Swim Lessons and Hannah turns 10 months!

Dear Hannah and Nathan,
This has been quite the week. Swim lessons for Nathan, me getting sick, and Hannah kissing people. Hannah has gotten pretty good at waving. It starts like a "Hi" but then she gets pretty excited and starts to flap both arms up and down.

 One afternoon, Nathan brought a couple of roses in for the girls. Hannah was very interested in it.

 Look at this little gentleman!

 But sometimes you are not that great of a gentleman. I was cleaning up or getting Hannah more food (which is pretty much all the time these days) and when I returned, I found your beautiful avocado art smeared on the tablecloth. Here's the conversation:
Me: Nathan, you made a mess. What are you going to do now?
Nathan: I make avocado train.
Me: [grabbing the camera and taking this picture] I'm going to show Daddy this picture of your train. I don't think he's going to like it. I don't like it when you make messes with your food.

Nathan: No, don't show Daddy! I clean up! 

Me: What do you need to clean up?

Nathan: [looks around] a towel! 

Me: [pass him a towel and I watch him frantically wipe the table cloth] Hmm...I don't think it's very clean, how are we going to make it clean?

Nathan: We need more water. Soap! 

And then I proceed to explain to you that while making art with food may be fun, it's not so fun for the person who has to clean up. And even though you helped clean it up, more work has to be done to clean it up completely. 

We are also working on getting him to understand the concept of wasting: electricity, water, cold refrigerator air...etc. I think he gets it, but sometimes he still spends a bit too much time washing playing at the sink. 

Nathan likes to talk to us during dinner time. It makes you sad when Mommy and Daddy talk to each other about grown up things and leave you out. Sometimes you attempt to join in by laughing at jokes (even if you don't understand why we are laughing) or you patiently put your hand on the table (our secret signal that you need to speak to us) and wait for us to turn towards you. And when we do, you can't come up with anything to say except, "I want Mommy Daddy talk." Does that mean you want us to explain what we are saying to you or do you want us to talk to you too? We are not quite sure. When we ask you, you just give us a hesitant laugh and then you change the topic. 

Another cool thing you've been doing lately is telling jokes or being sarcastic. It's all based off of what we, as parents already do to you, but you add your own spin to it. You've also started to change the lyrics to well known songs to make them silly. It's pretty fun when you do it. 

And then one final Nathan event is that this week we started swim lessons. The first day was really rough. Your teacher is intense. She proudly wears the title of "swim Nazi." The first day pretty much consisted of throwing you into the pool and the teachers holding your head down as they guided you from one end of the pool to the other. Along with every other kid in the class, you cried, held on to me for dear life (as I was also carrying Hannah), ran away from me, begged, pleaded for us to stop and go home. Believe me, it was tough for me too. I don't think I have ever made you do something that you didn't want to do and deep down I felt horrible. I saw kids tremble with fear right before they got pushed into the pool. It seemed almost unnatural. After the last jump, you quickly gained composure and seemed to be ok, so I pumped you up with encouragement and we got a sticker and headed home. 

 I went to class the first day with a cold and the intensity of the class wore me and my immune system out so that night we got home, my body just shut down and I felt like I had the flu. Fever, chills, aches, the whole shebang.  Daddy came home early and rescued us.  

The next day was better. Daddy went with you to class while I stayed on the side and took videos of you and your best friend, Abigail. You were still crying for most of the class, but you did the last few laps tear free. And you were actually swimming! 

Video of Nathan Swimming Day 2

And by day 3, you were swimming through 2 hula hoops under water (with some help ). You remained tear free for most of the class and you actually liked jumping through a hula hoop before landing in the pool. When the teacher took away the hula hoop, you got a bit upset. By today, most of my doubts about sending you to this particular swim class disappeared. We have another day tomorrow, a 3 day weekend break and then another 4 classes next week. 

 And of course there's Hannah. Hannah, Hannah, Hannah. Master of destruction. I pretty much think it's hilarious when you start going for things that big brother is playing with, but he does not like it.

How could you get upset at this sweet face?

