Birthday Pictures

I finally got around to downloading new pictures, including the first day of "morning school" (MDO), Nathan's birthday, Patrick's birthday, and many random pictures. Enjoy, and if you're curious about the stories behind any, please e-mail and ask!

I have some more pictures uploaded that I've taken recently. They include some posed shots I tried with the boys that didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I ended up with a few cute ones anyway. (I bribed Patrick with yogurt, so unsurprisingly his are much better than usual.)

Go here to see such gems as these, as well as a picture of our brand-new furniture:

Vacation Pictures

Interested in pictures from last week's vacation? Click here.

Why haven't I been around? Where have I been? I'll give you two pictures of a typical day around here, and you'll see why I don't make much time for it these days.

This is Patrick's "No" face. If this isn't typical three-year-old, I don't know what is. Tantrums galore.

And then there's Nathan. And yes, he's walking. Yes, he's tough to keep up with. And yes, he's loveable and adorable and crazy silly. What else needs to be said?

If you'd like to see the other pictures I've taken recently and not yet linked here, you can find them here and here.

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.

A Little Off the Top

Some of you may have noticed my inconsistent blogging lately. I simply have not had the motivation to write much. Do not be concerned, however, because I will still be showing up from time to time to make sure you don't miss out on any important moments, like Nathan finally walking more than a clumsy, hesitant step or two.

That being said, I am here today because of one of those important moments. We decided yesterday that it was long past time to get the boys haircuts. Actually, it was a little soon for Patrick because I could still see eyes and ears behind the mop of hair, but Nathan was starting to look like a wild man. So he had his first ever haircut.

Of course he cried, the whole way through the haircut. Even having his brother right next to him, calmly sitting throughout his own haircut, didn't keep him from being traumatized by the event. Fortunately he calmed easily once he was out of the cute little car chair.

I, however, am not recovering quite as easily. I miss those adorable little baby curls that will soon only exist in his baby book. He's still as cute and charming as ever, but he is certainly more that little boy he's turning into than the baby he was.

Of course I have pictures. You can see the whole group of pictures here, but here are a few before and afters for you.

Patrick before

Patrick after

Nathan from the front, before

Nathan from the back, before

Nathan from the front, after

Nathan from the side/back, after

Sharing

This is a first. Both boys are wearing the same size pajamas. It's laundry day, and somehow we went through all of Nathan's pajamas more quickly than usual. He was left with just really warm flannel footy pajamas, all just a bit too small for him the last time he wore them several months ago. I couldn't do that to him, so I fished through Patrick's drawer for some that might fit. The ones I found fit remarkably well, just a little long (but elastic around the ankles keep them from dragging). It seems that we are only a few months from sharing nearly all their clothes. I wonder if it will be easier or more difficult to have them sharing a wardrobe.

Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. Patrick is usually really good about sharing. He always willingly offers his brother part of his meals and snacks, sometimes even when he's not supposed to, like when Nathan's mouth is already full. There are the expected problems with taking toys away from each other, but Patrick is trying really hard to learn when that is inappropriate.

It's great that the two are playing together now, too. Sometimes they get a little wound up and play games that are a bit out of my comfort zone for them, like the open/close the door game, but it makes life a little easier when their games are less dangerous. I particularly like the game where Patrick mimics Nathan. It's hilarious to watch both of them scooting around the floor, like a crazy little choo-choo train. Nathan flourishes under the attention of his big brother as well. I can tell already that the two are going to be very close as they get older. It's a good thing, if they're going to grow up sharing a wardrobe.

You'll be interested to know that I finally got around to downloading pictures. I have pictures from Christmas, both places, and a few of Patrick riding his tricycle that Santa left at our house while we were gone, then a few I took of the boys yesterday. You can find them here (can you tell it's a lot easier on me to just link them?). Enjoy.

Slacker

Yup, I've been a huge slacker where this blog is concerned. Anybody remember when I used to post every single day, with pictures? I have proof I used to, but I can barely remember those days myself. Somehow the time just gets away from me with taking care of two VERY active children.

