Two Nathan Stories

1. No, Nathan isn't quite walking yet. Every so often we catch him off-guard, and he proves that this delay in walking is a matter of will and not ability. The other day I was talking on the phone while playing on the floor with him. I put the phone on speaker and held it out, and that was all Nathan needed to take off walking--to catch the phone. Forget a carrot in front of a horse; this kid chases technology. He took probably a dozen steady steps before he realized what he was doing and fell on his bottom again. I think he considers scooting faster and less effort, but this gives me hope that he won't be scooting between his college classes a few years down the line.

2. Last night, we were going through our typical routine putting the boys down. Patrick insists on an ever-increasingly-detailed bedtime routine, one that now includes counting as we put his excessive sheets and blankets on him (don't worry, they never stay there for long). Patrick has been obsessed with numbers lately and counts every chance he gets. He easily counts to twenty and beyond.

Well, Matt was pausing between numbers as he grabbed the next blanket. "One..."

And from the other crib, we hear, "Too! Twee!"

Stunned, we stared at Nathan. He grinned his cheesiest grin for us.

Matt continued. "Four, five..."

"Siss!"

At this point, I was watching the whole thing with my jaw on the floor. Nathan continued to chime in at the correct times with ten, and several of the teens (they all sounded kind of alike, so I can't guarantee they were all the right ones in the right places).

Since then, we have prompted him several times to begin counting by saying, "One..." Sometimes he refuses to bite and grins that silly grin instead, like he's deliberately not doing what he knows we want him to do. Other times, though, he shows off by telling us several numbers in a row, always the next number after the one we've said.

That's right. Our eighteen-month-old can't (won't) walk, but he knows the majority of his numbers up to twenty. I don't see a whole lot of sports in his future, but some math competitions? Quite likely. That's my boy!

Also, new pictures, finally.

Uh-Oh, Spaghettio

It was one of those days when nothing seemed to be going right. I was late picking Patrick up from MDO, they hadn't fed him lunch before I got him so he had to eat in the car, the check engine light came on as we left the church, and I was stressed.

Even after Patrick got off on the school bus successfully, with a full belly, all his clothes, and on time, I was still cranky. I was already at the end of my patience when Nathan decided to play around with lunch.

He started throwing his food over the side, a new habit he's picked up that Amber loves as much as I hate. I warned him in the mommy voice, gave him the mommy look, and watched as he smiled his impish grin and did it again.

I was debating whether he would understand a time-out and what the next best punishment would be when he did it one more time. One more puff hit the floor, and Amber dove for it.

I put on my best, most stern face and was ready to launch into punishment mode (which I hadn't quite decided on yet) when he got that glint in his eyes and said it: "Uh-oh, spaeeo!"

I fought the smile back and pulled the finger out (you know which one I'm talking about--the lecturing pointer finger) to try yet again to discipline him.

"Uh-oh! Spaeeo!"

This time I gave up and dissolved into laughter. He had me beat, and I knew it. Instead of turning the misbehavior into a teaching lesson for him to learn obedience, I let him turn the moment into a lesson on living in the moment for me. So Amber got one more puff--at least I don't have to clean the floor of the mess.

It was much more important to take the moment to enjoy my crazy boy and congratulate him for not only saying for the first time the phrase I'd been working on teaching him, but to have chosen the absolute best moment to spring it on me.

But now I know just how far advanced his manipulative skills are. I think it's going to be interesting staying a step ahead of him in the coming years.

More Tidbits

In no particular order...

--Nathan has another tooth. It's another bottom one to complete the set of four on the bottom. This brings the total to eight. He's also working on those molars--still--and is teething badly enough some days to keep him awake at night and cause a small fever (at least that's what I hope has caused the fever in the last week). I think we'll all celebrate when those finally cut. Here's a picture of the next-to-the-last tooth to cut:
--He's also still not quite crawling yet and doesn't seem the least bit motivated to learn the proper way to do it. He gets everywhere he wants to go with the bear crawl/scoot, so why bother learning the real way? I finally got some pictures of this scoot move.

You can see he's trying to stand up and will push that cute booty way in the air sometimes. He doesn't have the balance in his hips and torso yet, though, so he can't stand all the way up. Instead he'll just fall back down on the bottom and scoot a little farther.

