Just Toddling Around

Dear Nathan,
The day we feared has slowly crept upon us. You are now walking.

As of today, you can go a good 8-10 feet before you topple over. Most of the time you just get too excited to continue. The times when you have been able to walk the farthest was when you were calm and maybe even didn't realize that you were walking. You're actually pretty good at turning corners and even pivoting around. You can also go a bit further while pushing your popcorn popper toy.

We had a pretty busy week at church. On Friday, we went to the pumpkin patch for a play date. We took some pretty good pictures. 

Then, on Sunday, we helped out at the church's annual Trunk or Treat. Mommy painted faces, daddy made balloon animals and you were mostly stuck in the nursery. But as far as I know, you had fun playing with Ms. T. Next year, when you are older, you'll be able to actually participate in the activities.

 Mommy has made lots of costumes in the past for Halloween, but this year, I had the most fun because I got to make a costume just for you.

You are still generally very happy and social. It's really cute how you will randomly wave at people when we are out and about. I think you like to see that you can affect other peoples' behavior. You wave at them, they wave back and give you a smile. 

Diaper changes have become a bit more difficult, you just don't seem to want to lay still. But, just recently, you've discovered the wonders of shadows. 

It's also very neat to see that you've learned about the functions for different things. For example, you know a hair brush is used on the head and things that are shaped like shoes go on the feet. You've only seen Dad wear his blades once and today, when you discovered them, you tried to put them on. 

Tomorrow is Halloween. I hope you will be able to stay up a little so that you can help us pass out candy to the neighbor kids. My favorite part of Halloween is seeing all the cute costumes. I'm sure I'll take more pictures then. 

On the eating front, it seems like you are becoming less picky. I was surprised that you really liked okra. I put some in a beef stew and you just devoured them like crazy. You even ate some zucchini this week! Yay! I am so happy to find that you are not consistently rejecting veggies any more. Your current all-time favorite food right now is smoked ham. Bananas are so-so and grapes are a pretty good bet. You like pomegranate, and oranges too. As far as genres of food, you seem to like Indian and Italian flavors the best, which is good, because those are my favorites too. 

Most days you take 2 naps. 30 - 45 minutes in the morning and then another 1.25 hrs in the afternoon. But on the days that you wake up later (closer to 8), you tend to take one longer, 2 hour nap in the early afternoon. 

Lately, you've been saying "dada" and "that," or "this" a lot. A few times, I think I hear you say "mmm. mom." 

I think you really like dogs. Every time we see a dog on our walk, you get super excited. Even pictures of dogs or dogs on TV will make you squeal. It's super cute. 

Well, that's about it for now. Maybe we'll go to the zoo soon. It's been rainy and muggy recently so when the weather clears up, I'm sure we will be spending lots of time outside. 

Love, 

Mommy

Week 56. Almost 13 Months

Dear Nathan,

It's been a pretty uneventful week, which is fine, because we get to enjoy this awesome Texas fall weather. It's been dipping down into the 40s and 50s at night. You seem to wiggle out from underneath your covers, forcing me to get up several times a night just to put the covers back onto you, so I got you a sleep sack. It works wonders. You stay warm and toasty, and I get an uninterrupted night of sleep. 

You've been talking more this week, making multi-syllabic sounds. It seems like you are saying "this" and "that" while you are pointing to things. 

You still don't like to eat veggies, although tonight, I made beef stew and you actually ate okra! You love ham sandwiches, especially the ham. Usually, you deconstruct the sandwich, and eat the ham first. You are a funny boy. 

This week, you have not been super interested in playing with toys. You are very focused on exploring and figuring out how things work around the house. You've tried to turn on the stove, open and shut various doors and drawers, and push buttons on various objects. The world is your playground and you just can't wait to explore all of it. 

You are back to sleeping about 11 hours at night, which works out well because a 7 o'clock wake time works well. Even though I enjoyed sleeping in until 8, it really threw off your nap schedule. 

So, with nothing new news to post, I'm just going to post some cute pictures. 

One afternoon, you found a sticky mustache sticker and was holding it around your mouth. You must have remembered all the silly people who wore mustaches at your party. So, I stuck it on your face and showed you your reflection in the mirror. You were very amused. Then, I went on a mini photo-shoot frenzy. This is my favorite pic. 

One afternoon, at the park, I put you at the top of the slide and you pushed yourself down. Afterwards, you wanted to do it again, so I kept setting you at the top of the slide and you would wiggle and push yourself over the edge to slide down.

We went to the park this weekend and you liked to look at the other kids play and push pebbles through the holes on the equipment.

 I took this picture because you are now so big. Compared to 6 months ago months ago.

October 2013

April 2013

You've been playing with the neighbor kids a lot recently. They like to push you around in various wheeled contraptions and you like to let them give you a ride. I'll have to take pictures of them playing with you and post them. You are so lucky to have neighbors who love you so much. 

