May 2 – Daniel is talking to Mimi on speaker phone while he is trimming the grass with scissors. He took this picture with my cell phone and emailed it to Mimi to demonstrate how far he was standing from the speaker phone.

May 3 – Nandina boy

May 6 – “What does capital F capital R capital A capital G capital I capital L capital E spell?”

May 8 – Getting some playtime after going to the doctor’s office with Mama.

May 8 – Foot propelled bench swing

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May 9 – Beautiful day

May 10 – Me: “I can’t remember the name of the program I use to burn CDs.” Daniel: “InfraRecorder”. I’m glad one of us has a decent memory.

May 11 – Daniel loves to ride Harry

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May 12 – Me to Papa who was tickling Daniel while he was wearing his vision therapy glasses: “You’ve only got a half minute more, so you’d better get all his tickle spots.” Daniel: “But you know, even if you tickle them all, there will still be more.”

May 14 – Daniel watching a documentary: “You know how they got so close to that bird and it didn’t fly away? They must have zoomed in.”

May 14 – Beautiful day

May 15 – Daniel: “Look at all the bird poop on the car.” Me: “I know. You won’t let me go through a car wash.” Daniel: “You should go through a car wash when you’re on a date.”

May 15 – Another beautiful day

May 18 – Daniel: “Do you always have to knit?” Me: “Yes.” Daniel: “All the time?” Me: “Yes.” Daniel: “Even when you’re eating?” Me: “I do make that one exception.”

May 20 – Beautiful weather.

May 20 – A skink sat beside me on the front porch. Daniel was able to touch it. He was so excited.

May 21 – Vision therapy buddies. They arranged themselves this way and I couldn’t resist getting a picture.

May 23 – “When chickens are little they are fluffy and cute. When they are big they aren’t so cute.”

May 23 – Daniel was examining one of the 30 inch square lap blankets I make for hospice. Daniel: “Who did you make this for?” Me: “One of the sick people in the hospital.” Daniel: “Are they small?”

May 23 – I have wanted to capture Daniel singing this little song for months. He sings it every day, over and over.

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May 25 – Finally got a haircut and looks like a boy again.

May 27 – Daniel is singing nursery rhyme songs while referring to a book when he forgets a word. He’s seeing the advantages of being able to read.

>> Watch in high quality at YouTube

May 27 – So much for a family holiday. Papa is in quarantine with a nasty stomach bug. Daniel having to talk to him via web cam.

May 29 – Last week Daniel wanted to watch some videos of mice. In the mix we saw a few videos of mice giving birth. Later that day he told his pa, “You know what? Fish lay eggs, but mice lay mice.”

May 29 – Daniel watching Lassie: “I don’t see Lassie saving anyone right now.”

May 31 – Per Daniel, you can find anything on Google. He was asking me a deluge of questions about gravity and wanted to know what it looked like. I was explaining that you can’t see it, but can only see what it does. “Maybe we can look it up and see what it looks like.”

May 31 – Daniel: “Do you think we could make a web page?” Me: “I’m not really good at that sort of thing. That’s more of your Pa’s thing. Maybe Poppy could help you with it when he comes.” Daniel: “Poppy’s not really good at it either.”

April 2 – This morning Daniel was pretending he was a TV. A funny moment out of 15 minutes of programming: “And you can have all this for $99. Now back to ‘What My Grandfather Says’.”

April 6 – Daniel has been singing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt all day long, but he has not nailed his “L”s yet, so all together now – “wa wa wa wa wa wa wa”

April 7 – Finally! Spring!

April 7 – Got pictures at JCPenney today for someone’s fast approaching fifth birthday.

April 8 – Daniel: “Where’s the broth that i ordered?” It’s hard to keep up with the demands when I feel so bad. Looks like I’m not going to get much of a tip.

April 9 – He couldn’t resist digging a few holes before leaving for vision therapy.

April 9 – Making buddies at the park.

April 10 – Climbing the spider web at the park.

April 11 – Daniel speaking of The Weather Channel: “They show the weather and more weather and more weather after that. But mostly they have advertisements.”

April 11 – Daniel thinks programming should be offered as a course in kindergarten.

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April 12 – I think the roles are already reversing. Daniel just announced that he was ready to go, he had already used the bathroom and that I should before we leave.

April 12 – A favorite entertainment at Walmart

April 12 – Someone who shall remain nameless has been making folders on my PC. One of them was named “yahoo mimi yahoo”.

