Big One-Year-Old Boy!

Daniel is officially one-year-old today! This stage of a little one's life is so much fun because they are learning and developing very quickly in so many ways. They almost seem to be learning something new every day.

The two biggest things on Daniel's agenda right now seem to be walking and communicating. As we've mentioned in previous posts, he is taking several steps at a time on his own, and is standing very well. He can balance well enough to throw a ball while he's standing on his own, and he can now take a few steps and then stop himself without falling. That's progress. =) He hasn't taken off yet though....we'll keep you posted!
Daniel says over a dozen words clearly, even including some of the consonants that novice talkers often leave out (like "t" and "r" sounds). His current vocab list (minus a couple that I forgot when I made the list) is in the side bar. I'll try to keep that updated until his vocabulary really takes off and I can't keep up with it! He seems to try to say several other words as well although they aren't very clear yet.

Because Daniel is speaking so many words, he seems to be leaving his sign language by the wayside. Initially he picked it up quickly (right at about 8 months), but now he rarely uses any sign except "please." Perhaps that's because "please" is one necessary word that he doesn't speak yet! He uses the sign for "please" often though, because he knows he won't get his food without it. =)
Probably Daniel's favorite play thing right now is balls.... golf balls, tennis balls, bouncy balls, footballs, plastic kiddie balls.... he even thinks that the birthday balloons are balls, and he enjoys playing with those as well! Basically anything round is a ball to Daniel right now - including the pumpkins in the photo below as well as anything else that happens to be round. He's actually gotten pretty good at throwing balls, and will throw a golf ball or tennis ball straight toward you about 3-4 feet.

Daniel's most recent fascination is eyes. He loves to carefully stick his fingers under my glasses, touch my eyes and whisper "eyes." He is learning about the other parts of the face as well, and will sometimes tell us about our (or his) mouth or nose. His favorite feature by far though, is eyes.

Our little man has 6 teeth now, and we think that a couple more may be coming through soon. He's been more fussy than usual, and he has been chewing on several of his board books, which is also unusal! Hopefully both "symptoms" will pass when his next teeth come through.

Daniel is a little ham, and will offer a sweet smile to almost anyone who gives him the time of day - provided he is near Mommy. He loves being with people, and is such a sweet cuddly little boy. Lately he has gotten a little teary when he gets left in church nurseries, but he has really done VERY well with that considering that he has been in the arms of hundreds of different people and in dozens of different church nurseries over the course of the past seven months. Daniel's friendly disposition is something we are very thankful for. We know that many of you have been praying for both of our children in that regard, and we thank you! God is answering!

Daniel (1) and Rebekah (3)

Daniel adores his big sister, and most of the time she loves being with him as well. =) Rebekah is a marvelous babysitter on long trips, and Daniel laughs and laughs at her funny faces or lion roars. He is just hard-pressed at times to stay out of her way as he has a far more laid-back personality than his type-A sister! But overall, we are thankful that our children get along well so far!

Other recent milestones....Daniel is finally drinking milk from a sippie cup by himself now. For quite a while he would hold the cup and suck, but he wouldn't tilt it up, or wouldn't tilt it far enough. He has finally gotten the hang of it now though! That's great for me as I no longer have to sit and feed him his milk at mealtimes. He can drink while I finish other meal preparations! One little quirk he has though - when he's finished drinking his milk (whether the cup is empty or not - usually when he sees the "real food" coming), he will place his cup upside down in the seat beside him. Thank goodness for spill-proof sippie cups. =) But hey, setting his cup beside himself definitely beats throwing the cup on the floor like he used to do!

Our little goof!

Daniel Waldock with my (Rachel's) cousin Daniel Rife who also happens to be a redhead!

About 3 weeks ago, Daniel decided he was done with morning naps. I would put him down as usual around 10am or so, and he would play or cry until I got him up again. So we sadly resigned ourselves to only one nap a day for our growing boy. He is more than ready for a nap by the time naptime rolls around in the afternoon though! Even so, he generally only sleeps about 1.5 hours in the afternoon. Rebekah takes longer naps than that! Ah well....he has been sleeping through the night for many months now, so I am thankful for that at least. =)

We were visiting a friend in Ontario Canada, and Daniel was so tired that he fell asleep on the floor. That is highly unusual for him!

Daniel is also developing a love for books. He really enjoys looking through his board books (and Rebekah's regular paper books if he can get his hands on them), and those keep him entertained for quite some time when we are on the road. Almost anytime I am reading to Rebekah, he comes over to get in on the storytime. His attention span seems to be longer than Rebekah's was at his age, but that may be because he's used to having books read to him that are way over his head!
Daniel "reading" the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den in his car seat

Now that Daniel is one-year-old he can face forward in his car seat. All four of us were VERY ready for him to reach that milestone! He loves being able to see us now, and we love being able to reach him without having to do acrobatics in the van. =) Daniel's first day facing forward

Daniel doesn't have his 1-year-old check up until Monday, so we know know exactly how much he weighs yet, but he seems to have hit a growth spurt the last month or so. At 10 months, Daniel was 19 pounds - only 4 1/2 pounds heavier than he had been at 5 months. Since then, however, he has become a bottomless pit! He has doubled the amount of food he eats in a day, and seems to be ready to eat anytime there is opportunity. Yes, he is a boy. =) In just the last few weeks he has been filling out his clothes - he may actually be moving up to the 12-18 months clothes before long!

It is hard to believe that Daniel has already been with us an entire year, although in many ways it seems that he has been a part of our lives for ever, and we can't imagine life without him. We are so very thankful for our sweet boy!