Next week is Halloween. We'll get to wear our costumes and pass out candy. I bet you will love seeing all the cool costumes. I know I do. 

Smarter than Teddy

Dear Nathan,
This week, you have officially surpassed Teddy in the things that you can do. What finally broke the straw was you learning how to walk more than 2 steps. Here's a picture of you standing on your own. Most of the time you don't realize that you are standing until a few moments have passed and then you become very proud of yourself.

This morning, while we were playing in your room, you actually stood up in front of me while I was sitting and walked all the way to my back. That must have been 4 or 5 steps. I bet you'll be toddling on your own by Halloween.

A week ago, you developed a cold, that turned into an ear infection, and along with you allergic reaction from 2 weeks ago, turned into a situation where you needed a nebulizer to help open up your airways. When you first started being very whiny and fussy, I had a feeling that you had developed an ear infection. Of course, it was at night, so I asked our neighbor, a doctor, to come over and take a look. He saw that your ear drums were sucked in and the area was inflamed so he prescribed some antibiotics. We are so lucky to have neighbors like that who are so loving and helpful. There was some sort of mix up at the pharmacy, so I ended up taking you in to the doctor the next day anyways. The first time you tried the nebulizer at the doctor's office, you did not like it. It took me and another nurse to get you to breathe in the albuterol. Once you realized that it was actually helping you feel better, you were super calm and even wanted to hold the mouth piece by yourself.

With the nebulizer and some yummy antibiotics (you love that stuff, you will fight to get to it) you were feeling much better in a couple of days.

This past weekend, you went to another birthday party. You had lots of fun with new toys and kids to play with. You seem less drooly lately, so we put you in a collared shirt. Wow. You look like such a big boy!

 Just when I think that you are such a big and mature boy, you start blowing raspberries and find spitting on the floor to be amusing. What a boy!

Occasionally, I bring out "new" toys for you to play with. It's so cool to see how you may play with a toy differently than you did a few weeks ago. Last time I brought the train out, you were taking the pieces apart and chewing on the blocks. This week, you actually worked on putting the wooden pieces onto the pegs, although, you did sneak a few bites in between.

We also gave you your first hair cut this week. I could have given you a bowl cut...

 

 but you were too squirmy, so you just got a trim around the sides. Now you don't have hair going into your ears and tickling your neck.

 I'd say I did a pretty good job.

Yesterday, after helping me unload the vegetables from the stroller, you decided to push the stroller around and around. You had so much fun doing it, that I thought I would make it even sillier and put teddy inside. You thought it was funny and kept spinning and spinning. Sometimes you would giggle so hard that you would fall down. Teddy was a bit confused at first, but then just gave in, sat down, and enjoyed the attention.

This week you have been a super great sleeper. We've been putting you down around 7:30 and you sleep to about quarter to 8. In the morning, you will take a short 30 minute nap in the car and then another hour nap in the afternoon.

I still don't get your eating preferences. One day green eggs and ham are delicious and then a week later, you don't even touch them. Things at HEB taste delicious, then when I buy it, bring it home, and make it for you, you don't even touch it. You are very picky and it's kind of inconsistent. It's a bit stressful for me because sometimes I have to get up so many times during dinner to find something that you will actually eat (and at the same time goes towards a balanced diet). I know you will probably eat bananas and yogurt until it oozes out of your eyes, but you also need veggies and some protein.

I tried making you a smoothie out of bananas, blueberries, yogurt, milk and lots of spinach today and you loved it. Even though you were full, you still fussed at me when I took it away.

You are becoming a social butterfly/flirt. At chinese class, many of the moms were commenting on how social you were. You would crawl up to a baby or mom and start talking away. You even kissed a few girls. There was a professional photographer at the class so let's see if she captured any of your social interactions. Hey, take it easy tiger! The only girl you should be kissing right now is your mom!

Every morning, before daddy leaves for work, he gives me a kiss good bye. You seem to think that it is cool or amusing because you are always smiling after you see us "ching ching" (kiss).

Stay sweet and keep stacking blocks. You're doing a great job!

Mommy

Pumpkin Patches

Dear Nathan,
Now that life is back to normal, we've had some good days of fun. The weather has gotten nicer, so we've spent a lot of time outside. This past weekend, your grandparents visited and we went to a pumpkin patch. Here are some of the pictures:

This is where we were on the hunt for some pumpkins. You were really good at pointing out the trees, but seemed to miss the pumpkins completely. No worries, you'll get it next year.

We rode on the back of a tractor. You thought it was pretty cool.

 It seems like all you want to do these days is stand up. Here you are on the back of the tractor, holding on to grandpa's shirt.

 At the farm, there was a donkey. You found the donkey to be funny.

