"My teeth are in my mouse!"

We often have both Nathan and Anna, so they are growing up together in a way. They are cousins, but he is a big-brother cousin and she is a little-sister cousin. Sort of.

Remember back in March when I wrote about Nate learning to say the word banana? It made us laugh for a long time.

When Anna was born, we all began calling her Baby Anna. But Nate soon started saying "Baby Nana." It made us all laugh, of course, but it took almost a month for me to get him to say "Anna." In the process, when I was trying to show him that he could make the "A" sound, I asked him to say "apple." He said it easily. I told him that was great, and if he could say apple, he could say Anna because they start the same way. We'd practice, and he'd say "aaa-Nana!" It was really funny.

He talks a lot, but like any kid his age, there are sounds he doesn't make consistently. He calls Becca "Auntie Butta" and one of my favorite words is "dood!" "How are you today Nate?" I ask him when I see him. "Dood!" he tells me. No gutteral hard c or k or g. I noticed one day last week that he can say "car" though. Instead of Grumpa, he calls Tom "Dumpa." Cute.

This week I decided to work on the "th" sound at the beginning and end of words. He says, "dat" and "dese" for that and these. So I showed him how to stick his tongue out, just a little bit, and say the words correctly. He became frustrated quickly, and walked away, saying, "Oh Nana!" in a disgusted tone. I let it go. He is two, and he is making himself understood quite well. No need to upset him.

A couple of days later, I was giving him lunch. He had almost finished, and was in the high chair. He had one bite left on his plate, and I told him to eat it while I went and put my dishes in the dishwasher. When I came back, I asked him, "What did you do with that last bite of sandwich?"
He giggled, and said, "I put it in my mouse, and now it is in my tummy!"

"Mouse?" I said. "Where is your mouse?"

He giggled again, and pointed to his mouth.

"That's not a mouse," I told him. "A mouse is a little animal with a long tail. Do you have a mouse on your face?"

He giggled some more. "Mickey Mouse!" he said.

"Right! Mickey Mouse. But this," I pointed to his mouth, "is your mouth, not your mouse. Can you say mouth."

"Mouse!" he said, looking solemn.

I thought he was seriously trying. So I said, "Can you say "teeth?"

He said, "My teeth (pronounced correctly) are in my mouse." He giggled again.

"Come on, silly boy," I told him. "If you can say 'teeth' you can say 'mouth.' Let me hear you say 'mouth.'"

He said, "My teeth are in my mouse." He looked serious.

"How about bath? Can you say "bath?" I asked him.

He said, "Bath."

Frustrated, because he can obviously make the "th" sound at the end of words, I spent a few more minutes trying to get him to say "mouth", but it came out as "mouse" every time. I gave up and we went on to other things.

Later that day, when I was getting my coat on to go home, he came running over to give me a kiss goodbye. Just as I was going to kiss his cheek, he ducked his head so I had to kiss him on the top of his head. He is good at ducking kisses, so I told him, "Nope. You have to give me a kiss on my cheek now."

He giggled and pushed his cheek up against mine.

"That's not a kiss!" I told him.

I tickled him. "Stop!" he said, laughing. "Nate kiss you."

"Will you give me a kiss with your mouth?" I insisted, tickling him a bit more.

"Yes. Nate kiss you with my mouse." he said laughing.

"Your mouse?" I pretended to be horrified. "Not with your mouse! I don't want a mouse kissing me."

He laughed harder. He gave me a kiss - a real kiss - on my cheek.

I picked up my purse and lunch bag, and was opening the door, when he said, "Nana! I kissed you with my mouth!" He was grinning.

He is two. Just two years and three months, actually. But I swear, the boy had been teasing me all day. I think he knew how to say mouth all along!

Giving thanks.

This is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I am watching both Nate and Anna now, as all of their parents work full time. I don't blog as often as I thought I would, or as often as I would like to, partly because they are keeping me so busy.

I am immensely thankful for this opportunity to so closely watch my grandchildren grow and learn. I am also thankful that Tom is retired now, because it would be very difficult on the days when we have both kids without him. He and Nate have bonded, and do fun things like go to the library for story hour, or to the Nature Center to see the displays and play with the puzzles and toys there. Tom helps with Anna too. She had severe colic when Becca first went back to work part time. She is definitely better now, but still has episodes of unbelievable screaming for no apparent reason. Tom is able to calm her as if he has some magic powers. He puts her on his shoulder, talks to her quietly, and walks with her, and she settles right down. It's annoying when I have been walking and talking to her for 20 minutes with no results, but it is a blessing too!

