My list of 21

things about Nate!

1. Nate can have the worst night of sleep and still wake up smiling. He just sits up, looks at us, and says , "hi" with the most beautiful smile.


2. When he's tired , Nate makes these squirty sounds with his mouth. We've actually tried to reproduce these sounds, but can't. Nate will "squirt" and then pull on our ears (not his own). Usually within minutes he's asleep.

3. Nate loves to read books. This has been his most favorite activity since he was just a little bean. Favorite books include The Very Busy Spider, Brown Bear, Whistle for Willie, and More More More. He just started pretending to read which is the most adorable and absolutely sweetest thing in the world. Nate's perfectly happy in the morning with a basket of books and a bowl of cheerios.


4. Nate really wants to do things like a big boy. He tries to put his socks on by laying them on top of his feet. Today he even tried to put his DAFOs on!

5. Nate is working on generalizing his learning. All things red are Elmo and all things that look like balls (like blueberries) are balls.

6. Nate loves laughing so much that he will even go as far as to tickle himself. He totally cracks himself up!

7. Nate is a totally love bug. He gives these big, loud dramatic kisses. I should also tell you that we made the mistake of showing him how mommy kitties clean their babies. You can imagine what Nate also likes to do now!


8. Music is clearly one of Nate's languages. He loves playing his drum, xylophone and toy piano. Nate also has quite the voice! He always chimes in when I sing to him at night. He loves Baby Beluga, My Favorite Things, Row Row Row Your Boat, and Itsy Bitsy Spider.


9. Sometimes it feels that Nate has one personality at home and one out in public. He's mister chatty at home and can be so quiet in new situations. It kills us when he gets that glazed over eye look and his head goes back, resting on his shoulders. I want to say, "that's not my kid"! Really!

10. He's not a multi-tasker. Mid bite (of a delicious chicken nugget, for example) Nate will decide he wants milk. Just thinking about wanting milk seems to make him feel some urgency to spit all of his food out. Aye aye aye!

11. Another big boy skill Nate loves to show-off is his ability to press his munchkin straw milk container shut. Over and over and over again. Then he acts like he's going to give it to us but then tosses off the side of his food tray. Yes, we are still working on this - haha

12. This is hard to explain, but Nate has these little special exchanges he does that are unique to certain people. For example when he sees his SLP, he always makes "fish lips." With me, he makes this scrunched up kissy face. When he sees his grammy, he coughs (because she does!). When he sees his 1:1 at school, he starts doing the little hand rhyme she taught him. These special exchanges with people seem to create much more intimate relationships. It's really pretty amazing.

13. Nate has just discovered (thanks to Grammy) that when you drop something, people will say, "uh oh." Of course Nate has his own variation of this, "uh UH oh."

14. I'm not sure if it is because of the last sound he hears, but Nate is starting to say words by their ending sounds. Milk has become /k/, for example.

15. Nate LOVES Elmo just from seeing a few DVDs on our laptop. He sleeps with his friend, "Mo" every night.

16. Nate is a total water boy. He could easily stay in the bathtub for an hour. He loves to scoop, pour water, and splash splash splash! On of his favorite things to do is pour water on his head. Go figure!



17. Nate is fascinated by light and shadows. At night when I put him to bed he loves to wave his hands in the air and see the shadows dance on the wall. When we're in the car, he loves watching the flickering light coming in through the car windows. I have to say that I love looking at light patterns too....

18. He also likes to identify all light sources by pointing them out to us. We swear he's communicating with some alien friends when he looks up at out dining room light. We also wonder if Nate is destined to be an electrician.

19. Nate isn't big on sweets except for vanilla ICE CREAM!! This summer I think he asked for it by sign every night.


20. His all-time favorite food is yo-yo. He eats yo-yo with Earth's Best's pears and mango every day.

21. More than anything Nate wants to be noticed you. He wants you to make faces with him, read books with him, sing songs, roll around with him, give him snacks or just be silly with him.....