Merry Christmas

Boys and their toys....I'm beginning to think that this helicopter needs to get "accidentally" stepped on in the middle of the night :) Brian and Dominic have already gone through more batteries than I can count and the thing is not at all quiet.But boy are they having fun with it. There was a definite theme this year. Dominic's been loving trains and between these and the one we got him for his birthday, he's set for his childhood. He's been chugging them around like crazy. I love his sound affects that accompany his playing with them. Dominic is pretty cute with his instruments too. He has a drum, a bongo drum, a recorder, a kazoo, a little xylophone, and now his guitar. He's is own little one man band, but quite frequently puts an instrument in both Brian and my hands trying to get us to jam with him. He sings and dances while playing each of them. My favorite is when he plays two at the same time. He'll be hitting the drum with one had and playing the xylphone with the other. He marches around the house with the bongo drum singing march, march, march. Such a little musician :)

Birthday Boy

Dominic awoke to 2 birthday balloons. He loves balloons. I'm sure they'll be hanging around the house till they're almost completely deflated. We got him a train for his birthday. It's funny how kids become such big fans of certain things. For Dominic, it's definitely been forms of transportation. We had the cousins over on the evening of Dominic's birthday. We ate pizza, decorated cupcakes and played with balloons and toys. It was so much fun. I love getting to watch Dominic having so much fun with his cousins. Gavin and Dominic are 4 weeks apart. Between bugs going around and the busy holidays we hadn't really gotten to celebrate Gav's birthday with him yet. So Dominic finally got to give him his present and sing "happy to you" to his cousin. Happy Belated Birthday Gav!We got to see the girls and the newest arrival to the fam, DJ for Dominic's birthday and Christmas. I don't think I've ever met a happier baby. I don't think I saw him cry once in 4 days and just looking in his general direction made him smile and coo. It was so nice to have them here for all of the celebrations. We wished they lived closer :)I think Vincent and Dominic share they're love for vehicles and balls :) It's always cute to watch them play together. Dominic was beyond worn out by the end of the night.

Dominic's vocabulary is expanding exponentially everyday. So many new words. "Bye" is now "bye guys, see you". Asking for something to drink is now, "Mom, milk please", or "Mom juke please". He's getting better and better at saying please and thank you without being prompted. This morning when I said excuse me Dominic while trying to get to something and he said "sorry mom" and moved. Who is this little guy? :) The other night he wanted to open a present that wasn't for him. We told him we weren't going to open it. I guess he took that as we couldn't open it because he disappeared to the kitchen, opened the silverware drawer and returned with a butter knife. The wheels sure are turning up there. He sees us get scisors or knives out when we can't open something. He's never even tried to open that drawer, it's always been too tall for him. Times are changing. Just in a matter of weeks his level of communication has skyrocketed. "park please", "go walk please", "painting please". Last night he was crying in bed and not going to sleep which is not the norm. I went in there to ask him what was wrong and he said, "I cry". I told him not to cry and to be happy and go to sleep. So, he smiled, laid down and that was the end of that. So funny. He knows and says the names of his Thomas the Train engines. I don't even know them. He's starting to recognized numbers and letters and say them correctly more and more consistently when they're pointed out to him . And my favorite is when I ask him if he wants more of something in my VERY limited spanish he's starting to reply "no mas", still working on " no gracias". He's finally coming out of his shy phase which he's been in for quite some time. He's now talking to people in the stores again, saying hi to neighbors as we walk by, etc...He's quite a kid and cracks us up everyday. I can't believe how fast these last two year have flown by. I wish I could slow time down.

Oakland Air Museum

We went to the Oakland Air Museum for Dominic's birthday. He's been really into trains, planes, cars and trucks lately. We were the only people there. It was fun watching Dominic run from one plane to another, to another with such excitement.

It was a pretty fun place. You could sit inside some of the planes. There was an air traffic control tower, there were replica cockpits in the hangers, airplanes seats and flight attendant mannequins from different generations. The man working inside was a retired NAVY pilot and told us stories about several of the jets. It was a great birthday afternoon.

Build-A-Bear....or dog :)

Auntie Tracy and Uncle Paul brought Dominic to Build-A-Bear for his birthday.Dominic probably could have stayed and bathed the dog all afternoon. This kid was on a mission once we left the store. The intimidating Christmas crowds seemed to disappear once he had his important package in hand. He marched/ran down Broadway with such intent and happiness. Buddy the dog has been slept and cuddled with since he came home.

Birthday Party

We had a very last minute family birthday bash for Dominic at Superfranks for whoever could make it. Dominic had a lot of fun and man does he have his cheesy camera smile down :)