Happy 5th Birthday Emma!

Scooter and Fashion Star!

Scooter school

Emma and Nathan riding their new scooters. Emma has her Jessie doll tucked in her shirt, and she's trying to show Nathan how to ride his scooter. He decides he'd rather run this time.

Nathan is 26 months old!

On Saturday, November 24th, Nathan turned 26 months old.  He's really talking now, we have some interesting conversations.  Today in the car, he said to me: "Momma, I want to go to Farm. See animals.  I want to see a lion.  It won't scare me."  He is thinking about so many things!

His bottom molars have almost completely broken through the gum, but the top ones each only have one point out.  His gums are so swollen and I am surprised they are taking so long to come in.  I don't recall Emma's taking quite this long.  I think the pain is really affecting his appetite, because he is not eating much these days.

Nathan will now let me trim his finger and toe nails without much fuss.  He does say that it tickles his toes!  He likes to go into the garage and yell "echo, echo!"  He learned this from Emma of course!  His usual way to go down our stairs is to slide on his belly, feet first, incredibly fast down to the bottom.  He's also learned to click his tongue and thinks it's pretty neat!

He loves to play with trucks, especially ones that are used in construction and building.  He calls them all "builders" and it is so cute.  He's got a small Matchbox bulldozer and larger plastic one, and he calls the littlest one the baby and the bigger one is the mama of course.

He has learned how to lock the car door on the inside, so that when I get around to his door, it's locked.  He laughs and thinks it is the funniest thing ever!

Goodbye hug

Emma and Nathan hugging at preschool drop-off.

Monday at the park!

Just a swingin'!

How to vote with kids

We voted early at our local grocery store. The kids loved the car-cart, and snacks and the iPhone helped keep them happy!

Group Halloween picture

Emma as Supergirl in center (yes next to another Supergirl), Nathan in Spider-Man pj's, center on the ground. Pictured with friends and neighbors, we do a group trick-or-treating walk.

Homemade "Rolo" candy

Making candy is hard! I made some using blended soy butter and dates, covered with melted chocolate. They taste good but are very labor intensive!

Super girl explains the safe way to hold a T-Rex

Smith Family Jack-o-lantern!

My brains are glowing!!

My Super Kids!

Happy Halloween! Emma is dressed as Supergirl and Nathan is Superman! Nathan doesn't really care for the costume, it's tight and itchy, so when we go trick or treating he'll probably wear his Spiderman pajamas.

Exploring

I took a walk with Nathan yesterday. He enjoyed leading the way and exploring his world!

Nathan is 25 months old!

Today Nathan is 25 months old!

Nathan is still crazy about dinosaurs, still cutting his last 4 molars, and still sweet as ever!  We are enjoying the late summer weather and playing outside almost every day.  Emma is almost finished with fall tee ball.  She has come a long way in 8 weeks!

Nathan is talking so much, and understanding even more.  I have to tell Emma that she can tell Nathan anything she wants, he can understand, and she doesn't need me to help her communicate with him him.  I love to hear them play and talk together!

Nathan's molars are giving him so much pain right now.  They are taking so long to come in.  He has no appetite and tells me daily that his mouth hurts.  He still takes a good 1-1.5 hr nap everyday. His favorite TV show is Dino Dan, and he still likes Dinosaur Train too.  He is learning the names of the different dinosaurs.  It's so cute to hear his little voice say "Triceratops!"

rondamsmith shared an Instagram photo with you

Hi there,

rondamsmith just shared an Instagram photo with you:

view full image

"Nathan in the pumpkin wagon!"

Thanks,
The Instagram Team

Ronda and Emma

Look at me, I'm in the picture! Emma and I are on the hay ride at the Elgin Christmas Tree farm. They have Pumpkin festivals on the weekends in October.

Park Time!

Super strong girl!

Eat little dinosaur!

Cheerios, part of a healthy breakfast for growing boys and dinosaurs!

Nathan's 2 year well check visit.

Today Nathan had his 2 year well check visit with the doctor.  He's doing great!  His height is 33 inches (10th-25th %), weight is 24 lbs, 5 oz (10th%) and head circumference is 50 cm (75th-90th%).

Our pediatrician is very impressed with Nathan's verbal skills!  He received the flu mist vaccine and hepatitis A booster.  His next visit will be at age 3, unless he becomes sick.

Cake!

Nathan is 2 years old!

Happy birthday Nathan!

Wow, 2 years already!  He is such a joy to have in our family.  He's sweet, loving, funny, playful and so smart.  He loves to do somersaults, run, jump, and is always saying "look at me, watch me!"  He likes dinosaurs, cars, trains, airplanes, and playing hid-n-seek.  He loves to roar like a dinosaur and chase Emma.  They actually enjoy roaring at each other quite a bit! Daddy also taught them both to howl like wolves and that's a lot of fun to listen too, they are so cute!

Nathan is usually up around 7am, eats cereal for breakfast, and takes one nap around 11am or 12pm.  He plays hard all day, but does like to watch a little TV.  His favorite shows are Go Diego Go, Dinosaur Train (dinosaurs and trains in one show, what a genius idea!) and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Nathan is working on his last 4 baby molars.  I can see the point of one poking through the gum, and his gums all are red and swollen.  Hopefully they will break through soon!  Tomorrow is his 2nd year well check, so I will post an update on that tomorrow.

