Cave Man?

We never know what Nathan is going to eat or not (typical 2 year old, I guess), but we had steak for dinner the other night and Nathan was a huge fan! Then I started gnawing on the bone (flashback to my childhood!) and Nathan didn't want to be left out!

Trying to figure out how to get to all that meat...

Mmmmmm, yummy!

The sauteed kale with caramelized onions was a big favorite of his that night too, go figure!

Nathan-isms

It shiny outside!  We need go inside so it not be shiny.

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy.  Happy Father's Day, Mommy.  (After Mother's Day and then again after Father's day, every morning he would wish me (and Brian if he was at home) a happy Mother's or Father's day.)

On, man.  That really cool!  Yikes!

Mommy, you need wear your flippy flops?

Nice shirt, Mommy!  (He tends to compliment me almost every day on what I'm wearing.  I'm not sure if I do this for him or if he got it from someone else?  Anyways, it always cracks me up, like he's some fashion expert giving me approval on my outfits!)

I want to get on ____ shoulders!  (Fill in the blank with the name of anyone who's coming to visit, or anyone new he's met that he really likes, or just a random person that he's taken a liking to.  We have a save-the-date card from our friend Anne on the fridge.  Nathan's never met her, but he always asks about the picture and then says "Oh man!  I want to get on Anne's shoulders!")

Daddy, I need show you some-fin. (something)

I want some-fin.  Mommy, I want gwam-kwah-kwahs.  I want TWO gwam-kwah-kwahs.  (graham cracker)

Nathan just started doing this TERRIBLY annoying fake laugh that just goes on and on and on...  Then he follows it up by stating "that funny!" like I couldn't tell from his ridiculous performance.

Like Father, Like Son

I bought Nathan a pair of goggles since he really dislikes getting water in his eyes at the pool. I wanted him to start wearing them at home so he could get used to how they feel, and he obliged me. But its even better when he can convince Daddy to wear goggles with him.

And goggles are perfect for some light reading, right?

Daddy got a new weight bench and weights for his birthday. Nathan was excited to be lifting weights like Daddy (using 1 lb weights that were Great-Granny's, Nathan's great-great grandmother).

Eight Month Happenings

Sarah turned eight months old last week!  I took a look at Nathan's eight month pictures to confirm, and yes, Sarah has MUCH more hair then Nathan did at this age!

Sarah is pulling to standing everywhere - on the loveseat, on any stool she can find, on the mirrors in our bedroom (and sometimes gives kisses to the baby in the mirror) and on the glass front door (especially when Nathan goes outside and they play together on either side of the door).  We've had to re-institute locking the gate between the living room and sun porch so Sarah doesn't take a tumble down the step, and Nathan is always alert and ready to sound the alarm if she gets too close and the gate's open.  We have to be careful of the kitchen trashcan, which will fall over if she tries to pull up on it (yuck!), so I usually block it with the open step stool.  Sarah also likes to pull up on the sugar and flour tins on the floor of the pantry, which are NOT stable enough and she's gone down more then once, so Nathan and I team up and try to keep those doors closed as well. 

I see that getting good sibling pictures are going to be hard for a while.  Between a mobile little girl, a little boy that likes to make faces instead of smiling for the camera, lots of drool (Sarah) and runny noses (both kids this week), not to mention just trying to get both of them looking at the camera at the same time, it can be tough going.  But I didn't give up and got these two cute ones!

Just to let you know, I took these pictures this morning and got them up and posted tonight.  I haven't been this on top of blog stuff in months! 

Update on swimming stuff: After swim lessons last Saturday morning, Nathan current comfort level was quickly revised by yours truly. Nathan with life vest = fish in water. Nathan without life vest = death hold and lots of fussing. I'm ordering a life vest for this kid for our upcoming beach trip!

Like a Fish in the Water

Nathan has come a long way this summer with his swimming abilities. On our first trip to the pool, he wouldn't even put on the bracelet or the life jacket required to swim in the big pool. Then, though multiple pool visits, he slowly agreed to put on the vest, go into the big pool, release his death grip on me or Brian, stop screaming or squealing when he got splashed, start kicking his legs, and jump into the pool. Then today he eagerly and excitedly started swimming by himself!

