Bible Camp Performance

ET spent his first week at Bible Camp July 26-28. He came back everyday full of smiles and said he had a great day. The first day he said he learned about "caring about people." The second day he said he learned about "bread, and sharing." The third day he said he learned about "helping others." Like most children, he didn't give me any more details other than that, but I was happy to hear the little he did share. :) The following Sunday, all the kids performed a song in front of the congregation (we have church outside in the summer). It was hard to get a good picture of him because he was behind some other kids, but he was in his orange and gray striped shirt, khaki shorts, and Twins baseball hat. He stared at the girl to his left the whole time and followed her movements, rather than looking at the teacher for guidance. He wasn't the least bit shy, and ran up there with the rest of the kids showing loads of confidence. It was so cute to watch! :)

A little weird...

I always thought that getting kids to brush their teeth was supposed to be a task...a difficult task. Well, not our kids! For some strange reason ET and Nate L-O-V-E to brush their teeth! Anytime, and I mean anytime, Nate sees that the bathroom door is open (we usually keep it closed so he is not playing in there) he runs in there to get his toothbrush. Seems harmless, but it can get pretty tiring to have to stand in the bathroom to monitor them time and time again. Cute I guess, but a little weird in my book. Anyone else have kids that are obsessed with dental hygiene? :)

Nate is 18 MONTHS!!!!!

On July 19, Nate officially became a 1 1/2 year old! Wow! We are already over half way through the second year...amazing! Nate is growing and moving along as healthy as ever and doing great in our eyes.
Here are his stats from his doctor appointment (Tuesday, August 2)...

Height: 2' 11" 97.44%
Weight: 26 lbs. 50.01% (this has gone down a bit, but he is fighting a cold this week and hasn't been eating as much because of this.)
Head circumference: 19.09" 68.69%

Nate received two shots during this appointment (Hepatitus A, and Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis). We will not need anymore shots until Kindergarten!!!! Except a finger poke (to check for lead) and flu shots.

Nate has definitely changed a lot since his last check-up (15 months). He understands just about everything and sometimes I feel like I can actually reason with him. He still talks in his own language, but he talks an awful lot of it. So far he speaks: ma-ma, da-da, ni-ni, all clean, all done, hi, and ba-ba (bye bye or baby). If asked he will... dance, show you one finger (if asked how old he is), show you his muscles while grunting (my favorite), blow his nose in a tissue (although I think he is actually blowing out of his mouth), stick out his tongue, close his eyes, point to body parts, point correctly to pictures in books when asked, and lay down for you at diaper changes. He will also sing (hum) along during our night-time song (You Are my Sunshine), and count if asked how many there are of something (his counting is rhythmic, but not in our language). He follows many commands...this is just a few of what I can remember right now. He is showing a HUGE interest in cars (preferably the matchbox size), and the Sesame Street crew (especially Elmo).

We differ with our doctor's opinion greatly when it comes to Nate's speaking. I really am not worried that he is not talking yet. If anything I am worried he will need to take speech for pronunciation (just like ET), and not because there will be a lack of words. I know that Nate will speak soon, it just has to be on his own terms. The doctor wants me to refrain from responding to his gibberish, and to stop giving in to his needs without words spoken. I just disagree at this point. A mother knows best, I guess...I hope.

Here is a picture of our adorable little guy. He is just lounging out watching a movie (we definitely limit the TV around here, but Nate LOVES when it is movie time. Don't you love the arms behind the head?...What a guy! :)

To conclude...

We had planned to go out of town with friends the last weekend of our vacation, but unfortunately we needed to reschedule due to some unplanned circumstances. We were still happy to relax at home and catch up on a few projects. Nothing really left to report about our vacation except that we had a marvelous time, and soaked up every last bit of relaxation that we could. :)

Here are pictures of the boys by their trees (it is our tradition to take a picture by the tree we planted for them the year they were each born).

An afternoon in Stillwater...

One of Jay's and my favorite places to go for the day is Stillwater. We love to walk down by the river and watch the boats, go window shopping, and eat lunch out on one of the many patios offered. Matter of fact this was where we spent the day just two days before giving birth to ET. I can remember so clearly how bored Jay and I were that Memorial Day weekend. We had everything washed and ready, and the house was spotless. We were so bored we just wanted me to go in labor so we had soemthing to do! HA! Wow - wouldn't I love for a weekend to just be bored now. :)
We recently went to Stillwater on a date for our 7 year anniversary and it was blissful. We ate dinner at The Luna Rossa and had a drink at Reve's 324 while we watched live music.
On Friday, we planned to spend the afternoon in Stillwater again and so I told ET we were going somewhere fun. After a about an hour of window shopping he said to me, "Mommy, going to stores is not fun." I couldn't believe it! The day has finally come where ET realizes that shopping and running errands is not exactly fun. Up until now he was always so content to get out of the house and sight see different places and people. He wasn't at all upset, he just wanted something fun to do. Luckily Stillwater was celebrating Lumberjack Days, and so there was plenty of rides to surprise him with just near the river. This definitely put a smile on his face. :)





There were about six different large jumping apparatuses to choose from. ET also chose to go down a large blown-up tiger mouth slide. I accidentally erased my pic of this.

Check out the water level!!! We normally walk this path when we go down to the river. It must have been at least 6 feet higher than what it normally is!

YIKES! I'm not sure how even small boats are getting under the bridge at this point.

A Trip to the Beach!

We headed over to Lake Elmo on Thursday. This was the day the heat index finally dropped low enough to do something outside again. The kids had a blast! This was Nate's first time swimming, and he wasn't the least bit nervous about the water. We stayed for a few hours and had a picnic lunch. It was a nice time spent together.

Vaca continued...

On Tuesday, we really didn't do much of anything during the day. We kind of needed a day to recoup from Valleyfair the day prior. We stayed inside and did a bit of shopping. On Tuesday evening, the boys had their first official drop-off playdate and so Jay and I went on a date to Olive Garden (thank you Barb, you're an angel!). On Wednesday, we went bowling and out for lunch with Mary and the girls.

This was Nate's second time bowling, but I really wouldn't even consider it his first time yet. He really took no involvement in the game because he is still just too young. As you can tell Nate looked a little bored. After a little while he discovered the car video game where you can "drive" with the pretend steering wheel. He hung out near the arcade games and played with this the majority of the time and really seemed to enjoy himself. The rest of the time, he got a kick from walking up and down the ramp at the end of the alley. :)

ET went with the ramp for one game and then just rolled it for the second game. Make a mental note...when bowling with a four-year old, plan for double the amount of time. It takes forever for that ball to get down the lane. :)