Daniel

Friday morning was Daniel's turn to have breakfast out with daddy. The children rotate every Friday morning, and they get to choose where they go to breakfast with daddy. They also get to be woken up early... so they can have breakfast out with daddy, and daddy can still get to work at a reasonable time (he normally leaves for work at about 6:30 a.m., before any of the children are awake).

This all makes for an irresistible combination, and the children so look forward to it being their Friday morning with daddy!

Well, like I said, it was Daniel's Friday this week...and that got me thinking: I haven't devoted a post to Daniel yet.

And this boy definitely deserves his own post.


Oh, but where to begin?



I'm sitting here just shaking my head thinking about him. What can I say about this crazy, creative, happy, resilient, precious little guy?!?!?

First, he is joyful. Daniel is always happy. And Daniel is always smiling. He reminds me of a bubbling little fountain.

In more ways than one...because you see, Daniel is also always talking.

I'm so thankful for one milestone he achieved this past year. Only during this last year did the boy who is always smiling in real life learn to smile on command for pictures. You might could catch him spontaneously smiling, if you were quick...and lucky, like this...

Otherwise, if you asked him to smile, you would get something like this...

or this...



or (horror of horrors!) this...



Anyone who spends time with Daniel comes away saying "Boy, he sure talks alot!" and/or "Boy, he sure does ask alot of questions!"

And you can't just smile and nod your assent mindlessly while working on other things, he will press you. "You know dat?"

And the creativity this child has just blows. my. mind. The pictures and lego and tinker toy creations he comes up with are so neat. The stories he tells you to "fill in the blanks" are the best part.

Daniel hasn't needed a nap for about a year, so during nap/rest time every afternoon, he plays by himself...semi-quietly. The child is simply not capable of not making the noises that go with playing with your lego car creations, and so forth.

And just a few days ago he had his Papa's tools spread out at the edge of their driveway, as we all sat by watching one late afternoon. Well, I say they were "Papa's tools", but papa said that Daniel had informed him they were really (gasp) alligators!

And Daniel's love for cars and legos is rivaled only by his love for.....sticks! When we go for walk/big wheel rides, I know he'll be bringing home as many sticks as his precious little hands can carry. Oh, pardon me, they're not sticks...they're swords!

I don't know if it comes from being the former baby of the family, or if it is just his personality, but Daniel's reaction to Lily Kay Zibing has been funny to me. While he likes and loves her, and is proud to tell people about her...he does not cut her much slack. He acts like she's been here forever and he doesn't want us to give her much leeway in "getting with the program"...and he can often be heard asking "Why doesn't Lily Kay have to do this?" or "Why is Lily Kay allowed to do that?"





Daniel is a survivor and is amazingly resilient. And that is why I'm not (very) worried about him adapting to another big change that is coming his way later this week. Stay tuned...