I'm thankful for so many things. My children and their spouses are all amazing people, each unique and different than the others, but all wonderful.

Ben is confident and braver than his dad ever was about taking risks in business. He bought into an engineering firm and it has managed to do well throughout this whole ordeal with the economy, which is astounding. He is a doting if over-protective father. It's fun to see him playing with Nathan during his lunch break, since his office is in the basement. Jennifer is a gentle and encouraging mother who teaches Nate new things every day, because she talks to him constantly, always in a positive tone. His bright, curious and silly personality is a reflection of their loving parenting styles.

Becca is also a gentle and encouraging mother. It has not been easy with Anna because of the colic. There were days when she screamed whenever she was awake and not eating. Becca's even-tempered patience has amazed me, especially since I found myself becoming so frustrated with my own inability to soothe Anna. Adam amazed me when they were first married with his quick advancement into management at the Bonefish Grill where he works. Adam had never been around children before Nate was born, and had not even held a baby before Anna came along. He has amazed me again by how confidently he has stepped up and helped with her, even taking care of her himself on days during the week when Becca has to work and he does not. When he sets his mind to something, he does it well! Becca is still pumping breast milk and giving it to Anna in a bottle, which is working out well obviously, since the girl is in the 90th percentile in length for girls her age, and 50th-75th percentile in weight. She apparently will be a taller adult than her mom!

We don't see Seth and Amy as often as I would like, because they live in St. Louis which is a 5 hour drive from here. But I talk to him weekly, sometimes more, and he still makes me laugh with his outrageous silliness. He is doing his internship this year in radiology at St. John's Hospital, and then will finish his residency at Barnes Jewish Hospital where Amy works as a hospitalist. We saw him several times over this holiday time; last weekend here at home and then on Thanksgiving Day down in Roanoke, IL, at Tom's sister's house. Amy was here last weekend also. I've never known anyone with the energy and generosity of Amy. It's great fun to have her here. I love the way she stands up to Seth's nonsense, and also the way she tells stories and answers our medical questions so graciously. Seth and Amy play on an ultimate frisbee team which won first place in the Ultimate Frisbee Club Championship competition in Prague, Czech Republic last July. Seth had invited me to go with them, which I did, along with Olena, a good friend, and Jenna, my sister. We had a fantastic trip (their winning the championship was frosting on the cake), and I am very thankful that they gave us that opportunity.

I'm thankful for our health. Tom is cancer free, and my hip and foot only bother me occasionally. I'm thankful that our house is paid for, and that we are comfortable physically and financially in our retirement. I'm thankful for our extended families, and our great friends Bob, Linda, Rick and Stella. I'm thankful that we live in America, in this century. I'm thankful for the technology available to us - our furnace and air conditioners, our vehicles, our TVs and computers. I am awed by the abundance in our lives, especially in this time of recession when so many people are not so fortunate as we are.

Nathan and Anna

In July, Anna Feith, Becca's and Adam's daughter, was born. So now Nathan has a new baby cousin, and I am Nana to a little girl.

The day after Anna was born, Jen brought Nate to the hospital to meet Anna. He was very curious as soon as Jen picked up the baby. I put him on her lap also, so he could meet the new baby. He was very sweet and gentle, and touched her very softly. He wanted to touch her toes, and her nose, and then he wanted to see her fingers. They were wrapped up, so we unwrapped her so he could inspect her. Ben was naturally gentle when he was young, and so is Nate. He moved slowly, and touched her hands. It was very sweet to watch.

Now, 4 weeks later, Becca and Anna are doing well. The baby nurses on demand, and is a strong nurser like her mother was. Becca is doing well, in spite of being tired. Anna is staying awake more during the day, and sleeping longer hours at night.

Nathan, of course is changing and growing also. He is a big talker now. He still says, "Nana, carry you!" when he wants to be picked up. Now, one of his favorite expressions is "Nate do it self," indicating that he is becoming a typical two-year-old. He wants to climb everywhere - on furniture, up and down the stairs, and into and out of the high chair by himself. He is showing signs of a quick temper and a fierce stubbornness underneath his social and sweet exterior.

Thomas the Tank Engine is his favorite toy. Nate has several Thomas trains, and Percy and Lady and others in the bunch. He plays with only Thomas though. He has a special table with tracks and bridges and tunnels, which he loves. For a while he would start one of the trains and watch it go along the track, but lately he only wants to hold Thomas, and gets upset if anyone starts one of the trains.

