Happy Halloween!

As you can see, Nathan decided to be a giraffe for his first* Halloween. Why a giraffe, you ask? Well, that's because the free costume in Nathan's size that Mommy found on freepeats just happened to be a giraffe costume. Once again, frugality makes the decision. He's a cute giraffe, though, don't you think? Sort of appropriate for his build, anyway.

You should know that he's been pointing to these pictures and saying "puppy." Not only does he think that all animals are puppies (we have known that for a while), he is fooled by his own costume and thinks this is a picture of an animal!

*Yes, I know that technically Nathan has already been alive for one Halloween. But this is his first to dress up... he was too young (and I too exhausted) to participate last year, so we're not counting it. This year won't include any "real" trick-or-treating either, but we will stop by the church and the Raleigh office for my company, and to see a few friends. And then Mark and I will eat the candy. (Don't judge. Nathan would rather have mandarin oranges anyway.)

First Haircut

Before:

After:

Thanks, Lois!

And now little Nathan looks like such a big boy!

I'm So Not Ready

This week I learned that I am not ready to parent two children. And maybe not even qualified to parent the one I have.

We had a visit this week from the Caskey family. They were in town for a couple of days so they stayed one night with us, which was super exciting mostly because I hadn't met their new daughter Sienna yet. I mean, yay for seeing college friends and everything but really -- bring on the cute babies (whom I get to hand back to the parents for fussiness and dirty diapers).

So anyway while Kelley and Jonathan were in meetings on Friday, they left their 2-year old, Kiran, with Nathan and me for the afternoon. (They took Sienna with them.) Now let me preface this by saying that Kiran is the most agreeable, sweet, gentle, obedient, easy 2-year old on the planet. (At least when you only have her for one afternoon, Kelley might tell a different story.) And even as easy as she was, I don't think I am ready to have two toddlers around.

They actually played relatively well together (fortunately for Kiran, Nathan -- or eefin as she called him -- was happy to play with whatever toys she told him to... and she definitely told him what to play with). They napped at the same time. And they ate at the same time. And they talked to each other (these are two chatterbox toddlers!) constantly. I could take them on a walk together, since Kiran was happy to actually walk next to the stroller (well, run) and she was very good about staying on the grass instead of in the street when I told her to. They both enjoyed seeing our neighbors' (Jim and Renee) new baby, Nick. Nathan called him baby and Kiran corrected him -- baby Jesus. Ummm, not so much. But it was cute.

They did fight over who got the armrest in the car (Kiran won). They argued about the dogs (when Nathan would ask "puppy?" - Kiran would say "stay outside"). Nathan spent the bulk of our time at BJ's (had to go stock up on mandarin oranges and allergy meds, don't you know) pulling Kiran's hair, while sweet agreeable Kiran (who has obviously been taught to be gentle with babies, apparently to the point of martyrdom) just cringed and asked me peez if I could get him to stop.

As you can see in the pictures (I promise I wasn't letting him pull her hair just for the sake of pictures; really I wanted them both to smile at me), Nathan has not yet learned the concept of empathy. He thought Kiran's displeasure was great fun. So, he got to ride in the back of the cart.... You know, the place that all the diagrams on the seat tell you not to put your baby. Yeah, I'm That Mom. (Notice I didn't take a picture of that scenario for posterity... haha, escaped you once again, DSS!)

I had some logistical issues getting them down for naps, before I figured out I needed to do the crib baby first, since he was used to his nap place (and being in the crib, he wasn't going anywhere anyway) and then Kiran in the big-girl bed. I was worried about her falling out (this is a stage I'm not used to yet, give me a break) so I stayed outside her door until she was good and asleep... she had some sad little whimpers for mommy and daddy and even eefin (yes, even after the hair pulling) before she settled down. But then when we went to wake her up, I apparently didn't manage two babies well at the same time, and Nathan fell off the bed (see? I told you I'm not good at the big-kid bed thing) and got another goose-egg, the second one courtesy of mommy.

And all this was on far less sleep than I am used to. Which is what happens when old friends come to town and you stay up late gabbing. But I shouldn't complain, since Kelley has a 4-month old and she got even less sleep than I did.

Anyway, all this is just to say that as enjoyable as Nathan and Kiran both are, and as much as I laughed hanging out with them all day, I just don't think I'm ready to handle more than one. They both survived, as did I, but not with flying colors (I gave them each a nutri-grain bar for their lunch appetizers since I didn't have anything ready by the time they were desperately hungry since I also forgot the morning snack... and Kiran had to remind me to put shoes on Nathan when we went for our walk... which I still didn't but whatever it wasn't that cold). And honestly, I felt torn between them all day. I don't think they minded as much as I did, and I know it's a valuable lesson to learn anyway, but still I felt bad when one of them had to wait while I took care of the other one. And holy cow I'm glad I didn't even try to work... if I hadn't taken the afternoon off I think I would have been one big ball of stress. Seeing as I'm not ready to give up on my job (especially since they let me work only part-time, and from home), this was a good thing for me to learn today.

