Nathan and Daddy

These two have been so fun to watch lately. Nathan is toddling everywhere now and if Ron is up moving around, Nathan is running after him.

The other day Nathan was saying "Mama" while Ron was feeding him and Ron said, "I'm not Mama, I'm Daddy." Nathan thought this waas funny and they made a game of it. Now whenever I ask him, "Where is Daddy?" he will grin and say, "Mama!" then waits for Ron's reaction. When Ron says, "Hey! I'm Daddy!" Nathan squeals with laughter and says, "Mama" again.

Ron still tosses him around quite a bit and Nathan loves it. I love watching them together.

We took Nathan to get his hearing checked today and it looks like he will need to have tubes. The doctors will put those in when they repair his palate.

Rubber Ducky Fun

I wish these pictures had turned out clearer. When he gets excited, he bounces up and down and it's hard not to get a blurry photo. Nathan is really enjoying his bathtime now. He has learned how to throw things this past week and takes great delight in throwing them out of his tub. We like to play with the rubber duckies and he has even learned how to balance them on his head. There's a video at the bottom of the post that shows why I can't seem to get my ducks in a row these days.



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Our Little Panda Bear

These are Nathan's first professiona portraits.

Busy Times

We took Nathan to see the cleft specialists for his first visit. We were surprised to hear that they can complete his surgery as soon as they can get it scheduled. They want to check his hearing to see if they want to put in tubes. I think there is nothing wrong with his hearing but often cleft affected children have problems until they are older. We have the hearing test on the 20th.

Nathan has learned how to feed himself! It is wonderful since it allows Mommy and Daddy to eat now while he happily chows down himself. We still help him with the stuff that requires a spoon.

Our dogs and cats wait under his high chair for tidbits to fall. When we get him out of the chair he usually has a cup of food on his clothes so we shake him off and the cleanup crew takes care of everything.

I think we are finally starting to get over the sickness that has been plaguing us. We are starting to feel a little better every day. Apparently a lot of people in the city have the same thing so I don't know what that is about.

Nathan is walking everywhere now! He runs for his goal like he has to get there before he falls down which still happens often. When spring comes he should be ready to run around outside.

He is becoming increasing noisier too so we are waiting to see if some words will be here soon. He will say "Mama" for me once in a while when I ask him to. Most of the time he makes a loud "CAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW!!!!" noise and he sounds like a crow. There is a huge difference in the house when he is waking vs sleeping.

These footy-pajamas were made for walking!

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Nathan is walking! He gets braver every day and he thinks it is so much fun!

Nathan is 18 months old!

After much resistance Nathan is learning to feed himself! So far he will take the spoon and put it in his mouth. It doesn't always make it inside but he is doing a pretty good job. We are still working on getting him to pick up Cheerios and put them into his mouth instead of throwing them onto the floor.



Nathan has started getting into some things that before he had left alone. Here he was caught with the dog's food dish. At least he wasn't eating their food.


Nathan said his first word! It was "Mama" of course and sometimes he will repeat it for me when I ask him to. He is progressing amazingly well in his walking and that's all he wants to do now. So far we've had no bad falls. His balance is very good.

Video of Nathan Crawling

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My baby will be walking soon so I had to get a video of his crawling stage. I love the way he crawls with his arms flying everywhere and his tongue hanging out.

Video of Nathan Taking Steps

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First Steps!

Nathan has taken his first steps! He isn't trying to walk -- he's taking off at a full run so it is hard to get shots of the little wild man. He was walking back and forth between Ron and I last night. Today I finally got him to sit in the little chair and then walk to us from it. He pretty much just dives at us at this point. He is quite pleased with himself!
Nathan is doing pretty well these days. He loves to explore the house and chase the dogs at a fast crawl. He is eating very well and we are giving him soft foods like macaroni to teach him to chew. I think he might have an ear infection right now so we are watching him for that. He certainly is keeping us busy!

Potty Training

Look at my little angel's happy face!

Maybe it's wrong but I can't resist getting some pictures of Nathan on his potty. He's so cute! Look! He has his phone with him so he won't miss any calls!
He gets really happy after he eats and has his bottle. He like to play with his feet.





Right now we are only working on going poopy in the potty but he has gone for me every day for a week now so I think he is the smartest kid ever!

Got Milk?

