A year ago...

So since I probably won't get to a post next week, it being Easter and all, here's a double!

A year ago we were traveling back and forth from my parents house helping them take care of my brother before he passed away from a long fight with cancer. We were back and forth for several months. When we started going Nathan wasn't even crawling yet, but Grandpa taught him how to pull up on his hands and knees and how to move them to start crawling. I will never forgive him! Just kidding! Nathan progressed a lot in those few months we were with my parents so here are a few photos of him finally starting to crawl. I can't believe that was only a year ago!!!

Then because we were packing and unpacking a lot those few months, these pictures show how I kept Nathan in one place while I was packing to go back you know since he had learned to crawl by this time. But he didn't mind this at all!

Chalk

So since Nathan has been so desirous to color with crayons inside the house I thought you would like to see some pictures of Nathan using chalk to color outside too.

This next picture let me preface with the story. Nathan and I were drawing with the chalk. I sat in one place and drew a few things including an eye (don't ask me why, but I've always been fascinated with drawing them, and have always wished that I could draw a really good one so I tend to doodle them) and Nathan of course is running all over the place stopping every so often to draw a few lines when he sees the need. He really enjoys coloring "with" you, so I draw something first and then he adds his two cents in with a few lines of his own generally right over whatever you just drew (So he made my eye look blood shot with his lines of pink chalk... so funny). So after a while he comes over to help me again and sits right on the eye. You can see both the results of sitting and the actual drawing in the picture.

Nice stamp don't you think?

"Ring around the rosey..."

So we have become Ring Around the Rosey enthusiasts here at the Wagoner Ranch. I've played it a few times with Nathan and the girls that I watch, but this week Nathan has been asking to play it. He goes and collects everyone in the room, tears them from what they are doing, and holds their hands and starts jumping or walking. Even Nana and Grandpa, my parents, who came for a visit this this weekend got to participate. We are still learning the all fall down part, but he's loving playing this game. So now you have all been warned... if you come to my house you may be asked by an 18 month old to play Ring Around the Rosey... and who can say no to those blue eyes? and that smile???

Here's the next thing Nathan has been really into lately...

COLORING

Please notice the concentration on his face in the above and below pictures.

And I think this is his favorite color!!! He uses it all the time!!!

What a cute kid!!!! I know I'm his mom and I'm biased, but please!!!! So cute!!

And finally a blast from the past!!!! I found these pictures from last year...

We start them out young around these parts!!!

Yes, he's seven months old, has four teeth, (he will be growing another four by eight months!!! Yes, we had eight teeth by eight months but lucky for me he was nice about them, or else we probably wouldn't have nursed as long as we did!) and is playing with an iPod!!!

Renaissance Fair

And no I did not eat the whole thing... It was HUGE!!!

Every year Norman has a Renaissance Fair at the park. This is the first time we have attended since we've been here. It was pretty fun. We met up with some friends and had a good time watching the animals and eating fair food. It doesn't get much better than that.

Nathan and I are watching the end of a juggling act. As you can see we were slightly concerned for this poor juggler. I guess it doesn't help that this was the part of his act were he was supposed to be juggling the fire batons, however, we are under a burn ban and they wouldn't let him light them, so we were supposed to imagine the fire. Lets just say it didn't go very well.

This was the best part of the fair for my son. He went up and down and up and down for a good long while. I'm sure he loved the animals and such, but this was a blast!!!!

This is my son's best friend, Owen. He's the first thing I hear about in the morning and the last thing I hear about at night. He wants to know what Owen is doing at all times. It's quite cute.

Here's another one of Nathan's good friends, Guy. He was so excited to play with guy in this field while we were waiting for traffic to clear out so we could leave and go home. They ran all around, Nathan trying to hug poor Guy, pointing at him and squealing in delight, playing peek a boo around a park bench, running back and forth... It was quite fun to watch!!!

HI!!!!!!

So this is how my son says hello to people now days. I don't know how it got started, nor who taught him, but he just does it. It's cute. It's hilarious. What can I do???

When he was a baby we're talking six months more or less. He used to say hello to people by opening his mouth as wide as it would go. Believe me it was wide, he has his father's mouth. But I decided it was because when people would stop us and coo at my baby the first thing they would do is open their mouth and eyes wide, to see if they could get him to smile. So he started repeating the gesture to say hi. It was quite funny, but this, this is his own creation.

Hiking the Wichita Mountains

During Spring Break we had planned to go camping for a few days, but when the temperatures were looking to be below freezing at night and we have a son who doesn't like to have blankets over him, we quickly changed our plans and decided to go hiking instead. So we went back to the Wichita Mountains (yes I know it's hard to believe that Oklahoma has mountains. And maybe we do and maybe we don't. I've heard them described more as speed bumps than mountains, but it's all we've got folks, so take it or leave it. hehe) The last time we went there with my brother, Darren, and my sister, Stacey, we took the hard way to the top and I ended up perched on the side of a mountain nursing my nine month old son and letting him take a nap in the shade of the rocks while they went the rest of the way up, got lost, and then eventually made their way back to me. However, this time was different, thank goodness!!! We stayed on the path and had a really nice hike so here are some pictures:

In this picture I hope you can hear my son go "ra, ra, ra, ra..." Lets just say he learned the word rock on this trip and would point to them or want to touch each one on our way up the mountain. It made going up a little slow.

The other thing he learned about was cactus. I pointed one out to him and showed him the spines and said "owie". So he then took it upon himself to point out all the "owies" on the trail so we wouldn't step on them. So his conversations went something like this "ra, ra, ra, owie..." So cute!!! He has super good eyes and had tons of fun climbing on the rocks and eating yummys.

Yes, I took this picture and I think I did a mighty fine job at it, thank you very much!!! Aren't my men so cute!!!

And last but not least we can't forget about the.....

DIRT!!!!!!

I must say it's my son's favorite toy.