big time

Nate's had his fair share of truck experiences. He's "driven" a lot of vehicles, which usually means sitting in the driver's seat while the truck is parked sans keys. He's been in a power roller, backhoe, dump truck, and combine harvester, not to mention a motorcycle, an assortment of cars, and some horses. However, this latest experience really takes the cake. He actually drove a bobcat. And by driving I mean he made the thing move. He had an extra set of hands, but it was really quite a thrilling experience. My parents' neighbor Tommy was removing some trees from his yard and Nate helped him with the work. According to Nate, "I drove the backhoe. And I picked up some heavy, heavy stumps and put them in the dump truck." I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you more the next time you see him!

birthday month

Happy birthday to Grandma Doris! Here's a picture of Nate not smiling for the camera:














Today is also our cousin Freya's birthday, and earlier this month we celebrated cousin Annika's birthday and Grandma Shirley's birthday. Not to mention our two newest friends, Finn and cousin Lydia, who were both born this April. I'm sure I'm missing lots of other important birthdays, so apologies to those I left off the ever-growing list!

blog swap

Yesterday our good friends Laura and Steve (from Carmen's blog) came to visit while they were in the area for a wedding. A super-duper pregnant Anna and Jarrod came over too, so it was like old times in Upstate, but this time with kids instead of beer. It was great to finally meet Carmen in person and to catch up with everyone, although it made us miss Rochester and our friends there. To add to the excitement of the day, on their way home Anna went into labor and now we're excited to soon meet our newest friend, Finn!

a story from nate

Here's a little story Nate told us the other day:
"Poop the magic bee lived in a great big house. He made very good omelets."

He also suggested, "We have to go cookie picking. When it's cookie season."

pee pee on the floor

We switched over to Nate's toddler bed on Friday night, and overall it's worked out better than we'd expected. We've had a few incidents where he'll violently pound on his door to get out of the room, but so far the majority of our sleeping has been about the same as before. we've even had some improvements - this morning Nate woke up a little early and decided to read some books! Our biggest glitch happened yesterday, when we awoke to Nate commenting, "pee pee on the floor!" He'd woken up, taken off his jammies, t-shirt, and diaper, and then proceeded to, as you've guessed, pee on the floor. Oh well, these kinds of growing pains are to be expected, I guess!

farewell crib

Nate has figured out how to climb out of his crib. He did it once or twice before, but now he's doing it regularly. He was at Grandma and Pop-Pop's on Wednesday, and when they went to get him from his nap he wasn't in his travel crib, but sitting instead on the twin bed in the room. Then the following morning, Thad and I awoke to a thump, followed by the pitter patter of little feet. Then yesterday Nate summoned me from his nap by banging furiously at his bedroom door asking to be released from the prison of his room. We're planning on putting the toddler bed up this weekend... this should be interesting!

happy easter

It's a busy time of year for those Carlsons. Happy Birthday to Gramma Shirley and cousin Annika, and welcome to our newest cousin Lydia!

We had our official Easter dinner/celebration in Vermont, but we arrived home to find that the Easter Bunny had left some goodies for Nate while we were away. He really liked finding the eggs hidden around the house (and the M&Ms, or "nemenems," inside). We died some eggs (we actually did this in Vermont too, so Nate's now a pro) and had an unusually relaxing evening at home.

i, me, mine

We headed to Vermont to celebrate Easter with the Carlsons (and were somewhat negligent about taking photos - sorry!) Nate is still a mildly difficult traveling partner, at least when he's awake. We had an interesting drive up, as nothing would satiate Nate and keep him calm. He's been a Beatles fan, so Thad suggested some music, but for some reason all the songs were causing Nate to get even more upset. During Michelle, Nate stated, in a very whiney voice, that we should turn off the song because it was scary. So we move on to the next tune, All you Need is Love, which was even scarier. Those wacky Beatles, with all their frightening songs!

Nate has really entered the whiney twos, and is firmly in the "mine" mode. He will pick up pretty much anything - a toy, a magazine, a rock - and state emphatically that it is his. I knew this was coming, but it's getting old fast! While we were in Vermont we visited with Bumpa, where Nate played with Nate's golf club and Nate's golf balls (which he's apparently been storing at Bumpa's place). We also visited Nate's playground, that along with their neighbors, three generations of Carlsons built when Thad was a kid.

the big apple circus

Yesterday we went to the Big Apple Circus. We weren't sure how Nate would hold up, since he doesn't have much of an attention span, but we thought it would be fun to try. We headed downtown, which is exciting on it's own because we get to drive across the Zakim Bridge, one of Nate's favorite things to do. I'm not really sure why we get tickets and pay admission to things when all Nate really wants is to go over bridges and watch helicopters. But I digress... Overall, the circus was a hit, although we only made it about 2/3 of the way through the first half before Nate started asking to go home. Some of the performers were a bit over his head - he liked the clowns, but I don't think he understood all of the jokes. Similarly, a performer like the tightrope walker is pretty amazing to most of us, but you first have to understand that it's difficult to walk on a rope, something I'm not sure Nate knows yet. Nate says, "I like the girl swingin' on the trapeze. That was my favorite part of the circus." But he also liked this man who was balancing huge vases on his head, and when we got home Nate tried to replicate this act (unsuccessfully, I should point out).

back in the saddle

Wow - sorry for the big gap in postings. March was a very unhealthy month. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! So, what have we been up to recently? Here's a recap...

The never-ending sinus infection
I got sick on March 7 and am feeling better but not normal. No comments from the peanut gallery about my not ever being "normal".

Thad's birthday
Thad turned 33 again this year. This time, he remembered his age correctly, though. This isn't like when you joke about turning 21 every year. It's more about hitting that point in life when you don't know how old you are. As a kid I thought that was crazy, and here I am, married to an ageless man.






























a recipe for cornbread
Nate's still really excited about cooking. The ratio of ingredients he pours into the mixing bowl and onto the counter is improving. When he wakes up in the morning, he often sings and talks to himself, and the other day he was talking about "a half a pound of pork sausage."

He's more aware that we usually follow a recipe for whatever we're making. A few days after making cornbread, I asked him for the recipe. Here's his directions:
First you get the ingredients.
Then you mix them in a bowl.
Then you put it in the oven.
Then you eat it. Yum!

Not so bad, I'd say. Missing a few steps, but overall a pretty good synopsis of baking.






























































counting
Nate's been doing a really great job with his letters and numbers. He recognizes most of the capital letters, and definitely can recite the alphabet now. He also recognizes most numbers, and can count up to seven. Then he usually switches around eight and nine, and what comes after is always a surprise. But the funniest part of his counting is that he can say each number properly, but when he strings them together in order ("one, two, three, four...") he inserts the beginning sound of the word "three" onto all the subsequent numbers. So they come out, "one, two, three, throor, thrive..."

where is Jacques?
Nate's also very into singing and music. One of his current favorites is "Where is Thumbkin" and he will go through all the fingers, although he doesn't match up the hand movements with the right fingers yet. He's added a new finger, Jacques, by combining "Thumbkin" with "Frere Jacques," and he now often sings, "Where is Jacques? Where is Jacques?"

Thad masquerading as a backhoe
















more trucks
Our lives still revolve in large part around trucks. Nate's been enjoying lining his toy trucks up, and also attaching wagons to their backs. Some of his trucks break down and need a tow.