He obviously loves being mobile either way. Don't you love the new way he's smiling too? It looks like a cross between a smile and a grimace because of how he scrunches up his nose. I love it!

--Patrick has named his dinosaur with a real name at last: Joshua. My theory behind the name is that he's finally figured out who else we're talking to when we scold him with his full name, Patrick Joshua. He's Patrick, so whoever else is with him when he gets in trouble must be Joshua. Well, the dinosaur is always with him, so therefore he must be Joshua. Matt's theory is funnier, though. He thinks Patrick named the dinosaur Joshua so that when we scold him with both names he can blame the dinosaur instead. "It wasn't Patrick this time, it was Joshua!"

--Nathan has started pulling up entirely on his own. Before he loved to pull up on our fingers, but I know I was giving him some support and helping him balance. Now he can do it on his own given the right environment. I suspected the enclosed play area might just provide that for him.

This was the very first time it happened. We had just dropped Patrick off at school for his first day and I set Nathan in his pen to play for a few minutes. I looked away for a minute, and this is what I saw when I looked back. The way he's kind of clinging to the side makes me think of the Spiderman song for some reason. You can tell he's pleased with himself. He does this regularly now. The funniest was this morning when Patrick was in "real time-out" (versus "play time-out," what Patrick calls the play area) right next to Nathan in the play area, and Nathan pulled up right next to where Patrick was standing. They were just inches apart with only the gate thing in between them, both of them hanging onto it.

--Patrick is learning so much at school. He's been trying to tell me some about it, but his limited vocabulary leaves me confused most of the time. So far I have figured out that they color at least some days, he "sleeps tight" during the day, and he likes his peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich at lunch. He always makes sure to tell me all about what he ate for lunch, as though I hadn't packed it for him myself.

In the meantime, Nathan and I have been having fun on our own during school days. Yesterday we headed to Target to pick up a few birthday presents to hide away until the boys' birthdays in a few weeks. That is an outing I wouldn't dare try to do alone with both boys, so it is fun to get to do things like that when only Nathan is around. It will be interesting to see what we can find to do with ourselves tomorrow when Patrick is back at school.

Not Exactly a Delicacy

I just figured out that Nathan's going to be that child. I had set him on the floor to sit and play for a few minutes while I checked my e-mail. He was surrounded by toys, but somehow still decided he needed to go exploring. He was already across the living room by the bookcase with Patrick's toys when I heard him cough.

Normally this wouldn't be a sound I would worry about, but this wasn't the first time I'd heard it today. This morning Patrick was playing with an empty diaper box, a favorite toy of his when we let him play with it, and was shredding pieces of the cardboard all over the floor. Naturally I had to confiscate it and throw away all the little pieces of cardboard.

Apparently I'd missed one because a few minutes later Nathan was coughing and had a funny look on his face. I fished one last piece of cardboard out of his mouth, thankfully before he choked on it. Patrick got one last lecture about leaving small things on the floor, and I checked the floor for any more choking hazards, just in case.

So when I heard Nathan coughing a few minutes ago, I couldn't figure out what he could have found to chew on. Luckily enough, as soon as I started to get up and check on him, he vomited all over his front. While I would typically be pretty grossed out by this, I was hoping the vomit was what had caused the coughing and everything was fine now.

Well, it was fine, but I determined the cause of the cough and vomit when I was cleaning up: There was a dead spider in the pile on the floor. It seems that Nathan managed to find a dead spider on the floor and thought it looked yummy.

Yup, Nathan's going to be that kid, the one who will eat literally everything, even if it crawls around on eight legs. He's going to be the one I have to watch every second to make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble with his adventurous spirit. I guess it's just good that he was able to puke up the spider this time. I don't know if we'll be so lucky this time.

Regardless of my worries, though, I still think this story is hilarious. This will be one of those stories he gets tired of hearing as he grows up.

Unbelievable

Before I start the story, I have to warn you that I know how unbelievable this sounds. I know it looks like you are getting my very biased interpretation of what happened, but I'm going to tell you just the facts. If you choose not to agree with my interpretation, that's fine.