April 14 – Checking out the server room at Pa’s work.

April 15 – What a perfect day

April 15 – Jump

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April 16 – Getting a little play time in before the rain

April 16 – My little climber

April 16 – Balancing act

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April 17 – Daniel’s word of the day seems to be “immediately”.

April 17 – Climbing in the heat

April 17 – Poppy time

April 18 – Windy

April 19 – Daniel: “It’s nine days until my birthday.” Me: “How did you know that?” Daniel: “Well, yesterday you said it was ten days, so every day I just count down a day.”

April 20 – Moments to treasure: Daniel saw The Trouble with Tribbles for the first time this morning and laughed uproariously.

April 20 – Me: “You are just so smart.” Daniel: “I realize that.”

April 24 – Daniel typing on his computer: “How do you spell ‘whoops’?”. Then a little later, “How do you spell ‘oh dear’?”

April 24 – At the grocery store I asked Daniel to grab a box of Alka-Seltzer for me. Based on how sick I am, he insisted that I needed two boxes.

April 24 – Daniel just handed me this stack of papers he composed and printed. Surely he copied these from somewhere but it still has me raising my eyebrows.

April 25 – “I love you the most and Mimi the most. You can’t have too much of a good thing.”

April 25 – I gave Daniel a pop quiz and he did this one without help. He makes up for his poor penmanship by getting the answers right. He said he could not do the next set without “cheating”, which consisted of calling Mimi to ask her 3 + 4.

April 26 – Daniel about a little girl at a restaurant: “Why does she not like me?” Me: “I think she likes you fine, she’s just being shy.” Daniel: “Why?” Me: “She’s just feeling shy right now. You feel shy sometimes.” Daniel: “I’m never shy.” Me: “Well, that is true.”

April 26 – Little cutie nodded off in the car

April 26 – Daniel has his own system of time measurement. Daniel: “When would Poppy be here?” Me: “4 hours” Daniel: “How many minutes?” Me: “240” Daniel: “How many Bananas Pyjamas?” Me: “24” Daniel: “How many Caillous?” Me: “8” Daniel: “How many Spy Kids?” Me: “2”

April 27 – My son was asked to draw for the door prize at the POW luncheon.

April 27 – I love this look of pride on Papaw’s face.

April 27 – At nearly five, being a bell hop seems glamorous.

April 28 – A certain little five-year-old boy has been singing happy birthday to himself all day.

April 28 – All this new birthday stuff and he goes back to an ancient Dell laptop with Windows 98 on it.

April 30 – Daniel requested “pulls chicken soup”. He said, “This is even gooder than Poppy’s!” Grammar aside, I thought that was a pretty high compliment.

April 30 – Daniel:”Did you know when they made the Wild Kratts in the 1980’s it was really Zoboomafoo?” Me: “I think Chris and Martin were probably goofy kids in the 1980’s”

March 3 – Oh my. My tiny son just gave me a big pep talk, part of which was “If you need anything in the night, Pa or I will bring it to you. Life hasn’t changed. You still have the things that you need.”

March 8 – These are the kinds of texts Papa gets when Daniel is using voice to text: “I think this is the right weight I think we’re headed in the right way it’s that way you are just players that late hey I can’t decide I’m going right here here’s the chick in a little over here I think it’s a living there but right here here it is”

March 12 – Daniel worked with Ms Kasey today at vision therapy. When it was time to leave, he asked why he couldn’t stay and do some more. Ms Kasey said she liked his attitude.

March 16 – Daniel after unpacking a camera and identifying all the parts: “I know my stuff.”

March 17 – Daniel speaking of Pa: “You know what’s strange? Even when we let him rest a long time, he’s still tired.”

March 18 – So I’m trying to keep Daniel excited about his vision therapy by reminding him that he will learn of his next assignment before me. So I ask him who will know what it is first. “Ms. Kasey”. Yes. He’s too smart for me.

March 18 – Getting a much needed haircut

March 18 – Looking at a photo album bigger than him.

March 21 – Daniel requested green bean and lima bean stuffed chicken tenderloins for lunch. He can be really specific with these food requests.

March 21 – Daniel decided we should have a tea party. He brought me cold tea in a Hello Kitty cup and water for himself in a Dora cup. Doesn’t get better than that.

March 22 – I got Daniel’s challenge wrong. He asked me what the Earth was made of. I said rock. He said, “No, states.”

March 22 – “Don’t take my picture!”

