Happy Birthday Lauren!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Happy Birthday Lauren!
We celebrated Lauren's 2nd birthday last weekend at The Little Gym. Nathan was in Heaven running around like a wild man, jumping, hanging, playing with the balls, galloping, having one or two fits (maybe three), and then getting to enjoy cupcakes and juice boxes
Friday, August 7, 2009
Nathan's Safari Animals
Nathan loves animals! He had a small set of safari animals, but didn't have a giraffe. Last Sunday, we went to church and told Nathan that if he was a big boy at church we'd go get a toy. When Daddy asked him what he wanted he said, "Graff." Well, when we picked him up from the nursery after church, he was standing at a table eating some cookies and seemed to be happy. But the nursery worker said all the kids were a little upset that day (probably trying to make us feel better that it wasn't just Nathan). Nathan was so happy to see us! When we asked him if he had fun at church, he was very serious and said, "Nay Nay chied (cried)" But then he said, "Me Maw rocked." The lady working in the nursery was an older "grandmotherly" type so I think she must have rocked him to calm him down.
Anyway, he tried so we went to Toys R Us to get a graff. We ended up getting Nathan this big set of safari animals, and he loves them! He plays with them all the time, putting them in his farm house, taking them for rides on his truck, eating dinner with them, etc... And he knows all their names. The funniest is when he calls the antelope a "hellilope." Here are two videos of him telling me about them...and then asking for cookies like he did in the circus video :)
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Playdate with Lauren
Earlier this week, Lauren came over for the morning to play. Nathan and Lauren are just like a brother and sister. They love each other and love playing together, but they are not shy about telling the other one what they don't like, or stealing toys from the other one. As soon as Lauren came to the door, Nathan took her hand and said, "Om on Lauren" (come on Lauren), and then said, "Lauren git you!" He wanted Lauren to chase him, which she gladly did. They ran all through the house laughing so loud and chasing each other. First Lauren would chase Nathan and then Nathan would chase Lauren.
I finally got them to calm down for a little while to eat a snack. What's funny is that Lauren found the cabinet door that has all of Nathan's plates and bowls. She brought out two snack cups and gave Nathan one. Then they both came up to me asking me to fill them with a snack :)
And then there was more running and playing outside. After wearing them out for a second time, they each asked for juice and sat in the big chair together to watch "The Three Little Pigs."
I finally got them to calm down for a little while to eat a snack. What's funny is that Lauren found the cabinet door that has all of Nathan's plates and bowls. She brought out two snack cups and gave Nathan one. Then they both came up to me asking me to fill them with a snack :)
And then there was more running and playing outside. After wearing them out for a second time, they each asked for juice and sat in the big chair together to watch "The Three Little Pigs."
Nathan loves to show off for Lauren. Here's a short video of him doing just that, and then he almost falls out of his chair. He was fine though :)
Jack Carter Pool
We have found a new favorite place to go for play dates with friends. It's called the Jack Carter Pool and is about 10 minutes from my house. What I love about it is that it's really shallow. The kids can just walk in and the deepest part doesn't even come up to Nathan's waist. There's also a play area in the middle with sprinklers and water slides. Plus, there are lifeguards all around. Nathan can pretty much just walk around on his own and feel independent...although once he finds something fun to do, he says, "Mommy do'd it!" So I have to participate too :)
We've been several times so far with my playgroup and bible study group. Here are some pics:
Nathan and Benjamin 
Of course, we have to take several breaks for snack time.
Nathan and Bejamin decided to join these older boys on this cement block. Nathan thinks he's bigger than he is.
Nathan and Lauren
And back to playing on the cement block with Thorne (in the navy blue shirt). Another great thing about this pool is that it's completely enclosed by a fence so my little escape artist can't escape!
We've been several times so far with my playgroup and bible study group. Here are some pics:
Nathan and Benjamin
Of course, we have to take several breaks for snack time.
Nathan and Bejamin decided to join these older boys on this cement block. Nathan thinks he's bigger than he is.
Nathan and Lauren
And back to playing on the cement block with Thorne (in the navy blue shirt). Another great thing about this pool is that it's completely enclosed by a fence so my little escape artist can't escape!
Happy Birthday Thorne!
Last Saturday was a BUSY day! We went to Thorne's birthday party in the morning and then to the circus that afternoon! Needless to say, Nathan went to bed a little early that night and slept in the next morning. It was wonderful!
On the way to Thorne's house, it was POURING and thundering. I felt so bad because I knew Thorne's mommy was planning on having an outside party with sprinklers and a pool. But after playing inside for a while and eating lunch, the rain stopped, and the kids still got to play outside. Here is Nathan helping Thorne's daddy get a sprinkler ready.