It happened yesterday afternoon. Nathan and I were sitting on the floor playing when Amber came up to us begging for attention. As usual when he sees Amber, Nathan got excited. I talked to him while I pet Amber, telling him to "say Amber! Say 'sweet Amber, good girl Amber.'" This went on for a few minutes where I praised Amber by talking to Nathan about her, telling him he should say her name.

Then Nathan looked up at Amber and clearly said, "Abba," much the same way his big brother says it, kind of like his nose is stopped up.

He has never said this while babbling; all of his "b" sounds have come out more like "babababa." The sound also did not happen in the midst of babbling. He wasn't talking before, and he didn't talk after. It was isolated and while he was reaching for Amber.

It happened again this morning during breakfast. Patrick was talking to Amber, and then she walked right into Nathan's line of sight. Without prompting this time, he again said, "Abba," while looking at Amber.

Sure it could be a coincidence, but I think it's entirely likely he's proving his place within his daddy's side of the family, the side that might as well be dog whisperers because of their unique relationships to all canines. I really do think that Nathan's first word (other than the "mamama" and "dadada" babblings) was Amber.

A Story in Pictures

Background: Sometimes when I'm making dinner and Matt's not available (like when he's away on a business trip), I let Nathan play in his high chair until we're all ready to eat. This evening, Patrick took it upon himself to start feeding Nathan while I got our meals ready.

And yes, if you look closely, you'll see the food is still closed. Only imaginary food ended up on the spoon or in Nathan's mouth.

"Here, Nathan! Try this!"

"Cool! Look what I found. Thanks, Patrick!"

"No, Gaga! Take that out of your mouth. I can't feed you if you have the spoon!"

Patrick-isms

Although Patrick's vocabulary is still growing by leaps and bounds, he still insists on calling his brother Gaga. It's so common to hear now that sometimes I slip and call him Gaga around Patrick. At least we both understand each other, right?

Lately, though, this has become much funnier. You see, Nathan has learned how to say his name. Along with the "mama"s, "baba"s, "nana"s, and "dada"s, he can now say "gagaga." I wish I could believe he was imitating his brother or actually saying his own name, but it's cute even if it is just another random sound he's learned to make.

I particularly love when Nathan happens to spout into a round of "gagaga"s at the same time that Patrick is talking about his gaga.

Speaking of some of Patrick's favorite words, I got creative the other day and combined a few of those favorite words to come up with a new lunch for him. He's grown tired of our usual quick lunches and was in need of something to switch up the routine. So I pulled out the tortillas and a slice of American cheese and made him a super easy, impromptu quesadilla.

Unfortunately, Patrick refuses to associate this new meal with the quesadillas his daddy makes so well. He refuses to call it a quesadilla (which, yes, he can and does say). Instead it's a tortilla with cheese. Yesterday that was a "toeteechee." Today it's more mature--a "toeteeya uh chee."

It's great that something so incredibly simple has not only filled his belly better than any other meal in quite some time but is helping improve his vocabulary too. Although I can't help but wonder if we eat Mexican food too much when his limited vocabulary includes both "quesadilla" AND "tortilla."

He's a Biter

Yup, you heard right. Mom, you can start laughing right about now; you're getting your revenge. Now that Nathan has those two adorable little teeth, he's interested in what they're there for. Add to that all the other little teeth under his gums that are considering following in the footsteps of their adventurous brothers, and Nathan can't keep from trying out the little choppers.

It hurts on your finger and arm, and I've had the hickeys to prove it.

It's just plain annoying when he goes after the spoon when he's being fed.

But it's downright excruciating when he chooses to try them out while nursing.

Patrick learned a valuable lesson the other day: he is not the only one in the house capable of being punished. He learned quite quickly that the results of Nathan biting is a very light swat on the butt (which he wishes he could administer for me).

Unfortunately, Nathan doesn't quite understand how the consequences relate to the behavior yet. And he just keeps biting. I'm a bit nervous each and every time he goes to eat, and I'm constantly sore from all the times I've already been used as a teething ring.

Mom, I'm so sorry. If I could go back in time to when I was a baby and unbite you, I would. I certainly feel your pain now.

