Guest Blogger: The Nathan Sleepover Chronicles, August 28, 2010

Here is post #2 from my mom about their weekend with Nathan. Sounds like a perfect summer Saturday!

We heard the first morning mutterings over the monitor at 5:30, but they mercifully lingered on and off until 7:30 when they changed in tone from just-hanging-out-with-my-buds (commenting on everything in the crib and of interest in the room) to ok-Grandma-where-are-you. Nathan greeted me with a smile and immediately launched into a fulsome commentary on all the crib items and a page-by-page description of the doggy book. Then he remembered the tractor outside and it was time to get out of bed. He tried repeatedly to divert me from preparing breakfast to “go outdoors, my tractor” but eventually caved to the actual presence of breakfast. He wolfed down the scrambled eggs, toast, peaches, and milk. That kid loves milk, doesn’t he?? He drank a quart of it in 24 hours!

After breakfast we played in the living room while the day warmed up sufficiently for shorts outdoors (who knew that jeans would be in order for a few hours every morning? What great weather!). While Grandpa mowed the lawn, Nathan & I headed off to the grocery store to lay in some toddler supplies. When we traveled down the cracker aisle I asked him what crackers he liked and he immediately called my attention to "Goldfish!" (yikes there are a lot of Goldfish types these days). We got the multi-grain version and Nathan neatly snacked on those while we continued our shopping.

As we drove down the street Nathan spotted the playground slide, so when he got out of the car he started campaigning “Yellow slide. Come on Gamma. This way Gamma”. I am not a fan of that playground equipment for toddlers, but since Nathan does not agree and Grandpa was still mowing the lawn, we hiked down to the playground. He headed right for the picnic table built below the fort, patted the bench as he swung his leg over it saying “Come on Gamma”, and before I could catch him he fell between the bench and table, banging his forehead on the edge of the table. Every time he has climbed on that stupid thing I’ve had my hands ready to catch him because the table is way too far away from the bench, but this time I wasn’t fast enough. So he has a bump on his forehead which will probably be a big ole’ black & blue mark by the time you see him tomorrow, but he recovered quickly with kisses and some quiet reading time.

He ate a great lunch of PB&J and fruit, then told me knowingly “change diaper”, and went down for a nap without a whimper. He slept for an hour & a half followed by another 30 minutes of quiet play in his crib before we heard “Hi Gamma” and got him up. We thought it would be fun to check out the 28th Street MetroCruise, and Nathan agreed it was a good idea to go for a ride to look at cars. Deuce thought that was a great idea, too, and howled in outrage when he ended up in his pen instead (we could still hear him barking as we drove down the driveway but he had stopped by the time we got home!). We parked in the first area where some cool cars were on display but Nathan was surprisingly uninterested in the cars until he spotted the fire engine which he pointed out with great enthusiasm. We walked over to it and said Hi to the firemen who were sitting way up high in the cab. The driver climbed down and asked us and Nathan if he wanted to sit in the seat, but Nathan shook his head, said “no”, and turned his head away – I think he was intimidated by the size of the truck and how far up in the air the seat was. So we thanked the fireman for his nice offer and instead we walked all around the fire truck talking about everything we saw on it. Nathan’s favorite part seemed to be the number “6” on the side because it was yellow! That definitely is his favorite color this weekend, and everything that is yellow is greeted with enthusiastic “Yellow!!”

As we got to the other side of the fire truck we saw an amazing sight in a small field behind Pal’s Diner: an elephant! Laura the Elephant had been providing elephant rides all afternoon until just before we arrived, and was now placidly snarfing up carrots using her big trunk while flapping her giant ears. Nathan was very interested and watched her for the longest time. Eventually the organizers started a watermelon eating contest between teams of humans versus Laura the Elephant. Laura’s trainer would put a whole watermelon on the ground in front of her and Laura would scoop up the watermelon and insert it whole into her mouth. As she ground it around in her mouth the juices would begin to drain out, and then she would bring the end of her trunk up to her mouth to catch the juices – it was hilarious! Unfortunately the handler had also trained her to let out a loud trumpeting noise as she finished each watermelon, and that surprised and alarmed Nathan who came running over for assurance and instructions to “go that way!” – pointing emphatically back to the car and away from Laura! During much of the time we were waiting for the watermelon contest to begin, he had been happily playing around some construction cones and folding sign in front of Laura’s fence, and every so often would say “Hi people!” to the other folks sitting on a nearby curb watching Laura.

