My Online Journal - by Mommy about Nathan

I'm 4 months old

Wow has this month been exciting!!!  When Mommy said I may be crawling by next month, she thought  she was just joking!!! I was much more serious though!!!!  Although I haven't completely taken off yet  I can get up on all 4's and rock and even grab for things with one hand while balancing!!  AMAZING TALENT!!!  I sit up exclusively "All by myself" now and rarely fall over...and when I do I just keep right on playing!!  Daddy and Mommy are truly amazed with my abilities these days!!  I don't think they were quite  ready to have a 5mo old crawler though!!  8-) This month I also started cereal although I didn't really  get the hang of it until the end of the month but we're having lots of fun now.  Mommy's especially thankful I've stopped  spitting it back at her so much - well, for now anyway - I'm just waiting for those carrots!!!!  I am SUCH A HAPPY  BOY and smiling all the time!!!!  I take 2 (sometimes 3) naps a day and sleep from 7-6:30ish everynight.  At my  4mo old apt. I weighed a whopping 16lbs - such a big boy - our precious little butterball!!  This month has been a BLAST and everyday is a new thing to explore!! WOOHOOO!!!!
 
 I AM JUST SUCH A CUTIE PIE AND OH, SO FUN!!!
 (stay tuned for crawling picks next month!!)

I'm  6 months old!!!!  WOW!!...

Today I turned 6months old and SURPRISE - my two front bottom teeth popped through!!!  Mommy made me laugh when she started yelling oh my goodness...you have teeth!!!!!!I'm not sure why but she started crying too- such a silly Mommy!!!

This past month has been SO amazing and fun!  I'm still growing in my crawling skills and I can now go from  sitting to crawling and can actually go back to sitting easily too!!!!  Such talent!!!  Seriously - at my 6mo doc apt today, my Dr. said I was VERY advanced and she was so surprised to hear (and see) all I can do!!!!  Of course, it was something Mommy and Daddy have been telling me all along!!!  8-)  I'm even starting to pull up on things too!  It's a whole new world and I grab everything I can get hold of!!I'm also learning the fine art of pincer grasping cheerios and getting them into my mouth - it's pretty hard work but wowdo those cheerios taste good when I finally get one in!!!  I've only tried peas for veges so far but I must say it's much better than the boring cereal I've been eating!! I can't wait for the weeks to come and all the new tastes!
YUM YUM!!

 My brother and I are still getting along fantastic!!!  I think the reason I am so advanced is that I just want to be able to do everything he does!!!  Some of my favorite things this month are being tossed in the air - I LAUGH HARD!!!, watching Jabee and Brady's every move, being tickled,
my see 'n say toy, Big Animal Book, wrestling with Daddy and Brady, and Chicken Dance Elmo.  I especially LOVE being outside and playing in the grass or swinging.  Life is just so much fun and I am still all smiles - just look at my pics!!! 
Oh, and I now weigh 18lbs and am 26 3/4 inches tall!! (pretty average in both)

(Nathan is such a cuddly sweetheart and his little smiles melt our hearts daily!!)

9 months old

I am getting SO BIG - especially in personality!!

Over the past couple of months I have learned so many new things!!  I've learned to climb on EVERYTHING my little knee will reach and guess what....I'm also walking!!  Yep!  Just this week I decided to walk 1/2 way across our long living room and I consistently walk back and forth to Mommy and Daddy 6-10steps away when persuaded!  I'm still a little shaky but I can actually stop, think about it, and keep going!!  Such talent!!  I definitely keep Mommy on her toes these days.  If she leaves me for just a moment, I'll find something to climb!! and if the stair gate is down, up up and away I go!! 

I'm also very smart!  I can clap, give high 5's, wave hello while saying "HIIIIII", play the drums, put the basketball in my little goal, place balls in my sorter and recently I've even started stacking blocks - although I would prefer to knock them down!  I'm also learning all about "don't touch", "get down, Nathan" and "look Mommy in the eyes". (He actually does it!!)  Over the past month, I've also been learning sign language skills too like "please, thank you, all done, and more".  They say I'm doing great! Although I'd prefer just to make airplane razz noises all day, I have also mastered "MAMA MAMA MAMA" (all the time!) and have said on occasion Dada and Baba.

Over the past couple of months, I've also gotten 7 of my front teeth!!  (the 7th is still working it's way through).  Mommy says she is really looking forward to #8 coming in so she can start sleeping through the night again!!  ooooops! me too!

My brother and I are also learning all about sharing and caring too.  He hasn't been so thrilled lately with me getting and taking all of his things, but we're getting along great!  Brady loves to give me hugs, teach me new things and his favorite thing is to tackle and tickle me!!  It makes me laugh really hard! It's a whole new world to explore these days and I'm having SO MUCH FUN doing it.  I LOVE being outside - swinging, going for walks, playing in the grass or on the slide, and just getting into anything I can find!!!  OH, and I've started eating big-people food too, like crackers, toast, vegetables, banana's, waffles and even chicken nuggets!!! YUMMY!!

