Snow Pictures! (better late than never)

We got to experience the snow with our best friends, the Cannons. Daniel Isaac had a blast throwing snow balls at and with Caroline, Pierce, Holt, Daniel and Race. Here are a few pics!

A Wal-Mart conversation to remember...

(This picture was taken in our bathroom during bath time, not in the Wal-Mart restroom...actually the picture has nothing to do with the blog...I just wanted a pic of both boys to share.) :)

Friday I went to Wal-Mart with both boys...Noah David in the sling and Daniel Isaac riding in the buggy helping. It was our "big" trip, so I had really geared Daniel Isaac up to be big helper. He did wonderfully!!! He helped put items into the buggy and then helped unload them onto the check out counter. He also reminded me of the items he didn't want me to forget: marshmallows, strawberry milk, and a special snack for his p.j. movie night with Nana and Pops. Noah David happily napped most of the time when he wasn't grinning at fellow Wal-Mart shoppers.

So...we successfully get all the groceries bagged and out to the car, and as I'm unloading, no stuffing, them into the car and Noah David is waking up, Daniel Isaac declares, "Mommy, I have to go poo poo! Now! Hurry, hurry!" So, I say, "Baby, do you think you can hold it until we get home?" To which he replies, "No, Mommy, I can't hold it." So I hurry to get all the bags stuffed into our trunk piled on top of all of our card board that needs recycling and rush back inside Wal-Mart...ND still in the sling seeming to giggle, looking from my eyes down to his brother, knowing what's going on and DI running beside me holding my hand. We make it into the restroom and thankfully the large stall was open! Except the toilet wasn't flushed, and it was one of those automatic kind. Daniel Isaac explains to me, "Mommy this is the kind of potty that flushes all by itself," as I'm trying to figure out if there's some little button or trick to flush it. So we patiently waited for the automatic potty to realize it needed flushing while Daniel Isaac did a wiggle poop dance. We finally make it to him seated on the potty (meanwhile I'm praising the Lord for elastic waist band pants that he can pull down himself!!!) and he gets into conversation mode...

"Mommy, I'm gonna do a biiiiig poo poo."

"Good, Baby."

"Mommy, it's gonna be a loud one! [Makes poop sound effects with his mouth]"

"Yep."

[He goes.]

"Did you hear it, Mommy?!"

"Yes, sweetie."

"It was loud! " [More poop sounds from DI's mouth to recreate his moment.]

"Mommy, now you need to wipe my booty." (Thanks for the reminder, dear.)

"Mommy, this potty is going to flush all by itself!"

[We wait for potty to flush...forever.]

[Potty flushes.]

"Bye bye, Poo Poo!" Daniel Isaac yells and then adds a few more poop noises for effect.

Then the three of us emerge from the stall to a full bathroom of smiling, giggling women waiting their turn for the automatic potty, Daniel Isaac totally oblivious to his audience. What freedom and innocence...well, that's one way to look at it. Another by stander might think, "That mommy should work on teaching her child about potty mouth and manners..." :)

I walked out of Wal-Mart with my heart beaming in gratitude to our Lord for entrusting me with these two boys and for the opportunity to get to be their mama...and experience their poop emergencies.

Top 10: Daniel Isaac....

While I could never condense all the many wonderful things about my boys accurately into a blog list...or even a whole novel for that matter, below are my "Top 10" on Daniel Isaac (in no particular order...)

10. Smiles with his eyes...Daniel Isaac has had a captivating smile from the first few weeks of his life! His entire face lights up, especially his eyes. His dimples burst with joy, and the twinkle in his eye is nearly blinding! He smiles a lot, so we get to enjoy this wonderful feature of him quite often. This is the one trait that Daniel, Noah David and Daniel Isaac all have in common and look so similar doing....smiling with their eyes! They are dreamy!

9. Touchy...Daniel Isaac, even as independent as he is, loves to be held, hugged, kissed, etc. and even more so, he loves to give physical affection. I still hear "hold me, Mama" or "here's a big hug for you!" He greets Daniel with a HUGE hug every evening and the BEST part of bed time with Daniel Isaac is whoever gets the honor of lying down with him and how affectionate he is. He loves to be snuggled up next to us. When Noah David was a tiny baby and I'd be nursing him while lying down with DI to help him fall asleep, Daniel Isaac would rub his brother's soft head until he fell asleep...and just last night, he fell asleep holding Noah David's foot. When I lie down with him for bed, he usually holds my face to fall asleep, whispering "I love you so much, Mommy." He does the same for Daniel, except he reports that Daddy's face isn't soft like Mommy's. :) He holds Baby Noah often and loves hugging on him. His sweet Grandmama still rocks him to sleep for his nap where he sleeps in her lap, which he just loves. He is a "touch" boy for sure, and we loooove this about him!

8. Verbal...Daniel Isaac has had a lot to say for most of his life. He started talking really early and has not slowed down, even in his sleep. This is a wonderful quality (most of the time...hehehe) that has been a gift to him and us! He says the most hilarious things on a daily basis, and he is so verbally affectionate! He tells us and his grandparents when they're caring for him "I love you" probably 20 times a day. Talk about melt a mama's heart! In church on Sunday, Pops was telling him something before the service started and he said, "Say it don't spray it, Pops." ??? We have NO idea where he learned this. He is getting really good at verbalizing his feelings, too, which is a tremendous gift. He'll say, "Mommy, I am so frustrated. So so frustrated." OR in the car when Noah David is protesting his car seat, "Mommy, Noah David's crying disturbs me." He tells wonderful stories to us, and can ask at least 27,000 questions per hour. :) I wouldn't trade his words and ability to use them for the moon!

