Two Years Old.

Nathaniel is two years old today! We celebrated his birthday by taking a trip to the zoo this morning--our first real outing as a family of four! Later, Nate opened his gifts, and we had cake and ice cream.

It's been a week since Nate stepped into his new role as Big Brother, and he is wonderful at it! He loves Levi, and I love watching them together! Nate is constantly bringing things for Levi (wipes for diaper changes, the binkie, books, bites of his own snacks, etc). He worries when Levi cries, and he get so excited when Levi wakes up. Every morning, he runs to see what the baby is doing, and I can't even begin to describe the look of joy on his face when Levi is awake and looks at his big brother. He's been so sweet to the baby, and is eager to "hold" him every chance that he gets. So far, Nathaniel hasn't displayed any jealousy toward the baby--only love and curiousity.

Nate's favorite things right now are cars, cars, and more cars! He loves to watch cars on the roads, play with toy cars, and look at books about cars! Our living room is overrun with Matchbox cars on a daily basis. He has several bigger toy cars/trucks, but the Matchbox set is his favorite. Other favorite toys include his Magna-doodle, his new grill, the ball popper, his sandbox, riding toys, and, of course, the dog!

One of my favorite things about Nathaniel right now is his sense of humor. He's a goofy kid who loves to laugh--and loves to make other people laugh. If we laugh at something and Nate doesn't know what we're laughing about, he'll pause, then throw his head back and fake laugh very loudly--hilarious!

Nate's language development has really taken off recently--but he won't let you know about it! He still has a handful of words that he uses consistantly. He also has about a hundred words that he's used maybe once or twice (when he really needed to get his point across), but he will not repeat them. Ever. I don't know if he's being stubborn or shy, but I'm glad that I know it's one of them! So, while he's not a man of many words yet, he is a little man who can get what he wants--but you'd better be listening the first time!

Nathaniel sleeps in his big boy bed in his very own bedroom now. Since he'd been in our bedroom since birth, I had been very worried about transitioning him to his own room before the baby arrived. I put it off all summer long until about 3 weeks ago when I realized that it had to be done! We made a big deal about the big boy room, bought a new bedspread, decorated the walls with car decals, and crossed our fingers! Nate moved to his own room without any tears, and has slept in there every naps and bedtime since! Why do I even waste my time worrying?! Obviously, he was ready! (I, on the other hand, cried like a baby the first night I went to bed without him!)

Although he's gone through a few "picky" phases, Nathaniel is a really good eater. He eats everything that we eat, and very rarely doesn't like foods. His favorites are pizza, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches, blackberries, yogurt, and almond milk. He drinks whole milk with all three of his meals, and usually eats a midafternoon snack. He is obsessed with "ieshhhhhh" (ice) in his water cup, and must be reloaded on ice cubes multiple times daily.

9/12/12 - Nathaniel is 36 inches tall, and 30 pounds--in the 75th percentile for his age! He is growing and thriving, and the pediatrician says that he's perfect...of course, Mommy and Daddy already knew that!