Not a baby anymore

Guess who went to nursery yesterday?!?!
(and LOVED it!)

ME!!!

We can't believe that Nathan is 18 months old today! He has grown and changed so much the past few months; it's hard to imagine that our crazy, stubborn, independent, hilarious boy was once a tiny, helpless little baby.
*He loves dogs- one of his favorite things to do is take walks around our complex looking for dogs.  He runs over to pet them and says "wuf wuf"
*He loves anything with wheels.  His toy cars are favorites, but he also loves pointing out all the wheels on real cars and in books.
*He loves to drive.  Sometimes we even let him "drive" to and from the mailbox. And if you tell him which way to go he'll steer pretty accurately too.
*He loves animals.  We have a Baby Einstein movie called Noah's Ark and it is mesmerizing.  He has learned so many new words and sounds.  He loves to sit in his chair and make all the sounds.  So far his favorites to say are dolphin -"dodin", fish -"ish", wombat -"mbat", zebra -"bra", lion -"ror", tiger -"iger", panda -"da", and gorilla "ooh ooh ooh"
*We just let him watch 101 Dalmatians for the first time- he now walks around with the DVD case pointing out the dogs.
*He loves airplanes and helicopters.  Whenever he sees or hears one we have to stop and find it, then watch it till it is out of sight.  This is true even when we're inside.
*He loves to climb.  His new found skill has come in handy, especially the morning I poured Chris a bowl of Captain Crunch, turned my back to get the milk, and looked back to find Nathan sitting at the table eating Chris's cereal with the spoon. He has also learned how to climb on the chair to the table into his high chair without any help (which was really unnerving the first time I found him in there when Chris was gone!)
*He loves his "silly songs" CD.  He loves to sit in front of the CD player and press the buttons till a song comes on and then we dance - and he's a great dancer.
*He loves giving hugs and kisses to other kids.  If it was up to him he would give every kid he meets hugs and kisses...but after about 20 hugs most kids get bored and walk away.
*He loves to eat whole apples.  We'll take off the skin and let him go to town.
*He loves his finger puppet animals.  He loves putting them on his fingers and then shaking them really hard till they fly off.
He has the best aim- we have a little basketball hoop and he can really shoot! It's actually really impressive how good he is.  He also loves to dribble the basketball.  So far the most I've seen is 3 consecutive dribbles.
*When Nathan sleeps he holds a minimum of 3 blankets.  He takes the corner of one and sucks on it.  When he wakes up he won't leave the crib without all of them.
*After bath every night Nathan has "naked time".  I think it's his favorite time of the day.
*He loves to run around in circles.  He will just run around and around.  Surprisingly he doesn't get bored or dizzy.
*He loves to be chased- he runs down the hallway, around the table, under the high chair, back down the hallway, then throws himself on the couch.  Then we do it all over again.
*A favorite game is to have Nathan at the top of the stairs with a bunch of balls, Chris at the bottom...Nathan throws them down, and Chris throws them back up.  We could do this for hours.
*He is still the worlds best piano player. 
*He has gotten really good at stacking blocks and legos.  He loves to build them up and knock them over---he's such a boy.
*He loves to be pushed around in the laundry basket.
*He is super helpful with household chores.  He sets the table, helps empty the dishwasher, helps make the bed, and even loads the laundry in the washing machine.
*Playing in puddles is a must after every rain storm.  His shoes are disgusting from all the times they get soaking wet, but he really loves it!
 *When we ask him where our baby is, he points to his tummy.


We are so grateful to have Nathan in our family.  He is such a joy and a blessing and we can't imagine life without him.  We have our hard moments, but every time we get a hug or kiss it makes all those difficult moments completely worth it- he has brought more joy to our lives than we ever imagined. We can't wait for all the adventures ahead!