So no one (that's mostly you, grandparents) ask me about a sibling for Nathan for at least three more years... then he'll be old enough to be in kindergarten once the gestation period/adoption process is over!

Simon and Nathan

Why have all human children or all canine children, when you can have some of each and they are remarkaly alike anyway?Nathan has spent the last few months about like this... in front of the window, staring outside, usually with Simon alongside.
I love my babies, human and canine alike.

State Fair

One of the best things about living in Raleigh in the fall is the state fair. I don't think I ever noticed the state fair much when I lived in other parts of North Carolina, but around here, the state fair is a Big Deal. It's apparently one of the biggest in the country. In addition to the awards for livestock produce and recipes and such, they also bring in a string of big-name acts to do concerts and entertainment, and of course there is a big carnival-style "fest" with lots of rides and sideshow exhibits and such.

We went this weekend with our neighbors Amy and Drew for the afternoon. We rode the ferris wheel (I don't know why I continue to get on those things, I always get up there and I'm terrified) which was cold for Nathan but did give us some great views of the fairgrounds.

Mark and Amy and Drew all competed in the turkey shoot (none of them won a turkey this year though). We ate ham biscuits, fried snickers, onion blossoms, fried mac & cheese, and drank sweet tea (you would think the fair would have better tea... it was sort of sorry, actually). Though some of them looked good, we abstained from the myriad of other offerings: hushpuppies, free nc milk, london broil, elephant ears, giant turkey legs, funnel cakes, corn dogs, fried oreos (and reese's and coke and and cheeseburgers and pecan pie and anything else you can fry), homemade ice cream, gyros, homemade donuts, pizza, footlong hot dogs, wisconsin cheese (I just realized that's a little odd for the nc state fair), candy and caramel apples, frozen bananas, roasted corn, apple dumplings, sweet potato pie, fried carolina tilapia, banana pudding, cotton candy, sausage sandwiches, ostrich burgers, and I think that's it. That's all I can think of right now anyway.

Does anyone go to the fair to do anything besides eat? My annual fried snickers is totally worth the wait. (And ferris wheel stress.)

For more pictures of us at the fair, click here.

How to Lose a Stroller

Losing a stroller isn't easy. In order to lose a whole stroller out in public, you need to cart your child back to the car in the stroller, unload said child (and all accompanying paraphernalia) from the stroller, and then back your car out and drive away without hitting it. Or even noticing that it's still in the parking lot.

Despite several calls to the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market, and convincing the little old lady (well she sounds that way anyway) who works at the gatehouse to go back to the parking lot where you think you left it and check for it, no one will ever see the stroller again.

I can't think of anywhere else I could have left it, and that was definitely the last time I saw it. If you find my stroller, strolling itself through your neighborhood in a somber and lonely way, please do let me know.

But Don't Call Him "Pumpkin"

Nathan and I spent the day in the greater Greensboro area, hanging out with my longtime friend Jenny and her daughter Katie. Little Katie is getting around like a champ - seven months younger than Nathan and already crawling and cruising... yes, you remembered correctly that those are both new skills for Nathan, who just started cruising last week. Not that I am comparing. You're not supposed to do that. And I always do what I'm supposed to do, of course.

Nathan and Katie, deep in conversation.

The two of them were so much more interactive than last time we had them together. They grabbed toys from each other, climbed all over each other, and Nathan sat on Katie more than once (or twice). I think he was even showing off for her a little bit... jabbering on and on like he does. And it was working, too -- she seemed more interested in looking at him than looking at the camera! Not that Nathan made things any easier... he, of course, felt the need to point and yell "truck!" every single time a car went by. When, when you're outside at a farmers market, is pretty often. Oh, well. I guess it's better than the incessant "what's that?" of last week.... maybe.

"Truck!"

So we took them to the farmers market to let them play in this pumpkin house we spotted last year (when Nathan was too young and Jenny to knocked up to play in it). They had fun crawling around, touching the pumpkins, playing them like drums (ok that was just Nathan), and putting their faces into the cardboard fall-themed cutouts (ok that was mostly the parents pimping them for cute pictures).

Pumpkin... drum... whatever.

And since we were at the farmers market and there were so many fresh goodies right there, I had to shop a little. I got some homemade blackberry preserves (seedless) for Mark. I'm sure they won't be as good as the ones my Grandma B used to make, but they'll be better than smuckers, I can just about guarantee that. And some homemade whole wheat fig newtons for Nathan, made with apple and cinnamon instead of regular fig. (He ate some on the spot. He was a fan.) And some dark-chocolate covered peanuts and homemade mocha mix for me.

So being around all these pumpkins this afternoon I keep thinking about how my dad would apparently cringe if anyone called me "pumpkin" when I was a baby. I guess the whole jaundice thing ruined that nickname. And the song Yellow Rose of Texas, too. (That's where I was born, it's not that random that people would have tried to sing it to me.) Anyway I guess somehow that parental cringe got passed onto me, too. Or maybe Nathan's newborn jaundice would have caused it on its own. At any rate, I can't stand to hear people call him pumpkin. No one did, all day, but I was constantly worried that someone would. Weird, huh? (Thanks dad.)

