Actual Conversation Overheard

At the Oxford Valley Mall, there is a play center which is great for toddlers and young ones. It's basically a tiny little area for parents to relax for a small bit. Today, we went in, and Nathan ran for a group of children. Two of the girls (one approximately 9 and the other approximately 7) in the group immediately ran towards him and started talking about how cute he was and they tickled him and petted his cheeks. One of the other boys, much younger, also started to tickle Nathan. Nathan laughed and laughed at everything that happened. The following conversation ensued.

9 year old girl: "What's his name?"
Me: "His name is Nathan."
9 year old girl: "Nathan, would you like to be my little brother?"
A little 4 year old boy: "I'm your little brother!"
9 year old girl (in a very irritated voice): "I know. Nathan, do you want to be my little brother?"

This girl followed Nathan the entire time she was there, helping him into and out of various cars and rocket ships. She would help him climb the slide stairs and then help him slide down. She would point out things and talk to him about them. Nathan responded by running and screaming like normal. Finally, her brother, angry about the whole situation, followed her around, trying to get her attention. He resorted to kicking her after she had slid down the slide herself. Which led to their mom coming over and saying, "If you're going to be jealous over a baby, we're leaving!"

The little girl pouted and asked Nathan for hugs goodbye. He would not humor her, but gave her a few farewell waves. After that little girl left, another three year old came in and promptly started to try to follow Nathan around. At one point, she was in a rocket ship and telling Nathan, "Come 'ere! Come 'ere!" He promptly ignored her too.

The ladies! They don't hold Nathan down. Not even the ones who dance with him at weddings.

Halloween 2009 -- The Yoda Year

I keep thinking to myself that I should write a post about Halloween this year before I forget what it was like, and I've finally decided to do it before the end of November since I was supposed to write fifty thousand words this month anyway!

This year, about one week prior to Halloween, we decided on the costume of Yoda for Nathan. I really held off on buying a costume this year, but, luckily for Nathan, it didn't hurt his Halloween enjoyment. I also bought him a little plastic pumpkin even though I believed we'd only go to one house to trick or treat since Nathan is still so small!

After Paul got home, we quickly got his dressed in his costume and we gathered all of our bags of candy and stuck the candy in the car. We also put a few of his Thomas the Tank Engine trains in his pumpkin to ensure that he would not drop the plastic pumpkin. Nathan went next door to our neighbors, Walt and Dot, and he successfully completed a trick or treat, though he was awfully shy about the whole thing and unappreciative of his Jedi sleeves.



To help him like the whole thing a lot more, we went back to their porch, sat down for a short bit (since it was still about four in the afternoon), and let him eat his treated goodies.



I later heard from Dot that her husband, Walt, told all the visiting parents about Nathan. They treat Nathaniel, as they call him, like an honorary grandchild. I should make them some baked goods for being sweet to him! I like people who like Nathan. After this, we packed the little man into the car and drove to his actual grandparents (ie, Paul's parents) for more tricking and treating. Nathan had kind of grabbed the idea of what was going on by now and was more confident in his tricking and treating.



After a quick visit, we went back to the car to go to my mom's house. There, we took him up and down one street for more tricking and treating. He loved it! He got very excited and quickly realized that if he held out his pumpkin, people would drop items into it which he could then shake. At some houses, people would offer to let him pick up candy and put it in his pumpkin, which he happily did. Sometimes, he'd take a little too much candy and we'd have to put some back, but no one seemed to mind. (Not surprising since I let little toddlers rob me of candy mercilessly on Halloween. If you're a cute toddler dressed like a bumblebee, make sure to hit my house. If you took all of the candy I had, I'd probably just go 'AWWWW'.)

After returning to my mom's home, my mom and I gave out candy to the hordes of children that attacked her house. No lie, we gave out about five bags of candy and we closed out early. By the third bag of candy, Nathan had figured out what was going on with the knocking children, and he started to pick up candy and give it out! I had no idea he knew what was happening until I saw him drop a candy bar into a little girl's treat bag. It was the best. After that, he gave out candy instead of us, which elicited a lot of "How cute!"

After everything was done, we all relaxed with some burgers, and Nathan practiced his Jedi mind tricks on us.



"This is not the baby you're looking for!"

Nathan And The Shore

So, this post is only about four months too late. I know I should have posted this way earlier, but I think the appropriate phrase here is 'better late than never'. This year we decided to take Nathan to the shore. Ocean City, Maryland, more specifically. It was a fantastic time, even if Nathan wasn't able to walk. While at the shore he made a few pretenses at moving from butt bopping to crawling, but mostly he bopped around on his butt or rode his wheelie bug around the condo (which occasionally led to him falling backwards off of it when he tried to jump over the sliding door grooves).

