Wordless Wednesday.

Zoo.

We took a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium yesterday (it was part of Nate's Father's Day gift for Daddy!). Although this wasn't Nathaniel's very first trip to the zoo, it was his first trip that he enjoyed! We all had a wonderful time! (New Father's Day tradition...?!) And, since I'm sure that you're all very familiar with the concept of a zoo, I'll simply share some of our favorite photos from the day!

Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful daddies out there!
Nathaniel and I are so excited to be spending our Father's Day with the best Daddy and the best Grandpa/Dad in the world!
From the time that I met him, I've always known that Eric would be a good father. But, within the past 10 months, I have been blown away by just how right I truly was! Before Nate was born, Eric got so nervous about having an infant that I started to worry that he would be too scared to ever touch the baby! But, from time he wheeled that little bassinet back into my hospital room, he was totally at ease with our son. (When I asked him what they told him in the nursery, he told me that a nurse simply said, "You won't break him unless you drop him!" Apparently, that's all the advice that a nervous new dad needs!)

And, ever since we came home with our bundle of joy, Eric has plunged right into parenthood! He's never shied away from the "dirty" tasks, and he can't wait to come home and play with Nate--even after a long day of work! My heart swells up every time I see them together, and I know that my boy has the best daddy in the world! And, if you could see how excited Nathaniel gets when his daddy walks in the door each evening, you would know that he knows it too!

Thank you for all that you do for us, Eric! We love you, and we're so proud of you! Happy Father's Day!!

10 months.

Nathaniel is 10 months today! I cannot/refuse to believe that he's going to be one whole year old soon! But, as much as I'm sad when I put away yet another box of outgrown clothes or look at photos from 6 months ago, I am so excited that my baby is growing up! He's doing it a bit too quickly for my liking--but, oh what fun we're having together! The older he gets, the more fun he is! (Don't get me wrong, I love a good teeny infant cuddle, but this is such a fun age--he laughs, he makes me laugh, yet he still smells like a baby!) I used to work in the 1 year old room at the daycare, and I thought that those kids were of the best age--still babies, yet able to do/learn so much! And, as Nate quickly approaches that year milestone, I am pretty sure that I was right!

Nate can do so much--he surprises us all the time with skills that he's picked up! Last week in church, he started waving. And waving. And waving! {The people in the pew behind us were waving back!} I've noticed him recently putting his toy phones up to his ear. He has learned how to push his toy cars on the floor, and he loves to pass them back and forth. He also loves to pass his green ball back and forth. He knows how to "color"/pound his crayons on paper, and one of his favorite activities is ripping up newspaper advertisements (which he shreds into tiny pieces).

I continue to be impressed with Nathaniel's fine motor skills. He uses his index finger to do things very often. He pushes buttons on toys and phones, and he loves to turn his toy cars over and spin the wheels with his finger. He can feed himself anything, even crumbs. (Gee, maybe I'd better start sweeping the floor a little more thoroughly!)

Nathaniel's favorite toys include his pop-up toy, his little cars, his squishy ball, and, of course, Grover! He still loves to watch the dog run and play, and he laughs at him often! Grover has been wonderful with Nate--he lets Nate pull his fur and pound on him when he's sleeping. And, even though we're working on "gentle hands" with the doggy, I feel good knowing that Grover seems to understand that Nate is too little to know better.

Nate enjoys getting outside often. He gets excited when I carry him to the door that leads onto the deck, so we usually go outside several times a day just to look around. We go on walks down the street (and up the big hill!) several times a week, and I carry Nate in the Ergo carrier. He also loves to get in his little splash pool when it's hot outside!

Nate is not crawling yet, although we continue to force a little tummy time {almost} daily. He is turning into quite the insistant little guy--he knows what he wants, and he wants it now! (Usually, he wants to be in mommy's arms with her undivided attention.) When he does not get what he wants, during tummy time, or whenever he hears the word "no", Nathaniel cries a very loud and very fake cry. Then, he usually pauses to see if he's going to get a reaction--if not, he cries again. And again. And again. Depending on the situation, this can last a while until a distraction comes along (or until Mommy gives in a rescues him from tummy time!).

