Remember when the little dude had his first pickle not too long ago?
Starting to look a little shaggy, no? Well, check it, folks:
And the back:
The pickle enjoyment was increased ten fold by the decrease in shagginess, I assure you.
Nate's Very First Haircut wasn't too fancy. We just hit up the Hair Cuttery. He sat in my lap and generally groused about it. But then we got some of his hair taped to a Very First Haircut certificate, so it was all good.
I caught a bit of it on video at the beginning, but then he got fussy, so I used the camera to distract him. No more video. Here's what I got:
He totally freaked out when she brought out the blowdryer. I think we'll be staying away from that contraption for another year or so. It wasn't pretty. But his hair is! Check out the results:
You can hear him in that video say "hi." He's been saying it a lot. That, and "uh oh." He said it before, but now it means something to him. He usually says it when he drops something. Here's him saying "hi" again, with me discussing the haircut video:
And here's a video of Nate being sweet with his bear and then stealing Daddy's glasses:
This is the part where I talk about how terrible I am about updating the blog. Yadda, yadda, yadda. And then here's the part where I prostrate myself in front of you because this post doesn't have so many pictures and videos, and the ones I'm posting, you've already seen on Facebook. GET OVER IT. I've been busy. Doing what? Enjoying my awesome kid.
Seriously, you guys. He's super fun. He's doing things like standing up on his own (ok, only once), and crawling up the stairs (a favorite activity). And he's loving push toys. He used to push them on his knees, but he's doing it walking more and more, these days. At first he would use anything he could find that would move like a push toy:
Here's another one:
(Like how I cut off the vid as soon as he starts getting the least bit whiney? That's so I can pretend that he's a perfect angel who never whines. If a child whines in a forest and his mother pretends he didn't make a sound, does she still want to ram a pencil in her ears?)
But I got him another push toy of his own to use. It has clacking alligators. Good stuff. I later realized maybe one of those little shopping baskets would have been better, as he likes to put toys on top of the alligators and then push them in front of him.
He's learned to clap:
He likes to clap when I sing the hokey pokey, which I do every night while I put on his PJs. It's the only way he's happy to sit still and let me dress him. Otherwise, he's yelling, "I'm tired! Put me in bed, you wretched woman!"
He's doing great with his finger foods, eating them almost exlusively. We've discovered he likes pickles:
And really anything he can hold on his own and bite. Bananas are a particular favorite. We've been going through a lot of those. So far, something he does not enjoy is milk. We've been giving it to him in a sippy cup for about a month now and he usually throws it on the floor. He loves water in the sippy, so it's clear the taste that he's not digging. I'm thinking it'll be a rough transition from formula. But we'll see how it goes. Whee!
He's also been getting taller. I can always tell when he has a growth spurt because I have to move things out of his reach that he couldn't get to before:
I cannot believe this baby boy is almost an ENTIRE YEAR OLD. It really blows my mind. For his very first birthday, we got him a toybox/bench. It's got a xylophone and tumblers with bells inside. So far, he loves chewing on the xylophone sticks the best. I love the fact that I have somewhere to put all his toys. I know we've got a few weeks left until the birthday, but I figured it was better to go ahead and put it together and get the big box out of the way. He'll have plenty to open at his crazy fun party (with balloons!).
Last week, I spent four days in Nashville for work, and Nate and Daddy had an awesome time together, just the two of them. When I got home Friday night, Nate was having some trouble sleeping, so I went in to calm him down, but he wasn't having it. He wanted Daddy, which was both wonderful and heartbreaking all at the same time. The next morning, however, he was happy as ever to see me. When I asked for a kiss, he even gave me one (he never does that).
Nate's been saying some new words, although it's hard to tell what's just babble and what are actual words that have meaning. He definitely says mama and mum to mean me, which is cool. Apparently, he said "mum" a lot while I was in Nashville. He also says dada and, like his cousin before him, "dee-dah." It's super cute. He definitely says "done." I'm pretty sure he also says "baba" meaning bottle, as he seems to say it just before he'll be getting one. But then he also seems to say "baba" to refer to other things too. Who knows.
Also, I swear a few days ago he said his own name. Every night after his bath, I pick him up in his towel and we say goodnight to Nate and Mommy "in the mirror." Recently, he's been super excited about that part of our ritual and he lunges for the mirror with his wide mouthed smile. Well, the other night, he pointed at himself in the mirror and said "Neet!' At least, that's what I heard.
