Wilson Ramblings: 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!