Living with Daniel

One of the many joys of living with Daniel is when he interjects himself into conversations I have with Joe. The other morning after another long night of much milk slurping and little sleep, I was perched on Joe's lap... okay, perched makes me sound like a blond waif of a sunny yet restrained 1950's woman and in reality I am tall, broad shouldered brunette who is quite headstrong and "perches" nowhere ... I was goofily sprawled across Joe's lap, chest, arms, etc as he sat in the glider that has become "Daddy's chair" rather than the breastfeeding chair as intended upon purchase, when Joe looked at me and asked, "How is it that you are so perky and have so much energy?" "Don't you know? I'm magic!" to which Daniel chimes in with a big grin, "Daniel is magic!" We both laughed and I replied, "Yes, Daniel is magic!"

Daniel interjects himself into conversation so often that we occasionally have to request that he cease and desist. He is nothing if not persistent, as I assume most two-year-olds are, and often he will yell something like "APPLESAUCE!" at the top of his lungs in the middle of dinner conversation until one of us finally jumps up to get it for him - even if he has been asked to wait. We're working on manners with him, but patience and "not now but later" or "in just a minute" are concepts he seems to get but doesn't approve of... such as when we went to Lowes and he wanted to play on the riding mowers on the sidewalk but it was raining and I suggested we go to the indoor display.

Last night I awoke at 2:40 am to Daniel yelling, "Toothbrush! Hammer!" Daniel rarely ever gets up in the middle of the night, or at least he stays quiet if he does. I then had to go dig in his bed sheets for his foam, promotional "Home Depot" hammer and fetch one of his five toothbrushes from the sink. Yes, Daniel has five toothbrushes. When your kid likes to sleep with a toothbrush, you need several backups. Fortunately, Matthew was up soon after to nurse, so my small window of sleep wasn't totally blown to pieces. However, Daniel thought it was time to sing, so I had Matthew sleep in the bassinet in my room and put in earplugs. It is now 8:00 am and both boys are sleeping. Daniel must have worn himself out with his middle of the night tooth-brushing, singing and only God knows what he was hammering.