 We played with your cousins...

 And you drew pictures on the ground with your drool.

 What an exciting day it was!

The next day, we met up with the family and had a picnic in the park.

This week, you have started to say "m" sounds and use multiple syllables when you speak. You've said "mama" but I'm not sure if you know what it means.

Unfortunately, you are sick again, but this time, with a cold. It seems like the cold is going around. When you get sick, your schedule is a bit unpredictable, but I guess that just comes with the territory of fighting a sicky bug.

I'm going to leave you with a cute video:

Until next week.
Love,
Mommy

Peanut Butter Sandwiches = No Good

Dear Nathan,
I want to start out by saying that you are such a strong boy! We had to go to the hospital last night because your body does not like peanuts. It all started out with a simple afternoon snack of 2 sides of bread crust smeared with a bit of peanut butter. After about 5 minutes, you started to get these little raised bumps around your mouth.

 It stayed like that for awhile and it didn't seem to bother you, so I just decided to wait it off and not do anything. We went on a walk and went next door to visit with the neighbors. I went to pick up the weekly veggie box and when I returned, our neighbor pointed out that you started to rub your ears. We examined you closer and you had bumps on your neck and back. We then went over one door down and that neighbor suggested that I give you some benedryl. I didn't have any, so they checked to see if they had some. They only had the children's formula. At this point, you were starting to turn more red and swollen. I was thinking about taking you to the hospital, but not sure if it was necessary. Luckily one of the moms told me, "I would take him to the hospital if I were you." And immediately, I called Daddy and we were off to the hospital.

When we got there, you were a bit fussy, but I am not sure if it was because you were uncomfortable, hungry, or both. The doctors and nurses came in, took your vitals and then put in IV in your arm. You were so brave. The nurse said that you are a very resilient boy. They put the medicine in you, and in less than 5 minutes,  I could see that the swelling had gone down about 80%. I nursed you, you ate some cheerios and baby food and slowly, you started to return back to your normal self. You were very interactive with the nurses. You offered them cheerios and even clapped when you saw them through the window. Everyone said that you were super cute and a great trooper.

Around 8, we were headed home. We had a quick dinner, bath and then you went to bed. It was a long day for all of us.

Other news, you are now clapping and a few days ago, you took your first independent steps. It was only 2 steps from the couch to the coffee table, but you were able to make it across without holding onto anything. You are also standing more. Usually it occurs when you are holding something while standing and then get so excited that you shake the object and forget that you are not holding on to anything. Soon you realize it, and then hold on.

For the most part of this week, you also had a yucky stomach virus. But other than loose stools 1-2 times a day, you were your normal self. The 2 times you had really bad diaper blow outs occurred first when we were on our way to Sprouts and then the next day when we were at Sprouts. Cleaning up diarrhea is not fun. When we were at Sprouts (local supermarket) and I saw your poop face, I got a bit nervous. When I realized that you had stuff up your shirt as well, I panicked a little and I think you could sense it. You started to fuss and I got a feeling like it was a an embarrassed fuss (not sure if you even know that emotion) so as soon as I calmed down and took control, you also calmed down. I pushed the cart out to the parking lot (with groceries in the cart), cleaned you up and went back.

Two days later, you got your one month shots. For the most part, you were ok. You were a bit clingy at first during the beginning of your party, but I think when the adrenaline kicked in, you were back to your old, social, self. There is still a knot from one of the shots on your thigh.

Here are some interesting things that have happened this week:

1. You don't really like your new Thomas pull back train. I think the sound of the motor scares you. Here you are crying hysterically as the train comes your way.

 2. You will find Teddy's duck and hold it out to him for him to grab and play tug o' duck with you.

 3. You really like putting the pom poms back into the container through the little hole on the lid. This is probably one of your favorite toys that you received at your party.

 4. One day, I showed you what button to press. You've been turning the TV on and off since then.

So something pretty cool happened this afternoon. We went on our usual afternoon walk in the stroller. I had prepared a sippy cup of milk for you to enjoy along the way. When we got home, I decided to stop by the neighbor's house to drop off a thank you card so I just put the sippy cup down, parked the stroller, picked you up, and we were out the door. When we got home, I started to look for the sippy cup and said out loud, "Where is your milk?" From the kitchen, I heard pitter patter pitter patter. I followed you and to my amazement, you were holding the sippy cup up towards me and gave me a cute little grunt. You undestood me. I wonder what else you can understand! 

I am so glad that you have finally gotten your appetite back. I was so worried that you weren't getting enough nutrients when you were sick. It really stressed me out. But you are back to eating and it seems like you are even more adventurous than you have ever been. You even wanted to try roasted seaweed and you liked it! Maybe you'll grow up to be a little foodie like me. Until next week!
Love,
Mommy