How to eat with a spoon

Incorrect

Not even close

Still incorrect

Creative- but incorrect

Got it!

Good times with Grandma

Grandma Cynthia came up for a long weekend and Nathaniel enjoyed all the extra attention. Grandma quickly learned that Nathaniel likes to dance, be chased around the ottoman, and sit on your lap while you read him a book. The visit also allowed us a night away, and it was very nice to have a break. You can check out some more pics: Grandma's Visit

W is for Walking

As I hinted last week, Nathaniel started taking some steps. This week he's been walking half way across the room at daycare, and we've counted over 14 steps in a row at home. Take a look at our little big man in action.



Christopher

Recent Developments

For the last month or so, I've been meaning to put out updates on Nathaniel's developmental milestones. Sadly, I been neglecting my blogging duties, and in the mean time, Nathaniel keeps developing. Go figure. Of course, that also means I haven't been doing the best job of documenting these milestones with the camera. Here's the best I've got.

First, Nathaniel started crawling around the end of July, but he really took off the first week of August. Sadly, this is the best photo I have of him crawling, and video evidence seems to be lacking. This guy is like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot.


Almost as soon as he started crawling, he started pulling himself up to standing. Within a week, he started trying to let go of objects and free stand. By the end of August, he was readily getting into a standing position without any assistance.



Between the beginning of August and now, he's gone from having only his 2 lower front teeth to having 3 to 4 of his top teeth come in (the 4th one keeps playing peek-a-boo). His little gummy smile has been replaced with one full of teeth. Sorry, no good photos of these, yet. Bad Daddy!

I'm probably missing some other things. We're waiting for the big "W," and on Monday one of his daycare providers predicted he'd be walking in 3 days. Although she's not technically correct, he did start taking a few steps at a time at daycare on Thursday. We got to see a few ourselves for the first time tonight. Stay tuned.


Christopher

Picking Produce

Many of you know that we really love our tomatoes around here...me in particular. So, as usual we have a bumper crop. In fact, we canned 2.25 gallons of tomatoes last weekend and have plenty more to just eat and more turning on the vine! What's different this year is the various types of heirloom tomatoes we have: Brandywine, Super Fantastic, Golden Jubilee, Sun Gold, and Mr. Stripey. It makes for an attractive picture.

When I noticed the size of some of our Brandywines and our largest Mr. Stripey, I couldn't resist getting photos of Nathaniel with our giant tomatoes.

Here's the giant Mr. Stripey. It was delicious and very, very filling!

You can find more of our Fall Harvest photos here.

Christopher

My boys

Nathaniel likes sitting on our laps and reading books. Besides sleeping- it one of the few times we can get him to sit still. His favorite book is Doggies.

I came across Christopher reading to Nathaniel one Saturday afternoon. I just loved seeing them sitting there reading a book together. In case you're curious, Christopher is reading I Love My Daddy Because....

Car Seat

Nathaniel has taken an active interest in his car seat lately - my theory is he's trying to figure out how everything works so he doesn't have to wait on us to get him out. He seems to think we are just too slow.

Aha! I think I've got it! This strap goes here and that strap goes there.

The next day...

I give up.

Bath Time

By the end of the day, Nathaniel is one messy boy (wait until you see what he looks like after meals). So, a nightly bath is no longer optional. Now that we have moved to the big tub and added some toys, he thinks baths are pretty cool. Bath time also brings out his chatty side. Nathaniel likes to tell us all kinds of stories while he takes his bath.

Hello there...

Nathaniel is fascinated by this lion statue that is tucked on the side of our couch by the card catalog. He peeks around the corner to look at it, talks to it over the couch edge, and sometimes musters the courage to actually touch it! Going to check on the lion is now part of his daily routine.