You put a hat on the top of the sprinkler and the water shoots straight up, balancing the hat at the top. The kids loved it!
We also had water balloons! Nathan didn't feel bad at all popping them on my legs. Soon, all of the dad were having a water balloon fight. Nathan, thinking he's a big boy, tried to get in on it :) It was so cute because he'd try to throw them at Thorne's daddy, but he usually missed. He'd still laugh out loud like he was part of the game...so cute.
Nathan actually threw a water balloon at Lauren...I don't think she really appreciated that :) 
The theme of the party was "Fire Trucks" and after playing outside for a while, a real fire truck showed up at the house! Nathan and the other kids were SO excited! Nathan loves trucks and cars, so I just knew that he was going to love seeing one up close.
The firemen were so nice and were letting the kids crawl inside the truck, play in the seats, try on their boots, etc... Well, Nathan did not want to get into the truck at all. I think it kind of scared him seeing it up close since it was so big. Eventually I got him to stand on the front bumper (for about 1 second and then he was trying to jump back into my arms) but that was it.
What Nathan really loved doing was splashing in the puddles around the fire truck.
When they left, Nathan was all interested again, yelling "Bye fire truck! Bye Man!" Happy Birthday Thorne and thank you for inviting us to your party!
On the way to Thorne's house, it was POURING and thundering. I felt so bad because I knew Thorne's mommy was planning on having an outside party with sprinklers and a pool. But after playing inside for a while and eating lunch, the rain stopped, and the kids still got to play outside. Here is Nathan helping Thorne's daddy get a sprinkler ready.
You put a hat on the top of the sprinkler and the water shoots straight up, balancing the hat at the top. The kids loved it!
We also had water balloons! Nathan didn't feel bad at all popping them on my legs. Soon, all of the dad were having a water balloon fight. Nathan, thinking he's a big boy, tried to get in on it :) It was so cute because he'd try to throw them at Thorne's daddy, but he usually missed. He'd still laugh out loud like he was part of the game...so cute.
Nathan actually threw a water balloon at Lauren...I don't think she really appreciated that :)
The theme of the party was "Fire Trucks" and after playing outside for a while, a real fire truck showed up at the house! Nathan and the other kids were SO excited! Nathan loves trucks and cars, so I just knew that he was going to love seeing one up close.
The firemen were so nice and were letting the kids crawl inside the truck, play in the seats, try on their boots, etc... Well, Nathan did not want to get into the truck at all. I think it kind of scared him seeing it up close since it was so big. Eventually I got him to stand on the front bumper (for about 1 second and then he was trying to jump back into my arms) but that was it.
What Nathan really loved doing was splashing in the puddles around the fire truck.
When they left, Nathan was all interested again, yelling "Bye fire truck! Bye Man!" Happy Birthday Thorne and thank you for inviting us to your party!
Circus Time!
The circus is in town! Nathan loves animals, especially his safari animals, so when we found out that the circus was coming to Dallas, we thought it would be fun to take Nathan. We found out about it a few weeks ago and told Nathan about it. We didn't think he'd really understand or remember, but that is ALL he talked about for two weeks straight! It was really kind of sad because every time we got in the car, he said, "Circus?" Wayne kept saying, "Daddy will take you to the circus when it comes." So then, along with asking about the circus every day, Nathan started saying, "Circus, Daddy take you." It was so sweet!
So last Saturday was finally our day to go to the circus. The show was at 3:30 which is during Nathan's nap time. He did take a nap, but we had to wake him up early to get down there in time. Normally, if I have to wake Nathan up from his nap, he is really grouchy! He started to cry when I was waking him up, but as soon as I asked him if he wanted to go to the circus, he quickly sat up and said, "Oh yes!"
Nathan and Daddy walking in to the arena.
There was a pre-show before the actual circus started where we could go on to the floor and meet the clowns, see the elephants, and walk around. Nathan didn't quite know what to think of this clown up close. We tried to get him to sit next to the clown, but he had a death grip on my neck!
We got really lucky because our seats were perfect. When we bought the tickets, we found out that they only had single seats left so we were going to have to sit on separate rows. We figured that maybe someone wouldn't show up or that we could switch with someone. Well, when the lady taking our tickets and showing us to our seats found out that we were going to sit on different rows, she said we could sit in the platform area reserved for wheelchairs. This was so great because it was roomy and roped off so Nathan could walk around a little. Plus it was raised, so we could see better than if we were sitting right down front.
Nathan laughed out loud several times when the clowns did their act.
We were really surprised by how mesmerized he was during the whole show. He switched off from sitting on my lap to Wayne's lap to standing up, and then back to one of our laps again.