Since I last posted, we have celebrated Christmas and New Year's, and life has been back to normal for a full week again already.

We spent Christmas with my family--the whole family. During the days, there were ten adults, four children (well, four and a half, if you count my niece Anna's future baby brother or sister), three dogs, and the elusive cat. I think everyone was glad when we took two adults and two kids out of the picture in the evenings when we went back to our hotel each night. It was a chaotic few days, but lots of fun and I'm glad we didn't miss out on the festivities.

The kids banked for Christmas. When we got home, we cleaned out all but a few of their pre-Christmas toys to make room for all the new ones, and they haven't missed any of the old ones. They simply got that many new toys. Matt and I were definitely blessed as well, with more than we know what to do with.

The day after Christmas, we went to Big Spring to spend a few days with Matt's family as well. (This is where about half of the kids' toys came from; I told you they banked!) It was a little less chaotic there, until the dogs started running, but also a cherished family time.

I didn't take many pictures of our holiday, unfortunately. (I told you I was slacking.) In Dallas, both my brothers were there with their professional-quality cameras, that I kept mine in its case almost the whole time. I'll have to get some pictures from them. I also didn't take too many in Big Spring, but thankfully a few more than in Dallas. The problem is that they are all still on my camera. Yes, this long after our vacation, I have yet to download any of the pictures from Christmas and before. In fact, I don't know that I've even taken any new pictures since we got back. Remember what I said about slacking? I'll either post the pictures or a link to them when I finally get around to downloading them.

The boys are both growing so much right now. Patrick's language seems to be going through another explosion. He speaks in full sentences most of the time, and some of the things he comes up with crack me up. For example, yesterday when I was changing his diaper, Amber came poking her nose up to see what the fuss was about and sniff out whether it was a dirty diaper. I shooed her away as usual, and Patrick had to comment on it. "Amber eat poop?" he asked. I reassured him that I thought that was unlikely, but I thought it was hilarious that he thought that was the reason I was keeping her nose away from his exposed bottom.

He still loves school and asks every day if he gets to ride the school bus. He loves even more when I tell him he's going to MDO first. He names all of his teachers by name. It's funny, though, that all of a sudden he has started clinging to me when it's time for me to leave him at MDO. Unless one of his teachers is holding him and playing with him, he won't let go of me. I don't think he dislikes being there; he'd just rather I got to stay and play with him.

Nathan's personality is what is most interesting about his developments. He is a total hoot. He makes up silly games to play with each of us, and that mischievious smile will get him out of trouble almost every time he does something he knows he's not supposed to. It's like his goal in life is to make people laugh, and he knows he's good at it. I still get comments all the time when we're out whether he's always that happy. Yes, he usually is (until he gets sleepy, as many of you got to discover over Christmas break).

No, he is still not walking yet. I honestly think he could if he wanted to, but he's a little timid about trying it. Besides, his scoot will get him places almost as fast as walking, so what's the point? I know eventually one day he will decide it's time to walk, and he'll be off. When that happens, we'll never catch him.

Over the last few weeks, Nathan has sprouted just about all the teeth he had left to cut. It made for some frustrating, sleepless nights when he was in the most pain, but we seem to be past that now. He sports a full set of teeth instead. No wonder he's suddenly so eager to try any "real" food we can put in front of him. Like his brother, his favorites currently include waffles and anything with lots of cheese.

Guess what I just realized? I have a group of pictures I downloaded right before Christmas that I never shared with you. Since I am quickly running out of time to write, I will just have to post the link, like I did last time. You can find some cute pictures, including Christmas-y ones of Nathan here.

Halloween '08

This year we didn't do much for Halloween. We're still fighting snotty noses, coughs, and incoming molars, so we've been pretty low-key lately. The big excitement was Patrick's Circus Day at school on Thursday. It's their replacement for Halloween, where the kids could wear non-scary costumes to school. Nathan and I went for the festivities, both boys complete with circus-themed costumes. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the peanut (Nathan, wearing Patrick's costume from last year) or the tiger at school. I'm hoping I'll get some pictures from the other parents who were there or the teachers. It was just too difficult to wrangle Nathan, Patrick, and that huge camera.

