Almost Mobile Kaylee

Swim Lessons

We signed Nathan up for swim lessons this past spring.  I had tried signing him up last year but didn't realize that the spots fill up within hours of registration opening.  We were better prepared this time around and Randi was able to sign Nathan and Brenna up for the same class.  Here they are on their first day:

The lessons were 5 days a week for two weeks.  Curtis had Mondays off and was able to be Nathan's pool partner on those days.

We lucked out and got to be in the warm pool most days!

The point of the youngster class is really to get the kids comfortable in the water. Nath learned how to kick his legs while being pulled around the pool,

and how to use his arms while being pushed.

He was not a big fan of floating on his back,

but he improved over time.

His above all favorite thing to do was to jump in the pool.  He got to the point where he would jump in and go all the way under before I would grab him. If he had it his way he would jump and jump and jump all class long.

This kid loves the water.  A little too much.  When the class was over he would throw the biggest, loudest, most embarrassing temper tantrums I have ever seen, all because he didn't want to get out of the pool.  After a few times of that I threatened to never come back and he seemed to understand.  I love knowing that he is having a good time and all, but that was just ridiculous.

And, as always, Kaylee was there sitting in the sidelines cheering him on.

The Zoo

Several months ago I decided to brave driving to Tucson with just the kids to meet the DeRoests at the zoo.  Nathan had never been before and it was so cute to watch him get so super excited when he saw all the animals.  I really like the Tucson Zoo because it is the perfect size zoo for a toddler.  It definitely doesn't take the whole day to see the animals, and it seems like you can get a lot closer to them than you can in a bigger zoo.  Nath loved the huge tiger, who decided Nathan must be a threat to her because she "stood up" against the glass right where he was and sprayed at him!  It was pretty cool.  He also loved the giraffes:

And the elephants! He talked mostly about the elephants when we got home.

It was a bit of a snooze fest in Kaylee's opinion.

She did, however, wake up to see this monkey..baboon...thing.

I'm sure we will be taking MANY more trips to the zoo in the future.  (Especially when we can get in free thanks to the DeRoests!!)

Nathan's Birthday Part 2

The festivities continued on Nathan's actual birthday. Here is the first picture of my handsome boy at 2 years old.

I took him to the dollar store and let him pick out any 2 things he wanted.  It was the funniest thing watching him walk up and down the isle trying to decide. 

After much deliberation he ended up with a balloon...

and 2 monster trucks (that came in 1 package...smart boy!)

That night we had the DeRoests over for dinner and birthday festivities.  Our families are big fans of Kids Eat Free Day at Chili's, which happened to fall on Nathan's birthday so, of course, we took advantage of that!  After dinner we let Nathan open his family presents.  We got him a play kitchen because not only does he loooooove to play with the one Brenna has, but he also seems the most needy when I am trying to make dinner, so I figured that he could "help" me make dinner during those whiny moments.

Before Nath could open any more presents Brenna had to make sure that he was wearing his sunglasses...upside down.  A nice touch, if I do say so myself.

Most of his gifts were just accessories for his kitchen, which were a big hit. He also got some super cute clothes from Grandma and Grandpa, and a Thomas the Train lunch box from the Socci's.  (Which he carried his trains around all day in.)

Grandma and Grandpa Ashton also sent these super cool magnet blocks. I absolutely love these things!

Kaylee seemed to enjoy day 2 of the festivities as well.

After presents it was time for more cake and ice cream! 

He had a tough time blowing out all 1 of his candles, but Brenna was kind enough to offer assistance when called upon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET LITTLE BOY!

2 Year Stats:  

Height: 34 in (30thish percentile)

Weight: 22 lbs 3.2oz (still 0 percentile)

Head: 49 cm (55thish percentile)

Nathan's Birthday Part 1

My  adorable little Nath-face turned 2 on June 21!  Curtis had the 20th off of work and so we decided to make it a "do all of Nathan's favorite things" day.  In the morning we let him pick ANYTHING he wanted for breakfast, I was expecting him to say something along the lines of "ice cream" but was pleasantly surprised when all he wanted was "Grandma's cereal" aka Frosted mini-wheats.  I also let him watch a show while eating breakfast, which was quite the treat. Here he is in total heaven watching Thomas.  Apparently he was too mesmerized to even think about sitting down at first.

 We considered going to the zoo but it was well over 100 degrees in Tucson and that just wouldn't be fun for anyone!  So we decided first to head to the mall so he could play at the little play place there for as long as he wanted.  

After a LONG time of playing we stopped and let him pick out a treat from the island of gumball machines in the middle of the mall.  He chose hot tamales and was super excited about his special birthday treat...almost as excited as he was about the fact that his treat turned his hands and face red. 

After lunch and naps we then headed to the public pool for some more fun.

Up until that point we had only taken Nathan to "splash time" at the pool, which is when the pool is reserved for toddlers and their parents.  We thought we would brave open swim on this occasion because they turn on the wave pool and we thought Nathan might get a kick out of that.  He didn't.  

He was soon joined by his BFF Brenna, and the two kids chose to stay in the small, safe, warm pool for a while to escape the loud scary waves.  After a while of playing it safe the dads decided that it was time to show the kiddos just how fun the wave pool could be.  After a few minutes they were all smiles.  The dads then decided to try and push their luck a little further by taking Nathan and Brenna down the tube slides. I am not sure that either of the kids really enjoyed it...but I don't think they hated it either!

After swimming it was off to McDonalds!  A few more of Nathan's friends were able to join us for some food and fun. 

I decided very last minute to run out and grab a cake.  We had bought a toy train (Percy to be exact) for Nath for his birthday and so I very talentlessly drew a quick track on the cake a plopped the train on top.

  

We sang to Nathan and then the kids (and Curtis) dug into the cake and Nath opened presents.  

Perhaps blue frosting wasn't the best choice.

It was at this point that Nathan was first introduced to Lightning McQueen (from Disney's "Cars") and I can already tell that this will be a new obsession.  Thank you Jessica (and Ethan and Mason) for that...haha

It was a VERY eventful and VERY fun day.