Mama Tried

Trick or Treat

Triumphant First House, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

So I was fairly apprehensive about Nathan's costume- right after we bought it he started pitching these terror fits every time we went down the Halloween aisle at Target, and would run away every time I brought his costume out. But then last week he was more amenable to it (he did pick it out in the first place!) and this morning even gladly wore it the first few minutes of school. (When he was sick of it he pulled the head back and signed "All Done!")

Tonight I was not sure I was even going to TAKE him trick or treating. Other mom friends of mine had been practicing with their kids, but Nathan did not seem too excited about trying the concept out. But our street is all retirees, so I figured I could try to take Nathan out after supper and still have him in bed on time, so, why not?

Nathan did NOT want to get his costume back on and he REALLY did not want to pose for pictures with his pumpkin. But once we got outside he was thrilled to be running around. We went to our next door neighbor's (who he knows and who was outside) and he cautiously approached the door. When the neighbor's decorations started going "oooooooo" and Nathan turned and ran.

But he did get candy, and he liked that part. He insisted on carrying a piece of candy in his hand at all times. We only hit the rest of our street- we live on a cul de sac- and at every house Nathan would barrel into the house as soon as the door opened, look up and realize he had no idea what house he was in or who the person standing in front of him was, and turn around crying and run out.

When we got home I tried to actually give him some candy but he did not know what to do with it. He kept trying to feed it to Buster. More for me, I guess.

Does Anyone Else's Child Do This?

Nathan's new thing is bonking his head on various surfaces. He'll walk over and bonk his head on the back of the couch, and then on the window, and then on the lamp, and then on the wall. And laugh hysterically until he finally bonks too hard and is shocked, shocked that banging your head against something can hurt.  I think his Uncle Daniel taught him this, so it worries me that prolonged head bonking will lead to the kind of brain damage that makes one cheer for BYU. But mainly it just seems kind of weird.

He also sings along to the NPR Morning Edition theme song. But I think that one is my fault.

Boo!

Nathan is slightly obsessed with pumpkins.  Which he calls "Boo!"s  At school today the teacher did the five little pumpkins poem with a special glove with pumpkins on it and Nathan kept running up to her to point to each and every "boo!"  (He also gave her a lot of random hugs during circle time. Nathan looooooooves Miss Michelle.)

I now understand why moms decorate their houses for holidays- because kids freaking love it. Nathan finds all the boos everywhere and is so thrilled.  Although I am a little tired of feigning being impressed when he finds all the boos in the living room. They were there an hour ago and earlier this morning and last night and will be there tomorrow, kid.

Wawa Twash Twees 'Cul (Uncle) Goal Cheese Bus Air! (Short for Airplane!)

Just a few of Nathan's many new words. For a while there I thought he was just going to learn all the B words (Bus, Ball, Ber (Buster)) and then move on to another letter of the alphabet.  But his vocabulary grew immensely in Houston (and he still says "Cul!!!" when he sees a picture of Daniel) and continues to grow.  I forget to tell Jeff all his words so Jeff is astounded when I wipe Nathan's nose and he points to the tissue and says "twash" even though he's been doing that for days.  

(He is TOTALLY obsessed with twash and thwowing things in the twash.  He is always putting the recycling in the trash, though. He is still learning.)

I'm astounded by it, too, honestly.  When we're outside and he gets thirsty and says, "Wawa?" it completely blows my mind that he can actually communicate.  Or today at lunch, when we shared a chopped salad, he picked out all the cheese and said, "Cheese!"  even though his cheese is not usually grated.  Of course, he then insisted on calling the garbanzo beans "balls" and throwing them to Buster, so he doesn't have everything down.

Jeff says he seems more mature since he came back, and I think he is.  Mature or not, talking is definitely fun.

Don't Keep Him Waiting

Today we got home late and were unloading groceries and I thought Nathan could, you know, wait five minutes for his supper. He climbed up on one of the kitchen table chairs and sat watching.  I was unloading, and turned around, and you know those packages of pears you get at Trader Joe's?  The four covered in a layer of saran wrap on a piece of cardboard? He had picked it up and bitten through the saran wrap and was eating the pear while holding the whole thing to his face.

Home

We arrived home yesterday.  We were supposed to fly home Thursday but could not get on a flight (this trip was via a Buddy Pass from Nathan's Uncle Warren, so we were doing the standby thing).  Friday we flew home on Continental with some of Grandpa's miles instead.  I think we would have just waited and come home next week except our luggage had already gone on Thursday.  

You would think spending almost six hours at an airport one day with a toddler and then almost nine hours traveling the next would be unpleasant. You would be wrong. Nathan was the best traveler he has ever been on this trip, and I am including when he was a three month old and barely did anything in that assessment.  He LOVES airports and airplanes and was just a delight. Our first flight, he had his own seat, and the guy next to him had six kids of his own, so he did not mind that Nathan wanted to share every game we played with him and let Nathan point out his nose and hugged Nathan's stuffed animal and showed Nathan pictures of his own kid on his laptop. Our second flight, Nathan slept the whole time in my lap.  And SLC is the best airport ever to have a layover, because of the play areas.

