Nathaniel is now 16 months old. This past month has flown by as summer has come to an end and autumn has crept in.
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| baby blue eyes |
This month has been a busy one. We had a first birthday party for our friend Eli. The boys both had a great time seeing their friends, eating cupcakes, and having their first buckeyes. The boys also attended their first wedding. Although, they didn't make it to dinner at the reception, they did a pretty good job of holding still. Dad took Nathaniel to the nursery during the ceremony and Edmund sat on mom's lap. We also have had fun play dates with friends, lots of fun enjoying the zoo, walking to the local pond and park, playing in the backyard, picking the last of the raspberries and produce from the garden, decorating the house for autumn, practicing our painting and coloring skills, playing with cars and trains, and snuggling while reading good books.
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| friends |
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| painting fun |
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| playing in the dirt pot |
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| at the zoo |
We have heard that boys are movers, but Nathaniel is so active. He is always on the go, which is why we call him little go-go-go. (It's also because he likes to say "go go go" which is part of a song we sing from Vacation Bible School this past summer.) It isn't a big deal so far, it just wears mom out. The primary area where it has been challenging on a daily basis is trying to read books to him. He does like to sit down and read books to himself, which is good. We read him books while giving him a sippy cup of milk at bedtime, which is one of the few ways to get him to sit still for longer than five minutes. We should state that he does sit still really well for going on walks, eating meals, and riding in the car. He doesn't have to be moving 100% of the time, but it sure feels like it.
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| wheee! |
Nathaniel can be a bit over dramatic. Much of it stems from him not being able to express everything he is feeling verbally. The way he knows how to show he is upset is by running around shaking his arms, throwing himself flat on the floor and crying, or when he is very tired and frustrated he will hit his forehead on the floor. Thankfully, the head hitting is usually on the carpet or if he does it while in his high chair, it only hits the back of the plastic chair. Picking him up and soothing words or distracting seem to help him to get over things relatively quickly.
Overall, Nathaniel is a really happy kid. He can pretty much always be found giggling, laughing, running around, trying to be chased, dancing, playing peek-a-boo, pushing cars, and walking around with his blanket over his head so he is "invisible".
One thing that we have to do relatively often that gets great ire from him is having his hair cut. His hair is thick and coarse, making it challenging to cut. Even harder still is that he cries and moves his head away and tries to pull at your hands as soon as he sees you coming with the scissors. We used our electric trimmer this past time and it seemed to work much better, although it still ended with a puddle full of tears.
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| cheese! |
Nathaniel is a chatterer and is always talking to himself. His most common word (that has multiple meanings) is the word "bee".
rah bee - raspberry
bee - bee
bee bee - baby
bee - his blanket
Speaking of blanket, Nathaniel loves the blanket that mom crocheted him before he was born. We used Edmund's with him but he always preferred softer blankets. This was the first type of blanket that we used with both boys because it has large holes and we never worried about them suffocating with it. Nathaniel loves snuggling with it and needs to have it with him for naps and needs it if he sees that brother is carrying around his blankie too. We have two little Linuses in our house.
Nathaniel is still a great eater. He eats almost anything that you put in front of him. He now insists that he needs either a fork or spoon while he eats. While he doesn't typically use the fork, he holds it in his right hand the entire time he is eating. If he is feeling ambitious, he will take the food in his left hand and stick it on his utensil. He's getting pretty good with a spoon and will use it to banana eat ice cream and soup.
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| riding the carousel |
Nathaniel is such an amazing addition to our family. We love his joy for life and he has this ability to light up the room with his personality. His servant's heart is precious to see, even at this young age. He loves to help with anything we will let him. He also loves making a joyful noise and singing patty cake and the more we get together. Nathaniel is learning to pray. He folds his hands when we pray together and says "ameh" at the end. We read his bible to him and we pray that his little heart is soaking in how much God loves him. It's a heavy task.
This has been a great past month. We can't get enough of this little guy and pray for many more with him.
-Eric & Anna
