for all the pollen that is starting to decorate our surroundings.

It has been 24 hours since Danny hasn't had a fever! He had fever for about 5 days, poor little buddy. It was just the fever and no other synthoms, apparently the 5 day fiver virus had been going around Alex's preschool and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Danny's motor skills have developed a lot in the last couple of months. He can climb up to his bed by himself, he can go up the steps without holding to the railing, he can run, and if he jumps his feet come off the ground... He likes to play with Play-Doh, finger paint, color with markers (on paper and on his hands --thank goodness for washable markers), play with trains, find numbers on books and signs, and flirt (mostly with cute ladies).

Danny decided to use a brush to play with the dirt of an ant hill today. As soon as we figured out what had happened we undressed him completely, his shoes and socks were full of ants; the lucky buddy got away with only two ant bites. Mami got to bites in the process of undressing him.

We thought that Danny had learned a good lesson about fire ants, but it seems that he didn't. Today he played at an ant hill at the park, he only got to bites, one in his arm and one in his hand. He now tell stories about how the ants bite. We'll have to see if the lesson stuck this time.

If you want to keep Danny busy for 30 minutes all you have to do is fill up the sink with water and hand him a bar of soap; he will wash his hands and rinse them until the water is completely white and the soap about half of its original size, and if you are lucky he will also soap up all the counter top.

Today I went to the Mall with Danny and Paula and we were at Hallmark buying a card for my friend Michelle. Danny was standing behind me and all of a sudden he started singing happy birthday from the top of his lungs; he had found a card with a cake and candles, so he sang and then blew the candles and clapped.

Danny's latest hobby has to do with throwing things. We have tried several tactics to stop this activity inside the house, but the thrill of throwing seems to overshadow the corrective actions we've taken so far. So we'll have to get creative.

We keep chocolates in a jar that is (well, was) outside the reach of the kids. Danny wanted a chocolate today. Here is a transcript of his attempt to get some chocolate.

Danny: Mami, quiero chocolate (Mami, I want a chocolate)
Monica: Ahortia no es hora de comer chocolates (It is not time to eat chocolates)
Danny: Alex, I want chocolate (pointing to the jar)
Alex: Looks at me wondering if he can climb up to get the jar and get Danny a chocolate.


So, if Mami doesn't get me candy, maybe Alex wil...

Danny got his feet off from the floor when he jumped today.

He is also getting more adventurous in the park and climbing on new things.

Danny's latest hobby consists on tracking down Alex's wet wipes and emptying the box into the toilet. I usually remember to put them out from his reach, but I forgot yesterday and we found about twenty in the toilet with the empty box on the mat. Good thing they disintegrate with water.

Danny got a haircut today and this is the first time that he doesn't cry the whole time; after crying a little bit he realized that it didn't hurt so he just sat there and watched Elmo while he was getting his haircut. The little buddy looks handsome with his new look.

Danny can run now. He likes to run in the main hallway of Alex's preschool. He really likes to push the elevator button, so he runs all the way from Alex's classroom to the elevator.
He is also working on jumping. Thursday he did a good job jumping on the puddles of the parking lot in Alex's school. He kept saying "ica charco" (salpica charco -which means splash in the puddle).

Danny has mastered the numbers from 0-9 in both English and Spanish. He now knows how to turn a 6 to make it look like a 9. He loves to get our books from the bookshelf and look for numbers and letters, his favorite books are "Now discover your strengths" and "the giant book of suduku"; we think he likes the cover of the first one and the abundance of numbers in the second one.
He also knows a bunch of letters since he gets to play with foam letters every night in the bath tub.

When we are out and about we can hear him saying letters and numbers as he sees signs in the street or in stores.

It is official. Danny has allergies. After spending all week with a runny nose and watery eyes (when the cedar pollen level was super high in Austin) he is on a daily dose of Zyrtec which seems to have taken away the uncomfortable symptoms of the allergy.

We got a bunch of letter and numbers as a new bath toy (they are colorful and stick to the tile wall when wet). Papi handed Danny about 5 letters and he correctly named each one (in English). The letters were completely random. he almost has all the numbers from 0-9 down pat.

Danny can climb up to his car sit and sit down all by himself. It is a lot of help because he stays busy climbing up while I put Paula in her car seat and buckle Alex.

Danny can identify most numbers from 0 to 10 (he gets confused with 9 and 6) and name them in English. In Spanish he knows from 0 to 5 and 8.

