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"I think he noticed that we're the same"

Last night Nathan didn't want to take a bath, so Tyson took a bath with him. Everything was going as usual with Nathan playing with his many toys, and Tyson laughing at him. Suddenly Nathan stopped and looked at Tyson's bits, then he looked at his own. Then back to daddy's. Then he grabbed his belly and smushed it in so he could see his own better. Tyson said he looked back and forth for a while with a look of confusion on his face, then he grabbed his own. He eventually went back to playing with his bath toys, but he seemed to realize that he had the same equipment. We always knew he was brilliant, but isn't it a little early for him to notice?

Long time no... type?

It's been a busy week, and I'm so sorry we haven't posted. So much happened though! We decided early in the week to stop cuddling Nathan to sleep. He's done so well! We just put him in his crib when he gets sleepy, and he hangs out for a while, then falls asleep. He likes to hold hands until he falls asleep, but I can deal with that. He's so amazing. I can't believe how adaptable he is! We also took the bottle away. Now he has his formula in a sippy cup. This probably would have been harder if we'd have used a bottle at bedtime, but he's never gone to sleep with a bottle. So he just drinks from his sippy cup and everything's great. He also got a new tooth! I guess Nathan just wanted to contribute to all the changes around here. That made our days a little rough, but he handled it better than expected. It's only supposed to get easier from here! He babbles like crazy now. It seems like the more he's enjoying himself the more vocal he gets. Today he sat in our closet swinging a hanger around for a half hour jabbering away the whole time. He really seemed to be having fun. He's also started walking without prompting. He can only take two or three steps, but he'll walk toward his binky or the TV whenever the mood strikes. He invariably falls when he arrives at his destination, but we're working on that. I've been having him walk from me to the couch and back. He loves the game, and he's learning how to slow down and grab onto something when he gets there. I cheer excitedly whenever he takes steps, even if he falls right away. Tyson's so proud he doesn't know what to do with himself. We're always amazed at how smart Nathan is. And I can always hear them giggling in the bathtub. Everything our son does amuses Ty to no end. I'm so thankful that he's such a great dad. Things are going really well now, and I can't wait to bring the baby to Modesto to show you all how big he is!

The old ball game!

We went to two baseball games this week. The first was Padre's vs Giants, and the second was Padre's vs Pirates. Nathan did amazingly well. The first game he fussed at a little bit, until we gave him some nachos. There's no problem a glop of cheese sauce can't solve. He also tried cotton candy for the first time. He didn't seem to believe that it was edible. When we first put the candy in his hand he tried to shake it off like it was gross. Then he refused to taste it. We ended up having to trick him to get him to even try it. But once he got that first little nibble he was hooked. He made such a goey mess the first game I was afraid it wouldn't come off the jersey, thank God for OxyClean. At the second game he seemed to recognize the cotton candy, but he still didn't trust us that it's food. There were people from Ty's ship at the second game, since he got the tickets free from his chief this wasn't a surprise. Nathan was so cute and excited. He gave kisses and smiles out like a tiny politician. He even cuddled up to Chief McKinney like he was going to sleep. He ended up sleeping for a couple of innings, but he was awake for the end of the game when the Padre's won! Everyone was so excited that Nathan began to bounce and squeak excitedly. He was wired after that. He stayed awake the whole Trolley ride back to our car, and was wide awake when we finally pulled into our parking space. Then he bounced off the walls for a half hour before we finally pinned him down and forced him to sleep. We had a lot of fun, and he's adorable in his jersey. Check out his photos, there are a bunch of him in his little outfit.

THE TANTRUM!!

