Nathan's First Steps

Nathan has been walking along the couch for weeks but has lacked the confidence to remove his hands for more than a second...that all changed today. This morning he removed his hands and walked about 3 steps. He continued to do this many times throughout the day. He will be walking before we know it!! Take a look, we hope you enjoy!

Changes

In July I went to Bolivia for two weeks. When I left, Nathan was rolling everywhere he wanted to be. He sat for long periods if put down on his butt, and if he wanted something out of is reach, he would flop down onto his stomach and roll to get it. But once he got to his new destination, he couldn't sit himself up. When on his stomach, he would sometimes get up onto his hands and knees, and rock, like he was getting ready to crawl somewhere, and sometimes he would go forward two or three times, but invariable he would push backwards with his arms and end up back where he started.

Two weeks is the longest I had been away from him. I was afraid that he would treat me like a stranger when I returned. He still didn't like strangers before I went, and took his time getting used to new people. But while I was gone, Laura and the girls were up here from Arizona. They got together with Al and Marilyn a lot, and with Denise, Phil and PJ and lots of other relatives. They went to a water park, to the zoo, to the racetrack, and gathered at various houses. Jen and Nathan even spent the night at Marilyn's along with with aunts and cousins. So it was a very social time for the boy.

He gave me a big grin immediately when he first saw me when I got back. I loved it and told my self it was because he knows me and loves me, but I soon realized that he had gotten over his shyness while I was away. He is a bit tentative when he meets someone new, but only for a few minutes. He has realized that being the center of attention can be fun, and he uses it. He performs whenever he has an audience now.

The first Tuesday I was back, on July 21, Nathan had a new trick. During the day, I saw him sit himself onto his butt from the crawling position. Ben had seen him do it once before, but he did it five different times that I saw that day. I wasn't watching him constantly either.

On July 23, Thursday, he all of a sudden seemed to figure out how to go forward when crawling without pushing himself backwards with his arms. His crawling was tentative and cautious, but he was making forward progress. No more need to roll! That really opens up a guy's world!

By the next Tuesday, he had learned that he could pull himself to his feet, especially if someone was sitting on the floor with him and he could use clothing and hands to help him get up. By the end of that week, he was pulling himself up on the coffee table and on the couch.

Crawling and Fish Face

Although this video is 3 weeks old, we wanted to share this footage of Nathan crawling.

Kiss the Baby

Recently Nathan will kiss (actually lick) his toys that have mirrors. So cute that we wanted to capture it.

Sooo Big!!

Aunite Amy and Nana B have been working on Soooo Big for a while and we just saw it for the first time this weekend. What a cutie!

Page Turner

Nathan has been turning pages in his books for months but this is the first time we have captured it on film. Quite often he uses both hands when reading but not today.

Teeth!

Nathan got teeth! He was sitting on the blanket, playing with the purple lid for the cookie jar toy. He put it in his mouth, like he always does, and I heard a little clinking sound that I hadn't heard before. I stuck my finger in his mouth, and there was a new little ridge of teeth just barely pushing up through the gums! Two teeth!

Of course, we were not surprised. The teeth were visible for a while, just under the gums, and he has been drooling gallons!

Which just highlights how much he is growing and maturing. He shakes his head no, bobs his head and arms to "dance" when he hears music, claps his hands, puts his arms up to show "How big?" and loves Peek-a-boo. I saw him try to put one of the rings back on the spindle the other day. He has been taking them off ever since he got the toy, but it was the first time I saw him try to put one on. He goes everywhere he wants to, not by crawling in the normal way, but by rolling over and over or by laying on his back, pulling his legs up, and pushing himself backwards up towards his head. An unusual method of moving, but he gets to where he wants to go.

And he definitely says, "Hi," "Mama," "Dada," and "Nana." Yesterday we were playing a game he likes. He had been sitting on the mat, but was tired of being there. He flung himself backwards - we keep pillows behind him because he does this often. I went and pulled him back up to a sitting position, and he grinned at me and fell backwards again very deliberately. He giggled and raised his arms toward me. I pulled him up again, and as I did, my phone rang. I stepped away to answer it. He flung himself back again, and said, "Nana!" as I moved away. When I turned back toward him, he had his arms raised again and was watching me, waiting for me to pull him up again.

Like most babies his age, he is learning to manipulate the grown-ups in his world very effectively.

Ben was telling me that Nathan has not been sleeping through the night recently. They plan to change the rules this weekend, and let him cry. I know how hard that is to do, because Ben did the same thing at about this age.