Regardless, it is an exciting day for Dane and while I do share in that excitement, I am also sad that the time seems to pass me by before I even realize it. Dane is an amazing little boy. Sweet, fun, silly, thoughtful, happy, smart, and so much more. He brings an irreplaceable element to our little family and we are so thankful for it. He is certainly becoming a much more willful little person and that can be hard at times, but it is still awesome to see him go through the changes that happen as children grow. It is so different from Gavin, so it is fun for different reasons.
Dane is getting so big, he is up to 35.25 inches and 29 pounds, 7 ounces! A huge different from where Gavin was at 2, so he seems so small still, but he clearly isn't small! I think it must be he looks so skinny because he is all muscle, just like Gavin, just on a smaller scale.
Dane loves to help out with anything I am doing. He loves to help cook (especially if there is stirring involved),vacuum, dust, make beds, move laundry, and pretty much anything else going on each day. He is so curious, he loves to figure out how things work and to be involved in fixing things as well. He is actually a great helper most of the time. During clean up times, he is able to sort toys to the various bins/shelves. He is usually gentle and careful when helping to stir so he loves that I let him even help stir hot things on the stove. He is pretty good at cleaning up after any messes he makes when eating and vacuuming up things that were dumped by accident, as well as just general vacuuming. He absolutely loves when he gets to help, it is so sweet to watch how excited and proud he is of his contributions!
Dane loves food in pretty much any form. He rarely refuses food in front of him and it usually means he just isn't hungry. He loves a huge variety of foods and eats pretty much everything we eat with very few exceptions. He loves to try pretty much everything. If he has something different (or he thinks is different) than what we have, he is always asking for a bite. It is amazing how much he is capable of eating! Not that he is small (70th-80th percentiles for height and weight pretty consistently), but the amount of food he is capable of eating makes me wonder where he could possibly put it. He must be burning off even more than I realize with all the running and playing he does!
Dane loves spending time with Gavin and learning and playing with him. He clearly looks up to Gavin so much already. If Gavin does it, Dane wants to. If Gavin says it, Dane is trying to say it. It is very sweet to see them interact. Dane does sometimes end up in trouble because of it, but he has also learned a lot from following and mimicking Gavin. The few times it is just me and Dane, I actually think he is bored because he doesn't view me as nearly as much fun as Gavin. He will go looking for him, Dane clearly misses him when Gavin is not around. So incredibly sweet!
Dane is a little monkey like Gavin, they both love to climb, run, jump, and be wild and crazy boys. Dane is really getting the hang of how to properly jump and be more aware of his surroundings/edges and to take turns so he and Gavin don't collide. I think he makes everyone else more nervous than me, which I see with Gavin all the time. If you have never had a climber, I guess it is shocking to see. I am just so used to it, that I work with them when they start climbing so they know how to safely get up and down, wait and ask for help when needed, and learn their own limits. It seems to have worked so far, even though they do sometimes climb things I wish they didn't and at inconvenient times, at least if you give them a safe space, it is easier to manage.
Dane is super friendly, although he is pretty cautious with strangers and new/unfamiliar places. It doesn't usually take long for him to warm up and then he is his usual crazy and happy self. I am glad at least one child has a bit of fear of strangers!
I am fairly certain Dane is a lefty. More and more he favors his left hand for everything and he is clearly more comfortable using it. If you hand him something, he almost always reaches with his left, if it is handed to his right or otherwise ends up in his right, he usually quickly moves whatever it is to his left. He does amazingly well with silverware and his left hand (sometimes I think he is better than Gavin is at 4 - very careful and doesn't miss much). It is really amazing to watch him and I am glad there are so many easily available things for lefties now so that he doesn't have to make due with scissors and such that are meant for right handed people. There are actually quite a few people in both of our families that are lefties, so it is fun that Gavin is clearly right handed and Dane is left handed!
Dane is starting to pick up more new words, although I think Gavin and I are the only ones that understand most of what he says. He has been putting short phrases together more and more as well. It is so cute to see him try to say new things and so sweet how proud he is when he gets it or gets really close. I am sure he will get even more chatty as he picks up more each day. It is nice to be able to communicate even more with him.
Dane and Gavin were being super silly and playing in Dane's room, so I got out the camera to get a few pictures. Dane makes so many great, sometimes crazy, faces!
I made a small cake since we won't be having his party for another week so that both my parents and Scott's dad could make it. Gavin really wanted to make Dane a cake with sprinkles in it, so I went looking for a from scratch "funfetti" cake recipe. I found one that looked good from a site that I have previously found good recipes on. Initially we were going to make them cupcakes but Gavin changed his mind and really wanted it to be a cake, not cupcakes for Dane. So, I put the batter into a cake pan. It did not come out as expected at all. I thought about it while it cooled enough to take it out of the pan and decided I would just turn it into a layer cake to try to salvage it and make it look decent and hope that it ended up tasting ok. That proved difficult since it didn't exactly cooperate when I tried to remove it from the pan. I pieced it together as best as I could and then tried to cover it up with frosting and decorations. It turned out ok and at least it did taste fine. I definitely won't be saving the recipe to use another time, it was fine but I was just not impressed. Oh well, Dane loved it and Gavin loved helping to make Dane's cake and that is ultimately what matters.
