This is what happens when I get behind on blogging. We have an eventful month and suddenly I'm way behind on my updates. So, I'll get us mostly caught up this time and save the other giant update (starting preschool!) for the next post.
1st haircut
Much as I loved Daniel's long shaggy hair, it was time for a trim. The back was starting to get kind of mullet-y and as cute as the longer hair was in the front and on the sides, the mullet thing was not as becoming. So, after asking around for suggestions, we took him to Cool Cuts for Kids, a salon that's tailored to kids. For the littlest customers like Daniel, the salon chairs are built into race cars.
He liked driving the car while the stylist trimmed away. The car also faced a little TV which was cued up with an Elmo video. I was quite the proud mommy that he recognized Elmo not from TV, but from his books.
He was pretty patient all through the cut and looked quite handsome afterwards.
Beach trip
When I was growing up, a trip to Padre Island was a part of nearly every summer. Kevin and I decided that would be a fun tradition to keep for our family too. Daniel enjoyed the trip last year so we knew he'd have fun this year too, especially now that he's big enough to walk and run in the water.
Before our flight, Daniel enjoyed playing in the kids' play area of DFW airport. What a genius idea to let the kiddos burn off some energy before their flight!
Last year we went with the Rangels and my parents. This year the Rangels weren't able to make it but my parents, Kevin's mom, and Kevin's brother Scott and his wife Katherine all came, then my brother David and his girlfriend Alana joined for the final two days. So, it wound up being an extended family trip, which was fun. Daniel loved spending time with his grandparents, uncles, and aunt!
Last year he wasn't walking yet so he couldn't really go very far out into the ocean itself before the water was hitting him in the face, so he mainly stuck to the sand and the tidepools. This year, he was boldly running out into the surf, or at least the first 20 feet or so of it. He was laughing out loud and saying "whee" as the waves would hit him, until he got out too deep and the waves were hitting him in the face. He's still not a big fan of water in the eyes, but as long as he stayed in that shallow zone, he was happy. He'd run into the water, back out, then back in again, over and over. We definitely have a little beach boy!
Daniel turns 2!
I'm not sure how it is that it's been 24 months since our little boy was born, but somehow I've got a 2 year old now. We decided to keep the birthday celebration low-key. We went swimming with a few friends that morning, then did a family dinner at the house that night.
Before all of that, though, we gave Daniel his birthday present. He's all about cars these days so we decided his gift from Mommy and Daddy would be a little car he can drive. We test-drove a few at Toys 'R Us earlier in the week and once he met the Cozy Coupe, it was love at first sight. We put a Cozy Coupe box in our car, but Daniel didn't understand that. All he understood was the part where he had to leave the "floor model" he'd been enjoying for the last 30 minutes and oh, what an epic meltdown that entailed!
So, imagine his delight a few mornings later when I brought him downstairs on his birthday and he saw the car sitting in the middle of the living room with a bow wrapped on the side. His face lit up and he ran toward it. Until it was time to leave for the swim playdate he was happily climbing in and out of the car. I'll always remember that morning-that might be the happiest I've ever seen him. It was the perfect gift.
We managed to pry him away from the car to head for the pool to meet up with his playmates Alejandro, William (who, as of this month, is now also his classmate at school), Natalie, and Justin. The kids had a blast swimming, jumping into the pool, and exploring the playscape.
Finally, it was cupcake time, and time to get our birthday boy home for a nap before the evening festivities.
That night my parents, Kevin's mom, Uncle Scott and Aunt Katherine, and the Rangels joined us for dinner. We feasted on dove breast (from Kevin, my dad, and Scott's successful hunting trip last fall), chicken, squash casserole, homemade applesauce, salad, fruit salad, roasted kale, homemade potato chips, roasted okra, homemade guac and chips, homemade bread, and cupcakes. Yeah, it was a LOT of food, but all delicious!
The company was wonderful too. Having just seen all his extended family a few weeks before at the beach, Daniel was really excited to see them all again (and talked about everyone for days afterward!). And of course, he was thrilled to see his buddy Alejandro not once but twice that day. At first I thought we'd have some trouble on our hands when they both seemed interested in the Cozy Coupe, but then, on their own, they found a way to share it. Daniel got in the car and Alejandro happily pushed the car around the house!
After that big day, Daniel got to stay up extra-late to enjoy his company. He slept hard that night though!
We thoroughly enjoyed our 2nd year with Daniel, and I can't wait to see what his 3rd year has in store for us. I hope he loves being our son, we sure do love being his parents!
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