My Life by iPhone - days 13-20

It hasn't been a particularly thrilling week around here, but I suppose that's not too bad. My grad school classes start in the next week and a half, plans for a friend's bridal shower are starting, and there are a lot of other things coming up on the docket for the year, so I'll take this quiet (yet still somehow busy and slightly hectic) week.

Day 13: Nate kept luring Buster into his tent and laughing hysterically when Buster would run into the tent, whip it around like crazy, and then dash out.

Day 14: Nate was watching TV in my bedroom. After I took this picture he said, "Mommy. Stop watching me watch TV. Go in the living room." Ooookay Mr. 15 years old.

Day 15: Homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner, per the hubby's request.

Day 16: Eggs and buttered toast for dinner. I adore breakfast for dinner.

Day 17: My sister-in-law's scissors. She cut my hair that evening (she's a hairdresser in training - I'll take a free haircut any time!).

Day 18: Playing LeapPad under the blankets. Nate loves to hide under the blankets, count down from five or up to ten and then pop out and yell, "Surprise!"

Day 19: The hubby and I never have time to continue watching "current" Doctor Who (we're still on the early 10th Doctor episodes) so I decided to watch a few of the classic episodes. I'm still on 1964 and it's hysterical - the sets, the script, the acting. I love it.

Day 20: Nate enjoying his Sunday smoothie and some Octonauts on the iPad.

And here we go, off into another week... here's hoping it's a good one!

You've lost that eating feeling...

And by "you," I mean Nate.

Nate is a picky eater, but I feel like I need a better term than that for him. When I think of the phrase "picky eater," I envision a kid sitting at a table, gingerly peeling back the bread on his sandwich and closely examining the contents.

Nate would pull the sandwich apart and look at all of it, but not very delicately. It's also fully possible he would walk up to the table, take one look at the sandwich, simply say, "No. I not hungry." and walk away. That scenario would actually happen with many, many things.

Nate will eat:

  • chicken nuggets
  • macaroni and cheese
  • carrots (this plus the two above items constitute at least 50% of his dinners)
  • grilled cheese/quesadillas (sometimes)
  • pancakes/waffles (always)
  • smoothies/yogurt (always - must be drinkable, though)
  • fries (we only serve sweet potato fries)
  • fried egg (especially in the "bird in a nest" style)
  • peas
  • corn
  • long pasta (spaghetti, linguine, etc)
  • apples (whole, not sliced)
  • bologna (this is a new development)
  • tacos (deconstructed - meat, cheese, taco shell, corn - all separate... this used to include beans and rice but those have mostly fallen out of his favor)
  • snack food (fruit snacks, mini muffins, popcorn, applesauce in a pouch, etc)

Things Nate used to eat and almost never does now:

  • beans
  • rice (and "rice and beans" as a combo dish)
  • bananas (but he made my day by asking for one the other day and then eating it completely)
  • cooked vegetables other than peas and corn
  • short pasta
  • anything with sauce
  • peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
  • some cold cuts (turkey, ham)

Nate has never liked/eaten:

  • anything cold (ice cream, popsicles, etc)
  • raw vegetables other than carrots (I'm convinced he thinks I'm feeding him houseplants or backyard bushes when I make a salad)
  • soup/yogurt in a cup/pudding/cereal with milk (i.e. anything requiring a spoon - he requests a fork for dinner every day and won't eat without it being on the table... BUT he rarely uses it and won't ever use a spoon. My charming little caveman.)

Sigh. I have minimal complaints about Nate. I wish he didn't get out of bed after bedtime and I wish he ate more. That's it, really. So I know to be grateful (and am, every day)... but man, what I wouldn't give to be able to serve him some soup and a salad. I don't even remember when the food refusal began, but I so fondly remember making one dinner and serving all three of us. That is very rarely the case now since I don't want to live on chicken nuggets. I look at old pictures of him shoveling food in his face in his high chair and want to cry because I really miss those days.