He really had fun when he and Daddy went to get a snack of popcorn and hot dogs!
Here come the elephants! The elephants were what really got Nathan excited. He clapped and clapped when he saw the first one, and yelled "Bumbo!"
This picture is kind of hard to see, but it's of the motorcycles and four wheelers. This is where 7 motorcycles raced in circles around this steel ball. It was really neat to see!
During intermission, we took Nathan out to pick out a souvenir. I thought he'd want an elephant or some other kind of circus animal, but when he saw this four wheeler guy, he got so excited. He actually had a huge fit because he didn't understand why he couldn't have it as soon as he pointed it out. Nathan hasn't quite learned how to be patient. I tried to tell him that Daddy has to pay for it first, but he wanted it NOW! Plus it didn't help that the lady selling it to us was taking her sweet time ringing it up and putting it in a bag. But as soon as he got his toy, he totally switched personalities and was happy as could be.
The next big act was the tigers...again, one of Nathan's favorites.
And then the elephants came back out! I felt like the show was spaced out perfectly. There would be something really exciting like the elephants or tigers and then something quieter like the acrobats. So when Nathan started to get a little restless, it wasn't long until something else caught his attention.
Nathan wasn't as interested in the acrobats or trapeze people, but he did enjoy watching them for a short time. While these people were doing their act, Nathan held onto the rail and stood on one leg like he was copying them :)
So last Saturday was finally our day to go to the circus. The show was at 3:30 which is during Nathan's nap time. He did take a nap, but we had to wake him up early to get down there in time. Normally, if I have to wake Nathan up from his nap, he is really grouchy! He started to cry when I was waking him up, but as soon as I asked him if he wanted to go to the circus, he quickly sat up and said, "Oh yes!"
Nathan and Daddy walking in to the arena.
There was a pre-show before the actual circus started where we could go on to the floor and meet the clowns, see the elephants, and walk around. Nathan didn't quite know what to think of this clown up close. We tried to get him to sit next to the clown, but he had a death grip on my neck!
We got really lucky because our seats were perfect. When we bought the tickets, we found out that they only had single seats left so we were going to have to sit on separate rows. We figured that maybe someone wouldn't show up or that we could switch with someone. Well, when the lady taking our tickets and showing us to our seats found out that we were going to sit on different rows, she said we could sit in the platform area reserved for wheelchairs. This was so great because it was roomy and roped off so Nathan could walk around a little. Plus it was raised, so we could see better than if we were sitting right down front.
Nathan laughed out loud several times when the clowns did their act.
We were really surprised by how mesmerized he was during the whole show. He switched off from sitting on my lap to Wayne's lap to standing up, and then back to one of our laps again.
He really had fun when he and Daddy went to get a snack of popcorn and hot dogs!
Here come the elephants! The elephants were what really got Nathan excited. He clapped and clapped when he saw the first one, and yelled "Bumbo!"
This picture is kind of hard to see, but it's of the motorcycles and four wheelers. This is where 7 motorcycles raced in circles around this steel ball. It was really neat to see!
During intermission, we took Nathan out to pick out a souvenir. I thought he'd want an elephant or some other kind of circus animal, but when he saw this four wheeler guy, he got so excited. He actually had a huge fit because he didn't understand why he couldn't have it as soon as he pointed it out. Nathan hasn't quite learned how to be patient. I tried to tell him that Daddy has to pay for it first, but he wanted it NOW! Plus it didn't help that the lady selling it to us was taking her sweet time ringing it up and putting it in a bag. But as soon as he got his toy, he totally switched personalities and was happy as could be.
The next big act was the tigers...again, one of Nathan's favorites.
And then the elephants came back out! I felt like the show was spaced out perfectly. There would be something really exciting like the elephants or tigers and then something quieter like the acrobats. So when Nathan started to get a little restless, it wasn't long until something else caught his attention.
Nathan wasn't as interested in the acrobats or trapeze people, but he did enjoy watching them for a short time. While these people were doing their act, Nathan held onto the rail and stood on one leg like he was copying them :)
We really were surprised that we made it through the whole 2 hour show...I was so afraid that it was going to be a waste of money, that Nathan would like it for a little while and then get overwhelmed or bored, but nope! He loved it! It's been 4 days since we went, and Nathan is still talking about it. Here are some videos I took of him last night telling me about the circus...he just LOVES for me to quiz him :)
I did just see a documentary about the circus and cruelty to animals, but I'm going to pretend like that doesn't go on with the Ringling Brothers Circus. Maybe they're the one circus that treats their animals really well???
I did just see a documentary about the circus and cruelty to animals, but I'm going to pretend like that doesn't go on with the Ringling Brothers Circus. Maybe they're the one circus that treats their animals really well???
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