Despite his lack of crawling, Nate is very strong. He can pull himself into a standing position and hold himself up for a long time. He loves to stand in his pack n' play, and he gets mad when he falls down to a sitting position (he cannot pull himself up there because there is nothing to hold on to).

Nathaniel has 8 teeth now (4 top, and 4 bottom), and might be starting to cut his first molars. He seemed to be in pain for a few days/nights, but I haven't noticed any discomfort recently. Nevertheless, he is getting very good at "chewing" with what teeth he does have!

Nate eats very well, and is almost finished with pureed foods. He loves fruits and vegetables and almost anything that he can feed himself. I usually give him a fruit with yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, a fruit or vegetable with a grain for lunch, and a vegetable (sometimes with a meat) for dinner. He often eats (salt free) saltines, yogurt melts, fig bars, or animal crackers for snacks. His most recent favorite foods have been halved grapes (I think he ate a whole pound in about 3 days!), blueberries, bananas, strawberries, and Gerber crunchies. I am still nursing him several times daily--usually 4 times during the day, and twice at night. He drinks water out of his sippy cup in between.

Nate loves to "talk" to us, and he is constantly babbling to us, to himself, to the dog, etc. He says "mama" when he wants me, and says "bwa bwa bwa!" all the time. When he's finished nursing, he almost always looks up at me and says "ma bwa!" We've been trying to get a "dada" out of him, but he usually just laughs and says "mama!"

sunshine.

"You are my sunshine...."

the hiatus.

Holy Moly, it seems as though I've been abandoned the ol' blog for an entire week! Any other week, I would be apologetic and try to post some awesome photos from the past few days, or a story about Nate's latest antic that would make you smile and tell me that it was worth a few blog-less days. This week, I've got nothin' but a few sad, sorry excuses.
Sometime late last week (like right after that last post...), Nate stopped sleeping. I'm pretty sure that he was awake for 48 straight at one point. He didn't nap, and he spent most of his nights crying. More than once, I considered joining him in his tearful wails. After several sleepless nights and a few ear tugs, we made a visit to the pediatrician. And, although I would never wish any pain upon my baby, I secretly hoped that there would be an ear infection solely so that we could get started on an antibiotic and get some rest! When the doctor proclaimed Nate's ears perfectly healthy, my reaction was something like, "YAY no pain or antibiotic!! But, wait, why isn't he slee......zzzzzzzzz!" Hah. Really, I stayed awake (and by "awake", I mean in some sort of dazed trance known only by those who haven't slept in 70+ hours) to hear the doctor's opinion. And, it was brilliant. Nate is teething. Again. Seriously?! He's teething AGAIN?! And, we didn't figure that out ourselves? Cool. So, with the help of some infants' ibuprofen, we've had ourselves two nights of sound sleep now. It's been heavenly. And, I can finally focus on the computer screen well enough to type again!
The other reason that I haven't blogged recently (you know, because being so tired that I have to tape my eyelids open isn't enough to keep me away!) is that my camera is broken. It's not totally gone yet, but I think that we're on our way to a new model. The flash doesn't work anymore, so I can only get decent pictures outdoors when it's light. Otherwise, they turn out like this:

Combine no flash with an almost-10-month-old, and you get a bunch of photos like this:

So, while I'm sure that the barrage of Nate pictures won't be stopping any time soon, it might be slowing down for a bit. And, you'll be seeing lots of outdoor/not-so-close shots in the near future!

Wordless Wednesday.

the dog.

