Three and Happy As Can Be

Where does the time go? I have to apologize that several months have past without any updates on what is going on in Nathan's life. He certainly keeps us busy, busy, busy! Enjoy reading and viewing pictures below!

November Highlights:

Nathan has been successful going potty (#1) at home every night but for some reason he has stopped wanting to sit and try at daycare. He gets excited about pull ups which leads to big boy underwear which leads to a big boy bed as a goal for when he is successful at potty training. We switched from Matchbox cars to one M&M candy as a prize for going potty. Nathan has a sweet tooth like his Daddy so it was no problem for Nathan to get excited about M&Ms. All I can do is keep trying I guess, I know this is on his terms but it will be so nice not to have to deal with diapers any longer.

Correction on snow pictures mentioned in October's highlight - pictures happened in November's snowfall.

One night Nathan had a bad dream. He woke up wanting me to check his bed for worms. I had to turn the light on to assure him no worms were in his bed. That following morning when I woke him up to get ready for the day, the first thing he said to me was "no worms in my bed" while shaking his head. This must have really bother him because he talked about this into the month of December.

December Highlights:
Nathan loved playing some of the Hallmark ornaments just about every night (and they had to be played in the same order each time) when the Christmas tree was up for the season. He got excited about the Christmas lights outside on our house and enjoyed the M&M light strand that we put up in his room on his window. These M&M lights were mine when I was growing up so it was fun sharing them with Nathan.

All month he kept telling us "my birthday coming up" and would say that he will be three while holding up the right amount of fingers. He would talk with excitement about eating birthday cake and opening presents.

He pays attention to detail. It was cute when he asked me one day if I had a new shirt; it was a shirt I hadn't worn in a while.

Nathan has a great imagination - he likes to pretend he is a snake while slithering on the floor or pretend that he is a puppy barking on all fours. He loves horsey rides on Daddy's back and requests rides! Nathan says "chase me", "tickle me", and "play with me" - he enjoys being chased around the house on the main floor. Other times he pretends he is a growling monster slowing creeping up to me to 'attack'.

We had a Lightning McQueen birthday theme for Nathan's 3rd birthday. Family came over for ice cream cake and visiting. Nathan and his cousins enjoyed playing with the balloon the most.

Christmas was spent with the Campbell family this year. Nathan did really well opening presents and was pretty good about being patient to wait his turn to open another present. Nathan loved his Thomas the Train sets from Nana and Papa! His big present from Daddy and Mommy this year was a little red tricycle - his first set of pedals!

After his birthday and Christmas was all over he was still talking about opening presents like he gets to open presents every day or something. I had to explain that his birthday and Christmas were over and that he has to wait until next year for more cake and presents.

January Highlights:
Happy New Year! We enjoyed having Nana, Papa, and Uncle Brandon spend the weekend at our house. Uncle Tyler and Aunt Jamie joined in the family get-together. We played games and did some shopping together.

On January 4, I got a surprising call from daycare saying that Nathan ran into the brick wall while playing outside and they wanted us to see him. I rushed out of work and called Isaac to meet me at daycare. Nathan scraped the left side of his face above and below his eyebrow. How he managed to miss his eye itself or eyelid area amazes us. We took him to an after-hours medical center to make sure he didn't need stitches or have a concussion. The doctor assured us he did not have a concussion but informed us of the warning signs. After the nurse and doctor cleaned his boo-boo, it turned out to be lots of scrapes and no deep cuts so thankfully stitches were not necessary. Nathan sure gave us a scare and a realization that this will be the first of many accidents to come with him growing up and being a boy! The teacher that had first rushed over to Nathan after his wall collision told me that he didn't even cry. She had asked Nathan if he was brave like Superman and he nodded his head yes. It took a month for his head to heal; his skin remains a shade of pink but hopefully will fade over time.

February Highlights:

Now that Nathan is 3 years old he is able to attend Children's Church on Sunday mornings instead of the Nursery area. On February 12, we decided to try it to see how it goes. He did really well after some encouragement to join in the group of kids. Afterwards he had a fun craft and coloring page to share with us.

Happy Valentie's Day! This was the first year that we bought Valentine cards and candy for his friends at daycare. It was fun putting the little treats together. He enjoyed getting a variety of candy from his friends and liked picking out one for his dessert after supper. Nathan really likes watching Curious George on TV in the mornings when I'm getting ready for work. So as a little Valentine's Day gift to Nathan, we bought him a plush Curious George. He hugged him right away and told us "I love him". It was very sweet!

He LOVES watching Disney's Pixar movie 'A Bug's Life'. He laughs and repeats some parts of the movie. Nathan wants to pose like the main ant character Flick on the menu screen while saying "Flick do this!". If you press the play button before he gets to do his pose, he gets upset. Thankfully he has moved on from this overplayed movie to others like 'Cars' and 'Despicable Me'.

He went to the dentist for his 6-month checkup. The hygienist and dentist were both amazed on how well behaved Nathan was during his cleaning. He had a good checkup and received a little toy from the dentist for being a good patient. He remembered the sunglasses from his first visit in August last year!

Our family had fun one weekend afternoon building our first snowman together. We built a cute snowman...but unfortunately he only lasted a day because of the change in temperature.

On Long Meadow Drive we can build a snowman.....

Nathan has changed so much, especially in just the last few months. He can describe things very well and he is completing sentences. He references time when he talks to us such as later today, tomorrow, or yesterday. Nathan is very smart and is doing well with his school part of daycare. He can count up to 15 with no errors. Numbers 16 through 20 get a little rocky; he will say 15 again in place of a higher numbers. When I read books to Nathan, he likes to count the different objects on the pages. Nathan says his A, B, C's error-free and likes to sing this classic song frequently around the house. He asks Daddy or myself to sing along with him to other children classics such as 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider'. He has 'Jesus Loves Me' memorized which is part of our night-time routine getting ready to go to sleep. He is turning more into a big boy every day.

Nathan is such a joy in our lives and we love to watch him grown and learn. He makes us laugh and smile every day.