Drunken sailor?

It feels so wrong, yet so right, to laugh at this.  Go ahead, enjoy.

There's another, even funnier one, in Tom's phone right now.

WahDah

Here it is.
Novak's new favorite place in the world.
First it was toothbrushes, now it's water.

I'm sorry.  "WahDah"

Sneaky monkey

Novak has started sneaking into the older boys' bathroom.

To use their toothbrushes.

Nate through the years

I spent this week in Switzerland attending standards meetings.  While I was there, I started to look through the old pictures stored on my laptop.  I found so many pictures that I had almost forgotten existed. 

Since I started this blog after Nile was born, I have never shared many of the pictures of when Nate was little. 

Nate turns 7 this weekend, and so I thought it was an appropriate time to look back at how he's grown and changed.  My baby isn't such a baby any more. Here are a few of the pictures I found.

May 2005 (9 days prior to birth!)

January 2006 (8 months)

At the park, April 2006 (11 months)



Swimming in the back yard, July 2006 (13 months)

Little Hawkeye, September 2006 (16 months)


<>



Playing in the snow, December 2006 (19 months)

At a birthday party, July 2007 (age 2)

Making a gingerbread house, December 2007

"Rocking out," May 2008 (3 years)

Celebrating his 3rd birthday (May 2008)

Nate's first race, September 2008



John Deere 5K, September 2008

Little People

It's funny, I brought out the Little People for Novak to play with, but they seem to have found more universal appeal.

kindergarten visit

Nile got to experience a little bit of kindergarten today. After picking him up from preschool a little early, we headed to Southwest to have lunch with Nate in the cafeteria.

After parking in the school parking lot, it was all I could do to hold Nile back.  Well, who am I kidding?  I didn't hold him back much at all.  He hopped/bounced/skipped/ran through the parking lot into the school.  If the front door hadn't been locked (it is always locked, you have to buzz in), he would have been in the cafeteria before I got onto the sidewalk.  Luckily I caught up with him at the front door.

As we entered the school, Nate's class was walking past on their way to lunch. I couldn't have timed it better if I had tried!

Nile quickly fell in line with Nate, and they went to wash hands.  Mrs. Strafford did a great job helping explain to Nile the process of getting a hot lunch.  (Nate was super excited to have us join him, in his excitement he forgot that he had to teach Nile what to do.)


We got our hot lunches (soft pretzel with cheese, cucumbers, rosy applesauce, yogurt, fruit crisp, and milk), and sat down.  I could tell that Nile was having a blast.  He was positively glowing all through lunch.  Then after lunch Nate headed out to the playground, so we followed behind.  Tom showed Nile the playground and we spent just a few minutes out there before I could tell we needed to get Novak home.

As we walked to the car, Nile asked me, "Mom?  When is summer?"  "In a few weeks, buddy, school is out in two weeks." "Then I'll be a kindergartner!"

All the way home Nile talked about kindergarten.

"Mom, next year Nate will be in second grade, Emma will be in first grade, and I will be in kindergarten."

"Mom, do 10 year olds go to Southwest?  I think 10 year olds are too old for Southwest."

"When Nate is in 5th grade I will be in 3rd grade."
"Novak will be in kindergarten then?  No way!"

This child is ready for kindergarten.

(sorry for the lack of pictures with this post, I had Novak in one hand and my car keys in another, so there was no room for a camera)

Two trees, a bush, and bluebirds

Can you see them?

By the way, "these are Mountain Bluebirds because they don't have red on them."

Soccer

Nate is once again playing soccer this spring, and loving every minute.  They had their soccer pictures taken a few weeks ago and I though they were too cute not to share.

What you can't tell from these pictures is that it was about 35 degrees that morning.  At least it was sunny!

Update:  Nate just walked in, saw this picture, and said, "That was me.  I was freezing.  I was shivering cold."

Nate (who else?)

Crew - Spring 2012

Afternoon siesta

Nate had a headache and wanted to lie on the couch for a while. A minute later, I looked over to see this.

I don't think I could ever get tired of watching him sleep. When he is asleep, he is my baby again.

Sweet, innocent, beautiful Nate.

What happens when you give a toddler a chocolate Clif bar?

8:45 am

It's 8:45 am and Novak is still in bed. He's usually up by 7, 6 even.

I snuck in and took this picture. He is so sweet when he is asleep. (he's pretty sweet when he is awake too)

It may be an interesting day...

Swinging with my best buddy!

Novak loves to swing. And he absolutely loves Nile.

And Nile loves Novak.

May Day

I have had a busy few days. Tonight I was feeling unmotivated and stressed.

When I came to bed tonight Nate had left this on my pillow.

I love this kid. Even without knowing it, he knew exactly what I needed to be reminded of tonight.

words...at 19 months

My Novak...

Becky pointed out to me that in the last month or two she has put up more blog posts than I have.  What can I say, life is busy.  Busy is an understatement.

But I did think it was fitting to take a few minutes to sit down and capture a snapshot of Novak at this moment in time.  You might recall that a little over a month ago (just a few short posts ago), Novak got tubes in his ears.

At the time, he wasn't walking at all, and he wasn't talking much.  I had heard anecdotally that kids often started talking more when they got tubes.  We had learned at his first referral appointment that he failed all his hearing tests.  (which he has now passed with flying colors, yay!) 

So for Novak, the last month has been, well, "ear-opening."  A month ago, Novak's verbal library consisted of:

• "wa-da" (water)
• "da-deeeee" (daddy)
• "ma-ma" (mama)
• "daaaaa" (dog)
• "ba-ba" (Papa)

And that was about it.  Now, just a few short weeks later, his vocabulary has grown:

• "mil" (milk)
• "neigh-ni" (fan) <-- This one doesn't make any sense, I know...
• "wing" (swing"
• "binky" (binky, his pacifier) <-- This may be the clearest word he speaks
• "lie" (light)
• "gama" (Grandma)
• "Neigh" (Nate)
• "Ni-ni" (Nile)
• "Na-na" (banana)
• "lello" (yellow)
• "boo" (blue)
• "emma" (cousin Emily)

He also makes sounds:

• growls (like a bear, lion, or pretty much anything he doesn't know the sound of)
• "hoo hoo ha ha" (monkey)
• "oof, oof" (dog)
• "murm murm" (truck)

So I'd say this is great progress!  We're still working on the walking part, although he did take some steps for Papa and Grandma this weekend.  

I won't get into the "terrible twos" which are starting just in time...suffice it to say he has learned how to communicate when he is not getting his way.