Almost 2!

Nathan will be 2 in August, and I absolutely can't believe it! He is such a precious, happy, energetic, sometimes mischievous little boy, and Wayne and I feel so proud to be his parents. So what is Nathan up to now? Here is a list of the good, the bad, and everything in between!

1. When Nathan is finished with a toy, his cup, his plate of food, or anything else, he hands it to me while saying "tank you Mommy." Sometimes I'll give him a toy to play with in the car. When he doesn't want it anymore, instead of throwing it on the ground (which I'd rather him do), he hands it to me saying, "tank you Mommy." I once didn't really realize he was handing me a book from the backseat and telling me thank you. He finally got frustrated with me and SCREAMED the words!

2. I love that Nathan still likes to be rocked and sung to, and that he holds out his hand, or raises his shirt for me to tickle...even though he's almost 2, it's times like these that I feel he is still a baby...my baby.

3. While rocking, we sing about the people we love. Nathan names anything he can think of and says he loves it. "I love Mommy and Daddy, I love cars, I love doggies, I love Coo Coo Chains (choo choo trains), I love apple juice, and the list goes on and on. He's also started talking about everyone who goes "night night." He'll say, "Mommy night night?" and I'll say, "Yes, Mommy is going to go night night." "Dumbo night night?" "Yes, Nathan, Dumbo is going to go night night." "Otis (Carrie's dog) night night?" "Oh yes, Otis goes night night too." And this list goes on and on too. It's so sweet because he really thinks hard to name everyone and everything he can think of that he loves AND goes night night. So, for those of you we see, you can bet we're probably singing about you at night :)

On the same subject of rocking, this is also how I've come to realize that my baby is getting so big! He used to curl right up with me, laying his head on my shoulder, wrapping his legs around my waist, and falling right to sleep. Now, it's like he can't get quite comfortable. Although he wants to be rocked, he squirms around, trying to find a place for his legs. Sometimes they're over the arm of the chair, sometimes he even scoots up high on my chest and lays his head on the back cushion of the chair! When I hold him in my arms like a baby, his head is on my arm, and his legs are over the opposite chair arm, sometimes touching the night stand! What happened to that itty bitty baby?!

4. Nathan loves all kinds of moving vehicles like cars, trucks, tractors, and especially yellow buses. He'll say, "Oh look! Lellow bus!" He is also obsessed with airplanes (da-dangs) and helicopters (cock-o-copters). How he came up with these names, I don't know. But he can always spot one in the sky. Running his cars and trucks all over the house keeps him very occupied and happy.

5. Nathan's favorite color is yellow (lellow)...everything is lellow! If I want him to look like he knows, his colors, I'll quiz him on something (in front of others) that really is yellow because I know that's the color that's going to come out of his mouth. Sometimes he'll combine colors..."What color is your shirt?" Nathan's response: "Lellow-Pink!" And he says it so proudly!

6. Screaming...oh how Nathan loves to scream. It started out with Wayne and I playing hide and seek with him. When we found him, he'd scream (a long, loud, drawn out scream) like he was saying, "Here I am!" Well, now the screaming is directed at the birds. When we were at the Arboretum one day, he saw a group of birds, and ran after them while screaming. They flew away, and he thought it was so funny. I did too at the time. What's bad is that he does it ALL the time whenever he sees a bird: Going into the grocery store, a bird flies over, SCREAM! Riding in the car, there's a bird, SCREAM! Sitting outside on a patio, having a nice lunch with Mama and other sweet, quiet families, a bird flies by, SCREAM! Why do there have to be so many birds?!

7. Time out is really working for Nathan. It gives him a chance to calm down and think about what he did wrong. When he does something wrong, I give him a warning. If he does it again, I tell him he's going to time out and set him on the floor facing a wall. I never would have thought that he would just sit there until I get him up, but he does! It did take a while to perfect this, but he is a pro (not sure if that's a good thing or not). What's so funny is that while he's sitting there, he always tries to talk to me. "Hi Mommy, hi Daddy." "Ooooh, rabbit!" and so on. When I get him up, he has to tell me he's sorry and then give me a hug and kiss. I love that part!

8. My little boy can gallop! I have no idea how or where he learned this, but he just started doing it a couple of weeks ago. Whenever he would do it, I'd say, "Look at Nathan gallop!" Now, when you say the word, he does it. He's really good at it too!

9. The ABC's...he doesn't exactly know all of his letters, but he does know A, B, C, D, O, S

10. I have always been so lucky to have a good sleeper. Nathan goes to bed at 8:00 (sometimes earlier if he's had a big day) and used to sleep until 7:30 in the morning. Now that it's lighter in the morning, he's been waking up at 6:45 or 7:00. I pray for 7:00! But the naps are what's wonderful. He always takes at least a 2 hour nap after lunch. If I'm lucky and really tire him out in the morning, I may even get 3 hours!

11. Nathan is a talker! He says so many words now and forms simple sentences. Wayne and I pretty much know what he's saying, but sometimes we have to figure it out. Nathan once wanted something, and we didn't understand what it was. He got really worked up and kept saying it over and over and started crying because we didn't know what it was he wanted. Finally Wayne said, "Nathan, calm down and tell us what you want." Nathan stopped crying, and very calmly said, "By-min." Ummmm, okaaaaay......Wayne and I just looked at each other. What is a "by-min?" Then Nathan got mad again :) It was so sad because he did exactly what we asked him to do, but we still couldn't figure it out. Finally it clicked...a VITAMIN! I also love it when he carries on a long conversation with me using babble words and then a real one stuck in here and there.

12. Last but not least, when do kids accept that brushing their teeth is something that has to be done EVERY night and EVERY morning? Nathan still fights me on this. He wants to do it himself, but just sucks and chews on it. I let him do that for a little while, and then I pretty much have to hold him down to finish the job. If you saw us, it looks like I have him in a wrestling hold! Nathan thinks it's funny though (some of the times). He'll open his mouth for a second and then right before I get the toothbrush in, he closes his mouth and smiles. Naughty boy.

Wayne and I love this little boy more than anything and feel very privileged to be his parents. Although he is forming his own opinions and is very "spirited" and "energetic," he is so much fun and very loving. All of his traits make him who he is, and I wouldn't change a thing about him...well, maybe the screaming at birds...