For Halloween yesterday, the boys did wear their costumes for a little while so I could get pictures. We went a different route with the theme this year. Patrick is wearing a tiger costume, similar to the one I and my three siblings each wore when we were about Patrick's age. Nathan is wearing a pumpkin costume, reminiscent of one of Matt's favorite costumes from his childhood.

I think he enjoyed chewing on the tie for the hat more than being a pumpkin, but it kept him happy anyway.

Oops, maybe not. We'll call this his mean jack-o-lantern face.

But generally he really was happy in the costume. He's the cutest pumpkin I've ever seen.

Patrick absolutely loves his tiger costume. He asks to wear it all the time. I particularly like his fashion sense, pairing it with his camouflage boots.

I had to get a back view. The tail is adorable.
It seems that Amber likes playing with cats as well as children. Really, she was good with the boys in costumes. She wanted to sniff them endlessly, of course, and was kind of excited, but I expected both reactions. At least she wasn't scared of the boys looking different.

It was difficult to get a picture of that cute face underneath the tiger face, so I'm glad I have this one.

And the one picture of the boys together in their costumes, both looking at the camera. It's harder than it looks. Maybe next year they'll pose together voluntarily.

Three

Dear Patrick,

Today you turn three years old, at exactly 4:17. With any luck you will ring in your birth moment a little more peacefully than you did three years ago, hopefully sleeping today. Even while you sleep through it, though, I'll notice it and remember for you.
These last three years have been a wild roller coaster ride. Each time it seems like things are settling down again, like we know what to expect from you, you surprise us again. For you, routines are made only to be changed. Lately, you have been all about school. Each day exists only to get you back to a school day, and you constantly talk about your teachers and friends at school. You beg all day long to "go see teacher," and your excitement can't be contained when I finally agree that yes, it is a school day.
School is teaching you far more than your colors and shapes, though. You are learning how to be social, how to be a good friend, and why we don't do mean things like throw and push. You are learning how to follow a set routine that isn't necessarily in your agenda and that the world doesn't revolve around you. We're finding these lessons you are attempting to learn at school are difficult to translate at home, so we've been struggling quite a bit over the last few weeks to help you transition between school and home--and to teach you that while the routines may differ, the same rules like no throwing and pushing still apply.
But school is helping you grow up--and fast. You are now actually playing with your brother, and he loves all the attention, even when it gets a bit too rough for him at times. I can already foresee the future months and years of the two of you wrestling. Just remember that it's quite likely he will end up with a size advantage over you before much longer, and you may regret starting the wrestling matches eventually. Still, it warms my heart to watch you play with your brother and how much you two enjoy each other's company.
You are learning compassion, too. I love to hear you ask me or Daddy or Gaga (whom you also call Na-hin sometimes now) in your little voice, "You okay?" You ask even when you're pretty sure there's nothing wrong. I guess you've picked that up from me and Daddy, but I'm glad it is one of the things you have chosen to repeat. It shows a sweet spirit underneath that stubborn exterior.

