First Day of School

Today Nate started a drop-off playgroup! It's through early intervention, and it's a developmental playgroup. The goal is to let Nate socialize and learn to play with other kids, and to use "peer pressure" to encourage him to walk and eat like a big boy. There are two other kids with developmental delays in the class--both just socialization and speech delays--and three typical kids from their preschool.

On our way there, I told Nate that we were going to school and that he was going to play with some new friends. He was very excited, and pronounced "school!" when we pulled up to the building. He walked in in his walker, and the staff was very impressed with his walking and constant chattering! Nate was super impressed with their toys! He and the teacher, Miss Leslie, immediately started pulling toys off the shelves to play with. Then two more kids got there, and Nate pointed and said, "Friends!" He was having a great time as I left.

Miss Leslie says they have story time, snack time, go to the "gym" (filled with all sorts of slides and tunnels and fun toys to romp around on) and back to the room for coloring and more playing together. When I got back, she told me that he played so hard and had a blast the whole two hours! He also colored daddy a picture, walked to and back from the gym in his walker, and ate his cereal bar by taking bites off of it and his pears with a fork.

As we walked out, he made sure to say bye to everyone and provide commentary on all the pictures in the hallway. I asked him if he had fun, and he thought about it for a second and said, "Yes!" Here are a couple of pictures, because I'm a dork.

Oh, I also wanted to share what Nate said this morning. As I was changing his diaper, I was singing the hokey pokey, and when I got to "shake it all about," Nate said, "Shake shake shake, shake your boo-day!" (booty)

New Christmas Pictures

We went to Portrait Innovations yesterday. We waited for more than an hour, even with an appointment, in a packed little store with screaming children, but at least we got some decent pics. These are the unedited versions, but you get the idea.

Random funniness

I wrote before about Nate taking awhile to climb up the stairs with all his stalling. Well, I learned that if I count the steps for him, it keeps him climbing. 10 more! 9 more! 8 more! Now Nate has joined in the counting, and although he can count to nearly 20 by himself, counting backwards is a different story. His version sounds more like: "8 more! 14 more! 3 more! 6 more!" It keeps him climbing and keeps me giggling.

Nate's new thing is answering questions. Not sure why it's taken him this long to do that, but previously he would scream for no and repeat back the last couple words you said for yes. Just in the last couple of weeks, he's started saying yes and no, and it's fun to hear his opinion on things. Last night I was going out to dinner with some friends, so we went through the drive thru of a fast-food fish place called Moby Dick for Blake and Nate's dinner. Nate knows a drive thru means food, so he started yelling "Eat!!!!!" Blake was kidding with him that they were going to eat whale for dinner. I said, "Nate, have you ever eaten whale?" He looked around very thoughtfully, and after a few seconds, he very seriously said, "Yes." I said, "Oh, really? Did you like it?" He thought for another moment, and with a little grin and a head shake said, "No."

Oh, and this is for Uncle Lucas and GrandBob especially: Nate's new saying is "GO CATS!"

Two cute things and a doctor visit

Cute thing #1: Yesterday I was trying to get Nate to follow me into my room, so I crawled really fast, and he followed saying "I goin getchoo!"

Cute thing #2: This morning Nate was inspecting my necklace, and I told him it was in the shape of a horseshoe, and that's the kind of shoes that horses wear. Well, today was hippotherapy and while riding the horse, Nate couldn't stop looking down at the horse's feet. :)

Doctor visit: Okay, as most people know, Nate is a very cranky child. There are some days that despite the typical little fits, he's a little angel and a pleasure to be around (like today), and there are other days when he whines and screams and cries from the time he wakes up until his eyes close at night (like yesterday). Last night I was at my wit's end--this is not normal behavior, and I don't understand what's causing it. He acts like he feels bad. So after some brainstorming, I came up with a few theories and took Nate to the pediatrician's office today. Here are the theories and what we're doing:

Reflux--Nate had "silent" reflux as a little guy, but he seemed to outgrow it, and I stopped giving him his meds around 14 months. But maybe he still struggles with it some days. He has been asking for snacks non-stop, and last night he cried and cried for milk. That tipped me off, because when he was little, he was constantly signing for milk to soothe his belly. The doctor gave us prevacid chewables to take every day.

