A Beautiful Day

I have spent the last couple of days in bed with what I thought might have been the flu, but it turned out to just be a 24 hr bug. I haven't been sick in so long so it really wiped me out. Luckily Wayne came home from work early Tuesday evening and took care of Nathan while I laid on the couch. The next day was the ice storm so Wayne took the morning off to be Mr. Mom. My dad then came over mid-morning to pick up Nathan and take him back to their house so I could spend the day sleeping. By Thursday morning, I finally felt better. Thank goodness I have a husband who is a wonderful nurse and parents that live close by! So after being cooped up for several days, we went to Mama and Papa's house for a visit and a trip to the park.


Before going to the park, Nathan need a little "pick me up" treat...a popsicle!

I think that Cookie seriously believes that she is just as human as the rest of us. AND, she doesn't think there's anything she can't do. If Nathan and I are sliding, why can't she? And she did! Cookie went down the slide right after us :)

After playing at the park, we went back to Mama and Papa's house. Wayne is out of town for the weekend so we invited ourselves to dinner :)

I got Nathan all ready for bed so that he could just go to sleep as soon as we got home. This picture is funny because Nathan was caught coming out of the pantry! He can open the door on his own and loves to go in there and yell "Boo!" when he comes out. I think he might also be looking for snacks.

Nathan chillin' in Papa's chair, eating Cheerios, and watching cartoons :)

Last week, Nathan and I spent the afternoon with Mama and Cookie. There is a new play area near my parents' house. There is a dog park and an outside play area complete with miniature houses, picnic tables, and a maze! We first took Cookie to the dog park. All of the dogs are so sweet and Nathan loves to watch them play. He'll throw balls to them and run around chasing Cookie. Cookie loves to play with the other dogs, but she never travels far from Nathan. She is very protective of him!

My camera battery died right when we got to the outside play area (story of my life). We were the only ones here for the longest time, so Nathan and Cookie had the whole area to themselves. I love this space because, unlike the mall play areas, there is a gate. So Nathan can run around going from house to house while we sit and watch. There's a mini bank, house, gas station, train station, and more!

This picture was taken on a different day, but it's so funny! We went to a playdate, and as you can see, he was so exhausted when we left. I tried everything to keep him awake so that he would take his nap at home. I thought that by giving him a snack, that would would work. But he took a few bites and then fell asleep with his hand in his snack cup! Oh and I didn't take this picture while we were driving...we were stopped at a light :)

Bookworm

Nathan loves his books and wants to be read to day and night. It doesn't matter which book it is, although he does have his favorites, or how many times we've read it. When we're sitting on the floor, he brings one of us a book, turns around, and backs up to sit in our laps. Or if we're up in his room, he's gotten tall enough that he'll pick out one of his books and climb into my rocking chair to read. He gets so excited and will point to the pictures and say "Ohhhhhhh" or name the animal. It's like it's the best book he's ever read and brand new. I love his enthusiasm!


Here he is picking out a book before bath time. His diaper is a little low because he kept pulling on it, wanting to take it off. I've let him read in his birthday suit before, but that ended up being a big mistake!


You can see that he doesn't just get one at a time. He likes to pull them all out, then shuffle through.

Here he is caught in the act of trying to get "comfy."

Oh and this is Nathan's "monster" face. He smiles and sticks out his bottom teeth!

And here he is being a silly boy and doing his crab head stand.

"Here it is again Mommy if you didn't get the first shot!"

After reading 15 books 30 times, I finally talked him into taking his bath. The water is supposed to be red (we use these color tablets to try to teach him his colors) but it's more like pink :)

Nathan has started hitting the bottle again :)

I've tried to tell him that his bath water isn't exactly the best water to drink, but he hasn't paid attention to me yet. H sucks on his wash cloth and drinks water from an empty shampoo bottle. Oh well!

17 Months Old

Nathan is the most perfect little boy if I do say so myself! He has the cutest personality, and it only gets cuter. Wayne and I are constantly amazed by how much (and how fast) he is changing. So here is a glimpse at what Nathan is up to as of now:

Nathan says so many words. His new ones are: boo, wee (when going down the slide or swinging), rabbit, spoon (poon), Cheerios, snake (nake), slide (lide), truck, bye bye (this used to be "die, die" so I'm glad he finally added the B), e-i-e-i-o when singing "Old McDonald", Oh and he said his first sentence: "Bye, Bye Mommy"...hey, it's a subject and a verb!

Nathan loves to play chase, especially around the kitchen island.

He would rather run than walk.

When I tell Nathan that someone is coming to visit, he looks outside the front door windows CONSTANTLY! He especially gets excited when it's Mama and Papa and screams and runs in place when he finally sees them.

Nathan loves to point to and name all of us, and then when we ask him what his name is, he says "Nay-Nay"

He points to all of his body parts, except his eyes. He blinks them when I ask him where his eyes are.

Opening and closing doors are also a ton of fun. He loves to go behind a door, wave and say bye-bye, then close the door, or peek out and say "boo!"

Strangers are not something Nathan is scared of. At the grocery store, he says "Hi" to everyone walking by.

