Nathan is 13 months old!

Today Nathan is 13 months old!  He's such a sweet and happy little toddler!  He loves to be outside and play in the sand box, or just walk down the sidewalk.  I've been taking the kids for walks in the stroller and he really enjoys it.  It's nice to finally have some good weather to be outside.

He's obsessed with getting up on the couch and anytime I sit down, he's crying for me to put him up on the couch.  When I do set him up there, he gets the biggest grin and runs to the end, where he tries to dive over the arm rest.  I catch him by the ankle before he goes over of course!  Most of the time I sit on the floor just to avoid that whole scene.  I forgot how exhausting a toddler can be!  I can't load or unload the dishwasher if he's awake, and I have to keep all the bathroom doors shut at all times!  He loves to play in the tupperware/plastics cabinet in the kitchen, so it's always a mess from him getting the stuff out.

Nathan's interest in solid food seems to be waning.  I'm getting a little frustrated with him, he won't even try most foods now.  He just pushes it away or smears the food on his tray.  I hope this is just a phase and maybe related to the extreme teething pain he's dealing with now.  He must have the slowest moving teeth ever!  He's got three on the top that have broken through the gum but they aren't fully descended yet.  One more is about to break through, and then he'll have 6.  Still 14 more teeth to go, and I'm not looking forward to the molars or canines.  

Nathan received two ride-on toys for his birthday, and he's really loving them.  He is getting really good at getting on and off on his own, and he loves to stand on the seat and point and talk to us.  He can make the car go backwards by pushing his feet, but he's not yet discovered how to go forward.
 


Nathan is learning to brush his teeth.  He mostly just chews on the brush but I'm trying to get the routine established of brushing before bedtime.  We'll add mornings when he has more teeth!

Nathan is such a snuggler and loves to give hugs!  He loves to hug Emma and roll around with her on the floor.  He's talking more and more, although he doesn't know any real words yet.  His comprehension is great, he understands many of the things we tell him.  He's sweet, smart and we love him so much!

It's about time!

Finally Nathan's 3rd tooth has cut through his gum!  The top left tooth is finally erupting.  It seems like these top teeth are taking forever to come in.  I could tell the last few days that the pain was really bothering Nathan so I hope this will give him some relief! 

Nathan is 1 year old!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Today our little man turns one year old! He's such a joy to us all, and we love him so much! 

Nathan is starting to talk more, making more sounds and generally being a more vocal baby.  He still adores Emma and loves to hug her.  He's also starting to show his feelings when he doesn't like something happening.  He's good at growling and is now hitting things, us included.  I'm trying to use this as a learning experience for Emma.  If she's always pushing and knocking him over and generally not being gentle, then that is what Nathan is going to learn.  So when she knocks him down and then he gets up and screams and hits her back, well, then she needs to think about she treats him.  We are of course working on it and I know this is the beginning of a trying phase, toddlerhood, but the good and great moments are all around us, if we can stop to appreciate them.

Nathan is still learning to feed himself.  He just really doesn't have a huge interest in solid foods yet.  He does love blueberries and he's even eaten a few bites of grilled cheese sandwich.  I've offered him scrambled eggs but he had no interest, would not even touch them.  Some days he will eat a few bites of whatever we are having, but still there are more days when he just shoves the food around and drops it on the floor.  He still nurses for most of his nourishment and I don't see that changing until he gets more teeth (he still has only two on the bottom) and shows more interest in food.  The top front four teeth in his mouth are so swollen and I can see the outline of his teeth under the gum.  The last few days have been rough and I hope these teeth cut through soon!  He does drink very well out of a cup with a straw.  He loves water and will carry his cup around under his arm!

He's an expert walker now, and really wants to climb onto the couch.  He's not quite there yet though.  He's really interested in being outside, and we would go out more if it wasn't still hot, plus he is putting everything in his mouth.  He gets upset when I'm constantly taking rocks and leaves out of his hands and mouth.  He loves the pool and bathtub and he's so much fun to watch splashing around.  He still sits in his bathtub seat, otherwise he's a slippery little fella trying to climb and walk around the bathtub! 

He loves to play up stairs in our play room, and he watches the gate carefully.  Once he got out when the gate was left open.  By the time I realized it, he had crawled up on his own and was playing by himself!  He loves dogs and our cat Chloe.  He stands at the back door and talks to her while she eats her breakfast.

The only word that Nathan really says is Mama.  Mostly he says this when he's crying for me.  He does understand quite a bit.  I can ask him to find certain toys, like the car, ball, cow, and keys, and he can find them and bring them to me.  I really want him to learn to say Emma's name so I repeat that too him a lot, along with Daddy too of course.  If I tell him that we're going upstairs to play he will immediately go to the gate, ready to crawl up!

