Hannah is 20 Weeks

Dear Hannah and Nathan, 

While we had a great time in Illinois and Dallas, it good to be back home and settled into our routine once again. So far, your naps have been staggered, so I really got to spend some quality time with each of you. The weather was nice for the past 2 days, so when both of you were awake, we went outside for a nice long walk. Nathan rode on his scooter and is now going really fast; so fast, that I have to run a bit to catch up. But he usually insists on being the engine and mommy (or Teddy) being the caboose. Nathan's picked up a bunch of train terminology on our recent trip. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew what a time table is (Thanks grandpa!). 

 In the afternoons while I prep dinner, Nathan watches an episode of Ni Hao Kai Lan, or Curious George. Hannah hangs out in the kitchen with me and watches me cook. She can get quite mischievous since she can now reach and grab things.

 Hannah really likes to read books as well. She will tell you when she's ready to move onto the next page too.

 Yesterday, the weather was so nice, we just had to go outside. Hannah was still napping so I set up the monitor and we went outside to put away the Christmas decorations. While I was taking the ornaments off our tree, Nathan stopped what he was doing, ran over and exclaimed, "No! Ornament On. Mommy, no take off!" I had to explain to him that since Christmas was over, we were taking them down and they would go back next year. He accepted the explanation, but I'm not sure how much he actually understood.

He then went exploring in the garage and found these guys...

 With a very excited tone in his voice, he looked up at me eagerly and asked, "Nathan try?" I told him that those were too big for him, but he continued to ask, "Try?" How could I deny that relentless spirit? We pulled the chairs out and I proceeded to put the roller blades on him.

 After pulling him around the driveway for a little while, I told him that we would eventually get him a pair that fit, and then I asked him if he thought the skates were too big. He agreed with a goofy, "Yeah, too big!"

Nathan is starting to become a very caring big brother to Hannah. At first, he was a bit jealous, then he just ignored that she existed for awhile. Now, I'm starting to see that he is noticing her emotions and wants to interact with Hannah more. If her socks fall off, he will tell me. If she's chewing on something, he will also tell me. I think I can finally trust Nathan to be in the same room alone with Hannah.

 Hannah is still generally a happy kid. She is really exploring the world with her mouth. I gave her a piece of bell pepper that I was eating and she started to gnaw on it, sucking the juices out. She's definitely interested in what we are eating so I'm just going to slowly give her veggies to try (mainly for texture). Nathan saw Hannah eating the pepper and he tried the pepper too. He spit it out quickly, but hey, he tried it!

Nathan has been playing kitchen a lot. It's amazing to see all the different things that he picks up from watching me cook in the kitchen, including all the sounds of the kitchen, from the sizzling of water hitting a hot pan, to the grumble of the ice machine.

Nathan's drooling has started to improve a bit as well. He is now more aware that he drools and when we remind him to close his lips, he will purse them tightly. It's really cute.

This morning, Nathan mentioned that he wanted to wear undies instead of a diaper. I put on a pair of pull ups and I've been taking him to the bathroom every 45 minutes to an hour. He's in a diaper now for his nap, but so far his pull up diaper is completely dry. We'll see how the afternoon goes. Well, I think we are about caught up for now. Until next week!

Love,
Mommy

BTW: Hannah had her 4 month check up yesterday. She's measuring at 14 pounds 3 ounces and 25 inches tall. She is about the same height as Nathan when he was 4 months old, but much heavier. (Try 2 pounds heavier)