Sunday, June 21, 2015

Germs, Babies and Students


Nate likes talking to things.  Anything really but he has 3 particular favorites: his "class", babies and germs. 
 
Right now talking to germs is his thing, to the point where Annie and I have maybe lost a little bit of our minds over it.  In the Nate talking to germs stage play, Nate plays himself and Annie or I (read: Annie) is plays the role of the germs.  Nate will ask them how they are doing and Annie has to respond as if she is a germ or the germ collective. 
 
The key here is that Nate NEVER tires of this routine.  When Annie does tire of it then he will ask her to get out a bunch of his toys.  He'll divide his toys in two parts.  One part will be the germs and the other will be the white blood cells and he'll have them duke it out.  I only ever get worried when the germs win. 
 
The more normal thing he loves is babies or as Nate likes to say "I love babies infinity".
 
And he does.
 
I love babies too but now anytime I see one starting to breath fast and I automatically start thinking SMARD.  Probably not healthy but also probably not the most unhealthy thing I do. Nate will have conversations with his cousin James or Liam, only they aren't in the room.  Nate will, thankfully, play both himself and the baby parts in this scenario.  Which is equally disconcerting as the germ routine but less work for us so...whatever.  Observe Nate as he passes a Sunday afternoon away just staring at his baby cousin Liam.
 
 
 
Here Nate insisted Liam join him and his cousin Callie as they colored and read books.
 

Nate had another cousin, baby James visit from out of town.  Let me tell you, nothing, NOTHING, excited Nate more than the idea that he could put Liam and James on a blanket together and watch them chat it up.  He was tired of the artificial thing - he wanted real babies really talking to each other and almost burst with excitement at this idea.  Sadly, he was about equally disappointed when they were finally placed together on a blanket and all they did was throw up and poop themselves.  Babies, ugh, get it together. 

Nevertheless, Nate still loved and loves every minute of hanging out with his baby cousins.  How could you not, they're cute times infinity.



Here is Nate gleefully imitating baby James in some sort of one-sided Simon Says.

Nate, pleased as punch (or in his case beige nutrient rich slurry) as he holds James.
 
 
 

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Graduated Preschool - Next Step College

It happened.  It finally happened, the beginning of the end.  Nate has finally become an adult or at least it feels like he will be sometime next week.  How is he growing so fast?  Nathaniel graduated from preschool last week. 


Nate starts kindergarten in 2 months.  2!  As in, less then 2 1/2 but more than 1 1/2.  How on Earth can someone so little be expected to go to school for 5-6 hours a day?  It's nuts.  But that's what's going to happen, despite my hunger strike.  While I am being a bit dramatic with the whole Nate growing up too fast thing, things are changing in a big way at the end of the summer. 


Nate will spend more time at school than with me.  We're going to have to leave him with a nurse we've never met and entrust her with Nate's life.   He's also getting older and bigger and simple things are going to get much harder.  This feels like the beginning of an uncharted phase.  I find this to be frightening, more frightening then The Ring even.  And The Ring scared me so much I had to put Newsies on a continuous loop for 3 days until I could sleep again.

Nate had a great time in preschool though.  His first year was a bit rough.  He had trouble with the noise and chaos and never really took to interacting much with other kids.  It's hard to do when you can only sit and watch.

Thankfully, this year Nate became really engaged and had a lot fun....sometimes too much fun.  He takes after his Dad in that he is nearly perfect except for the tragic flaw of always needing everyone to hear what he is saying and not caring one whit for the educational convention of raising one's hand before doing so. 


 
While Tiny Tots may have had a rough start it had the perfect ending.  Nate received his diploma, took it home and opened it up.  I don't know what he was supposed to receive but what he ended up getting was a piece of paper that said the name "Kurt" over and over again.

Nate loves practical jokes and thought this was hilarious. For someone who calls himself the master of mischief, it was the perfect diploma and a perfect end to preschool.