THREE!!

I remember when three year olds seemed so huge to me. Now I can pick them out in a crowd. Their strong-willed "I do it myself" side mixed with the "mommy don't leave me" side. Daniel is in the perfect place between baby and little mister independent. I'm his mommy, but of course I'm biased...here are few awesome things I notice about Daniel now that he's a big three years old.

• Daniel is fully 100% potty trained. Dry through the night, don't you dare put him in pull ups. We were blessed that none of it was a battle. We jsut had tp be consistent. It really helped that he is completely self aware "I have to poop. I have to pee pee" but I can't even begin to imagine him still in diapers at this size.
• Daniel is a talker (always has been). He is very communicative and sometimes when he's excited he studders. But that's only because he's looking for the exact right word. He also hears words and is able to repeat them clearly back. This is often tested during morning devotions "Habbakuk" "Corinthians"
• Daniel's new favorite word...why. That's all. Appreciate his curiousity, but it's his favorite word. Ready to move on from his phase.
• In addition the the W word, he's also very inquisitive about other things like: Is Jack Jack a boy? Is Claire a girl? Do you have brown eyes mommy? I have blue eyes. Daddy has blue eyes. Grandma has blue eyes. Baby David has blue eyes. Why do YOU have brown eyes mommy? He thinks Connor and I must be related since he's the only other one in the family with brown eyes.
• Daniel remembers things I don't even remember. And absorbs stories that I would often think are way over his head. From books that we've ready or snippets from his tv shows. It's cool and kind of scary at the some time.
• Thanks to his teachers, he's counting to 10 and finally getting his colors right! 
• Daniel loves Jesus. Jesus lives in his heart and can come out to fix boo boos. (aww)
• Daniel is not exactly shy. His favorite phrase when he enters his classroom is "HI ANYBODY" but he's also very empathetic and will take my face in his hands and say things like "But mommy I love you, don't you want to sleep in bed with me.

I could go on with more Daniel-isms, but I'm already far enough behind in this birthday post. And now photos from his awesome birthday extravaganza. Bounce house + catered BBQ + a new red strider bike + yellow birthday cake = awesomeness.

Jackpot

The Upham boys sure hit the grandma jackpot. Grandma Mary came out for the weekend so we could go away to Kirsten and Jason's wedding in New Orleans. We have both been away plenty of times, but not together since the boys were born. If it hadn't been such an exciting reason it might have been hard to go, but Grandma did a fantastic job and kept them alive for the long weekend. They were definitely on their best behavior for her too or at least that's what we were told. Some photo evidence below:

Grandma "Sueeeeze"

Grandma got to see Daniel show off in his swim lesson.

Grandma let David drive

And Daniel too!

We taught Grandma the "put in Frozen" trick

Playing in the backyard

Naptime with Grandma

Johnny Jump up, just like daddy!

Self feeding

I had just started to notice that David was able to suck down a fruit snack on his own, but while we were away Grandma sent us a picture of David with spaghetti on his face. I hadn't thought to give him that yet (since we don't eat much of it) but sure enough he LOVES it and does a great job picking it up and putting it in his mouth. So the last two nights he's had a serving of pesto pasta cut up and last night he had about a third of a sweet potato in addition to it. He gets very grunty and puts on his demanding face when he wants more (just learned to read him to understand that was what he meant). Now we just need to teach him the sign for "more" it was one of his brother's favorites. Note: the first tooth has fully arrived!

ELEVEN months

I was proud of myself for remembering to get a photo of David on his actual 11 month birthday, but  we were gone all weekend and knew it would have been a pipe dream to write while I was away. Speaking of away...this was the first weekend that Chris and I have been away together since before Daniel was born. We went to New Orleans for Auntie Kirsten's wedding and had a fabulous time. Grandma Mary came out to stay with the boys and everyone survived (and thrived!).

Eleven facts about our big boy:

1. He can eat, and loves, cut up spaghetti. We don't eat very much of it, but grandma gave him some and he loves to independence of eating it himself. Good to know
2. David also loves to down the squishy packets for food (we call them crushers). He'll smack his lips as he eats.
3. He is not a big fan of big brother taking things away and gets an angry face followed by a sharp shrill scream. There are times I think he's even rolling on to Daniel (first wrestling match?)
4. We have a tooth!! A single lonely bottom tooth. Everything I've read says this is normal. Hope so.
5. David has discovered the deliciousness of his hands. I know this has everything to do with teeth (hopefully there are more teeth in there) but his hand is constantly being gnawed. 
6. He also seems to like to wave his finger tops across his mouth as he's making raspberry sounds. It's almost like he's singing.
7. David is up on hands and knees crawling super fast. I remember Daniel being a belly crawler until just before he walked. David can FLY across a room as a crawler. I bet he'll be a late walker too.
8. I think David is going to be a righty. Daniel grabbed things from an early age with his left, he is definitely left dominant now. David is a right grabber.
9. David's brown hair is going blonde and fast. I bet both boys will be complete toe heads by the end of the summer
10. He still prefers to snuggle in bed with mommy or daddy to get extra long naps. He's a much better sleeper at night (thank goodness!) but we'll find that most of the time he'll get in a longer afternoon nap if he's snuggling with someone.
11. David is still a joyous baby. He's still a bit of a "barnacle" but they way he lights up when he sees me pick him up or come up is priceless.

The "official" 11 month shot

Chewing on a special teething paci

Mommy kisses rock

 

Spaghetti is delicious!

Then and now

Mother's Day 2013 and Mother's Day 2014 (+ one day). My how things have changed!

Mother's Day

I failed at getting a good mother's day family photo today, but I got cute photos of the boys! Does that count? I did get to enjoy a "mommy's morning" to go compete in my first post-David triathon (4th in my age group!). After the race, I met Chris and the boys at my mom's house, yet another picture fail, and then home for naps, grilled dinner and an impromptu walk in Old Town. I'll post more on yesterday's swim class adventures!

David getting his first taste of ice cream!

Chewing on mommy's water bottle

Mother's Day eve venture to Target, with the mommy Cadillac of carts!

Happy mommy, finished the race!

Another guitar player?

And not to be out done by big brother's drumming, David seems to have a keen interest in Daniel's "real guitar". While on the stand last night David stood next to it and gently strummed the last three strings, calmly listening to the intervals. He doesn't do many things "gently" or "calmly" so it was a definite moment of "hmmm, maybe he has an ear too." I don't think daddy will mind too much.

Little drummer boy

Daniel is definitely a drummer and to help sow into that passion, Grandma Mary and Gpop Kevin sent Daniel an electronic drum kit for his birthday. Daddy and Daniel had a blast setting it up and then Daniel realized what it was and saw how much more fun he would have beyond the big boxes. It's not so bad noise-wise...though Daddy thinks it's fun to plug it into his guitar amp :-) Here's some video evidence. Photos to come...but they just don't fully express the joy drums bring Daniel

Saturday breakfast

Daniel and David didn't seem to get the memo that mommy wanted to sleeping (aka sleep past 6 am) so both were up at 5:45. And every time I'd try to close my eyes for a moment on the couch I'd hear a noise of someone getting into something they shouldn't (or having to go potty RIGHT NOW). At least they did a great job eating their breakfasts and in David's case, falling asleep mid-way through his yogurt.

Mommy's little helper

While Daddy is away Daniel has decided to "help" with some of the chores around the house like dishes and vaccuming...of course the vaccuming quickly turned into a weedwacker so Daniel has moved into outside chores too. David is rather amused. 

Teaching David how to do the dishes

Vaccuming the floor

Vaccuming the walls