Our baby boy is now a little, big boy. He (and we) successfully made it through his two’s and we are now beginning his three’s. What an adventure. He is hilarious. He is angry. He is sensitive. He is tough. He is crazy. He is cuddly. He is completely, totally all Na-Nate.
I'm 3!
I can’t wait to see what we get with a 3-year-old Nate. Tons of emotions, I’m sure!
"OOO, Geor!"
I know he’s growing up but it didn’t really hit me until the other day when I took him to the child watch at the YMCA. Because he’s 2-years-old now, he gets moved up to the big kid room for children ages 2 through 6.
It was so weird trying to explain to him that he wasn’t going to the first room anymore. He was all ready to bust in that door and bully around those babies. I told him, “No Nate, you get to play with big kids today!” He reluctantly took my hand and let me lead him to the other door. When we walked in, he didn’t look so sure about this whole “big kid” thing. Then, he spotted all the cool toys. I couldn’t even kiss him goodbye fast enough! When I went to get him after my workout, he was sitting at the little table and chairs, eating his fish crackers and drinking his juice. I got tears in my eyes. He looked so tiny and sweet but yet so grown up at the same time!
He’s been talking so much more now but still not all that much. In fact, on the morning of his 2nd birthday, we woke Nia up and told her, “Today is Nate’s Birthday!” Her response? “Can he talk now?”
One of the cutest things he says is, “Yet go a me!” Or, “Let go of me!” – said while he and Andrew are wrestling. And when he says “mommy” now it makes my heart want to melt. I even have to look over and make sure that it was him that just said “mommy” so perfectly. He also says a few lines to certain movies as he’s watching them. He especially loves “Shrek.” Those movies even make him laugh out loud and he will even make his Shrek toys talk to each other like they do in the movies. “Dada!”
Overall, his personality is just so hilarious. He goes from being off the wall crazy – climbing over the back of the couch, standing on his rocking horse – to the sweetest, calmest child – finds his blankie and immediately inserts thumb into mouth. He’s also so polite. Today, he kept telling me “Bead do” after I sneezed and at the doctor’s office, he was crying and so unhappy but kept telling the doctor, “Dank do. BYE!” (Thank you. Bye.) She and I laughed and I told her “At least he’s a polite angry man.” And he’s all ours!
Still a Little Shrimp!
Helmet Head
It seems like she was just here and now I only get a glimpse of her every so often. Our precious Bean is growing up so quickly and it wasn’t until I looked at her baby pictures and videos that I truly realized how much she’s becoming a little person.
She’s so funny. I can’t believe how goofy she is sometimes. She cracks me up with the crazy faces she makes. I’m so thankful for a goofball daughter. I can be so exhausted at the end of the day – just going through the motions – when all of sudden she starts doing a silly little dance. It makes both of us laugh out loud. It is the best thing.
She’s so sweet and caring. If you look sad or mad she will ask you why are feeling that way. If Nate is crying she will make her voice high pitched and say, “It’s okay Nathan. Nathan, you’re all right.” If I’m in a bad mood she will tell me, “I love you Momma. I think you are the best Momma – even when you are mad.” She also always thinks of Nate. If we go shopping without Nate or Andrew, she will pick out a toy/book for Nate or if she sees something he will like she will tell me we need to get it for him.
She’s so smart. She amazes me every day. She can write really well and I can’t believe how good she can color. She stays in the lines and for the most part keeps her crayon moving the same way so her pictures are always so neat and perfect! She’s also starting to figure out math. She will hold her fingers up and say things like 2 and 2 makes 4 and she also can subtract too! I’m not sure what a typical 4-year-old is supposed to know or anything but it just seems like she’s a brainiac to me! (And I’m not just saying it because she’s my kid – I already know I won’t be saying this about Nate when he’s 4! I hope he proves me wrong though!)
She is such a jabber-jaws. She talks ALL the time. One day I asked if she talked like that while she was at school. She said yes but that she wasn’t the only one who did. She said her teacher sometimes has to turn out the lights to get them all to be quiet. Her teacher told me, “they’re 4 – that’s the way it is when they’re 4.” For some reason though, I don’t think Nia – the non-stop talker – will just be silenced when she turns 5 or 6 or 7 or 8… I mean, look at who her mother is!
She’s already watching “big kid” movies. Andrew was watching the “Lord of the Rings” a few weeks ago and she started watching it with him! I objected but she begged to watch it. Andrew said he would watch the trilogy with her and she LOVED it. I cannot believe it didn’t scare her! (I know it did me!) We kept telling her it was all pretend and that the good guys win but I was still worried it would traumatize her. If anything, it hypnotized her. She says she liked “the guy with the curly hair” (Aragon) and “the elf with the arrows” (Legolas) the best because they were nice. She keeps asking to watch more “Lord of the Rings” and doesn’t believe us when we tell her it’s all over. It’s just so neat to think of all the cool movies I’ll be able to watch with her now. So far, we’ve watched, “The Wizard of Oz,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “The Neverending Story.” “Lord of the Rings” is her favorite though. I’m hoping she’ll like my main wizard “Harry” too. We’ll see as the story of Nia growing up continues..
Are You Zhazha? 
Say what?