Natey at 23 Months

Oh my little man. I am amazed that in 31 short days you will be turning 2. I actually had to focus on not freaking out as I typed that. It seems like an impossibility to me, yet it is the truth. Dang! That means I have 1 month to plan your birthday party, clean up the back yard and open the pool! For now, I will just distract myself thinking of all of the wonderful, hilarious, strange and new things you have picked up this month.

• I'm starting to wonder if Dora is such a bad thing since she has taught you so much freakin Spanish! Some of my favorites are your responses to these:

When someone says gracias you sweetly say, "De nada!"

You reply "muy bien" when Auntie Pamme asks you "como estas?".

• You apparently know a little Chinese too as you can say "Ni hao" (hi), "Xie xie" (thank you) and "tway" (push). My favorite part is you tilt your head to the side and touch your chin to your shoulder when you say these things. It melts me every time!

• You crack me up with some of the things you come up with. You went to the zoo and saw the bats in their cave and now every time we turn the light off in your room or you put the blanket over your head you say, "I see bats!". You don't seem afraid when you say this so I don't think I will worry about it just yet.

• I love your new obsession with finding life in the back yard. Worms, birds, "slugas", rolly polies, you love them all. I just have to watch you closely so you don't inadvertently squish them.

• You are starting to get the plural of items. You add an s where appropriate and have started to say our, "our house", "our car" are some things you like to say a lot.


• You are starting to call things your "favorite". I'm pretty sure you get it because the things you mention are definitely on the top of your list. For example: "T-rex my favorite dinosaur". This I know to be true.

• One of your truly favorite things is after you eat dinner. I clean off your high chair and you and daddy play blastoff. Daddy shakes your tray and you count really fast, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, BLASTOFF" and then daddy spins your highchair around. This is something only a daddy would do. I am too afraid you might puke your dinner all over me, but you love it and scream and giggle with glee.

• On the negative side you have figured out that boo boos hurt. You obsess about it and say over and over again, "Boo boo hurts. I need (trans)former band aid. I need mecine". For the longest time I thought you were saying farmer band aid, but then daddy taught you the song which is hilarious when you sing it. "(Trans)Farmers, more than meets de guy". That's what it sounds like anyway.

• You have started singing songs on your own now. You don't know all of the words, but you don't care. Sometimes you skip them or mumble them and keep going with the words you know. I will have to get your renditions of Yankee Doodle, Baa Baa Black sheep, and Itsy Bitsy spider on video and post them so everyone can get a chuckle.

• You get the concept of "just a minute". When you aren't ready to get out of bed or off of the toilet you say, "Lay down minute" or "pee pee toilet minute".

• I can't count how many times a day I hear, "I found it" out of your mouth. Even if I hand something to you, you proudly hold it up and say you found it.

• You are finally sleeping sans the sleep sack and are using a blanket now. I can't say that you keep covered or know how to cover yourself back up when you get all tangled, but it's a start.

• You slept on a cot for the first time the other day when you had to go to big daycare for a day. I was so proud of you since I had my doubts when I dropped you off. I'm still glad you go to a home daycare where you get your own room and pack n play to sleep in, but it makes me feel more confident that you might do well in a big boy bed when the baby comes.

• You have all but your 2 year molars and will be going to the dentist for the first time next month. Let's hope that goes smoothly.

• Your feet are huge kiddo. You are in a 7 1/2 already. Please slow down. Toddler shoes are not cheap and I'd like to get some more use out of the ones you have!

If I sat here long enough I could fill pages and pages about all of the things you do every day, but I'll end there for now. I'm a little sad that next month I will have to tell people you are 2. My baby will be officially a boy in my mind and I guess I just wanted to hold on to your babiness a little longer. I love you Nathan Fraank Fraanks!

Love, Mommy Fox and Daddy Wolf (how do you come up with this stuff???)