I can’t believe my baby boy is 2 years old!  I know, I know…he’s going to grow up, it’s a natural part of life.  Blah, blah, blah.  Some days I have a hard time believing that I’m the mommy of a 2 year old, but then Nathan screams “no” at the top of his lungs because I told him he needs a diaper change or throws a 10 minute temper-tantrum because he doesn’t like the fork he’s using (true story).  Then I’m snapped back to reality.    For the most part he’s a good boy and he’s getting more fun to play with every day. We can’t wait until it warms back up and we can start playing outside again!

Today Nathan had his 2 year check-up and final round of vaccinations for a while.  He took them like a champ and didn’t cry at all.  He’s a very tough little boy!  Nathan weighs 32.8 lbs. (92nd percentile) and is 36 inches tall (95th percentile).  He has not gained any weight since the 18 month appointment, but his pediatrician isn’t too worried about it because of his size.  He’s really starting to slim down, he barely has a belly anymore!  And, not to mention that he’s kind of been on a hunger strike lately because he’s getting all of his molars.  Dr. Rodgers deemed him very healthy and said that he’s meeting all of his developmental milestones.  He’s turning into quite a little man.

… months, that is.

Forgive us, but we’re 2 days late on posting for Nathan’s 11 month birthday.  Add to that the fact that it’s been a few weeks since Robin posted last and well…  let’s just say we’re sorry and move on, shall we?

So much has happened in the last month.  For that matter, it seems like so much has happened in the last week or so.  Let’s illustrate with some pictures:

We got our first significant snow this week.  And, of course, it’s the first snow that Nathan has experienced.  The huge amounts of snow that was on the ground when we brought him home from the hospital doesn’t count.

That in itself is great, but notice what’s going on in the picture.  HE’S STANDING.  And, it’s not one of those things where we stood him up and got out of the way to take the picture really fast.  Oh no.  He stands by himself with no problem, AND…  he’s walking with no assistance as well.  He can walk from one end of the house to the other (and sometimes even back again) without falling down or resorting to crawling.  The boy is definitely mobile.

Anyway, back to the snow for a moment.  Ever since the snow started falling the other night, he’s been fascinated by it.  We watched it fall before he went to bed the night of the first snow, and every morning before we get in the car he looks outside the garage at all the snow and points at it.  He likes to put his hands in it and feel the cold.  He also likes to eat it:

He’s really starting to communicate well.  There’s the pointing that I just mentioned, and he’s also starting to understand a few of the baby signs we’ve been teaching him over the past few months.  He definitely knows how to do the sign for “all done” and can do it when he’s had enough to eat.  We’re going to start using the baby signs DVD we got for him to see if we can increase his vocabulary a little.

Speaking of vocabulary, we’re getting the beginnings of a few words.  He does kind of an “ah-da” when he does his “all done” sign, he’s said “dog” a few times when looking at Stella, and also knows how to say “go,” although the context that he uses it in is not always consistent.

He growls.  It’s kind of a freaky thing if you aren’t expecting it.  We’re pretty sure he learned it from the babysitter’s daughter.  It’s really cute but definitely can be freaky.  We need to get some video of this.

He LOVES music and dances a little baby dance whenever just about any kind of music comes on.  Video of this would be good too.  It’s too freakin’ cute.

On rare occasions he’ll wave “bye-bye” or give a sloppy, open-mouth kiss on the nose, but neither one of those things have really taken off just yet.

Finally, in an unexpected surprise this evening…  after dinner I let out a little belch and responded by making a burping sound.  It sounded similar to his growl but it was definitely a fake burp.  He followed that with a real burp.  He’s quite a little monkey!

Today Nathan is 9 months old!  Each day Jeremy and I are amazed at how much he has grown and learned.  Tonight we took a few pictures of his new favorite thing to do…climb up on the fireplace and strike a pose.

While it is very cute, each time he does it we both get a little nervous.  But tonight Nathan showed us that he was perfectly capable of climbing down on his own without getting hurt.  I guess that was a lesson to us (especially momma) that we need to let Nathan figure things out on his own.

Ta-Da!

Some other things Nathan can do:

- He can stand up by himself for a few seconds.

- He likes to brush his own teeth.

- Swimming lessons are going great and he is an expert splasher.  And he’s the only baby I know who likes to put his face in the water!

- He is totally off baby food at dinner and eats big boy food.  That was his choice – he saw what we were having for dinner and decided that’s what he wanted to eat too.  So, that’s what he eats.

- He loves to crawl up the stairs, and he’s pretty good at it.  Now we just need to work on going down safely.

- Nathan has finally mastered the clap…we are still working on the wave.

- He has the most infectious laugh and you can’t help but be in a good mood around him.

Jeremy and I love our little boy so much and we’re very proud of all his little accomplishments so far.  Every day we look forward to spending time with him and watching him grow.  He is our awesome little man!