A touching moment with my three year old

As I was getting Nate dressed for bed, I said, "Hey, I want to tell you something Nathaniel. I will always love you. No matter what." His response was a big smile. He then leaned toward me...

and forcibly picked my nose.

Chopsticks

Nate has been fascinated with chopsticks ever since he learned about them on Sesame Street. We saw a pair of dinosaur chopsticks at a cute little store on vacation and he had to have them. Since then, I have had to cut everything into small bites so he can use his chopsticks (including cheese sticks and toast). On the bright side, he has eaten a ton of fruit and has only hit himself in the face once.

"Only get your FEET wet"

 

 

...is not something that computes to a three year old at a lake. 

S'mores!

Nate got to experience his first "camp" fire this past week on our trip to the Berkshires in Massachusetts. And obviously the best part of a camp fire is the s'more making. Dave taught him him the fast, "set the marshmallow on fire" method, while I shared my technique for a nice golden brown one. Even though Nate actually tried a s'more (and loved it), he seemed to enjoy roasting the marshmallows more than eating them. It took me awhile to figure out we didn't actually need to waste the graham crackers and the chocolate. He was satisfied making a nice gooey marshmallow pile on the stump.

 

At the end of each night we always discuss our favorite part of the day. It took him less than a second before coming up with his answer that night, "Making s'mores!"

The three year old tot

Nate turned three yesterday. Being the super mom I am, I forgot to buy a few things, including wrapping paper (and candles). Luckily, Super Nate didn't seem to mind that his gifts were wrapped in old Christmas paper and stuck in a big brown box. Nate opened all of his presents from mom and dad before 7:00 a.m. and we started the day at IHOP, for the long planned birthday breakfast at the "pancake restaurant." Although this had been a highly anticipated part of the day, Nate was just too excited to eat. This was a theme that lasted the whole day. He did make an exception for cake, later in the day, though. Obviously. You can never be too excited for cake.

 

After breakfast, we took Nate's new basketball (and favorite present) to the courts to test it out. 

 

After refusing lunch and taking a super short nap, it was finally time for his birthday party at "the airplane museum."  The pictures below only feature him with his bestie, Jason, but many of his friends were able to make it. 

He had a blast making an airplane (then throwing it off the side of the balcony at the heads of unsuspecting museum patrons), eating a quarter of a slice of pizza, jumping and dancing to the music in his head and playing in the Jr. Jet play room with his buddies. 

He ended the day tearing through all of his presents and playing with as much as he could before he was forced to go to bed. When I asked him if he liked being three, he said, "Yeah! It's similar to two." 

Melon head

My son ate an entire cantaloupe in under 24 hours.

 

If you know my feelings on melon, you will understand that this is a deeply disturbing development.

And here is what you missed...

This is what we were doing in July:


Going to the pool

Preparing for war

Eating popsicles

Hanging out with a guy who had a donut puppet

Being slightly obsessed with E.T., in a dyslexic sort of way

Petting furry creatures

Feeding scaly ones

Doing impressions of Teen Wolf playing basketball

Playing at the park with friends (imaginary and real)

Playing in sprinklers

Pretending to be enthused about hiking, only to ask mom or dad for a carry after 3 minutes in the woods

Shooting hoops

Playing in more sprinklers

and swimming in friend's pools

You know, basic summer stuff.

What was happening in July

Apologies for being M.I.A. last month. To all who inquired, I am still alive. There was an encounter with zombies, but most of my brains have remained intact. 

The coolest thing last month? Nate wrote his name!

 

What I should have posted during July...

Be back soon-ish!