Danny had his wellness check today. He is 30.5 pounds and 35 inches long (still a big boy). The first word he told the pediatrician was "birthday", which was almost enough to evaluate his language skills.
We confirmed that the little guy won't be getting flu shots for a while; he is allergic to egg whites.

Danny turned two today. We had a birthday party for him with cupcakes, candles and Elmo party hats. Grandma and Grandpa Warren were visiting so they joined us in the celebration.

We went out for sushi last night with Jan and Jonathan. Danny was quiet all meal, the only words we heard were "mas ushi" and "mhmmmm". We also learned that he likes misso soup, he drank 85% of my soup.

Our social butterfly likes other kids! Today while we waited for our turn at the pediatrician's office, Danny found a ball and started throwing it to another boy, the boy was just learning to roll the ball, so he played with the boy's Mommy instead. Then his friend was called, so Danny went off to look for another kid to play with, this time he found a boy almost his age... He had fun in the waiting room and Paula stayed entertained watching his brother throw the ball and move around the waiting area.

Hudini would be proud of Danny. Today while I was helping Alex get ready for school I saw Danny running in the hallway naked. Hefigured out how to work the zipper of his sleeper and how to take his diaper off. I found his pijamas in the hallway and his diaper in Paula's room... We'll have to see if he keeps his pijamas on tonight or if he keeps practicing this new skill.

In the last week Danny has figured out how to do summersaults on his own. He also decided to go down the steps from the deck to the grass all by himself, once he got down he said "bravo Danny" and clapped.
Danny is very close to running, he moves his legs very fast and is almost there. He jumps by bending down and then streching real quick, the feet are still touching the ground but he says "jump."
When we go out, Danny always find someone to flirt with. He waves "bye-bye" to whoever is paying attention to him and then starts talking about candles, buttons, or, if he has time, he will start showing his belly and naming body parts. He likes talking to people.

Danny and I sang "Twinkle, twinkle, little star..." He got a couple of words here and there and the rest he made up with the melody right on track.
Then we moved to "BINGO" where he did the clapping and I did the singing.

Last night I saw Danny sprinting towards Paula's room saying "birthday, birthay" and I heard him blowing... He saw the reflection of the main hall lights (which look like candles)on Paula's window and he was trying to blow them off... It was just adorable.

Danny's favorite words are "button/boton" and "birthday." If there is a button to push (i.e. microwave, garage door, doorbell, car key, etc.) he wants to be the one pushing it.
Last Sunday after they blew off the candles at church he started clapping and saying "birthday, yeah."

Today when the blew off the candles at church Danny started clapping and saying "birthday, birthday" all excited.

Danny will stay at home this year with Paula and I instead of going to school. Instead of making progress he was crying more and more, so we, along with the preschool director decided to take him out of the program and try again next year when he will be almost 3.

Danny climbed up the playscape today, he had to climb two big steps and go through an arch to get to the slide. He went up and down a couple of times and had a lot of fun.
We are happy to see that he is getting more adventurous.

Danny walked up the steps standing today. He held to the railing and made it all the way up.

Danny got brave today and walked on the grass! Before he would steer clear of it, I think he didn't like the grass tickling his legs.

I took Danny to his preschool playground this morning, he and I played for about 15 minutes and then his class joined and I went out of sight. Danny cried a little bit but then calmed down and actually stayed all day at school; and I heard from another Mom, that he was actually having a good time.

Danny did not like going to preschool. The first day I got him at 10:30 after he cried inconsolably for an hour. The next day, Danny's teacher, Mrs. B, asked me to take him straight into the playground, he started crying as soon as I got him out of the stroller, but then he played happily a couple of feet away from me until he saw his class coming; he joined his class for about 30 minutes and then he came home with me again. He has been very clingy, even in the house, since then. We'll have to keep trying for a couple of weeks to see if he gets used to the idea.

Danny had preschool orientation today; he got to stay at his classroom for 45 minutes while I went to a parents meeting. He cried when I got him out of the stroller, but then he started playing with Mrs. B, his teacher, and found a car with Elmo, and that was enough to keep him entertained without crying. We'll have to see what happens next Tuesday when we arrive to his classroom.

Danny is getting adventurous. Today I found him on top of the computer desk; he climbed through the chair, crawled over the keyboard and was heading to turn on the desk lamp.

