Nathan Elliott's World

Better Late than Never... Nate Turns 2

2010-02-15T14:17:00.008-05:00

Since we were all sick for Nate's first birthday we decided to have a blow out second birthday party for him at MyGym... it was a HUGE success and he loved every minute of it!

Catching Up In Pictures

2010-02-08T14:43:00.009-05:00

December

24" of Snow

Daddy has big boots to fill!

A train table set up for Christmas morning

Hanging out

2 Year Checkup

2010-02-02T10:44:00.002-05:00

Nate Turned the big 2 last Friday (pictures will be coming soon I promise) so on Monday I took him for his 2 year check up.

Nate is progressing very nicely and is now 2'9" tall (in the 5th percentile which is where he has always been) and 28.5 pounds (50th percentile). Developmentally he is right on track. No shots this time and we go back in a year.

Toilet Trouble

2010-01-21T15:52:00.003-05:00

Not of the potty training type, I know what you're thinking. No, Nate likes to flush the toilet. We let him do it once or twice since it is a good way to introduce the subject of "the potty" what its for, what we put in there, etc.

This morning while I was blowing my hair dry I was, admittedly, not paying that much attention to what Nate was doing. He wasn't trying to swim in the toilet so I figured he was ok.

Apparently, what he was doing was taking vast amounts of toilet paper off of the roll and putting it in the toilet. Then he did what he LOVES to do and that was flush. This is when I took notice of the goings on (unfortunately, not the goings down, if you know what I mean). After exclaiming "Nate, what are you doing?!" (as if that was going to do any good), I noticed that the water level in the bowl was slowly rising. I was dressed for work and, as always running late, so a flood in the bathroom was not on my agenda for today. I watched for a minute hoping that the situation would just resolve itself, but as the water approached the rim of the bowl I knew I was going to have to intervene.

So, I plunged my hand in and pulled out the massive lump of toilet paper. The water went down, crisis averted. Now, let me just state, for the record, that everything was clean. There was nothing in the bowl but clean water and paper (OH THANK GOD!!!), but it is still a little unnerving having to put your hand in there.

The moral of the story... Nate and I are not allowed in the bathroom without supervision!

Updates

2010-01-05T11:35:00.002-05:00

I'm not feeling very creative today so I thought I would provide a snap shot of what Nate is doing now at 23 months:

-- Says "No" (alot!)
-- Is out of a high chair and into a booster seat. He can climb in and buckle himself in without any assistance
-- LOVES to climb on anything and everything
-- He has started speaking in sentences (albeit short ones)
-- He can climb onto mommy and daddy's bed
-- He can climb in and out of his crib if the side is down
-- When he picks up any phone he says "HELLO!"
-- He has started to "fake sleep." He finds a spot on the floor, covers himself with a blanket, and starts snoring. I don't know where he learned it, but it is hysterical.
-- When he does something surprising he says "Ta Da"
-- Loves to dance (and loves dance music)
-- Is only using a binky when he is in his bed. He has adjusted pretty well so far.
-- Tells us when he pees and will sit on his frog potty.
-- Like to flush the toilet for you
-- Is completely obsessed with Thomas the Train, Buzz LightYear, and Doc Hudson from Cars.
-- Loves our dog Jax more than anything else in the world

Sentencing

2010-01-02T15:05:00.002-05:00

Nate occasionally strings two words together like "Nate up" or "down please" but that is really about it. Yesterday I was going upstairs to get his juice and told him to stay in the family room with daddy, and that mommy would be right back. Nate had other ideas and declared, "Nate-Nate go mama!" (translation: "I want to go with mama!")

Now whether or not you consider Nate-Nate one word or two, that is a real sentence!

Go, Go, Go!

2009-12-16T14:58:00.003-05:00

My parents bought Nate this car that you shake and then when you put it on the ground it takes off. When he does this and the car "drives" away he always says, "go, go, go!"

So we are in the car the other morning and the traffic light turns green and the car in front of us starts to move and from the back see I here "go, go, go!"

My little backseat driver!

The Croup

2009-11-10T13:50:00.004-05:00

There are lots of things that people don't tell you about being a parent... like how much fun it is, like how much you can love another human being, like how quickly things can go all pear-shaped. That brings me to the story of last week or how we spent a night in CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia).

On Monday I took Nate to my cousin's house for a play date. He was fine, he had a great time. After nap that day I took his temp and it was 100.5. That and a tiny cough made me call the doctor and get an appointment for the next day. I figured he was going to tell me it was nothing but with all of this H1N1 paranoia I thought better safe than sorry.

On Tuesday I took Nate to the Drs. Out of nowhere he had a temp of 101.7 and the doctor heard wheezing in his lower right lung... pneumonia was the diagnosis. Two scripts for antibiotics and we were off. I stopped at the pharmacy to get the antibiotics and for the first time I could tell that the little guy didn't feel well. I took him home and put him down for an early nap.

1:00 he wakes up... his fever is 103.6 (103.6!!!) and he is having a really hard time breathing, it sounds all gravely and wet and nasty. I call the Dr. and he says it is time to get to the ER. So off we go. Thank god my mom was there or I would have been a wreck. I call Jon at work and her meets us at the ER.

The ER staff is great and the Doc there says it sounds like the croup but since our Doc had said pneumonia to get a chest x-ray. The X-ray shows what could be a beginning pneumonia so they start Nate in IV antibiotics. Then there are two breathing treatments, then there is the shot of steroids. They test him for the flu and it comes back negative. Then they decide he needs to be observed overnight but this hospital doesn't have a pediatrics floor so we will need to be transfered to another hospital... we say CHOP. It is one of the best in the nation, so away we go via ambulance.