Saturday we had a party for Nathan at home.  His grandparents were here to celebrate with lots of family and friends.  We had a Thomas the Tank Engine cake, ice cream, and lots of fun playing inside and outside.  I made a double layer cake for Saturday and tonight we ate the very last two pieces.  We lit candles again and sang to Nathan.  He has been saying all weekend and today, "It's my birthday!"

Happy birthday little Nater-Tater!  We love you!

Nathan eating cake and ice cream!

Nathan enjoyed his cake and ice cream at home on Saturday.  We had a party with friends and family to celebrate!

Nathan's birthday cake

Sleepy girl

This is what happens when you wake up for the day at 3am! Naptime at 12:30 pm.

rondamsmith shared an Instagram photo with you

Hi there,

rondamsmith just shared an Instagram photo with you:

view full image

"Emma and Nathan at our little neighborhood park."

Thanks,
The Instagram Team

Emma's first tee ball game

Today was Emma's first tee ball game. She made it to base on her first at-bat!

Emma's first day of preschool

In true Emma fashion she decided to wear one purple and one pink shoe!

Preschool open house

Emma goes back to preschool next week. This week we visited her room and met her new teachers and classmates. She loves the dress up corner!

Almost 2, cutie pie!

Play time at Phil's Icehouse

Nathan is 23 months old!

Nathan turned 23 months old last Friday.  He's really grown so much this summer.  He is now speaking in 4-5 word sentences.  We are having conversations about everything!  He still adores Emma and loves to play with her.  He loves dinosaurs and is always asking me to draw him a dinosaur.

One of my favorite words he says is "vamp", for elephant!  Sometimes he says "el-vamp", but either way it's cute!  He really likes to pretend to be different animals.  He will hop like a frog and say "ribbit", and hiss like a snake!  He also pretends to be a monkey, hopping around saying "oo-oo"!  He has even strapped a soft collapsable laundry hamper to his back and said that he's a turtle.  He is so creative!

We went ahead and turned Nathan's car seat around to face forward in the car.  He really likes it and enjoys telling us what he's looking at out his window.  He'll see a bus and scream "Bus! SEE IT!" He also likes taxi cabs and calls every yellow car a taxi.

He loves to run and jump, and asks us to watch him run or jump.  He loves an audience, it kind of reminds me of someone else who likes to show off!  He is a very sweet and loving boy, always giving hugs and kisses to us.  We are so lucky to have him in our family!





 

Emma on balance beam

On top of the world!

Climbing monkey!

Someone stole my breakfast taco!

Nathan!

Today Nathan said his name for the first time! We visited the Children's Museum today and had a great time.

Nathan is 22 months old!

On Tuesday Nathan turned 22 months old!  He's continuing to grow and learn new things everyday.  He says so many words now!  I love the way his little voice sounds when he speaks.  He says dump truck but the dump sounds like "dumb" and instead of the "tr" sound he uses "f", so it that's kind of fun and also embarrassing when he's screaming it out loud!  Watermelon sounds like "other woman," soup sounds like "sue-pa" and flamingo sounds like "mingo." He says please and thank you, and no thanks.  His most common phrases right now are "with you" ( meaning I want to go with you) and "with me" (meaning I want you to go come with me).

Yesterday he was up from 3am - 6am with some vomiting, so we went first thing to the doctor's office when they opened.  He just had a stomach virus and should be fine.  His weight is almost 24 pounds, so he's definitely been growing since his 18 month check up 4 months ago.

Nathan is learning his shapes and knows most colors.  He loves puzzles, playing hid-n-seek, and jumping!  He still loves his trains and cars, finding bugs, and digging in the dirt.  He's such a happy little guy, and we are so lucky to have him in our family!

Emma Update!

Emma has really been enjoying this summer!  We've kept her super busy with lots of activities.  She completed 4 weeks of swimming lessons over May and June.  The lessons really helped her become more comfortable in the water, and now she is actually putting her face in the water and swimming a little bit!

She's had 3 weeks of camps and has one more week in August.  She's also spent a weekend with all her grandparents, and I'm sure she enjoyed all the attention and time with them.

Emma really enjoys playing pretend with her dolls, ponies, and princesses.  She also loves to paint and does so almost every day.  She has learned to hula hoop and to braid doll's hair!  She knows all of the alphabet and can write most of the letters.  We are working on learning upper and lower case letters, and identifying the sounds each letter makes.

She is starting to really enjoy playing with Nathan.  They play hide and seek together and they both love to play Legos.  Emma likes to pick out Nathan's clothes and help dress him.  She calls Nathan her little buddy or "my Nater" and likes to lead him around the house.

Each day while Nathan naps I try to have some special one-on-one time with Emma.  We call it "mommy-Emma time" and I usually let her pick an activity for us.  She almost always wants to paint, so I've been doing lots of water coloring lately!  In one year she will be about to start Kindergarten so I am trying to maximize the quality and quantity of time we have to spend together.

We love her so much!  She is an amazing person inside, so good and kind.  Her daddy loves her so much too!  He gives her special cuddles they have named "ba-ttentions."  This involves lots of tickling and blowing of burfles (also know as raspberries or zerberts).  We are so blessed to have Emma!

Emma and her grandmothers!

Box boy!