My how they've grown--Danica

This picture is a couple of months old, but it really is a good representation of what we see in this funny little girl every day. She's an absolute goof--of course we never expected to have a "serious" child, but wow...God never ceases to amaze us with each of our children, the silly nature just seems to grow with every new addition, we've often joked that if we were blessed again, he/she would be born already wearing a straightjacket! It's odd how someone so small can have such a vivid sense of humor, but Dani really does! At times it seems she never smiles (usually when someone brings the camera out!), but she really is just one big bundle of giggles.

Dani already fits the "I can't wait" profile that all of our other kids have, pushing developmental milestones up because they just can't seem to be content to slow down. At nine months, Dani is already trying to walk (except when someone wants to help her), and she has already figured out how to climb--up onto the couch, up and over Daddy's shoulders, and unfortunately, up the crib railing! I think she forgets she's a baby every now and then, because she is doing things that it just really shouldn't be possible for her to be doing yet. She can actually keep up with Morgan and Jamie when they sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider", mimicking their tones and even dancing along with them. Dani will focus intensely on a task like Jon and Jamie did--she loves to sit and turn pages in a book and play with Morgan's Magna Doodle. She even tries to write with the stylus, and she's almost got the right grasp! She'll wave bye-bye while saying "bah-bah" (the older kids joke that for a German, she's got a really good Southern accent!), and can differentiate between 'mama' and 'dada'.

Even though she may be trying her hardest to fit in with the big kids, Dani is still all baby. She's more of a Mama's girl than even Morgan was, and Morgan was pretty stiff competition! I can't leave the room even for a minute, and heaven forbid I try to put her down on the awful floor! Oh, the HORRORS! I don't know how I'd manage if it weren't for the sling and mei tai carriers that keep Dani up close while freeing my hands up. She wants to sit with me (not in her high chair) to eat, and she doesn't want to eat out of her bowl, but off of my plate. She wants to be rocked to sleep, and when she wakes up, it's Mama alone who can calm her. I'm exhausted, but I know this won't last forever. Like my other kids, there will come a time (probably in a few months, if she's like the others) when Dani will toss me aside in favor of her siblings and she'll want to be a big girl, not a baby anymore. I'm not taking this time for granted like I did with the first two. Like the poem says, housework can wait. I've only got this baby for a little while!