Dominic's Homecoming Countdown

I won't try to hide our dirty laundry from you because Dominic had so much fun playing in it and these pictures are very cute. It doesn't take much to entertain this kid. He had so much fun rolling around in this stuff! The past few weeks have been pretty eventful for us! We actually made it out to a movie while Grandmom and PopPop were babysitting. Frank had several of his former students stop by to visit and meet Dominic. My aunt Diane and my cousin Jessica came to visit with Travis, Jessica's little boy. He is almost 2 and he showed Dominic all kinds of "big boy" tricks! It was nice to get together and for the boys to finally meet! Last Thursday, Dominic decided to show one of our super duper baby gates who was boss and ended up taking a ride down our deck steps. I wasn't home, but Frank said he cried for about 2 minutes and then wanted to play again. He is a tough little dude! Frank took him to the ER just to make sure that everything was OK and Dominic was fine. The worst part was the little cut on his face. You can see it in the picture but it is much better now. (His PopPop gave him a new nickname: the Guatemalan Deck Diver!) On Friday, we had a very nice visit with his greatgrandfather Val. We went out for lunch and played in the house. We spent the weekend at the beach and, drumroll, please . . . Dominic stood up for the very first time, all by himself! He did it about 8 times for his Nana but I only saw it twice. One time he stood up right in the middle of his baby pool! He can go from sitting, to kneeling, to standing . . . it is so cute! Today Dominic and I had a great lunch with two of my former co-workers, Nancy and Joe, at the Cheescake Factory. (I have been eating lunch out WAY too often! I need to get back to my 30 minute 8th grade lunch period!) We sat there for about 2 hours and Dominic was a perfect little angel! He is getting much better about going out to eat and traveling. He is such a good-natured baby and he is so happy all of the time! He expresses his happiness with clapping now and he is getting very good at it! His first birthday is right around the corner! Here is Dominic with my second cousin, Travis . . .

It is August already! I have been going in to school for inservice meetings and workshops and I am trying to get myself ready to go back. My first day is Dominic's first birthday! We have done some practicing with going to day care and Dominic seems to be doing great. I am sure it will be much harder on me than it will be on him. Heck, he will have other kids to play with and tons of toys around. What a life! :) I am very lucky that Dominic will only be across the street from my school. Our guidance counselor lives across the street and his wife stays home with their son. We are so lucky that she will be taking care of Dominic. They are both very kind and caring people. If he needs me, I am just a few steps away!

Dominic is doing great. Here are a few of his recent developments:

• claps hands and even claps his hands when you tell him to
• dribbles soccer ball while crawling
• kicks soccer ball when standing
• understands the words "ball" and "truck"
• says the words Mama and Dada (but might not connect them with us!)
• is trying to say kitty ("kah") and ball ("bah")
• races up the stairs when the gate is down (and giggles because he knows he shouldn't be on the steps!)
• holds and drinks a few sips from a sippy cup (and then throws it on the floor so I will pick it up!)

Congrats to Betsy on her new house (awesome!). Happy 1st Birthday to Savanna and Carlton! Yippee to Erin on her beautiful baby girl referral. Congratulations to our friends Ryan and Angela on the birth of their little boy, Dylan. I'm so happy for everyone!

Other new things? We took Dominic down on the beach for the first time. He was a little frightened of the ocean and wanted to eat the sand. We were only there for about 20 minutes. Maybe next year! We just got a new car that has lots of extra room for the little guy. It's a Chevy Equinox. It is a bit bigger than my Focus (I cried when I traded her in!) but it will be better for our family in the long run. Dominic has spent time with both sets of his grandparents and he celebrated his Grandmom's birthday with dinner at Applebees. His Nana and Grandpa visited last week and helped us with some major landscaping in our back yard (THANK YOU!). And . . . Dominic has started watching pre-season Eagles games with his Dad. We might be creating a monster!

Enjoy the pictures!