baby talk

So, as many of you know, Thad and I have a habit of occasionally speaking for Nate. He has slightly different accents depending on which parent he's with, but Nate tends to speak in a high, squeaky voice. We've pondered whether we are the only people crazy enough to do this, and we're been pretty sure we're not despite the fact that nobody else will fess up to doing it themselves. So last night we settle in for our fun-filled hour of The Office and Scrubs and, low and behold, JD and Turk (from Scrubs) are hanging around with their babies having a chat in good old fashioned baby voices. So we're not alone (even though they aren't actually real people... but whatever.) But I'm really not sure if I should be comforted or disturbed by this?

tearing it up

Yesterday, for the first time, Nate stood up without holding on to anything. All he does now is walk around. And usually he also waves his arms around. These waves usually get exponentially more frenetic as he gets tired, which is pretty amusing. He's also gotten back into the habit of doing yoga poses when he's tired - down dog is always a favorite.

It's crazy how quickly he's moved from being a baby to a toddler. What's next, a goatee?!

toddler heaven

We found the greatest place on earth. Nate had SO much fun. No, not Chuck E Cheese. Not Disney World. Not the Children's Museum. Where then, you may ask, would be the most wonderful, exciting place for a one year old? DSW Shoe Warehouse, of course! It's huge, with lots of wide aisles, low mirrors, and people to smile at. And the worst that can happen is you knock over some shoes (which really do belong on the floor anyway). We went over the weekend with Great Grandpa Rocco, Grandma Corbo, Great Uncle Rob, Cousin Lia, Aunt Jeannie, and Thad. It felt like we were living in a Seinfeld episode because every aisle had something new and humorous, but in the end nothing really happened. Nate had so much fun doing lap after lap of the store. We met a boy, around seven or eight, named Jakob who talked for about 15 minutes straight without taking a breath. His mother's name is Katherine. He is a lady's man and hides in the boys' room between classes to escape the mob of girls chasing him around. Blah, blah blah... We met lots of nice ladies looking at shoes who thought Nate was the cutest thing ever. Nate was dumbfounded by the display of purses, all sparkly and shiny. Oh, how glorious! We must return soon to again wobble through the long aisles.

These photos are completely irrelevant, from some time last week, but I thought they were cute so here you are!

bright lights big city

I'm playing a bit of catch up here. We've had a nice holiday with a load of Corbo relatives, but it's made me a bit of a delinquent blogger. So to catch up on yesterday's action, we took Nate downtown for his first big city experience. I thought he'd be really interested in the tall buildings, but he didn't seem to take much notice of them. Maybe it's just that from his perspective, everything looks like it's looming. We met up with my old friend Amelia, who was quite impressed by how much Nate's walking has improved in just a couple of weeks. He's a true toddler now - that happened in the blink of an eye! Nate's favorite part of our visit to the Copley Square area of Boston was the lobby of Meils' parents' building, where he wobbled around for a while, screeching.














Then it was off to the North End for pizza at Regina's, my absolute favorite pizza place. It's kind of like the Dinosaur of Boston - no reservations, a long wait, mildly friendly staff, and wherever you stand you are in serious danger of being hit in the head with a tray of something delicious. So yummy!

thanksgiving

It's after 11pm, and as much as I'd like to entertain you all with the minute details of our day, I'm tired. So here instead is a Thanksgiving synopsis: we cooked a lot and ate a lot. Nate is thankful for cornbread. Halie is thankful for tennis balls. Thad and I are thankful for our friends and family, which is what matters most to us.

oh, my darling

Nate is very into Clementines. He had his first about a week ago and now he gets very excited when he sees one, even from across the room. No big surprise, but he doesn't understand that you need to peel the Clementine before eating it so he occasionally gets a mouthful of delicious peel. He also doesn't really eat the segments so much as he drains them of their juice, like a little orange-sucking vampire (albeit, with no canines). Usually he bites one in half, sucks on it for a second, and then discards it for a new piece. If he sees you give him a "used" piece, he gets upset, but it's still relatively easy to sneak them back into the rotation. And by the end of the snack, he's got a makeshift graveyard of Clementine shells all piled up in front of him.

sleepless in boston

Or perhaps "Night of the Living Dead" would be more appropriate? Nate hasn't slept through the night in over a week and, thus, neither have his parents. We had a horrible night Friday when Nate was awake about 75% of the time from 11pm to 5am, but the last couple of nights he woke up only once. We're not sure what's bothering him, but we think he might be getting more teeth.

Other than that, Nate's taking figurative leaps and bounds with his walking. So much so that my father didn't see him for about 36 hours and couldn't believe how much better his walking was in that short period of time. Nate can walk really well if he's holding on to something and has gone across a room without any support. He can even turn now. For a day or two he would do this funny side step, like he was in a Frogger game and instead of turning he'd just shift over to one side or another but always facing the same way. But that quickly passed for the ever-popular 90-degree turn. He just needs to learn how to stand up without grabbing on to something and he'll be running all over the place.