And I know the research says he's training me to feed him what he wants - that if I put out food and don't let him eat anything else, he won't starve himself and will eventually eat what's in front of him. I believe it, too. But I just do not have the strength to deal at 8pm when he's hungry, refusing to eat what's available and pitching a fit because I won't let him have a yogurt or some cheese (again). I know it sounds ridiculous and I wish I could really think back to myself 10 years ago and remember what I would think if someone told me they couldn't get their 2 1/2 year old to sit at the table and eat something. I probably would have thought that person wasn't trying very hard... and maybe I'm not.

When I was engaged and debating changing my name, someone said to me, "You have to pick your battles. You have to decide for yourself if this is the hill you want to die on." I.e. is this issue important enough for you to stand your ground, not budge, and make it a central focus of your life.

Nate's nutrition is important to me - extremely so, particularly because obesity runs in my family and I believe the food culture in our country is toxic. However, I'm just not willing to send my two year old to bed hungry. I am not convinced he will understand yet why I'm doing that if he doesn't eat what's on the table. I think it's a dangerous line in terms of my power as a parent - being the keeper/distributor of the food - and I don't want to wield that power in any way that Nate could misinterpret in a damaging way.

So what do I do? I put bananas, whole wheat flour, and flax meal in his waffles. I put kale and spinach in his smoothies. I limit him to one yogurt, snack of each type per day (though I do not have control over what his caretakers may give him on their own). I ask him what he wants for meals sometimes and if his request isn't reasonable or doesn't work right then, I explain why and offer an alternative. If it's outside the norm but still reasonable, I do it. I have him help in the kitchen sometimes (he likes to mix/stir things) and I always offer him a bite of what I'm eating (he has not once ever taken me up on that offer, though).

Really, I'm hoping this is a phase and it passes. He's two. I can see this continuing into three but I'm hoping by 3 1/2 that he's eating more than he does now. I don't need him to be an adventurous eater now (though I do hope he is some day). I want him to be someone who will always try something, because I think that's valuable, but I also want him to lead a healthy and fulfilling life, and have a healthy relationship with food. So hopefully a year from now, I can think about making a list of what Nate eats regularly and the list will be so long that I won't be able to remember it all.

Nate's Latest Requests

"He is really bossy now."
~my brother, regarding Nate

Nate is definitely in a stage now where he's delighted that he can ask us to do things and we'll comply. "Mommy? Milk please?" He asks for help when he needs it, asks to do activities together, asks to help us with what we're doing... it's all about putting us in motion to serve what he wants.

Recently, though, he asked for two sort-of milestone things:

1. a brother

2. a potty

The potty? Not a problem. Sold. Don't have to ask me twice. Well, actually that's a lie disguised as a cliche. He did indeed have to ask me twice. More than that, actually.

"Mommy? Nate a potty please?"
"You want a potty?"
"Yes. Mommy, Nate a potty please?"
"You want Mommy to buy you one of these potties? You want to buy it and bring it home?"
"Yes, Mommy. Nate a potty please?"

And so it continued for another couple of minutes until I was convinced he really understood what he was asking. He did, but don't mistake this for interest in potty training. Ohhhh no. He's sat on the potty a few times but he hasn't done anything there and isn't truly interested. But he asked for it and told me what it's for ("A pee pee and poop! Stinky potty!") so he understands. He's just not interested.

As for the other request. Oh brother, indeed.

"Mommy?"
"Yes Nate?"
"Nate a brother please?"
"You want a brother?"
"Yes Mommy. Nate a brother please?"

You can see there's a pattern to our conversations.

I wish I could grant this request. If it weren't a money issue, I actually felt ready to get on board with #2 before Nate's 2nd birthday. But we just can't right now and I don't know when we'll be able to.

