Nathan's Words

I know I keep saying this, but I really can't believe we're about to celebrate Nathan's 2nd birthday. I feel like it wasn't that long ago that he was curled up in a ball on my chest while we rocked. Now, his legs dangle off the side of the chair! Although I do miss the "baby" parts a bit, I love Nathan's personality. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way he talks to us! He is learning new words and phrases constantly. A lot of his words are correct, but he still has his own version of quite a few. I want to always remember them, so here's a list:

1. O-tay (ok) There are so many times that I'll ask Nathan if he wants to do something like eat dinner, or go to the grocery store, and he'll say, "No" then think for a couple of seconds, and say "O-tay" like he's giving in. Lately, he's been coming up to us and saying, "Mommy, you o-tay?" "Daddy, you o-tay?" And then he'll wait for Wayne or me to ask him if he's "o-tay." It's so sweet because he really seems to want to know. Just today, I got pulled over for speeding (and yes, I already told Wayne). The cop was not as nice to me as he could have been. Although I asked for a warning, and promised him I'd slow down (plus shed a few tears), he still wrote me a ticket. Nathan even said, "Hi man!" and he was still rude. Anyway, on the way home, Nathan kept saying, "You o-tay Mommy? Hug Nay Nay" He gave me a big hug when we got home and made me feel better : )

2. Yap (yes) This is so confusing to me. For the longest time, Nathan always said "Yes" then he started saying "yeah" which I can kind of understand because Wayne and I do say that sometimes...although we're trying not to now since he's copying it. But now, instead of saying "yeah" he's started answering with "Yap!" I try to correct him each time he says it, but no luck so far.

3. Nathan loves to be the center of attention! Whenever he does something that he thinks we need to see (like jumping, lining up his toys, a bug on the floor, etc...) he'll say, "Look Mommy!" If you don't look at him right away, he'll keep saying it louder and louder. We went swimming with my friend, Marla, today. He calls her La La. While in the pool, he was doing something silly, and kept yelling, "Look La La!"

4. I don't know where he learned this next saying, but he's started saying, "Hey guys, what you doing?" This is so funny because it's not something I go around saying. Who says that??? Sometimes he'll leave our the "what" and just say, "Hey guys, you doing?"

5. Nathan loves to run around the house and be chased. So when he wants to do this, he'll say, "Mommy get you!" or "I gun (slang for going) get you!" My dad came over a few weeks ago to stay with Nathan while I ran some errands, and when he left, I was talking to him about what he and Papa did. When I asked if he played with Papa, he said, "Yap, Papa gun get you." I guess he's a true Texan!

6. And I love this one! I guess I'm always telling Nathan he looks cute or saying something's cute because now Nathan says it, but his 'k' and 'c' sounds are CH. When I get dressed in morning, he'll touch my shirt, and say "Mommy, chute" And he says it with such enthusiasm, that he actually makes me feel good! I thought it was just a fluke thing at first, but now everything and everyone is CHUTE! At the beach, he went up to everyone saying they were CHUTE. Whenever I put his clothes on in the mornings, he'll point to his shirt or his shorts and say, "Chute!" I think Nay-Nay is chute! And he does still call himself Nay-Nay. I always have to tell people we don't know that his real name is Nathan when they ask him what his name is :)

7. Wayne and I are also now realizing that he has a pretty good memory, especially when there's something he really likes or wants to do. We were talking about the circus the other day, and telling Nathan that there are elephants and clowns there. When we asked him if he wanted to go, he said "Yap!" right away. Then Wayne said, "Daddy will take you, I promise." This was a few days ago, but now that's all he talks about! Every time we get in the car, he says, "circus?" and gets so upset when we just pull up to the dry cleaners! Yesterday, he kept saying, "Circus, Daddy take you." It really makes us sad, because we had no idea that he would be so excited about it and actually remember us talking about it. Now we feel bad that he's wondering why we haven't taken him yet. How do you explain that it's not coming to town for a few weeks?! Wayne and I aren't mentioning the word again until the day of, and we're in the car on the way there!

8. Whenever Nathan talks about something that belongs to someone else, he puts the 's' on the object instead of the person's name. For example, "Mommy car's", "Daddy house", "Torn (his friend Thorne) truck's"

9. Last week, Nathan was sitting in his high chair eating a snack and watching Diego while I loaded the dishwasher. When he was finished with his banana, I got a wet paper towel to wipe his hands. As soon as I started wiping, he said, "Move Mommy." I was kind of surprised because he's never said that before and I wasn't sure if I understood him right. So I replied back, "Move?" and he nodded his head and answered back very matter of factly "Mommy." Like he was finishing his previous sentence. This was as he was leaning over trying to see around me. I guess I did hear correctly :)

10. Mommy be right back!: My mom taught him this when I would drop him off with her to run errands. Now he says it whenever I leave the room. Usually he draws our the "i" so it's more like "Mommy be riiiiiiiiiiiiiight back."

There are a ton of words that Nathan can say pretty much exactly right like apple juice, juice box (big surprise), toys, shoes, pool, swim, house, and lots of other simple, everyday words. But there are a few that are his own version:

Chee or Chee-he: Carrie
Chis: Chris (Auntie Carrie's husband)
Bobby truck: fire truck
Boken: broken
Nook (rhymes with book): milk...how in the world did he come up with that?!
Alisont: elephant...I think this is because he can say my friend Alison's name really well, and since he loves elephants, he just added a "T" to the end of her name...no need to learn a whole new word.
Chute: cute
Mommy-ya: Nathan has always said "mommy" really well, but this last week, he has started putting the 'ya' on the end. It's like he's saying my name in an impatient way.
Mime out: time out
Ruh-rain: raining
MeMaw: Grandma...My mom and I get such a kick out of this! We see my Grandma all the time, and all I've ever called her is Grandma, but once Nathan started talking, all he's ever called her is MeMaw! I know Grandma is kind of hard to say, but I would think that his version might be somewhat close...maybe a 'G' in there somewhere. I guess that's how kids end up naming their grandparents! I'm sure he'll be able to say her name the right way soon, but for now, it's MeMaw and Grandma doesn't care. She just loves having him visit her.
Pu-Pease: Yes please...this is just him being lazy because he can say both words separately :)
cup: pup
uh-bella: umbrella...we have to get the u-bella out if it's ruh-rain :)

I'll stop there, and sorry this is so long! I just don't want to forget any of this because he's changing so much.

Oh, one last thing! He's been lining up his toys and making them race. He'll say, "Look Mommy, look Daddy, race!" Then he pushes them. Which ever one is in front is the winner and he claps for it!