21 month photos with Leo and update

I'm so far behind on this post! Our little man is 21 months now and full of life. He loves to talk, sing, crash, climb, see friends, jump, did I mention crash? He is really into climbing up on things and jumping off. His favorite right now is climbing up the step ladder and falling into bailey's bed. So cute to watch. Speaking of cute... isn't he?

Nathan has fallen in love with his monkey and now "monkey" must wear clothes and a diaper and many days, monkey accompanies us to breakfast, tot school, and outside to play. He has begun to give monkey emotions too and I'm excited to see where this goes, perhaps to a new learning tool regarding emotions!
Nathan is doing really well! He's around 34 inches tall and weighs 27.5 pounds. He eats less these days than last month, but still loves the same foods. Another new favorite are raw food smoothies. He has one for breakfast every morning and often helps me put everything in the blender. It's a great way to get him to eat his veggies! This morning his smoothie had celery, asparagus, parsley, carrot, pear, kiwi, and a peach in it, plus some flaxseed, wheat germ, and almond milk. Yummy!
Nathan's swimming skills continue to amaze us. He's learning to roll over from his belly to his back in the pool, jump in from the side, turn around underwater and swim to the wall independently, as well as increasing his breath count underwater. Right now, were up to a good 10 seconds. He LOVES the water!
He's growing more and more loving each day. In fact, this last Sunday when I went to pick him up from nursery, I found him and his best friend Izzy in the corner hugging and kissing! So sweet! These two see one another almost every day and they think they are siblings. It's fun to see them actually interacting, tickling, playing, and fighting just like brother and sister. We love you guys! Aren't they cute?

Nathan is incredibly verbal and blows our minds with what he says. He speaks in 8-10 word phrases/sentences with ease and strings his thoughts together well. "mommy, sit down beside you on the sofa yes please" is a common phrase heard in our house! "daddy, build a tower with you in dat room, yes please" He picks up on everything we say and has gotten really good at telling us about his day, what he did, with whom, what he liked and didn't like, and what he'd like to do again. His words are relatively clear, although he still has trouble with consonant blends like "tr" "cr" "th". He certainly lets you know what he thinks!

Academically, Nathan continues to learn more and more. His little brain is like a sponge and he's doing more and more every day. We've taken a break from structured tot school for a week or so and have spent more time focused on playing and climbing and he's loved it. Still, he's proficient with his colors, letters, shapes (including octagon and pentagon), and he can identify most of his numbers. We're working on one to one correspondence. He's also learned bigger and smaller, and soon we'll work on opposites (great idea daddy)!
Nathan is definitely independent and fiercely so. Everything is "do it by your self" these days and we're seeing him learn to do so much! He loves to put his clothes on and while that still requires help, he's getting better at it. He's mastered a spoon and fork and has almost mastered a water bottle without help. He still finds great pleasure in dumping the contents of a cup on his head or down his shirt, so the cups are still closely monitored.
Nathan has recently started going through a phase of separation anxiety, and since he never really went through this as an infant, it's new to us. He's happy to play with friends, and go to nursery, and even say hello to other adults he knows, but strangers are a danger in his eyes, and he is quick to hide his face instead of saying hello. He's also not fond of being placed in his bed alone and this has given us some frustrating nap and night time drama, but we're parenting the best we know how and hopefully it's working. We reassure Nathan that we're right outside if he needs anything and that he has bear pillow and his blankie and will be okay. He settles down within 2-30 minutes usually, but his screams are angry screams. Poor baby! I'm not giving in now though! He's always been so easy to put to bed, and hopefully that will come back soon.
Little man loves to sing and has recently showed us that he knows more songs than we thought, including his ABC's, which sadly, I rarely ever sing to him. He loves Psalty songs for little praisers, and has learned most of the words to those.
Nathan's greatest joys right now are being with his mommy and daddy and Bailey, spending time with his friends especially his buddy Izzy, jumping, crashing, smoothies, climbing, reading books, building towers, playing in piles of pillows, all things fuzzy, swimming, shoes, all by yourself, and "helping". It's so much fun to see the world through his eyes!
Nathan is such a joy and we are so blessed to be his parents. Little man, we love you so much and we are so thankful that you are our son!

Wordless Wednesday

Tot School

Nathan is 21 months

I haven't yet gotten in the habit of posting these mid week, so you'll have to forgive my lack of pictures. My camera has been sitting in the office and I keep forgetting to grab it thinking I'll just take pictures later this week... well, then I remembered that Carissa closes Mr. Linky on Fridays now, so I wanted to post earlier. Anyway... here's our short week of tot school!