One by one, most of the people who had their first child around the same time we had Nate are having their second children and I really hate that we're not. I think of every month that passes as another month of age difference between Nate and his future sibling. I know plenty of people whose children are farther apart in age than Nate and a sibling would now be, even a year from now, but it's not what I wanted. I didn't know it wasn't what I wanted until I first started feeling ready for a second child.

Hopefully it's a request we can grant/wish we can fulfill one day. That time isn't now but I hope it will come eventually.

From the mouths of babes...

Or the mouth of one babe, in particular... There are so many things Nate says now that make me laugh or smile. On the talking spectrum, he's right where he should be, which means he knows a lot of words but isn't putting together sentences the same way I see little girls his age doing. He still babbles a lot and it's clear that he thinks he's saying sentences, and he talks ALL DAY LONG.

Wheeee!

Amongst all that chattiness, there are a few things that make Tom and I crack up to ourselves long after Nate's gone to bed.

Lock - Nate pronounces lock as "yock," which makes me snicker when I think about it. It's so cute sounding. And he is obsessed with locks - he wants to close all doors, all the time. He also wants to make sure I remember to lock the car when we park it. When I take him out of his car seat, he starts going, "Yock! Yock! Mommy? Yock?"

Sock - This one is pronounced with an "f" - fock. I think that says enough.

Backpack - Mack Mack - LOVE it. He now understands that the backpack is used to carry stuff, so he takes toys with him when we go to my in-law's house.

Fix it - This is a common request after he throws some toy and all the pieces come apart. "Mommy? Mommy? Fix it!" He also thinks putting the key in the ignition in the car is fixing the car. After I buckle him into his car seat (and he says, "Buckle! Buckle!"), he starts saying, "Mommy! A key! A key! Fix it!" I guess the car is broken without the key. Really kinda makes sense, right?

Cool - This is Nate's latest exclamation. He uses it correctly and appropriately, which cracks me up. He'll be playing with his toys, have one of them do something, and then go, "Cool!"

Oh Man! - This one definitely came from Dora the Explorer. Ugh. But it's just funny when he says it.

Night night - Every time Nate sees a bed, he says, "A bed! Night night!" (This was extra funny in IKEA the other day.) For the past few weeks, Nate has been waking up in the middle of the night, usually between 12:30am and 5am, at which point he comes to our room and falls back asleep with us in our bed. One night last week, though, he woke up at 11:30pm, when we were still awake. He stumbled into our room, squinting at the light still on. He walked over to our lamp, turned it off, said, "Night night!" and crawled into our bed and fell asleep. We were laughing SO hard; we couldn't help it. Even after we both also laid down, we kept giggling for a while.

A phone - Nate loves all phones. When we recently went to the Verizon store to get my iPhone, he just ran around going, "A phone! A phone! A phone! A phone!" because, well, you know - there were phones everywhere. He was out of control.

Mom - He usually still says Mommy, but sometimes he says, "Mooo-oooom." What??? NO. He better stick with "Mommy" for at least a few more years. (Somehow, Tom is still Dada, not even Daddy, even though Nate was saying Dada long before he was saying Mama.)

Uncle Kenny - It took Nate a long time to call my brother something considering he lives with us. A few times he tried to say Kenny and it came out "keh-yee" but I guess that didn't work for him because he's taken to calling him Kiki (kee-kee). CRACKS ME UP every time. I told my brother that I bet he never guessed in a million years that he'd be called Kiki regularly without some reassignment surgery.

Knock knock - Sometimes Nate will knock on Ken's door. Other times he just stands at the door and screams, "Knock knock! Kiki! Knock knock! Kiki!" Hysterical.

A - Everything is singular right now. Ken is "a kiki," every phone is "a phone," every cookie is "a cookie."

What - We have this little game in the car where I say, "Say whaaaat?" and Nate goes, "Whaaat!" And then we both giggle. I love it.

Blue - Pronounced "BOOOOO!" Even though he knows several colors (white, purple, red), he calls all of them blue right now. He also calls Blue from Blue's Clues "Boooo!" (It's also one of his favorite shows right now.)