All this exercise is getting Danny in shape, he is loosing some of his padding.

Danny has decided to scream whenever he gets mad or frustrated. He has good lungs and he can be pretty loud. We have been taking him out of the room (or the house) when he screams in hopes that he'll drop that habit and pick a quieter one.

Danny is still sleeping on his bed but he doesn't share a room with Alex anymore. He kept trying to play with Alex a little bit too much instead of sleeping... Now that everybody is sleeping more at night the whole family is happier.

Jumping! Danny squats down and then stands up real fast until he gets on his tippy-toes; he doesn't get off the ground yet, but he sure enjoys it.

"No hay gobos" (no hay globos - there aren't any balloons) is Danny's first sentence. We were driving off Lakeline Blvd, where Danny knows he can find balloons, but there weren't any and he kept saying "no hay gobos".

Danny's language skills keep improving. He knows to talk to Mami in Spanish and to Papi in English; interestingly enough, he will speak to Alex using English or Spanish words.

Danny has slept a week on his new bed, we made it!
On night two he and Alex discovered each other and the party begun, they played for about an hour before going to sleep. The next couple of mornings one or the other woke up early and woke the other one up, so by the end of the week they were both pretty tired.
Danny has been taking 4 hour naps on his bed (probably to recover from the night parties). He knows how to get up on the bed but hasn't figured out how to come down yet, it probably won't take long.

Danny slept in his bed last night, he cried a little bit and went right to sleep until this morning. Danny didn't complain about taking a nap on his bed this morning... What a big boy!
So now Alex and Danny share a room.

Danny was playing with Alex's singing fish and singing "La la" to the music, it was pretty cute.

Danny finally decided that it wasn't worthy crying during swimming class since it didn't help him get out of it (saying bye, bye to Miss Pam didn't help either)... He started smiling and talking today during the class. He can swim about a meter, grab ahold of the edge of the pool and pull his head out.

Danny figured out how to open door knobs. He first knocks on the door and says "tan tan" (if the audience is Spanish speaking) or "knock knock" (for the English speakers) and then opens it.

Started cutting a new molar (bottom right). It has just started to pop above the gum. Danny is in lots of pain.

Danny has been moved out of his highchair to a booster seat today. Now he eats like everyone else at the table.

We went out to dinner and had sushi. Danny almost got ahold of the sushi before the waitress put it on the table; he ate about half of a California roll.

Climbing has begun! There is a chair in Paula's room so that Alex can seat and read stories with Mami; well Danny decided he was going to get up on the chair too, so after trying a couple of times he got up on the chair, sat down, clapped and said "bravo."
He is testing to see where else he can climb, so far he was able to get up on Alex's bed but then sat there for a long time asking for help to get down.

Danny was able to drink water from a cup; he actually got all the liquid in his mouth and none on his high chair or clothes... Good job Danny!

Danny started walking today!!! He gave about 8 steps in the living room between Papi and Grandpa Warren.

We also had Danny's 18 month checkup. He weighs 27.4 lbs (60%) and is 33.5 inches long (80%).

Grandpa Warren has determined that Danny will walk this week. He has started the training! Exercises include sprints (fast toddling), balancing (standing on stomach), and squats (stairs). We'll see how far Danny gets this week.

First Picasso Mural. Danny found one of the bath tub crayons and painted the door, carpet and side wall of the game room while his sleep-deprived parents were trying to get some rest.

Danny keeps adding words and a few signs (that he made up) to his vocabulary. The cutest ones are "Coc" (Doc - Monica's Mom), "i i" (kiwi) and "Night night" (buenas noches).
His legs are getting stronger, he likes to walk and go up the steps while we hold his hands.

Danny got a new room and a new crib today, he liked his new crib (started jumping and playing as soon as we put him in), hopefully it will continue this way.

Danny has added the following words to his vocabulary: "titin" (calcetin - sock), "naiz" (nariz - nose), "peta" (puerta - door), and "ahi ta" (ahi esta - there it is).

Danny had a diagnostic laryngoscopy done this morning at the Austin's children's hospital. He recovered well from the general anestesia and is back to his normal happy self. The Doctor find that all of his "air ducts" are normal and are not the cause of the episodes of croup he has had in the past.

If we start singing B-I-N-G-O Danny starts clapping. Today he was playing with a little piano that we have that plays songs when it goes idle, he sat there for about 30 minutes pressing the keys and waiting for the BINGO song to play so he could clap.