We met Molly and Baby Luke today at the pool and had lots of fun playing with them in the kid's splash area. But Nathan was begging me to take him to the big pool, so Molly graciously offered to watch Sarah and just let the two of us go. On our last pool trip with Nana and Granddad, Nathan (reluctantly) swam from Brian's arms to my arms. Today I immediately let go of him and had him "chasing" me around the big pool. I was laughing excitedly, encouraging him and he was laughing along with me! He swam and swam and swam before I told him we had to go back to the splash pool.

But Nathan was eager for more big pool fun, so after a while I tried taking both kids with me into the big pool. Nathan immediately started swimming all around the pool, kicking his legs using a running-type motion. Then he figured out how to spin around in a circle and bounce himself on the walls, while Molly and I bounced the babies in our arms. When it was time to go, Nathan told me he wanted to swim all the way back across the pool to the steps by himself. Sarah had started really fussing about the life jacket, so she and I both got out on the side of the pool, but Nathan just kept swimming: all along the edge of the pool, under the rope and maneuvering himself using the hand rail until he could walk up the steps by himself!

Brian and I are hoping to take the kids to their second "swim lesson" tomorrow, where the kids (with their parents) experience being in pool without the life jacket. I hope he amazes us further with his increased comfort level in the water!

Here we are at an earlier family pool outing.

Potty Training Milestone!

Nathan has (halleluiah!) successfully completed another potty training milestone!  I'll let him tell you a little about it!


It actually happened the week that I finally "gave up" on him.  No more asking/convincing/pleading/forcing him to sit on the potty when the time came, although I did tell him that he had to do his business in the bathroom so he wouldn't stink up the whole house.  Then one day he just asked, and after we sat for about 20 minutes, finally success!  I may or may not have had a tear in my eye when Nathan and I went to tell Daddy the exciting news.

A few weeks ago I told Nathan that we would take him out to get special ice cream as a reward, but because Brian happened to be home that day, we went even bigger!  Nathan chose to go play at the mall, then onto the food court for dinner and THEN to get ice cream.  At the food court, I told Nathan some of the options for dinner and his request was pizza, fries and rice.  Yummmm, carbs!  So I got teriyaki chicken and rice, Brian had pizza and we ordered a kids meal with chicken nuggets and french fries for Nathan, and we all shared.  Then (as you saw in the video) on to get blue ice cream for Nathan, who ate the whole bowl.  Congrats, big boy!  We are all so proud of you!

Six-ish Month Pictures

We got such great pictures of Nathan when he was six months old, I was hoping to do the same for Sarah... but the first time I tried she just did not to look at the camera!  It is definitely easier when you have a fun friend taking the pictures (thanks Jennie!) and Mom's job is to just be goofy!  Three weeks later I finally tried again and this time I got some good expressions. These are from the beginning of June, so she's already looking more grown up (specifically, more hair!!).

Dinner with the Family

We got a wonderful surprise during our visit to Knoxville - Uncle Joe and Aunt Suzi were in town visiting Grandmother and Granddaddy! We got to sit with them Sunday morning at church and then I invited our family over to Granddaddy and Grandmother's for dinner so that we would have more time to visit. Here we are all visiting in the kitchen before dinner...

Brian always loves talking to Granddaddy and hearing his stories.  Nathan always loves sitting in his special booster seat!

I thought this one was super cute of Aunt Suzi and Sarah (hope you agree Aunt Suzi!)

We had a wonderful evening of catching up, playing with the kids and eating yummy Pasta with Sage and Browned Butter.  The pasta was so good that I begged Carroll to share some of the sage she was growing, and made the dish twice in one week after we got home from our trip!

Also while we were in Knoxville, Nathan used a land-line phone for the first time in his life.  I needed to call Grandmother one day and thought Nathan would be interested in talking to her on David and Carroll's home phone.  Boy was he ever!  He chatted with her for a while, and then wanted back on before I finished the call.  Another time he got upset when I hung up the phone and he hadn't gotten (another) chance to say "good-bye" to Grandmother.  And since then, Nathan has started having long conversations with his grandmothers on my phone.  No more speaker phone for him, he's a big boy now.  I love listening to his sides of the conversations and hearing what about his day he wants to talk about. 

Whew, I think that wraps up the Knoxville trip pictures and memories.  We certainly had a great time seeing all our family and making all sorts of fun memories!