You two continue to want to ONLY play with whatever toy that the other person is playing with. Even though we have and ENTIRE HOUSE FULL of toys, you must play with that exact toy right now. Well, I've come to let you guys just battle it out. I have told Nathan that Hannah is a baby, so she can't talk and so he needs to listen to her and guess what she is feeling, but if she bothers him, he needs to figure something out without hurting Hannah. Nathan's pretty much learned that if he wants to keep the toy that he's playing with, he needs to play away from Hannah.

If Hannah is playing with a cool toy, Nathan will call "switch" ask Hannah for the toy, take it and give her a new toy. I think it's pretty good for a 2 year old and if Hannah doesn't protest, I just let it be. I'm going to try not to get in between them too much, starting from the beginning. 

But there's many moments when they are able to play side by side. One afternoon we all played together. Nathan drove Hannah to the grocery store in his Blue Lightning McQueen car. (Hannah wanted a steering wheel so we gave her one too)

 When you two got to the store, Nathan pushed Hannah around in the cart while shopping for groceries. Hannah kept throwing things out of the basket and Nathan didn't quite like that. Kept telling Hannah, "Bu-xing" (Can't do that!) Gee, reminds me of something someone used to do all the time when I would take him shopping...

 Hannah just loves it whenever big brother pays attention to her. She had a blast letting Nathan push her around.

 Afterwards, we decided to do some crafts for Craf-T Tuesday. While Nathan drew on coffee filters, and watched the ink spread out after dipping them in water (or his drool), Hannah chunked markers around to see what would happen. I think we all learned a lot about gravity that day.

 Hannah is continuing to sleep from about 7:15 to about 7 in the morning. Her afternoon nap has been only lasting an hour lately and her morning nap lasts 30-45 minutes. I find that she usually takes a longer pm nap if her morning nap doesn't last more than 45 minutes, but recently, this was not the case. Hopefully this is a cognitive leap stage and you'll resume your 1:30 - 4 afternoon nap schedule once again.

Your motor skills are catching up. First of all, you are able to deliberately play with toys, with intention. No longer are you sticking everything in your mouth, but for example, when I put a xylophone in front of you, you know to pick up the mallet and start banging. You are really understanding cause and effect.

Hannah is also starting to lean in to give kisses. Nathan's first kisses were open mouthed and drooly. Hannah's are not the case. Your mouth is semi-open, but not as drooly. We purse our lips and tell you to give us a kiss and with a smile, you slowly inch your face towards us. It is simply adorable.

Well, that's it for now. Until next week.

Love,

Mommy

Proud Mama

Dear Hannah and Nathan,
This week there has been lots of things that you guys have done that made me really proud to be your mommy. First of all, Hannah is almost 10 months old. 10 months! And to celebrate, you have been sleeping through the night (like the real deal) from 8 pm to 8 am. Wow, life has pretty much gotten 300% easier now that I'm getting a good night of uninterrupted sleep. Thank you.

A few days ago, we had a chance to get out to the park for a picnic with a friend your age. You guys liked swinging on the swings for the first time and was pretty interested in each others' food.

 Hannah loves to play alongside Nathan and with everything Nathan is playing with. While Nathan is a pretty good sharer, it's tough for an almost 3 year old to always have to give up his toy to his little sister, so Hannah, sometimes you will just have to find something new to play with like in this picture below.

 You've gotten pretty good at crawling and you love to tip things over. Blocks, humidifiers... we have to watch you like a hawk because you move fast, especially when we are not looking.

 There are a few things that you don't like and broccoli and carrots are not one of them. You actually don't care for avocado or egg yolks. You will spit them out. But you LOVE anything sweet or meat. We can easily tell when you really like something because you go into hamster mode and start to stuff as much food in your mouth as you can.

 On a sad note, you've had a few tough days. Your top two teeth are coming in and they've been causing you a bit of discomfort. When it gets bad, you really like chomping on frozen carrots. The day your tooth came in, you didn't not want to nap or be put down. You just wanted to hold on to the carrot while sitting in my lap.

 I had Nathan take a few pictures of us, but then he started to take a few selfies.

 After your teeth emerged, you were a completely different baby. You were back to your happy self and you guys even played with this large piece of packing paper for a long time.

 Nathan did a pretty good job of taking this picture...

