Choo Choo, part 2

Okay, the train is a full-on obsession now. Thomas must be running all day long. Even when Nate is eating or doing something else, he wants the train on. Thomas takes a AA battery, and after about a day and a half of running, he went dead. Nate was frantic: "Mama! Help! Fix it! Mama! Pweeeeeeease!" I finally found one working AA battery in our stash. The next day, his new respite care worker was here, and I ran out for an errand. When I came back, she said that Nate was very good, but he freaked out when Thomas' battery went dead! She was resourceful and took the battery out of the TV remote. :) Yesterday I bought rechargable batteries!

Last night when Blake came home from work (after Nate was already asleep), he said he bought Nate a Christmas gift. Then he pulled out another Thomas the Train set (this one was different than the one he had and also had a different engine, not Thomas) and a Track Extender Kit. Oh my. We put it together, and now the thing sprawls all across the living room. Nate was so excited this morning that he wouldn't eat his breakfast! He didn't want to take a nap. He didn't even want to go Bye Bye!! I have NEVER seen him not want to go bye bye.

And guess what he's getting for Christmas--more trains! It is so funny how much he loves them. He will even watch these boring documentaries with Blake about old guys who have elaborate train villages in their basements. :) He'll probably BE one of those old guys one day.

Choo choo!

Yesterday Nate received, among several gifts, a Thomas the Train holiday train set from his Papaw and Grandma. It has a big circle track with a station and a tunnel, and Thomas is hauling presents. As soon as he opened it, he said, "Hold this! Get it out! Hold this, hold this, hold this! Get it out, get it out, get it out!" over and over until we were able to get just the engine out for him to hold. He played and played with that thing all evening and all day today. Finally, tonight I had time to put the track together for him and put the battery in Thomas. It's been about 20 minutes now, and he hasn't taken his eyes off of it. Here's what I hear:

Thomas train!

Whistle!

He has presents.

Look at it go!

Here it comes!

There it goes!

Ooh, through the tunnel!

Choo choo!

Chugga chugga chugga chugga choo choo!

Round and round it goes!

All aboard the choo choo train!

Oh, HELP! HELP! (This is when he tried to touch it and Thomas came of the track.)

Whoo whoo!


Man, two year olds are FUN at Christmas! :)

Walking video!!!!

But first I'll tell you the cute story from today. Well, there were several because he talked nonstop from the time he woke up until he went to bed, but this was the cutest one. After hippotherapy, I asked Nate if he wanted to go to Target. Target! He loves Target! When we got there, the parking lot was full, so I was driving around looking for a space. Nate didn't understand why we weren't going inside already. "This way!" he said and pointed at the door. I continued driving, and Nate started throwing a fit and screaming. I told him that we would not go in Target if he was screaming. A few more screams later, I finally found a parking space. I said, "Nate, remember we will not go in Target while you're screaming. Are you going to keep screaming, or not?" He whimpered and said, "Not." :D

Okay, here's the video! And what cracks me up about this is that we realized that Nate needs to hold onto something when walking--typical of most kids, but you have to remember Nate is used to holding either hands or his walker--so in the absence of something in his right hand, he held onto his HAIR! Ha!

We're both tired tonight

Today was a hectic day! I had a lot of Christmas shopping to do, plus get Maggie groomed and take Nate to get measured for his new braces. This morning I told him all about how we would go get his feet measured this afternoon, and we would get some new "car shoes" (that's what he calls them), but instead of cars, we could get something else on them, like dinosaurs. (That's the only other design I remembered from last time we ordered.) After some shopping, I brought him home for a nap, then I had to go pick up Maggie while Blake was home for lunch. He said Nate woke up going on and on about dinosaurs and he had no idea what he was talking about. :) There were lots of cute designs to choose from (animals, sports, bees), but we chose dinosaurs since he'd been so excited, and since he says "rawr" so cute every time he talks about them.

Then we did a lot more driving around from store to store this afternoon, and we were both tired when we got home. While Nate was eating his dinner, he had me laughing so hard I was crying! He was yelling: Go upstairs!!!!! Take a bath!!!! Brust da teeth!!!! Go nigh night!!!!! He must have been really tired, but it was just so hilarious. He kept on with TAKE A BAAAAATH! Brush da teeth! Take a Bath! I was laughing so hard I called my mom and after she realized I was laughing instead of crying, his yelling had her cracking up too. He's just so loud! And insistent! This went on until I finally did take him upstairs to get ready for bed. I wish I had gotten that on video.

A little milestone :)

Nate and I have been working out hard lately. Last week the PT said she thought what was holding him back from standing independently (which of course has to happen before walking) is his trunk/core strength. So she gave us some hard core excercises:

1. Row row row your boat sit-ups. I sing while I help him use his tummy to help him sit up and lay back. Fortunately, as with most things, if I make it a game, he loves it and even ASKS to play this game.

2. Back excercises. I stand him up facing away from me, hold my arm over his knees to lock them, make him bend over at the waist to pick up a toy on the ground, then he has to pull himself back up to standing. This is HARD for him! But he's already so much better at it.

3. Lots of practicing standing. He stands while I position him well and offer minimal support. And occasionally I let go ... and he falls over. :) But there have been a few times when I'm only supporting him with a finger, or even just holding his ankles, which does nothing more than make him believe I'm holding him up.

4. Wheel Barrow walking! Just like wheel barrow racing, where he's walking on his hands, but I hold him straight out (instead of slanted up) by his thighs (instead of his ankles). Oh my gosh, this is hard for ME to help him! It's gotta be tough for him, but he thinks it's fun. This supposedly is a great exercise for back, shoulders, trunk, arms, hands ... good all around.

