Nater Tot

Happy half birthday! Letter to Nate at 2 1/2 years old.

2012-02-12T13:51:00.000-05:00

Dear Monkey, Whenever you feel passionate about something, it always makes me daydream about your future career as an adult. For example, over the past month, I have become convinced that you will be a musician. You LOVE music. You want to know what every song is called, who sings it, what they are saying and sometimes even which CD it is on. You dance and now you even make up your own lyrics

American Museum of Natural History

2012-02-04T21:04:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Nate took his second trip to the American Museum of Natural History. He loved it the first time, when we took him last February, but of course he appreciated everything even more now that he was older. It's funny for me to read the post from last year. Although Nate has grown incredibly in a year, pretty much everything still applies. He was again, incredibly excited to press his

Hall monitor

2012-02-03T12:50:00.002-05:00

I may have already mentioned that I like to call Nate, The Hall Monitor, since he is quite fond of monitoring and then reporting on the behavior of others. Meet the Hall Monitor Usually, he informs on other children, telling me how they are misbehaving. He often seems outraged that others might hit, push or grab. Because, you know, he is ALWAYS an absolute angel (cough, cough). But today, he

I told my 2 year old that he didn't have to go to college if he didn't want to.

2012-01-28T13:31:00.000-05:00

I lied. Obviously. I thought the talk about college would come when he was older. Maybe ten or eleven. But Nate was watching Blue's Clues yesterday and the episode was about Steve going to college (because at 30 years old he had finally gotten too old to play Blue's teenage owner and needed a way to explain his absence, other than getting laid off) . He did a really good job of explaining to

'Schited!

2012-01-21T21:31:00.000-05:00

When Nate found out that he was going to go play in the first snowfall of the winter he was, "SO 'SCHITED!" Turns out that he's a big fan of playing in the snow and eating it too. In fact, some snow and one prune pretty much constituted his dinner. I'm a stickler for a balanced diet, so it's a good thing he eats so well. Toddlers!

Child's pose

2012-01-19T10:46:00.000-05:00

We finished dinner early last night and had some time to kill before Nate's bath. I started showing him some stretches for fun and he liked it. I told him the stretches were similar to yoga and his Highness allowed me to put a yoga program on tv. Last time I put an exercise video on, he flipped out and demanded I turn it off. I guess times have changed, because he was really into it this time and

How 'bouta NEW park?

2012-01-14T20:22:00.000-05:00

At the end of every day, right before I kiss Nate for the last time and put him in his crib, we talk about the day we had and what we should do on the following day. When I ask him what he wants to do, his answer is often the same, "I have an idea. How 'bouta NEW park?" So last weekend, we went to a "new" park. We had been there once before, but that's new enough. Such a Daddy's boy. Went to

29 months! Letter to almost 2 1/2 year old Nate

2012-01-11T19:40:00.000-05:00

My dear sweet bug, You are almost 2 1/2 already! I don't know that anything earth shattering has happened over the last month, but I definitely see your personality really forming - or coming out, or magnifying ...or however you might phrase it - and I just love it. You've make me laugh for quite some time, but until recently it's been more because you're little and cute. But recently you make

When he is wild, he is very very wild

2012-01-04T08:14:00.001-05:00

I think most of my experience with babies, prior to Nate, must have been with girls. Because I wasn't prepared for just how active boys can be. Or at least for how active my boy can be. Maybe it's not fair to stereotype by gender, and it is just about individual personality. In any event, I wasn't remotely tom-boyish and my child is wild. You can't tell here, but my actual animal is less

New (non-toxic) toys!

2011-12-30T22:08:00.000-05:00

The other day, Nate and I were talking about two friends of his who are sisters. When we talked about the youngest girl, I referred to her as a "baby." Nate knows the older sister is not a baby and asked me what she "was." I told him that she was a little girl, a toddler. I don't think he's very familiar with the word and I told him that he was a toddler too. He proclaimed, "I'm not a toddwer!

Christmas 2011 Highlights

2011-12-26T19:47:00.002-05:00

We had a really great Christmas. One of my favorites, in fact. There's something about teaching your little one your family traditions, and experiencing the holiday through his eyes that really makes Christmas magical again. On Christmas Eve, we made pumpkin spice cookies with cream cheese frosting for Santa. Nate decided Santa should get three cookies and placed the chosen ones on the plate for

Christmas with my superhero

2011-12-23T13:47:00.000-05:00

The holidays have left me scatter brained. At least I am blaming it on the holidays. Here are some little Nate tidbits: I asked Nate yesterday what he thought Santa might bring him for Christmas. He said, "Cookies and birthday hats." He has a bunch of cute mannerisms and speech patterns right now. One of my favorite things, which he has been doing for awhile, is to begin sentences (usually in

Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel

2011-12-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Hanukkah!