Picture this:
A happy family of three is strolling down the street in the morning sunshine. The mother is carrying the baby, and the father is holding the leash of their faithful pooch. The birds are chirping, and children playing in their front yard. One particularly spunky little gal is riding her scooter down the center of the street (it's a very not busy street!), when she spies the dog.
"Oh, look at the dog! Look at the dog!" she crows to her friends, as she excitedly pumps her scooter closer to the pup.
Until now, the dog has been walking like any other dog--stopping occasionally to sniff, but generally just walking. Upon seeing the approaching child, he immediately becomes excited. Very excited! His train of thought probably went something like this: "OH, A LITTLE GIRL! COMING THIS WAY! SHE'LL PET ME! I LOVE PEOPLE! OH, OH, OH, I CANNOT WAIT!" And so, the dog begins to tug his leash. Then he tugs harder. And harder. But, the father does not speed his gait, therefore the dog is forces to hop along the street on his hind legs. In doing so, his collar tightens on his windpipe, and he begins to wheeze loudly. Strangely, this does not bother the dog in the least bit, as he is still very anxious to get to the little girl.
The little girl, on the other hand, takes one look at the dog, and retreats in the other direction. As she disappears around a bend in the street, we heard her calling,
"Watch out for the dog! Stay away from the dog! Watch out!" to her friends.

Oh, how we love our walks with Grover....!

playground.

How often do you get outside? I try to get myself and Nate (and Eric if he's home) outside every day. During the winter, I deemed it impossible to be outside with an infant. Now, it's warm and wonderful! I don't want my boy to grow up into a person who hates to be outdoors because "it's too hot" or "there are too many bugs" or "the sun is too bright" or any other goofy excuse. We've headed out at all hours of the day, and I have to admit that I enjoy sitting on the deck or in the backyard a whole lot better than in the living room (We've already spent too many months cooped in there!). When we get out to the park or the walking trail--even better! We took Nate to the playground yesterday, and we all had so much fun!

I want Nathaniel to love being outdoors--even more than he'll love television or computer games or whatever new technology with which his generation will be enamored. He will grow up playing outside--whether he wants to or not! Playing outside isn't just tee-ball and trips to the pool, it's also driving cars through the dirt in the backyard, lunch picnics on the patio, catching lightening bugs at dusk, walking the dog down the street, and games of hide and seek with siblings. Being outside should be a central part of a child's "growing up", and it's vital to make it a part of home.

My most vivid memories of childhood are outside. I remember playing a million games with my brothers in our backyard. And, almost none of the games were "real" organized games. We created them ourselves, and if they were fun, they stuck around for a season or two. We spent hours and hours outside, in every season, in almost every weather! We rarely watched television, we didn't have air conditioning, and we didn't even know what the internet was! We wore out sneakers every summer, we consumed copious amounts of pudding pops on the swingset, and we were always covered in bruises and mosquito bites. We played in the creek, in the mud, in the woods, and, occasionally, in the yard. And, oh, we had fun! We didn't have a swimming pool, and we didn't go to the playground often. None of us played on any organized teams, and we often lost balls in the woods. We were best friends, but we bickered like mortal enemies. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I had a wonderful childhood. And, that's what I want for my son.

When we chose to buy this house, one of my favorite features was the outside space. We are surrounded by trees and nature and a million things for a little boy to discover. Fifteen years ago, my brothers and I would have scaled the hill behind this house and been busy for a full summer with whatever we may have found! In just a few years, that will be Nate's job. And, although he's not climbing quite yet, I'm already teaching him to appreciate the outdoors. We play on the deck, walk the dog, eat lunch on the patio, drag out the baby pool to the yard, and then we retire into the AC for naptime!

Nathaniel really seems to enjoy being outside too, and I don't blame him--there's a lot more to look at out there than in here! He waves his arms and squeals when we head out the door, and I couldn't be prouder! I love watching him explore the grass or examine a twig. No matter how young, nature is an important {science!} lesson to teach.

Wordless *ahem* Thursday.

(because I wrote words on Wednesday...)

Lazy boy?

Within the past week, my little son has been called stubborn, lazy, and spoiled because he doesn't crawl. All three accusations have come from different people, and, as is my way, I've tried to ignore them. But, while I thought that I was just letting the comments slide off my surface, there was a tiny part inside that really let them get to me. Nathaniel doesn't crawl. Yet. He's nine months and two weeks old, and he doesn't know how to crawl. So what? I know that "the average age for a baby to crawl is between eight and twelve months." That means that Nate still has two months and two weeks before he's behind the "average" baby. But, the more that people act like my baby's lack of crawling was his/my fault, the more I believed them.