March 22 – Me: “Who told you you could grow up and get so big?” Daniel: “I guess you did.”

March 24 – An interesting location for vision therapy

March 25 – Papa was praising me about something clever I’d done when Daniel said, “She’s not clever. She just looks stuff up on the internet.”

March 26 – Daniel, while being tickled: “Oh! That’s too much. But I like it!”

March 28 – Daniel is having me close my eyes while he works out the mechanics of his slight-of-hand tricks. I’m not sure that will play with an audience.

March 28 – I finally had to lay down. My darling son printed a picture of a heart, brought it to me and said, “See. I care about you.”

March 30 – Playing in gelatin

March 30 – “Tickle me hard. Tickle me all over. Tickle me to pieces.”

March 31 – I just finished deboning what was left of “the big chicken”. My funny little son wanted to know how I put all the parts of the chicken together to make “the big chicken”. He keeps me laughing.

February 2 – “I want to watch Curious George from the Olden Days.” He’s referring to the 1980’s.

February 4 – Daniel singing a song he was making up as he went: “When I was inside my mama I was all alone. I didn’t have anybody. I didn’t have any computers. I don’t know how I did it.”

February 5 – “I’m really hungry, Mama. Start cracking.”

February 5 – Daniel the 4-year-old doctor is watching videos about viruses on YouTube. And I mean very technical college level type stuff. This was per his request. He’s taking notes! He’s written “virus”, “rna” and “dna” and drew pictures of a cell and a virus. Then he called his Pa and went through the whole life cycle of a virus. Molecule was “monocle”. There was a monocle shaped like a crayon and a monocle shaped like scissors. “D-A-N” is DNA and “A-N” was RNA.

February 6 – Daniel told me about a time Poppy was cutting something in the kitchen and cut himself. I said that Poppy’s skin probably wasn’t as tough as mine. “When Poppy is a little older he will probably be like you.”

February 7 – Daniel recorded five sound files for Mammy, burned them on an audio CD, put it in a case and envelope, weighed it to determine postage, put on return label (his own, btw) and postage. The only parts of this process I assisted in were writing the address (his handwriting isn’t quite up to postal standards) and looking up the postage needed once he told me how many ounces it weighed.

February 7 – I was singing My Darling Clementine and Daniel asks, “Is God going to find her?”

February 8 – Waiting in comfort for eye appointment

February 8 – Music and open floor

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February 9 – What would I do without this clever boy. See how nicely he’s fixed the hole in my sock.

February 9 – Daniel to Pa: “You know what I can hear? I can hear what you are thinking about in your brain. You are thinking I need to get in my bath.”

February 12 – He’s got a tummy ache.

February 12 – Telling Daniel his birth story and go to the point where my water broke. Daniel: “And did you say ‘Oops’?”

February 13 – “Sometimes when I clean things up it interrupts other things I want to make a mess of.”

February 13 – I hear a steady click click click of Daniel’s mouse and he says, “It’s hard work doing this, isn’t it.”

February 14 – Daniel made us a bunch of Valentine cards, complete with envelopes with our names.

February 16 – “I’m watching Sewing with Nancy. I don’t know how to sew yet though.”

February 17 – I hadn’t said anything, but Daniel said, “I know it hurts, Mama.”

February 21 – My sweet little boy is getting the short end of the stick with his sick and now recovering mama. Tonight he was a bit down about it and ask his pa: “Do I have to grow up all at once and drink out of a glass?”

February 26 – Daniel to Pa: “Were you smiling while I was hugging on Ma? That makes her feel better, too.”

February 27 – My long haired son watching a video on his Kindle.

February 27 – “You know something? You’ve got love-ness.”

January 1 – Just happened to finish up the Bible with Daniel last night, so tonight started at the beginning again. When I was telling about the Earth being without form and void he asked, “Was it just dirt?” So I explained that it may not have even had dirt, but was even less defined. “So kind of like the kitchen floor.” I just had to agree with that one.

January 11 – Daniel asked me what I needed to do and wrote it all down for me. Looks like hieroglyphics.

January 15 – He’s talking to his Pa on the phone. The part that isn’t obvious and visible is that he’s sitting on my back.

January 18 – Daniel goes around the house all day long singing little made up songs I thought this one was funny: “Bananas are my favorite food. Even if they’re good for you.”

January 23 – My cutie just slipped me this sweet note.

