Fall at Morris Arboretum

While I'm very happy that Nathan is getting so much therapy, sometime it feels like its a little much.  Like on Tuesdays when we have 5 hours straight.  Sometimes I just want a little break.  Well this last week we unexpectedly had all of our Tuesday therapists cancel/move therapy to another day so we had a free day.  Yippee!  Nathan and I went to the Morris Arboretuem to see all of the fall trees.  We both loved having a free day just to spend together.

Pumpkin Patch

We had the PERFECT fall day this week.  We went for a little drive out into the countryside to go to a u-pick pumpkin patch that a friend had recommended.  The drive there was SPECTACULAR.  Fall leaves, golden afternoon sun, a meandering stream.  I really wanted to stop to take pictures, but I was driving on a little two lane street with nowhere to pull off.

The pumpkin patch didn't disappoint either.  The farm we went to had the perfect little pumpkin patch at the top of a hill overlooking the orchards and surrounding countryside.  We got to the patch pretty late in the day and there was no one in the field.  Nathan was so happy to go play with the pumpkins.  He got so dirty!  He helped me pick out a few pumpkins to bring home which he happily plays with every day.

We topped the visit off with some apple cider donuts.  Like I said,  it really was the perfect fall day.

New York, New York!

We made a quick little trip to NYC over the weekend and we had so much fun! My family was going to Italy to visit Adrianne's mission and their travel plans included a 12 hour layover at JFK.  It's too bad Brad couldn't come with us, but his school scheduled part of his licensing exam that weekend.  Nathan and I drove up to New York the night before so we could meet them bright and early to head out sight seeing.

Since we knew we had limited time in New York my mom booked us a tour bus so we could quickly see New York.  It was raining practically the whole time we were in NYC, but we were determined to enjoy our tour.  You couldn't see much from inside the bus so Adrianne, Malinda, Byron, and I donned ponchos and toughed it out on the top of the bus so we could see New York better.  Poor Malinda ended up getting soaked.  The rest of us only had wet knees and hands.  Grandma and Grandpa stayed inside and watched Nathan.  We switched about half way through so my parents could enjoy seeing the tour from the top deck.  Nathan was perfectly happy to stay warm and dry inside the bus.

Empire State Building

Flatiron Building

Don't let this look fool you.  He was thrilled to be on a bus.

We got off the bus at Times Square to get some lunch.  We grabbed some New York pizza and did a little walking in Times Square before it was time to head towards the airport.  We got a couple of bad directions taking the subway, but we finally made it back to the airport in time for my family to make their flight.

It was a crazy busy day, but it was so much fun!  The best part was seeing my family.  Even though it was only for a few hours, when you live a 6 hour plane flight away it makes you appreciate every time you get to see family.  And this was the first time I've seen Adrianne in almost 2 years!  Thanks for the great day in New York!

Academy of Natural Sciences

Museum Day Live was a last weekend so we took advantage of the free tickets and went to the Academy of Natural Sciences.  There were lot so animals to go see.  Nathan's favorites were the dinosaurs, bears, and monkeys.  Nathan has been obsessed with the book, "We're Going On a Bear Hunt" so we made sure to go find all of the bears.  We'd prompt him with, "It's a . . ." and he'd fill in "Bear!" We also found a statue of a turtle that Nathan feed a few fishes to.

While we were downtown, we took a walk around Logan Square.  It's a fun spot to see a lot of Phillie sights.  From the fountain in the center you can see the Art Museum, City Hall, Franklin Museum, the Library, and the Temple!  We took a walk over to see the progress on the temple while we were out.  It makes me a little sad that we won't be here when it's finished, but it'll be such a blessing to the people of this area.  It's takes us at least 9 hours for us to go to the temple (travel time + session.)  We're hoping the next place we move to has a temple a little closer than that.

Baby Gurl

We started asking Nathan a few days before our ultrasound if he would like a baby girl or a baby boy.  He's never changed his mind.  It's a, "Baby Gurl."  Looks like he was right.  We're having a baby girl!  We're so excited!  We've all been feeling like it was a little girl so everyone is happy.

While we were having the ultrasound the ultrasound tech was having a hard time getting baby girl to cooperate.  She had the doctor do some more searching.  The doctor asked us if we were feeling like it was going to be a boy or a girl and we said that we were feeling like it was a girl.  The doctor finally got a decent shot and said, "Well, I think it's a girl."

"Really?!?" I blurted out.

"I wouldn't say that unless I was mostly sure.  That would be pretty mean otherwise.  I'm 90% sure it's a girl."  Haha, thanks doc.

I went out and celebrated with some shopping.  I went to get just her first outfit and came back with way more.  Everything was so cute.  And I had to keep looking because I needed to find a dress.  I'm so excited to start decorating the nursery, making quilts, and knitting little things for baby girl.  It's also exciting to think about getting Nathan's big boy room ready for him as well.  It's a good thing we're going into winter and more time at home so I'll have time for all the projects.  Now, we need to think of a name for baby girl!

Welcome Fall

Maybe it's the slight chill to the mornings or that the trees have just started to turn, but it seems like fall is here.  And nothing welcomes autumn as much as picking apples and enjoying the beautiful trees.  So Nathan and I made the trip out to Styer Orchards to pick some apples. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they still had peaches this late.  Nathan and I loved wandering through the orchards and picking our peaches and apples.  Nathan even helped pick a few of each.

The orchards made me a little homesick.  I grew up with 8 fruit trees in my yard that our family would harvest and spend the fall canning together.  I continued the tradition by canning some of our goodies into homemade applesauce and canned peaches.

Our trip to the orchards did make me very excited for fall.  There are spectacular colors on the trees to enjoy, pumpkins to pick, and one little boy to play in the leaves with.  It's going to be a great autumn.

Nathan at 27 Months

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.