Sinus problems/allergies--He has had a runny/stuffy nose for three months now. The doctor had previously told us to try claritin. This time he gave us claritin chewables and an antibiotic because he suspects a sinus infection since it has lasted this long.

Food allergies--I'm skeptical about this one because Nate doesn't have tummy issues, but it's a possibility. The doctor suggested keeping a food diary for him. Hmmm. I may or may not do that.

Sensory issues--Nate's PT recently diagnosed him with Sensory Integration Disorder. It's hard to explain because I still don't fully understand it, but she decided that his "vestibular sensory issues" were keeping him from walking in his walker. She gave us some things to do for that, and sure enough, the next week he was walking in his walker. Also related, he is a little defensive about what he will put in his mouth, so we're working on that in OT, and he has made great progress. He will now blow a whistle, blow through a straw (still trying to figure out sucking), take bites off of things, and today he chewed one of the chewable prevacid tablets! I told the doctor he wouldn't, but he made a liar out of me. Anyway, the PT also thinks that some of his meltdowns are because of this. He gets easily overwhelmed, and he melts. In a way, this has improved over the last few weeks since we've been working on it. For example, when we threw him in that pit of foam blocks (see picture from a couple days ago), I thought for sure he would flip out, but he loved it! And today the OT had him on his back on a big exercise ball and was leaning him backwards to pick up puzzle pieces above his head, and after some initial hesitation, he had a great time doing that! A few weeks ago, there would have been no way. So I know he's progressing here, but he's still acting really irratible some days. That's why I think it's one of the above things instead of sensory issues or even behavior issues.

(Granna and Memaw: The doctor also told me I could put some cortizone on that rash on his legs.)

So we're going to try these things and see if we can get this boy feeling better so he doesn't drive me crazy! :)

Picture Day

Today we were scheduled to have pictures taken at JCPenney. This is where we've had Nate's Christmas pictures taken the last two years, and both times they have turned out great, even if the experience itself was bad. This year, in addition to Nate's Christmas pics, we also wanted a family picture. So last night I got all of our clothes ready and even made a late-night trip to walmart for a firetruck because I thought it would be cute in the pictures of him in his Christmas pajamas.

This morning, after convincing Blake to shave and wear pants that actually matched his tie :) I got myself and Nate fancied up and headed for our 10:40 appointment, running a little late. I ended up practically running through JCPenney with Nate on my hip and also carrying the walker and a big bag. But they were running on time and got us right in, so all was well.

I could tell that Michael, our photographer, was new because another woman was telling him what backgrounds to choose and was kind of reprimanding him for taking too long. He only took one shot of each of the poses. Three different poses of us as a family, only three pictures. Same with Nate--set up a shot of him on a couch, playing with his fire truck, or with fake cookies and milk ... one shot each. I didn't see him smiling except once. When he did smile, Michael waited 10 seconds and THEN took the picture ... when he was no longer smiling. I was nervous, but this has happened before and I was really surprised that we got great pictures.

While we were waiting for them to get our pictures on the computer to view, we went to the food court to eat lunch. Nate was still in his Christmas pajamas, so he looked like a little Hugh Heffner riding in his stroller through the mall. :) We ate, Blake went back to work, and Nate and I went back to view the pictures. By then, it was Nate's naptime. I couldn't look at the pictures because he was crying and whining and in much need of a nap. I told the woman I'd come back in 15 minutes, and I strolled Nate around JCPenney 20 times hoping he'd go to sleep. Nope. But when we went back to the photo studio, he was in a better mood and was playing nicely in the floor.

But then I had to wait about 20 minutes for the woman to show me the pictures because she was dealing with an emergency. After taking our pictures, Michael the photographer had taken pictures of another family--parents, four-year-old boy, and one-year-old triplets! Somehow he had not used a memory card in the camera for that shoot, and now there were no pictures on the computer at all! Can you imagine getting all those kids ready and out to the mall, then wrestling them all into sitting still for pictures, and then for someone to tell you they had made a mistake and they had to do it all over again? Well, I wasn't there when they told him, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty.