CHOP was fantastic. He gets more antibiotics, two doses of tamiflu and finally they give him some motrin because his fever is still at 102. In the meantime they suck out some snot to test and find out if it is the flu (even thought he already tested negative) or some other virus. The motrin kicked the fever, he tested negative for the flu again, but did test positive for parainfluenza, which is the leading cause of the croup. Oh,and the pediatric radiologist said there was no pneumonia present on the x-rays... YEAH!

By Wednesday about mid morning Nate was beginning to act like his old self again and since treatment for croup includes breathing treatments and steroids, both of which he got in the ER, we were good to go home.

Hospital stays are not something you really want to remember, but I did think it was funny that Nate was eating his Cheerios with a fork, so I took some pics of that.

We were back at the doctors on friday and nate got a clean bill of health. He is back to his normal crazy self and tearing up the house... thank god!

Nate Needs More Power!

2009-10-28T20:24:00.002-04:00

On Love and Help

2009-10-25T20:20:00.000-04:00

We have been trying to get Nate to say "I love you" when we say "I love you" to him. Most of the time, with prompting he will say something close to "love you" in the cutest little voice ever! (Really... cutest EVER!)

So yesterday he was sitting on the top of the stairs (Jon was with him) and I decided to crawl up the stairs and "tackle" him. I was hugging him, kissing his neck and saying "I love you," "mommy loves you" etc. I stopped and asked him to take out his bink and say "love you." He took out his bink, looked at Jon and said "Help!"

I have NEVER laughed so hard.

In Daddy's Shoes

2009-10-19T13:16:00.001-04:00

Our Cookie Monster

2009-10-13T09:04:00.002-04:00

A Week of Firsts

2009-10-06T20:48:00.003-04:00

This was a big week for Nate.

He got his first action figures (Daddy bought him the BIG GI Joes)
He figures out how to make his Cozy Coupe and his tricycle go FORWARD... he had mastered backward a while ago
He actually used a sentence (I Like it!) in front of a witness
He had his first Dippin' Dots (which he loved)

And one funny incident to report:

I put Nate in his crib for his afternoon nap. He wasn't really tired so I wasn't really surprised when he didn't fall instantly asleep. He was talking to himself and then he started to call for me. He was pretty persistent about it so I went up to check on him.

I found him plastered into the corner of his crib. He had lines up all of his binkies (pacifiers) on the window sill and he was infront of them, almost guarding them. He was pointing to something on his mattress, obviously distressed. It was then that I noticed he was sans diaper (whether he took it off or it fell off on its own remains to be seen). I THEN noticed that what he was pointing out was poop. Apparently he had felt the urge to go after the diaper was off.

I got him cleaned up and rediapered, stripped the bed and remade it. It was only when I was putting him back in his crib for his nap that I realized he had "rescued" his binkies and gotten them to the safety of tte window sill so that they wouldn't get poop on them. He had then put himself between his most treasured possesions and the danger. It was hysterical to think that in Nate's world is is "Women, Children and Binkies, first!"

Another Valuable Skill

2009-09-23T08:53:00.004-04:00

We taught Nate how to blow bubbles with a straw... its a life skill.

Driving!

2009-09-16T11:04:00.002-04:00

Nate & the Popsicle

2009-08-27T11:01:00.003-04:00

Nate on Vacation

2009-08-27T10:49:00.010-04:00

Sometimes a guy just needs a break, needs to get away. Sometimes the pressures of playgroup and the water table are too much and it is time for a vacation.

On vacation you get to do lots of things you don't do every day...

Like eat out at restaurants instead of cooking at home,
(Nate's first Happy Meal)

You also are a little less careful with your money,
(Nate finds Mommy's wallet)

You indulge in sweets,
(Nate eats a cookie at the Farmer's market)

You spend time in the pool,
(Nate swims!)

And maybe you even drink a little too!

Forks!

2009-08-17T20:33:00.005-04:00

Nate's Likes Ribs

2009-08-12T10:48:00.004-04:00

We went over to a friend's house for dinner a few weeks ago and Nate was in rare form. He chased their cat, who good-naturedly took the chasing in stride, he played with their shopping baskets, and he ate ribs for the first time. They also took a couple of pictures of our little man in action.

This was titled "Blue Light Special"

and this was "Nate Likes Meat!" (he's sucking on a rib bone)

Nate Likes Pretzels... Lots of Pretzels

2009-08-07T11:36:00.001-04:00

Splashing in Puddles

2009-08-04T09:50:00.001-04:00

18 Month Old

2009-07-29T13:26:00.006-04:00

Our little Natey-Bug is 18 months old today. We are so lucky to have this little dude in our lives.

So I don't forget, since I am not the best at updating his baby book:

-- Nate can tell you that he is one by holding up one finger
-- Nate will point to his nose when you ask him "where do boogers live?"
-- Nate has "phantom bink" syndrome where he tries to take a non-existent binky out of his mouth
-- He presses his face up against the sliding glass door and the windows in the living room and "kisses" the glass
-- He hugs the dogs (the dogs tolerate the hugging)
-- He dances when he hears music
-- He is developing his own sense of humor
-- He says mom, dad, dog, duck, umbrella, and cup consistently and busts out a slew of other words when he feels like it.
-- He loves to play with his kitchen and his farm
-- He likes to watch Oswald the Octopus and Caillou

Everyday there is something new!

Dancing Machine

2009-07-28T13:19:00.003-04:00

Here is a quick video of Nate "dancing" on the dogs' new bed.

The Sunshine of My Life

2009-07-26T13:45:00.000-04:00

Nate and His Water Table

2009-07-02T15:31:00.003-04:00

The other day it was hot, hot, hot. My mom decided that instead of standing and playing with the water in his water table, Nate should sit in the water instead. He LOVED it!

I shot this with my iphone 3GS (how cool is that!) so it's not the greatest resolution.