Nathan is One!

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

Nathan's cupcakes:  a dog (above) and a paw print (below).

And with the leftover batter I made a small '1' cake.  The '1' was made out of hagelslaac (chocolate sprinkles) in the shape of dog bones.

Nathan weighs 26lb 5oz and 32.5" tall.  He wears size 12-18 month clothes easily and has started with 18-24 month sleepers.  He wears size 5 shoes, and size 3 diapers.

He has eight teeth.  A few days before a new tooth erupts he has a very rough sleep, which usually results in him laying in the middle of our bed (which Jon hates).  One night this month, Jon took Nathan out of our bed (while he was awake) when he came upstairs and put him back in his own crib.  Nathan freaked out.  Jon tried to soothe him for 10-15 minutes, but couldn't.  I then received permission to bring him back to our bed :).  While Nathan was laying beside me, Jon tried to lean over to give Nathan a kiss and Nathan freaked right out and pushed him away.  I don't think I've ever laughed so hard.  He wanted absolutely nothing to do with Jon for the rest of the night.

Nathan learned how to say, "Mom" this month.  He always says, "Ada", which means "again".  As in, let's sing "Row, Row, Row your Boat" again or let's play "Smooth Road, Bumpy Road" again or let's sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" again.  He also can communicate his preferences SO WELL by nodding his head, or by having a tantrum. :)

He is on 1 tsp of Restoralax (or 1/2 tsp of Lactulose) a day because as soon as I switched him to 100% homogonized milk (in August), he started getting constipated.  I switched him back to 50% homogonized / 50% formula for September and he had regular bowel movements, and so I tried weaning him back to 100% homogonized again in October.  He started getting constipated again, so just like Kayla, he's getting Restoralax every day, as well as 4 oz of formula in his evening bottle.

He is down to only two 10oz bottles a day: one after his morning nap, and one before bed.  He used to also have a bottle after his afternoon nap, but I went cold turkey on him and replaced that with some (diluted) juice in a sippy cup.

Nathan absolutely loves his siblings.  He loves the attention he receives from Kayla.  When she chases him around the house he giggles.  He loves to pester Matthew by kicking Matthew's back to try to push him off the front of the stroller (Matthew sits on the front tip of our BOB Duallie).  Nathan also loves to hit Matthew's head in the car if Matthew has fallen asleep, leaning towards him.

Nathan loves Jon (more than Matthew and Kayla ever did), but I'm pretty sure I'm still his favourite.

Nathan loves to grab the syrup bottle from the pantry and walk around sucking on the cap.  I'm trying to train myself to keep the pantry doors closed.  It's not going so well.  If he doesn't have the syrup, he's walking around with a small purple-handled frying pan (which Kayla calls 'her' frying pan because it's purple).  He is a very snoopy child...he likes to open all of the cupboard doors and look to see what's in them.  I never had to do any baby-proofing with Matthew and Kayla, and I'd rather not have to make any changes with Nathan, so I just try to keep an eye on him.  He tried to grab my toilet bowl brush the other day from my bathroom cupboard.

Nathan and his purple frying pan.

Nathan loves being outside.  If I open the back door to throw some recycling in the bin he practically runs to try to get outside and then throws a fit if I don't let him out.

He already likes it when we take out the vacuum, and is more than willing to help.  Matthew has some competition!

He doesn't like to wear socks.

He absolutely hates being laid down for a diaper or clothing change.

He loves candy.  Don't try to sneak one around him because he will notice.

He loves to push cars and make a 'vroom' noise.

He can climb up the toddler slide at my parents' and wiggle his bum so that he can slide down all by himself. He also descends stairs by doing his bum-scoot.