Watching Daniel learn new things is a truly rewarding and hilarious experience. It's hard to remember the look of recognition from his very early days. I remember distinctly a few major milestones. The first time he said Mama, the first time he said Dada, the first time he rolled over, and of course, his first step. There are other intermediate things that just sort of morphed into being. Like crawling. He scooted and scrambled and slid all around until it all just sort of happened for him.
But now. . . wow. Now it's like "Eureka!! I GET IT!" Last night at dinner, we were having fettuccine alfredo. Daniel was sitting in his chair, eating and being quiet, and suddenly he shouted, "I got noodles!" Doug and I laughed. A lot. What a goofy kid. He got noodles, alright. Last weekend, my parents brought Dasha and Maddie home after their stay at Gram and Gramps' house. Dasha was SO excited to be home. She was jumping and twirling and acting like a maniac. Doug and I both shouted, "Dasha Leigh!!!" to get her attention. Daniel, up until this point, had only referred to her as Dash. Now he runs around behind her shouting, "Lasha Dee! Lasha Dee!" So incredibly cute.
Other things aren't as concrete as noodles and Dasha Leigh. Concepts, for example. Like sharing. He knows that when two people want the same thing, they have to share. How they go about doing it is still pretty lost on him. A few weeks back, Daniel had a fire truck that Will wanted. Will was trying to take the fire truck. Daniel didn't want him to. "Share! Share! SHARE!" he shouted at Will until Will gave up and decided to play with an ambulance. Last weekend, we had the whole Rem family over for dinner. Will had Daniel's mower. Daniel wanted his mower. This time, Daniel was much more forceful about it. He ran up to Will, tackled him, took the mower, and said very resolutely, "Share." Holy cow. He gets it, but not really.
One that I'm waiting - waiting oh-so patiently - for, is I love you. I tell Daniel I love him at least four thousand times a day. I know he could say it if he wanted to. I just don't think he quite gets what it means. He hugs me, kisses me, pats my back, and snuggles with me. I know he loves me. But to hear him say it. . . oh what a day that will be. I have to wonder if his little mind needs to wrap around the whole concept of love before he'll say it. Whatever it takes, I'm ready. I'm ready for him to tackle me, knock me over, beat me over the head, and say, "I love you!" with as much enthusiasm as he does when he got noodles, or a fire truck for that matter.
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That day will come soon enough. We ask Ellie to say "I love you," and she does, but only once has she said it spontaneously. I was putting her to bed while we were in Dallas, and I looked down at her after tucking her in and said "I love you, Ellie." She looked up at me and said "I love you." And I walked out of the room on cloud nine. She hasn't said it spontaneously since then, but oh boy was it awesome. You'll see, Daniel isn't too far from it too.
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