14 Months Old

Samuel,

You are 14 months old and as fun as ever!

 You and Nathan are starting to play together more and more. You love to wrestle with him, and run up to him and knock him down to initiate a wrestling match. You both also love to play chase with each other, and you squeal with delight when he pushes you on the dump truck. There's definitely plenty of fighting over sharing toys when you want to be on your own, but the moments when both of you are laughing and playing together are the best! You are pretty jealous of him when he has my attention. If he tries to sit in my lap while I'm holding you, you shake your head, grunt, and push him down.  You want me all to yourself a lot of the time.

You are still taking two naps per day. Occasionally, you can get away with skipping your morning nap, but after you fell asleep eating lunch one day, I realized that you still need two naps :). You go down for your morning nap around 10:00, and depending how long you sleep during that nap, I put you down between 1:00 and 2:00 for your afternoon nap. 

We start bedtime around 7:30, and you are usually always asleep by 8:00. I'm still giving you a bottle at bedtime. I'm not sure how much longer I'll continue that. You usually sleep most of the night, but end up in our bed between 4:00 and 5:00. When you wake up crying, I just run up and get you and bring you down to our bed, and you go back to sleep until 6:30 or 7:00. It's probably a bad habit, but I'm savoring your snuggles for now. I know I'll miss your middle of the night cuddles someday.

You are walking (and climbing) everywhere. I never see you crawl anymore, and you're a pro at keeping your balance when you're standing up. Sometimes you just like to run laps around the house giggling the whole time. You have started shaking your head "no" when you don't want to do something, like when I tell you it's nap time or time to go inside, or if Nathan tries to take your toy. I actually think it's totally adorable when you do it :).

Your comprehension still astounds me daily. I can't get over everything you understand. You obey simple commands like, "throw that in the trash," "go find daddy," "put your paci in your bed." It's so fun to be able to communicate with you better.

You are still obsessed with shoes. Anytime you see any shoes, you start saying shoe and trying to put them on, no matter whose they are. I've caught you trying to wear Nathan's fire boots, Daddy's tennis shoes, even Elisabeth's new baby shoes.

 You are saying new words all the time. Your favorite new words right now are shoe- "shh," grape- "ggaa," and Bob the Builder- "bob, ba" Anytime we pull into the parking lot of Walmart you start saying Bob the Builder over and over. You also starting saying Joe for Papa Joe this month. 

 You are a good eater and easy to please. You love to snack, and I catch you all the time wandering into the pantry looking for a snack. You'll bring me a package of fruit snacks or a bag of goldfish and "ask"me to open them for you. You are wearing 18month clothes and a size 4 shoe and size 4 diaper.

You got two top molars this month (4/24 and 5/12)

We are working on learning body parts. Your belly button is definitely your favorite (and cutest!)


You love to give high fives and play patty cake. You'll start doing the motions all on your own when you want to play. Your favorite toys are still your kitchen food and you also really love Nathan's firetrucks.
 

Life is always fun with you in our lives!!

Mother's Day Weekend

I had a really great weekend celebrating with my three boys! My parents kept the kids on Friday night, so Matt and I got a date. We've had a crazy couple of weeks with sickness, back problems, birthday partying, house projects, etc., so we were both looking forward to a relaxing night, and that's just what we did. We ate popcorn for dinner while we watched a movie, went for a long walk around our neighborhood, ate a snow cone and fell asleep to Netflix. It was just what we needed.

Saturday morning we went to the Rooster Days parade in downtown Broken Arrow. It was the boys' first parade experience. They had a blast. We stopped at a chocolate store before the parade started for some treats.

The parade was really fun. Nathan said he liked watching the marching bands and getting candy. He took the candy getting very seriously :).

Saturday evening we had some friends over for dinner. We had such a good time visiting, eating, and the boys loved playing with their sweet daughter Emmarie. It was a really fun night.

We headed to church on Mother's Day. I'm so thankful for these two wonderful boys who brought such joy on Mother's Day. They and their daddy spoiled me with flowers and a new movie.

Some of our dear friends had their children dedicated at church. It was such a special time. We had prayed and prayed for those three babies for years, and it was so wonderful to see God's faithfulness in those two families and how he has blessed them with such precious children. I know Mother's Day has been a difficult holiday in the past for them, and I was just thrilled to celebrate with them on Sunday.

After church we ran a few errands and then headed to my parents' to celebrate Mother's Day with them. We had lunch, and Barry was kind enough to watch the boys so I could get a nap. That's usually my only request on Mother's Day. While I napped and relaxed with my mom, Matt worked all afternoon on another great Mother's Day gift, a freshly painted nursery.

He's the best to give up his Sunday afternoon to paint a purple room for his overly excited wife. It turned out so cute, and I'm ready to start decorating as soon as we get the furniture moved in :).