Started walking today with us holding his hands - and he enjoyed it! Nick observed Danny stand by himself for 22 seconds.

Danny had his 15 month checkup today. He weighs 25 lbs 3 oz (60%) and is 32.5 inches long (80%*), so it looks like he continues to be track to be a big boy.
He has added the words "pe" (pez - fish), "papi" (daddy), "ale" (for Alex), "duck" (pato), and "bubba" (bubble - burbuja), to his vocabulary.

Danny started walking pushing a chair from the dining room; he pushed it around for good 10 minutes. This is the first time he does anything that resembles walking.
He has also gotten pretty good at coming down the steps on his belly, he just slides down.

Danny can eat yoghurt and applesauce all by himself using a spoon. He manages to get most of it in his mouth. He gets a fork with dinner and he tries to use it too, he usually gets a couple of bites with the fork and then eats the rest with his hands.
We been practicing for him to drink from a cup, he drinks a little bit and then starts playing with the cup, so it is going to take us a little while to master the cup. He does pretty well drinking from a cup with a lid and a straw, he doesn't like zippy cups.

"Mami" (Spanish for Mom) and "Llama" (out of one of his zoo books) have been added to Danny's dictionary. He babbles a lot and likes to talk to me, Alex, himself, or whoever is around.

The new words for the week are "gobo" (globo - balloon) and "bravo" (bravo - something like hurray, sounds just like Donald Duck, pretty cute!).

Danny has added two words in Spanish to his vocabulary. "awa" (agua - water) and "ma" (mas - more).
He likes to babble and sing. It is quite funny to listen to him tell us in baby babble all about his day and have him sing along and move his hands when we sing "Itsy bitsy araña".

We have also been teaching Danny a few signs, he can sign for more, book and water (which he uses for any drink).

Danny is also getting more adventurous with the fork and spoon, he tries to feed himself, and when he gets something in his mouth he claps.

Mr. Danny is starting to fight nap time... Some days he will take two naps, some others only his morning nap and some others only the afternoon nap.

Danny has added the word "baby" to his vocabulary. He is also starting to make sounds that are very close to the real words like "eta" for "galleta" (cookie).

Danny's favorite game is to put and remove lids of pens and markers. He also likes playing with toys where he can fit shapes.

Danny climbed up to the blue futon today and is starting to pull up more and more. He still doesn't look very interested in walking but he can climb the steps and crawl pretty fast.

Danny is weaned from the bottle and eats the same food we eat now. He still likes to have fruit Gerbers every once in a while, but he would rather have the straight food cut into pieces.

Danny waves and can say "hi" and "bye bye". He is also learning how to blow kisses and likes to blow in things that are shiny or interesting.

Danny had his one year wellness check today. He weighs 23.10 pounds (75%) and is 30.5 inches long (60%). He must have remembered the Doctor's office because he started crying as soon as I put him down to change his diaper before we saw the Doctor.

Happy Birthday Danny!
Danny turned one today. He was able to blow the candle of his cupcake and ate almost the whole thing afterwards.

Today Danny figured out how to turn on and off the lights of the Christmas tree. He sat by the tree for about 20 minutes turning the lights on and off.

Started saying "Oh-oh" and "Uuuuuu."

Danny started clapping on his own today.

Well, Danny doesn't unroll the toilet paper just for fun, he has decided to add it to his diet; he first pulls a bunch of toilet paper down and then he cuts pieces of and eats them... So he has been getting lots of fiber in his diet lately.

Danny discovered the toilet paper roll in the bathroom today, he had fun unrolling it! He also waved bye-bye to our friend Alicia.

Danny's top right incisor is out! He has 5 teeth now.
He was dressed up as a pirate for Halloween, he even got a gotee and a mustache!

Started pulling up today and getting to his feet - which made him very excited. He can't stay on his feet for more than about 5 seconds.

Danny has more teeth now, his right bottom incisor is out and so are the top left incisor and the top left lateral incisor. He likes to pick up food with his hand and eat it by himself.

Mr. Daniel is into computers, he sprints to the computer room and tries to touch the lights of the modem and the router, then he proceeds to open and close the door that covers the USB and other ports, and if he has time before we catch him, then he tries to get to the cables at the back of the desk. Alex is working on teaching Danny how to turn the computer on and off and how to open and close the DVD.

