10 Months Old

Nathan is now 10 months old.  Almost a year...better start planning his birthday cake!  We're getting so close to the end of my maternity leave it makes me sad.  I love getting paid to stay home with the kids!  Oh well, back to work I go!

Anyways - about Nathan:

Nathan weighs 24 lb 6 oz.

This month Nathan has mastered the "butt scoot".  I think it's the cutest thing ever.  We always used to make fun of my brother Jason, and how he didn't crawl, but scooted around on his butt.  Guess who does it now?  Nathan!  Those who can't crawl...come up with something quite funny.  He just sits, wiggles his body/butt, and scoots forward an inch.

Nathan still loves me the most.

When there is something he wants, he stretches out his arm and open and closes his hand multiple times.  (I taught him that!).

He typically only uses his soother at nap/bed time.

Nathan prefers to drink his bottles warmed or at room temperature rather than cold.

He loves walking around furniture.

If you hold his hands to let him walk to where you are sitting on the ground, he continues to walk until he is walking up your body.

Nathan is really aware of the snacks and drinks Matthew and Kayla have.  Don't even think about trying to sneak a juice box...he goes nuts!

His favourite fruit are bananas and frozen blueberries.

His favourite cooked vegetable is corn.

Nathan's Week

This past week has been HUGE for Nathan.  I mean, HUGE.  It seems like he has accomplished more developmental milestones this week than any other week.

On Monday, August 18, I noticed that Nathan got his third tooth (upper left central incisor).  It may explain why on the Thursday evening, he was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night, while we were camping.  Not cool.  I tried everything...rocking him, not rocking him, letting him lay by me, letting him sit by me, playing with him, not playing with him.  Eventually, at my wit's end, I asked Jon to go outside and boil some water on the Coleman stove so that I could make him a bottle.  He did (after a little convincing), and it worked (but barely!).

On Thursday, August 21, Nathan almost drowned.  Well, kinda-almost.  He was sitting in front of my feet at the edge of the lake while I was watching Matthew and Kayla swim in the middle of the swim area.  I swear I had my eyes off of him for only a second when Melissa (who was sitting a couple feet away from me) shouted, "Laura, Laura!"  I looked at Nathan, and he was laying (face up) in the lake, kicking and flailing his arms.  I scooped him up so quick.  Poor kid.  He was a little shook up, and I got the reminder that it only takes a second for someone to almost-drown.  When we got home yesterday I tried laying him in the bath to wash him and he freaked out.  And freaked out again today.  I don't know if it's because he hasn't laid down in a bath for two weeks (because we were camping) or if it's because of his near-drowning.  *Bad mother award.

On a happier note, Nathan learned how to pull himself up today!  Numerous times I've found him standing against furniture and toys when I know he had been sitting.  I called my Mom this morning to tell her, and I joked that maybe he would be crawling soon, since both Matthew and myself learned how to crawl within weeks of learning to pull ourselves up.  Sure enough, when I was at my parents' this afternoon, he started creeping.  Crazy child.  And then...yes, that's right...there's another one...while I was bathing Matthew and Kayla upstairs, Jon was vacuuming the main floor while Nathan played.  He saw Nathan head towards the stairs (doing his butt-scoot that he learned two weeks ago...hey, it may be funny looking, but it gets him from point a to point b!) and then disappear upstairs.  That's right, he climbed up the stairs all the way to the top floor.  Crazy crazy child.  Now that he knows how to move he's realized that there's a whole world out there that he can explore whenever he wants.  Jon asked me if I had 8 baby gates that he could install.  Seriously though...we need quite a few.  Maybe not 8...but 3 :)

And, to top it off...Nathan had his first haircut today.  The wispy baby hair is no more...now he has a buzzed head.  My baby is growing up way to fast.  Seriously.  I feel like I left for vacation with a baby and came home with a toddler.  NOOOOOO!

Nathan BEFORE:

Nathan AFTER:

Matthew and Kayla can Bike!

Matthew and Kayla learned how to ride 'big kid' (pedal) bikes this week - without training wheels!

I took Matthew and Kayla to Toys R Us a couple weeks back, to see what size bike they would need.  Kayla could do with a 14", and Matthew needed a 12".  I found one bike for Matthew on my swap a couple weeks back, and bought it under the impression it was a 12" bike.  When he tried it and it was WAY too big for him I was so confused!  My Mom pointed out that it looked larger than a 12", and so I inspected the tires and noticed that it was a 14".  So, Kayla got a red 14" Lightning McQueen bike.  Because she had a bike, she began to practice first, and got the hang of pedal biking before Matthew.

I found Matthew a 12" bike (an actual 12" this time!) off of Craigslist.  I totally low-balled the seller, but she needed to get rid of it and so she accepted my offer.  Matthew got off to a rougher start as he hadn't mastered pedaling a tricycle yet, but tonight he was able to put pedaling and balancing together and off he went!  He totally gained confidence tonight.

They both know how to stop - we just need to work on how to start (Kayla is halfway to understanding) - and some bicycle etiquette (Matthew likes to just drop his bike on the ground).

P.S.  If you want a great workout, trying running after your kids while holding on to their bike seat.  Totally gave me sore muscles in my butt where I didn't know muscles existed!  And I was sweating up a storm each time!

Abbotsford Agrifair

I had the opportunity to get two free admissions for the Abbotsford Agrifair (thanks, Louise!) and so I jumped at the chance.  You know me...include the word 'free' and I'm on it!  Jon and I took the three kids (kids are free) Saturday morning.  We were right there when it opened, at 10am.

I had never been, so I was pretty excited to go.  Considering it was free, it was well worth it.  Would I pay to go next year?  Good question.  Not sure.

Milking a cow is harder than it looks.  I think Matthew did better than me... :)

I may have found a piece of Lego in Nathan's mouth half an hour after we had left.  Oops.  Good thing this kid just likes to suck things and not swallow!

At 10:30am, Twisters Gymnastics was offering a free one-hour drop-in session...and so, because it was free...we went (almost) straight there.

Matthew and Kayla LOVED it.  Absolutely loved it.  Especially Kayla - she was running from one thing to the next.  I don't think she stopped running/jumping/climbing/bouncing that entire hour.  Nathan did well too, considering he wasn't getting his morning nap at all that day!  Poor third child - he has to be so flexible with his routine.  :)

Every time they saw an animal, Matthew and Kayla asked, "Can we pet it?"

Even the snake!  Matthew even squeezed the snake.  Oops.  I had to 'encourage' Kayla to touch it.

I splurged and paid for them to have their faces painted.  Every time we've been somewhere there's always been a line-up so they've never really had it done.  Kayla chose a butterfly and Matthew chose balloons.  He wanted jewels just like Kayla, so the lady put some on his nose, by the strings :).

Trip to the Zoo

I had a free family admission and train pass to the Greater Vancouver Zoo, so my Mom and I took the kids last week.  The last time we had been was two years ago, although it felt like just yesterday.  Time flies.

The kids had fun picking up leaves off of the ground, and climbing into trees, yelling "Mom, take a picture of me!"

And we ended the visit with a ride on the train.  (We had free passes, so we didn't have to pay for the train...thank goodness!  Not worth what it costs, in my opinion!)