School is also starting to develop your language skills even further. Although I can tell your language is still behind that of your friends, you are starting to catch up. More and more you are talking in full sentences, and you attempt to tell me about your school day when you get home, even if it takes a little interpreting on my part. You readily repeat lots of words and phrases you hear Daddy and me say--unless, of course, we ask you to. I can't tell you how much I love getting to hear you chatter on at meals or our little snack time after school. Some of the things you say--like asking me to stay in your room this morning with you--make me feel more special than anything else you have done in your short life.
Even when you are fighting against us, you are so full of life. That is what tends to get you in trouble the most. You get so involved in playing or making a mess that you tune out all the warnings from me or Daddy and end up in time-out as a result. I'm finally starting to understand you, though, and your inability to be distracted from whatever activity you have in mind, even if it results in a punishment. It dawned on me yesterday that I am just as frustrated when people try to distract me once I have my mind set on doing something. I'm going to start working on patience with you in this area because it is how I would want people to deal with me. But I expect compromise, too; I can't be too patient with you when you are risking your safety or that of someone else, like your brother.
For example, last week as we were walking into school, you darted out in front of the car into the parking lot while I was still gathering all your school stuff from the car. I managed to catch you before you got too far, and there were thankfully no cars coming right then, but it scared me. Your inability to stop when I screamed your name, panicked, has haunted me ever since. I had numerous nightmares about you disappearing or getting hurt or worse all that night. As frustrated as we can get with you sometimes, I know part of me would die inside if I let anything like that happen to you.
Over the last three years you have certainly enriched our lives, much more than I ever thought possible. I won't lie and pretend it's always easy to be your parent--probably anyone's parent--but it's worth it. I am so entwined in your little fingers now that it would rip my heart out for anything to happen to you. In fact, it will rip my heart out each time you grow just a little more independent, like your first day of kindergarten and your first date and college. I just hope that you never grow too big and independent to stop being my sweet little boy, that you never grow up too much to refuse to give me a sweet kiss when you wake me up on Saturday mornings. Because kisses like that, and moments like that, are the ones that make up for every single frustrating one in between.

Patrick's ECI graduation yesterday

Love,

Mommy

Nathan's Birthday Celebrations

I'm only a week overdue on this post. I hope you'll forgive me for losing track of time over the last week.

We actually ended up having two celebrations for Nathan's first birthday. The first happened when we were in Dallas fleeing the aftermath of Ike. It was definitely impromptu, since we had no idea we were even going to be there a week before Nathan turned one. Please keep that in mind--how last-minute all of this was--when you see pictures where I'm not wearing make-up and the fact that all of our nicer clothes were dirty.

Despite the circumstances, though, it was great getting to celebrate with family. Of course my parents (Nana and Grandpa) were there, and Matt's grandparents also happened to be in town and came as well. It made the idea to have a cake for him turn into a real party, thrown together or not.
Nathan was thrilled with all his presents, but especially this card. Or maybe just getting to stand up next to the coffee table.
Patrick loves cameras, so he was doing everything he could to help Grammy fix hers.

This was Nathan's big toy at the party, a ride-on toy that makes all sorts of crazy sounds. Both boys love the toy.
I think that's a grin for the camera (thanks Mom for playing photographer for most of our party!).
And here we are as a family helping Nathan open one of his presents. Patrick had so much fun "helping" Nathan open gifts. Boy is his birthday going to be fun this year!
Again with the card. Who knew a card would be so fascinating?
His first taste of both chocolate and cake. He mostly picked at it but seemed to like the taste of the frosting pretty well and did manage to make quite a mess out of it...eventually.

See? His hair was coated in chocolate too. You can bet he had a birthday bath in store for him immediately after the party.
Nana, Grandpa, and the birthday boy
Grammy, Gramps, and the birthday boy
Mommy, Daddy, and the birthday boy
I look awful in the picture, but you can see how excited Nathan was by all the attention.

A few days later Patrick found the hat I'd taken out for Nathan's official first year pictures and insisted on wearing it. By the way, how do you think he knew this was a hat? He hadn't seen his brother wearing it at this point. Either way, it was cute and funny enough that I had to get a picture.

I decided to do something a little different for Nathan's cake this time around and made cupcakes instead. I also made a single layer round cake for something different if the cupcake thing didn't work out with the boys (it did). When I put it all together, i realized it looked kind of like a spider. I guess I should have put a face on it and make it look planned.

Here's Nathan waiting on his cake--or cupcake--trying to figure out why we're all singing off-key to him.
Patrick obviously enjoyed his taste of birthday cake. He's asked for it every single day since. Sometimes he'll find the birthday hat and put it on before asking, as though you have to be wearing the birthday hat to get birthday cake, like Nathan was on his birthday.
Nathan actually ate more of the cake this time, now that he knew what it was, but he managed to not make as big of a mess. He still ended up with another birthday bath, though.
Since he'd already opened half or more of his birthday gifts the week before, his loot pile wasn't as big this time, but we compensated by giving him bigger gifts.
Fortunately he could care less how many there were. He loved them all, and both boys play with his new toys all day every day. They are going to love getting to do this all over again in another week when Patrick turns three.