The other day, I was folding some laundry and Nathan happily occupied himself playing with these! I noticed that he only stacks like colors. After I finished the laundry we played together building towers and shapes in multi color and like colors.
Chad found this puzzle this week at the dollar spot at target! Nathan loves all the babies and their faces. I took about 10 pieces out and he figured out where they went with minimal help! We did plenty of other puzzles this week too.
Daddy taught Nathan to hold the pinwheel in front of the fan and he loves to do this. Today we worked on stop and go using the pinwheel and the fan.

Another highlight of our week was when the guys came to work on our front yard... they brought a bulldozer with them and Nathan watched it for so long. We walked out to see it too and he pointed out all the parts to me. (all the blue squares are to blur out the other houses and draw attention to the bulldozer after all, to think like a toddler you have to have tunnel vision)
Great fine motor activity. Putting the money in, twisting off the lid, and we even started identifying the types of coins.
This week has started the jumping FROM things... so we have a small step ladder set up in our room to provide Nathan with a safe place to do this. Today, not only did he crash, he also dropped coins and rocks from different steps on the ladder and watched them fall. Physics anyone?
"ready set jump"
crash
Nathan read so many books this week in his little reading nook. I love to hear him read books to Monkey. He takes Monkey's hand and asks him to find things in the book and then points to them with Monkey's hand and says, "good job Monkey, you found it"
Great life skills with daddy! I have to tell you that my husband is wonderful at teaching Nathan all kinds of things. Since Nathan was about 15 months old, he could tell you the steps to tying a shoe. This particular night, Chad began teaching him not only, "cross, loop, around and through" but also how to make the first part, the cross.
Working on undressing and dressing

Last but not least, Nathan has turned into quite the helper this week. He's loving helping me with all kinds of chores, including laundry. See how he helps?

That sweet face and delightful smile makes all the chores in the world seem easy... until he unfolds what I've folded, dirties what I've cleaned, and pulls out what I've put away... but then again, that's how he learns. And I love how this little one learns!

Charleston Trip: Part 2

We had a lovely house in Isle of Palms just a block away from the beach. One of my favorite parts of the house was the pool in the backyard. It was great to come off the hot sticky beach and go for a refreshing dip in the pool. Nathan LOVED being in the water so often and as I posted here, really grew in his swimming skills. He enjoyed standing on the stairs and jumping in the water and turning around under water and heading back to the steps. He can almost do it by himself.

He also enjoyed jumping in to different family members and swimming under water to them. Another favorite... "Daddy, go under please"... "Zakk, go under please" It never got old to him!
While in Charleston, I celebrated my 29th bday! I share my birth date with my dad's sister and my mom's sister. Since we were vacationing with dad's family, Aunt Judy and I shared a birthday this year! We celebrated together, family style... all of us in a restaurant enjoying a 2 hour seafood meal. It was great. Thank you so much Ginga for the dinner, and thank you Aunt Judy for the earrings and for all the laughs! Thank you family for a great week and lots of great memories! A few pics from dinner... aren't these two beautiful? This is Ava Grace... 10 months younger than Nathan.

This is her sister Jenna, 10 months older than Nathan. They are sweet and snugly!
Here's a shot of all 16 of us gathered around the table.
Nathan eating calamari, although he called it octopus. NASTY!
The next day, Chad lined up a night away for us and we headed into downtown Charleston to stay at a lovely place called the Vendue Inn. He hooked us up with a BEAUTIFUL ROOM there! The bedroom had a huge and very high king size bed. This big bed and private bedroom was made especially lovely because we had been sharing a room with Nathan and my folks while in Charleston. We love you mom and dad, but a night in our own room was very nice! It was also nice to get out of a futon and sleep on a king.

The living room attached to the bedroom was really pretty. A little sitting area and fireplace made it super cozy.
We enjoyed a pre dinner cocktail at one of the rooftop bars downtown and it was so cozy. Just the two of us overlooking the city. Super sweet! Then we had a delightful dinner at FIG (Food Is Good) and enjoyed John's Island Roasted Tomato Tart-Tatin (oh my goodness this was to die for), Heirloom Potato Agnolotti, and Strube Ranch Wagyu Bistro Steak. It was delicious, but no evening is complete without dessert... so we walked several blocks to another restaurant and shared an orange creme brulee. A lovely evening that I'm not likely to forget! After a lovely night of sleep, we woke up late and enjoyed a full service breakfast Charleston style. Thank you Chad for each little detail you planned out! I loved it! Thank you mom and dad for keeping Nathan so that we could enjoy this time alone! Here's a picture of our room on the corner.
Happy Birthday to me! :)

A week before we left for the beach, I went to a tye dye place with my friend Bethany and the two kiddos. Due to the mess factor, we didn't take pictures of the process, but each of us tye dyes three shirts, one for each in our family! Aren't they cute!


