Friday, January 27, 2012

Half Birthday

We're celebrating Nate's 18-month birthday (aka one-and-a-half) with a half-cake and pizza for dinner tonight. My attempt at a half-birthday cake was good in theory but I made some poor choices in execution.  Will do better next year!  Or I'll just buy something and cut it in half.

This morning's appointment was great.  No shots and everything looks good.  As always, he's tipping the charts at 27lbs 2oz (89th percentile) and 32 inches tall (36th percentile).  Interested to see if he keeps up the growth by his two year appt.

Tomorrow we're off for another fun weekend.  This time to West Virginia to ski with our cousins.  Still debating whether or not we're putting Nate on skis, I'll let you know!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hebrew "father" or 70s Swedish Pop Group?

The other day Nate was pointing to a shelf in the pantry yelling, "Abba!  Abba!"

Me: Agua?  You have water.
Nate: (points again) Abba!
Me: What do you want Bug?  (lift Nate up to the shelf he's pointing at)
Nate: (points to a veggie pouch) Abba!  Abba!
Me: Apple?  No, that's spinach.  But you can have one.
Nate: Abba!
Me: (open pouch and the calls for Abba stop)

An hour later, Nate's standing in front of a door and begins yelling Abba again.

Me: Abby?  Do you want to watch Abby?  Sesame's on in the other room.
Nate: (ignores me and continues pointing to the door repeating Abba)

Oh well, this must be one of those words only he understands.

The next day I thought to ask daycare if he yells Abba during the day.

Tania: Agua?
Me: No, I know when he's saying Agua.  This is Abba.  He points at things and repeats, "Abba!"
Tania: (thinks) Oh!  Ha.  He's saying Abrir.  Open!

Yes, that makes a lot more sense.

Nate's 18 month well visit is tomorrow and as part of his ASQ/MCHAT paperwork we had to note how many words he's saying other than mama and dada.  I sat down and wrote out the words he says clearly and was surprised to find about 30 that are clear enough for someone other than me or Aaron to understand.  It's amazing to watch his vocabulary grow and ever more amazing to see him comprehend in two languages.  Another example of the incredible ability of an 18-month-old's mind - We were watching Elmo last night and I pointed to Dorothy and asked Nate if he could say "fish."  He immediately said, "peces."

I think my child officially speaks more languages than I do.

Friday, January 13, 2012

What Does a Dog Say? (take two)

Maura: Nate, what does a dog say?
Nate: (ignores me)
Maura: Nate, what does a doggie say?
Nate: Perro.
Maura: Okay, what does a perro say?
Nate: Dog.

I suppose in Nate's world, talking dogs are bilingual.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Belated Christmas Post

I write updates about Nate on this blog to share with our friends and family but there's a selfish motivation too.  I write to keep track of things for my own memory.  My cousin gave me a lovely journal to keep track of Nate's words, actions, cute stores, etc.  But I'm awful about finding time to write things down.  I think the last thing I wrote in there involves something about him learning to roll over.  Here I remember to write things like doctor appointment stats, funny stories, first words.  All very helpful when I'm trying to document for Nate his earliest years.

So Christmas.  Nate was spoiled rotten but also completely adorable.  We celebrated in Maryland the morning of the 24th.  Nate was obsessed with his gift from Santa (a pirate ship) and wasn't terribly interested in opening the other presents.  That evening we went to Mass where Nate saw Santa for the first time this season and we enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner with the Schoch and Jacobus family.  As usual, Nate and his friends Sam and Will were too cute for words.

Then we packed up and headed to Cleveland to celebrate with the Harris family.  Our Christmas celebration was on the 28th so we were once agian lucky to get a visit from Santa when he had time to stick around and hang out with us.  Ashley is well connected but Nate wasn't quite ready to believe her enough to let go of her scarf.
clinging to Aunt Crusher (DSC_1074)
I also love the giant picture of 1993 Meghan above Santa's head.

Eventually Santa got on his good side and soon enough they were best friends.
DSC_1095

Considering Nate hadn't seen an up close Santa since last year, the Santa visit went extremely well.  But I didn't know how well until two days later when we were eating breakfast.  A guy walked into the restaurant and sat at the table next to us.  He had grey hair and a bushy grey beard.  Nate was in awe.  He stared at the man, refusing to eat or drink, just watched this poor guy like, "I know you!"  Luckily the man was very nice and indulged Nate's fascination with waves and smiles.

Nate's big Christmas gift from me and Aaron was a play kitchen.  Aaron set it up last weekend and it was a big hit with Nateo.  I love watching him mimic things he learns from watching me.  Here he is doing the dishes.



So there you (I) have it.  Another year of celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas and the New Year with our family and friends.  A wonderful reminder of how blessed we are.  Looking forward to a great 2012!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

A Year in the Life

January 1st 2011
January 1, 2011



December 31st 2011
December 31, 2011



And all the wonderful days in between.