Nathan is completely off formula and has started drinking regular milk. He seems to like it a lot. He likes to play with his bottle when he is done but we have to watch him or he will toss it. There is always a dog waiting nearby waiting to pounce on it. It is funny to see a dog running by holding a bottle by the nipple.
His favorite game now is chase-the-kitty. If he sees a cat he will take off at a speed crawl after her giggling and squealing. Belle the cat loves this game. Molly not so much. Belle will saunter up to Nathan when he is playing and get fluffy then take off down the hall hoping he will chase her. They are so cute together!

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas At Nana's House

Our family Christmas gathering was at Mom's house this year.

Mom and Nathan above. Jack, Christine and Caleb below. Jennell, Daniel and James, below right.





Nathan sure does like his cousins.
Family Photo, Christmas 2006.

Christmas and Cousins

Since Jack, Christine and Caleb are going to Canada for Christmas, we went to their house last night for dinner and to exchange gifts.

Nathan was a bit stressed when we got there but he soon started enjoying Calebs toys. Caleb likes Nathan and wants to grab him and kiss him. Nathan is not quite sure what to think of that. At one time he decided that Caleb didn't need that pacifier any more. He hates them himself so maybe he thought it was bothersome to Caleb. Caleb loves his paci! He is seven months old now. Nathan is almost 17 months. Caleb and Nathan in front of the tree. They don't have a clue to what the fuss is all about. Someday boys... you will look forward to this all year.


When it was time for Nathan to open his gift, Julian the cat had to come and help. Nathan looked at him as if to say, "Not another one!"

Of course the boys were mostly interested in playing with the bows and pretty paper but they both got some cool gifts.

Buddies

We have started giving Nathan a bottle whenever we are trying to eat and this keeps him somewhat occupied and happy. Here I put him on the couch next to me. Trigger is never far away while I am home and she laid here and let Nathan kick her the entire time he was eating.

Nathan is taking a real liking to the dogs. Sometimes when he is sees one he will smile and take off and a fast crawl after them. This makes Ranger flee. He's not so sure what this little guy wants. I am thinking that because Nathan is still crawling and not stomping around on their paws, it has made the transition easier. He doesn't cry any more when Liberty licks his face.

I was so worried about the integration of our baby and furbabies but this has actually been one of the smoothest adjustments. I think Trigger is sad that she is no longer the baby but she is happy that she still gets to sleep with us so that makes everything okay.

For some reason whenever Nathan gets into a real crying jag the cats all appear and start meowing loudly at us as if to say, "Can't you do something?"

Someday, they are all going to be good buddies.

Back to Work

We went to the Myriad Gardens to look at the Christmas lights there. It was COLD!

I started back to work yesterday and I'm very disorganized. Tomorrow morning I have to be in Norman at 0630 so I really should be in bed yet here I am.

It feels almost weird to be at work. I really missed my family. Ron gets to stay home for another month so I am envious but it will work out. Nathan was napping when I left for work yesteray so I didn't see him awake until this morning and he got really excited to see me. I hope us returning to work will not be too hard on him.

Nathan is adjusting better and we make a little more progress each day. He can get so mad when we do anything that he hasn't done before. I'm convinced that we are reaping something from Ron's childhood because I was a good baby. :) His little temper tantrums are almost comical because he makes so many faces. They are getting shorter all the time because he realizes that he is not going to get his way so he gives up and starts sucking his thumb with a resigned look. The good news is that we are no longer experiencing this at every diaper change and bath. (Hurray!)

Nathan has started smiling and talking to the dogs when he thinks we are not looking. When we lock them up so he can play on the floor he crawls to the gate and bangs on it which makes them crazy. All the dogs love him. Trigger keeps bringing him her toys. I think she is hoping he will trade her for some of his.

He is really starting to play with his toys more. The kitties sit and watch in awe as he plays and once in a while a paw snakes out from under the crib's dust ruffle and snatches a toy that has gotten too close.

We went to dinner at the Cracker Barrel tonight and Nathan sat in his high chair and was so good. He got his first taste of some Southern food. He liked the dumplings and the mashed potatoes and the applesauce. He did not like the biscuits and looked at me like "What the hec are you trying to do to me?!" when I fed him a bite of turnip greens. hee hee

First Haircut

Daddy is giving me a pep talk. This is an outfit I bought in China for Nathan. It's nice and warm.


We finally found a place to get Nathan's haircut and it was perfect! It's called "Snip It" and they do only kid's hair. It's a chain so a lot of you might have already heard of it but I hadn't so I was pleased.




The lady was able to cut his hair very fast and he did pretty well. He cried a little but not as much as he does during a bath. I think he looks so cute with it cut.