 Every night before bed, we read a few stories. This book is your ultimate favorite. It's a look and feel book. You squeal with delight when you see the cute puppy dog on the cover and you try to flip the pages as we read. With each new page, you stop and you feel the new texture that is being presented on the page. This book seems to hold your attention longer than the other books that we have.

Hannah is experimenting with more sounds. B - D-, but no M yet. 

Nathan is talking a lot and asking lots of questions. There is seldom a quiet moment in our house and to think that a year ago, we were worried about his speech. His favorite phrases are "No, I do it.!" "[Where]that come from?" (which can also mean, what is that?) "I'm just practicing" when we catch him doing something he's not really supposed to be doing.

Nathan is also starting to be more expressive of his opinions and thoughts. We were in the car on the way to somewhere when he told me that he wanted his dinosaur shirt. I looked back to ask him why and he responded with "Cause it has [pretended to pull his sleeve] and I can do this [wipes his nose with pretend sleeve]" While I was completely disgusted by this concept, I was also very proud of his thought process. 

Since Hannah was sick the past week, we pretty much stayed at home for the first few days. I forgot how fun it is to include you in helping out with chores. I loved hearing the pitter patter of feet as you ran back and forth to hang up the clean laundry. 

 You even offered to put the dirty clothes in the hamper.We've actually started to give you coins after you do a really great job with helping. We deposit the coins in your dinosaur bank and one day you can get something really cool with the coins that you save up. You are too young to understand coin value, so we just have a big pile and you pick one after your chore...I don't know why, but you never have picked up a penny.

 Apparently you like carrots if they've been boiled. I cooked some the other day and you took one, tried it and carried it around like a bunny.

 When I asked you to share a bite with me, this was the response.

 Something annoying that you like to do at meal times is line up your food into "trains." This all started when some of your frozen peas or corn would stick together. Oh well, this is not a battle worth fighting right now.

 By the way, those broccoli florets are just for show. Nathan is still not eating broccoli. We are going to try this thing someone online suggested: step 1: have kid put food in mouth for a brief time and then spit it out. step 2: have kid chew it and spit it out. step 3: have kid chew it and swallow. Progress from one step to another over the a long course of time and maybe Nathan will get over the weird texture of vegetables.

Hannah is now able to cruise along furniture. This makes Nathan's life much tougher because there is nothing that she can't get to anymore. There's been a lot of tantrums thrown over Hannah touching Nathan's stuff, but Nathan, you are just going to have to learn to live with it.

 Yesterday, our neighborhood had a father's day happy hour at a nearby restaurant. They had the most amazing balloon guy there. He made crazy elaborate balloon animals that put Daddy's skills to shame. Nathan, you was brave enough to go up by yourself and ask the guy for a dinosaur.

 You were so entertained by the dinosaur that we were able to kick back, relax, and enjoy a few beers with some neighbors.

 We are still going to story time and Nathan loves listening to the different stories, doing the crafts, and checking out his own library books to take home to read. During home story time, sometimes Nathan will read to us. You flip through each page, describing what is happening and you even sometimes explain why something is happening. Sometimes you follow what is written on the page, sometimes you say things that are completely different. But it's really neat how you are able to just sit down and read through a book by yourself.

With potty training, I think I've given up on trying to have you announce when you have to go number 1 on your own. I'm just going to continue taking you every hour to hour and a half and hope that one day you will figure out this sensation on your own. You usually don't realize that you have to go until you just cause your undies to be a little damp, damp enough to change and then you are able to hold it until you make it to the potty. I'm thinking your brain is just not there yet. It's ok.

Well, that is about it for now. Until next week!
Love,
Mommy

Cruising through 42 Weeks

Dear Hannah and Nathan,
We have taken it easy this week and have just gone through the usual routine. Although I have good news to report that Hannah is now able to pull yourself up and cruise along furniture. I was at church today and sat Hannah down next to me while I was cutting up some paper for VBS. Suddenly I see Hannah cruising over towards me! Another thing that you've been doing is waving "Hi" here's a picture of you waving and being happy even when your nose is runny.

You love waving "Hi" or giving us "Hi 5's." Also, you have started to play "peek-a-boo" on your own by flipping a blanket over and off of your face. We usually play this right after your bath because the towel is right there.

