Ok, I'm sure we missed some, but this is pretty close!

At the end of each month I try to look through all the picture that I've taken over the previous weeks and cull out all the ones that I don't want to keep forever. So I was working on that today when I realized that I had quite a few that I never shared. So a few pictures, their back stories and goodbye to February!

As has been well documented, Nathan loves to build with his blocks.  What I don't think I've mentioned is that Nathan believes all other household items deserve to be stacked as well.  This is one of the more impressive towers as of late.

Unfortunately it seems that the combination of my clumsiness and the inherent clumsiness of a toddler equals a continuous string of bumps and bruises for Nathan.  Take this killer for example.  I was on the ground, tickling Nathan, both of us giggling and having a great time, when Nathan lunges for the floor.  His head hits, but not too hard (from what I could tell), but immediately there is a LOUD cry of anguish.  I grabbed him and cuddled him in my arms, wondering why the little bump caused such an extreme reaction.  Then, thinking he could potentially be bleeding, I turn his face towards mine and see this HUGE knot grow from his forehead in front of my eyes.  I actually didn't think that sort of thing was possible, but I saw it with my own eyes.  It turned out that that little bump of his head landed right on the knob of a puzzle piece.  Nathan's bump receeded over the next few days, but during the next two weeks,  Nathan's bruise went through the whole spectrum of blue, purple, brown, green and yellow before it finally faded, only to be replaced almost immediately with another injury to the face.  Poor guy!

I think I have created a monster.  I discovered that letting Nathan sit on the counter while I'm cooking tends to keep him happy and entertained.  But now he believes that every time I step foot in the kitchen, he should be allowed to play on the counters.  And when he's on the counter, he expects to be able to play with anything within reach.  As you may or may not be able to tell from the picture, Nathan pulled out all the dividers from my recipe box (that's what those little tabs were for, right?  Handles to facilitate easy removal from the recipe box?).  And then, of course, the measuring spoons.  What's not to love about an assortment of tiny spoons, especially when they can be used to prod at the remnants of my recipe box? (After it took me quite a while to get my recipe box back in order, it now lives inside one of the cabinets instead of on the counter.  And although it made it interesting to cook when I only had one measuring spoon that hadn't made its way into Nathan's mouth, I have now replaced most of the measuring spoons with a varied assortment of rarely used utensils).


Every morning as I put on my make-up, Nathan likes to be there with me.  I set him up on the counter in our room (hmm, I'm noticing a trend here) so that he can play while I'm primping.  This particular day I thought it would be a good idea to indulge him when he indicated he wanted the water turned on.  And then I stood back as he proceeded to drench the whole right side of his body.  At least he had fun doing it... until about two seconds after he got down from the counter and realized wet clothes = cold clothes and started fussing.  I thought for a minute that the solution was to dry him with the hair dryer, but quickly realized that the situation really warranted a change of clothes.

Last week at the beach, Gran brought some toys from her house for Nathan to play with.  And the surprising hit (to me) was the baby dolls!  Nathan was so sweet and loving with the baby dolls - hugging them, carrying them around and giving them a bottle.  Sometimes I would even give him a baby doll at naptime and he would snuggle up with it under his arm. 

Before last week, I was slightly uncomfortable with the thought of little boys playing with baby dolls.  Not that I really think that playing with a baby doll or any other "girlie" toy is a bad idea for little boys, but deep inside me there's just a little bit of hesitancy.  And, coincidentally, I realized that we didn't have one baby doll at our house for Nathan to even consider playing with.  But after seeing how sweet and loving Nathan was with the dolls, my hesitancy disappeared.  Of course I want to teach Nathan that he should be caring and loving and nurturing!  I'm going to expect him to act that way towards any future siblings, so why not go ahead and foster those traits now?

After we got home, Nathan and I were playing in the basement and he found a little teddy bear that Gran had given him months before.  At the time, it had been given one look before being cast aside, but now it was a whole different story.  Nathan LOVES his bear!  He loves to give it hugs, he holds it while we do our pre-nap and pre-bed reading and singing, and he snuggles with it in his crib.  I think its so adorable!

On our final day at Myrtle Beach last week, the weather was GORGEOUS!  In the morning, Pawpaw headed out to the driving range to hit a few golf balls, and Gran, Nathan and I decided to tag along.

First, Nathan enjoyed just playing with the golf balls...


Then he was intrigued by the putter I handed him (Gran had bought a kids putter at a second hand store for Nathan).

But the best part was having putting "lessons" from Pawpaw. Look at that follow through - I tell you he's a natural!


