I think it's about time to talk about this little buddy again. He's been so much fun and has been making so much progress with therapy. It's been excited to see him learning and growing so much!
- He can say his name!!!!!!!!! I was shocked the first time he said it. We were working on saying mommy and daddy by looking through some photos of us. I'd ask him, "Who is this?" and he'd say daddy or mommy, but on one photo he said "Nate Nate!" There was a therapist with us at the time so I asked, "You just heard that right?!?!"
- Learned how to say "Grawma" (grandma.) It's probably the cutest word he says right now.
- Nathan has discovered the "Happy" song. Once it is playing Nathan will run in a circle until the song is done, and then proceeded to say, "More more more happy!" He would be quite content if I let it play on repeat all day long.
- He loves trains. There have been big displays at Longwood Gardens and Morris Arboretum lately and he's loved watching them.
- He's getting pretty good about greeting us with mommy and daddy. It's the best walking into his room after he's been asleep and getting a shout of "Mommy!" from him.
- We put him in tumbling class and I think he's going to love it. Right now he's still getting used to the routine, all the people, and how loud it is. It's definitely sensory overload for him at times. I can tell he does like the actually tumbling part of class because whenever he tries something he gets the biggest smile on his face. He loves doing forward rolls, walking on the balance beam, and crawling through tunnels.
- He crosses his ankles when he sits at his table sometimes. It's so cute!
- He's starting to say some two word phrases which is awesome!
- Loves nursery. If the door is open when we're walking there, he runs right in and doesn't even turn to say goodbye.
- Taking him shopping is a bit of a challenge. He's happy for about 10 minutes in the cart, but then he cries and tries climbing out. He doesn't care if I'm not right there to catch him (don't worry, I alway do.) I've tried clipping him in, but this just leads to him screaming his head off and still squirming his way out. I've found out that he likes to push the cart and won't stray away so this is how I usually take him shopping now. I just have to hold onto the cart while I grab something or else he'll continue pushing the cart down the aisle.
- This kid loves doggies. Oh I wish we could get him one right now, but one day he'll have one of his own. For now, he takes his white doggie to bed with him every night.
- MEMO! Nathan is a little bit obsessed with Nemo. He has a bath toy that is an orange fish with yellow stripes and he will carry it around calling it Nemo. For a while he was all about Cars, (he'd call it "wacecar!",) but he asks for Nemo all day long now.
- Much better at waving hi and goodbye. Sometimes he won't wave goodbye, but after they are gone he will look up to wave and say bye.
- Foods he likes: apples, applesauce, SHAKE! (pediasure), ramen noodles, broccoli, chicken, and eggs.
- Finally will take bites of food! Everything has had to be in bite size pieces or it ends up on the floor. He'll now take bites of chips, pretzels, graham crackers, apple slices, pancakes, cucumber sticks, and bread. He wouldn't take bites of ANYTHING 2 months ago. That's a pretty big increase and we're so happy with his progress!
- There is a yellow care bear in the nursery for choir. Nathan will not let it go when he is there. So when I saw a yellow care bear at a yardsale, I bought it for him. Best $1 I've ever spent. He loves it. He loves to carry it around and give it hugs.
- He can count to 10 and he knows most of his colors.
- Nathan's box. It started as an Amazon box that I let him color in. Then he started to climb in there with his blankie to get sensory input. Then we added his stuffed animals to help increase the sensory stimulation he would get by being in the box. It definitely helps him calm down and regroup when he's getting sensory overload. It's a bit of a nuisance (it's big and ugly to have in our living room), but it helps him so much that I don't mind.
- Nathan will ask several times a day to color. He'll sit and color for a good 15+ minutes on his own.
- He's so cute when he says stop. He'll hold up his hand and shout stop. He does it in the car, if he sees a stop sign, or if we're playing a game.
- His naps have gone crazy. More often than not they are absent completely, but he is not ready to go from a 3 hour nap to no nap. I've tried moving it back a little with mild success. Hopefully he goes back to napping!
- His favorite number is 5.
- Nathan kept asking for a "turner" or something. I couldn't figure out what he wanted and he kept repeating it. After a week it finally hit me. He wanted a tunnel. I asked him if he wanted a tunnel and he was so happy I finally understood him. He now says it perfectly and will ask for tunnels for his cars, animals, and for himself.
- Can I just brag about this kid for a minute? Nathan is just plain awesome. He works harder than any kid I know his age, but he loves therapy and hardly ever has a tantrum over the demands we put on him. On our most crazy therapy day we'll have 5 hours with only a half hour break. But he does it with a smile on his face and wows us with the things he is learning to do. I'm sure proud of him.