Alright folks, that wasn't so bad, right? At least there was one new picture.
Well, this year I went too, and Nate and I had a great time. We spent a week in Reno with Grandma and Grandpa, as well as Aunt Julie, Uncle Chris, and Theo the wonder dog. Nate was completely enthralled with Theo. He spent the entire time chasing him around the house and shouting "BAO! BAO!" Only Nate knows what that means.
Here are some vids of said dog chasing:
Seriously, couldn't get enough Theo.
And here are some other vids from the trip:
That last one was Nate's first try with tuna, which he loved. I've since totally broken out my old favorite meal: TUNA CASSEROLE (i.e. Kraft mac 'n cheese with tuna in it). He loved that too. How could he not?
We ate that lunch after taking a walk around a nearby lake and taking Theo to a dog beach. Theo is usually quite the chicken. But he ran headlong into herding like 4 really big dogs. He was yelling, "That tiny fur-less dog is in my pack! He's with me! So you dogs had better SHAPE UP!" It was hilarious. Then he came over and he and another small dog named Sally tried to eat Nate's cheerios.
Here's Theo begging for some cheerios and generally being cuddly:
Here's another one of us at the dog park:
Hangin' in the backyard:
Nate got to play with a bunch of my old toys and other newer ones.
We got some great pics of Nate with Grandma and Grandpa:
Back off, fellas. This tray is taken:
I love Tahoe/Reno in the summer. The best time to visit:
With Aunt Julie:
One of his favorite activities -- pulling out Grandma's baskets from the kitchen island shelves that he can reach. The other shelves had cookbooks, and those were a favorite too.
And if you're tired of the pictures now, here's a lot of words: Nate is becoming quite the master crawler. He now recognizes when he comes to an edge, he shouldn't keep going (e.g. the bed, the top of the stairs). That's not to say I'm letting him crawl willy nilly all over the house and off high ledges. This is when I have a hand on him. But he peers over and realizes that's not a place he wants to go. He's started crawling up the stairs, with a little help. It's oh, so exciting.
He's also been babbling up a storm. His favored "words" appear to be the abovementioned "BAO," "dadoo," and "yah-yo." He's also started saying "uh-oh." It's so adorable. See?
He doesn't actually know what it means. He's just repeating us. But it's still cute.
Nate also seems to be dropping down to one nap. It's probably mostly the result of being in the mobile infants room at daycare now. They only do one nap for most kids (though they'll accommodate two). He seems to be doing quite well in the new room. He's apparently loving the daycare finger foods and trying to eat other kids bottles as soon as they put them down. That's my son.
Nate is up to all sorts of good things these days. But prior to my last post, I had been having trouble catching them on video. I had a nice run since then. Here we go!
Here's Nate throwing a ball:
Sipping from a straw:
Lowering himself to sitting using one hand to catch himself and then standing back up:
Also, Nate had his nine month appointment this week. He is 23 pounds 12 ounces, which is the 90th percentile for weight. Yikes! He is allegedly 28.5 inches, which is the 50th percentile for height. I think he's taller than that though, from measurements I've taken myself, so I think the measurement wasn't so accurate. So when I asked the doctor whether I should be concerned that he's such a fatty in comparison with his height, she basically said the height measurements suck and I shouldn't worry about it. So I won't. Oh, and his head circumference was in the 75th percentile. So he's got a nice sized brain without looking like a lollipop. :)
No, I'm not pregnant. I just wanted to let kid number 2 and, who knows, maybe 3, know that a blog for them probably isn't in the cards. I am just the worst blogger ever! I haven't updated in forever. Seriously, I hate Blogger's uploader for multiple pictures, so the thought of writing a post and having to deal with that has seemed not so appealing to me. And, of course, the longer I waited, the more pictures I have to upload. So instead, I'll give y'all some brief info and then just spit out a bunch of pics and video out of order. Enjoy! Ugh.
Nate is crawling all over the place now. He's an expert at it. Full on regular-style crawl. I'll post some vid further down. All the gates are now up (got pics of those too). One of his favorite things for a while was standing holding onto the gate bars and moving back and forth as if to say, "hey! LET ME OUTTA HERE!"
Katherine was here visiting for a few days a couple weeks ago and we had a great time together. Nate absolutely adored her. No joke. She already wants some Nate/Kat time when we're out in Cali next summer. And she brought Nate back a fur hat from Russia. So awesome.