We have also gone to the pool 2 times so far.

The first time we were there, Hannah held on tight to me and when I put her in the neck floatie, you grasped the ring with a death grip and tucked your legs into fetal position. The second time we went to the pool, you were a bit more relaxed and allowed your legs to dangle down. You really enjoy being in the ring and watching the other kids play. 

I think you liked being in the neck floatie better than the regular one. 

In 2 weeks, Nathan will be starting swimming lessons. The instructor claims that in 2 weeks, Nathan will learn how to swim. It's going to be a tough process, but in the end, you will love it. (I hope.) I think I will feel a lot more at ease once Nathan can swim. 

I think I mentioned last week that Nathan had a growth spurt recently. You are now able to ride your tricycle by yourself. After having this thing for a year and a half, you can finally reach the pedals with your feet. 

 And I think you are about to go through another growth spurt because you have been eating lots of food recently (even peas).

 This past Saturday, we went to Bubblepalooza and had a pretty good time. The weather was nice, but when you are under the sun, it gets a bit toasty. They had lots of different tools that can be used to blow bubbles of all sizes.

 They even had a giant parachute. Nathan liked running through it and Hannah enjoyed sitting underneath it with me and watching the parachute undulate up and down.

As far as Hannah's sleep schedule goes, you are still taking a short morning nap and a 2 hour long afternoon nap. At night, we have taken away the dream feed and you can go from about 7:45 to about 2 o'clock without any milk. When you do wake up, you feed for about 30 minutes and then you sleep until about 7:00. It's so crazy how I can almost set a clock to your schedule. 

Well, that's it for now. Until next week, 

Love, 

Mommy

Week 41

Dear Children,
When you are finally settled in bed and look down to find a pair of cute googly eyes looking up at you, I'd giggle too.

This was too cute not to snap a picture. Nathan, you were giggling as you said, "Elmo is looking at me!" Of course, this picture doesn't do the original expression justice (I had to run downstairs to get the camera and have you pose for the picture, but I thought that it was really cute.)

After almost a week, we are finally getting over the jet lag and boy, has it been tough! I couldn't have done it without naps and iced coffee. Luckily the rainy streak pretty much ended right after we got home so I was able to get you two out in the sunshine as much as possible to help your circadian rhythms adjust properly.

Nathan is back to the 8-8 sleeping schedule with one afternoon nap from 1:30-3:30 and Hannah is sleeping from 8-6:30 with a 1 hour morning nap and an afternoon nap lasting from about 1-3 or 4. Hannah wakes up 2-3 times a night, which I'm hoping that will decrease soon.

Hannah has been a bit more drooly lately, which means that you are probably going to get your next set of teeth in. So I thought I'd snap one last 2-teeth smile.

 Hannah is not quite cruising, but you have been known to surprise us when we are not looking by pulling up to stand. Big brother is finding all of your new abilities pretty amusing and is interacting with you even more lately.

You love food! It doesn't quite show in this picture, but your favorites this week are honeydew melon and bbq brisket.

This week we have gotten back to the old routine. The weather has been pretty amazing, so we spend each afternoon outside playing. Over this past month, Nathan must have gone through a growth spurt because you are now able to pedal and steer your tricycle. It has become your favorite thing to do.

On Friday, we were able to go over to Nathan's best friend's house. Her mom had a giant refrigerator box out for them to play with and who knew, you guys were busy chasing each other in and out of the box, crashing into each other and just having the best time!

Also, Nathan, you confessed something that I'd like to put down for the record: After reading, "I love You Forever" one thing led to another and we were talking about what it means to be married. I simply explained to you that one day you will find a girl who is smart, beautiful, and nice and will marry her just like I married your Daddy. You then responded with the following question: "I marry Abigail?"

Today, we went to the Wildflower center with a friend and her 15 month old son. The weather was perfect (except under the sun, it got a bit warm) It was cool to witness a range of developmental ages with Hannah at 9 month, Parker at 15, and Nathan at 32. Boy, Nathan, we have come a long way!

I think we will try to go to the pool this afternoon, so I am sure I'll have pics for you guys next week. Until then,
Love,
Mommy