Daniel, Mama, Papa, Poppy, Mammy, Pappy, Uncle Tom, Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Elizabeth all had lunch together.  Daniel showed off his Santa hat.  He had a lot of quality time with Mammy.

Enjoying his chicken. 

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Mammy asked him to wipe his hands, so when he’s done he hands her the napkin.

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Playing in the sugar packets.

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Daniel, Papa, Mama, Mimi and Poppy all have a virus.  It starts in the throat and sticks around for days and days.  Daniel had a fever of 102 at the beginning of it, but no fever now, but he continues to have a runny nose and feels bad.

Yesterday Daniel asked to throw something away, so I opened the pantry.  He stayed in the pantry for a while and pulled out food cans.  It was his bath time so I started putting the cans back and Daniel helped put them back.  Once all the cans were back, Daniel stepped back and grabbed the door and said “Shut the door” as clear as clear can be, and closed the pantry door.

Daniel demonstrated learning by example today.  We have recycling pickup at our house for paper, metal and plastic bottles.  In the kitchen pantry we have a regular trash can and a recycling can.  I’ve never talked to Daniel about it, but I’m sure he has observed which items I would put in which place.

Daniel loves to help out around the house.  He loves to throw things away.  He finds a scrap of paper or a tracked in leaf and takes it to the pantry door asking for it to be opened. 

Today I was in the kitchen and had a box that I collapsed to put in the recycling can.  Daniel saw it and wanted to throw it away.  I assumed it would go in the regular trash, but it wasn’t worth disappointing him by not letting him have it, so I gave it to him.  I handed him a few other things over the next few minutes for him to throw away.

Later on, I happened to be in the pantry for something else and looked at the recycling can and there was that box.  Daniel had known to put in there and the rest of the trash in the trash can.  I was completely amazed.  So even though I’ve never specifically talked to him about what goes in each place, he’d been quietly observing what I was doing.

Mama, Papa and Daniel met Grandpa and Maw-maw for lunch at our favorite burger place.  Daniel ate a lot of French fries.  After his feast, he was in a good mood and was being a bit of a ham while playing with a zip-lock bag.  He looks so grown up in his black mock-turtleneck shirt and jeans.

Sometimes something as simple as a box has so many play possibilities.  You can sit in a box.

You can sit on a box.

You can put stickers on a box.

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Mama made Daniel a Christmas stocking.

Mama knitted stockings for herself and Papa.  All our stockings are hung on the holders Daniel’s Grandma gave us.  She must have known something those several years ago because she gave us three holders. 🙂 

Daniel loves the stocking holders.  He especially likes that each one has a teddy bear.

This morning Daniel was surprised by the Christmas tree.  He pointed to all the things on it while Mama held him.  It is not within his reach since that would not be a good thing.  It’s a tiny little tree, but very jazzed up with all of Uncle Kenneth’s beautiful hand carved and painted ornaments.

“Papa, don’t take my celery.”

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Daniel saves stickers on his closet door.  This video begins when he moved all his stickers to his tummy.

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One of these days I’m sure I’ll be handing Daniel all my jars to open for me.

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