We said bye-bye to the elephant and all agreed that ice cream was an excellent idea. So we went across the street to Culvers and Nathan got a vanilla soft custard cone which he ate to the last mouthful with a true connoisseur's appreciation (Grandpa Dick would have been thrilled and proud!), to the entertainment of everyone at neighboring tables. We were impressed that he held the cone so carefully and didn’t accidently crush it, and when he had licked the ice cream down to the level of the cone he copied Grandpa and took careful little bits all around the cone edge, rotating the cone as he went! He of course was coated in melted ice cream, which didn’t bother him until he was completely finished and then he wiggled his encrusted fingers at me with a distasteful look. He agreed that we should find a sink and go wash his hands; he of course was in charge of turning the faucet off.

Back at home it was now 5:30 and I was thinking that we had probably ruined his appetite for dinner. But after an hour or so of vigorous play with Grandpa which included a hike (“we’re hiking!”) down to the park to run around and around the soccer net, pushing the stroller and tractor around the backyard, climbing in and out of the little lawn chair, running to the front sidewalk to check out all the holes in the dirt that the squirrels made, and running through the sprinkler, he actually ate a great dinner!

He didn’t want to stop playing to eat, so I brought the highchair out onto the patio and he had a picnic. This was sufficiently interesting to deflect him from his play plans. He ate LOTS of ham, a pile of rice, and some green beans. But by far the highlight of his dining experience this evening was the unintended beverage. Grandpa & I were still stuffed from our ice cream so decided to eat after Nathan was in bed, but we of course joined him at the patio table while he ate. I brought out a large 16 oz insulated glass of iced lemon water which I was drinking. It suddenly caught Nathan’s eye toward the end of his meal and he insistently asked for “THAT water”. I held it to his lips and he took a long drink and told Grandpa that the ice was swimming. He then of course wanted to hold it himself so I gave it to him telling him it was heavy. “Heavy water” he nodded and agreed. But darned if he didn’t heave it up and drink it down, only occasionally miscalculating and dousing his face.

We played outside for a little while after dinner. I forgot to tell you that I got a Little Tykes baby swing and it has been hanging up on the chain between 2 trees in the back yard. He ignored it yesterday but today when I asked if he wanted to swing he said yes. Well, he loved it!! As soon as I began gently pushing him he broke out in giggles which continued for the duration. When I took him out of the swing after dinner, I took advantage of the fact that he was in my arms and we headed upstairs for bath time. He had a few laments for “my tractor!” but I distracted him with the water toys of the day which were a funnel, small plastic bowl, plastic 1-cup pitcher. Over and over again he would pour water from the pitcher through the funnel and often then into the bowl. I love to watch him study and perfect a process like that. After bath we got in jammies, brushed teeth, and went into the bedroom. He knew what was coming (“noooo gamma”) but we had a quiet talk about the toys on the shelf, and decided where Bert and Ernie would sleep (on the table, not in the crib), and talked about the elephant and the ice cream and the swing and all the fun we had today. I then put him in the crib to vigorous cries of “Gamma go, Gamma go!!” and kissed him and told him I would see him in the morning. I was sure that the enterprise was doomed, but before I even got to the stairs he had stopped crying and it has been absolutely quiet ever since.

Well, I can’t believe I’m still going on about our day with this marvelous child; only a parent or grandparent could possibly be interested by now! I hope you all had a great day, too, and will have an easy drive home. We plan to head to your house after Nathan’s nap. I will bring his dinner and feed him there, and hopefully you will be home in time to see him. He’s been going to bed later than usual (almost 8 tonight) as his entire schedule has been running about an hour behind here on Grand Rapids time :) -- so chances are good he’ll still be up if you get home before 8 tomorrow. We’ll certainly try to keep him happy and awake for you.

Love,
Mom