Daniel Land, Part Two

Hello from Daniel Land.

It's a place where . . .


. . . divine intervention is gratefully accepted,

 

especially in the laundry room!

 It's a place where . . .

. . . GiGi makes the most awesome animal sounds
when she reads a favorite book.

It's a place where . . .


. . . Daniel gets his own taxi,



. . . and it's very energy-efficient.



Bears ride for free.

  Daniel Land is a place where . . .


. . . Cecilia studies for her MLE hours each day.
Sometimes she studies in the morning sun.



and, bundled up cozy in the fresh air,
Daniel takes awesome naps after his morning walks.



Will works on projects.

  Daniel Land is a place where . . .

. . . dinner is enjoyable and colorful,



and conversation flows around the table.





 

In Daniel Land, books and toys are friends.

 

Daniel Land is a place where (thanks to Luey!) GiGi rocks . . .

  

 . . . without make-up . . .

 

. . . or, better yet, without a head.




Daniel Land is a place where Dad and Mommy celebrate every day.


In Daniel Land, 

. . . even getting strapped into a car seat involves imaginative stories,




. . . and running errands requires a weekend tote.

  It's a place where . . .


. . . there are fascinating discoveries behind every cabinet door.

 

. . . single socks go AWOL.

  In Daniel Land, . . .


. . . Elmer Fudd "taught he taw a tocket". . .

  

. . . and challenges the boundaries . . .




. . . before having his face kissed off by his favorite person.

 

Daniel Land is a place where
windows are low enough for wonderful sights like birds and rainstorms.



Daniel @ 9 Months

Here it is--November 23, 2012.  And I'm getting around to posting pictures of Daniel @ 9 months.

The fact that the pictures were taken nearly 2 weeks ago, on November 11th, is duly noted as evidence that life in Daniel Land = B U S Y!

Daniel @ 9 Months--November 11, 2012



Daniel's Official "Ninesie" Onesie Photo




No more crawling on the belly.
On all fours, and fast!
Other activities he enjoys:
1) pulling up and sitting down
2) using kitchen stool as a walker
3) holding walls and furniture while walking
3) playing with anything that's not a toy
4) feeding himself



Getting busier all the time.
Love, love, love the wrinkles and rolls on his arms!




Sometimes Daniel looks a lot like
Cecilia as a baby, and at other times
he's mini-Will.



Still working on those upper central incisors.
Grand Dad is also teaching him to make 'monkey lips.'
Steve and his little copycat get into it at the dinner table,
and I must say, they both have the same mischief in their eyes.



Daniel is fascinated by balloons hanging from the lights in the dining room
for Steve Jr.'s birthday party.



Life is good at 9 months!

  BTW--thirty-nine years ago today, Steve and I married!  Happy Anniversary, Sweet Man.  God knew I needed you, and I'm so grateful He brought us together.

Camping

Hi!  Hola!  Daniel here.

A couple of weeks ago it was a pretty sky-blue cool Fall day here in Texas.  After lunch and a not-so-long nap, Mommy decided we needed to camp in the front yard.

We had all the gear:  a little tent just for me from Great Uncle Doug/Dodo and Great Aunt Iris/Nana, a big blanket for the grass, a soft lovey blanket that Josie gave me, a book, toys, and a rainbow umbrella for some shade.

Mommy said there was a big loud green truck coming to pick up recycling.  She promised that if we waited, the men would wave to me.


Dad took a break from working on his computer
to visit Mommy and me at our camp.




The tent behind Dad came from my
Great Aunt Iris/Nana and Great Uncle Doug/Dodo.
They brought it to Brazil when I was just a baby
so the mosquitos wouldn't bite me.
I'm glad we packed it back to Texas.




See the umbrella?
That's called a guarda chuva in Brazil
because it guards you from the rain.
I like all the colors.

 Okay, something weird happened when we were camping.  All these strange creatures started coming up to our umbrella.



This looked like an upside-down foot to me,
but Mommy said it was a camel.




And then she told me there was a goose.
Really?!




. . . and a gorilla!
I'm really glad my soft lovey blanket from Josie
was there to help keep that critter away.




The next time I blinked, there was a dog.




The rabbit must have been hiding when the dog came by.