January 24 – Waiting for his vision appointment

January 24 – Some vision testing with Dr. Danley

January 24 – Daniel wanted to put some makeup on me, so foolishly I let him. First he said “you look even prettier than I imagined” which was nice but then closely followed this comment with “now you look 180.”

January 26 – Daniel: “Are Mimi and Poppy up?” Me: “No. It is way too early. We are the only two people in the world that are up.” Daniel: “Just us two and the animals?” Me: “Yep. Just us two and the animals.”

January 26 – Daniel has been watching “Make ’em Laugh” from Singing in the Rain over and over. “Want to see something cool? He’s got some cool moves.”

January 30 – “I love robins. They are so big, and are so talented singing.”

December 2 – One of Daniel’s play dough ornaments.

December 3 – Daniel musing about what to get his grandparents for Christmas: “Poppy likes puzzles and math and pencils and stuff like that. Mimi needs tissues because she’s sick all the time.”

December 3 – Daniel made play dough hands. He hung them like this because he said they are giving fives.

December 5 – Daniel just cast all his votes for the Chica Awards. My favorite was he voted for Caillou for Best Hair.

December 10 – Getting my workout following little master mister up and down this Candyland style path

December 12 – Daniel to me as I wander through the dark house to get him some water in the middle of the night: “Be careful. There are obstacles in your way.”

December 13 – I doubt this Lee Co. technician needs so much supervision from a four-year-old, but he’s been very patient about it.

December 14 –

December 14 – Playing with fire

December 16 – Banana sushi

December 19 – Such a cute idea – a cookie decorating kit from Aunt Alyce. Daniel decorates two at a time so that we can stretch this entertainment out a while.

December 20 – Daniel was very proud of his layered salad and took this picture as well as three dozen others.

December 21 – Mr Silly eating green peas with chopsticks.

December 21 – I was whisking eggs and Daniel marveled that I could do that without splashing out of the bowl. So I explained that I had lots of practice whisking eggs. “You have an old Mama.” He responds, “I have an old Pa, too.”

December 21 – I’m wondering if Daniel has inherited his poor Mama’s spelling ability (or lack thereof). Son to Papa: “I made you something. I’ll give you a hint. It starts with a K.” After Papa makes several guesses, “No, it’s a cake!” In actuality, he made a kasserole.

December 24 – Daniel made various shades of green “guys” with his new modeling clay set.

December 25 – Daniel hid the cookies he made (with cool custom colors) to surprise Papa. He’ll never find them so well hidden.

December 26 – My little darling not feeling great today, watching TV.

December 27 – Daniel signed a birthday card for Papaw. When he ran out of room at the bottom he just picked up again at the top.

December 27 – His new Kindle is nice for when he’s not feeling so good.

December 27 – I told Daniel how old I would be on my birthday. Son: “Is that past a hundred?” Gee, thanks.

December 28 – Daniel was staring at the muted TV. I asked him if he wanted the sound on. “No, because I’m about to play games and it might distract me.”

December 28 – While I was ordering at the counter Daniel went to pick a table. “She picked the table I wanted.” Thinking he meant a customer I told him he could find an equally good table. When a hostess set some forks and napkins on the table he selected he said, “She picked my table again!”

December 29 – Daniel: “What do you want for your birthday?” Me: “Sleep” Daniel: “What do you want for your birthday that I can wrap in a box?” Me: “Sleep” Daniel: “I could wrap a pillow in a box.”

December 30 – Leave it to my little worrier Daniel to be concerned about what he would wear at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. “What if I want to wear my regular clothes?”

Daniel had Christmas pictures taken at J. C. Penney.

November 2 – A very pitiful sick boy

Daniel has some strange stomach virus that doesn’t have a fever. Doctor’s office said they’ve been seeing it. He’s in pain and can’t eat. He said his throat is wrinkled. I’ve now got the same virus and completely agree with his description.

November 6 – “My nose just keeps making more and more snot. Why does it do that?”

November 6 – One of those tests of the emergency broadcast system came on. Daniel: “That’s about that storm that filled up people’s houses. But that’s silly because it already happened.”

November 7 – Daniel made a likeness of himself that he said I could tickle all I want.

November 8 – “Some old people think strawberries are vegetables.”

November 10 – Sewing on my sewing machine

>> Watch in high quality at YouTube

November 11 – Proud of his play dough snow man he made all by himself

November 12 – Daniel went in his room and closed the door: “I did it! I created my own darkness!”

