Random church pics

Nathan has so much fun playing with them during small group. These boys are so well behaved and love keeping him company before they have to go to bed.

This is how Nathan interacts with other kids in Sunday School by observing others and parallel playing.

I don't know what he's looking at. Our teacher tells us he's off in his own world playing and laughing by himself.

He loves climbing chairs these days.

"Mommy, can I have some candy please?!!"

2 Year Checkup

So Nathan had his 2 year checkup yesterday. He's now 34 3/4" (65th percentile), 24 lbs (15th percentile) and head size is 19" (45th percentile). I can't believe he grew over 4 inches since his 1 year checkup. He was so good when the doctor was checking him...we were shocked because at the 15 and 18 month appt, he was screaming when the doctor came near him. The doctor gave us some good tips on handling his temper tantrums, eating habits, disciplining, his manipulations and need for control. Consistency is the key! Even while we were there, we were watching him manipulate me....while the doctor was talking to us, Nathan was trying to walk me over to one side of the room and then run over to the other side so he could escape out the door. He thought it was a fun game and the doctor (and Dan) pointed it out to me....I felt so stupid because I let him "manipulate" me...my excuse was that I was listening to what the doctor was saying! Anyway, we're glad we can now stop giving him whole milk and that nasty smelling vitamin drops.

Here's some pictures from the playground when Dan took him out.

Officially 2!

Happy birthday to my 2 year old! Time sure flies....I can't believe 2 years ago today I gave birth. He was this tiny baby crying and now he's talking & laughing with us. The joys of motherhood!

How cute...daddy and son match with their shirt and vest!

"Take a deep breath and blow out the candle!"

"Mommy, I can't blow this out!"

"There.....I did it!"

"Mommy, I want this cake now!!"

"Cheese! Can we eat this cake & fruit yet?!!"

Parents and In-Laws

So I wanted to celebrate Nathan's birthday this week with my parents an in-laws for a dinner together. When I tried to schedule something, my parents absolutely refused to have any association with my in-laws. The last time they saw each other was at the hospital when Nathan was born. See, before the whole falling out with my parents when Nathan was born, my parents already hated Dan's parents. Even before we got married, they weren't acceptable in their eyes. They think that Dan's parents are rude, loud, obnoxious and aggressive. After getting to know them during the whole time we weren't talking to my parents during Nathan's first year and a half, my opinion of them has completely changed. Yeah, some people may think my father in law is a bit loud or whatever, but they were very supportive and loving towards us. They're the complete opposite of my parents - non-judgmental, non-criticizing, very loving, forgiving, etc. In fact, if and when the time comes to take care of our parents, I'd rather live with my in-laws than my own parents (really sad to say that). I was really saddened that my parents couldn't "tolerate" one evening with them, even with Nathan around to "lighten" the mood. In the past before Nathan was born, we always got together for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but now my parents want to do everything separate from my in-laws. I'm thinking it's a combination of a lot of things: they were embarrassed by the whole situation when Nathan was born, they don't like my in-laws, etc. I guess I'm being a bit of an idealist and am asking too much for my parents and in-laws to get along since this is probably not the "norm". Does anybody else's parents and in-laws get along or is this normal to do everything separate?

Man Dates

Our church has recently started a bi-weekly gathering of stay at home dads (or as I like to call it, "Man Dates" according to this past week's episode of Gilmore Girls). There's 5 of them including Dan, so I'm really happy that the men will get some adult interaction together and that Nathan has other kids to play with during the week. It's perfect timing as the weather is getting colder and he can't go to the playground anymore....there's only so much mall, Walmart, Target and Costco shopping they can take!