We had PT this morning, and I told Dee that my goal was for him to be standing independently by Christmas. She said that wasn't impossible, but I could tell she thought that was a very lofty goal. But she doesn't know Nate like we do! We work and work and work on something, and one day he just does it.

Tonight we were playing/working out, and I decided to make him try walking holding onto one hand. I try this every couple days, and he always fusses and says he needs help. Even this weekend, my mom said she tried it with him and decided he didn't have enough balance/strength for it. So tonight after he initially refused to walk holding on to only one hand, I held both of his hands, then mid-walking I put both of his hands in one of my hands, then while he had momentum, I let go of one of his hands.

He did it!!!!! He walked and walked, with me beside him holding one hand! I praised him like crazy, and he kept going. I had him walking all over the house and even took him outside to convince him to walk some more. I can't wait to show Blake tomorrow, and hopefully I'll get some pictures and video.

Picture with Santa

Saturday we were in Lexington helping Lucas put up his Christmas tree against his will. :) I also wanted to get Nate's picture taken with Santa at the mall. On a Saturday ... when Nate was miserable and sick ... and I didn't have a stroller. What was I thinking? We parked at Macy's, which is at one end of the mall, fairly close to the playplace where Santa always is. We let Nate walk in his walker some and took turns carrying him, only to find out that Santa has moved to in front of Dillards--at the other end of the mall, literally a mile away. So he did some more walking and we did a lot more carrying. When we finally got there, Santa was on his dinner break, so we waited in line for a half hour, pacifying Nate with a bag of M&Ms. I knew Nate would be a little afraid of Santa, so I talked him up as much as I could. When it was our turn, I took him up the Santa and kneeled down on the floor with him instead of dumping him in Santa's lap immediately. Santa was so nice--he got down in the floor with us, asked Nate his name and how old he was and what he wanted for Christmas. I answered that Nate wanted a choo choo train and a wagon. Santa said he would tell his elves, and they would make sure they were wrapped up pretty and in his sleigh so he would be sure to bring them. Then he asked Nate if he wanted to sit in his chair, and they took the picture with Santa still in the floor and Nate looking terrified. :) Here it is...













Wait for it .....

It's a good one, huh? :) But since then, every time Nate sees Santa on TV or in a story, he says, "Choo choo train and a wagon." Ha! He might just get it.

It's Christmas at our house!

Blake and I decorated inside and out for Christmas last night after Nate went to bed. This morning I went down and turned the tree on before he came down. Oh my gosh, you should see how excited he is!

He speed crawled over to the tree: "It's a tree! En-ments! (ornaments) Wights! Red, yewow, bwue. Wook, a ball! It's a tree! Wow!"

Then he saw the little village beside the tree: "Ooh, houses! Door, window, tower (church steeple). Count the houses--one, two, three ... Two houses! Wow. Merry Christmas!" (no joke, he said Merry Christmas.)

Then back to the tree: "Ooh, a tree! En-ments!" .... and on and on.

After fulling taking in the tree and village a few times, he discovered the nativity scene and speed crawled over there: "Wook! Animals! It's a goat. Maaaaaaa. Wook, it's ears. Mouf (mouth), eyes." I showed him Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus and told him what the other animals were. Back to the tree: "Tree!"

When I could pull him away from the tree, I showed him the ice skating rink/music box that was my Granny's. He was mesmerized and watched it while it played through three times. First he said the snowman was on a boat on the water, but I told him he was ice skating like we saw the kids ice skating with Memaw and GrandBob last week.

This whole time, Blake was making breakfast. Nate decided he wanted to show Daddy everything, so he called for him about a thousand time before he could get away. Back through the whole thing again: "Wook, it's a tree! Merry Christmas! ..."

Poor Nate

Yesterday he was all out of sorts--very tired but didn't want to sleep. I tried to put him down for an early nap, but he wasn't having it. Tried to put him down for his regular nap, knowing he was exhausted, and he had to cry for 20 minutes before he went to sleep. Later, I tried to put him down for an afternoon nap, which he's been taking lately, and he wanted nothing to do with that. Then at bedtime, he was so tired, but he still cried for half an hour before finally going to sleep. I hate listening to him cry on the monitor, but I know that's the only way he will go to sleep.

Last night, Blake went up to bed, and I went up a few minutes later to find him in Nate's room, rocking Nate. He said when he went in to check on him, poor Nate was sitting straight up in his crib asleep, head bobbing and all. I guess he was so mad at me after I put him down that he sat up to protest and scream louder, and that's where he fell asleep. Sad and funny at the same time. :)

Some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend

Look at this clown! He just thought to do this out of nowhere and learned how to balance the fork on his nose. :)

His legs need to grow a little longer to ride this on his own. :)

No hands! (Just a little leaning on Aunt Sunny.)

Nate called this "corn hill" instead of cornhole. Makes sense, really.

I think we've all recuperated from the weekend now.

No posts in a week?!

Well, we were out of town. Most of what Nate said from Wednesday through Sunday was "MEMAW!!!! MEMAW!!!! Help! Help!" He got spoiled rotten, in a good way. He also asked his Aunt Sara to draw him a trapezoid! She couldn't believe it. The boy loves his shapes.

Nate just got home from "school," and he was telling me what he did:
1. Play with da toys
2. Color with crayons (new word!)
3. Something about his face (new word)
4. Something about spiders
5. Something about a cowboy

Saturday we spent the day with Papaw and Grandma, and cousins Rose and Grace showed Nate a new trick! They were doing belly flops on an ottoman, and Nate was sitting on the other side of the room not seeming to be paying attention. But when we got home yesterday, we were cleaning the couch and put the cushions in the floor, and Nate started doing belly flops on one just like his cousins! Today when I picked him up from school, he was in the gym doing belly flops on one of their slides. :)