Hold on - Every time we walk down our back steps, I tell Nate to hold on to the handrail. He always does, but now he also yells, "HOLD ON!" with every step down he takes. (I'm laughing just thinking about it. It's so funny. At least I know he's listening.)

Pizza - Pronounced "Izza!" (Eat-za) My parents babysat Nate last Saturday while I was at a conference and ordered pizza for dinner as a treat for Nate. When the pizza arrived, he yelled, "Izza!" and ran to the table and scrambled into his seat, sat up tall and said, "Eeeeat! Eeeeat!" He knows what he likes.

Climb - Nate has to use a stool to get into his bed (it's just a smidge too tall for him) and I guess I said, "Climb into bed" a bunch of times because now every time he does climb into bed, he says, "Climb! Climb!" He also likes to carry his stool around the house and try to reach new things (light switches, window sills). He gets up on it and goes, "Climb!" He also says it at the playground as he climbs the structures. It's hard to describe how he says it - it's kind of like "kyime." Very cute.

Color - Nate says "kuh-goo" to mean color or crayon. I have no idea why/how it works out that way, but I think it's adorable.

 

I really can't state enough just how much I love all of this. It's still challenging when Nate's trying to tell me something and I don't yet understand what he means, but looking at a list like this makes me realize just how much we actually communicate now and how awesome it is. This list is just a snippet of all the things he says - the funnier things. We really do have a chatty little boy, and it's fantastic.

22 & 23 Months

Dear Nate,

Today you turn 23 months old. Obviously, this means you'll be TWO YEARS OLD a month from today - but instead of getting wistful about that right now, let's talk about the last two months, which have been PACKED with all kinds of new adventures.

The biggest new adventure has been your big boy bed! Two weeks ago you started climbing out of your crib on a daily basis, so rather than risk having you get injured, we decided it was time to move you to a bed. There are built-in bunk beds in your room (the ladder has been stowed away since we moved in, though) so we moved you straight into a twin size bed instead of getting a toddler bed in the interim.

It's been a bit of a bumpy transition. You've been waking up at 6am nearly every day and won't go back to sleep unless I come in your room (instead you get out of bed and stand behind your closed door screaming because you can't open it). Little by little, I think you'll start sleeping later. Overall, you're doing really well. Nap time is still a struggle most days, especially Saturday, but we're working on it.

Then, of course, there was our trip to the emergency room this past weekend. But you are quite a little trooper. No one would know you had a dislocated elbow this weekend.

If we dig back a little further to last month, you had an even less happy encounter: the Easter bunny! Last year you were so happy to sit on that big, fuzzy lap. This year? Not so much.

But that's okay. I know it'll be better in a few years. You just love to be on the go now and don't appreciate being told to sit in one place for any period of time unless there's food in front of you. You still love to eat, but continue to be a bit picky. It's been challenging to find nutritious foods that you'll eat without hesitation, but we're learning. And you're still growing, so I think everything is okay. You weighed 33 lbs at the hospital this weekend and are wearing all 2T clothes and a few 3T shirts. All four of your two year molars are at least partially in, so you are officially done breaking in any new teeth until you get your adult teeth!

And you take great care of your teeth, too. In your Easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa, you got two new toothbrushes, which you demanded be opened immediately so you could use them - which you did. You spent the next hour walking around, using both brushes simultaneously. You LOVE brushing your teeth (although you mostly love playing with the water in the sink - but you do actually brush your teeth well).

Your first time walking Buster with Mommy... You were SO excited and happy!

Your vocabulary is getting bigger every week and you've begun to know some letters. Yesterday you (accurately) pointed out the letters A, B, C, E, K, M, and O - and even connected some words to them - "B! Boo! (blue)" "M! Me me me!" You basically point out these letters everywhere we go. I think your favorite colors are blue and green, although you call both of them blue ("Boo!").

Your favorite new item is the "mack mack" (backpack) the Easter bunny brought you on Sunday.

