My Boy is a Toddler!

Daniel has graduated to toddlerhood! I can't believe how fast he is growing, and how many things we are already seeing of his personality! Our little boy is a strong willed toddler, that's for sure, but at the same time he is very sweet and caring and LOVES to share his food, toys, and almost everything else he has with us and other kids, especially! We were hanging out with some friends of ours and their little girls (3 and 6 weeks) the other day, and Daniel was so cute because not only was he sharing things with the older girl, he was also trying to give the baby food, and spent awhile softly 'petting' the baby's head. Although I am still a little nervous about having baby Lydia in just a month a half with him being so young still, I am getting more and more excited at the same time! I know that God had a plan in mind when we got pregnant with Lydia and I know that our two little kids will be amazing friends and I'm so excited to be able to train and raise Daniel to be a good big brother to his little sister, starting right away. :o) I love that he is understanding already what it means to 'help' Mommy and Daddy so that hopefully he will want to continue helping with baby, too! My main thing will be to make sure he still gets Mommy time, because he is a very needy kid when it comes to having cuddle time and time to just hang with us. But, I am realizing more and more that God does not give us more than we can handle, and so since he has blessed us with two kids 16 1/2 months apart, he must know that we can handle them both and still do all that we can to train and grow them to hopefully be children of His one day! It is exciting!! :o)

Anyway, toddlerhood has been SO much fun! It's amazing how although we knew he could take some steps on his own since the end of May (almost 2 months ago), and even though he's been walking more and more since a week ago last Thursday (July 30th), it was this past Wednesday that he decided to really show us that he knew what he was doing! :o) I was sitting in my chair doing something when all of a sudden I realized he had stood up in the middle of the living room and was walking around and around the room in circles nodding / dancing his head to the music I had playing! It was SO cute! He did it for awhile and I ran to get the video camera and was able to video tape some of it which was great! Ever since then he has been walking almost non-stop! He LOVES it! I love how much more independent it has made him and how he is good going wherever now even if we are not with him. He will bring me books / toys from his room, one at a time, toddling back and forth. He is figuring out the whole drinking while walking thing, too, after falling quite frequently those first few days. :o) He already has two big bumps / bruises on his forehead from falling, but I am telling myself that is not over with yet! We do have a boy, and we fully understand that boys like to be adventurous! :o)

I love Daniel SO much! And watching him toddle is one of my favorite things to do right now! :o) He is adorable!!! Especially as he holds his hands up in the air while toddling or holds his hands on his hips or together behind his back as he walks. Lol. He cracks me up! :o)