Nathan now weighs almost 21lbs - right in the 50% average for his age!

(Nathan is so sweet and cuddly and his little smile just melts our hearts.  He is such a funny little guy too and has many facial expressions that we can't help but laugh at!  He loves to snuggle up in our arms and tackle us with his kisses every chance he gets!! You can't help but have smiley days with Nathan around!)

Smiles, Smiles, Smiles - that's the best way to describe Nathan!  Nathan is very much a people person and loves to make a new friend!!  He'll walk up to anyone and just smile until they talk to him and he's a constant source of attention in stores with his little hand waving at everyone that walks by!  He has got such a cute personality that it's become hard not to laugh when he needs correction - my heart just want to squeeze and kiss him!

Being our active and fearless little guy, he is still climbing on anything he can find - currently his favorites are the kitchen and patio tables!  We also have a new really tall play gym in our backyard that was given to us and Nathan was the first to test out every slide and level - on his own!!!  Nathan loves to play and is currently really loving the Little People character toys and cars/trucks.  He also enjoys putting things inside each other, stacking, doing puzzles, banging, shape sorters, LOVES dancing, playing 'ring around the rosie', and he still really likes curling in our lap to read his favorite books!  OH, and he LOVES being outside...sliding, swinging, in the sandbox, kicking the soccer ball, swinging at the baseball and has become quite impressive with the basketball too!  

Nathan pretty much talks non-stop all day - it's not always in words we can understand but we're pretty sure HE knows everything he's saying!!  In the past few months his vocabulary has expanded from about 10 words to now probably close to 50-60 clear words.  Some of the one's he loves to shout out are Mommy, Daddy,  Brady,  Jabee, doggie, duck, tree, shoe, sock, diaper, bear, tractor, bye, up, down, swing, all done, help, night night, out"side",sit, no, yes mam, yes sir, sorry, ba"nana", stuck, cracker, spoon, star, circle, truck, Granddaddy, Grandma and others.  He also has started perfecting the art of animal sounds and can make the sounds of a dog, cat, cow, snake, monkey, elephant, frog, horse, chicken and sheep.  We're currently  working on learning colors, shapes and the alphabet letters & sounds too.  Right now he knows the shape of a star and circle, the color blue and sometimes yellow, and is starting to name letters randomly.  Nathan can also say using sign language please, more, all done, help, thirsty, eat, thank you, and swing.  Such a smart little guy!! We're having so much fun teaching him new things...but I have to admit, I think he learns TONS more watching Brady, especially the silliness and imagination factor!!  OH, and at 15 months Nathan is currently getting tooth #16...he's been such a trooper!  Whew- we're praying he'll have a few months break before his 2yr molars start arriving!

Brady and Nathan are getting along so FANTASTIC!!!  There is some sibling rivalry over favorite toys of course, but they LOVE to play together!!  They chase each other in the backyard, play "night night" together in Brady's bed and love to play cars/trucks together --although their favorite thing now that it's summer is the POOL!!  This summer should be a blast!!!  Stay tuned for news on all Nathan's summer adventures in the next update, coming out end of July - he'll be 18mo old! WOW! 

'm 18 months old

What a fun summer I've had!!!  We have done so many fun things this summer and Nathan has loved them all!!!!  He especially loves being outside and his #1 favorite thing by FAR is BALLS< BALLS<BALLS!!!  He likes any ball but especially baseball and has the stance of a pro - we didn't teach him this stance either!!  Although we have some real toddler bats, any stick for Nathan is considered a bat too....so funny!!  He has developed quite a personality and I think we're gonna have two little comedians in our household. Both our boys love to make each other laugh! 

In the past month too, Nathan has probably gained at least 100 new words to his vocabulary and has started saying two words sentences, like "cheese, please"  or "drink, please"  and "let's go".  He can even count down when he's going to jump in the pool or slide  "3","2","??"  "Blastoff".  It's so cute even though he always forgets the #1.    Brady has noticed too at his outflow of recent words and when Nathan asks for something correctly, Brady say's "woah, mom, did you here Nathan...he said ..." Another word he has perfected recently is "NO" so that's been alot of fun too if you can imagine. OH, and the word "Mine".  Those favorite words of every toddler!!!  It's SOOO great!!!

 We're still working on our colors and letters, but Nathan would much rather just play ball or run around.  He is definitely not the sit still type although HE LOVES BOOKS and puzzles!!!   We have a toy box in our car next to both carseats and as soon as Nathan sits down he grabs a book.  It's become quite funny now too because he'll just start mumbling off the story (words here and there) and naming things he knows as we drive along.  Pretty cute!

Some of Nathan's other fun things to do are playing in the pool, the sandbox, riding on his ride-on toys all over the neighborhood, he loves going to the park, and LOVES to dance too.  As soon as music comes on, there go his little hips and arms.  Such an adorable sight!  We're having so much fun this summer watching our little Nathan turn into a very independent, loving and cuddly toddler.  He is such a sweet little ball of joy and his smile melts our hearts a gazillion times a day! 

Stay tuned for the next update 1st week in November.