Up, Up, Up, Down, Down, Down

Whenever we're on the freeway, or any slightly hilly road. Nate has to declare whether we are headed up a hill, or down a hill. It's very cute and shows his current interest in learning same/opposite and directionality...a little annoying after the 50th hill, though :).

Idea!

If you ask Nate a question these days, before he answers he'll raise one finger and exclaim, "Idea!". Cute, cute boy!

Boots Cuts

On The Electric Company the other day they were teaching kids how to beatbox. You say "boots cuts" over and over, then you take out the vowels and say "bts cts". Then you can do double and triple time.
There's been lots of beatboxing going on at our house. Wes is getting pretty good and Nate is very cute going around saying "boots cuts" all the time with his hand cupped around his mouth like a pro.

Found the mountains!

Today, there was some visible snow on the mountains around the valley.  We were driving around and I was pointing it out to the boys and telling them to look for the snow on the mountains.  They got in THE BIGGEST fight over who saw the mountains first.  They kept screaming at the top of their lungs, over and over, "No, I found the mountains first! No, I did!".  They would not take a breath long enough for me to get a word in, so finally I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Mommy found the mountains first!".  That got their attention.  Wow, this sibling competition thing is going to be interesting.

Moon

Nate is currently obsessed with the moon...and "getting it".  At night he insists that we take him outside to find the moon, then lift him up so he can "get the moon".  I love that he thinks if we lift him from the ground to our arms that he is just that much closer to the moon.

Quiet Down!

We have a LOUD family. There is very rarely a moment of silence in our house or especially in the car. Wes chatters away and Nate sings songs...and Ellie cries. Apparently, Ellie's crying is bothering Nate. He has taken to hollering at her in the car if she starts crying over his singing. "Ellie Belle, KIET DOWN!".

Cream

Sleeping in a big boy bed, means more freedom...and more trouble!  Today, when I went to get Nate up from his nap, this is what I found!  He simply said, "Mommy, I got cream".  He had gotten into the tub of Eucerin cream and spread it all over his face and the wall!  It looks like his forehead will be extra moisturized now.

Frosty Snowman Sleeping

On Christmas night, Papa took Nate outside to see a snowman blow up that one of their neighbors has in their front yard. Apparently the snowman had blown over or was off and laying on the ground. Papa told Nate that the snowman was sleeping...simple enough. Nate came in the house and told me, "Frosty Snowman". I repeated "Frosty the Snowman?", just to make sure I understood his 2 year old pronunciation correctly. "Sleeping!", he said. Then he proceeded around the room to every single person at the party and said, "Frosty Snowman", they would look at me for clarification, which I gave them and they repeated to Nate, "oh, Frosty the Snowman?". "Sleeping!", said Nate. Regardless if he had just told the person next to you and you obviously already heard the news, he would come to you next and make sure he told you personally about the status of Frosty. At one point he had told everyone in the house and had gone on to play with some toys. Brendan walked in from outside and sat down on the couch. Nate looked up from playing and must of thought, "Hey, this guy hasn't been informed of Frosty's position". You can be sure that Nate toddled right up to Brendan and laid it all down for him. In fact, Nate wants to make sure we never forget what Frosty was doing on Christmas night and is STILL talking about it.

Counts to 12

I lifted Nate up to the changing table to change his diaper and he started counting. 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..12. Wow! I'm ashamed to say that I did not teach him this. Lucky for his slacker Mommy, he's a very smart boy who listens to everything. Coupled with an older brother who talks...all...the...time, and I guess he just picked it up on his own.

Time Out

I know it's weird, but I kind of like putting Nate in time out. I love hearing his answer when I ask him at the end of it, "Why were you in time out?". He always know exactly why he's there! Most of the time the answer is, "Hit...Wessey", with a little swing of the arm to demonstrate the act which landed him in time out. It's SO stinkin' cute. I love this kid!

Love

Nate has started saying "I love you", finally. Though, he actually just says "I love" and leaves out the you. It seemed like he could say everything else but wouldn't say this. It always melts my heart when I say "I love you Nate" and he says it back. This morning though, I got tears in my eyes when I was fixing his breakfast and he came over to hug me and said, "I...love...Mommy".

Benga??

Nate says this word..."benga", all the time...only when Grandma is around. We aren't sure what it means. I asked him to show me "benga" and he pointed in Grandma's general direction. Except, he calls Grandma, "Gamma". At first I thought it meant "Grandma's earring" because he is constantly pulling them out of her ears, but we weren't sure. Then, I was convinced it meant "Grandma's cane" because he always wants to play with it and Wes used to call it "Gunga Gunga", so sometimes Grandma still calls it this. Then last night I pointed to the cane and said, "Nate, what's that?". "Benga cane", he said. Then a couple minutes later he was trying to crawl under Grandma's legs and said, "Benga skirt". Hmm...maybe it's another name for Grandma? We still don't have it completely figured out and we may never. Just like Wesley's "goshiba" (which we ultimately just decided was a filler nonsense word), we may never know exactly what a "benga" is.

Argh!

Today I was sitting in the chair nursing Ellie when Nate came up and handed me a Pirates of the Caribbean DVD and said, "watch...pirates...please...tv...right there (pointing at tv)...on...please...here (handing me remote)". He's never seen this movie before but apparently he knows a pirate when he sees one. Haha! What a funny kid!