Whenever we go to the bathroom, Nathan will stop whatever he's doing and break for the door. His goal is to make it into the bathroom with us. If we make it before he does and close the door, it's inevitable that we'll hear him slapping the door and jabbering on the other side. If he does happen to make it in, he'll sit on the floor directly in front of the toilet and stare up at us. It's disconcerting to say the least. Sometimes he'll talk to us on the toilet, other times he'll just laugh at us. Either way, he's very fascinated by our trips to the bathroom. Afterward he likes to examine the toilet and try to peek inside. Since we don't think this is a healthy habit, we try to get him out of the bathroom as quickly as possible. This generally leads to The Tantrum. Nathan's newest habit is to throw a huge fit whenever he doesn't get his way. It doesn't matter how nice we are when we tell him no, or how quickly we replace whatever we've taken away with a toy. He does one of two things, he'll either scream and cry loudly, or he'll throw The Tantrum. The Tantrum consists  of him very slowly sticking out his lip while he lowers his face and upper body to the ground. When he's completely flat (in yoga's Child's Pose) he will then let loose the most horrific screaming and crying. He looks as though he's greiving the loss of some lifelong friend. Laying prone on the ground crying as though his heart has broken. It's kinda sad, kinda funny, but mostly OLD! He's been doing this since mid-August, and we're so tired of it. At first we stared in surprise at this outburst, then tried to comfort him. Now we just roll our eyes and walk away if possible. Every time we tell him no this happens. It's always such a big deal. It's not like we say no very often. In fact we're probably spoiling him beyond repair. But when we stop him from doing something gross or potentially dangerous, which seems to be everything he does lately, we get treated to these huge bouts of temper. Today Nathan had a little diarrhea, and I gave him some juice to keep hydrated. He was doing great for a while, then the straw stopped working. (He drank it all.) He screamed and screamed when there was no more juice in the box, and he refused my offer of iced tea. He would have none of Tyson's root beer. He simply threw himself on the floor and screeched until Tyson was able to find another juice box hidden in the cupboard. We have no idea where this behavior comes from. I'm inclined to believe that aliens came and switched babies on me. If anyone knows where my sweet little baby from a month ago went, I'll be happy to pay a reward for his safe return.

Ordinary days.

Nathan is such a busy guy. He's been standing up a lot today, and the other day he took half a step. He was standing next to the big tree out front with the tree off to his side. He really wanted to touch the tree so he turned his whole body to face it. In order to turn he had to pick up his far leg and move it forward toward the tree. I was so excited, because I thought he'd take another step to get to the tree. Then he fell over. He seems to really consider walking, but decides it would be easier to crawl and drops to his knees at the last minute. The walking practice has been a great source of entertainment for him while I do my homework too. Plus Tyson is always fun for him to play with. They were sitting on the neighbor's skateboard today doing circles around the apartment buildings. Tyson sat with Nathan on his lap and propelled them down the sidewalk with his arms. Nathan sat calmly in his daddy's arms and smiled hugely the whole time.  He's been pretty crabby this week. We've been trying to tweak his schedule a little to try and get him to cheer up. We think his late afternoon nap was the culprit. He was sleeping for way too long in the evenings, and then staying up way too late. It was such a fight to get him to bed. He's showing a serious improvement already. He's waiting for his after bath massage, so I'll go for now.

SuperNathan

Today we got new cellphones. All of the excitement and package unrwapping proved too much for Nathan, and he grasped Tyson by the shorts and pulled himself up onto the couch with us. He's SuperNathan, faster than a speeding turtle, more powerful than a 10 week old puppy, able to leap onto the couch in a single bound!

My amazing baby.

This isn't a daily thing, but I thought it was interesting. On Tuesday night Nathan talked in his sleep. I thought it was the cutest thing. It was babble, which made it all the more adorable. He sounded happy, the way he babbles when he's playing. He was sleeping next to me with his little arms flung above his head, and he just babbled away for a second, then it was over. I didn't even know babies could talk in their sleep. Shows what I know. Things like this are part of the reason we started this blog. Some things aren't call-people-up newsworthy, but they're still fun.

Welcome

This is Nathan's blog. We've created it so we can have a written history of his daily life, and so that interested people can check out what he's doing whenever they want. We'll be trying to update daily, but Nathan is a teething baby, so bear with us.