We are so blessed to have our little Nathan Tyler in our family!  We love him and treasure him everyday.  Thank you Lord for our little boy!

Nathan is 9 months old!

Today our baby Naters is 9 months old! He's crawling fast and furious, pulling up on everything, making lots of new sounds, and I predict he'll be taking steps along the furniture by 10 months! He is still wearing 9-12 month sized clothing, but not for long I think.

He's getting better at picking up pieces of food and feeding himself. He really does not like to be spoon fed so I try to give him pieces of whatever we are eating. He loves avocado, and has tried potatoes, chicken, beef, bananas, and pasta. He also enjoys cheerios and a few bites of yogurt when he'll tolerate the spoon. He's started drinking from a straw and is doing well with that.

His second tooth came in June 13, on the bottom center right. At a recent doctor visit on June 10, he weighed 21 pounds, 2 ounces! He had his 3rd ear infection over Memorial weekend in May so this visit was a follow up. His ears are clear and will hopefully stay that way!

We now have the large fence up around the TV, and he pulls up on it regularly. He's explored the kitchen well and can get into the tupperware cabinet. I've also had to put the trash can in the pantry because he insists on pulling up on it and it is not sturdy enough for him. He loves to sit at the back door and look out the window at Chloe cat. Since he's on the floor everywhere now, I've increased sweeping the kitchen from "almost never" to "almost weekly". Most of the stuff on the floor Nathan dropped himself, but that doesn't mean he needs to eat it days later!

He loves to watch Emma and be near her, whatever she is doing. This is leading to Nathan crawling into Emma's area of play and disrupting her toys. She does get frustrated with him, but overall she is a good big sister and helps me by playing, entertaining, and sometimes distracting Nathan. We all love him so much, and we are so blessed to have our baby Naters!

Surprise!

Today Emma surprised us with new words and phrases. While she was napping I cleaned off her Little Tikes table outside and brought it in. After she woke up I went upstairs to get her. As we were coming downstairs I told her that I had a surprise for her downstairs. She looked at me and said "surprise!" and threw her arms open. I'm not sure where she learned to say surprise but she knows it! She was very happy to see her table back in the house.

She can also now ask to nurse very clearly, not just by signing. She will say "I want nurse!" But she is ok when I explain that we only nurse at naptime and bedtime. Tonight during our bedtime routine, I was about to put her in her bed when she said "I want to rock". So we rocked in the rocking chair for a bit longer.

Her upper canines are finally through the gum but they are still hurting her. She has not been eating well at all over the last few weeks. She is even refusing her favorites like pasta, mac-n-cheese, bananas and eggs. She hardly ever eats her lunch at her Kid's Day Out school, but I think that's because she's distracted by everyone else's food. We are trying peanut butter now, and she seems to like it. But she didn't eat her peanut butter and jelly sandwich I made her today for school.

Emma also loves to say "Ahh-choo!" Yesterday she was eating goldfish crackers, and then she started playing with them. She took one in each hand, and held them over her head. Then she yelled "Ahh-choo" and threw the goldfish onto the table. She did this over and over until I asked her to eat her snack. I think she was pretending to sneeze goldfish out of her nose. Whenever I sneeze she always asks me if I'm alright and checks to see if I need a Kleenex.

Today

Emma is very fussy and running a slight temperature. I found another tooth this morning cutting through, a molar on the top right. That makes 8 total teeth for Emma!

Finally, more teeth!!

Today I was tickling Emma as she was sitting across my lap. She was leaning back and when she opened her mouth to laugh, I got a good view of her top gum, and all four top teeth have finally broken through the gum! I had stopped looking and feeling for the last month or so, and during that time the teeth decided to come on down!

I will miss her gummy smile, but I know she'll be even more beautiful. Now I guess I have to worry about her biting me!

Emma is 8 months old!

Thursday Emma turned 8 months old! She is do so many things and changing so much these days!

In the last month, she has learned to push up into a sitting position on her own, and she is getting around everywhere! Last Saturday she crawled a bit in the traditional manner, on her hands and knees. But mostly she gets around by doing her own move that we call the “Sit and Spin”. She leans forward on her hands and then spins her body around and sits back down, ending up facing a completely different direction. She does this all around the room and can get just about anywhere. She’s crawling after the kitties, and has even caught them a few times and grabbed some fur. Today she cornered Anya and Anya hissed at her, but didn’t scratch her, thankfully!

Emma's first tooth finally pushed through on Friday. She was chewing on everything, even her own hand, so that I decided to feel in her mouth, and I felt the tooth poking out. She won't sit still and let me look at it, but it's there. She’s eating more solid food, and really enjoys almost everything. She’s not crazy about prunes though!