After Nathaniel was a "late bloomer" in the rolling department, I don't know why I'm surprised that he's not on the move yet. He tries, and he works hard. He is not lazy! He doesn't know that he can move on his own yet. He can push his entire upper body off of the floor, he can pop his little bottom into the air, he can scoot around the entire room in reverse, and he can spin around like a top on his belly. He cannot move forward yet, but he will. In his own time, he will reach this milestone when he's developmentally ready--just like he has all of the rest.

He hates being on his belly, which is why I haven't pushed him. Maybe he is "spoiled", but that's why I'm at home right now! I think that, to a certain extent, babies should be spoiled. We don't do a whole lot of tummy time around here. And, I started to blame myself. Was Nathaniel not crawling simply because I wasn't giving him ample time to practice?

So, yesterday, I decided to remedy the situation. I got out a sheet to cover the carpet (it scratches his knees when he pops up and down over and over), I pulled out some new toys for incentives, I rolled up a towel for leverage (teaching tool for crawling, courtesy of Google), and we went to work. We spent almost an hour on the floor, and Nathaniel hated {almost} every minute of it! He scooted backwards and sideways, I clapped and cheered and urged him on, and he fussed for the majority of the time.

This morning, we tried again. I added a pile of cereal and my cell phone to the incentive row. I left the room, and peeked around a corner to see if the fussing stopped when I was out of sight (it did for a brief moment!). And, do you know what the results of our crawling bootcamp were? (Hint: I'm not the mother of champion crawler yet!) We ended with a bawling baby, and a momma blinking back tears of her own. It's not my fault that Nate can't crawl, and it's not his fault either--it's not anybody's fault because it's not a fault at all! He's not being stubborn; he just cannot do it yet!

While Nathaniel might be a little slow (not behind, because we're still very within the "normal" range, mind you!) in the gross motor skills area, I am noticing something else. He is excelling in his fine motor skills!

Not only does he pick up his toys and turn them over to examine them, he often uses his index finger to twirl the wheels of toy cars. He spins the rotating part of his rattle over and over. He pushes buttons on phones (toys or real!) with his thumbs. He can feed himself individual pieces of puffed rice cereal. He's a very smart boy! But, nobody asks me if my boy can use his pincer grasp yet; they want to know if he's crawling. And, when I tell them that he isn't, I usually get a bit of judgement with a side of advice.

A long time ago, I learned that bilingual babies are slower to begin talking. This is because they are learning twice as many words/grammar concepts than their monolingual peers. And, I wondered if Eric and I would be "okay" with our baby speaking "late". I decided that, yes, we would be fine with it because of the end results (a bilingual child who, ultimately, has twice the vocabulary of the rest of his class). But, in all of my planning and dreaming for our child, I didn't think about having a baby who reached any other milestones behind his friends. Obviously, somebody has to be "average" and even "late", but I wasn't prepared for it to be us.

I know that there is nothing wrong with my baby, but I wish he wasn't compared to other babies so often. I'll stick to my guns on this, even if I have the occasional "crawling bootcamp" sort of day. Nathaniel is still perfectly within "normal" ranges for his development, and his pediatrician is happy with him. I am happy with him. As I've said before, Nathaniel was induced to be born three weeks early. And, as a first baby, it wouldn't have been shocking for him to be overdue by a week or two. That being said, he could easily have been born five weeks later than he was, making him five weeks younger. And, five weeks more developed. (And, five weeks bigger--which is why I'm quite happy with his birth day!)

But, in all seriousness, why all the baby comparison?! All babies develop at their own rates, and they all grow up! Why are we in such a hurry for our little ones to become big kids? I am already missing some of Nathaniel's infancy, and I am cherishing this time with him! And, as a mother of a non-mobile baby, I am cherishing my relaxation before he becomes a toddler. When we play in the living room, his toys stay in the same area. When I go to the bathroom, he stays in the other room, content to play. When we read stories, all of the other books remain on the shelf. I know that this "calm before the storm" is short-lived, and I plan to enjoy it while I can!