Danny's latest project has to do with softening the dirt of the ficus tree. Very quietly he crawls to the plant, then he kneels and plays with the dirt inside the pot, then he spreads the dirt in the tile and plays with it some more. Alex thinks it is the coolest thing, because he gets to vaccum the dirt after Danny is done with his project.

Danny played throw and get the ball back today.

Danny has mastered the art of splashing in the bathtub. He gets excited when we walk with him to the bathroom to give him a bath, he likes Alex's bath toys.

Danny is starting to pull up on furniture, his favorite is the ottoman of the rocking chair, he kneels and then bounces back and forth...

Started the drone "na, na, na, na..."

Got a haircut today. He held still very well. We achieved this by giving him sprinkler system parts to play with.

The tooth is out of the gum! It looks like a second tooth is on his way too.

Danny has been having a blast pulling out leaves from the ficus and playing with the dirt, he'll enjoy helping Papi with the sprinkler system later on.

Danny crawls pretty fast now, he has discovered the fire place, the steps and spends a lot of time just crawling around and exploring the house.

Danny's first tooth is on the way! You can see the white of his bottom left incisor ready to come out.

Danny found the ficus today, he sat right next to it and started pulling leaves and playing with the dirt from the pot; I found him with a bunch of leaves in his hands and with dirt all over his shorts and the floor.

He learned to go from sitting to crawling and then back again.    He can also crawl across the room in about 5 minutes.

In the eating department, Danny now eats fruits, vegetables and meats.  He eats breakfast, lunch, dinner and gets milk before going to bed.  He is weaned now.

Danny is learning to crawl. He took 3 "crawls" today. He is speeding around at about 24 inches per hour.

He got to taste ice cream for the first time today. He was mezmorized.

Danny is mobile now.  He has almost figured out how to crawl!... Today we left him in the middle of the room and we found him almost under the bed trying to eat the bed skirt and giggling.  He moves by doing a crawl/scoot maneuver that is sometime combined with rolling over and over.

He's got the rolling thing down. In fact, he can even make his way across a small distance to get something that he wants. He loves to roll from front to back and back to front in his crib when he's supposed to be sleeping.

During bathtime, Danny went nuts splashing with his arms. He always gets excited when we put him into the bath.

Rolled over from his back to his belly.

Someone turned Danny on. He is pulling up on things and seems eager to grab whatever he can reach.

Today Danny was pushing himself up into the crawling position from laying on his stomach. He would hold himself up for a few seconds before falling back onto his tummy.

Got a cold from Alex.

Danny is making very (loud) deliberate sounds right now. I think he is trying to talk but can't control his voice yet. They aren't shrieks, but loud babling. He gets very excited about making noise because it means that he gets attention.

He is getting solids a few meals a day now. He is eating vegetables (stage 1) and a few fruits. Monica is down to only a few feedings a day in hopes of weaning him completely in the next few weeks.

Danny can sit up for a few minutes all by himself. He can also grab his feet. Now he has something interesting to suck on.

Got Croup again. We knew how to deal with it this time. Turns out the first episode was really called Strider Croup - a more severe strain. Doctor gave Danny steroids to help him get over it. We also sterilized the cool mist humidifier.

Danny slept from his 10 PM feeding all the way to 6:00 AM!

We have been teaching him to fall asleep on his own. When we go in to pat him (to calm him down every 10 min or so), he will stick his head above the crib rails. It's funny how it looks like a gopher sticking up its head.

Lost his thumb and is seeking it desperately.

Got severe croup. Spent the night in the emergency room and the next day in hospital. Everything turned out okay with no permanent damage.

Danny is on a quest to grab his feet. He can see them, but darn! they won't hold still!

Started sucking his thumb (i.e. he found it).

Got a cold from Alex.

Monica has been taking off Danny's socks recently because it is warmer outside. And today Danny discovered his feet. He stared at them and must have wondered what they were. Alex has a foot fetish with Danny's feet. Alex loves to play with his toes and he even thinks he can cut Danny's toenails.

Once again Monica caught Alex doing something funny to Danny. This time Alex tried to give Danny some water to drink from a sippy cup (which Alex thinks is for babies now that he drinks from a big-boy cup). Alex got the sippy upsidedown and managed to dump water down Danny's front. But that didn't stop Danny from sucking like ma