For the past two days, you've put it on and tried to leave with me when I left for work. I think maybe you think that owning a backpack means you get to work with Mommy? (Since I take a backpack to work almost every day to carry my schoolbooks in case I have time for them.) I think you'll be very excited to put it on Thursday to take it with you to Grandma's house for the day, even if you don't quite get the concept yet of using it to carry things with you.

Other things you absolutely love right now: playing with your LeapFrog tablet, helping Dada get the dogs ready for their walk, giving the dogs their treats after their walk, pointing out where our jackets are and which one belongs to who, pointing out the cars in the driveway and which one belongs to who, telling me that the door is for going "outside, away," saying, "Oh man!" ALL THE TIME, telling me where my coffee cup is ("foffee! foffee!"), telling me that every bed is "a bed, night night," eating raisins, asking for milk (even if it's water or juice), helping me unload and close the dishwasher, helping put clothes in the dryer... do you see a theme? You love to help, to do whatever we're doing, and to tell us the purpose of everything around. I love watching you figure it all out and how you surprise us with a new word every day sometimes.

I can't believe you'll be two years old next month, although we already say we have a two year old because you're such a big boy to us. We love everything about you. Even the 6am wake-up screams aren't so bad because when we open that door, you are so sweet and happy to see us and start your day or snuggle back to sleep. Every minute with you is a joy, truly. We love you!

Love,

Mommy & Dada

Nate's (and our) 1st trip to the ER

I know it was bound to happen sometime. Apparently emergency room visits are all the rage with parents of young children. However, the hubby and I have very little emergency room experience. I think I went once as a kid (twisted ankle) and I think the hubby went once (scratched cornea - yowch). So we were ill-prepared for this.

On Saturday, I was playing with Nate. He likes to stand behind us on the couch, have us hold his hands over our shoulders and rock front and back or side to side - kind of like a piggy back ride, but while sitting. After a certain seeming non-extraordinary moment, he said, "Ow" and pouted and was holding his wrist - so I thought maybe I had held too tightly onto his wrist. By this point, he was two hours overdue for a nap, though (he doesn't nap well, sometimes at all, on Saturdays) so we figured maybe he was cranky because of that and didn't really hurt much. So at 3pm, the hubby put him down for a nap.

We were scheduled to go to dinner at 5pm for my brother's birthday, so around 4:15 I went in to wake Nate up. As soon as he woke up, he started crying - hard. And he just kept crying. I sat in the glider with him and he was sort of clutching his left arm a little, but also not moving it at all. He would move his right arm just fine, but his left arm he kept bent and close to his body. If I tried to lift it (slowly and gently), he would cry, "Owww!" and then cry more.

So we called our pediatrician's weekend service and they said it sounded like "nursemaid's elbow" (which I had never heard of and had to Google) and that we should go to the ER, so we did.

This is where the lack of ER expertise came in because the hubby dropped off Nate and I while he went to go park the car (Nate was already feeling better by this time - his arm probably really hurt early because he spent over an hour sleeping on it, poor thing). I walked in and realized I had no idea what to do. It was nothing like it is on TV - no bloody people lying around, no gurneys running through. Plus, this was specifically the pediatric emergency room - so mainly there were kids and teenagers sitting around, looking bored, watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on the flat screen.

Nate's "bracelet," Curious George, and my striped sleeve

So I walked up to the desk and probably just said, "Uhhh.. um." But they, of course, knew what to do - took our information, gave Nate a hospital bracelet (which he liked - he likes bracelets) and then we sat in front of the TV and I gave him the coloring supplies I had planned to bring with us to dinner.

"Kuh-goo!" (that's how Nate says "color" or "crayon")

Nate was really great in the waiting room. He was really interested in the automatic door (he's obsessed with all doors needing to be closed, so seeing a door that closed itself was a highlight for him). He said hi to the other kids and was just generally running around if he wasn't watching TV or coloring.

