Dominic's Homecoming Countdown

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!