Having Fun with Tia Fafa e Tio Juju!

My sister (tia Fafa) and her husband Julian (tio Juju) arrived one week ago and we have really been enjoying our time together! Tio Juju only stayed for about 24 hours before flying to California for meetings, but we were really able to enjoy the time that we had with him. It is so wonderful to see my dear sister so happy and we are excited to see what God has planned for their lives as husband and wife - hopefully some cousins for Daniel :-)! Tia Fafa is still staying with us and will be here for a few more days so we're having lots of quality time together.

They were both so excited to see Daniel again! Tia Fafa has been a wonderful auntie and has even babysat for us which has been so helpful - she is a natural with him! We only wish we lived closer so she could look after Daniel more often!

Tia Fafa and tio Juju brought Daniel a very special gift from their world trip: t-shirts from each of the countries they visited - Mozambique, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong and Panama! What an international selection of clothes Daniel now has! Thanks tia Fafa and tio Juju for being so thoughtful!!!

Check out the slide show below from our the last week (to download photos, click on the slide show):

Update on Daniel's development at 13 months:

As usual, more changes have occurred recently!

- Daniel can walk using the walker and is doing better with us supporting his hands and just generally showing more interest in doing so! We think he'll be walking soon!

- Daniel is now eating table foods! He really started to resist being spoon-fed and has wanted to self-feed and it is generally going well. He eats best when we also eat so now we are having proper family meals together which is very special. But, we are struggling a bit about what to cook for him! Each change takes some adjusting but we are confident that soon we will all have it figured out! On a related note, he is still not into milk but is loving his water (now he knows how to tilt his head back when using his sippy cup)!

- He is teething again! It's been about 5 months since Daniel got his first 6 teeth and now there is a new bottom tooth on the way which probably means more are coming soon too. He has been a bit sensitive at times because of the teeth but is sleeping well at night so we're all coping well.

- He has learned to blow kisses and knows well that when I say in Portuguese "manda beijo" that is what I want him to do! Very cute and special!

- He loves music and has started moving more and more to the rhythm of music when he hears it. His particular favorite is the "Galinha Magricela"song from Brazil! This song is about "the skinny and defeathered chicken" who lays eggs every day, up to 1000, and can even lay 4 eggs at the same time after doing a somersault! She is so skinny because of laying so many eggs! It's a great song and Daniel loves it! :-)