The first day we were there, we forced him to the sandy beach even though it was slightly chilly. We allowed him to walk with the help of two people and he didn't seem overly fond of the sand or surf.





If you think he looks grumpy in these photos, you should see his face should you actually put him into the ocean water. We did so on our warmest day there, and he acted like we were inviting sharks to eat him simply because we put his toes in the water.

He wore a hat or sunglasses nearly the entire time we were at the shore, even while in the pool. This thrilled many people at the condo center or on the boardwalk. They'd all ooooh and aaaah at him, especially in the pool. We got several comments to the effect of, "Oh, your baby is the one that wears those cute shades!"





We had great breakfasts, and then we went swimming EVERY morning for at least two hours, and most days Nathan would fall asleep in my arms as I walked around the pool with him. After he fell asleep or close enough, we'd bundle him up in the biggest, driest towel, shower him clean, and give him a bottle pre-nap, and then Paul, Nathan, and I would all nap together for several hours. Those were some of the best mornings of my entire life.

After nap, we'd wake up, have a small snack, and prepare to hit the beach again for kite flying, or go to the boardwalk, or go out for a nice dinner.





We made Nathan go on baby friendly rides such as the Ferris Wheel, which my mom thought would lead to his death, or the puppy ride, or the Merry-Go-Round.




Those rides did not thrill him nearly as much as the ice cream we let him sample did. Nathan was pro-ice cream, anti-rides.

It was a good time, and I wish I had blogged it a little more while I was there or right after, because I feel like I've forgotten some of the best moments, such as my mom's attempt to devour all of Ocean City's crab, or Nathan's ewok look, or the way Nathan loved to sit on our balcony and splash himself in the face.

Nathan At The Park

One of my favorite autumn activities with Nathan is the playground or park. We visited several times in the summer, but he still needed to be carried then since I didn't want him crawling on the dirt, and he enjoyed the swings, but swings would only provide him with a few minutes of happiness before he'd simply look bored. Combine that with the dislike I have of being super sweaty hot and my dislike of grass and dirt, we'd simply go home after a very short visit and our visits were few and far between.

In the last months, things have vastly changed. The weather has cooled remarkably, but is still within the 'nice' range. Paul has started to come home earlier due to a change in work location. Nathan's started walking and climbing around the playground sets.

Now, when he sees a tunnel, he's the first to try and crawl through it.


Or he'll rush up the nearest set of stairs, without looking to see if I'm behind him until he's more than halfway up.


That's given me several heart attacks, I assure you. He enjoys playing on the playground stuff like slides and stairs most, and he's figured out how to slide on his own. ("Sit down near the slide and SCOOT SCOOT!" His dad taught him the scoot and he's mastered it well.)

But, where I enjoy him most is the swings.




Sometimes when he swings, he laughs every single time he is heading for me. Today, he kicked his feet all over the place when I went to push him because he was laughing hard. I laughed just as hard, which is pretty hard. Both Nathan and I have loud voices and laughs. I'm lucky, though. Now that I got him with me, the rest of the world seems to love to hear us laugh.

First Hair Cut

Earlier this month, I had decided that Nathan's wispy bangs were getting to me and had to go. Unfortunately, and I knew this, his lovely curls were probably going with the bangs. Knowing this, I kept putting off the cut, but finally forced myself to go with Nathan and Paul to the child's salon at the King of Prussia mall. They had a Thomas the Tank Engine¹ area set up, which Nathan flipped about.



Ironically, the slogan of Rollercoaster Cuts is "Haircuts kids will scream for!" This is not an inaccurate slogan. I would go so far as to say that Rollercoaster Cuts uses truth in advertising, and they might like to use this photo underneath that phrase.



Our hairstylist would not let me give Nathan a pacifier, telling me I was coddling him. Nathan did not want to watch the Teletubbies or whatever other crap was playing on the television to entertain him. He did not want to be amused. He did not want his hair cut. He wanted me to take him out of that chair and move him back to Thomas the Tank Engine. I thanked God we had gone at night and no one else was in the place.



After a while, Nathan calmed to merely sobbing hysterically rather than screaming outright. Finally, everything was done, locks of hair were put away, Frank was thanked and tipped, and our boy photographed. Having already gone through anger and depression phases of hair cutting, he finally moved to quiet resigned acceptance.



He's still ridiculously cute with his haircut, but I miss his sweet little curls so much. This is a bit like when he first got his teeth in for his smile. They were adorable, but I missed his gummy smile. Well, I'll get used to this less curly hair. He still has his chubby cheeks, after all.



1. Woe betide you if you call him Thomas the Tank or Thomas the Train. Children between the ages of three to six will look upon you as if you were the most stupid individual on the face of Earth. I one time called Percy "the green train" and a little girl of about five said to me, "That's Percy" in the same way I might state "That ball of light in the sky is 'the sun'."