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 . . .