That afternoon we hit the beach for the last time.  I didn't take the camera with me so I could just focus on having fun with my little boy!  The weather was warm enough that I braved getting my feet wet in the Atlantic.  The. Water. Was. Cold!  Unfortunately for my feet, Nathan thought it was hysterical when I went splashing through the little waves saying "wheeeee!", so we did it quite a few more times.  Of course, he was safely dry and warm in my arms during this game.  After I finally called it quits, I showed Nathan how we could bury our feet in the sand.  At first he wasn't thrilled when I put sand on him, but then he really got into the spirit of playing in the sand.  After a while he decided he had enough of the beach and was ready to head back inside. He tried to tell us this by saying "shoes" but we didn't get it. So he decided he would start scooting towards the hotel.  After a few feet he realized he could actually walk on the sand in bare feet, so he hopped up and kept on his way. Not once did he look back to see if anyone was following him. Should I be concerned about this new independent streak of his?

(FYI, Booksneeze.com offers free Christian books to people who will read and review the book on their blog and a consumer site such as Amazon.  This is my first review - woohoo!)

The “Voices of the Faithful” book contains daily devotionals written by Christian missionaries from around the world.  Each day’s reading begins with a scripture related to the devotional topic (various translations are used), followed by the missionary’s devotional and ends with a prayer.  Each month of devotions has a different theme (“Be Encouraged”, “Prayer, The Priority”, “Jesus, The Sacrificial Lamb”).

At the time of writing this review, I have only read about 30 devotionals (10% of the book), however I have skipped around through the months so that I could read from each month’s themes.  Though I loved the idea behind the book, I unfortunately didn’t get as much out of the readings as I hoped.  My main disappointment is that I felt many of the devotionals sacrificed depth for the sake of brevity.  Often I would finish the daily reading and think “That’s it?”  I really wanted something that would challenge me, or cause me to want to dive into my Bible or meditate on a truth imparted by the devotional.  I did not experience this with most of the daily readings.  The devotionals I enjoyed the most shared stories of amazing ways God interceded to protect believers or to show His power to non-believers.  These testimonies encouraged me as they reaffirmed my belief that God plays an active role in our lives.  I do not, however, plan on completing the year with this devotional book.

I received this book free from the publisher through BookSneeze.com. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

(FYI #2 - Even though I wasn't thrilled with this devo book, lots of people at Amazon gave it a 5 star rating.  So if you think this may be a good book for you, let me know and I'll give/mail it to you!)

Nathan is doing a great job learning his body parts, and what better place to show off his skills then for the camera?  I think I remembered to ask everything he knows except for shoulders. Enjoy!

Lots of my posts lately have been light on pictures. This post will make up for that... and then some!  And in the interests of getting this posted tonight, I'm going to be short on prose.

I can't believe its been a whole year since Nathan and I last hung out with Gran and Pawpaw at Myrtle Beach, but here we are again!  Its been a little chilly, so we've spent lots of time in the condo and made one visit to the indoor pool.  We have hit the beach twice in the 2.5 days since Nathan and I got here, and thanks to the bucket and spade that Gran bought him, Nathan fell in love with the giant sandbox otherwise known as the beach!








Today it was slightly warmer when we headed out to the beach.  Nathan again spent lots of time with the shovel and bucket.  In fact, he was so intensely concentrating on his work that Gran and I had a really hard time getting him to look up at the camera for a picture.  There was serious work going on!





Gran and I also spent some time this morning on the playground with Nathan.  He really loved going down the slide with both of us!

Nathan has FINALLY started to talk.  I think the weekend with Gran was the impetus, because the day we got back, Nathan started saying "Mama"!  Then over the past two weeks we added "Dada", "car", "shoes" and, as of yesterday, "hat".  And, of course, "dickles" for tickles.  I am SO excited about Nathan's new development.  However, he has been communicating very well for a while using signs and sounds.  So here are the rest of Nathan's "words".

Signs: More, eat, drink, swing (which also means downstairs), bye bye, brush teeth, all done, wash hands (or put on lotion), blocks, gentle, light, yes, thank you, I want that, read a book, help me

Sound effects: cat and blow (nose)

So here you can see and hear his favorite word of all (it's got to be in the genes!).

I think I've mentioned before that Nathan loves to open and close his diaper champ and I was concerned that he would start dropping objects into the trash bag inside.  Well today before I put the bag in the outside trashcan I got to rescue a sippy cup, a pair of socks and a key chain memory stick.  Let the fun begin!

...about the days Brian's on call is that (more often then not) Nathan is super difficult to put to sleep at night. I used to think that I was only imagining this correlation, that I had less patience and was more sensitive to bedtime difficulties because I was SO ready for the day to be over, but now I've revised my opinion.  It was pretty clear when we changed our bedtime routine (I can't believe that was less then a month ago!) that Nathan really needed some time with his Daddy before he could fall asleep.  But I think that need of Nathan's arose WAY before we realized it (like the night Brian was on call and Nathan screamed for over an hour in the middle of the night - five months ago).  Tonight our bedtime routine went so smoothly, then...