Even though Nathan is a boy and is very boyish (I mean mischievous) he is also very loving. He kisses and hugs us, his stuffed animals, and animals in his books. If I say, "Do you love _____?" he leans his head over like his giving a hug and says, "Ahhhhh." And if I pretend to cry, he'll come over and hug and kiss me.

He still loves to be rocked and sung to before bedtime and naps.

He likes to hide things, especially from our bathroom. His favorite hiding spot is our laundry basket. If Wayne and I can't find something, that is always the first place we look. I've found remotes, bowls, balls, toys, and rolls of toilet paper in there. In fact, I just washed one of Wayne's dress shoes because I didn't know Nathan threw it in there.

He knows the difference between right and wrong and what things are off limits. In fact, he will do something he knows we don't like and then say, "No, No" while pointing his finger. It's so hard not to laugh sometimes.

When I say, "Where is _____?" He holds his arms out like he's saying, "I don't know."

He says, "Ohhhhhhhhh" very dramatically like he is totally amazed by whatever it is he's looking at.


Oh, and he's still obsessed with his belly button. This obsession has been going on for a while now. There have even been a few mornings when I've gone in to get him and his pajamas are unzipped, and his belly button is red! Some kids suck their thumbs, ours plays with his belly button :)

I just love this little boy so much!!!!!!

Playing Outside

Despite it being chilly (and almost dark) outside last night, Nathan was BEGGING me to go outside. He holds my hand and pulls me to the back door while saying, "lide, lide." That's his way of saying slide. Or he'll say, "lide, wee!" He says, "wee" whenever he swings or goes down the slide. So we got bundled up and stayed outside playing for over 45 minutes!





Sometimes Nathan goes down the real slide, and other times he thinks it's fun to slide down the steps!


"No, no, Mommy, we're not going inside just yet."

These next pictures show how much Nathan still likes to chew and suck on things. He wanted his fire truck to throw down the slide and watch it crash. After doing that several times, he found the fire hose and spent the last half of our play time chewing and sucking on it.




Even though he's not smiling here, he looks so cute! This is the face he made when I started packing up our toys to go inside. What you don't see is the fit he through right after this picture when we went inside. Not fun!

And here are two videos of him chasing me down, giving me (the camera) kisses, and knocking me down. I love the way he runs!

Andrew and Nathan

Last week, Nathan and I met Meredith and Andrew at the park. We first went to McDonald's for lunch. When I told Nathan we were going to McDonald's, he said "E-I-E-I-O" like the song :) At lunch, Nathan kept pointing to Andrew while saying, "baby," then he'd tickle his feet and make Andrew laugh. It was so cute. I've just now started to realize that Nathan isn't really a baby anymore, he's more like a little boy...that makes me sad, but he's also so much more fun now. And he'll always be MY baby!

Here is Andrew looking quite cool in his hat and sunglasses.

While Meredith was feeding Andrew, Nathan gave his container of Puffs to Meredith to open, He eats handfulls at a time and kept dropping a few on the ground. But do you think Nathan cared that they had dirt on them? Nope, he just kept picking them up and eating them. Although I tell them they're dirty, he still gets to them before me. At least he's eating his own puffs and not someone else's.

And here he is trying to sneak some more snacks out of my bag.

These last two pictures are of Nathan at the Willowbend play area. I remember when he was so little and I had to help him climb on everything. Now he just runs around, says hi to everyone, tries to escape, and climbs on everything by himself!

Nathan's Date for the Night

Nathan had so much fun last week because his girlfriend, Kelly, came over to our house for dinner. Her parents were celebrating their anniversary that night so Nathan got Kelly all to himself. We were actually over at her house playing that afternoon. Marla hadn't told her yet that she was coming over to my house because that would have been all she asked for all day. So after playing, I said, "Kelly, do you want to come over to my house and eat dinner with Nathan?" She got so excited and said, "Yes, but no Mommy or Daddy, just Nafan and Ashley." So we just said, "Well...Ok...if that's what you want, I guess it will just be us." (wink, wink) She was very serious and was ready to walk out the door. She didn't even seem to wonder how Mommy had her bag ready so fast.

Nathan was beside himself with excitement. He and Kelly talked the whole way to our house and passed toys back and forth. When we got home, Nathan went CRAZY! I think he was showing off. He and Kelly ran around the house, playing chase. They danced with Elmo, played Ring Around the Rosie, fought over toys, had a healthy dinner of mac and cheese, and most of all...kept me busy!


After playing for a while, I gave them both a bath. They splashed and laughed the whole time. Kelly even helped me wash Nathan's hair. After the bath, Kelly wanted to put some lotion on Nathan. I'll take all the help I can get so I squeezed a bit on her hand, thinking she is so sweet and smart and so EASY to take care of. Well, then Kelly started rubbing the lotion all over Nathan's hair. It was so funny because I forgot for a minute that Kelly is only 2 1/2. So we put Nathan back in the tub to wash is hair a 2nd time. Then we put on our comfy pj's and the two settled on the couch with their blankies, drinks, and stuffed animals to watch Snow White.

Kelly and Nathan went from the big couch to the big chair over and over again. When one of them decided to get down and switch seats, the other followed. Happy Anniversary Scott and Marla! We had so much fun with Kelly and will keep her any time! Here are a few videos of the 2nd wind they got after watching Snow White.