Sunday with Nate

Even a typical Sunday of church and grocery shopping is an adventure for a 3 year old, I guess.

As expected, Nate wanted to wear his Thomas costume to church, but the "it's against the rules" excuse worked pretty well. We reminded him that there are trains in his classroom at church, and he was happy to go. We dropped him off at his class as usual and decided this week to go straight to the cry room for the service instead of having to leave the sanctuary during the middle of it if Georgia started crying.

As soon as the service started, a number flashed on the screen. They give each child a number, and they give parents a sticker with that number on it in case you have to go pick up your child. I rarely even pay attention to our number, but Blake does. So when they flashed Nate's number on the screen, I didn't even recognize it but Blake jumped to his feet and left the room in a flash. Apparently, when the class was getting ready to leave the room to go down the hall to chapel, Nate refused to go and had a crying fit, then a coughing fit. So he was kicked out of Sunday School.

The cry room is full of families with small children and babies, so it's pretty relaxed. But you should have seen moms grabbing their crawling babies out of the floor as Nate came charging by. He walked around and around and around and around the room for most of the service. He was having a great time, and it was better than him screaming, so as long as he wasn't stepping on babies we let him walk. It's hard to fathom telling a child he must sit still after it took us three years of all of our energy and time trying to get him to walk. So he walked.

Afterwards we went out to eat, and this time we did tell him he couldn't walk around the restaurant terrorizing everyone else there, so he at least stayed in the booth. Blake ordered some spicy boneless wings, and when Nate saw them, he asked for some chicken. Blake said they weren't too spicy, so he gave Nate a small bite. He ate it and asked for another. But this time he said, "Make it cold! Blow on it." We tried to explain they were spicy, not just hot, but he wasn't happy until Blake blew on it anyway. After this bite, he said in a desperate voice, "I need water!"

Normally we'd come home and put Nate down for a nap, but Nate has recently given up napping. Every few days I try to get him to nap again, but I'm pretty sure it's over. Which is unfortunate, because he still really needs to nap, and I still really need that quiet time. So Blake went to work, Nate played with trains, and I thought I'd lay down on the couch for a little rest. But every few minutes Nate would come up to me and say, "Wake up! It's party time!" haha

When Blake got home, we all went to walmart for groceries. Nate wanted to "walk by myself" which he usually can't do at the grocery store because it's just me with him and Georgia trying to shop, but since both of us were there this time, I said sure. He had a blast. He was throwing things in the cart right and left, and we were going right behind him putting them back up. He'd say, "Wook, an orange!" and plop it in the cart. Then he said, "I need an apple!" and he threw a pomegranate in the cart. A box of rice ... whatever he could get his hands on. It was hysterical. I know most people go through this when their kids are much littler, but this is still so new and so cool for us. He's just now learning all these lessons like not running off from us in stores, holding hands across the parking lot, watching where you're walking so you don't run into people, etc. And we take great pleasure in teaching him these things.

He was starting to get tired as we went to the other side of the store for a few things, so we took turns standing with him by the fish. A whole wall of fish! It was pure bliss for Nate. He named one of them Isabella. :)

That night when I was putting him to bed, we were saying his prayers, and he asked to pray for his trains. haha, okay. We talked about all the events of the day, things that would seem mundane for most people, but Nate recalled all the little details that I had forgotten and decided, "It was a fun day!"