Okay, finally the woman comes over to show me the pictures. I was looking through them to see which ones would work for the Christmas card, and I was having trouble finding one that looked right ... when I realized there wasn't a single good picture in the whole bunch. Not one. Nate wasn't smiling in many of them. There was one family picture where all of us looked decent, but he had arranged us in a really awkward way where Blake was like four feet above me and Nate. There was no way I was spending money on bad pictures of us, so as bad as I hated to after all that, I told her I didn't like the pictures and didn't want any of them. As I was leaving the mall, I called Blake to tell him what happened and somehow missed my road and got lost and drove all over Louisville.

So four hours after we left, we returned home very tired and cranky and with nothing to show for our day. Nate took a nice long nap. And when he woke up, it was snowing! Just little flurries at first, but now it's a decent snow. I bundled us up and took him out, and you should have seen his face. He was in awe of the snow. And of course my camera battery is dead, so the day was a wash when it came to pics, but at least it has started looking up a bit.

Hit the gym today

This morning instead of the PT coming to our house, she suggested we meet at KGA, a kids' gymnastics place that has open gym for an hour or so every day. Nate had soooo much fun, and it was terrific exercise for him. I'll try to take him back regularly. Here are some pics. (This is Miss Dee, by the way.)

I also thought of something silly Nate has been saying lately. After I change his diaper and while I'm trying to get his pants on him, he plays with the tabs on the diaper and tries to undo them. It gets a little annoying for him to keep undoing his diaper while I'm racing him to get his pants on. Every time I tell him to quit that. So lately, while he's unfastening his diaper, he says, "Quit!" Yeah, he knows he's not supposed to, but he's doing it anyway. But I've found a way to keep his hands away from his diaper. Now while I'm putting his pants on, I sing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!" and he just has to clap--it's like his hands have a mind of their own. :)

Who's there?

Okay, a couple cute conversations from the last day or so.



Blake went out to the garage yesterday and had to knock to get back in because the door was locked. As I was going over to let him in, I was kidding with Nate saying, "Who is it?" He said, "Ooh! It's Miss Dee!" (Miss Dee is his physical therapist, and she knocks on the door every week, so now everyone who knocks on the door must be Miss Dee. Also, he calls all of his other therapists Miss Dee.) I laughed and told Blake what he said and Blake asked Nate, "Did you think it was Miss Dee at the door?" Nate shook his head and said, "Nooooo." It was cute.



Every day, Granna calls and asks to speak with Nate. No matter how much he was yelling and singing and talking while I was trying to talk on the phone, as soon as I put Granna on speaker phone, Nate is very, very silent. Won't say a thing. But he smiles and enjoys listening to Granna. Now, whenever Nate plays with a toy phone, he picks it up and says, "Hewow?" and then mumbles something like he's imitating my "what are you doing" when I talk on the phone. I ask him who's on the phone, and he says, "It's Granna!" and goes on with his pretend conversation with her. Tonight, Blake was playing with Nate and his toy phone, and he told Nate that Granna wanted to talk to him. He went on and on about Granna and had a great conversation then said, "Granna and Pop's comin' in da truck!" Blake had to call Granna on the real phone to let Nate talk to her, and as usual, he suddenly wouldn't talk. :)



Oh, and I realized I forgot one of Nate's best phrases in the previous post about what he says all day. When he's in his walker and runs into something, or when he's trying to stand up in his crib and doesn't have room to roll over:



"I stuck."

Videos

Here's Nate at hippotherapy. This is pretty much how he giggles the whole time he's on the horse.

Here's Nate dancing--um, scary similar to his dad, haha. (Just watch the first 30 seconds--the rest is just me waiting on him to do something cute that never materialized.)

And here's one of Nate playing peekaboo with himself. He's saying "surprise!" (Again, he spaces during the last half.)

Slideshow!

I just uploaded some pics and videos from the last couple weeks and thought I'd try out putting them here. Except it's getting complicated, so I'm going to split it up in a couple posts.

Here's Nate from this morning. He's already getting in the Christmas spirit looking at a toy catalog.

Also, a couple cute quotes from this morning, while I remember them:

As background, Nate often refers to dirty diapers as "shoo-wee" (i.e. pew, stinky). This morning, we were heading upstairs to change his diaper, and he said "Bye bye, shoo-wee diaper!"

