Week 45 and Nathan Takes a Dive

Dear Children, 

I can probably safely say that I have both the world's fastest eater and slowest eater. First you have Nathan, who eats each bite like he's eating a piece of salt water taffy, and then you have Hannah, who will devour her whole meal as you take one bite of your own. Meal times are a mad rush for me. 

 Before I continue, I need to set the record straight. Nathan, Daddy does NOT play skee ball at work all day. I apologize for getting this notion in your head as I had forgotten about you being only 2 years old and not fully understanding sarcasm. Whenever we go visit Daddy at work for lunch, we usually stop by their game room to play skee ball. Last time, I made a comment on how Daddy plays skee ball at work and now you think that he's a professional skee-ball player at AMD. Not true. He solves puzzles on his computer.

Hannah is getting more adorable as each week goes by. You loves giving kisses and imitating us. Sometimes you like to imitate us as we all are coughing this week. You cough a fake cough and then you giggle like it's the most hilarious thing in the world.

 This past weekend we went to the pool so that Nathan can practice his kicks. Hannah, you got yourself into a pretty interesting position on our walk there. Stroller splits?

 Nathan is doing pretty well at swimming. His butt sinks a bit when he is trying to kick, but he slowly moves forward. I think once he starts to use his hands, things will move along a bit better. We only have one more day of swim lessons and then it will all be finished.

Swimming Video

Daddy also braved the humid weather to go play hockey. We went to go cheer him on! Nathan even tried out your "new" hockey stick. You really wanted to go in the court to play with the adults, but honey, you are way too small right now. Keep eating your chicken and one day you will grow up to be big and tall (Like Ethan, the high school-er in the church Nursery who you are oddly afraid of).  

Put me in, Mommy!

 Since Blue Bell has shut down their ice-cream productions for awhile, we've been making our own ice cream. So far we've made black sesame flavor (which tastes like peanut butter) and strawberry lemonade with animal cookies inside. This was Nathan's invention. You helped zest the lemon and squeeze out the juice to make the flavoring.

 You also just had to try some spices to see what else would go nicely with the lemon. In this picture, you are trying garlic powder and cinnamon. I'm glad that they both got the boot.

Waiting is the toughest part. 

 As each day flies by, I am desperate to capture as many of the cute baby moments with Hannah. I really treasure our time together right before bedtime. It's calm, quiet and just us two. Daddy seems to think that you really like your crib. There was a time when he was holding you and you were just fussing. As soon as he sets you down in your crib, you stopped. Also, this week when I would sing you a lullaby before I put you in your crib, you would start to lean towards the crib, push me away as if you were telling me, "Just put me to bed already!" Even though I've sung our lullaby song thousands of time, I'm still a bit sad that you don't want to hear it. (I know, I don't have the greatest singing voice, but I try my best).

 Hannah loves to explore. When we are eating dinner, you will pretty much let us know when you are finished by trying to stand up in your high chair. Since you are such a speedy eater, I just place you down on the ground and we finish our meal. You just love to crawl around. One moment you are under the table, touching all of our feet, the next moment, you are standing by the back door, looking outside. You've even started to attempt to climb stairs. Oh dear.

 During story time, Hannah also likes to point at things. I guess you are asking me what these things are. When we stop at a page with something that you are familiar with, for example, grapes, you will keep turning back to that page and point out the grape over and over again. Maybe you want some to eat...

 I am loving how both of you are learning to play (and I stress "learning") with each other more. Nathan still throws tantrums if I take away a toy that she stole from Hannah; just because you want to "switch" doesn't mean it's ok to take Hannah's toy. And Hannah is still trying to learn how you can't just walk up and grab or knock down what Nathan is playing.

But there are lots of moments where you can see their little bond grow stronger.

Jumping on the bed with big brother is FUN!

Daddy and I were both cleaning, and looked over to find you two playing next to each other. 

I let Nathan have a couple of animal crackers while I gather things for swim class. I come down, both kids are chomping on crackers and Nathan says, "Look Mommy, I share with Hannah. She likes it!"

A few things I just remembered: 

• Nathan loves saying "I love [doing something]." to exert his independent will. Some things he "loves" to do are make sandwiches, pumping up balloons, turning on the lights and making smoothies. 
• Nathan's making lots of life connections to his books. He continues to love books. 
• Potty training is going so well since Nathan is now able to stand up to use the potty and we throw a couple of pieces of cereal in the bowl for target practice. Getting him onto the potty is no longer a battle. This is also something that he "loves" to do now. 
• Hannah loves to dance to music. Her version of dancing is a violent giggle while bouncing up and down. 
• Hannah has started to go back to taking longer afternoon naps. Yay! 

Well, that's it for now. We have an exciting 4th of July Weekend coming up. More updates next week. 

Love, 

Mommy