Birthday Celebrations

Nate was pretty excited about his birthday this year.  He loved opening up his presents and eating cupcakes.  He's been asking for cupcakes a lot!  He still doesn't like frosting so we pulled off the top of his cupcake.  Brad had the genius idea to get Nate his own little space set.  It had a rocket, space shuttle, and some astronauts.  Nate LOVES it.  I couldn't ever get a good shot with him with the rocket because he was always blasting off with the rocket.

Nate's face when he saw his new scooter!  But we could never get him to ride it.  Silly boy!

My original plans for Nate's birthday had included going to Bellview Park.  Unfortunately, I figured out the morning of that it's not open on Mondays!  So, we went a few days later with one of Nate's therapists, Katie. We went for a train ride (Nate's favorite part,) saw the animals at the petting zoo, and played in the river.

Nate really wanted to pet the piggy until it decided to pee on him!

As I was typing up this blog, Nate came in and saw the top picture and said, "It's Nate's birthday!"  He wanted to see all of the pictures.  It may not have been his most extravagant birthday, but it certainly was memorable to him.  And really, this little buddy makes life fun!

Visit to Minnesota

This trip really was perfectly timed for us.  Nate  had just finished preschool, Brad had a few days off works, and we needed a break from our regular life.  It's always good to go home for a little while.

Grandma Janet really spoiled the kids by taking them so many fun places.  We went to the Children's Museum, the zoo, and a few different parks.

This toy was so much fun!  You put in rocks and it made music!

And there's the backyard.  A little boy's paradise.  Nate loved to go out and stomp through the woods.

Staying up late for Nate's first smore

And Grandmas know the best activities.  We made snake bubbles and quiet time books.

And generally, just loved hanging out at Grandma's house.

Brad had to head home before us, so I was flying solo with the two kiddos.  And it went way better than I thought.  The trick was lugging a carseat through the airport, but it was worth it.  Nate was actually fantastic for the flight, but Evy was being a little bit of a trouble maker so I strapped her into the carseat.  I'd do it all again for another week with Grandma and Grandpa!

Preschool Graduation

First and Last Day of Preschool

Since when do parents give a dozen roses to their child for preschool graduation?  Just wondering.  Nate was just happy with all the pomp and circumstance.

Children's Museum

This was one of the best field trips of the year with Nate's preschool class!  The Children's Museum in Denver is a really great one.  I am usually pretty apprehensive about these places being too much for Nate, but this one had a good balance of fun and places for sensory breaks.  They even had a whole dedicated room as a quiet place for kids to calm down.  It was amazing.  I wanted to stay in there and take a nap in all the cozy furniture.  But there was too much to do for that!  The giant bubbles were a big hit as was the water works.  And of course we had to play dentist!  We also spent most of the time with Nate's favorite teacher, Miss Melissa, which was a lot of fun.  The Children's Museum also offers free mornings for kids with autism so we'll have to head back again.

Field Day

Nate's school put together a pretty cool field day.  There were obstacle courses (Nate's favorite) and all sorts of other games.

Showing off all of his moves!  He was so prepared!

These boys are just too cute together!

Evy thought she was just as big as everyone else and wanted to join in on all the fun.

And of course there were popsicles!

Nate's cute preschool class this year.  We loved Nate's preschool!

Little Nate Nate

Nate was at preschool and someone had brought birthday cupcakes to share.  Nate saw them, but it wasn't quite snack time.  Nate sat down at the snack table and said, "I want a cupcake." We make him request items in a full sentence before he gets them and we're really trying to encourage sentences so we usually reward him. When no one gave him his request, he walked over and looked at the cupcake again.  He sat back down and said, "I want a cupcake PLEASE."

Also, preschool now has Nate asking for cupcakes ALL THE TIME. It must be a popular birthday treat.

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I was getting Nate dressed after a bath when he said, "Kitties, kitties, I'm a cat."  I giggled at him and said, "No silly, you're a little boy."  He kept repeating, "Kitties, kitties!" until I realized, I call my kids kiddies.  He thought I'd been calling them kitties and that he was a cat.

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Nate was at OT when he had a small crash and landed on his knee.  He got up and told us, "Oh my elbow."  Yes buddy, they do similar things.  Resourceful use of language.

Evelyn at 15 Months

- So many words! All done, more, cheese, nana, yum, Nate Nate, where, bird, hi, bye bye, baby, momma, daddy, and so many more. My personal favorite is when she responds with, "Yeah!"
- Loves blowing us kisses. And giving real ones too.

- Likes sleeping with a blankie now.
- We decided to try a spoon and some applesauce and she loved feeding herself.  She got it all over the place, but she was happy. And she's doing really good with a fork too!

- We've watched a couple of the baby signing time videos, and Evy's picked up on a few signs.  She definitely knows, "More, more, more!" and, "All done!"

- This girl loves babies.  We had a friend come over with her 4 month old and Evy kept telling me, "Baby! Baby!"
- She knows our names.  She asks for Nate the entire time he's gone to preschool.  And then she asks for Daddy once Nate's home.  Evy even knows the name of Nate's therapist Katie.

- Oh we have a climber.  Nothing is safe.  Our chairs no longer reside around our dining room table.
- She is also a little destroyer.  There is a long list of things she has destroyed, including my glasses.  Luckily, we were already planning on replacing those.

- It's probably going to a big part of Evy's life for a long time, but she goes with us to all of Nathan's therapies.  She actually loves it! Granted, OT is really fun with all the slides and swings (Nate calls it going to the playground.) But she's a trooper to sit through all the other ones as well.
- Raspberries.  All the time.  With Daddy.  With Brother.  When she's eating.  It's too cute!

- She is a big eater.  She eats more than Nate!  After she tells us, "All done!" and gets down from her high chairs she goes and scavenges more food.

- With the warmer weather, she's been loving going on stroller rides to the park.  She likes being big enough to climb around on the playground.
- Her 15 month stats: 20 lbs (31st percentile,) 30.5 inches (46th percentile,) and 45 cm head circumference (31st percentile.)

- I took the kids to the beach one day and Evy loved it!  We have a little water baby on our hands.
- 11 teeth!  She's got one last molar coming in too!

- I love her curly hair.  It just keeps getting cuter and cuter!
- We gave coloring a try (she's got to be ready for nursery.)  She really liked it and was a champion scribbler.

- Evy is at such a fun stage.  She's talking more and more, responding to our directions, dancing to music, giving loves, and is just the cutest and sweetest little thing.