Then he was watching this cartoon called "Ni hao, Kai Lan" about a little girl named Kai Lan. I told him it was time to take a nap and turned off the TV, and he said, "Nigh night, Kai Lan!" Him saying bye and nigh night to everything never gets old for me. :)

I'll be back with videos.

Breakfast battles

Since the time change, Nate has been all out of sorts. He's reverted back to taking 2 naps a day. Yesterday, he took his normal nap around 10:30 or 11, and then by 4:30 he was tired again. Typically I put him down to sleep and we wake him up for dinner when Blake gets home. Well, yesterday, he didn't feel like waking up for dinner (and he'd eaten right before going to bed) so we just let him sleep. He's done this before, and he sleeps right through the night. He's an excellent sleeper. So I was surprised when he started crying at midnight. Blake went in to check on him, and Nate assumed it was morning. :) He started talking about "stairs" and "pancakes" and "banas." Blake figured he was hungry, so he took him downstairs and fed him breakfast! It was an odd sight when I came down to see what was going on. Luckily after his midnight breakfast, he went right back to bed and slept until his next breakfast.

Speaking of this morning's breakfast, I wrote before about how much Nate likes pancakes. Well, last time I went to the store, I bought him frozen waffles instead of frozen pancakes. All week he has complained about this. Blake gives him waffles, and he screams for pancakes. PANCAKES! PANCAKES! Well, this morning I guess Blake decided to either give Nate a treat or just try to prevent the tantrum, and he made homemade pancakes for Nate. What did Nate say when Blake served him the homemade pancakes? WAFFLES! That little stinker.

You should also know that Nate has been listening to too much country music. Today I was wearing my old Texas Roadhouse t-shirt, and Nate pointed out the little cowboy hat on it. He said, "Hat!" I said, yes, that's a cowboy hat. He said, "Yeehaw!"

Strange but true news

Nate's favorite food--peas. That's right, peas! All because I decided to call them green balls. He stuffed himself with "green balls" a few minutes ago. Hmm, maybe I should try calling broccoli trees again to see where it gets me.

Little Monster

After the bad shopping experience yesterday, I was a little scared about leaving the house today. But I had some returns to make, so I just hoped for the best. While standing in line at the customer service desk in Walmart, Nate said he wanted to "walk in da train." I set him up in his walker, and he quickly spotted a Christmas tree behind the counter. I let him walk back there because no one seemed to mind and, frankly, the alternative would probably be screaming. There was a Mickey Mouse and some toys under the tree, and he stood there talking and talking about it. Mickey Mouse! Tree! Star! Wights! Toys! It was really precious, and he kept everyone entertained. Then came the task of somehow getting him away from the tree without a meltdown. I told him there were other trees in the store, and we should go find them. He was agreeable to getting back in the shopping cart. I had to go back to the baby section, and the whole time Nate was saying, "More trees!" I said, hmm, are there more trees back here? He said, "Nope!" I said, okay, are there more trees over there?" He said no and put his hands up and shrugged his shoulders, like where could they be? Haha, it was so cute.

We also went to the mall to return a couple things, and I didn't even take the stroller in--just let him walk. It was very slow and took a lot of prodding, but he really liked seeing the Christmas decorations and the water fountain. He got so many smiles and "aren't you so cute"s.

When we got home, I was giving him a snack, and he started doing his "scary face." You know, where he strains really hard and grits his teeth and clenches his fists and turns red? I said, "Oh, is that your monster face?" He repeated monster face. A few minutes later, I was elsewhere in the kitchen and heard him doing it again, and this time he said, "Cookie monster!" :)

Have a good evening!

Surprise--he's impatient

This afternoon I told Nate we needed to go to the grocery store, and he got all excited (despite the fact that he hates the grocery store). I told him to stand by the door while I got my shoes on, and he kept saying, "Go to the store! Go to the store!" I told him I was putting on my shoes, and asked him if he could be patient. He sat quietly for a few seconds, then said, "No no patient! Shoes!" and picked up a pair of shoes by the door to give me. :)

He acted like a possessed animal at the grocery store. Tantrums, demands, whining, crying, and flat out screaming. If you had seen us there, I wouldn't have blamed you for acting like you didn't know us. There were a lot of stares. I think he feels bad (nose and possibly throat) because he's acted pretty awful all day.