It was a great visit- Nathan LOVES his Meehan family and had so much fun with them. Seeing him reach out to hold an uncle or Grammy's hand when we walked around was the best. He tried to get Uncle Michael's guinea pig to play fetch, though, and he was glad to be home and see Buster.  Jeff left town yesterday though so we missed him.  Once he is back on Monday we'll feel like we are really home.

Houston

I survived not one but two airplane flights with a toddler.  The first flight was short, and Nathan had his own seat, and the man next to him was a grandpa and willing to trade packages of peanuts with Nathan for ten minutes, which helped.  This was the first time I've flown with Nathan where he's noticed things out the window, and he could see mountains, which was cool, and it really helped when we got close to landing and he was getting restless- he could see all the airplanes and trucks and was thrilled.

At the airport, I expected him to run around and get his wiggles out but he stood at the window watching the planes the whole layover. His nose smushed up against the glass and everything.  He conked out immediately on the second flight (he had his own seat again, heaven) which was great for 45 minutes... and then he woke up completely groggy, cranky because he'd only had a 45 minute nap all day, and totally confused about being on the airplane.  The next 2 hours took a bit of work, but we played our favorite airplane game ("Find the Dogs in the Sky Mall Catalog") and Nathan and I read the airplane safety card a billion times. (I brought books, but he was uninterested in them. The airplane safety card had an AIRPLANE on it.  I don't do too many airplane toys because he just throws them.)  By the time we landed I am pretty sure Nathan was disappointed that we did not crash and need to use the slide, because he thought that looked extremely cool.

After I dragged him away from the window (staring at the plane he'd just spent three hours on) we met up with Uncle Daniel and it was love at first sight. Nathan jumped into his uncle's arms and didn't make any move to go back to me- he was too busy pointing out all the trucks and buses.  Then when we got back to Grammy's, Uncle Michael was there, too, and the sight of each of them holding one of Nathan's hands and walking through the backyard is maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. I don't really know what to do with myself because Nathan is happy to wander off and play with them.  We got up this morning and Nathan immediately started playing air hockey with Uncle Daniel so I went for a run.  It's good that he gets all this uncle time in because I suspect once Grandpa Nathan shows up he'll forget all about them.

18 Month Doctor's Visit

Nathan had his 18 month checkup this afternoon.  The doctor asked about his vocabulary (we counted 10 words-- "ma, dad, dog, that, alldone, choo (train), shoes, duck, ster (buster), and Dadaja (Trader Joe's) that he uses regularly- he'll repeat other words, too, but those are the ones he knows to use) which is fine, and whether he could identify parts of his body.  "If you ask him "Where's his nose?" can he point to it?"  Nathan responded by pointing to his nose and then walking over and pointing to her nose and my nose. He likes to point out noses.

The shot was no fun but honestly I think he suffered more from anticipation as he was fine as soon as it was over and Martha had left the room. The alarming part, though, was his growth. (Alarming is probably too strong of a word).   Nathan is 33 and 3/4 inches tall- plugging along exactly on his 90th percentile growth curve there--- but weighs 30 lbs and 12 ounces.  He jumped off his growth curve in weight AGAIN into the 95th percentile.  The doctor was graciously not all, "What are you feeding this kid, corn syrup?" but did ask if he ate "a lot."  I have been following Ellyn Satter's guidelines- serving fixed meals and snacks, but letting him eat as much as he wants at those fixed meals and snacks. I thought it was working, since while he will sometimes eat a TON (the other day he had milk in his cereal for the first time and ate five bowls) he will sometimes not touch his meal, too.  In fact, usually for his snacks and lunch and dinner he'll barely eat.  He only has juice at school (and even then I water it down) and any sort of dessert only a couple of times a week.

Then we went over how much milk he drinks- I don't really know that, either, because while he gets milk with each meal and snack he sometimes drains the cup and demands seconds and sometimes just drinks a little.  Still, even our most moderate estimate shows that he is drinking WAY more milk than he needs.  So we're going to cut that back and see what happens.

I also completed an autism screener- the doctor said as she gave it to me, "I'm pretty sure he's not autistic, though."  I'm pretty sure she's right on that.  In fact, he's totally normal. Even if he already has a toddler spare tire.

Such a Handful

Lately whenever people ask Nathan's age, they then say, "Oh, what a handful.  Boys that age are just terrors."  I don't really know what to say.  Yes, Nathan will run and try to lick the air conditioning unit if left unattended outside. But he is not, on the scale of toddlers I know, anywhere near the biggest terror. In fact, he's pretty mellow. He likes to play blocks and read books equally as much, and is constantly running over to hug me or sit in my lap or give me a kiss.  He'll totally unroll all the toilet paper if you leave the bathroom door open, but I think that's pretty normal.

And he is so funny. Just ridiculously fun.  So I'm not really sure what to say to the "handful" people.  I am pretty sure they don't want to hear, "Actually, he is easy as pie." (Especially the ones who are using their own toddler sons as their reason for commenting.) But he is, for the most part.

Mainly I just wanted to put this down for the record- Nathan at 18 months is agreeable and loving and easygoing- in case the Terrible Twos are around the corner and I want to sell him off to the gypsies.  If that happens y'all can remind me it's just a stage.