• 20 minutes after I put Nathan down he was awake and fussing.  I went in and gave him more milk and put him back down in his crib.
• After another 20 minutes, he was still awake and fussing, I went back in with water and then put him back down... 
• ...then he started crying.  After about 10 minutes I went back in with water and told him that Daddy was still at work and he wouldn't be able to see Daddy or say goodnight to him tonight, but he would see Daddy in the morning. He started crying again before I was out the door.
• After another 10 minutes of on and off crying, I went back in and rocked him to sleep.  It was now about an hour since I first put him in his crib!  We never rock him to sleep anymore because he's so good at falling asleep on his own, but even though he was exhausted, he had just gotten too worked up to put himself to sleep easily.

I hope that's all the excitement we have tonight, because its already way more then I wanted to have this evening!

Nathan LOVES to sweep with the small broom he got for Christmas.  However, he is under the impression that whenever the mood to sweep strikes him, I should be part of the "fun" as well.  So at least once a day (and usually more), Nathan grabs both our brooms and comes to find me.  No matter what I'm doing at that particular moment, he expects me to immediately start sweeping with him.  And he is VERY persistent if I try to delay him even for a minute or two.

He'll usually stand with broom in hand and supervise as I begin sweeping.  When I start getting a nice little pile of crumbs, cat hair and other debris, he likes to walk into the middle of the pile and sweep it around.  At some point the dust pan comes out,which Nathan likes almost as much as his broom.  He likes to bring it to me just as I start sweeping, and if I set it down and leave it for too long, he'll grab it and bring it back over.  Then I'll sweep what's left of my pile in and help him sweep into the dustpan as well.  This bit of sweeping is usually all that he does - the rest of the time he just holds his broom and watches me.

The worst part is that sweeping one room or two doesn't satisfy Nathan, and he can get pretty mad when I tell him I'm "all done" and put my broom away.  Usually he'll grab it and bring it back to me, vocally making his displeasure known.  Then I have to resort to hiding both brooms in the hall closet and try to distract him with a new activity.  But at least my floors are staying cleaner this way!

Nathan had his 15 month checkup this week and we got some not-unexpected news: Nathan didn't grow much over these past three months.  I, of course, realized this since he's still in 18 month shirts and 12 month pants (some of which are still too big at the waist and some of which I still have to roll up in the leg) that he's been in all winter long.  He's not shrinking as far as absolute measurements, but he is falling off in the growth chart percentages.  Here's what were at... 

Height: 30.5in / 31%         (12 months: 30.25in / 75%)
Weight: 22lb 2 oz / 17%    (12 months: 21 lb 8.6 oz / 25-50%)
Head: 18.75in / 64%          (12 months 18.5in / 75%)

Wow, I didn't realize how close his current stats were to his one year stats until just now.  BUT, first of all, our pediatrician said that she wasn't concerned about Nathan's growth (good news).  She did say she would be concerned if Nathan continues to fall off in the percentiles at his 18 month appointment.  I discussed with her about trying to increase his caloric/protein/fat intake, and Brian and I may reconsider our "no juice" stance (maybe...).  But she said that from her experience, kids around this age tend to settle into the percentiles for their body type, so we may just have a slender boy that isn't super tall.

I'm kind of surprised, in a way, that Nathan didn't grow much.  Not too long ago he was chowing down all day long and then waking up at night hungry too.  I figured that would have been a growth spurt for sure, but it didn't seem to amount to much.  Nathan is a pretty good eater, though Brian does sometimes kid me about the "rabbit food" that Nathan eats.  He eats LOTS of dairy, does good with fruits and veggies, LOVES breads and is so-so on meat.  However, I am going to reassess what I'm offering to him and already have a pamphlet on the way from my go-to registered dietitian about feeding toddlers (she's more well known by her other name, Grandmother!).  I'm going to keep track of how much milk and water he takes in during the day for a while (today 1 2/3 cups whole milk and maybe 2oz water) and brainstorm new meal and snack ideas for my little boy.  Hopefully all that will help put a little more meat on his bones, and maybe we'll have a real growth spurt just around the corner!

On the other hand, Nathan did start walking in the last three months.  Don't they say that kids usually slim down after they start walking?  And he is a busy little boy, with lots of work to do that takes him in and out of all rooms of the house.  He doesn't like just to sit in one spot and play (unless he's with me in the kitchen and has entertainment), but maybe all toddlers are like that.  Oh well, I'm not going to worry about it too much about the whole thing.  The bottom line is that Nathan isn't shy about letting me know when he's hungry, but when he decides that he's done eating, he won't let another forkful past his lips!