 
That looks like a toddler with a dislocated elbow, right?

We were eventually moved to the second waiting area, where we kept Nate entertained with episodes of Thomas on our phones. Eventually the doctor saw us, flexed Nate's arm three times and told us it was nursemaid's elbow. I asked her if she'd have to set it and she said, "I just did." OH. Well, okay then. No wonder Nate just cried for a minute (I figured it was just because it hurt).

Waiting for the Motrin to kick in so we can go home

She had us give Nate some Motrin and then we had to sit around for 20 minutes waiting to make sure he could use the arm (if he couldn't, it might have been a fracture). Nate seemed too nervous to use the arm. He'd use it when he wasn't thinking about it, but as soon as we asked him to, he'd refuse. Eventually the open door in the waiting room got the better of him, though, and using his formerly injured arm, he pulled it shut (one of those heavy hospital doors with a rubber doorstop). The doctor saw that and said, "Well, okay. I think you can go home now."

The next morning (Easter morning), Nate woke up like nothing had happened. He was happy and energetic and seemed to have no memory of being hurt. He was his regular self and was totally happy to open up his Easter backpack ("mack mack!") and eat some Easter treats.

So there it was. Nate's first trip to the ER. Our first parental trip to the ER. Fairly uneventful and not too scary (no blood or anything). Nerve-wracking, for sure, and it sucked that we had to miss my brother's birthday dinner, but at least it wasn't anything worse and we're very lucky to not have had to do this before. I would like to avoid doing it again but I have a feeling this won't be our one and only ER visit. At least next time we'll know the drill.

Tech Irony

I've had Instagram envy forever. I downloaded it on my iPad, but it's just not the same on there - you need it on your phone, as you're on the go.

So my joy was enormous when Instagram announced on Tuesday that it was now available for Android. I mean, really, I was SO happy about this. Sure, it's just an app and a little thing to do during the day, but it's a small thing I really love. I was thrilled.

Then, yesterday, my phone took a tumble down the stairs at work. It was instantly kaput. I couldn't get it to turn on, the parts of the battery cover that keep it in place popped off. I stood there, jaw dropped, for a good minute.

So after work, the hubby, Nate and I took a trip to the Verizon store and (much to my Android-loving husband's chagrin) I got an iPhone. I tried out a bunch of phones (and if you like Android phones, I recommend the Rezound - it's gorgeous) but the iPhone really fits best with the sort of tech user I am and will sync with the apps I have on my iPad.

I could tell the sales guy was so not excited about this sale. Nate was wreaking havoc everywhere and the sales guy was also clearly not an Apple fan, so he wasn't too smiley for us. Nate terrorized the store. He had skipped his nap and he was hungry and thirsty, so he was just wild - running all over, making a TON of noise. At some point I leaned over to the hubby and said, "Man. We are THOSE parents today." (i.e. the ones everyone else looks at and thinks, "Geez, can't you control your child?" Trust me, we were trying our best.)

We were in such a rush to get to the store and home in time for dinner that we didn't pack any snacks or anything for Nate and he had only had a light snack before leaving, so he was hungry. Bad parent planning. We picked up dinner on the way home (Chipotle as consolation for the hubby) and Nate was in his car seat going, "Eat! Eat! Eat!" which he's never done before - actually ASKING to eat that strongly. Poor kid was so hungry and thirsty. He scarfed down his quesadilla, rice, and beans - covering himself with all of it in the process, so then he also had a bath with lots of bubbles, which is one of his greatest joys in life. I, however, left my new phone in the kitchen. I was not about to take any more chances. Technology and I aren't always friends and I didn't need to see my iPhone go for a swim.

At some point it dawned on me - only I, SO excited about Instagram for Android, waiting for it all this time, would then destroy her Android phone the very next day and get the phone that's had Instagram all along. But I'm glad all my Android friends can be on there now, too. I can't wait for the hubby to get on it.