Thank you Chad for being a good sport and wearing the colorful tye dye. :) I do expect to see you wear it again. Don't you guys think it looks great on him?

Tot School

Nathan is currently 20 months old

The last two weeks of tot school have been a bit different than most... why? Well we were on vacation one week and this last week, Nathan has been absolutely pitiful dealing with a nasty virus. Hopefully next week we'll get back on track with more planned learning activities. All in all, they were 2 education weeks, as I look back at the pictures.

Going to the Charleston Aquarium...eagles...
bear walking through a huge log
learning about camp fires...hot hot hot...
baby alligators...
"look at all de fish"...
being sized up by an emperor penguin...
lots of things to touch!

Beach school... learning about starfish.
sensory experiences on the beach
transferring water from one bucket to the next, as well as following directions, "pour the pink bucket into the yellow bucket"
LOTS of gross motor such as scooping
digging
throwing
squatting
and just being cute - that's got to be a gross motor skill right?
digging with daddy
running and chasing = a toddlers dream!
The Battery in Charleston provided more opportunities for gross motor work... like hanging in the trees...
pushing a stroller and learning to obey directions like turn, stop, wait, and go...
learning to handle freedom yet still obey!
The water fountains were awesome and were quite a sensory experience even for me. The air was a muggy 98 degrees and the water coming out of those fountains was very chilly! It also had a lot of water pressure so when it hit your back it tickled!

No week is ever complete for us without swimming!!!

Last week, thanks to a trundle bed, Nathan and daddy got to play in the "cave" under the bed!
Coming home from Charleston with a sick tot proved a bit challenging, but some of his favorite tot school activities and a few new ones helped to pass the week rather quickly! This is Nathan's new stroller (thank you Izzy for sharing one of yours with us!). Nathan loves to push it. This is working on his ability to steer around objects as he runs full speed through the house with the stroller. He WILL NOT put a stuffed animal or anything in the seat. :)
Wonder Pets also helped us through the week, and we learned several new animals and lots of directional concepts. Also, I often hear "go wonder pets" right before Nathan jumps off of something! :)
When your kiddo is miserable and he begs to go outside, you happily oblige, and then turn it into tot school! Swinging the bat, both into the air...
and into the pool!
Pouring water from the pool into the spinner.
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More musical instruments!
And the favorite backyard sensory tool... the rice bucket.



Bath time, another favorite for our kiddo... working on kicking and splashing...
Coppertone kid, eat your heart out, Nathan is way cuter!
back to tub school... blowing bubbles
learning breath control and body part identification as he poured water on various body parts... like his forehead...
shoulders, and a few others! This was also a great way to work on 2 handed activities and crossing the midline!
This is a squirty fish and Nathan has learned how to fill it himself. He loves to watch the bubbles come up to the surface and then squirt the full fish all over the bathtub. This challenges his ability to squeeze the fish and let go under water to fill it up, and then to listen to my direction as I ask him to squirt different things. It's a really fun game!
More traditional tot school activities took place later in the week as Nathan began to feel better. Coloring was a must several days this week. He still loves for me to color the parts he requests in the colors he requests and I do the same for him. :)
Sorting playdoh colors
Using the fun factory! I've had this for months and finally pulled it out! Loads of fun, although it's really hard for him to push that lever down by himself. This was a great calm, quiet, activity and we'll certainly pull it out again soon!
Nathan discovered these as I was clearing out a "too small/too young" closet. He enjoyed linking them together and pulling them apart.
FINALLY, finally, I became addicted to my morning coffee and have finished off a bottle of liquid flavored creamer. Okay, I'm not addicted, but I have learned to enjoy that cup of coffee, and Nathan enjoys the container from the creamer!
Pipe cleaners of various sizes into a shaker container. Great for color identification, fine motor, as well as learning which is bigger and which is smaller.

No week in our house is complete without puzzles!

Nathan has really been into his megablocks lately - thank you daddy! he loves to build different things with them. This week the theme has been boats. He will build several and ask you to play boats with him. So cute. He will not (unless asked) mix the colors. His creations are always in one color. I find this interesting!

Making tall towers! He actually made one taller than himself and he was very proud of that! Of course, he crashed it before I got a picture.
Receptive letter identification... he loves games like this!
I leave you with this picture. Do-A-Dot art... Nathan style!

Join us doing Tot School and share your experiences by linking up a post over at Carissa's blog!