Nathan Update

Nathan has had such a great summer so far! We have been on lots of play dates, tried many new things, and have been enjoying time with each other during the day while I am home for the summer.  Here are some quick updates:

• Nathan is in sizes anywhere from 4T or 5T to size 4 clothes, depending on the brand.  He weighs about 44 pounds and is about 43" tall.
• He finished his first year of W.E.E. School at our church this year.  He LOVED his teachers and made some great friends that he still talks about this summer.  He learned several colors in Spanish, how to count in Spanish, how to identify numbers (I can get him to identify up to 20), how to identify letters, how to recognize his name, and much more.  His teachers mentioned at his last parent/teacher conference that he has great manners and really cares about others.  Those are two of the greatest things I could have possibly heard from them!
• He knows letter sounds and can identify the upper and lowercase forms of the letters of the alphabet although he still gets lowercase p and q mixed-up.  (Thank you very much, Starfall app!)
• He always wants to paint and color but doesn't really have the attention span for it.  He will usually color for about 3 or 4 minutes and then is off to the next activity. 
• He loves going to the pool!  He starts swimming lessons tomorrow, so hopefully he will learn some new skills.
• He is still a pretty good eater, but is becoming pickier in what he will eat.  We usually have to say "in order to get dessert you have to eat ___ green beans, peas, etc." I think it is just a phase.  He usually ends up eating his veggies with no problems and ends up getting his dessert anyway:

gotta love how messy ice cream sandwiches can get!

• His favorite food is peanut butter and jelly ("pancakes").
• He has been completely potty trained for a year now and hasn't had an accident day or night in probably five months.  He has done fantastic!  He even dropped the little toilet seat insert this past week.  We are so thankful to be done with that!
• He has a new interest in Lego's, however we haven't really started buying them yet because Will is still so young.  We have started buying small Lego cars for Joe and Nathan to put together though and Nathan has loved every minute.  Joe says that Nathan pretty much follows the directions and does it on his own with just a little help from Joe on the difficult parts.

• He is really into carrying "things" around.  He will grab a bucket, box, whatever he can find and then fill it full of stuff and dump it somewhere so I have to clean it up later carry it around the house.  He will also find random things and wear things around the house.  It makes Joe and I laugh on a daily basis.  He is such a funny guy!

• He loves his brother.  They obviously have their "sibling moments" but Nathan loves Will so much.  In the morning Nathan will tell me "Mommy, I think it is time for you to get Will up."  I ask him why and he says "because I miss him!"  He also calls him "my baby."  If Will gets into trouble and starts to cry Nathan will say "What did you do to my baby, Mommy?"  It is so sweet!  Today at church he told his Sunday School teacher that she had to make him another puzzle person for his best friend, his brother William.  So she did and she said it was so sweet!

• He still calls Joe "Daddoe" and has recently decided that he needs to call us by our first names.  It was funny for about 3 hours.  Now we are trying to get it to stop. :)
• While they are with my my parents, Nathan loves his Bapa, but he is a Mimi's boy.  My dad can't feel too bad because Will is definitely a Bapa's boy!
• He still takes a nap.  He goes down around 2 and will sleep anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours.  Will goes down at 1 and will sleep 2 to 3 hours so it is nice because I actually get a little time in the afternoon to do a few chores.  I'm so thankful he still naps!
• At night he sleeps from 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. until somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.  He sleeps with Okie (his bear) and Turtle, both gifts from my cousin Mallory and her husband, Cody. He stays in his bed and sleeps through the night without any problems with the exception of a few bad dreams every once in a while!
• He LOVES to read.  Recently he loves to sit and "read" books.  I signed him up for the reading club at the library this summer, so we have been busy reading new books each night.  He follows the story line really well and is able to recap what we have already read and predict what will happen next.

Nathan has a great sense of humor, is easy to get along with (whenever we go to the mall, pool, or somewhere similar he meets new kids and plays with them very well), is easygoing, (he is always up for a challenge-he even braved the lighthouse in Texas last month), and such a happy kid!  I love you, Nathan Isaac and am so blessed to be your Mommy!