Are you on Instagram? Do you love it? Do you use their camera or a different one and then import it into Instagram?

Wednesday Ramblings

I love Greek yogurt because it's given back to me the ability to eat "fruit on the bottom" yogurt. The kind I grew up eating has way too much sugar in it, but the Greek yogurt ones are tolerable and higher in protein.

Every time I hear INXS on the radio, I feel a little sad about the loss of Michael Hutchence.

I let Nate help me walk Buster for the first time this week. He giggled the WHOLE walk (we walked two blocks and back) and especially giggled when Buster stopped to "do his business." I guess potty humor is potty humor even when it's dog on grass humor? (I hate potty humor, for the record. My husband thinks this makes me an anomaly. I just don't like it.)

walking the dog, hand in hand holding the leash

I got an 89 on a paper I got back yesterday. No matter how old you are or how long you've been in school, that is a maddening grade to get.

Instagram is finally available for Android!! I adore Instagram (I've been using it on my iPad for a while), but my pictures aren't terrific, mostly because I don't go many places or do many things other than work, school, and home. But it's fun for finding the fun or beautiful moments in those seemingly simple things. (I'm bookishpenguin on there.)

I never wrote a 22 month letter to Nate. I keep debating writing one and back-dating it but that would be ridiculous. See next week for a combination 22/23 month letter.

This Saturday I have off, as usual, but the hubby also has off because we have a family birthday dinner to go to that evening (my "little" brother is turning 30!). We're both so excited to have a day off together. At the same time, I'm almost dreading it because it's just going to make it all the clearer how much it sucks that we don't usually have any days off together. It'll be a year next month on this schedule, which is kind of crazy to think about. A whole year of being married with a toddler and not having any regular days off together is exhausting mentally and physically. But we're hanging in.

To quote my grandmother's most famous lines in our family: It's not easy. But you do what you can.

7 Quick Tuesday Takes

1. Yeah, I quit this month's NaBloPoMo. There's just too much going on with work and school to get daily posting done in a manner that I think is quality and worth both your and my time. Unlike previous NaBloPoMo months, I don't care at all that I didn't make it this time. I've got to have my priorities in order.

2. I'm having a bad hair day today. Of course this happens on the day where I have a meeting at work with important people and a rare after-class meet-up with a friend. I'm pretty sure hair has a conspiracy marker on one of its chromosomes.

3. I have fallen down a rabbit hole - a Thomas the Tank Engine eBay Easter rabbit hole. Did you know there are specific Easter Thomas the Tank Engine models? Plus Easter eggs and baskets with Thomas on them? If you don't have a toddler in your house, you probably couldn't care less. But Thomas is a big star in our house (although, arguably, Percy might be the bigger favorite) and both Nate's Easter basket (April) and birthday party (May) are going to be Thomas intensive.

4. A couple of weeks ago, I took Nate to Barnes and Noble, only to discover they have a whole train table setup in the children's section. Nate's never seen a train table before and he froze in his tracks (get it, tracks? har har) when he saw it. He turned around, looked at me with wide eyes, and said, "Whoa." He then proceeded to play pretty nicely (for a 21 month old) with all the other kids there (who I think were mostly older than him). My immediate thought was, "Oh, leaving is not going to be fun." And it wasn't. Nate laid himself down on the floor and cried until I carried him out of there.

After that event, everyone I mentioned it to said, "Oh, does he have a train table at home?" and when I would say no, they were like, "Oh. Ohh." Like, "Your poor son."  Oops. Bad mommy feeling. But, truthfully, I hadn't thought of it before then. But now we have and with his second birthday just a smidge over two months away (holy moly), we are in the market for a train table. I think it will be the perfect gift for our two year old little man, so I have my eye on some multipurpose tables on eBay. (Oh, eBay, I ignored you for so long, but I have returned.)

