Chilly, Mountain Vacation

Late last week I took Danny up to the mountains to visit with my dad and family, as well as my Grandma who was in town from Ohio for the week. And then icing on the cake, Ali came up from Chapel Hill too! It was COLD, like 16 degrees in the mornings, and it snowed one night. In Danny's words, brrr...

Proof

Needless to say, we played indoors for the most part, only trekking out to pick up some apples at a local orchard, a quick grocery trip and dinner at Stonewalls in Banner Elk. As I expected, Danny thoroughly enjoyed my dad's long hallway and the bookshelf at the end. I seriously couldn't be more proud of how well he did in the car with just me for 6 hours - slept good and then otherwise entertained himself.

Cheese

In my late Grandpa's favorite chair

Uncle Mac

Lunch audience

Apple thief

I'll have a filet and glass of cab

The Outdoorsman

I don't know if it's the beautiful, slightly cooler weather or just Danny being a little boy, but he's been absolutely loving playing outside lately. Running around on the beach and our yard is great and all, but his favorite is the little porch off our living room in this condo. In and out, in and out, shut the door, open the door, yell at passing dogs, jabber with our neighbors, in and out, in and out, shut the door, open the door, repeat.

Morning Session

Lounging in our make-shift patio furniture

When will daddy be home???

Knock knock

A Boy and His Monkey Man

And more story time with Danny...

Jimmy and I just love the little person Danny has become. He has so many cute little sayings and gestures. His voice is just the cutest and sweetest sound in the world, spoken like doting parents. Some of his more well pronounced words include:

• Dada - duh!
• Dadoo - still his term for dogs
• Nana - banana and my mom
• Apple
• Turtle
• Pee pee - with a finger point in case you're not sure where it's located
• Pee - with a crinkled nose and a swat in front of face (sign that he or Malloy went #2)
• Buh bye
• Nigh nigh
• Woo woo woo - the sound dogs make
• Boo - shouted like a ghost
• Booo - the sound cows make (obviously still not great with the "m" words - I'm baba or dada)
• Yet he spots from a mile away any picture of "mimmy!" - Mickey or Minnie Mouse
• Brr - mommy, it's windy!

Perhaps even more exciting than his spoken words is how well he understands what we say and (most of the time) ask him to do. Being a parent = fascinating stuff!

Recent Collages

Super sweet baby shower for Jenny's little Mila Rose...

Entertaining himself while mommy showers...

Saturday bike ride and burning some energy at the surf shop...

Random

As though my posts aren't always hodge podge, I title this post "random".

Oh heeyyyy!

Malloy's bed = Danny's reading nook

Speaking of reading, when Danny pretends to read to himself he sometimes licks the page. What's up with that?

I need this blanket/new friend

Happy Saturday!

Tar Baby

Danny sporting his awesome Tarheels jersey from Aunt Ali and the increasingly frequent "ghost face".

Captain Heartbreaker

Gestures

Danny has gotten really expressive with various gestures. Here are a few of his favorites.

Face-down pretending to go"night-night"

Blowing me a kiss

"Touchdown"

Just being cute and coy

And here's a video of him performing the other morning...

Big Morning

Happy Friday! Danny and I had an especially eventful morning today. So thankful for our time together!

It started with a nice cool run through historic downtown Wilmington...

Followed by pumpkin painting toddler time at the Children's Museum...

Last, but not least, yoga story time at the library...