Our bright-eyed (not pumpkinlike at all) baby Nathan.

Anyway we had a super day with the Calhouns, and it was fun to be outside enjoying the fresh fall air. And here's one more picture, since Nathan looks so happy (and old!) enjoying his farmers market day! To see even more Nathan-Katie-Pumpkin pictures, click here.

"What's That?"

This video will give you a glimpse of how we spend our time every day. As you can see, Nathan asks "what's that?" even before he points to anything. So I think this phase is more about being conversational than true curiosity. He just wants us to answer him, and he has learned that this question works. In the video below, you can also hear him say "puppy" and "truck." So turn your volume up and immerse yourself in the world of toddlerhood. For one minute and seventeen seconds anyway.


But wait! In case one minute of this wasn't enough for you (in which case, God is calling you to parent a toddler), there's more! Here's another (short... 25 seconds) video. This is this blog's first exposure to Nathan's fake laugh. Yes, he has a fake laugh. He uses it when other people are laughing but he doesn't really know why. Like if your boss tells a joke and you don't get it. Do other babies have fake laughs, or just my son? In some ways, it's funnier than his real laugh. I hope this doesn't mean he's destined to be a politician.

To see more videos of Nathan over the last fifteen months, click here.

Cruising with Nathan

Last week on our way to homecoming, we stopped and had dinner at my dad's house. Nathan hit two milestones there... the first was a trumping of his Dutch half by his Southern half, when he downed a stack of pulled pork barbecue with coleslaw, baked beans, and hushpuppies alongside. Not that Dutch people don't like barbecue (the ones I know do anyway!) but the way he was shoveling it in proves that he is truly southern. If coleslaw is the only "vegetable" you eat willingly... you might be a Carolinian. Am I right?

The second milestone was some legitimate cruising. Since he's been pulling up with more regularity (and on furniture, not just our hands), we knew this moment was coming. Turns out the perfect circumstance presented itself in the form of a coffee table at just the right height, and a Grandpa happy to bang on it with Nathan, causing a huge ruckus, lots of headbanging (rocker-style, not stressful-style) and some big belly laughs. Nathan was inching slowly towards his Grandpa the longer they played... he probably made it one foot in ten minutes. But apparently that was enough to plant the next seed of mobility, because he has taken off since then.

If you turn the volume up enough, you'll also get to hear him ask his favorite question... "What's that?" Which he asks at least five hundred times a day. I am not exaggerating.



That boy is a cruisin' fool.

(I just said that with a southern accent, a la Forrest Gump, in case you were curious. You know you were.)

Gymboree

Last week we finished out a second session at Gymboree in Cary. We did a session in January that he really enjoyed, but we didn't re-enroll in the spring since my work schedule is so hectic in April, May and June. (Plus, it's expensive to constantly be enrolled in stuff like that.) But they had a good special again in late summer, so we re-enrolled Nathan for a play class and a music class, both of which he loved. Here are some of Nathan's favorite things about Gymboree:

1.) The big drum in the middle of the room at the start of every music class. Nathan is That Baby who played the drum with his feet.

2.) Crawling through tunnels and barrels. He doesn't like to go in one end and out the other... he goes in, crawls to the other end, turns around and crawls back, to exit the same end he started with. When he can talk better I will definitely ask him about this.
3.) Singing "shake and shake and shake and shake and STOP" but then not actually stopping the shaker when he's supposed to freeze. What can I say, he's meant to be a soloist.

4.) Sliding on the slide. He likes to go down on fake bearskin mats.... head first, feet first, on belly or bottom, he loves it all. He even likes to try and go UP the slide. 5.) Singing "Noble Duke of York" and going upside-down at the end.

6.) Getting hugs and kisses from Gymbo the Clown.

7.) Any song that involves clapping or someone saying his name. Even better if the song has both... like "clap clap clap hello, clap hello to Nathan" (to the tune of "row row your boat"... yes you're very welcome for getting that stuck in your head; welcome to my world).

8.) Crawling while being chased around the play floor. Or crawling to chase someone else around the play floor. (This happens most on Daddy Gymboree days.) Nathan's pretty good at it since he can get in and under the equipment better than a grownup can.

9.) A tube ride.

10.) The parachute. I have seen a lot of kids through all our Gymboree classes, and let me tell you that no one has exhibited such joy over the parachute as Nathan does. He knows where they keep it, and he would crawl up to it and try to get into it, even before it was actually parachute time. I'm pretty sure he mastered his expert run-crawl at Gymboree, when he saw the parachute come out and he was on the other side of the room. Man, the boy can book it when it's time to play on the parachute. He likes the bubbles, he likes to grab it and shake it around, he likes to smack it to pop the bubbles, he likes to make a house out of it and crawl around inside, and he loves loves loves to lie on the floor kicking his feet in pure joy while the grownups raise and lower the chute over the mat. We're thinking we might ask Santa for one for Christmas, but we're not sure if the effect would be the same at home.

To see more pictures of Nathan at Gymboree, click here.