5. Tomorrow is Leap Day, which I love. There's just something special about a day that only occurs once every four years. Think about how bonkers we all go for Christmas and birthdays and other holidays that only happen once a year? This dude only happens once every four years. If you don't think that's cool, ponder this: it is the birthday of both Tony Robbins and Ja Rule. Now that is day. So you just leap out of bed tomorrow, okay?

6. Tomorrow being Leap Day means Thursday is March, which I am super excited about for no other reason than the fact that it means spring is imminent. I want more days outside. I'm looking forward to taking Nate to the park. (Although last time I took him to the dog park to watch the dogs play, he stepped in dog poop, which I had to later clean out of the grooves of his sneakers with toothpicks and floss. People, PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOGS.)

7. Have you watched the winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore? You should take approximately 15 minutes of your day and watch it. It really is fantastic.

21 Months

Dear Nate,

Today you are 21 months old. In just three months you'll be two years old! But right now you are so much fun that there's no need to look forward.

The most exciting thing right now is seeing what words you're learning. It seems like you have new words every day. Just this week alone, you started saying soon, milk, coffee, sleeves, Gamma (grandma), color, night-night, and off. You roar when you see a lion in a book and say cock-a-doodle-doo when you see a rooster. And you're learning how to express yourself better, too. You negate things by adding "no." When you can't find or see something, it's "no see." When it's something you're not supposed to eat (like crayons, ahem), it's "no eat." When you didn't want me to go to work the other day, it was, "Mama, no go away." (Broke my heart.) It's so exciting to see you put together new words, to see the look in your eyes as you put together what they mean and realize you're effectively communicating something to us.

You also still love to give hugs and kisses. You still love Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine. But Grammy and Pop-Pop bought you a little Percy train, and he is your new love. When you misplaced him that same day, you whined, "Percy! Percy! Percy!" for half an hour until we found him - and we didn't even know you knew Percy's name or how to say it! You have always surprised us and continue to do so.

What's no surprise but a continual source of entertainment and delight is how you love to be physically active. Every night you run laps around the kitchen island after dinner. You love to hide, although when I ask you if you're hiding, you peek out and say, "No" so there's a bit of learning still to do there, but I laugh every time. You love to crash things together, so you often run your shopping cart around and slam it into other toys, chairs, walls - or even us... basically whatever's in your way. I think the day we can finally take you on some real bumper cars is going to be the highlight of your early life.

You are giving us a little preview - well, okay, a substantial preview - of the infamous Terrible Twos. When you aren't happy about having to do something, you immediately throw yourself on the floor, roll on your back and say, "Owww." But you haven't really hurt yourself because you actually lay yourself down quite gingerly, which is hysterical. You also throw things when you're angry, which is extra difficult at dinnertime as your dinner hits the floor. But dinnertime is already difficult because, man, are you a strange, picky eater right now. You often refuse some of your favorite foods, or you'll love a food one day and then not the next. Or you'll refuse it at lunchtime but then eat it at dinnertime. I know the picky eating won't last forever, but right now it is the hardest thing we have to deal with because it's so hard to plan meals, never knowing if you'll eat it or fling it on the floor. But I've found that if I just sit back calmly and ignore your antics while you refuse to eat, eventually (at least half the time) you'll taste the food and then end up eating most of it. Tonight you threw a huge handful of noodles on the floor before going on to eat the rest of them as well as a whole pork chop. So maybe you're just trying to exercise portion control? But you're eating enough and you get good nutrients every day, so I'm not stressing about it.


And you're not struggling to grow, so that's not a worry. You're still in 2T shirts and pants, although a few of those 2T shirts are starting to get a little small. You're wearing size 6 diapers and show very few signs of interest in potty training. You're still in size 7 sneakers, though they're getting small. Size 8 might be on the horizon.

Every day with you is so exciting. Every day I am so anxious to come home and spend time with you, running around the kitchen, hiding behind chairs, and trying to get you to help clean up (work in progress). Regardless of what we're doing, you are a delight and every day is more joyful than the last.

We love you, Peanut!

Love,
Mommy