Nate-isms: Volume 4,006

Nate has been TONS OF FUN this summer. He's definitely at a challenging age and nothing is more challenging than teaching your child, well, EVERYTHING.

Let me share with you a little bit about this child of mine. His hair. It's BLONDE. People always ask where it came from. Karl and I were both blonde-ish as babes but THIS? People pay for this, yes?

It's straight as a pin and impossible to cut. Plus, Nate REALLY hates haircuts. I want to enjoy the blonde as long as possible so I'm not too worried about keeping it short.

Nate has been into sharing his food with his toys and the characters in his books. Here he is feeding Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the 'horsie neigggggghh' (Sarge?) some of his peach.

Annnnnnd eating it himself. I love how IT LOOKS PAINFUL.
We told him last night that "Food goes in your belly" so he promptly lifted up his shirt and began smashing chicken fingers into his belly button. LITERAL. (I love how that little mind works!)

We've been spending a lot of time in various pools to beat the heat. Even in the water, I get worried about being outside too long. WE ARE IN A HEATWAVE folks and it ain't pretty! But we do manage to get in lots of pool time. We have a little pool in our backyard too - it looks like THIS:And by this, I mean REAL CLASSY LIKE! I initially gave Karl a lot of flack for purchasing it but it's been great this summer! It has chemicals and a vacuum (you know about Karl and his vacuums right? THIS POOL IS CLEAN!). If you've ever owned a baby/blowup pool for more than a few uses, you know those things get pretty nasty. This, my friends, does not. The water comes up to about Nate's chest so he can walk in it comfortably. We bought him a boat (read: small water raft with sides and handles) and he jumps around in that or we play FORT by flipping it over and getting beneath it. FORT is my favorite game ever. There's something special about giggling under an inflatable flotation device with your child. It just feels like summer and childhood and happiness. Kisses, bubble blowing in the water, singing.... those FORT moments might be my summer favorites!

With the heat, we've also let him watch a little more TV than usual (it really is too hot to play outside for an extended period of time). We introduced him (cautiously) to Dora. His first impressions were "NO WATCH YOGURT NO WATCH YOGURT." This was confusing until we realized that the yogurt we occasionally buy Nate was, in fact, emblazoned with smiling Dora faces. (Branding!) We've also been watching the movie Up. I thought he might be scared but he kind of loves all the dogs and balloons.

We are on DAY THREE of paci-freedom! He was only using his pacifier at night and nap time and we were strict that it was only for those times. We told Nate "babas (what he calls them) are for babies" and he hasn't asked for it since! He went down for naps and nighttime without it and without a problem. I thought this was going to be a HUGE issue and I've been putting it off, but sometimes he surprises me. We went to celebrate with ice cream after his first day Baba Free. And, finally, we are holding on to that afternoon nap with all our might. And by we I mean me. He's been skipping days here and there already or taking a nap from like 5 p.m. to 6 and then going to bed at 8. One day we went to the Little Gym for an hour, the grocery store, the post office and the pool for an hour. That's enough activity to exhaust me! But that day? Nada on the shut eye. I'm enforcing quiet time anyway on those days. Sigh. ITS FINE. MOST TWO YEAR OLD DROP NAPS COMPLETELY, right?

Anyway, thanks for reading! He is a handful and a joy and, as always, so much harder and easier than I ever thought it would be.