Thirty-Five Months

Dear Patrick,

On Sunday you turned thirty-five months old, a milestone that is far overshadowed by the one looming in a month. In fact your upcoming birthday is partly why I'm a bit late posting your letter this month. When it dawned on me how quickly your birthday was approaching, I realized your brother's was a full two weeks sooner. We are not prepared, physically or emotionally, for either. That means we spent some time this weekend looking for birthday presents for you guys. You definitely enjoyed looking, and your obvious interest in certain toys helped us immensely. Now we just need to order them or go buy them at a time when you won't know so that you won't bug us about those awesome toys endlessly for the next month.
Of course, the other big event of this month was your first day of school. Really, it's just Mother's Day Out, not even officially preschool yet, but you don't know that. To you, it's school, where you go to "see teacher." You absolutely love it. In fact, on your first day of school, you just marched on into the classroom without a backwards glance at me. You barely looked up from your Magnadoodle when I gave you a hug and told you good-bye. That classroom looks an awful lot like heaven to you, I'm thinking.

In a way, I was proud to watch you walk so confidently off to your first day of school without the clinging that I've heard can make a first day so difficult. As you are the oldest in your class, it's good to see you acting so maturely. Even if your size or communication skills can't prove you're the oldest, at least you know how to act like it from time to time. But to be honest, I was a little glad today when you stopped me before I left your classroom to tell me you wanted me to hold your hand so you could show me around your classroom. You told me you wanted me to "see teacher" too. You weren't terribly disappointed when I told you that you needed to stay at school without me, but I like knowing that you would rather I stayed with you too.

At the same time that we are transitioning into school mode, you are going through another transition--out of the ECI program and into the school district's special ed program. You had your first initial screening with them yesterday. While you enjoyed some of the games they played with you, that wasn't the case for all of them. You showed your stubborn nature any time you didn't like a game and refused to play. Unfortunately, by not playing along they were unable to prove whether or not you could do certain skills. As a result, we will be going back before long to play more games for what they call a full evaluation. That decides whether you get to go into their program. Since you still need the help, it's a good thing that you qualify for the next step to get into the program, but it was frustrating to watch you refuse to do things that I know you know how to do.

But Patrick, that's you. From the very start you have insisted on doing things your way, even deciding to show up two months before we expected you. You see no reason to do anything that anybody asks you to unless you want to do it. That will be great when you're encountering peer pressure a few years down the line, but your daddy and I and all your future teachers (and probably your current ones) are going to struggle with this aspect of your personality. I'm hoping your impending reasoning skills will make it easier for us to be able to explain why we need you to do things so that this power struggle can stop.

On the other hand, you are still one of the sweetest and most thoughtful kids I know, especially for your age. We had a whole discussion of how thoughtful you are over breakfast this morning, although you called it "awful," not thoughtful. I had stubbed my toe while retrieving a hidden sippy for you and you repeatedly asked about my toe, insisting I get a "boo-boo" for it and asking if I was okay. You showed genuine concern about my foot. I know part of it was the excitement of possibly going to get a Band-aid, but you still worried about me after you understood I didn't need a Band-aid this time. Then a few minutes later you asked me if Nathan could share your banana with you, something that we used to do but haven't done much lately. You've been a little selfish about your banana lately, so offering it to your brother was incredibly sweet of you. It made me so happy to think that you were concerned with Nathan's happiness.

As is the case with most two-almost-three-year-olds, you vary from hour to hour, from minute to minute, between being totally sweet and lovable and whiny and frustrated. The unpredictability can take a lot out of me some days, especially when you're leaning on the whiny side. But then out of nowhere you'll clamber up into my lap and put your arms around me and just rest your head on me for a few seconds. That's when I remember my job as mommy isn't just to tell you no repeatedly and enforce time-outs and keep you from hurting yourself and your brother. I also get to be one of the two people you look up to and go to for comfort and love without fail the way only a two-almost-three-year-old can. And that is why you are so easy to love right back.

Love,

Mommy