Rockets and Purple Shovels

Nathan has suddenly started saying many words, and often repeats the last word of a sentence when someone is talking to him. He has turned into a little tape recorder! Last week we were in Tampa with the entire family - Tom and I, Ben, Jen, and Nathan, Becca and Adam, Seth and Amy, and our friends Rick and Stella. We had a wonderful time doing many fun things, but here I just want to talk about Nathan. He of course has said Mama, Dada, and Nana for a while now, but he had not called anyone of the rest of us by name. By day 2, he knew all our names, and some of them came out really cute! Tom wants to be called Grumpa, to distinguish himself from Nathan's other 2 grandfathers who go by Grandpa and Papa. Now Nathan calls Tom "Dumpa" and they did some serious bonding. He calls Becca "Bucka" and Adam "Ah." We couldn't get him to put an end syllable on his name. Seth sounded more like "Set", but he had no problem saying Amy since he has a babysitter named Amy and he has said her name for a long time. Rick sounds more like "Ri" and Stella is "Sta."

Tom and I were here for dinner last night, and before the meal was ready, we were out in the back yard with Jen and Nathan. Ben was in Florida for work. Glenn, the next door neighbor, was in his yard setting off rockets. Nathan, held safely in his mom's arms, was fascinated watching the rockets go way up into the sky, and then come floating down under small parachutes. When we came in for dinner, he kept talking about the "rahtet," bringing it up again and again in a questioning tone of voice, obviously wanting to see more rockets. I think he said "rahtet" about 100 times during the meal. Jen asked him, "Do you want to see Glenn set off another rocket?" and Nathan replied, "Yeah!" in that enthusiastic way he has of making the simplest suggestions sound like the greatest idea he ever heard of.

He said it so often that Jen texted Glenn, asking him if he could possibly set off another rocket or two after dinner. Glenn was happy to do it. This time he came over to our yard, and set up the rocket just a few yards off the deck. Jen stood holding Nathan again, and he was wiggly with excitement. However, the noise when Glenn set off the rocket startled Nathan. It sounded much louder up close than any of us had expected, and it made him cry. Poor baby! Jen calmed him and told him that he was fine, and it was just a scary noise, but the rocket was fun to watch. He didn't buy it. Jen asked him if he wanted to see another rocket, and he said, "No!" just as emphatically as he had agreed earlier.

Glenn actually had several more rockets, but we came into the house, where the noise was much less scary.

Since Ben was out of town and since Jen had to leave especially early this morning, I stayed here overnight so I would be here when Nathan got up. He woke up happy and chatty, and started out by looking for his purple shovel. He says both of those words, and repeated them again and again all morning. Sometimes he was just showing me the shovel, and sometimes he put it down and then went looking for it. But he said it again and again and again, just like he had said rocket last night. It's amazing how persistent he can be.

This afternoon I got tired of hearing about the purple shovel, and I asked him if he remembered the rocket that Glenn had sent up into the sky. He told me about that again for another hour - "Den" (for Glenn), "rahtet, "sky," and down - over and over and over, complete with pointing up and down appropriately!

At 17 months

I haven't blogged in a while, but not because Nathan isn't being cute!

He is doing so many new things. I mentioned to Jen recently that he has turned into a little tape recorder, repeating whatever we ask him to say. There are very few sounds he can't repeat now.

But there are other things. He turns pages well, even in magazines. He can be very gentle. I think he is unusually aware of his body. He walks backwards to be silly. He started climbing into and out of the molded toybox he got for Christmas immediately. He goes up and down the stairs pretty securely, and is working on climbing onto the couch himself.

Last week we went for a walk, with him walking along with me. The temperature was in the 40s, and the sidewalk was clear, but there are still piles of snow, especially at the ends of driveways. He took his favorite kitchen spatula with him when we walked, and used it to dig into the snow piles. He loved it. He touched the snow with his fingers when it was stuck on the spatula. Then he started tossing snow into the air, and stepping on it when it plopped onto the sidewalk. One time he tossed it in the wrong direction, and it came down onto him, onto his face and neck, and into the neck of his coat. He squealed, but was laughing!

His language skills are improving daily. Some of that has really been fun. "Ba" meant ball, bat, banana and bus for quite a while. He has been saying "Nana" for months, but every time I tried to get him to say "banana," it would just be "ba." I was determined to get him to say the whole word, so I said, "Say banana."

Nathan said "ba."

I tried again. "No, say banana."

After several rounds of this, he became exasperated with me. Finally, he pointed to the banana, and said, "Ba!" Then he pointed at me, and said, "Nana!"

We still haven't gotten him to say the word banana.