Not only did Barry watch the kids for my mom and me so we could have the afternoon off, but he also prepared the best Mother's Day feast for supper. The Miller's joined us, and we all salivated over the most delicious supper and chocolate dessert. It was a really great day. I'm so thankful for the gift of being a mother and to celebrate with the best Mom and Grammy around. Blessed indeed.

Sound the Alarm! Nathan is Three!

We had a great day celebrating Nathan's third birthday. He requested a firetruck theme birthday party, and I had fun planning it. My mom and I ran into a little trouble when we couldn't find any firetruck themed birthday supplies at our local party stores, so we had to be a little creative and rely on some Internet sites to complete everything, but it turned out really cute, and Nathan had the a great time, and that's all that matters.

I saw this idea on the Internet, and I thought the "matchsticks" turned out really cute.

We also served a fruit and veggie tray, sausage balls, donut holes, and cake and cupcakes.

Nathan was adamant that we had red bell pepper at his party. Other than cake it's the only food he specifically requested. When I would ask him what he wanted to eat at his party, he would always say he wanted broccoli because fireman eat broccoli (We get creative in how we get him to eat his veggies).  I would remind him that he didn't like broccoli and he would be stumped with what to eat. Then he came up with bell pepper. It's one vegetable he actually really likes, and he knows fireman have to eat lots of fruits and vegetables to be strong and put out fires, so it made sense to him I guess and he was fixated on eating it at his party.

Since we couldn't find specific firetruck themed party decor, we decided to decorate with reds and yellows, and black and white paw prints for the firehouse dogs. Since we had a firetruck cake, we decided to make Dalmation cupcakes.

I always have fun baking and decorating cakes for my boys' birthdays!

Nathan was so excited for his big day! He asked all morning when his friends were going to be there for his party.

My mom got him this firetruck tent as an early present so the kids could play with it at the party.

The big surprise for our birthday boy was a special guest at his party. My mom arranged to have a local firefighter come to Nathan's party. Nathan was absolutely star struck. He was just mesmerized at everything the firefighter told him. He stood so still and was fascinated.

He got to see and try on all the gear and learn about how fires get put out.

Firefighter Andrew was so good with Nathan. I was blown away with how he engaged and interacted with Nathan (It probably helps that he has a three year old son), but he was awesome. 

I think it was the best day of Nathan's entire life. He hasn't stopped talking about the firefighter who came to his party.

He stayed for about half of the party and just visited with Nathan telling him all about life in a firehouse, how they get ready for fires, what they eat, etc.

He even sat at the kids' table and ate with him, and told him to keep eating his bell peppers and carrots :)

After he left, Nathan turned around and said, "Now I'm ready to see the rest of my friends at my party." Cutest thing ever :)

A close second was listening to him sing Happy Birthday to himself

After Firefighter Andrew left, we spent the rest of the morning playing, eating, and opening presents.

Grandaddy got some practice rocking a baby girl :)

Nathan got so many fun new toys. He and Samuel have been playing with them constantly since Saturday. We have such thoughtful friends.

Samuel got a couple of presents too, so he wouldn't feel left out.

I laughed at the end of the party when I looked over and saw Nathan and Case playing with Samuel's present. I do have to admit that it was a pretty cool gift :)

It was such a great day celebrating my favorite three year old!

Three Years Old!

My sweet Nathan Wilson,
Three years ago, you gave me the greatest honor of becoming a mother. Being your Mommy is one of the greatest blessings in my life. These past three years have been so special. I can't imagine you not being a part of our family. You are a precious, precious gift, and your Daddy and I love you more than we ever thought we could.

I feel that at three, there is very little baby left in you. I catch it occasionally in a sleepy snuggle, but you are certainly growing up and into a big boy! It's so fun to watch you grow and learn and see your personality develop. You are  thoughtful, helpful, outgoing, affectionate, and inquisitive.

You are a great helper, and you genuinely enjoy the opportunity to help. I can always count on you if I need a favor, and you always help cheerfully. You can't wait to get bigger and help Daddy mow the lawn and do "big people" things. You are a great help with your brother, sharing your food and sometimes your toys. You are also very affectionate. You love hugs and kisses and snuggles. You like to be held and carried still even though you are so big. You always give your friends big hugs and consider anyone close to your age to be your friend. I love that about you. You've never met a stranger and will talk and play with anyone you meet. You are social. You don't like to be alone or play by yourself. You always tell us that you need someone to stay with you so you won't be lonely. You also never want to be left out. You get jealous easily if your brother is doing something you're not and always want to join in.

