life with a new baby
Oh the things Nathan says
Smile!
Feb 17th
I had Nathan sit on his potty. I walked out of the bathroom for just a moment to do something when I heard him walking around. I rushed back in, worried pee would be puddled on the floor. As I put was putting his diaper back on, I fussed at him some and told him that he can’t run around with his diaper off and that he needed to stay seated on the potty.
“Awww come here, Mommy,” he said as he hugged me. “It’s okay.”
“Not really,” I replied. “I don’t want to clean up pee.” Then he put his hands on my cheeks and pinched them as he tried to stretch out my mouth.
“OUCH! Nathan, why’d you do that?” I yelped.
He then put his hands on his own cheeks and smiled, then pointed to his teeth. “Mile!”
“You mean you want me to smile?” I asked, giving him the biggest smile I could.
“Awww good job, Mommy! I’m so proud of you!” he said as he gave me a big hug. Well, heck. That was easy enough. Who knew a smile could make someone so happy?
Kids. Can’t help but love ‘em.
Feb 15th
“NO! Nathan, get down from there!” I said as I grabbed Nathan as he stood on top of a Rubbermaid tub, mangling his window blinds in an attempt to look out the window. “You know better!” I said. As I set him down on the floor, he put his little hand on my shoulder and patted me.
“Everything’s ok, Mommy,” he said soothingly.
“Oh, Nathan,” I replied. “You know, insanity really is hereditary.”
“Yep,” he said matter-of-factly.
“You get it from your kids.”
“Yep,” he responded. After a brief hesitation, he smiled and said, “Me too, Mommy.”
No kidding, son. No kidding.
Because in Toddler Land, all things are edible
Feb 13th
So as I was about to apply some lipstick, I noticed it had been mauled by what looks like little toddler teeth. I’m pretty sure Nathan ate it since I have yet to find any evidence of it being elsewhere. That’s ok… at least he left me some…
In other news, Nathan says the funniest things sometimes.
Me: “I love you, Nathan.”
Nathan: “I love me toooooooo!”
He’s at such a precious age. Don’t get me wrong… it’s NOT an easy age to parent by any stretch of the imagination. But his sweet disposition totally makes up for the frustrating times. Take my half-eaten lipstick, for example. It’s frustrating because that just-so-happens to be my favorite lipstick that I own (doesn’t it always work that way? Your favorite things are the ones that get destroyed) but yet I couldn’t be mad at him. It’s what kids his age do. They eat Mommy’s favorite things and then dole out hugs like candy so that you won’t be mad when you discover what they’ve been up to.
He has no idea I am stockpiling records of these little antics to tell his future wife one day… shhhhh…
New milestones!
Jan 7th
Nathan has suddenly started talking in sentences. It started a week or so ago – after a two-month-long episode of Nathan being an complete and total pill. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a super sweet, loving little boy. But when he’s about to hit a major milestone, his behavior goes down the crapper. The past couple of months have been hard. Tantrums, fighting, screaming, and constant misbehaving and testing have been the highlight of our days. My normally sweet little boy was doing things he’d never done before- like throwing tantrums in restaurants and blatantly disobeying me at every single opportunity.
Fortunately, he’s calmed down a lot over the past week or so.
We anticipated once that phase was over, he would probably start talking more. But we had no idea it would be like unleashing a dam! It happened so suddenly. I blinked and *POOF!* he started talking more and more like a big boy.
The other day, he found his missing cape. When I heard the triumphant sound of dancing feet, I peeked into his room and saw he had already put it on.
“I found my cape!” he exclaimed. I stared, speechless.
“What?” I asked, not really sure if I had really just heard him correctly use a sentence.
“I found my cape! I found it!” he said.
Wow. Just… wow. A couple of weeks ago, he would have said something like, “Look! Cape!” but this time, he used a whole sentence. And I was super impressed that he used his pronouns correctly. Just like a big boy! And now that he’s transitioning past this epic Misbehaving Phase, he’s becoming so dang sweet. He wraps his little arms around my neck and says, “I love you so much, Mommy” as he plants little kisses on my cheeks.
My favorite sentence he’s said this far was when he was sitting on his potty, reading a book as he tried to go. He opened one of his favorite books, The Little Engine That Could, ran his hands up and down the front page, and said, “I love books soooooooooooo much.”
Another new development… He’s minding me better when I explain things to him.
For example, my mom, Nathan, and I went to eat at Red Lobster the other day. Nathan was sitting beside me in the booth, and he repeatedly attempted to slide under the table, stand in the booth, talk to the people behind us, etc. I finally had enough, and I plopped him back down beside me and told him that was enough. He needed to sit still and stop trying to slide under the table. He did NOT like that one bit, and he threw a hideous temper tantrum which involved banshee-like shrieking and ripping out one of my earrings and hurling it onto the table. I picked his angry butt up out of the booth and marched him outside for a time out and a harsh scolding. After he completed his timeout, I told him his behavior was unacceptable and that if he chooses to continue to behave like a brat, I would take away his books. I told him when we went back inside, I expected him to mind like a big boy and not throw any more tantrums.
Well, he did pretty good when we went back in to finish our lunch.
But then when it was time to leave, he spied the lobster tank they keep out in the lobby.
Uh oh.
He ran towards the tank and stood inches from the glass. “Hi, fish!” he said, waving his hand. “Lots of fish in the fishtank,” he mused as he stood there, watching intently. I dreaded telling him it was time to go. We needed to leave, but when I tried to steer Nathan away from the tank, he resisted. A could feel a tantrum brewing. But I had a plan.
“Nathan,” I said. “We need to leave. If you’re good and don’t throw a temper tantrum, then I will let you look at the lobsters next time we come back. But, if you’re NOT good and you decide to throw a tantrum, then no more lobsters. I will NOT let you look at them the next time we come back. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, let’s go then.”
“Okay.”
Okay? Really? And then he turned around, grabbed my hand, and walked out of the restaurant like a big boy. It’s the little things like this that make me feel like I am doing something right.

Recent Comments
Aww thanks, Tina, it was good to see you too! I wish I could have talked to you more... I ...
I'm sorry you all had a rough go yesterday, but it was good to see you both :) I have ...
Thank you, I appreciate that. It's so cool to hear people say that we look alike... I've been told there ...
Awww... what really nice photos! You two look so alike, especially with the way you smile.