We tried a new church this morning, and Nate was pretty embarrassing there too. He just talked the whole time and made a lot of noise. We need to find a church we want to settle into so we can send Nate to the nursery. That way Blake and I can actually pay attention to the message and Nate will get a message on his own level.

Speaking of church, last weekend we tried out a different church, and just like today, he got loud and crabby toward the end and I had to take him out in the lobby. But he could see the preacher through a window and told me he wanted to "watch the show!"

It's been a long day. :)

What he says the rest of the day

There are some funny things that Nate says many, many times a day. On any given day, I'll most likely hear each of these sayings 20 times. Notice how each of them has an exclamation mark? It's cause he doesn't "say" anything--he mostly exclaims!

Ice water!--Plain water is no longer good enough.

Walk in da train!--When he wants to walk in his walker, mostly when we're out of the house. At home, he crawls over to it and says, "Stand up!" until I tell him he can stand up in it by himself ... and then he does.

Take a break!--When he's had enough of walking in da train.

Clean da nose!--He hates a runny nose and lets me know if I need to wipe it.

Crackers!--Some days I think if I hear "crackers" one more time I'll have to lock myself in a closet. He also asks for yogurt, cheese, "sauce" (applesauce), banas (bananas) and pancakes every single day.

Stairs!--Usually means he wants to go downstairs. He's not a fan of upstairs.

Turn it off!--Anytime he wants me to turn ON a toy or the radio or his DVD player. Could be confusing for others. :)

Here he comes!--When someone is walking toward us, or when he sees Blake coming in the front door. Also related: Daddy's home!

Almost there!--He says after crawling up one step and pointing to the top of the stairs. Repeat for each step.

Bye!--Must say bye to EVERYTHING. When getting out of the bath: Bye fish, bye whale, bye turtle, bye duck! When getting out of the car (where he sometimes watches the Wiggles): Bye Wiggles! One morning last week when Blake got him out of his crib in the morning: Bye nigh night!

I think those are the big ones. Today we went to the SBAK playgroup, where Nate got to play with friends and make a paper turkey. (As we were leaving, "Bye, friends!") Then we went to Lexington to shop with Aunt Mindy. We also made a surprise visit to Uncle Lucas and Pop when they were eating at Ted's after the game. They all got to experience the nonstop "Ice Water!" first hand. :) Nate is tuckered out and went straight to bed when we got home.

Bye!

He loves his music

This morning I woke up to hearing Nate on the monitor singing a song from Yo Gabba Gabba:
Hold stiiiiiiiill ... Wiggle wiggle wiggle GO! Wiggle wiggle wiggle GO! Wiggle wiggle wiggle STOP! Hold stiiiiiiiill.....

A little later in the morning, he had found his paci and didn't want to take it out. I went to get on the computer, and he walked over in his walker, then reached out to the ottoman and transitioned on to it (yay) and cruised over to me and said, "Music!" I have some songs on the laptop that he likes to sing and dance to. His favorite song is "All I wanna do" by Sugarland. It came on and he started singing, but he decided the paci was getting in the way of his singing, so he took it out for that. :) You should hear him sing "Ooh hoo hoo hoo hoo hooo...."

Then we had hippotherapy this afternoon, and on the way there that song came on the radio. Nate said, "Turn it up! Turn it up!" When it was over, he said "Music again!" He really loves that song. :)

Nate had a great time riding the horse at hippotherapy, and after riding we went in the clinic to work on some OT stuff. First she wanted him to blow a whistle (to work on his oral sensitivities) and he totally didn't get it. So I offered to blow it and show him. The whistle sounded like a duck, and it scared him to death and he cried. But she also had another whistle that didn't make any noise but made a wheel turn, and he successfully did that and loved it. And the third whistle made a regular whistle sound, and he was able to do that and really liked it too.

The OT asked me last week if it was okay for her to give Nate a sucker to help with his sensitivities, and I said that was fine. In the past, he has refused suckers, so I thought it would be interesting. She used a dum-dum and first she asked him to kiss it. He was good at that. Then she asked him to touch it to his tongue. He did that, and you could see a little light bulb going off. :) He kept touching it to his tongue, then started licking it, then he said, "Yum! It's a cookie!" You can tell he doesn't get many sugary foods around here. :)

Have a good weekend!

