4 more peaceful months

Dear Nathan,
It's weird to think that it will just be you and us for 4 more months. In exactly 4 more months, you will have a new little sister and life will be very different. I'm sure you won't like it at first, but I want you to know that I will always love you just as much as when you were the only child.

This week has been a pretty eventful week. We had a play date, camping trip, and a morning at the nature center. I won't go too much into the details of the trip since I've already made a dedicated blog post about it, but here are a few more pics that I'd like to share.

Your first taste of a s'more. 

Viewing birds at the bird blind. You got bored and started to hit heads with Daddy. 

I love your strong man face! 

"Helping"

 Earlier in the week, you went over to your friend's house for a play date while mommy went to teach a baby massage class. Here's a picture of the two of you playing kitchen. You really seemed to like using the knife to cut up the food. Even at home, you are always reaching for the dinner knife to cut your food.

Later that day, your friend came over and we went swimming at the pool. You liked splashing around in the shallow end as well as floating around in the tube, however, you didn't not like it when I threw you up into the air. You just looked at me and shook your head.

And then yesterday, we went to the Nature center. Last time we were there, you didn't like being in the sand pit at all, but yesterday, you didn't want to leave. You really enjoyed using the big shovels to move the sand around. Nevermind the cool fossils in the ground, you just loved using the tools.

Then we had snacks under the Mexican free tail bat exhibit. For the first time, you showed some empathy towards a kid who was crying. You ran over to him and pointed at the button that made the bats chirp. It seemed like you wanted to help him feel better by showing him something cool.

After snacks, we went to look at the animals. You were particularly interested in the fox, bobcat and owls. I think you learned a new word on our trip as well as the sound that an owl makes because later that night, you were able to point to an owl and make a hoot sound.

 You and your friend really enjoyed climbing things that day. Even though us moms were encouraging it, it's really not socially acceptable when you are older.

It's really amazing how well you two get along. You share with each other, point when you see each other, and you will even run towards one another for a hug. It's too cute! I'm looking forward to see how you guys interact once you become more verbal.

 The weather recently has been awesome. Sunny, with a slight breeze and temps in the high 70's. So, we've been spending lots of time outside. Yesterday, we went outside and drew on the side walk. You like it when I draw things and call them out for you to stomp on.

Then you spent a good 20 minutes pushing the truck that our neighbor gave us. You were very good at following my directions of "stop" and "turn around" when you started to get too close to the street.

It seems like a bit of separation anxiety has kicked in for you. In the morning, you are like a magnet on a nail when Daddy is showing signs of leaving for work. You don't even want me to hold you. You just want to cling on to Dad. We've been trying to explain to you that Daddy will be home later and usually, that helps.

And then in the afternoon (or anytime you hear the garage door) you get really excited and call out "dada!" I find it interesting that you have learned to associate the garage door with Daddy coming home.

And then there's separation anxiety from me. It doesn't seem to be as bad, but if I briefly walk away from you, you start to point at me and say "mama" repeatedly. I am so happy that you are now calling me by "mama."

You are still not eating veggies. You always try it when I put it on your plate, but you then spit it out and say "cccc" which is "yuck."

Potty training is not going as well. You sometimes don't want to sit on the toilet. I've ordered a small toilet for you as well as a book to see if you will start to be interested in using the potty yourself. I'm not going to force it, but I sure hope that you can be potty trained before your little sister arrives.

That's about it for this week. I love you so much!
Mommy.

Baby update.
Things are going well with the pregnancy. I'm feeling a bit tired in the afternoons and most of the time I will take an hour nap when Nathan naps. I want to eat a lot, but I can't because after eating a normal portion of food, I always feel like I just walked out of an all you can eat buffet. It's hard to believe that in exactly 4 months, we will have 2 children.

Little baby girl is kicking more and strong. We are starting to think of names for her. It's neat to see how Steve is getting into the process as much as I am.