New Tricks: 21 Months (31 1/2 weeks along)

Dear Nathan
It's so interesting how quickly your language is developing. Just last week you were simply identifying colors. Now, you can point to purple, pink, blue, yellow and identify those colors in English. You can identify white, green and black and say those colors in Chinese. "Yes" is in English and "No" or "bu yao" is in both English and Chinese.

You are also saying a bunch of other words in both English and Chinese. It seems like this week you have broken out of your shell and have started to experiment with more sound combinations. It's really cute to hear you just babble along as you play.

Last Thursday, we went to go check out the Wildflower garden's new family garden area.  There is a little stream where you can find little fishes swimming around. You and your friends had a blast chucking rocks into the little stream. Close by, there was a pump. you were very interested in pumping water out of it.

 Then, you guys started to water the plants by the pump. Those plants probably get more water than they need.

 The bigger kids would always hold their watering can above yours, blocking your water source. But you figured out that you can scoop from the bucket.

 But then there were those times when you had the pump all to yourself.

 Then we discovered these huge nests. There were some pretty heavy "eggs" inside. Even though you know the word "egg" you still called them "balls."

 There were also a few spots with lots of butterflies. You still pretty much refer to any insects with a buzzing sound. You were not a huge fan of touching the butterflies, but you enjoyed watching them from afar.

Overall, I think the new family garden is a great addition to the wildflower center. It is now a more child friendly spot. 

You are also able to open the mailbox by yourself. You know which one is our box...

You know that the spiky side of the key faces up. (You make sure to point that out to me each time)

 You then turn the key and open the door. One by one, you pull the contents out of the box and hand them to me. After each piece, I ask if there is any more. You either reply with a "ya" or "no." It's so cool to see you be so independent.

 Swim class continued this week. Since I got pretty sick over the weekend, Daddy went to class with you on Monday. You had lots of fun splashing and singing songs. You even kicked more. Oh, later that night, you blew bubbles in the bath tub!

 You are still pretty obsessed with using knives. If something is put on your plate that can be cut into smaller pieces, you will ask for a knife in Chinese.

On Monday, we went to the Thinkery. They had a petting zoo set up that day. You were very interested in looking at the animals from afar, but when it came time to interacting with them, you wanted no part of it.

Scariest hamster in the whole world

 You felt in your element when we went to the kitchen area. You had fun cooking, but afterwards, you really like putting the food that other kids had left behind back into the baskets. I guess you are now into sorting things.

Since you are ready for sorting, we played a game with play-doh that I thought of all by myself. It all started with me trying to get you to understand the difference between a ball and a circle. I simply made a ball, pointed to it and said ball. Then, I squished it flat and said circle. I only had to do this a few times before Nathan caught on. Now he knows the difference between a ball and a circle. 

Then, I decided to put a bunch of different sized balls on the table and asked Nathan to make circles out of them. Afterwards, I had him use a spatula to pick up the circles and sort them by color back in to a container. We must have done this for an hour or so. He got to work on his fine motor skills, sorting, and colors. 

Quick bump update. Things are going ok. I went to see a dietitian to see what I can do to manage this gestational diabetes. I am still convinced that the 2 hour glucose tolerance test is not a great one. I didn't learn anything and was pretty much told that I should just continue what I am doing as far as diet and exercise goes. They pricked my finger at the appointment and my levels were completely within the healthy range. I asked the dietitian if a person who generally doesn't eat much sweets kind of has to figure out what to do with 100 g of sugar as opposed to a person who regularly drinks 2-3 sodas a day. She didn't know the answer and thought it was a good question to ask.  

The only thing that I learned is that I can have as much fruit as I want. But it's better to eat the fruit with some protein so that the sugars get absorbed a bit slower. What a relief. 

For now, I have to prick my finger 4 times a day and keep a journal of my diet. 

I'm also starting to get these shooting pains in my hips/sacrum area. It hurts to stand up from sitting on the floor, it hurts to stand on one leg so that I can put my shorts on, it hurts to walk, it hurts to roll over in bed. As with all symptoms short of your arm falling off, you can blame it on the pregnancy hormones. 

Nathan caught my cold from last week so we haven't been able to go to the pool. I feel like a good swim in the pool will make things better. (But we may have to wait until this weekend because there is no way that I'm going to be able to swim while watching a little toddler). 

I've been watching the lifetime reality show "One born every minute." At first watching the births along with the complications made me very nervous about having a hospital birthing experience, but after seeing 2-3 births with scenarios similar to mine, I feel much more at ease. There was one episode where the teaser showed a woman who had a speedy delivery the first time around have complications the second time. It turned out that the only "complication" was that her epidural didn't have enough time to kick in and she had to push without the help of pain meds. Whew. 

That's it for now. I'll post a bump picture with Nathan next week. 

***

So, I have a feeling that you are going to be an excellent older brother. This week you have showed that you are understanding that there is a baby inside me. You will occasionally point to the bump and say "baby" and then proceed to kiss the belly. I didn't think you would be able to understand, but you do. For now, we practice with a doll. 

 Keep up the good work big brother! Until next week, 

Love, 

Mommy