I had my first trip away from Nate (for work). Freedom? Eh. I seriously just missed him the whole time. When I booked the trip, I thought, awesome, I get a little break from baby. I never thought I'd be one of those obnoxious mothers who can't leave their baby for a few days and, you know, have a life and personality outside of their child. But I really did miss him a lot. And because of work, I didn't even get to sleep in anyway. LAME.
We have some momentous news. Nate is transitioning to the Mobile Infants room in daycare later this month. ! I knew it was coming, but when we got the notice in his box at daycare, I just felt kind of sad. I can't believe how fast he's growing. I'm hoping the transition goes smoothly, though I foresee no real problems. Half the kids in his class now are transitioning with him. And he spends about an hour in the Mobile Infants room every morning already, so he knows the room and the teachers. I think he'll mostly miss Miss Tonya, who is the lead teacher in his room and his absolute favorite (and I think the feeling is mutual). It'll be good for him to spend more time around more mobile kids who are crawling and walking. And he'll be reunited with a couple kids who were in his room when he started at daycare but had moved up already. I think they only do one scheduled nap a day in that room, so we'll see how that goes, though I think he'll be fine with that.
Nate's got his nine month appointment scheduled for tomorrow. Yay! It's been three months since his last well visit, so it should be interesting and full of new info. Can't wait to find out his stats.
Y'all ready for some pics and vid? I know you are!
LOL. That's wasn't really Nate's. He only had a pint.
One of Nate's favorite toys. I couldn't leave the keyboard on the stand, because he might pull it down on top of himself. So I just put it on the floor and turn it on when he's in the room so he can make some music. Of course, his favorite thing to do with it is crawl over the top and pull the cord out of the outlet. Fun.
Katherine tried to give Nate a mohawk in the bath. He looked more like Alfalfa.
Here are the baby gates. After trying 3 different gates upstairs, I finally have success! I had to put it between the bannister and the bathroom door, rather than over the stairs, because we have brick behind that wall. The only downside is that you have to go in the bathroom to get past the gate, because it's so big. Oh, well.
Here's Nate's new talent. Sucking his tongue. He loves it.
We have a crawler, people! About a week ago, Nate not only crawled for the first time, but also pulled himself to standing all by himself for the first time. When it rains, it pours. Unfortunately, I have video of neither. While he can do your more traditional crawl, if he's in a hurry to actually get to something, he much prefers to just scoot himself forward on his belly.
A few days ago, Nate also added sitting up from a crawl position to his repertoire. Now that, I do have on video, along with some semi-crawling type action:
I have got to finish getting the baby gates up. He's really all over the place. Turn your back and he's halfway across the room. And now that he's more mobile, he likes to come check out the camera for a closeup:
Nate is totally on formula during the day now, and nursing morning and night. Mommy is FREE of the pump!!!! This is momentus. For reals. He's eating more an more table foods, which is fun. So far, he's loving fish, scrambled egg yolks, black beans, peas, chicken, and toast. Unfortunately, he's decided he also likes to "help" feed himself purees. This can lead to some messy mealtimes:
Nate's doing some other interesting things. This weekend, he started making this weird gasping noise that sounds like he's gasping for breath, though he can breathe just fine. It kind of freaked me out at first, but it appears to be just another noise to him that he's figured out he can make.
He also has a new face. When he's really having fun or intent on getting to something, he sort of grits his teeth and scrunches up his nose. I call it his bada$$ face. He does it at the end of this video here:
Hilarious.
As you all saw, we had an awesome Fourth of July. Nate and I spent it in Ocean City with Mimi, Granddaddy, Aunt Angela, Uncle Eric and Nate's cousin Mary. We did lots of fun things like go for walks, attempt to swim in a pool that was too durn cold, play on the floor, stand up, hang out with no pants, and try to eat the swings:
He hated the bouncy cars at the playground, but liked the slide:
We had a fabulous trip and can't wait to visit again soon. His next visit with Mimi and Granddaddy will be soon, as I'll be on my way to sunny Idaho for a hearing for THREE WHOLE DAYS. I won't know what to do with myself.
Baby boy, this time last year, I was in the hospital, hoping that I hadn't irreparably damaged you. You turned out to be just fine. And now, here it is, your first Fourth of July. And you're wearing a t-shirt that says USA Rocks! and munching on an ear of corn.
I think that's about as American as you can get. Love you.
