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Christmas

Posted on  December 15, 1995 Christmas 1995 was marked by me moving into a 2 bedroom apartment. As such my main focus was on setting up a bedroom for Danni. So her Christmas gift this year was a new, complete bedroom set. Obviously that would not do for a 3 year old so I had also purchased some other toys for her. I also decided to get the artificial Christmas tree this year. It really confused Danni because she was used to cutting down a Christmas tree as it was a Flood custom. I had to explain to her that we were gonna build a Christmas tree and that she could help. After some initial hesitation she got into it and help me put the tree together and decorate it. Danni came over after spending Christmas morning over Beama's and opened her presents with reverence. She really knows what presents are and how to open them now! After doing that I told her to put her toys into her room. She seems sort of fully furnished (something Daddy worked furiously on putting together the day
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New York

Posted on  November 11, 1995 My mother has become ill with cancer and for Thanksgiving this year my sisters Tina and Cindy decided to visit with Mom. I decided that this would be a good time to take Danni for her first real trip with daddy away from mommy and also visit my mother. Danni did well on the plane even though it took of early in the morning. When we arrived in New Jersey on Thanksgiving day we were picked up by Aunt Tina and taking to Grandma's house. Thanksgiving dinner itself was good and the relatives really enjoyed having Danni around. During the next couple of days we stayed at Grandma's. Danni got some early Christmas gifts and everybody enjoyed how cute Danni was. We went to New York to see Rockefeller Center, various store's Christmas displayes and other such sight seeing in the big city. There were street Santa's, which Danni was excited to see and other things. Danni seemed to take New York in stride and Grandma seemed to manage. In a fit
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Signing I love you

Posted on  October 22, 1995 Recently Danielle was playing on the computers. Often I give here something to drink while doing so. This time she had chocolate milk. Well she spilled the chocolate milk and it began running under the computer! In a furry I tried to clean up the milk before it damaged the computer. Danielle knew that that was a no no and she sensed that I was upset. She kept saying that it was just an accident. It's difficult to hold one's temper when just and accident is threatening to ruin an expensive piece of equipment like the computer. I was trying to explain to her that some accidents are not good and that she should be more careful. I decided to tell her that if she could not handle being careful with a drink around the computer then she could no longer have them by the computer. She could sense that she did something wrong and that Daddy was upset. She was sitting on the floor by now and was like a dog with its tail between its legs. Then she looked up
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Why's and What If's

Posted on  October 28, 1995 Danielle's questions are really getting tough now! All children eventually get to the "Whys" and parents are expected to answer these questions even when no answer seems possible. You also must balance between honesty and answers that are too detail for the child's understanding at this point in their lives. Children have a knack for coming up with interesting questions and for looking at things with a totally different viewpoint than parents are used to. They are often refreshingly honest too. For example, I was trying to explain to her how you really need to brush your teeth because the food gets in there and eats way at your teeth causing cavities. Then you need to go to the dentist to get them fixed and that can hurt. Danielle looks at me and askes "What happens if you don't eat?". Later Danielle asked me "What happens if you go to sleep and you don't wake up?".
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Potty Training

Posted on  August 9, 1995 Urged on by the chance to get to the "Big girl class", where Danielle's new preschool friends, Adam, Trevor, Marty, and Christine have when, Danielle has taken to potty training very quickly. It has surprized me how quickly and how completely she has become interested in the potty. She now even gets up in the middle of the night to go potty by herself! It is wonderful not having to deal with diapers any more and I can see the sense of accomplishment and the pride of big girl'ness on Danielle's face. Also, things like the bottle is old hat to her. Big girl is the label you must use for her or she gets upset.
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Learning to use a mouse

Posted on  May 10, 1995 Recently Dannielle has learned to use the mouse on the computer. She was usually pretty attentive when we would play computer games together often pointing out on the screen what she wanted the mouse to do but I had to do it. We would even play a "concentration" type game where one has to remember and match up like pictures on "cards" that were turned around. She was good at this, solving even the most difficult level. Now, however, she can do it herself! One day I just decided to not help her because I was busy trying to get dinner ready. To my surprise she started using the mouse to do her own playing. She was extremely proud of herself, as was I, and motivated to do more. She played the "concentration" game and solved it all by herself! She now also plays PuttPutt by herself. It's as if it finally clicked (no pun intended) with her. Occasionally she'll say that she wants my help or that she cannot do it. Then I'l
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Danielle's 3rd birthday at Disneyland

Posted on  April 15, 1995 For Danielle's 3rd birthday I decided to take her to Disneyland. Mary-Anne also came with us. We settled into our hotel and then went to Disneyland the next day. My plan was to do Disneyland in the morning, then go back to the hotel for lunch and relaxing returning to Disneyland for the afternoon/evening so that we could watch the parades and fireworks. For the most part we sticked to that plan and it worked well. Danni was excited to see all the Disney character that she has grown to know watching all of the Disney movies. At first she was slightly frightened by the huge Disney characters but warmed up to them pretty quickly. We also went on many rides. Danni would complain that Daddy only liked the scary rides because she was too young for some of them and didn't like the ones that moved too quickly or were slightly scarey. This limited which rides we could go on to things like the Tea Cups and "It's a Small World". Danni really
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