Scott and Katie: October 2010

I have been wanting to do a post about my little boy for a while now, so this is probably not going to be the most interesting to read because of all the little details. You may want to skip this one! I don't keep a journal regularly so I want to try to get back to blogging a little better for my own sake and for a blog book. I feel so guilty that I haven't done a good job of doing updates about Nathan. I don't even have a baby book done for him and I feel terrible.

So here goes... Nathan: I LOVE having this little boy in our family. Boys are fun! He is at that adorable age where he is just starting to talk. He is learning so much all day long and I love watching him figure things out. I'm surprised all the time by how much he has picked up on without me even realizing it. Like tonight, I told him to come help me gather all the garbage cans to take out the trash for garbage day in the morning. As we went upstairs he went straight to to every garbage can in each room and dumped them in the sack. He even knew right where the ones in the bathroom cupboards were. He loves to help me around the house- cooking, putting clothes in the dryer. He is really into Diego and Dora right now. We had this Dora house from Maddie aand Bella and Nathan has played with it more than the girls ever did. He loves to set up his guys everywhere around our house. He carries this big bowl of "guys"(animals, diego and dora figurines etc) from room to room and is always begging for me, Maddie, or Bella to line them up. There are seriously like 30 of them so we all get so sick of it. I keep reminding him that he can do it himself, but he always wants one of us to help him. I keep forcing the girls to help him and they are so tired of it!

I am his nursery teacher right now and it is fun for me to see him interact with little friends. He is doing better and better at sharing (most days) and is even in a little playgroup with a few other little boys from the ward. He is the youngest and can't talk as well as the others but he likes to talk about sharing toys with his friends. He went to one of their 2 year old birthday parties last weekend and had a great time. He gobbled up every bite of that cake and ice cream.

It is obvious that he has two big sisters because he loves to turn on music all the time and dance. He has tons of energy and loves to play chase with the girls and gallop all over the house. He has no fear and I'm shocked that he hasn't had any broken bones yet. He is constantly jumping off chairs, the stairs, and the couch. He really thinks he can do whatever the girls do. He adores his big sisters and is so happy when the play with him. He also loves to color and paint with Maddie and Bella. He loves to read books and sing songs. I love to snuggle with him in the rocking chair in his room and sing songs before he goes to bed. He loves to just cuddle up with me and rock back and forth. It doesn't get any better.

He is definitely a tease and he knows it. He knows how to push everyone's buttons and he knows when he is being a stinker. He is addicted to 'joose" and asks for it all day! I am always saying, "no more juice- you can have water or milk" and he totally throws this fake tantrum on the floor. He is talking quite a bit and his little voice and words are so cute. While the girls are at preschool we've had a little more time just the two of us, and it has been fun. Some of the time I go work out at the YMCA but he loves to go to the child care there and play with the horses and of course the big treehouse.

He is a tough kid- has lots of spills and tumbles and hops right back up. Today at the park he literally jumped off this ledge onto this spinning thing that even the girls are afraid of and majorly knocked his head but still hung on so he wouldn't fall to the ground. It hurt him though because he was crying big time and he rarely cries when he gets hurt. Everyone is always amazed that he is as young as he is because he seriously runs and jumps and climbs so easily. He is really sturdy and has no fear. At the mall play place the other day he just about jumped off this planet thing that was three times as tall as he is because he saw the girls do it and I caught him just in time. At his 18 month doctor visit a couple weeks ago he weighed 27. 5 pounds. He is in the 65th percentile for weight and the 85th for height. He is still a big boy but has majorly slimmed down from the chub he was as a baby. All that running!

We went to the park a couple weeks ago to feed the ducks. He loves animals and feeding the ducks is always his favorite thing. We went down to the side of the pond where there is a little "sand" at the edge of the grass. There was another family of kids there watching the ducks and we had a whole bunch of bread so I was offering some bread to them. After I turned around I noticed that Nathan had gotten right up by the water and was out of my reach. Knowing his personality I knew if I ran after to grab him, he'd run right away from me, so I was trying to just calmly get him to come back. Well of course he thought it was a game and he turned around and ran straight into this dirty muddy pond. I had to literally jump in the water and grab him. He was covered head to toe in green mud and duck poop. I couldn't even think about it. It was awful, but it honestly didn't even phase him. I had no wipes, towels, diapers- nothing in the car so I had to take a naked, muddy little man in the carseat home.

Nathan loves to wrestle and play with his Dad and is so excited to see Scott when he comes through the door. I can always tell he needs dad time when he starts trying to tackle me or jump on me. I love watching these two boys together and I know that Nathan couldn't have a better role model or father. I know he has so many incredible things ahead. It is hard for me to imagine this little boy growing up. I just want him little. I love you Nathan. I hope you always stay a mama's boy!