It has begun

2011-12-17T19:56:00.000-05:00

Over the summer I mentioned how Nate liked to embarrass me by asking me to clarify the gender of every ambiguous person we passed. In the comments of that post, my friend gave several fantastic examples of the embarrassment only getting worse once the kids get older. And of course, she was right. Now, Nate wants to know (loudly and clearly) "who" every man and woman is that we pass in public,

Hicks Nurseries: Best free spot to bring your toddler

2011-12-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

I don't know when exactly we discovered Hicks Nurseries in Westbury, maybe a year and a half ago, but it was the most amazing discovery for a stay-at-home mom of a baby. There's ample parking during the weekday. Carts. Flowers. Live animals. Garden statues and other fun things to look at. A cafe. A bathroom with a diaper changing table. All year round. And it's a store, so unless you're like me

2 years and 4 months: Letter to Natey

2011-12-10T20:54:00.000-05:00

Dear Little Natey Bug: When you were born, I loved you immediately and intensely. By the time you were four months old, I thought my heart might burst if I loved you any more. I couldn't possibly imagine my love growing beyond that...but it did. And it does. Every day I love you more and more and am so very thankful that I am your mother. I don't know if I've told you that you weren't a

Upcycle those holiday catalogs

2011-12-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

How obnoxious is the word, "upcycle?" If you answered very, then we can be friends. We've been getting a billion catalogs lately and instead of tossing the Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod catalogs I have drooled over into recycling, I now hand them over to the Glue Monster for processing. He choosing which pictures should be cut out for collages (all of them) and then sets to making his

5 non-toxic stocking stuffers for your toddler

2011-12-04T21:50:00.001-05:00

See this little elfling? I'm still trying to keep toxic chemicals out of his system. As I might have mentioned, as Nate gets older, it gets more challenging to ensure that he only plays with safe, non-toxic toys. He has play dates, he goes to school, he receives gifts and I can't always be the Fun Police (rats!). The one thing I can do is ensure that our money is spent supporting businesses

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-30T21:21:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving this year. We got to spend a lot of time with family and Nate had a ball playing with his cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and grandparents. A top contender for highlight of Nate's long weekend (food is out, since he ate a peanut butter sandwich for his Thanksgiving feast) was definitely Uncle Russell's barn tour. The tour included a ride on his great-great

The boy who liked time-outs

2011-11-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed I've been posting less frequently lately. It is due to the fact that I am now employed - YAY! I'm thrilled to have this job and feel incredibly lucky to get hired right now, especially in this economy. Since I have been working, Nate has had to adapt to a lot of changes, namely starting school and a lot less mommy time. Fortunately, Nate is super social so he's adjusting to

Gobble, gobble

2011-11-20T22:36:00.002-05:00

We like hats. Especially holiday hats.

Whitney Houston, Bono...same thing

2011-11-17T22:52:00.000-05:00

Nate has really gotten into dancing lately. He has some killer moves and dances most furiously in front of his mirror, fresh out of the bath. I won't be showing those videos, but here is a toned down version for all to enjoy... Looking for more photos and video? Like us on Facebook HERE!

Dear Santa

2011-11-15T21:37:00.001-05:00

Okay, family, listen up. I asked Nate what was on his Christmas list and he told me the following in this order (and yes, I know it's a bit early, but some of these items may be tough to come by): My demanding - and odd - child vacuum cleaner Elmo or Spiderman band-aids pancakes "my own grass" (Yeah, not sure what this one is about.) cookies stickers - Mickey Mouse, Pooh or Tigger Beps (This

Letter to Nathaniel: Two and a quarter years

2011-11-13T13:18:00.000-05:00

Dear Nate, I'm not naming any names, but somebody starts school tomorrow and is SO excited, that he never wants to take off his big boy backpack (or his jammies, but that has nothing to do with starting school): When I was filling out the paperwork for school, I came to a section which asked about your strengths and weaknesses. I had a hard time with the section because there was only a tiny

Patio massacre

2011-11-10T21:24:00.000-05:00

In an effort to show our backyard bugs a good time the other day, Nate attempted to give them all rides on pine needles and/or twigs. There were no survivors. R.I.P. unidentified, weird winged bugs 2011-2011.