You ask questions all the time. I expected that to come when you were a little older, but you are always curious and trying to figure out how everything works. The most common phrase out of your mouth is "How come?" Your questions are all over the place and many of them leave me stumped at how to respond. Here are some recent ones:

Why do animals have feet? followed by, How come my feet aren't purple?
Why do cars cost a lot of money?
Why does Daddy have to go to work?
How do we get to where God and Jesus live?
How does Elisabeth come out of your tummy?
Are we going to have another baby after Elisabeth?
Where does food go after I eat it?
Who lived in our house before we did?
Where do the garbage truck drivers live?
We also have the daily, "Why do I have to take a nap?" and "How come I can't have fruit snacks for breakfast?"
And I thought the baby stage was hard. It feels like a piece of cake compared to responding to all your questions :)

The biggest change in your development this year is your communication. You initiate and carry on conversations with us, and I love hearing you explore and understand your world. It's so fun to talk to you every night about the best parts of your day and your interests. And your memory, child, I can't get over it! You remember the smallest details about mundane events that happened months ago. It's wild. You remember more than I do. You'll remember the stickers that were in the basket at the doctor's office from our visit three months prior. You remember the things the fire fighters told you when they visited your school six months ago, and you remember the smallest details about places we visited and things you played with from months and months before. It seriously boggles my mind the amount your brain can hold. I know that good memory skills will make learning so much easier for you, and I'm thankful you have that gift even if I get in trouble sometimes because you'll remember things I've told you that I thought you'd forget :)

Your play has matured this year. You are engaging in imaginary play all the time developing stories and scenarios with your trains where they go off the track and the tow truck has to rescue them and always putting out fires inside and outside when you play fire fighter. There are fires everywhere in our house. You like to play restaurant and will take our order and cook our food for us. You write down our order and bring us our drinks and everything. You're the cutest waiter I've ever met.You are still very organized in the way you play. Everything has to be set up perfectly before you start playing, and you get frustrated when Samuel destroys your creations. You love to play outside in our backyard, or in our neighborhood playground or parks. You're always asking to go outside. You swing, slide, and play fireman.

You're not the most athletic kid, but considering who your parents are that's not too surprising. You did learn to jump a couple of months ago, so we are making progress. You're very active, running, climbing, etc., just not the most coordinated three year old I know.

You like to watch TV. You go in spurts with what shows you like (and it's changed some now that we cancelled our satellite TV and are dependent on  PBS and Netflix for your shows. Right now you watch a lot of Barney (especially the fire house one), Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and Super Why. You don't have the attention span for movies just yet. We've tried a few, and your attention lasts about exactly as long as it takes for you to eat your bowl of popcorn.

Your favorite foods are fruit snacks, popcorn, cheeseburgers and fries, apples, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, and bell pepper. You refuse to drink milk, so I make sure you eat cheese and yogurt each day.

You have been completely potty trained (except at night) for about three months now, and it's wonderful, especially since we're transitioning you now to going on the big potty instead of your little one. You can pull your pants down, go unsupervised, and flush by yourself. Sometimes you still need help pulling your pants up and wiping, but I'll take it! You have done so wonderfully. You had been going regularly on the potty for the past 9 months or so, but refused to poop on the potty or to tell us when you needed to go. Then one day, everything just clicked, and you've had like 2 accidents since then. Occasionally you'll sleep really hard at nap time and have an accident while you're asleep, but that's rare. 

You usually sleep from about 8:30-9:00 to 7:00-7:30. You had a rough adjustment when we moved and woke up crying in the middle of the night for about a month and so from about 4:00 on every morning you were in our bed, and then all of the sudden you started sleeping again. I think you were just scared and not used to your new room. Now you sleep all night. We got you a big boy bed for your birthday, and you sleep great in it, and enjoy being able to get up by yourself once it is light outside. You still lie down for a nap everyday, but you don't consistently sleep. A lot of times you just play and read in your bed. You probably nap 2-3 times per week and rest and play the other days.

You are 100% a Mommy's boy. You love your horsey rides and wrestling and playing with daddy, but when it comes to bedtime routines etc, you always want Mommy to take care of you.

You know all your shapes and colors and can count to 10. You know the alphabet song, but don't recognize many letters yet, but you are able to spell your name thanks to the song Grammy taught you. She teaches you songs all the time and you are always singing something new.

We talk about the days of the week and you always want to know what day it is and what that means. You know that on Sundays we go to church, on Saturdays, Daddy doesn't have to work, and on Fridays you usually get to spend the night at Grammy's house. You like structure and having a plan for what we are doing for the day. So do I :). You usually want me to tell you each night when I put you to bed what we are doing the next day.

You really do love your brother and are concerned about him when he's not around, but you can be rough with him and you have a hard time sharing your toys. I understand because a lot of the time, he messes up or breaks your toys, but we are working with you to share with him and not push him out of your way when he's trying to get your stuff. You have sweet moments playing together, and I'm hoping as you both get older you can play together more and more.

It's an absolute joy to be your mom and to spend my days with you. I'm so thankful for the ability to stay home with you during these little years. I know my time with you at home is limited and I'm soaking up each minute and loving my days with my little buddy. There's no one else I'd rather be at home with during the day or running errands with except for you and your brother. I can find joy and laughter even on the hard days.

I hope you always, always know how loved you are and how proud you make me and your daddy. You're an amazing little guy! I know three is going to be a great year for you!