(By the way, the complaint is meant mostly in jest. Yes, it hurts, but I understand he's a baby and doesn't get it yet. I'll just put up with the pain until he does begin to understand he's hurting Mommy.)

Holidays

We didn't do much for St. Patrick's Day other than wear green, but I did make sure to take a picture of Nathan wearing his special bib for the occasion.
Easter was a much bigger event at our house. For the first time, we held an egg hunt for Patrick. He figured out what to do pretty quickly and got excited about every single egg he found.

Naturally he was even more excited about the jelly beans inside them and kept pouring them out in the grass. Eventually we convinced him to just gather the eggs and emptied all the jelly beans we managed to save out of the eggs when we got back inside. Once he tasted them, he figured out how to say "jelly bean" really fast.

Nathan slept through all the festivities, but that's fine since I don't think he would have gotten much out of it anyway.

When he woke up, though, I got a picture of Nathan with "his" Easter basket (one that Patrick has had in years past and no longer needs). The eggs were empty, but he had lots of fun playing anyway.

Then Patrick hopped up and let me get a rare picture of both boys on a special occasion.

Nana and Grandpa sent Nathan a special bib for Easter as well, so I had to take a picture of him wearing that too.

He started hamming it up while I had the camera out, too, so I leave you with Nathan showing off for all of us.

A First Taste

Last week, Nathan stopped letting me sleep through the night. He woke up every night, desperate to eat. And he would eat for hours on end. If that's not a sign he's ready for something more substantial in his belly, I don't know what is. I was as desperate for sleep as he was for food, so I finally decided it was time to do something about it.

So Wednesday night, we started solid foods.
He sat in his big boy high chair quite happily while I prepared his yummy dinner of runny rice cereal. I was proud of how he wanted to sit up on his own as much as possible, not leaning against the sides like Patrick did when he first used this high chair.

Nathan was quite ready for that first bite, opening his mouth as soon as he saw the spoon coming. I think he already knew there was something yummy on there. Of course, this was his reaction to the "yummy" food:

But his tummy was hungry enough that he kept eating, regardless of that initial reaction. He downed most of the bowl I'd prepared like a pro. He grimaced after many bites (which prompted me to change some things about the preparation for the next night, which he ate much more happily), but he just kept eating.

And he was certainly much happier when we were done. Nathan likes having a full belly.

Since then, he has started sleeping a little better each night until last night's full night of sleep. It seems that Mommy's milk wasn't quite enough anymore, but he's loving his first taste of this wide world of solid food.

One Day, Two Milestones

I went to Patrick's closet (that he shares with Nathan) to find a clean outfit for Nathan to wear today. Of course, he followed me. Just before I closed the closet door, he leaned down and picked up a wooden letter off the floor. It was an extra letter from when I was painting Patrick's and Nathan's names for their rooms that I had stowed in the closet, just in case. I don't even know when it fell to the floor.

Anyway, Patrick saw it and picked it up. I heard him say as he looked at it, "Aaaay," in that cute singsong voice. I turned around with an odd look on my face. "That's right, Patrick. That's an A."

He repeated, "Aaay," again and handed the letter back to me.

Of course I was shocked. To test whether what I'd heard was right, I found the letter C on the top shelf of the closet and handed it to him. He muttered something I couldn't catch and then said, "Seee," followed by more jabbering I couldn't understand.

It appears as though Patrick knows at least some of his letters. I know he'd been paying attention to letters and numbers for a long time, but I had no idea how much he'd been picking up along the way. It seems that all those Sesame Streets I've DVR-ed are paying off!

From this craziness, I went straight to put Nathan in his clean clothes. The outfit I chose for him to wear has buttons up his back, so I rolled him onto his belly to take care of those. It turns out that I had a tough time getting the buttons done, though, because as soon as he was on his belly, he was trying to roll back onto his back. And he did, several times. I ended up having to hold him to get the buttons done.

I'd noticed Nathan was getting much stronger, but I thought it was limited mostly to holding his head up. He'd never shown much interest in rolling over, especially because of how much he loves to be on his belly. I was nearly as shocked to watch him roll himself over repeatedly as I was to hear Patrick identify letters. What a morning!