Then Mommy and I looked up and saw an alien!!!!

This space creature had a pumpkin round body
a head with no neck, and
goofy little wing-hands.
He couldn't possibly fly!

 Just when I was hoping our guarda chuva would guard us from more than rain . . .


Guess what?
It was just my Dad.
He makes me laugh.



 And the big loud green truck came by so the men could wave at me and pick up recycled stuff.  Now the world will be a better place for camels, geese, gorillas, dogs, rabbits, space aliens, and my family too.

Birthday Dinner for Steve

October 17th has come and gone.  Steve Jr's birthday got swept aside with a wave of work and 4 classes plus a weekend bike event in the Hill Country.  I wasn't about to let this one slide, however.  Two years ago, we had just moved; Oreo Cakesters with candles had to do.  Last year, as we hosted a Going Away party for Cecilia and Will, I made his favorite dish--manicotti.  We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out his candles in the middle of party prep.

Here are a few pictures of Steve's Birthday Dinner from Sunday, November 11th (almost 4 weeks late).


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE!



Around the table were Jill, Cameron (in his car seat), Rex,
Steve, Luey, Steve Dad, Will, Cecilia, and Daniel.
At the "Kid's Table" were Iris, Doug, and me.




Dinner was Brisket, Garlic Cheese Grits, and Slaw
with Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes and BlueBell Ice Cream.

 

Luey and her brother Rex stare at baby Cameron (asleep in his car seat)
while Jill takes a break.

 

Uncle Doug talks football with Steve Jr.




Rex and Jill's little Cameron had a good time.

  I think other folks got more pictures, but I had a potholder or spoon in my hand before supper.  Just so grateful that we finally had a window of opportunity to celebrate Steve.

Penguins and Seals and Cousins, Oh My!

Hola!  Hi!  It's Daniel here.

I went to a special place last month with Mommy and my GiGi.  It took forever to get there in the car, so I took a nap in my carseat.  And when I woke up, there were lots of people that I knew.

Great Uncle Doug/Dodo, Mommy and me, Marisa, Chris, Great Aunt Iris/Nana
GiGi, Zoe, Mia

We were at a place called Moody Gardens in Galveston.  It felt a little bit like home in Niteroi because it was warm and breezy and there was water all around us.  It smelled like the beach that was right across the street from my apartment in Brazil.

We went into a big building with lots of windows everywhere.  The first window was full of penguins!  Really!  Live, walking, swimming, diving, eating, penguins.  Some were taller than me.

The people in red coats and yellow pants are humans.
The people in white and grey coats are penguins. 



Mommy showed me how to watch the penguins.
We sat up to watch them eat and walk around.
Then we squatted down like Chris did to see them swim underwater.

 Another cool thing we saw were these giants called seals.  We stared in this window with lots of water, and then these huge swimmy things would float by.  My cousins Mia and Zoe jumped up-and-down-up-and-down and squealed a lot.


This is me watching my cousins
jump up and down and squeal
for the swimmy seals.

We explored lots more windows.  Some had big fish, some had little fish, some had lots of fish, some had dots on fish, some had shiny fish.  Hey!  That's just like the book Dad reads to me every night when we splishy-splash in the bath.


Mia and Zoe got to touch some things in this pool,
but I checked out the lights with my frog.




My Mommy and I visited with Great Aunt Iris.
Her other name is Nana.  She's fun.




After Mia and Zoe looked at some shiny fish called sharks,
GiGi stamped their hands with a shark tattoo.
Then they stamped lots of things.




Mommy and Dad's cousin Marisa liked to tickle my arm.
She hugged me a lot too, because she had to save up
some Daniel-love for when she went back home to Switzerland.



This is Marisa and Chris
with Zoe and Mia.
They are part of my family, too.

 After we had lunch and saw a gigantic movie, it was time to go.  But before we left, something strange happened.


My Great Uncle Doug turned into a Scarecrow!



Zoe and her Dad Chris walked down a yellow brick road.



Then Mia and Zoe turned into a Tin Man and a Scarecrow.

 There were lots of creatures at Moody Gardens.  Some floated and swam in the water windows.  But the ones I liked best were the squealy, bouncy cousins.