Sky

Nate has already learned how to tease his parents.

The typical routine is for Nate to name everything he sees. If he calls something by the wrong name, we tell him what the real name for it is, then he repeats the real name. For example:

Nate: Bicycle!
Us: Actually, that's a motorcycle!
Nate: Motorcycle!

A couple weeks ago, Nate pointed at the ceiling and said, "Sky!"
Me: No, that's the ceiling.
Nate: Sky!
Me: The sky is outside. Inside, it's the ceiling.
Nate: Sky!
Me: Hmmm

A couple days later, I heard Blake having the same conversation with him.
Nate: Sky!
Blake: Ceiling!
Nate: Sky!
Blake: Ceiling!

You get the idea. For awhile it was almost frustrating that we could not explain to him that the sky was only outside. Then Nate started talking about the sky a lot more. Every time we sat down with him, he would point up and say sky. When he was trying to delay getting his diaper changed, he would point up and say sky. This kid is teasing us! It's a fun game for him now.

This morning I was getting Nate ready to take a bath, and he pointed up and said, "Sky!"
Me: Nate, is that really the sky?
Nate paused, then quietly: No.
Me: What is it?
Nate: Sky!
Me: What is it really?
Nate, quietly again: Ceiwing.

:D He's a smart kid.

I'm starting a blog

As Nate starts talking more and putting ideas and words together, sometimes he makes me laugh out loud. I always think "I need to remember to tell the grandmas!" but I can rarely remember long enough to tell Blake when he gets home. So I'm going to start writing them here.

However, in the time that it took me to write that last paragraph, I had to get up 6 times to attend to Nate trying to "Open!" a toy that does not open. I'll try to not make this my last post. :) He's now loudly "reading" a book about trains, so here goes.

Yesterday, Blake and I went to vote together before he went to work. As we were leaving, I asked Nate if he wanted to go vote. He was very excited. The whole way there he yelled, "Go vote! Go vote!" For awhile I thought he might have misunderstood me and thought we were going to see a "boat"--he was that excited. Well, I guess it was not as exciting once we got there. As we waited in the 20-minute line, he yelled to everyone "Go vote! Go vote!" I explained that they were all there to vote also. He started getting angrier with his chant the longer we were there, but he got a lot of giggles from the other people in line.

By the way, we also went to Target yesterday--one of his favorite places to walk in his "train." He makes a bee line for the bicycles. On the way there, he saw all of the Christmas decorations and was sooo excited. I introduced him to Santa Clause and snowmen and Christmas trees. He found the stars on his own--he can spot a star a mile away. Christmas should be really fun.

This morning during PT, he started saying "nope" to everything. :) He's never been one for answering yes or no; for yes, he repeats the last two or three words you just said, and for no, he screams. But this morning he started saying nope. Do you want to stand up? Nope! Is this a triangle? Nope!

Other PT update--Nate is doing much better with "steering" his walker. And this morning I put him in his gait trainer and unlocked the front wheels, and he did great steering that as well. Even a couple weeks ago he couldn't control it.

Okay, on to the other two funny things he said today before I forget them. First of all, do you know how much Nate loves pancakes? I think they're pretty much his favorite food. If asked if he wants pancakes, he practically screams PANCAKES! Today before naptime I was reading him a book about the alphabet where each letter corresponds with a picture. A is for Apple, B is for butterfly, etc. He can identify almost every picture (including xylophone) in the book. Well, P is for pretzel, but this is one that Nate usually doesn't know--doesn't eat pretzels yet. So I said, "P is for ..." and out of nowhere Nate said "PANCAKES!" I laughed, but come to think of it that was pretty smart! How did he know pancakes starts with P?

Lastly, I was coaxing Nate to climb the stairs, and this gets a little frustrating because he takes forever. Not because he can't do it but just cause he takes his sweet time. So by the time we got to the top, I was practically demanding he stand up and climb the next step. I took a line from Dora and said, "Stand up, please!" not so nicely, and Nate climbed the step and said, "You're welcome!" :) First time he's said that.

Have a good day!