7. His stories! Daniel Isaac makes up and tells the BEST stories! I am determined to write children's books with him. He loves Daniel and I to tell him stories about when we were growing up and stories just made up, and he has started making up his own to share with us. What a fun gift to our family!

6. His love for people and being with family and friends...in Daniel Isaac's world, the more family and friends around, the better. The most complicated part about family meals is keeping him from going person to person saying "Are you done yet? Will you play with me?" He is devastated to leave family events and sobs for a minimum of 5 minutes of utter dramatic sadness. He asks me regularly, "Mommy, lets go to the Cannons!" "Can we go to Grandmama's house?" "Will you bring me to Nana's house?" He truly loves people, and loves his family and friends. What a blessing!

5. In the moment...Daniel Isaac truly lives in each moment. He uses every second of his waking hours to fill with play, conversation, and LIFE! This has made transitions sometimes complicated. He absorbs so much of his environment and surroundings with this quality. He radiates life and love and energizes this home and whatever atmosphere he's in. I have much to learn from my 3 year old's precious ability to truly live and not waste a moment of life!

4. His imagination...Daniel Isaac's imagination has been fascinating to watch develop! He is rarely "Daniel Isaac". The first week of school at FUMC's Sonshine Preschool (which we LOVE), he walked in and his teachers (who are so wonderful, sweet, patient and understanding!!!) said, "Good morning, Daniel Isaac!" And he replied, "No, I'm not Daniel Isaac. I'm Benny the Jet Rodriguez." Thankfully, his teachers agree to call him by whatever character he is "being" that day. He varies from Spiderman, Superman, Benny, Super Why, Steve (from Blues Clues), Dare Devil...and many others I can't think of right now. He stays "in character" all day and corrects anyone who does not call him by his name for the day. He has vivid dreams and recaps them so clearly and then re-inacts them for us. He loves throwing all the pillows on our living room floor, getting in his "boat" (a diaper box), and floating through the ocean. He replays stories and acts out different adventures and scenes. Daniel Isaac has the heart of a warrior, which I believe wholeheartedly was placed in him by our God who fights for us (Ex. 14:14). As parents, we're working very hard to get this "warrior" directed in the right direction. To learn about the most valuable armor of all, Ephesians 6: 13-17, is our hearts desire for him. His imagination is bursting with color and flare, and I cannot wait to see how our Lord uses this tremendous gift of creativity!

3. Honesty...Daniel Isaac is very honest. Whether it be telling on himself or pointing out the large size of a fellow Wal-Mart shoppers' behind and declaring her "Aunt Fanny" from the movie Robots, Daniel Isaac is super honest. When I was pregnant with Noah David, he faithfully informed me of my growing size. He has endearingly let his grandmothers know exactly where their "lines" (wrinkles) are and that they are old. We are now working on when and where to use this honesty, but it's not a characteristic I want leaving him!

2. Black and White...We all know that "Isaac", meaning "laughter", is a great description of Daniel Isaac. Daniel, too, though is a perfect name for him, meaning "God is my judge". Daniel in the Bible was a prophet, and today's "prophets" are those who see things black and white. It's either right or wrong...measured to Scripture, and they aren't afraid to declare God's truth. We see this developing in Daniel Isaac, and it is our prayer that his heart would only seek to please God, his judge, and no one else. He wants things to be correct, to be right. For small things such as his shoe laces, they need to be tied exactly the same on each shoe. For bigger things, he wants everyone to be obeying and doing the right thing. On the Chick-fil-a playground the other day, he defended a little girl he had befriended when 2 brothers weren't playing sweet. He is quick to shoot his pointer finger up along with his eyebrows and explain the rules. We are working on this faithfully applying to himself, too. :) He wants words pronounced correctly; he wants people behaving correctly; he wants to know right from wrong and then enforce it. I believe this is a quality the Lord has equipped Daniel Isaac with for leadership, and combined with his other amazing attributes, this little man is going to be unstoppable for our Lord!!!

1. His mind, specifically his memory...Daniel Isaac's mind keeps our jaws dropped regularly. He can completely recount events that took place when he was 18 months old. He will say, "Remember when we flew my Thomas the Train kite at the beach, Mommy? Can we do that again?" And I usually have to think a while to even know what he's talking about, digging way back into the archives of my brain to remember. He remembers people and places and exactly what he did. He remembers words and facts. Just the other day he was telling me, "Mommy, remember when Pops and me went and looked at the John Deere tractors and all the other equipments?" He and Pops did that in December of 2008! His overactive brain, as I call it, does not shut down. He has vivid dreams, and he talks in his sleep. He wakes up just before or at sunrise every morning ready to energetically begin another day. He has declared that he wants to be a doctor, astronaut, football player and tyrannosaurus rex when he grows up. So watch out future teachers of Daniel Isaac...we will have to keep this brain busy!!!

We are in constant prayer seeking wisdom in how to parent such a wonderful, gifted, loving little boy. He is a tremendous gift and blessing and has saturated our hearts and lives with so much joy. The Lord has such a brilliant plan and future in store for Daniel Isaac, and it is humbling to get to be his Mama and have the opportunity to love on him and be the recipient of so much affection, life and love.