November 14 – I brushed Daniel’s hair and he ran off and rumpled it. “Look. I peeled all your art out of my hair.”

November 16 – Hair cut time.

November 19 – Daniel to my phlebotomist: “You sure have collected a lot of cotton balls.”

November 20 – “Bunny is good to me. If I’m sad or anything in bed, Bunny takes care of me. I love Bunny.”

November 26 – Barista at Whole Foods: “Is this your son? He ordered a breve watte. Is that right?”

November 26 – Daniel: “I don’t say car. I say cah.” Me: “Sounds Bostonian.” Daniel: “How do you think I know that language?”

November 27 – Me, to Daniel, who had just been playing with pirate toys: “Come here, my little pirate.” Daniel: “I’m not a pirate. I’m a little cutie boy.”

November 28 – Parked near us was an SUV with a deer strapped to the top. Daniel examines it for a while. “Is it dead?” “Yes.” “How? I don’t see any holes or anything.”

November 28 – “Ja is another word for you. Like told ja.”

November 28 – As I bent down toward Daniel, he looked at the top of my disheveled head and said, “Mama, are you having a bad hair day?”

October 1 – My poor sweety has come down with something or another and fell asleep on the couch. He doesn’t feel good at all.

October 2 – As I put my sweet little sick boy to bed he said “Are you going to have a good rest?”

October 3 – Daniel standing on a stool: “Look! I’m bigger. Look how big I am. But why is my voice not lower?”

October 3 – Daniel didn’t appreciate my humor when I told him the egg salad he made was egg-cellent. “No, it’s EXcellent.”

October 4 – My little guy was feeling better yesterday but more on the puny side again.

October 5 – The train tower is always a favorite

October 7 – Daniel speaking of The Andy Griffith Show: “Tell TiVo that I like that show.”

October 10 – Watching bees on the mums

October 11 – Daniel: “That says Staples The Office, but what is that last word?” I guess I can forgive him for not knowing the word Superstore.

October 14 – Playing with the “sliding thing”

October 17 – Papa found this little car at Brilliant Sky. It follows a track you just draw on paper.

>> Watch in high quality at YouTube

October 18 – Daniel is drinking water out of a coffee mug and watching the weather channel. Four going on 60?

October 19 – “I just want to tickle you right up.”

October 20 – “How do I know that? I’ve been on the Earth a long time.”

October 21 – Daniel likes to help start loads of laundry. Today he was putting towels in the washer and says, “Laundry, laundry, laundry. Why do we do laundry every day and there is always more laundry?”

October 22 – Trying out the PlayStation Vita

October 24 – After about three dozen rides, Daniel is an escalator expert.

October 26 – While picking out frames for new glasses today, Daniel was very opinionated about the choices. I ended up going with his final pick. It’s nice to not have to make a decision about something like that alone, but kind of funny putting so much stock in the opinion of a four-year-old.”

October 27 – Completely engrossed in his new etch-a-sketch

October 28 – Daniel is playing with plastic balls of various colors and pretending they are candy. He is saying they are flavors based on the colors, and most were pretty regular candy flavors like lemon, orange and grape. When he got to the green one, he said that one was edamame!

October 28 – “I did control-alt-delete and made that thing come up so that I could end the process.”

October 29 – Daniel was getting his Papa to tell him all about animals before bed. He told him that Uncle Larry would be able to tell him all about animals and could talk his ears off about them. That was a new expression for Daniel so he requested some more explanation. “What would it look like if your ears fell off? It would just be big holes full of wax.”

October 29 – Daniel noticed his Papa’s haircut and wanted an explanation. Papa said that he just sucked his hair back in. Daniel: “I think there were some scissors along the way.”

October 30 – The wind woke my poor boy. He took the opportunity to tell me all about computer viruses and antivirus software.

October 30 – Daniel wanted to print a small portion of a web page. Completely on his own, he did a print screen and then opened Paint and did a paste. He used select to get the portion he wanted and then cropped. Then he printed his cropped image. I’m afraid to know what he will know how to do when he’s five.

October 31 – “Hey! Papa’s tickling too well. Oh my goodness, this is too much. Oh my goodness, this is terrible.”

October 31 – Our waitress had red devil horns. Daniel asked me if she was a moose. A different waitress, repeated something back to my son using his substitution of W’s for L’s. After she left he said, “Why she say it like that?” I explained that she was imitating the way he said it. “No, I think she was speaking in Spanish.”

October 31 – Dr Daniel